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.

how it worked, he moved upwards and saw the hole in the metal following him as he felt a subtle pulse of mana touch him. Some kind of scanner and

times. Inside the dome, it looked much the same except everything was more well-lit, and he also saw that drones and robots were still

cameras and drones flying around. The central citadel had been even further reinforced, and by now, Jake wondered if the inside of this dome wasn’t the safest place in the entire city… well, besides inside his

central building, Jake headed straight for Arnold, who was currently working on a sleek-looking drone. The rotors were all gone, and it looked more like

had not seen before, and he felt clear magic from them, making

things,” Jake said. “First of all, thanks for the help with the alchemy lab, and secondly, do you have

Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity from his inventory and

Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity (Ancient)] - Sometimes less is more. A cauldron made by the Altmar Empire’s expert crafters, it was created with the express purpose of efficient alchemy. Given to the royal alchemists in training, it often becomes a cauldron for life for even the most talented. The runes inscribed are easy to use and

Requirements: Soulbound

the cauldron only had a few cracks in it… but he wasn’t sure if 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

inspected it, and Jake stood there nervously. Arnold turned it over and looked at

using the Altmar Alteration Rune?”

“What?” Jake asked, confused.

and showed him a rune inscribed on the bottom. “A rune made to allow the user to progressively strengthen, repair, and maintain the

as he was nearly afraid to ask. “So I can just infuse mana into that

but also relief that he hadn’t been so dumb to not know he could

connection, and the process will both strengthen and restore

rune always been

yet to uncover the nature of… the same is true for the rest of the cauldron. Would

for months and already won four bets with Duskleaf on how long you would take 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

it like this?” Jake asked rhetorically as he picked it up and began channeling energy into it, purposefully ignoring Villy. He felt as all his resource pools were depleted as

was busier observing the effects of the rune than listening to Jake but still spared Jake a look. “Based on

so I guess it is purposefully made so even the simplest of men can use it,” Villy’s voice came again, Jake

some measurement tool or something and began recording, Jake naturally letting him. As Jake infused it, the sillier he felt about

of Supreme Simplicity said it sometimes became cauldrons for 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 should still hold up

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

most metals, he would most often just get the name. Considering he didn’t have any skills giving him direct knowledge of runes or crafting of something even adjacent to cauldrons, it probably made sense

this kind of rune really that normal?” he asked