The Primal Hunter

Jake and Villy moved to the living room of Jake’s mansion, and when Jake went to grab something to drink, the Viper just pulled out two beer bottles that gave off a response from his Sense of the Malefic Viper. Poison beer, nice.

They sat down across from each other as the Viper leaned back on the couch and began talking.

“Bloodlines have quite the history in the multiverse. As those with Bloodlines are often compared to Transcendents, it only leads to more scrutiny and interest, especially from those who possess neither. Bloodlines were a thing from the beginning, and many of those with Bloodlines in the first universe did grow up to be powerhouses who dominated, even if they failed to make it to godhood. Naturally, as time moved on, many also became gods… but their survival rate back then was just abysmal.”

“Why?” Jake asked, a bit confused. Did a Bloodline not give an advantage if it was beneficial?

“Hm… did you know not a single one of us Primordials had Bloodlines? At least not ones anyone knew about?” Villy asked

“No,” Jake shook his head. “I had kind of assumed someone did… though it is true I didn’t feel one from Valdemar, and does the current Eversmile even have one? I didn’t feel it. Not from Stormild either, now that I think about it…”

“Stormild does not have one as far as I know, while Eversmile does, his is just hidden due to the nature of his Bloodline. Well, he may have had it always, but no one knew, not even others with Bloodlines. The point is no one with a known Bloodline became a god during the first Era.”

“That is odd,” Jake thought out loud.

“No, not if you understand the landscape back then. You see, people are greedy. Beasts, humans, elementals, it doesn’t matter the race. We are all greedy for power. So when we see someone with something we don’t have, and we don’t know how to get it… we try anyway to take it, no matter how futile the effort. If you had a Bloodline back then, you had a target on your back. In the beginning, because people wanted to capture you and try to extract it, with even rumors spreading that you could gain a Bloodline by consuming someone who had one,” the Viper explained, shaking his head.

“That sounds fucking rough,” Jake said.

“Oh, it was. This was how the entire first Era went. Most with Bloodlines were slaughtered before realizing their potential, and those who survived lived as test subjects until their death. It was a curse more than anything else. Some with Bloodlines were used as Bloodline Detectors and were strutted around to find others with Bloodlines to capture them. Towards the end of the first Era, I don’t think a single person in S-grade even had a Bloodline.

“When the second Era began, people seemed to have gotten the message that you can’t steal Bloodlines, especially as we Primordials spread it with our nascent factions. However, it was discovered that they could be passed down, so I guess you can imagine the next step in the evolution of Bloodline hunting?” Villy asked grimly.

“Treat them like cattle?” Jake asked with a deep frown.

it was even worse than before, especially due to how propagation works with the system. Have we ever had the

feeling I know. You can’t force it, can

of their body to ignore physiological stimuli, and even if they don’t, you can’t make kids without both parties consciously wanting to. Giving birth to a new life takes intent the same as most kinds of magic. The female cannot get pregnant, and the male cannot impregnate unless they both wish for it to happen. In what should not have been a surprise to absolutely anyone, people with Bloodlines that have practically been turned into sex slaves aren’t exactly excited about becoming parents. Women and men alike were forced into being nothing more than cattle for their masters or dying. It was a shitshow,” Villy explained. One could feel the disgust in his voice… as well as a wave of deep-seated anger. Jake knew

nevertheless asked. “Did

clan… some also just broke and began helping out of desperation. Ultimately, it wasn’t efficient in the least, and there is also the fact that you want the one with the Bloodline to

the ones who got the most out of it were those who used a more diplomatic approach. The ones who genuinely made them members of their factions, nurtured them, allowed them to prosper, and even sometimes had them end up the new leaders. In fact, this is how many still-existing factions began. There was also a

with Bloodlines can find others. How the hell did they hunt them down? I doubt those with Bloodlines themselves would help, and unless something was drastically different back then, I don’t see every team of hunters having someone with a Bloodline enthralled,

talented? Bloodline. Odd affinity they are good at? Bloodline. Anything at all making you slightly stand out from the masses? Probably a Bloodline. It even expanded to beasts where variants were often confused as ones having Bloodlines… the entire situation was utterly fucked and in no way sustainable long-term. Yet it continued, and this craze came in waves. However, there was a shift as more with Bloodlines came to be in power, especially when ones reached godhood. Bloodlines began

will just be secretive about it?” Jake asked a

will dare try,”

my Blessing,

unleashed upon them, leading to a treaty that still stands today, banning

better. Instead, he asked a question, slightly changing

example was during the eighty-second Era when a Pantheon emerged that didn’t seem to care. They had many gods among them and were desperate for expansion. At the same time, a small clan that was rapidly growing to power appeared within their territory, all having powerful Bloodlines. The Pantheon’s leader was a god who was most known for having fought the Starsiezing Titan, another Primordial, and the fight having

came as a surprise.

The problem was that he also forced them into propagating their Bloodline. He forced the women of the clan to be his own mistresses to

called home. A slaughter began, the god in charge fled to his realm, where he was promptly followed and killed within. Even if he was stronger in there… even if

hard time seeing someone like Eversmile purposefully avoiding

break the treaty, but he won’t. Eversmile is a bit of a bastard, but he is not a liar. His word

treaty means I am

kidnapping is to research or forcefully spread the Bloodline. Not that there is much other reason to. As I am sure you can imagine, they would have loved to make Bloodline Holders

to get a good understanding of the situation by now.

with a Bloodline as a member or even just bribes them or pays them to join temporarily as mercenaries to have them

with Bloodlines are still treated as commodities,” Jake