Jake sat in meditation a bit as he went over his gains and familiarized himself a bit more with Fangs of Man and his improved Fang of the Malefic Viper. Having the time, he also reached out to the Viper, who promptly answered.
“So, thoughts on the test dungeon? It is pretty old and outdated, but it still gets the job done, doesn’t it?” the Viper’s voice echoed in his head.
“Rather uninspired interior design, I must say. Very old-timey and old temple-like. Reminded me a bit of an abandoned crypt,” Jake answered jokingly.
“I would have the designer executed if she hadn’t died well over a trillion years ago,” Villy answered.
“Heh. Anyway, I think it was fine, but I don’t really have any frame of reference, now do I?”
“True. But you did at least get to fight a strong opponent,” Villy said with an obviously teasing tone. “Hydras aren’t easy foes, and this particular one sure had you countered.”
“I would have won without the timer,” Jake asserted.
“Maybe, maybe not. It did certainly become a possibility after your powerup and upgrade of Fangs. You used the Path of the Heretic-Chosen skill, right? Or have you gained some new skill or ability since last that makes you ignore cause and effect to travel through space and time?” the Viper asked.
“Nah, just the old and boring Path,” Jake answered, but he felt reluctant to get into details. The vision had not exactly been a flattering one for the Viper.
“Oh? Not spilling the beans what it is about?” the Viper asked. “Come on, you already saw my bad phase at B-grade back then. This can’t be worse.”
Jake decided to not hide anything if the Viper wanted to pry as he just said four words. “Valdemar. Fang of man.”
A few seconds of silence followed. It was enough for Jake to consider if saying it was a mistake, but luckily the Viper finally spoke:
“Was there a golden sphere involved or present?”
“Yep.”
“Ah… right.”
“Yep…”
them sat in silence for a while before Jake finally broke it. “Pretty specieist
guess you need some context?” the Viper asked. “It was a different time,
before when people did some messed up shit
races like trash and viewed them as lesser, while the powerful monsters began looking down on humans and elves and the like. It
sapience that beat me. I had lost to humans before but always when they came in groups or were vastly higher level. I still held respect for humans, however, not as fighters but as creators. They were some of the best craftsmen around, with me having learned much from them in the realm of alchemy. Valdemar was
seem rather unique,” Jake
understand that humans as a whole are far more reliant on Records and history than
their path solely by their actions and their evolutions. This is to say, beasts are defined by their race which is often not related to anything but their own path, while humans rely far
them professions that result in inherent non-combat potential, something that in a beast would nearly always come with a trade-off in fighting power. If the power scale went from one to a hundred, a human could never surpass ninety, while beasts and
at the time. He was not some paragon of his race or someone more knowledgeable than anyone else. He was just an individual. He opened my eyes to never looking down at someone for their race alone, especially not enlightened species. As time passed, it has only been confirmed again, and again the true power you can achieve isn’t defined by
listened intently. He liked the explanation even if there was not
are actually embarrassed,
the hallmark of someone embarrassed and Villy seemed to really want to justify and explain why he acted as he did back then. It was very
uncurated shit. If someone from the Holy Church got such a
changing the subject,” Jake joked back. “But hey, good to know even evil snake gods can learn to grow as a person. And speaking of growing… who
obvious question Jake
either. The thing is, Valdemar only truly fights someone when he has a cause. A justification that makes him want to fight and create a legend from it. Ah, but if you speak of a duel… well, let’s just say I tend to avoid them as fighting him is a pain. In a fight to the death, the most likely is either one party retreating or mutual destruction. This assumes third parties don’t involve themselves and we fight on neutral ground too… all of this is to say there are too
not
if it is just about melee fighting and his application of will, go right ahead. Just don’t try to mimic him too much… he
“Such as?”
up completely giving up on it and eventually transformed it all into stamina and health somehow through sheer rejection of the resource. Also, his profession was very much neglected,
me guess, his profession is to be a brewer of
Well, Valdemar said his father owned a brewery but later said he just made moonshine and sold it under the table,” the Viper
seemed to know
godhood, it ended up being an utter stalemate. It was and still is for all the Primordials, so eventually, we ended up just co-existing and, in some ways, got close. It is hard to
of terms and didn’t you kind of screw over Stormild with the whole Sylphie contract thing?”
with a task, they would also come to me and ask, and that both
with a warning not to look down on humans this time
am astounded at your benevolence,” the Viper
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