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 It is pretty old and outdated, but it still gets the job done, doesn’t it?”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 back then, not

the Viper

heard that excuse before when people did some messed up shit when younger… and it wasn’t like you were young,” Jake

time. There was far more antagonism back then and a lack of mutual respect. The enlightened races treated all monster races like trash and viewed them as lesser, while the powerful

I faced a human lower level than myself after reaching 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

seem rather unique,”

back then was a humiliating loss that made me reconsider my stance on the enlightened races as a whole and began working with them more, not as servants but equals. You also need to understand that humans as a whole are far more reliant on Records and history than a beast like me. You nearly always need legacies and such to truly excel. Your racial skills even revolve around passing these legacies down. This, at least, was what I thought until Valdemar proved me wrong. The

Beasts instead choose 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 more on their classes and professions, which are heavily defined by legacies and the experience of their ancestors and what they learn from each other. One can frame it as humans being

never reach the top as an individual, only a collective. They had forced upon 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

faced 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 your race but by who you are as a person, your talent, and so many other factors. These are what

listened intently. He liked the explanation even

actually embarrassed,

hallmark of someone embarrassed and Villy seemed to really

have to rub it in? I am beginning to really dislike that skill of yours that just shows you uncurated shit. If someone from the Holy Church got such a skill, they would be executed promptly for being able to circumvent all the

“But hey, good to know even evil snake gods can learn to grow as a

was an obvious question Jake couldn’t help

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

Jake said, not really wanting

and I will say that taking inspiration from Valdemar would be smart. You and he do have some similarities in mindset but are just as different, but if it is just about

“Such as?”

all into stamina and health somehow through sheer rejection of the resource. Also, his profession was very much neglected, which was part of the reason why he was so strong despite

to be a brewer of some kind?” Jake

father apparently owned a brewery before the system. Well, Valdemar said his

asked half-rhetorically. The Viper seemed to know a lot of personal stuff

some, but more often, it never got that extreme as one party had an advantage making the other back off. After 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,

the friendliest of terms and didn’t you kind of screw over Stormild with the whole Sylphie contract

doubt that if both needed help with a task, they would also

off with a warning not to look down on humans this time around, aight?”

your benevolence,” the

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