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.

do not misunderstand; I merely

he could react. The moment he did so, Jake felt another presence appear that had been observing

down his face from the claws digging in.

that even Draskil would back down when a

up and put a hand on Draskil’s shoulder. “Chill and sit down. Ignore the morons

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

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

rejection is gracefully done,”

when actions are more effective,” Draskil just

hand towards a bottle of beer on the table

on its own as it flew into 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.

Power,” Draskil

Power is the

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

any C-grades

at Jake as he raised

were you when you killed your first?” Jake further

or 174. Why?” Draskil asked

for a dick-measuring contest,” Jake

of one’s genitalia matter when

his head in response. “Not going to explain that one

Who had even come up with such

as he kept drinking. The two of them relaxed a bit more and just talked about good fights they had in

been officially “killed,” and it was a shitshow while Draskil had killed everyone else in his Tutorial. One thing was for sure, Draskil was not a kindhearted dragonkin, and his path so far had been one where he killed most others who got in his way. He did own a Pylon and had

had their own corner where they chilled with other scalekin who sometimes joined

them, in fact. One was Irin, but she looked a bit nervous as she walked

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

Jake at first

again,” Jake just greeted her

she greeted him

Draskil and Irin as well as several scalekin to hear. Irin looked at Jake with surprise, and Draskil looked bewildered for a moment

out his Bloodline like that was

isn’t it? Just because I rejected you once you come to cause trouble like

up a façade of ignorance, grace, and civility, but Jake didn’t. He knew his Bloodline would

ignorant as predicted. “I am uncertain what you mean? If I remember correctly, our last meeting ended with you taking time to think about

a Bloodline?” Draskil butted in before Jake could

before turning back to Helen. “And that thinking period is now over. I honestly liked the straightforward approach the first time around, but this manipulative bullshit

a bad time, and you seem