The Primal Hunter

Ah, politics. Jake hated doing it with a passion which is why he always outsourced it whenever possible. He hadn’t liked it before the system either. He wasn’t talking about the large political things like elections and such, but the small political maneuvering everyone did in their daily lives.

One example was making friends with certain other employees for their positions and then leveraging that friendship whenever needed. Jake knew it was almost expected that managers made friends with certain people in the HR department, so they had an ally to back them up on most issues.

People also did this with their bosses. In fact, the best example was how everyone was always way nicer to their boss than any other “equal” employee. How if the boss didn’t like anyone, everyone else also ostracized that employee to stay in the good graces of their glorious leader. Anyone who chose to show sympathy would naturally fall into the same camp as the pariah and be shunned themselves.

Jake had always hated this with a passion. Ass-lickers and sycophants who he didn’t doubt would throw their own mother under a bus for a promotion and a pat on the back from boss almighty. He knew their look, and as he saw the approaching crowd, he recognized it all too well.

Many plans were being formed in his mind on how to handle them. On the one hand, he knew offending them could lead to trouble down the road, not just for him but Miranda and others too, but on the other hand, he really didn’t wanna deal with them but set a hard line in the sand.

Luckily for him, Draskil didn’t have any of Jake’s reservations.

“The fuck you two want?” he aggressively asked the collection of humans, elves, and a few beastkin who went over.

“I apologize, Lord Draskil. We did not mean to disturb you. We merely meant to ask if we could borrow Lord Hunter for a minute to discu-”

“No, fuck off, we’re busy,” Draskil sneered as he stared them down. Jake just kept his mouth shut, and when they looked at him, he just shrugged powerlessly while inwardly wanting to give the dragonkin a high-five.

“Please, I promise to be brief,” the human insisted again, but Draskil was having none of it.

“Are you blind? We are drinking, so if you want to talk, grab a drink and sit down or leave us be.”

Well, okay, that wasn’t exactly what Jake had planned, but he guessed it would be an okay compromise. Also, he needed an opportunity to give his gift, so maybe it would work out? His only problem was that he hadn’t really seen anyone give anything either – besides the boot-lickers – so he wasn’t really sure if he even wanted to.

The human and elf pair exchanged a glance before eventually moving to sit down. However, behind them, an early C-grade elf suddenly stopped them by raising his hand.

“Young man, showing courtesy is a virtue. There is no need for such an attitude, and you would do well to correct it,” the elf said, not to Jake but Draskil.

The dragonkin stood up and stared at the C-grade dead in the eye. “And you would do well to know when you are out of your league.”

An aura descended as Draskil let his presence loose, and Jake had to raise an eyebrow and keep himself calm. He clenched his fists a bit as his instincts made it clear… Draskil had gotten stronger. If Jake saw him as only slightly stronger when they entered the Order, he was now far more powerful… and he even had a feeling that initial evaluations had been slightly off.

“Oh yeah… I guess I never told you,” he suddenly heard Villy’s voice. “The dragonkin killed his version of Snappy, and he isn’t really an alchemist at all. He is just a being of pure slaughter.”

Jake didn’t react outwardly, but inwardly he processed the information. Draskil beating his version of Snappy meant he killed one at level 190, 30 levels above the one Jake fought. Even if Jake believed he would have a chance now against the 160 one, he knew he would be utterly outclassed against one at level 190.

And Jake was also very sure that a level 190 Snappy would have been able to utterly destroy most early C-grades… especially if they were someone clearly not combat-focused like the C-grade attendant that had come with the human and elf.

Killing intent mixed with an odd feeling of emptiness rolled across the hall from Draskil as he towered over the elf who had seemed so confident before. However, the moment Draskil released his power, the elf clearly realized he had fucked up.

misunderstand; I merely

grasped the C-grade by the face before he could react. The moment he did so, Jake felt another presence appear that had been observing them from the start as a

newcomer and let go of the stupid attendant who fell to the floor with blood running down his face from the claws digging in. The scaled figure saw this, nodded, and was gone

would back down when a random A-grade

himself as the dominant party. Jake got up and put

turned his head and looked at Jake before just smirking and sitting back down casually like nothing had ever happened. Jake followed suit, but not before telling the elf and human pair: “I have no interest in aligning myself with any faction. Oh, and trust me, the competition you would have to beat if I was interested isn’t in your league. As for your whole idea of an alliance, I

in understanding before turning to leave again. The C-grade representative

is gracefully

more effective,” Draskil

as he held out his hand towards a bottle of beer

still far too weak to use Words of Power for anything useful in combat, but it was still a fun technique. “Behold,

of Power,” Draskil

the power of

bit as they each enjoyed their drinks. Jake finally decided to ask something he now wondered about after seeing the display

any

at Jake as he raised

level were you when you killed your first?” Jake

or 174. Why?” Draskil asked

not looking for a dick-measuring contest,” Jake laughed it

of one’s genitalia matter when killing?” Draskil asked with genuine

in response. “Not going to explain that one to

because he couldn’t. Who had even come up with

shrugging it off as he kept drinking. The two of them relaxed a bit more and just talked about good fights they had in the past, and Jake came to learn that he and Draskil both had in

his way. He

and political maneuvering was ongoing all around. They just had their own corner where they chilled with other scalekin who sometimes joined in, and Jake learned a lot about the different

kept on until Jake felt a familiar presence approach. Two of them, in fact. One was Irin, but she looked a bit nervous as she walked beside another figure Jake had met with not that long ago. The dragonkin Helen had also decided to pay a

again, but he just stared at their approach. He seemed almost transfixed and was still just staring

to grace this lowly event with her presence,” Irin said. Jake at first thought it was done

just greeted

Patriarch Hunter,” she greeted him

to hear. Irin looked at Jake with surprise, and Draskil looked bewildered for a moment before

that was honestly a bit

petty, isn’t it? Just because I rejected you once you come to cause trouble like a little girl who didn’t get what she wanted the

wanted to keep up a façade of ignorance, grace, and civility, but Jake didn’t. He knew his Bloodline would be shared eventually, but to openly out him like this just wasn’t okay and

“I am uncertain what you mean? If I remember correctly, our last meeting ended with you taking

butted in before Jake

now over. I honestly

stared at him in disbelief for a moment and decided to leave. “Very well, I can see I engaged you at a bad time, and you seem to have had a bit too much to drink. Let us have this discussion in a more private setting the next time? We could even go