The Primal Hunter

Jake found himself teleported onto an identical metal disc within a small hall. Sultan, Miranda, Arnold, and Sylphie appeared together with him shortly after, and just as they stepped off the teleporter, it activated again.

A familiar figure appeared, and Jake turned and gave the Unique Lifeform a look.

[Fallen King – lvl 196]

The level of the King was approaching peak D-grade. Unique Lifeforms were truly cheats… then again, the King only had his race to progress while Jake had both profession and class. Furthermore, the Unique Lifeform had been busy as far as he knew, forming an entirely new faction on their planet as well as doing his fair share of hunting. Not everyone liked being ruled, after all.

“You have been busy,” Jake said.

“So have you, little hunter. I feel the remnants of a C-grade signature upon your soul. A very recent one. Perhaps the cause of your unsightly state?” the King answered, Jake once more being reminded he was wearing tattered clothes and still had quite a bit of blood on him. To be honest, that no one had commented on it yet was kind of crazy.

“Your assumptions would be correct,” Jake said with a confident smile. The King had sent out his telepathic communication wide and had regarded them all. Therefore Jake also responded openly. For the next thing, however, he said it to the King using telepathy.

“You are approaching peak D-grade,” Jake simply stated to the King covertly. “Won’t you be kind of fucked by me being behind?”

“You worry needlessly,” the King dismissed him. “I am in no rush for C-grade and see no purpose in sabotaging myself for temporary gain. I have been D-grade for over a century already, but most of that time was spent doing nothing worthwhile. This King also needs to fully comprehend his new reality. So no, I am not in a rush. Just don’t make me wait another century.”

Jake sent a mental nod in return as he ended their secret conversation. It was good to know even Unique Lifeforms had shortcomings they wanted to square up before evolution.

“I am wondering what kind of Path you are looking forward to seeing?” Jake asked the King. “Though I do have at least one guess..”

“A guess I would presume you correct about. In fact, I have two prominent possibilities in mind. One is if I never chose to participate in the Tutorial but stayed on my pathetic homeworld instead. The other – the one I presume you guessed – is if I had chosen to kill a certain little hunter and not died due to my own folly.”

That certain little hunter smiled and joked. “Live and learn. Or die and learn in this case.”

“A lesson I have taken to me and a reason why I am in no rush.”

A few more words were exchanged, but their conversation quickly drew attention. The tree-like willow form of the Unique Lifeform and the hunter wearing tattered armor and covered in blood did stand out a bit. Heck, Sylphie and the King stood about by themselves quite a lot, being the only two non-humans from Earth that had keys.

The unwanted attention made them move on, but not before Jake fixed up his state a bit. He went to a corner and summoned a stable arcane barrier and even used Arcane Stealth to stay undetected as he deposited all his armor in his inventory. He quickly stirred his energy to clean the blood off, releasing a wave of destructive mana that ran across his body. He was still not in top condition after the fight with the Panther and still felt pain from all over, but at least he was mobile and could function normally. Fighting was not the best idea, though.

better than his other

barrier, he saw the others had waited. He hadn’t even taken thirty seconds, so it wasn’t like he had made

asked the group once he went over. “I personally intend to go and do this event right away. Who knows how

it,” Miranda agreed. “If this is truly a possibility to meet those from other planets, I have no doubt some diplomacy will be carried out, but the

rush. In fact, he seemed more interested in their surroundings. Then again… it was Arnold,

yet, so how many big choices did she have time to make? Maybe choosing to be blessed by Stormild or not was one? Or choosing to leave Jake and Haven altogether

go then,” Jake said with

where

soon enough exited the room. They found themselves on a large platform, or perhaps balcony would be a more accurate word. Jake curiously went forward to the

Prima was built like a circular atrium with several hundred floors. Looking straight ahead, he stared onto another balcony and saw several people stand there too. None of them were quite human either. They all had a greenish tint to their skin but otherwise looked mostly human. Well, okay, the four arms were a bit different than humans. Using Identify, he saw a race he had not

[Kolbar – lvl 131]

of all the others, and Jake saw his level was the highest of them all. This man also saw Jake and stared back with two odd eyes. One of them held two pupils

so many different races, most of which he had never heard of, but nearly all of them humanoid. There were also elves, dwarves, beastfolk, and all the usual suspects, along with two very interesting groups that only consisted of Risen and other undead creatures. Did they hail

who was busy checking out the metal on the railing – all looked around curiously. This was truly a clash of cultures as over

noticed something else.

are they

been slacking off a bit too much with levels and had only begun to get back on track recently. That is why he was so confused…

frown, and Jake felt a mental probing as she tried to speak to him telepathically. Jake allowed it in

their average level, right?” she

Did Earth have special opportunities or anything like that for

my dream skill and talked to many people, and I have come to realize Earth is truly a special place. Not because of what but who. Records have a way of congregating and building off each other. So I would say that in some ways, it had special opportunities by having the possibility of interacting with

was hard to believe the only reason so many strong people appeared on Earth was that other strong people appeared. It reminded him a bit of the old catch-22 where you can’t find a job without having experience and can’t get experience without finding a job. Just in this case, a lot of strong people

that simple, no, but at least it is a partial explanation. Jake, I want you to remember that you are used to interacting with figures far above the norm. To become a member of the Order of the Malefic Viper already makes someone a supreme

Lord for you. It is questionable if I would even have reached D-grade without that happening – assuming I even survived that long. Me being near you and working for you changed my Path entirely. I got a

completely agreeing. Jake frowned as he didn’t feel like it was entirely fair to give

You have run Haven more or less alone, and those you found to help you were selected and trained by you. I know nothing of your magic and barely understand how your class or profession works. Don’t sell yourself short; you are plenty talented in your own right,” he sent

of their parents, so can you benefit from the talents

less time than using words, but a solid ten seconds had still passed. People were still curiously observing others, and he himself got quite a lot of attention… wait, no, it was

of anyone around. This also made Jake realize why no fighting was allowed. Chances are the ones arriving from Earth could massacre most other “powerful talents” from

the looks of it, all of these balconies and floors of the Seat of the