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.

it was certainly better than his other things. Or being naked. In time all his equipment would be repaired within his inventory, and those

He hadn’t 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

“I personally intend to go and do this event right away. Who knows how long it will take, and we only got

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

Then again… it was Arnold, and it wouldn’t be that surprising if he found the space station more interesting than

gave her a good head rub as 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 altogether at some point? Who knows? He

Jake

brother 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 the teleporter in

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

the Seat of the Exalted 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

[Kolbar – lvl 131]

the others, and Jake saw his level was the highest of them all.

Looking a bit around, Jake saw 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

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

noticed something else. Something

are they all so

was incredibly low, wasn’t it? Jake knew he had been slacking off a bit too much with levels and had only begun to get back on

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

surprised by their average level,

have special opportunities or anything like that for

“Answering that is a bit complicated, I think. I have been to the Verdant Lagoon many times with 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

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 strong people would only appear if there were other strong

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 genius in the eyes

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 am certain that is something I will be shown in

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

less alone, and those you found to help you were selected and trained by

Records, but that Records can birth talent… you know, like how one says a child can inherit the talent 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

Their conversation had been telepathic and taken far less time than using words, but a solid ten seconds had still passed. People were still curiously observing others,

also made Jake realize why no fighting was allowed. Chances are the ones arriving from Earth could massacre

of the atrium and saw hundreds of 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 planets