The Primal Hunter

Jake stepped through the gate as he appeared at the back wall of what looked like a massive lecture hall. The hall had nearly a hundred meters to the ceiling and a large stage down at the bottom where Jake saw a dwarf that he assumed was the teacher. He was currently talking to a few scalekins as he showed off a cauldron to them.

The rest of the hall was already pretty filled. Jake looked around and guessed there had to be at least a few thousand present already, with more coming every second from other gates opening up all around him. A brief scan revealed around half of those present to be scalekins of different variants, with the rest a mixture of all kinds of races.

Everyone was E or D-grades, too, with the majority in D-grade. Jake decided to just find somewhere vacant as he took a seat, very curious as to how a lesson in the Order of the Malefic Viper would function. He did see many others already had cauldrons out and were tinkering a bit with them.

About ten minutes later, right at the assigned time, the lesson began.

The dwarf down on the stage stood before everyone as he spread out his hands. “Welcome to the first lesson of Blaze it! I ain’t gonna waste your time with pleasantries but just get to the core of it. You all want to learn how to kill people using your cauldrons and Alchemical Flame, and I am happy to oblige!”

Instantly the very informal mood was set.

“Alchemical Flame is a cornerstone of alchemy that anyone who reaches E-grade as an alchemist possesses. We use it to control the temperature of the cauldron, salvage material, control concoctions, brewings, and so many other things. It is darn versatile, yet it has the weakness of being as useless as anything can get when it comes to killing things.

“Despite the name, the flame isn’t actually related to the fire affinity whatsoever. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t related to the concept of flames. Flames can come in many shapes and is more an expression of form, movement, and phenomena than anything else. A flame can be hot or cold, it can be corrosion incarnate or so full of life it can near-revive a damn Risen, but even then… it can’t kill for shit, and even if you have a flame full of vitality, you won’t be able to heal anyone with it. Because the Alchemical Flame is conceptually not made for combat, no matter how powerful it gets. Ah, but of course, we found ways around that, which is where combat cauldrons come in.”

The dwarf wished over a cauldron as it appeared before him.

“Ya see, I ain’t got shit talent in fire magic and never did, but I was pretty good at controlling my Alchemical Flame. This is why I began working the path of combat cauldrons. We spent so long honing our flames that some have even been able to integrate a Soulflame to make it even more powerful, so not using it for self-defense or killing is just a damn crime.

“It is also a way to address the oft-seen disparity in class and profession level of a creator, and an even better method for those who only have a profession. Now, the design of the cauldron will naturally depend on what kind of flame you-“

Jake sat back as he listened to the dwarf explain more about what one had to look for. He displayed a bit with his own cauldron as he activated it. An odd brown flame was emitted from the combat cauldron, and he had someone bring in a beast trapped in a cage.

The brown flame moved over, and the moment it touched the beast, it began turning to stone as it was petrified within seconds. The dwarf then displayed how the flame did nothing to the bars around the beast and explained how one would need to carefully make sure the type of flame deployed would work against different kinds of lifeforms.

It was all very intriguing, but Jake quickly began to realize none of this was truly something he needed. There was nothing about the flame itself, but instead, it was purely how one could create or commission cauldrons capable of changing the nature of the flame and then use the cauldron as a catalyst. There would also be later lessons about how one could make use of the inside of the cauldron itself to further empower the flames by mixing in poison or other ingredients.

The funniest part of it all was when the dwarf explained one other thing, though… how to use the cauldron as an actual weapon. How the flame could be used as a tether, and he displayed himself attacking with the cauldron telekinetically and how one could infuse the inside with flames and release it in surprise attacks. The flames inside would also be able to infuse the cauldron with certain properties if it was well-designed, such as if one had a cold flame, then the cauldron itself could give off an intense ice aura and give frost burn to any it hit.

part of using combat cauldrons was

was aimed at individuals who were truly pure alchemists to give them a fighting chance by using their alchemy skills in combat directly. It required a special cauldron to function. Even if the dwarf teacher did say

on improving that, he could get something far better. He

be directly used as a weapon without any auxiliary assistance. However, these Soulflames will inadvertently also be far less useful in the alchemical process, so they are heavily de-incentivized. The only ones who should ever consider getting

there aren’t Soulflames able to do both, but good luck getting one of those, much less control them. Leave those to

again. Soulflame. He had seen it mentioned in the descriptions of the lesson from the A-grade dragon too, and here it was again. The thing is, Jake had no idea what a Soulflame

as while the dwarf was at a higher level than Jake, and his skills in using

wanted to stay out of respect for the teacher and also to

lesson and straight back home easily at any point. This did mean Jake had no fucking idea where he was or went on any geographical or even spatial level. He would have no way back if the gate didn’t activate after a

he found Meira already awaiting his return. She bowed when she saw him, as he took the initiative to

the five most

she held up five pieces of paper like they were the holy grail. Jake groaned internally at how she acted but took the papers nevertheless. He looked them over quickly and was in two minds

Novice Alchemists. Which was, for all intents and purposes, a damn good choice.

How To Identify the Ideal

themselves to a more powerful alchemist to learn from them and even included tips and tricks on some unsavory stuff to gain favor, aiming specifically at males and females going for a master of the opposite gender. How the hell

it was kind of interesting, but not in

In fact, it was the best of all the options. It was more a philosophy lesson and workshop to realize what you truly desired and practical tests

Jake understood, kinda, but that didn’t mean he agreed

taken his time as he looked them over. He then regarded her and asked. “Can you explain your reason behind

He had not said

touches on essential subjects an alchemist of the Order will no doubt need down the line, and it can help create a

notice one issue. Meira had misunderstood who it was supposed to be interesting for. She maybe had the assumption this was for some subordinate of Jake or something, and while she wasn’t entirely wrong,

why is it interesting?” Jake asked

with the Order’s focus on toxins, it an ideal choice,”

She simply didn’t seem to get what interesting meant. She kept talking about the usefulness and not why something was interesting. Jake would have said it was interesting because concocting more effectively would allow him to make better poisons that would then allow

why would you want to learn to concoct poison better?” Jake asked. “And in this

answer for a good five seconds. She finally spoke after half a dozen seconds with confusion: “I am not sure this one understands the assignment? If it is wished

five papers with lessons on them back on the pile on the alchemy table with the others. “Take the lessons again and look them over. Choose five you think are interesting. Not that you think will be interesting for an alchemist of the Order. Choose five and explain why they are interesting to you. You have three days to pick them, and you can come to ask me questions in the

bowed after he