The Primal Hunter

Haven had a lot of land around it. Especially between the Fort and Haven existed a vast plain of nothingness. Jake had originally wanted to have the trolls live in this kind of area but quickly found out that wasn’t a good option.

The Undergrowth Cave Troll clearly didn’t like the vast open space outside of the forest, and Jake could feel its hesitancy. The small trolls were also hugging their parent closely when they got to a more open area, making Jake reevaluate.

They appeared to have something akin to reverse-claustrophobia, something Jake was informed was called agoraphobia by Miranda. With that in mind, they settled on the Cave Troll going back into the cave close to the dungeon entrance. The biodome was pretty large and mostly unoccupied by now, and the troll did seem to like the area. Probably also felt familiar with the passive mana output of the dungeon entrance nearby.

Once the troll was in there, it instantly began making a new cave in the wall, Jake seeing it use some earth magic of some sort to dig. By now, he had also fully confirmed the troll’s mere presence encouraged growth in plant life nearby as if it had a life affinity aura.

Thinking a bit more about it, that was perhaps the reason the troll had been in the dungeon originally – to ensure the growth of plants down there. That, or it was because a life affinity troll just fit well into a life affinity-themed dungeon.

Jake had plans of turning the biodome into a garden, and he proposed this to the others who agreed. He then asked the troll and tried to communicate his intent, and after a bit of gesturing and motioning as well as Sylphie making bird noises, the large troll seemed to get it.

Now, there were some concerns about having a level 149 D-grade chill right below their city, especially as they really didn’t know much about trolls, but so far, it had been perfectly calm around others. Shit, the large troll seemed more afraid of humans than anything, with the small trolls just acting like curious children. A few D-grade workers had even come by and seen the troll. They had waved at it, and the troll had just done a big wave imitating their actions before going back to making the cave.

The next day or so was spent with Jake talking with the troll and beginning to plant some stuff in the biodome. He would primarily place life affinity herbs there, so he had no plans to make it a mushroom-filled place… well, except if it was life affinity mushrooms.

After he had done some initial work and was sure the troll was nicely settled, he went through some other things he needed to get done. Well, and some things he wanted to do, like spend some time with Sylphie and hear about the adventures she and her parents had been on as they explored the forest.

The three of them had really been busy. A lot of Haven seemed to have as the dungeon had finally begun to be used, not just by Miranda and the others, but also Neil and his party, who were still in there. He even heard from Sylphie she and her parents wanted to go in there at some point too.

It was nice to touch base and get a lay of the land of how everyone was doing.

He also talked with Miranda about what he had been up to and his recent adventure, his respect for her ability to hold back judgment improved afterward as he saw her manage to hold in her words when Jake talked about making Eternal Hunger.

She, in turn, told him that his lab was done as of last week, and he was excited to check it out. They still needed his input on furniture, but that wasn’t a rush job. He was also told to go check out an area at the Fort where Chris, that guy Villy had blessed as a semi-joke, had done something and asked for Jake’s presence. Miranda emphasized how he hadn’t wanted to hurry him but that he still clearly wanted Jake’s presence there soon.

He then talked to Sultan about getting his Altmar Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity fixed, but the man was clueless and did not possess any wares that would be of help. A bit disappointed, Jake just handed Sultan payment for getting the troll out of the dungeon and reimbursed the materials he had spent to make it possible.

Anyway, with Sultan not able to find a solution to fix his cauldron, Jake did the only other logical thing: he went over to the Fort to ask Arnold. At the same time, he could check out what Chris had been up to.

With a teleportation circle getting to the Fort was only a matter of seconds. When he passed through it, he went straight for Arnold’s workshop, which had once more expanded as the man had taken over the entire citadel and courtyard at the center of the Fort. A metal dome now covered all of it, and the magic circle once placed within the citadel had been moved just outside into a new building designed to house teleportation circles.

hexagonal metal panels just slid away to give him entrance. To see how it worked, he moved upwards and saw the hole in the metal following him as he felt a subtle pulse of mana

he was up to at all times. Inside the dome, it looked much the same except everything was

already detected Arnold’s location. The man also clearly knew he was coming based on the many cameras and drones flying around. The central citadel had been even further reinforced, and by

for Arnold, who was currently working on a sleek-looking drone. The rotors were all gone, and it

pair of glasses Jake had not seen before, and he felt clear magic from them, making him know

for the help with the alchemy

Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity from his inventory and placed it on one of

often becomes a cauldron for life for even the most talented. The runes inscribed are easy to use and greatly enhance mana efficiency and conductivity while also making the entire working process far more transparent for the user. Enchantments: Mana conductivity (Supreme). Mana Transparency (Supreme). Durability

Requirements: Soulbound

it was fixable. He had thought it was indestructible at one point, but the sheer power of the curse had still managed to damage it when he finally completed Eternal Hunger. In fact, it was likely due to the cauldron Jake had

Arnold turned it over and looked at the bottom

refrained from using the Altmar Alteration

“What?” Jake asked, confused.

made to allow the user to progressively strengthen, repair, and maintain the cauldron. From preliminary research, it appears this is standard practice

afraid to ask. “So I can just infuse

both a wave of disappointment but also relief that he hadn’t been so dumb to not

Soulbound connection, and

has that rune always

reasonable to assume. Moreover, this plate appears near indestructible as far as I can tell and is made of a metal I have yet to uncover the nature of… the same is true for the rest of the cauldron. Would you mind

to figure it out! My poor disciple had so much faith in you, but I guess no amount of Perception can make you truly perceptive,” he

ignoring Villy. He felt as all his resource pools were depleted as he focused on the rune. “What are the

observing the effects of the rune than listening to Jake but still spared Jake a look.

supreme simplicity, so I guess it is purposefully made so even the simplest

something and began recording, Jake naturally letting him. As Jake infused it, the sillier he

life for even the most talented alchemists, and based on Altmar standards, Jake assumed that was better than D-grade by a fair bit. If Jake could break the cauldron now in mid-tier D-grade, he sure as hell would be able to in C-grade, so for it to be so “fragile” didn’t make much sense with the description. He didn’t think it was one he could use forever, though, but it

was a bit miffed the description had not mentioned the rune, but Jake wrote that off as the system sometimes being annoyingly selective with such things, probably due to how the Identify skill worked. Whenever Jake investigated a plant, he would often get a feel for its properties within seconds with his Identify, including what kind of properties it had and what alchemical

him direct knowledge of runes or crafting of something even adjacent to cauldrons, it probably made sense it didn’t tell him. Ultimately, it

rune really that normal?” he asked Arnold