The Primal Hunter

Jake had, in usual Jake-fashion, returned late to the center of the Mistless Plains. As there was no mist in the Mistless Plains – hence the name – it was easy to see everything, far and wide. He saw several basecamps scattered about, some of them even having tall walls and magical barriers.

Finding Miranda and company would have been difficult if he didn’t have a living GPS locator in the form of Sylphie. Jake made his way over, feeling many gazes upon him as he did so. Scouts from the myriad factions keeping an eye on his casual stroll, none of them approaching him or making him aware they had even seen him.

Oh, but someone did come to meet him.

A fluffy green ball of feathers soared through the plains right towards him with incredible speed, kicking up a cloud of dust in her wake. Jake opened his eyes as the small hawk barrelled into his chest, and he hugged the cute little bugger.

“You got faster!” Jake commented as he cuddled the bird as she nuzzled up to him. He kept walking towards the place where Sylphie had come from; his pace picked up a bit.

“Ree!” she heartfully agreed, proud of herself as she kept making screeching sounds and green apparations of wind narrating her adventures manifest around them as they got back to Miranda and the others. Jake didn’t even know she knew how to make those wind constructs and honestly thought they were kinda cool and very artistic-looking. Primarily due to their fluid forms, making them look very abstract. What he did piece together was that she had hunted down vampires and cursed armors like everyone else.

He did get a bit confused about the part with a giant bear-looking creature that Sylphie, for some reason, depicted as looking a bit like a cartoon bear that kept getting whacked around by a vampire.

She was still putting on her little show when Jake spotted Miranda in the distance, surrounded by quite a few people. He recognized them as ones associated with Valhal right away, including that Sven fellow and the woman Carmen whom Sylphie had been hanging with. He was a bit surprised not to see Sultan or Neil and his party, though. If they had left the Treasure Hunt or were still out there was hard to know. But, then again… did they need to return to the middle? They had their own stuff to do, and the event about to take place wasn’t anything they could affect.

“Lord Thayne,” Miranda greeted him with a respectful bow when he made his way to them, putting on her courteous persona in front of the onlookers. The aforementioned onlookers kept a watchful gaze, with Carmen staring at him with an odd look.

Jake nodded to Miranda in response. “Good job as always,” he said, not quite knowing what she did that was a good job. She had been part of getting a key, so she had done something good. Also… he was just happy she was still around, so he had someone to handle the talking.

Although… Nah, it was still too early to begin beating disagreeable people up and taking their stuff.

Dispelling his thoughts, Jake turned to Carmen. “Thanks for taking care of Sylphie.”

He had noticed that Carmen didn’t look weirdly at Jake alone, but also Sylphie. The bird had now climbed from his chest and shoulder to stand atop his head, establishing her dominance.

“So, the hawk is your pet?” Sven asked him as he saw the bird standing on top of Jake’s head. It was more a statement of fact than a question, as the man had made assumptions Jake quite frankly found insulting.

His response was to look at the people behind Sven as he asked. “So, are those humans your pets?”

Instantly the entire mood became weird, but Jake didn’t care. The guy had insinuated something Jake wasn’t cool with, so he pettily shot back in kind.

That the guy didn’t understand newer cultural nuances of post-system sapience and autonomy wasn’t Jake’s problem. In fact, from what Villy had told him… then a human having humans as pets was more normal than a human having beasts in the multiverse.

Carmen began laughing loudly. “That was a damn good one!

few more seconds, with Miranda smiling a bit uncomfortably as she stood beside the laughing woman. Carmen followed

as he answered. “Eh… she is the kid of some friends? So, kind of my niece? Not sure exactly how you would classify it, but does

rubbing the bird’s soft feathers that sat on top of him, her happily just sitting there like his hair was

and

and Miranda took the chance to redirect

head. “Nah, the Holy Church got two and the Noboru clan three as far as I can tell. So yeah, it sucks; I only

Sylphie agreed, proudly

told by Arnold he estimated you would make it

in my way as well as some defensive measure to seal off the Count’s chamber. On a side note, Eron is pretty much unkillable, so yeah, that’s a thing,” Jake explained, fine with the people from Valhal also hearing him. Heck, he half-expected them to know already, considering they were a major faction. And if they didn’t know, the only thing he did

just wear him

Jake shrugged in response. “Either way, if you meet him, I would just recommend walking away. The dude is slow and can’t really do any worthwhile damage, so just

try separating his heart and head from

and when I tried to wrap him up, he just blew up his entire body and reformed, so I reckon he could do that if you try to separate his body parts,”

to stop the conversation from derailing more than necessary. “As you have the keys, should we head for the center? It has already been

the altars designed for the keys. She made a construct of mana, showing the Mistless Plains and how they were spread in a circle around the center of the Plains. It all matched what the

happen when the nine keys were brought together. Notably absent was the undead faction, but Jake didn’t consider it further. He seriously doubted they could have been wiped out, so they

up with a group of people that had clearly been waiting for them, making Jake feel pretty good about himself for wasting their time just

At their side were Jacob and Bertram, as well as a few parties of decently powerful people. He saw his brother and his folk gathered a good distance away, Jake throwing him a nod before he went up to the group with Miranda, Carmen, and

did not transpire as I had hoped,” the Sword Saint said, opening the conversation. “In the

“Nevertheless, despite the flaws, It appears I won. I possess five keys, and

old man and his way too cheeky smile. Patience, Jake, we got like three-quarters of the Treasure Hunt left… you’ll have

better at splurging and hiring help,” Jake

to win out over the power of nepotism,” the Sword

them stared at each other for a bit until Reika broke it up. “Patriarch,

acknowledged. “We both agreed on the terms that I

his head, throwing Jacob and Bertram a look, with perhaps a bit of Gaze of the Apex

from what some of the good folk at the Holy Church discovered, we need to input all keys at roughly the same time,” the old man said as he motioned to Jacob. Jacob tossed over four

and when one of them breaks, all nine do,” he explained as

Jake agreed as he tossed a medallion to Miranda and another to Carmen beside her. The last

be in position to insert the