The Primal Hunter

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 It is pretty old and outdated, but it still gets the job done, doesn’t it?”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

sat in silence for a while before Jake finally broke it. “Pretty specieist back then, not gonna

need some context?” the Viper asked. “It was a different time, you

that excuse before when people did some messed up shit when younger…

and a lack of mutual respect. The enlightened races treated all monster races like trash and viewed them as lesser, while the powerful monsters began looking down on humans and elves and the like. It was

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 as creators. They were some of the best craftsmen around, with me having learned much from them in the realm of alchemy. Valdemar was an… outlier,” Villy

did seem rather unique,”

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 two

have a way more diverse path than beasts and way more space to adapt. Legacies help expand this. Meanwhile, a beast is mostly set after evolving, with little to no skill choices during entire grades. I remember very rarely getting five options, and that was only due to me walking a diverse path, to begin with. Someone like Snappy never had a single choice in D-grade and only a handful in his entire journey to godhood. 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

natural result of this was humans having a far wider breadth of power but could 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

path I could not comprehend and grasped power beyond anyone else I had ever 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.

Jake listened intently. He liked the explanation even

actually embarrassed, aren’t

was the hallmark of someone embarrassed and Villy seemed to really want to justify and explain

beginning to really dislike that skill of yours that just shows you uncurated shit. If someone from the Holy Church got such a

“But hey, good to know even evil snake gods can learn to grow as a person. And speaking of growing… who is stronger

was an obvious question

should have seen that one coming… but I don’t know. Do I think I can beat Valdemar? No, not really, but I don’t think he can beat me 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

said, not really wanting to

would be smart. You and he do have some similarities in mindset but are just as different, but if it is just about melee fighting and his application

“Such as?”

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 his low race level. Valdemar was already level 999

to be a

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

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

so eventually, we ended up just co-existing and, in some ways, got close. It is hard to personally know someone for countless years and not begin to understand them and get to know them. Of course, some get along better than others, and

strike me as on the friendliest of terms and didn’t you kind of screw over

healthy rivalry and plenty of disfunction. Have no doubt that if both needed help with a task, they would also come to me and ask, and that both of those have

down on humans this time

am astounded at your