The Primal Hunter

The feeling of absolute control was exhilaration, yet Jake barely felt anything from it. It was an odd paradox that even his own feeling of happiness and sense of power was suppressed by his own skill, but perhaps it was ultimately for the best as it allowed Jake to stay focused.

All perception of time disappeared as Jake simply worked on creating the weapon. Within the cauldron - both on the outside and inside his Soulspace - the curse still grew in power as it absorbed the energy of the Root that had been transferred into Jake’s own soul.

Jake had quickly realized his mistake was to absorb the power of the Root into himself rather than pour it directly into the Chimera weapon, but in his defense, he had been very, very hungry and wanted to consume everything and anything. So with the curse energy of the Root had been right there, he hadn’t really been thinking.

He was not afraid anything bad would happen from having it in his Soulspace. This was within his soul, where actual power did not matter anymore. The power of the Soulspace and the power of a person were not directly linked but had more to do with the total level of one’s Records.

If one used the same comparison that the Records were the cup and experience the water used to fill it, Jake had a really fucking huge cup. This isn’t to say Jake’s soul was “stronger,” as this strength was still based on his own total power.

That is why the King could still damage Jake’s soul. Because he never damaged the Soulspace directly. The Soulspace was the Truesoul, untouched by anything and anyone. Only the user themselves could possibly affect it, and even then, it was ultimately the domain of the system itself. All Jake saw was his own perception of his Truesoul.

If everything around the Soulspace was shattered, leaving only the Soulspace itself, then there was no Jake to dwell within. His Truesoul – or this Soulspace – would still exist; there would just be no one to perceive it besides the system itself. Without this Soulspace’s connection to the outside world through Jake himself, none would be able to find it. In fact, this space likely didn’t “exist” anywhere at all, and if it did, it was somewhere only the system itself could see and was aware of.

But… back at Jake and his work, things were progressing as expected. The curse energy floating in the sky of his Soulspace was being pulled down faster than before, which translated to Jake infusing more of it into the cauldron in the outside world.

A part of Jake knew that what he was doing would not necessarily end up leading to an ideal outcome, as while he was calm right now, he would have to face the brunt force of the curse upon exiting meditation. But, as with all other things, Jake would handle that when it became relevant.

Days passed as Jake just sat there, the bodies rotting all around in the real world. Jake’s poison mist mixing with the corpses created a toxic atmosphere that kept away other would-be predators while even giving Jake a bit of mana regeneration.

Not everything was fine and dandy, though, because the curse of hunger still drained Jake as he sat there. Without outside energy being given, Jake was constantly having his vital energy absorbed too. Under usual circumstances, this would mean certain death with his inability to exit his current state of meditation… but Jake was a cheat.

Every single one of his senses were cut off. Every connection to the outside world was gone – at least every connection that could be cut off. Because just like when he spoke to the King in his Soulspace, he could still feel the outside world courtesy of his Sphere of Perception. The fact it was unaffected by the meditation skill was one of its hidden bonuses, and now that his meditation had become even more extreme, the bonus just got better.

In summary: Jake could use his sphere to still chug down a potion every single hour to not have his own transmutation kill him.

As time passed, the sky in the Soulspace began clearing up. The curse energy had soon entered the weapon wholly, and Jake felt that the weapon had fully integrated – or eaten – the legendary Nalkar Vampire Heart, all with helps from the Catalyst that had made this entire process possible. It had truly been a wonderous item and had even helped smoothen the curse energy absorption.

Everything finally came together as Jake felt the moment it was complete.

Energy suddenly exploded out of the Altmar Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity as the black metal orb flew out of it. A loud crackling was heard as the cauldron distorted and now had several cracks in it, with Jake himself being blasted back and hitting the wall like a ragdoll.

He didn’t even react as he was still within his Soulspace, where a transformation was also happening. Gone was the cauldron as only the black metal ball floated there, now giving off an entirely new aura. At the same time, he felt the influx of energy not from inside the space itself but coming from the outside.

wave of pure curse energy across the planet, and now that energy was being returned and absorbed. It had been amplified by the many people it had affected during the time the ritual

from over a billion humans, tens of billions of beasts, and creatures in the trillions entered the black metal orb - entered directly into Jake’s Soulspace. The sheer energy and the weapon

as the weapon floated up in the air, as more sludge-like growth appeared. Arms, legs, mouthes in the millions, a creature out of a horror novel was slowly being given form

and so powerful Jake would have no chance to fight it in the real world. If it had been an actual creature, he did not doubt it would have been

influence it wished to exert. Jake knew it had come to devour him and make him one with it, just like it consumed everything

life, becoming an independent creature… or the part where it was suppressed and made part of Jake. He had created the soul

own Records are overwhelmed by that of the curse

in this kind of situation before. Back then… when

then - his Records had grown. Not that

do

monstrosity, it had met an even more frightening monster within his own domain. It had met the

“Sit.”

it smashed into the empty landscape, lying prone as it failed to move. It was

Chimera DNA in the weapon with Chimera

so as its power was compressed from trying to fight back, though Jake guessed “trying” was the wrong word. The apparition before him didn’t really have an

would just have hi-jacked Jake and distorted him as a person to create a

in mid-air, giving off a frightening aura, almost waiting for the confrontation to be over as Jake lay

It began trying to consume the ground below itself but failed. It then tried to find something else to consume, and finally, its eyes landed on

to see what would happen, but honestly, it was a bit disappointing as the Chimera just closed its largest of over ten maws on the drop, only to

through until the entire thing began being eroded by just what little remnants of Records the curse managed to touch, forcing Jake to quickly

erosion to stop. The drop of blood was without will and didn’t fight it as Jake

arms as strings of arcane mana fired

crush this apparition would potentially have negative side effects. So instead, he simply walked over to it

unsettling… but Jake was fine with it. Especially with his new meditation

as you enter your Soulspace. While in meditation, regenerate stamina and mana significantly faster. While in meditation, all connections to the outside world are entirely cut off, and no outside stimuli can force you out of meditation. While

shouldn’t have been that hard if he had just focused on it, but he had

to the normal meditation and even Thoughtful Meditation that only limited perception severely, this

had to assume those with a variant of it

sphere, and he was

Jake prepared to shift himself back to the real world once more, still minding the warning

emotions,

him still floated the black ball that was his new weapon. Jake gritted his teeth as he motioned for it to come