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.

worn it at the World Congress too, and it was certainly better than his other things. Or being naked. In time all his equipment would be repaired within his inventory, and those that required some extra help,

even taken thirty seconds, so it wasn’t like he had made them stand there for long. Jake did notice the King had left, not one to wait around

Jake asked the group once he went over. “I personally intend to go and do this event right away. Who knows how long it will take, and

now and do it,” Miranda agreed. “If this is truly a possibility to meet those from other

In fact, he seemed more interested in their surroundings. Then again… it was Arnold, and it wouldn’t be that surprising

he wondered what kind of event the hawk could even be offered. She wasn’t even a handful of years old 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

then,” Jake said with a

and the Sword Saint, it seemed like both had already left towards where the event would be held. At least they had exited the small entrance area belonging to Earth with

platform, or perhaps balcony would be a more accurate word. Jake curiously went forward to the edge of

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

[Kolbar – lvl 131]

the front 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

never heard of, but nearly all of them humanoid. There were also elves, dwarves, beastfolk, and

the others – besides Arnold, who was busy checking out the metal on the railing – all looked around curiously. This was truly a clash of cultures as over a thousand different civilizations had their first meeting within an atrium in a

Jake also noticed something else. Something

are they

begun to get back on track recently. That is why he was so confused… wouldn’t people who rushed levels or had cities level faster? Jake wouldn’t

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

surprised by their

glance and nodded. “A bit. Did Earth have special opportunities or anything like that

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 individuals on a

skeptically. He already knew there was some truth to it, but it 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

above the norm. To become a member of the Order of the Malefic Viper already makes someone a supreme genius in the eyes of the average

near you and working for you changed my Path entirely. I got a Blessing and was taught by gods. I got artifacts I could never dream of. All because of you making that one choice that day… and I

without interrupting, not completely agreeing. Jake frowned as he didn’t feel like it was entirely

like what I have done often just creates more problems for you. You have run Haven more or less alone, and those you found to help

of their parents, so can you benefit from the talents of others. Nurturing it of sorts. The Witches of the Verdant Lagoon have mentioned something like that but never truly confirmed it. Either way, this is all a sidetrack. Just know that Earth is special and that you cannot judge other planets using ours as the standard. But that doesn’t mean we are at the peak… you never

words, but a solid ten seconds had still passed. People were still curiously observing others, and he himself got quite a lot of attention…

of anyone around. This also made Jake realize why no fighting was allowed. Chances are the ones arriving from Earth

people gathering down there. From the looks of it, all of these balconies and floors of the Seat of the Exalted Prima were merely for those from different