The Primal Hunter

Once every person had gotten their tokens, there was just one more round of orientation before all the students would be let loose. Jake followed behind again as they were all led back to the old waiting chamber and quickly went into new “camps” of sorts based on the level of their tokens. It was a bit odd in Jake’s mind to put yourself into a box based on colored crystal tokens.

“So, as a final thing, let’s have a small orientation,” the succubus began once everyone was back in position. “Let us start with some basic ground rules of the Order of the Malefic Viper, more specifically, the rules while part of the Academy. Do note that the Academy is but one branch of the whole Order, and entry into the Academy also means membership of the Order, so you will all have these imposed on you while on Order ground.

“Membership of the Order and Academy can naturally be rescinded at any point by you or as punishment if you break any rules.”

With those words, a large screen was projected in front of all of them with a small list of six rules.

1. Guests of the Order of the Malefic Viper shall be treated as members for all subsequent rules.

2. Killing any member of the Order within common grounds is strictly prohibited. Killing any member of the Order within their own or a residence they have been allowed access to is strictly prohibited.

3. Destruction of property is strictly prohibited and will result in severe punishment partly determined by the damaged party. Slaves, pets, servants, and other auxiliary living creatures under the control of a member of the Order fall under the umbrella of property. If these creatures break any rules, the owner will be punished accordingly.

4. Theft of property from any member of the Order is strictly prohibited.

5. Unauthorized entry into the residence of another member of the Order is heavily disincentivized and can lead to punishment.

6. Any case of perceived injustice can be brought to an Order official, and it will be processed. Punishment will, if proven correct, be subjectively determined. If the plaintiff is found in the wrong, punishment will be served upon them instead for wasting the official’s time.

Jake read them over and was surprised at how little there was and how basic it was. It was basically just saying not to kill, steal or destroy the stuff of others and if any of these things – or anything else you didn’t like – happened to you, to just go complain to an official and hope they take your side or get fucked yourself.

“The rules are purposefully simple as honestly having a long list serves little purpose. Ah, and before anyone gets any fancy ideas, then guardians of the Order are always present and actively observing any non-residence at all times, so assassination attempts tend to not work very well. Now, any questions?” Irin explained as she asked with a light smile.

An elf in the room raised their hand as she acknowledged him. “What happens if a servant acts of their own volition and breaks one of the rules?”

“Depends entirely on what happens and how the judge in question feels that day. If they think you had something to do with it, everything from being told it was a fun idea to getting your entire homeworld destroyed can happen,” Irin shrugged.

A few hands were instantly raised at that as the succubus took the initiative to explain.

“While these rules exist, don’t think for a moment they are absolute. Punishment is entirely determined by those in power, and with enough influence and power, you can do borderline anything. You can’t all seriously think anything would happen if an A-grade feels annoyed and decides to erase some weak white token D-grade academy student, can you?”

She chuckled a bit at the sentiment, but the mood in the waiting room did not seem to agree with her as people now looked a bit more worried than before. Reika also frowned, and the only ones who looked relatively relaxed were Jake, Draskil, and the Risen.

some powerhouse to slap you to death, and chances are they will get a slight punishment, like paying a fine or something and don’t flatter yourself to truly think you are worth that to them. Of course, there are a few ways to more or less shield yourself from anything. Like being associated with another force

said this part as

of the Malefic One himself, or perhaps just someone

last part was naturally said as she motioned towards Jake and Draskil, as well as a few others. In fact, most leaders of factions had low-level blessings from the Viper, but all of them besides Jake and Draskil had only the Minor one. Jake acted like he also had only a Lesser one, but Draskil truly stood out with the Divine

yourself with, or you could just not mess with people you shouldn’t mess with. If you feel like things aren’t fair or

female scalekin of some sort raised her hand

in the information package within the token.

be shut down. Jake did the same thing, but only some of the surface stuff

asked. Jake guessed gold meant either high-end three-star performance or maybe early four-star too? Either way, gold surely had to mean

but the exact location not that easily discerned as it is underground, hidden by formations and spatially expanded,” Irin answered. “Also, to answer the obvious follow-up, your token is already linked to your residences, and simply by activating any of the gates spread throughout, you can enter it. The token is also used to leave it again. Each residence is placed in a neighborhood of sorts with individuals roughly around your level, but don’t fret, each residence

answer a question many had, but someone else did raise their hand: “How

individual rooms. Ah, in comparison, the ones with three stars above will have entire courtyards with several buildings, also giving ample space to house your servants or followers. It is also entirely possible for those with residences to just have others come stay with them if they so wish; it’s all up to them. And no, if you live in

but she subtly shook her head. He wanted to see if she had any interest in sharing his residences as he assumed he would get a big one,

a woman before besides his mother either, so

talking to others, which was when Jake discovered the tokens also worked

Jake said number, but it was more like a token signature bound to the inherent mana and

Jake decided to keep calling it

the other humans, but he declined all of them. Draskil was once more the first to leave without getting any numbers as he went over to a wall with a small magic circle on, held the token up, and made a Malefic Dragonkin-sized gateway appear. He stepped through, and

it appeared, while Jake had a brief talk with Reika where he learned she would be with the one other bronze token alchemist while the others from the clan would be by themselves at their respective dorms. She also informed him one of them had died during the dungeon, which Jake had kind

left, Irinixis quickly came over and stood beside him.

him special interest. Well, a special interest that she didn’t show the other people with outstanding performances. She hadn’t tried this with Draskil or any of the Risen but seemed to only focus on him. Maybe she just didn’t find Scalekin or Risen to her

and easy to do with the token, and when he stepped through, he didn’t feel any discomfort or even movement of space. Whatever space magic was

sunlight and the lush green courtyard before him with a large house standing atop some stairs. It had a black glass façade, and Jake instantly felt a bit weird looking at it because it looked

for potions, he noted. Entire flowerbeds were lining

the common areas were gone. In there, the only one he knew was still looking from the outside was a certain snake god. So that was

see the bright sun and a blue sky above. He instinctively knew it was not a real star, but it was really fucking close. As in, Jake didn’t doubt there was an actual celestial object above; it was

took his time to inspect the house himself as he walked closer. Mind you, he needed to walk closer as the walkway with grass and trees on

continuing. Tiled floors, concrete walls, glass facades. He even saw modern-looking furniture, but he didn’t really consider it as he also spotted someone

open hall with a tall ceiling with several large sculptures giving off light hanging

she knelt on the ground. Jake instantly used Identify as he

[Elf – lvl 109]

elves he had ever seen looked young. She had the usual pointed ears and a generally slender build too. She