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.

for… you look just like her. Your mother is called Marcia, right? Your father, Antonios?”

because of the use of present tense implying they were still alive or the

were also traveling with several others from my

think it is lucky that an entire family could enter a Tutorial together. I remember your father mentioning you and saying how you were away at college at the time and therefore weren’t present at the annual dinner. It

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

finally came across a safe settlement, I chose to make it my home. I also must apologize, but I am not

enter the conversation as he asked: “Do you have something related to any of them? An item they crafted or used that hasn’t been

why Jake asked for it. “I

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 a bit would

for her family. He had never asked but had assumed it was similar to his own reasons. Having no plans to pry into her personal business, he would just let

brought out a wand. Jake looked at it and instantly felt a mana signature from it. “This wand belonged to 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, I realized

the wand over and scanned it. The mana within was faint, but Jake was sure of it. It belonged to

for it?” Carmen asked

man just smiled. “Your father and mother helped me out a lot in the Tutorial, and

Carmen nodded with mixed

do find them, please give them my greetings. I hope they are doing well,” Clinton said as he leaned

called Beatrice with them?” Carmen asked in a serious

right? You are about the same age, but I hear that you drifted

will be sure to

He had actually been way more helpful than Jake had first thought he would, having more or less stalked them ever since they

large area that had been created by the United Cities Alliance. It was a lot 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 monsters was viewed as pretty much the same as one filled with C-grades, marking

head out and check the danger zones – hopefully finding two Primas on the way - they would

man in silver armor really wanted to come 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

you really wanna come?” Carmen asked skeptically, with Jake getting why. The guy looked young, probably barely in his twenties. He also just struck Jake as a bit green, even if his level was high. He was too… cheerful. But then again, Jake wasn’t the best at reading people if they were good at hiding their

weight,” he smiled. “Trust me, I will be of use, even in

just shrugged. “Just know we aren’t your

Sylphie, their group was convinced. If nothing else, then he was a damn good planner. They continued their journey that had rapidly turned from a three-man journey into

exchanging a single word. But this guy? It was like he had a condition that would make him explode if he shut up for more than ten minutes

called Peter, the kid of the city leader of Puddlerock. At first, he seemed a bit… well, dull, but the more the

the planet to help out his father and because he genuinely wanted to make Earth a better place. The Church was present on both continents from the start, with its influence spreading from