The Primal Hunter

Jake and Carmen stood outside of the small brick house. It looked cheaply built, which made sense as this was squarely in the slums of Puddlerock. Apparently, many of those who lived there had been exiled from Saint-something island due to breaking some of their stupid Holy Church rules. Or maybe they just had a bit too much independence to fit in.

“This is the place?” Carmen asked as Jake checked the paper in his hand.

“Definitely looks like it,” he nodded. “How did you find out about this Clinton guy anyway?”

“The Holy Church isn’t the only faction with people able to divine stuff. Valhal has Rune Seers and stuff like that. I just got in touch with one of the better ones, and she used my Records to track my family by linking me to them. This is how she found this guy, too, as his karma is deeply tied to theirs,” Carmen explained.

“I see,” Jake nodded. He still wasn’t clear on how Carmen wanted him to track her family, considering he had yet to see anything to go from that wasn’t just good old detective work. For the Primas, he could use their energy signatures, and he would need something similar if he was to track humans.

“Why are we stalling, by the way?” Jake then asked.

“I wasn’t,” Carmen said defensively as she raised her hand to knock on the door. She hesitated a bit before she finally built up the courage.

She knocked two times as the two of them waited. Jake wasn’t worried about no one being home, considering he could already see the man inside sitting in a chair reading a book. He was on the older side, probably in his late fifties to early sixties. Also, inside the house, Jake had already spotted a lot of fishing gear, and overall the guy called Clinton just gave Jake the impression of an average retired man who liked to fish.

When Carmen knocked, the man looked up, frowned, and placed the book on a table as he went to open the door. It didn’t take long before he was there, but he didn’t open it right away.

“Who's there?” he asked carefully.

“My name is Carmen… I am looking for some people you used to travel with, and I heard you could provide some information,” the warrior of Valhal said a bit nervously.

The man instantly responded as he opened the door slowly at first, but was surprised and swung it open rapidly when he saw her. “Who are you?”

Carmen looked a bit surprised herself. “I already told you my name.”

“Your voice just reminded me of someone else… sorry. Ah, where are my manners? Come on in. I hear you are looking for someone?” the man called Clinton said, finally calming down.

That is until he saw Jake wearing his mask and the hawk sitting on his shoulder. He stared at them a bit as Jake just raised his hand to give a friendly wave, Sylphie mimicking him as she raised her wing to also wave.

Cuteness won out as the man couldn’t help but smile at the sight and was further calmed by Carmen’s explanation. “He is a tracker I work with to help me find the people I am looking for.”

Clinton nodded once more as he invited them in, and after the usual pleasantries of being offered a drink and politely declining, they finally got to the main topic.

guess who you are looking for… you look just like her. Your mother is called Marcia, right? Your father, Antonios?” Clinton

If it was because of the use of present tense implying

several others from my family,

remember your father mentioning you and saying how you were away at college at the time

her gaze turned a bit cold. “I am currently looking for them and heard you know more. But before that, how come you left

an outsider, I had no influence, so when I finally came across a safe settlement, I chose to make it my home. I also must apologize, but I am not sure exactly where they went, just that they went towards the western city

you have something related to any of them? An

not questioning why Jake asked for it. “I may

butt in for two reasons. First of all, because it needed to be asked, and secondly, because he saw how hard Carmen was clenching her fists below the table. He found it a bit weird but still decided that changing the topic

to pry into her personal business, he would just let her handle it, and even if there was some bad blood between her and her family, it was for her to deal with. All

Antonios. He got a better one when we entered this city, and I didn’t have a high enough level to bind it to myself at the time… when I finally did,

it. The mana within was faint, but Jake was sure of it. It belonged to a person that wasn’t Clinton. Carmen was looking at him, and Jake nodded as she sighed in

much for it?” Carmen asked

in the Tutorial, and I owe them at least

nodded with mixed

my greetings. I hope they are doing well,” Clinton said as he leaned back and took a

question… was there a woman called Beatrice with them?” Carmen asked in a

a nice young woman. Beatrice is your cousin, right? You are about the same age, but I hear that you drifted apart due to some differences. I hope you two can reconcile. After all, family is more important than ever in this

to greet her when we meet, that I can promise

guy’s ready to go?” the silver-armored warrior said as he escorted Jake, Carmen, and Sylphie to the teleportation chamber once more. He had actually been way more helpful than Jake had first thought he would,

like Arnold’s map, just about a hundred times worse and less detailed. A lot of it was rough estimates with no proper identification of where dangerous beasts resided. This did partly make sense, as to the United Cities Alliance, an area filled with level 160

the danger zones – hopefully finding two Primas on the way - they would head off to this Longchester place and continue

with them and had even made a decent case for why they should bring him along. He was well-known and had knowledge of all the areas they were heading to. With his reputation alone, he

in his twenties. He also just struck Jake as a bit green, even if his level was high. He was

he smiled. “Trust me, I will be of use,

know we aren’t

bit more convincing and the man even pulling out a small satchel with snacks for Sylphie, their group was

and Carmen were the kinds of people who could run through the plains for twenty hours straight without exchanging a single word. But this guy? It was like he had a condition that would make him explode if he shut up for

first, he seemed a bit… well, dull, but the more the

out his father and because he genuinely wanted to make Earth a better place. The Church was present on