The Primal Hunter

Jake had been put on the spot, and while he had wanted to reject the invitation, his curiosity had eventually won out. And in hindsight, he was glad he did as he came to see much of the Order he hadn’t before.

He had not gone home after the lesson but went with the female dragonkin through a portal to what was essentially a buzzing metropolitan area with bars, cafes, restaurants, and shops everywhere. All of them catered to members of the Order, and it was truly a massive area.

Passing the gateway had also shrugged off all the annoying followers who had stared after Jake like he was evil incarnate. No, he was not looking forward to meeting many of them again at the lesson the next day.

The two of them headed towards a café that offered private rooms to have their discussion. Using personal residences for discussions with people you didn’t trust was rarely done, and Jake could see why. The rules of safety seemed to primarily dominate in public areas, and giving someone access to a residence also meant those people would potentially see your secrets.

What plants you grew, the laboratory, books in the library, or just something as simple as the atmospheric mana were all clues. That poison alchemists of an evil snake-worshipping cult were secretive didn’t come as a surprise.

Jake and the dragonkin soon found themselves within a cozy room as an attendant brought them both a cup of some weird drink Jake didn’t recognize. However, he felt the toxins within it. He had allowed the dragonkin to order for them, and he didn’t think she wanted to poison him. Well, okay, she did want to poison him, but the good kind of poison.

“So, the elephant in the room?” Jake eventually said, his Tongue of the Myriad Races doing work to translate the figure of speech to something understandable.

“I believe an introduction is finally in order before we do that. I am Helenstromoz Emberflight, pleased to make your acquaintance,” she said as she nodded.

“Hunter,” Jake just said, sticking to his fake name. When he heard the last name of the dragonkin, he already knew what this was about. “What gave me away?”

The dragonkin just smiled. “Many things… it is hard to hide from an A-grade even if you have means to perfectly mask your level and even possess a Bloodline. The mana lingering on your body is from the ninety-third universe, and the knowledge you displayed did not correspond to what a true master would do. Finally, during the brief discussion with you, he switched languages a total of seventeen times without you noticing… in fact, I have already spoken three during this brief talk. Even if you do have a translation skill, they don’t tend to be that effective, and more often than not, you switch language fluidly with your conversation partner. You did not,” Helenstromoz said with a light smile.

Jake didn’t even know what to say. He had never even considered Tongue to be a dead giveaway, though in hindsight, perhaps he should have. The problem was Jake had no counter currently, so he just took a drink from the poison the restaurant offered. It was tasty as hell, and he gladly just savored the taste for a few moments before answering. “That answered the how he found out, but not why you are here. Helenstromoz, was it?”

“He suspected you had a Bloodline and sent me to check for obvious reasons,” Helenstromoz answered. “And please, just call me Helen. The Stromoz suffix is used to communicate someone is truly a dragon or at least was a true dragon at some point. Us descendants of true dragons are allowed to also have it, so it is truly more about status than anything else.”

“While I am thankful for the dragon lore, it doesn’t truly answer the question of why you chose to come and stay for a lesson you clearly did not need and bring me here for a private discussion. It took you five seconds to confirm I had a Bloodline, didn’t it?” Jake said, shaking his head as he took another sip of poison drink. Yep, definitely a fan.

Helen seemed to study his responses quite closely as Jake enjoyed his drink. She also took a sip herself as she spoke again.

“Bloodlines are rare. I assume you know this despite coming from a new universe?”

Jake just nodded in confirmation, as while he didn’t think it was common knowledge Bloodlines even existed back on Earth, it would be odd for him not to have found out.

hopefully integrating

indeed have a backer if you can call it that, but no faction besides the Order,” Jake said. He knew acting like he didn’t would be moronic as he had just spent hundreds of thousands of AC on a single lesson, something he clearly couldn’t afford

a bit as she wondered out loud. “I do wonder who it could be… not even A-grades can toss around that many AC on a single lesson they barely get anything out of. An S-grade? Gods are out of the question as the

god invest in him when the only ones to benefit would be Villy? The reason why gods helped mortals was to get rewards from the system based

Helen’s questioning: “My backer does indeed have some influence in the Order, but why is that

true requirements of loyalty to the faction itself, so if you don’t, I just wanted to let you know there are many doors open to you. Of course, it will require an evaluation to know the true nature of your Bloodline, but if it is deemed of high

Jake thought. Probably didn’t count if

any faction as of the current time,” Jake

on fully dedicating yourself to the Order. Tell me, how much do you know of the Emberflight?” Helen asked. She

and he knew

of the red dragons. We have hundreds of publicly-appearing gods in our ranks and stand as a true top faction of the multiverse

was meant to be very impressed, but he had been firmly desensitized after spending

are these Draconian

the Primordial known as the Wyrmgod. The Wyrmgod later established Nevermore and no longer has any connection to the accords, but an alliance and close working relationship still persist. There were originally only five Dragonflights in it, the Emberflight one of them,” she explained, Jake really getting his fill of old

doubt was general knowledge. She did take a jab, though. “I

took the jab. “However, my answer remains the same. I currently have no interest in joining a faction. I am not saying this won’t change in the future, but I am not the type to be

a reason, but she didn’t seem

a presence far more powerful than you actually are. That it has

along, gladly confirming that is what his Bloodline did, as he and Villy had agreed on that being a good idea a while ago. Better they thought that was

getting to the part he actually cared about himself. So far, he only knew of two Bloodlines. His own and Eron’s. Learning

Bloodline of the main clan back in the Land of Embers. I cannot share the exact details of the Bloodline as I am under oath, but I am authorized to say it involves the manipulation of fire magic, the concept of flames, and the concept of time,”

asked, a bit surprised. Did that mean he could change or evolve

Bloodlines, and they merged to form mine. You seem to not

sent to Villy right there

you with the intent of having you act like a prize-bull and pump out children left and right. Preferably with other people who possess Bloodlines to hope for them not only to get lucky and inherit one Bloodline but get the Bloodlines of both parents and even

many

a red dragon on it and handed it to Jake. “I would like to at least invite you to a more

just want to focus

would prefer to see you at a higher grade too,” she finally relented as she