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.

pay extra. Not that Jake was poor,

he would keep using the mask. The compromise they reached was the hood becoming able to meld into the rest of the neck of the coat. Jake still had no idea what kind of sorcery was going on, especially considering it wasn’t

a sugar daddy is hard,” Villy sighed as

“I have to ask, are you planning on attending the

enjoy fucking with people for my own entertainment, I only bother to mess with people I find entertaining to do

not even that guy you gave a Divine Blessing? I assume you did have some interest in him,” Jake asked. He knew Divine Blessings were considered

He is a good seed but is ultimately just one gamble of many. If he manages to reach A-grade or maybe S-grade, I probably will begin paying attention, but he isn’t worth my time as he is right now. Chances are he will die before I bother,”

reached a wall with

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

become a god and thus immortal, and with that assumption in mind, treating the current you as immortal already

godhood,” Jake

same thing, right? You are just a bit more fragile, that’s all,” the snake god laughed. “Speaking of being fragile, I have an appointment with Duskleaf, and he is gonna get mad if he finds out I split my attention between the two of

surprise. “You actually have productive

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 counts as

I have to leave soon too, but need to make my gift

See you around,” Villy said

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

before he saw a head peek out down the large entry hall, as

get the ingredients I

up to Jake and summoned three glass boxes with herbs in each. “Yes! They

try and stuff items into a damn oversized satchel just got silly. She had protested a bit, to begin with, but Jake had insisted. Besides, he had found out

apparently were incredibly valuable for those walking a merchant path due to opportunities given by the integration.

the rate a 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

of poison that one just had to bring when invited to a social function within the Order. Anything

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, but it

and prepared himself to go. He went to the living room where Meira was already waiting as Jake flopped down on a couch. Jake sighed a bit as he looked up at the

the matter,

the bar after a house party ended, but would rather just head home and chill… and

across from him, waiting

presence is somehow contrary to what the event is all about. There are so many norms, spoken and unspoken, making

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 considered my lessers. Subconsciously, at least, I viewed them as such. Like I was surrounded

I may?” Meira

feeling a