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.

to how propagation works with the system.

but I have a feeling I know. You can’t

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

nevertheless asked. “Did that ever lead

them young and indoctrinated them into pretty much making them true members of the 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 be powerful. The Bloodline alone is nice, but the

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

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, as

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 to propagate, and blindly hunting them down became frowned upon, and it became

they will just

dare try,” Villy

of my

back then… until something happened that made it change. Until they went after someone they shouldn’t have, and all hell was unleashed upon them, leading to a treaty that still stands today, banning the abductions, enslavement, and coercion of those with Bloodlines for purposes of procreations,” the Viper said. When he got to the middle part, Jake felt the

pry but knew better. Instead, he asked a question, slightly changing

of any who breaks this treaty. The most known 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 been mostly deemed a draw. He was confident, but he felt like he needed more. So he looked

listened closely as nothing came as a surprise. He knew

the women of the clan to be his own mistresses to sire powerful children and the men

one no one ever dares break. Even I would not dare do it. Back then, seven Primordials descended. Umbra went, Snappy went in my place, more than ten thousand gods surrounded the planet the Pantheon 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 he was a top talent, one not even another Primordial could kill in single combat, he

to either? I have a hard time seeing someone like Eversmile purposefully avoiding doing certain things just due

bastard, but he is not a liar. His word means more than you can

still believing Eversmile was an asshole. “Anyway, to conclude, this treaty means I am more

other reason to. As I am sure you can imagine, they would have loved to make Bloodline Holders into slaves, but you can’t enslave people with Bloodlines as we talked about

was beginning to get a good understanding of the situation by now. “The method you talked about working

a faction recruits someone with a Bloodline as a member or even just bribes them or pays them

like people with Bloodlines are still treated as