The Primal Hunter

Jake sat on a chair he had just summoned as he ate an ice cream – a delicacy he had not enjoyed for more than half a year. He had to admit, Skyggen had a lot of good stuff, though he also had to admit that it was very likely Haven had all of this too.

He had decided to just take these last three days before the Auction as a holiday to spend with his family. And for his family, he had agreed to go and help Caleb a little with training some of the Court of Shadows recruits.

Which is how he found himself sitting and eating ice cream surrounded by people kneeling or crawling on the ground as they tried to move towards him. When anyone managed to move a bit, Jake just looked at them to use Gaze or amplified his Pride of the Malefic Viper a tiny little bit.

Caleb stood at the back, shaking his head as more than half of the E-grade assassins had already passed out, with only two of them able to hold on somewhat.

“Make sure you don’t kill any of them,” his little brother commented.

“Relax, none of what I do is lethal unless I make it,” Jake said dismissively.

While this wasn’t the most exciting thing he had done, it was good practice. It was not often he could find living test subjects that were also intelligent, and he didn’t want to go out in the wild and just torture innocent animals for his own practice.

It was important to learn to control your skills, not just at max power, but also at lower volumes – to correctly identify how much intensity you needed to put into neutralizing someone or something. To begin with, Jake was already pretty good at this, but more practice was always welcome.

And the reason why Caleb had asked him to help? Well, it was Bloodline-related. Caleb knew Jake had a Bloodline simply by his own lived experience, even if he didn’t know what it did in detail. But, staying true to his promise to Villy, Jake had not shared the description of his Bloodline with anyone. Ever.

Instead, he had leaned into one part of it, the part which amplified his presence and also had a suppressive effect of sorts. It was one impossible to hide anyway, and if the public perception was that it was all his Bloodline did, that would only be beneficial to him. Keeping that he had one a secret was impossible no matter what, and it wasn’t that overpowered if all it did was the presence-stuff.

But even this effect was incredibly potent, as Caleb had tested and confirmed a theory over these last three days – prolonged exposure gave permanent resistance. Presences of more powerful beings passively exuded pressure on those weaker than themselves, with this effect being especially noticeable between grades. A qualitative difference.

While the more powerful person could suppress this element, it was still there, and if you found yourself before a far more powerful foe, having resistance to presences would be priceless. Training this resistance was difficult, though. Being around more powerful people did help build resistance, but it was more of an acclimation process. It wasn’t permanent, but more like how Jake had adapted to being deep underwater.

There were ways to train it, skills to give resistance – Jake’s own Big Game Arcane Hunter as an example – and items helping too, but what Jake did was on another level, according to Caleb. It led to qualitative growth.

Caleb himself was a prime example as he had become borderline immune to presences. He could stand before Umbra, and while he did feel the pressure, he could handle it. Jake was in many ways just desensitizing others to presences. If one had stood before the Primal Hunter, was a god really that scary?

“How long can you keep it up?” Caleb asked as Jake finished his ice cream.

“I don’t think that’s the question here,” Jake shrugged as the last guy’s eyes rolled behind his head as he passed out. All of them were only around level 50-60, so it would be a bit too much to expect of them to hold out against the legendary Pride and Jake’s Bloodline.

“I guess not,” Caleb agreed as Jake got up and deactivated his skills. He deposited the chair as he went over to his little brother, preparing to leave.

A few people came in after Caleb motioned to them and carried the passed-out recruits into a room to rest. Now, while Jake was an awesome brother happily helping family, he wasn’t doing this for free. They had come to an agreement, and as it was the last day before the Auction, it was time to get his payday.

The two of them walked to a heavily protected building and passed through a few barriers with a token.

to what Jake could only

an elevator?” Jake asked. “Why not just,

mages can hone into close-by circles and use those. Also… this is just as fast and just safer in every way. Additionally, it’s easier to lock

me in the cellar?”

lie, it would probably work quite

little ‘sparring’ match with my dear little brother. Again,” Jake threatened. And it was

going to the outskirts of Skyggen, followed by a fifteen-minute beatdown where Jake countered his brother’s

someone with near precognition and insane instincts. After their little

the storage vault,” Caleb answered,

hope some good stuff is down there,”

you get

just

and dad and get you in

Jake grumbled with faux anger as the elevator began

beneath Skyggen. The elevator finally stopped as they reached the bottom, and even on the

be utterly blinded for sure, though naturally, it didn’t bother the

walls after passing through a few more barriers and physical gates. Inside, Jake saw several storage

completely black water with a diameter of around eight meters. It surrounded a flower only a meter across that gave off a powerful aura, and Jake’s Sense of the Malefic Viper was making

He naturally used Identify.

enemy by the Lotus may be consumed by the shadows to become nutrients. It periodically sheds leaves that contain some of the flower’s power. As long as it stands beneath the shadow of Umbra, this flower will forever grow. Limited alchemical uses, but

flower was utterly black, and the leaves seemed to almost be swaying in the air. The center of the Lotus was still partly closed, and from deep within, Jake felt more dark-affinity mana than he had ever felt before. It was a natural treasure… or perhaps it wasn’t right to call it natural? It seemed too well-fitting for the Court of Shadows to find a

you get it?” Jake asked

isn’t naturally occurring but something we more or less created. The custom option in the tutorial store allowed us to coordinate and buy the items necessary to summon it, even if it was only at ancient rarity

read herbs and other natural treasures could grow… but to go from

of the flower. “It ate a

looked at his brother in disbelief. “Is… that smart?” Jake asked with genuine concern. He knew from Miranda’s profession that the Pylon

same function. Pylons are incredible energy sources anyway, and fusing them will only bring benefits. Hopefully, this Lotus will be a source of power for the Court for many years to come. Also… once fully merged, the

he was still skeptical. He could see some benefits, but

to the topic at hand. “I don’t assume you’re giving me the flower,

said as he raised his hands towards the Lotus. It responded as dark mana swirled around it like a whirlwind.

them

poisonous and releases dark-affinity mana all

as he held

them a bit, Jake frowned. “This seems

Lotus has been shedding them passively for a while, and no one could use them for anything besides a ritual here and there. While I don’t doubt our alchemists can make great use of them

relented, not requiring much convincing. He put the leaves in his storage as he began to consider what he could make with them. Well, naturally, he would make some kind of neurotoxin; the thing just was… Jake had never made a neurotoxin before. Guess that’s one thing I’ll have to learn