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.

not misunderstand; I

The moment he did so, Jake felt

over at the 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

even Draskil would back down when a

as the dominant party. Jake got up and put a hand on Draskil’s shoulder. “Chill and

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 shall let time decide if that ever becomes a necessity. However, as things are back on my homeworld, things are a bit too complicated for

briefly before nodding in understanding before turning to leave again. The C-grade representative also left

gracefully done,” Jake

actions are more effective,” Draskil just shook

out his hand towards a bottle of beer on the table and spoke:

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

of Power,”

the power of words,” Jake

drinks. Jake finally decided to ask something he

killed any

looked at Jake as he

level were you when you killed your first?”

Why?” Draskil asked

looking for a dick-measuring contest,” Jake laughed

genitalia matter when killing?” Draskil

response. “Not going to explain that one

he couldn’t. Who had even come up with such a

few moments before just 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 common that they were sole survivors of their Tutorials,

his way. He did own a Pylon and had a position similar to Jake’s, but he apparently had to go through three City Lords so far before he got one who didn’t get ambitious or tried to backstab him.

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 kinds of scalekins – a race far

approach. Two of them, in fact. One was Irin, but she looked a bit nervous as she walked beside another figure Jake

see if he would toss them away again, but he just stared at their approach.

with her presence,” Irin said. Jake at first thought it was done sarcastically, but she was one hundred percent sincere. The dragon lady had some social

Jake just greeted

do, Patriarch Hunter,” she greeted him

had spoken loud enough for Draskil and Irin as well as several scalekin to hear. Irin

his Bloodline like that was honestly a

it? Just because I rejected you once you come to cause trouble like a

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 wasn’t going to

to act ignorant as predicted. “I am uncertain what you mean? If I remember correctly,

Bloodline?” Draskil butted in before Jake

“And that thinking period is now over. I honestly liked the straightforward approach the first time around, but this

refusal and attitude. She 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