The Primal Hunter

Jake had done something he had never thought he would do. In fact, he was pretty sure no one would have ever thought the current situation that was currently playing out as possible.

He stood in a dressing room as an elf wearing a fancy robe scrutinized his appearance and talked to an attendant about getting a new type of cloth Jake had never heard of. The attendant quickly ran for it as the tailor spoke.

“No, no, you need something to truly bring forth that ferocious look of yours. One that can emphasize those wonderful eyes and mask properly!” the elf said with much fervor.

“I did like the first set quite a bit, and to truly show his personality and interests, how about embroidering the cloak it with mushroom symbols?” a fourth person said. It was a scalekin with dark green scales and a cheeky smile that looked on as Jake was getting outfitted.

“Yeah, that is never going to happen,” Jake rejected instantly.

“I must agree; it would not at all go with his style!” the tailor said, fully backing up Jake. A smart man, it seemed.

The scalekin, who also happened to be the leader of the Order and a Primordial, just scuffed in disappointment as he held up both his hands. “Fine, but at least keep the snake symbol on the back of the robe.”

“Naturally, anything else would be blasphemous as he holds the Blessing of the Malefic One!” the tailor said, looking offended at Villy like he had truly spoken out of turn.

“Yeah, Villy, don’t act all blasphemous,” Jake agreed teasingly.

“I would never! None is greater than the magnificent Malefic Viper! I cannot imagine anyone acting blasphemously, or even worse, heretically towards such a being!” Villy practically yelled, earning a satisfied nod from the tailor.

“Well said! But who would even dare to be a heretic?” the tailor said as he shook his head, chuckling.

Villy and Jake exchanged a look and a smile just as the attendant returned, bringing a rectangular piece of cloth. It was to be made into some kind of shawl, but Jake quickly rejected it. The tailor was a bit disappointed but relented as he agreed on going with what he called a “warrior look” rather than a sophisticated hidden hunter with a slight desert theme.

As for how Jake had ended up in this situation… well, the answer naturally lay with a certain snake god. Villy had told Jake he needed to look “proper dapper” if he was going to his first party and that he should go out and get a new party outfit.

Jake had agreed as, quite frankly, he did feel a bit out of place, always wearing his full equipment no matter where he went. While it didn’t exactly attract attention as people honestly dressed weirdly, he would prefer to wear something more casual at times. He was lucky he at least wore lighter armor, as he could already imagine if he was a warrior walking around in full plate armor going to lessons – something he had seen dozens of times within the Order.

The set he was getting currently consisted of a pair of nice dress pants and a weird shirt. He called it weird because while it had buttons, it also didn’t have buttons. Whenever he closed a button, the cloth just melded together, while it stayed visible and open if he opened one. It was honestly odd.

Over that, he wore a weird mix of a trenchcoat and a normal cloak with a large motif of a snake on the back. He came to learn only those with a Blessing were allowed to even have this specific symbol on their clothes, and the tailor was visibly excited at being allowed to make such a piece of clothing.

His shoes were the biggest thing that needed changing, at least according to the tailor. Jake didn’t know why old scuffed leather boots weren’t in fashion, but they clearly didn’t sit well with the fancy elf. He looked like Jake was committing some cardinal sin just by wearing them, especially when Jake said he had originally planned to wear them to a social function.

The entire set wasn’t actually considered equipment, even if it was high quality. If he wanted to have it be made into actual equipment giving stats and such, he would have to pay extra as the items would need further energy infusion and crafting time.

Villy pay extra. Not that

mask – yes, he would keep using the mask. The compromise they reached was the hood becoming able to meld into the rest of the neck

daddy is hard,” Villy sighed as they entered the

smirked. “I have to ask,

enjoy fucking with people for my own entertainment, I only bother to mess with people I find entertaining to do so with. A bunch of random D-grades does not fall into that category,”

some interest in him,” Jake asked. He knew Divine Blessings were considered high-tier, so Jake would find it weird if Villy had just given it

I probably will

D-grade,” Jake chuckled as the two of them reached a wall with a teleportation gateway on. They were scattered throughout the entire city and

friend,” Villy answered. He did sigh and looked a bit more serious as they went through the gateway

with that assumption in mind, treating the current you

godhood,” Jake shook his

same thing, right? You are just a bit more fragile, that’s all,” the snake god laughed. “Speaking of being fragile, I have an

with exaggerated surprise. “You actually have productive things to do? Also, how

Order of the Malefic Viper? No, let me rephrase that. How is making sure my Chosen presents himself the best he can not important? As for Duskleaf, well, his poor ego would suffer, so that

leave soon too, but need to make my gift first,” Jake

See you around,” Villy said

using gates when he can just teleport us around casually? Jake questioned as the god

down the large entry hall, as Meira had finally dared come out, having no doubt been waiting for the

get the ingredients

Jake and summoned three

course, Jake had gotten her one of those. Seeing her try and stuff items into a damn oversized satchel just

transferred to him, but he could spend it. At the same time, the Credits from his universe apparently were incredibly valuable for those walking a merchant path due to opportunities given by the integration. Especially merchant gods. This meant that the Order offered the transfer of Credits to contribution points of AC at a way higher rate for those

bit weird in that it was so straightforward, but Villy had told him the exchange rate was set by what was essentially a council of merchant gods or something to make sure competition didn’t go crazy. Yep, it appeared the entire multiversal financial industry was effectively run by an oligopoly of

asked Meira to help him procure were for a very specific kind of poison that one just had to bring when invited to a social function within the Order. Anything else than bringing a good

new clothes and back into his usual getup as he did some alchemy for the next one and a half hours. He had been mentally planning this poison since the moment he got the invitation, and he was already looking forward to the effects it would have. Of course, he didn’t try to make it lethal,

quickly got on his dapper outfit and prepared himself to go. He went to the living room where

anything the matter,

to never want to go to the bar after a house party ended,

across from him,

that you can’t avoid getting into. I always feel out of place, like my presence is somehow contrary to what the event is all about. There are so many norms,

well, one of the reasons anyway. You see, my Bloodline is quite peculiar… I am quite peculiar. I don’t tend to deal well with rules in general, and reflecting back on everything before the system arrived, I understand that it wasn’t just dealing with rules, but dealing with rules set by those I

may?”

Jake asked, feeling a bit embarrassed at his