The Primal Hunter

Jake narrated his brief trip to the Seat of the Exalted Prima and talked about the event. Villy asked several questions along the way, even some technical ones, about how the simulation worked and what Jake had learned while experiencing it. He was especially interested when Jake got to the conversation he had with the system together with sim-Jake. Of course, what he was most interested in was sim-Jake himself.

”So, it appears you entered what we call a Parallel World Simulation rather than a Dreamscape Simulation. The difference between these is that one is ”real” while the other one is ”fake,” if that makes sense. Parallel worlds are pretty damn rare but do offer more opportunities and are actually accurate, while a dreamscape is nothing more than a fantasy constructed primarily with pieces from your own mind and inaccurate details, all based on the Records of the one who experiences the simulation,” Villy explained. ”This also does mean the simulacrum you have eaten is truly his own person and even had his own Truesoul while in his own universe.”

”I have figured out that last part,” Jake nodded. ”But, do you have any experience with what happened? What it may mean in the future, any risks, and what I might gain out of it? Also, can you interact with the simulacrum?”

”Yes, maybe, some, depends, and no. You really need to get better at asking singular questions. I have had experience with other simulacrums from Parallel World Simulations crossing over. Not myself, but people I have known in the past. What you will gain out of it and any risks is ultimately dependent on the simulacrum in question, but from the looks of it, there won’t be any issues there. The worst thing I have seen happen is that someone gained a split personality and suffered extreme delusions and even parallel senses. That eventually led to him going utterly insane and destroying a few dozen solar systems, believing that nothing was real and that he was stuck inside an illusion before finally getting put out of his misery. And one of the reasons why no one could ever help him was because no, I cannot interact with your simulacrum. He does not exist in our world, only within your Truesoul. He is still anchored to the simulation as without the simulation, he would not exist, and without him existing, neither would the simulation. They are conceptually entangled in every possible sense,” Villy answered, giving Jake quite a bit more insight into sim-Jake and echoing much of what the system had said.

”Are there risks of me also fucking myself up?” Jake asked as he had bit onto the part about someone going insane.

”Probably not. May this simulacrum slightly affect you? Sure, but not to an extreme level. The primary difference was that in the example, both believed themselves to be the real person and the other the simulacrum. Whenever one was in charge, the other one believed they were possessed and would fight for control resulting in a fucked up Soulspace. In your case, you are in agreement on who is real and who is a simulacrum and that one day you will rejoin,” Villy answered.

Jake nodded along before asking further: ”Are there ways to make my other self persist?”

”Before I answer that, I want to hear why you even consider that something that should be done?”

”Just to, you know, allow him to be him,” Jake shrugged.

”Look at it like this. Right now, he is effectively a clone you separated from yourself at a certain point in life. While bringing a simulacrum to the real world is not normal, reuniting with clones is. Some even purposefully create a clone to send them into areas cut off from the outside to allow them to develop by themselves for a while. Then, later on, the real version and clone reunite and merge, gaining from what each has done in the meanwhile. Granted, this method is risky and leaves you weakened while your clone exists, but it is more common than you would think. In these cases, both are fully aware of who is real and who is the clone from the get-go, and remerging is a given. They both want to remerge. No matter what, this simulacrum will not die as long as you live, for he will be you in both body and mind, and he too will want to merge. Your souls want to be one. To gain all you can for now and benefit for both your sakes,” Villy said, giving good insight as always, adding in the end.

”Just do know there is an innate power imbalance, and it isn’t that you will gain all his memories or Records. So training with him is best. Out of everyone, no one understands you better than yourself, so take advantage while it lasts. Also, I gotta add, having yourself as your teacher is the epitome of ”fuck it, I’ll do it myself,” and I applaud it.”

”Alright,” Jake nodded and smiled a bit at the last joke. Believing they had enough simulation talk, he moved on. ”So, the Seat of the Exalted.”

not this Seat itself, but what links it all together. The true headquarters of this massive undertaking. Perhaps

– pun intended – what they were all about. It turns out that with the birth of each universe came places

one of the largest celestial bodies in the multiverse, or the Mothership of Null, a giant spaceship of sorts where no magic could exist. There were many others, but some disappeared with time, some only appeared at set times before fading away for a period again, and most importantly, most were not aimed at anyone on Jake’s level but those who had reached far higher. A place like the White Sun would instantly

Truesouls but gods born out of objects or places. They would be real in every way but be limited severely and most often served a function of sorts rather than possessing truly free will. Many believed these Bound Gods were merely apparitions of the system like the Guide, but others believed they were creatures born by the system to run certain places or even as

making the Great Wonder useless by stopping its

enough to destroy a Bound God. Some Bound Gods

it is a Great Wonder,” Jake answered. ”Having been there, it was clear that it wasn’t just made for this one event; it even existed in the universe itself and not some hidden dimension. Moreover, with its competitive element, I believe the plan is for someone to gain at least some partial control of these Seats, and with that in mind, there would have to be some protections in place, or this whole

a massive opportunity to get system-sanctioned partial control

want to

is only open to you natives, and you have a first-mover advantage. Having just some influence will allow one

me to try and claim this Seat

even factions like the Holy Church want? Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to actually want the Great Wonder. You can always just use it as a bargaining chip. Also, for full disclosure, I would one-hundred

Chosen of Yip of Yore is a legitimate threat right now? Like, can he come to Earth?” Jake decided to ask. He genuinely didn’t know. Considering how much they struggled with making a teleportation network on Earth, it seemed

answer to that

”To know if I need to get as many levels

you should be strong enough to just not engage no matter what you do. Worst case, just leave the planet and go somewhere no one knows who you are. With Shroud of the Primordial, no one would find you,” Villy answered. ”All of this assuming he can go to Earth in the first place and

level 169 in both his class and profession, meaning he could focus on either. Focusing on his profession was

he thought about it, the less wise it seemed to focus on his class levels at the current time. Recent happenings made Jake reconsider many things, and he knew he would need a lot of live combat to properly learn to fight in melee, which would include a lot of hunting. However, before that, he would need sim-Jake to be ready to teach him and for Jake to probably

always use more time doing alchemy. If the orange asshole did come to Earth, it wasn’t like the planet was defenseless either. Shit, who was he even to think he was the protector of their world? There were many C-grades stronger than him, and even the King had him beat. The Sword Saint also felt more powerful than ever when they met in the

power, and he was playing the long game to get it. He would need to get his profession leveled up anyway, so why not now? He could then save his class for

heading to the Order again then,” Jake said. ”Let’s hope

have beer ready,” Villy just said as the connection

find a hill with a cave in it and promptly headed inside, where he got to work. He pulled out a small pamphlet given by Villy on how to set up the teleportation