The Primal Hunter

Jake couldn’t help but reflect on what exactly Helen and the Emberflight Clan tried to accomplish by outing him. It was clearly a tactic of theirs, and Jake seriously doubted it was something the young mistress had suddenly decided on doing herself. It was deliberate and with a goal.

Irin decided to stick around Jake and Draskil, so he asked her some roundabout questions to get an idea, and he came to a rather quick understanding. In fact, Irin straight-up told him that he would probably be smart to make sure he had some kind of backing after today. Not to avoid getting kidnapped or some other stuff, but for anyone to want to back him.

When Jake said he already had a backer, Irin nodded in understanding and said: “Being pieces in the games of the powerhouses is never fun.”

Jake had taken a bit to understand, but it soon clicked… the Emberflight hadn’t done what they did today to get a response out of Jake; they wanted one out of his backer.

They were running with the assumption Jake had a powerful backer behind him, and that backer had to have influence over Jake, right? Helen showing up to a public meeting with several representatives from factions also clearly communicated the Emberflight Clan were interested in Jake, which would lead to two potential outcomes.

If a stronger faction became aware of Jake through the actions of the Emberflight, it would only reflect well on them. They would lose nothing besides recruiting Jake, something they maybe didn’t view as that high of a priority or as having that high of a probability. Or, maybe they just didn’t think a more powerful faction would bother.

The weaker factions would back off to not offend the Dragonflight or potentially harm a future working relationship. Jake had gathered that the Emberflight truly was considered a top-tier faction of the multiverse. They were not a peak-tier such as the Holy Church, Court of Shadows, or Altmar Empire, but were still not someone easily offended by any but the biggest of players.

They had just made one miscalculation… the Order of the Malefic Viper was considered a peak faction. The power of a faction was not decided by their size or area of influence but by their power. More accurately, the power of the god at its helm.

Now, if he thought about it, they had clearly never considered it possible the Malefic Viper was his backer. That made sense as that was so astronomically unlikely, so what they probably believed was that Jake had a powerful S-grade master who was a member of the Order. Either a true member part of a Hall or a normal member, but either way, this backer or master would no-doubt view Jake as a way to get in the good graces of another faction. Why else would an S-grade bother with a weak D-grade whose biggest redeeming feature was his Bloodline?

The backer would be made to choose, and the Emberflight were confident. Of course, not choosing would be an issue too. It would result in Jake being hounded until he made his position clear, and the backer would also find himself revealed soon enough and be pressured himself. Perhaps not directly, but indirectly. Moreover, this backer would get nothing out of Jake if he didn’t become part of a larger faction.

All of this boiled down to the basic assumption that Jake was nothing more than a chess piece in the game of powerful experts. A chess piece holding a valuable commodity to be traded away sooner or later, with the backer being the primary decider of how this would be done. This was naturally completely wrong, but if that is what they believed, the Emberflight Clan’s actions made a bit more sense. They never considered if offending Jake mattered or not, and even if they offended his backer, it would just be a measly S-grade.

Irin’s initial interpretation of the situation seemed to be identical to Jake’s, and she even admitted something as they spoke.

”I will be honest, my clan was interested in potentially recruiting you as an auxiliary member even before the Bloodline. Just due to the fact you had a Blessing, we believed it worth it. Now, with a Bloodline and a Dragonflight showing interest, I firmly believe they will back off. Our Matriarch is only A-grade, so offending the Emberflight Clan simply isn’t something we can afford.”

Draskil had just shrugged as his input boiled down to not caring about factions at all besides the Order of the Malefic Viper. The guy really looked up to Villy and was a true believer.

So… to summarize, the Emberflight Clan believed that what they had done today would put pressure on Jake and his backer to decide on a faction to join. As the backer would pick the faction that could offer the most, the Emberflight naturally assumed they were a popular choice.

wrong as can be, and Jake decided to stay away from any factions for now. Did he have the choice of joining the Order of the Malefic Viper for real in one of the Halls? Sure, but he also had the choice of just going ”Oh, by the way, Chosen of the Viper right here,” to get everyone off his back. If he said that, Jake would be viewed as not only a true member of the Order but the most important member

any thoughts?” Jake asked after reaching

the god answered

a few days, and the issues that are to follow?” he asked, knowing full well the Viper knew all

like a you-problem last time

you would be fine with me revealing my identity as your Chosen and using

when you choose to do so is up to you and you alone. You can invoke my name whenever you feel like it, as long as you want to deal with what it will bring. I will support you

just for advice then, any way to get around this entire Bloodline thing without revealing myself as your

yourself,” the god answered as his presence

gazes upon him at nearly all

had shown himself to be less than approachable. He tolerated the presence of the scalekin groupies and Irin, but Jake knew that protection would only last for this party, so for now, he just leaned back and

topic down and told her to relax. He didn’t know why she cared, but he did appreciate

of the party went by as Jake just sat back and drank with his new dragonkin buddy and Irin, who decided to stick around throughout the entire day.

only a few hours, it would be

of the massively expanded conference room. Golden projections of men and women lined the seats all around the room, all of them nobles of

Holy Church controlled close to a hundred Pylons of Civilization. They had more people within their territories than any other faction on the planet, and their strength had only consolidated and grown. Yet

one knew what had been the cause of the event either, and Jacob had tried to use his divination skills to find the cause but always came

curses and said they felt a powerful pulse of curse energy that day. The Church had looked into it, but it didn’t appear the Risen had done anything as

The power involved, if it truly was caused by an individual, would be very concerning. That is why they had officially stated it was system-caused, the same as most

the alternative would only cause

last meeting before the World Congress and had

regarded them all with a bright

assembly where we will discuss the Holy Church’s approach in the Second World

firmly believed they would gain more influence in than

and again. The pressure upon him was unlike anything a human could normally survive, but he persisted as the nearly twenty mages all around him focused on

enough, they ran out of mana as the pressure disappeared, and an attendant walked up to him with a

into droplets that floated

are you ready to meet the ministers?” another attendant came and asked. Several more also entered to