The Primal Hunter

Irin took the lead as she led Jake and the others toward the location of the dungeon. It wasn’t as simple as Jake had thought it would be to get there. He had kind of just assumed it would just be another gate, and then boom, they would be teleported straight in front of it.

However, reality was a bit different. They went through a gate and appeared in a small waystation of sorts within an utterly massive damp cavern with the gate itself within a structure carved into the stone walls.

“We are currently within the first layer of Primordial-4. This part of the layer is usually safe in this area, and we shouldn’t expect any C-grades to appear. The dungeon itself is placed deeper within this cavern. In case any of you are wondering, then not placing the dungeons in natural environments more suitable for the dungeon in question would just be moronic and waste resources unnecessarily. You need the mana density to reach a certain level, too, for the dungeon core to operate properly. This dungeon is also on the older side, making its placement a bit more inconvenient than usual,” the succubus explained once they made it out of the small waystation. Jake saw that only a single person was present there, inside a hidden meditation chamber of sorts. While he could not be sure, he had a feeling this person was firmly in the C-grade and acted as a defender of sorts.

Not thinking deeper about the issue, Jake followed Irin as they began making it deeper into the cavern. The place was utterly huge, and when they made it out of a small cave system, they came to an even larger chasm-like cavern where Jake couldn’t even see the ceiling. Below them were blue pools of water with beasts and monsters of all kinds everywhere, fighting and bathing in the water.

Jake felt that the water was some kind of natural treasure or perhaps the by-product of one. But this trip was not to collect water or fight beasts but to head to the dungeon. Besides, the beasts below were only around 120 to 140, so they were not worth his time at all.

“The blue water in the pools may look attractive but is actually completely useless by itself when it comes to alchemy. Instead, we allow the beasts to soak in it and refine the energy so that when they are killed, their cores can be harvested,” Irin explained once more, as both Reika and Bastilla looked curiously at the happenings far below. “Ah, but some members of the Order with heritages that allow them to make use of the pools also come by once in a while, so do watch out if you ever go hunting here. Would be unfortunate to kill another member of the Order.”

Irin gave a few more explanations of the local environment and what one could expect to find there if one decided to go exploring at one point or another. Jake considered if he should go at some point but probably wouldn’t.

On the topic of getting to the dungeon, they had chosen to fly there as that was faster. There were some flying creatures in the cavern too, but none were threats. Hell, none of these flying monsters even bothered the party for one simple reason – Jake wasn’t trying to hide his presence at all. The beasts all avoided them as they instinctually knew not to mess with them. Not that it was necessarily even needed for Jake to be the one to scare them off. Draskil’s aura was plenty scary all on its own.

“The dungeon is located at the end of this cavern, pretty much just straight ahead. It shouldn’t take us more than half an hour to an hour to get there,” Irin said with a smile. “I do not expect us to meet any beasts or foes that are of any danger to us.”

Draskil turned to Jake once he heard this and smiled. With a toothy grin, he spoke: “So, how fast is your flying speed?”

Jake wasn’t surprised in the least as he smirked in response. “Are you looking for a race?”

The dragonkin didn’t even respond as his wings began glowing with energy. Jake, in response, slightly raised his foot and got ready to step down. “No one says it needs to be flying, right?”

Draskil shook his head. “Loser owes a drink.”

With those words, he exploded with power and took off. Jake threw a glance at Irin and got a nod in response as he stepped down and warped through space. He appeared over half a kilometer away before stepping down again. Slowly building up momentum, he chased after Draskil, who had a small headstart.

Irinixis sighed as she saw the two of them run off like two children let loose. She had been working in the Order for a long time now and had managed many individuals… but this was her first time getting such important people as two black tokens that even had a Malefic Dragonkin with a Divine Blessing among them.

Quite honestly, it was all luck. Then Humanoid Resources assigned managerial staff to those from the ninety-third universe; the groups they would manage were chosen entirely at random. Most others who handled groups from the new universe had gotten mediocre to slightly above mediocre groups. Having a few gold tokens would be considered exceptional, and a few of her colleagues had bragged about it.

So when Irinixis had been assigned two black tokens, she was ecstatic. Not to misunderstand, she still was ecstatic to be their primary contact person. This was a huge opportunity for her. There was just the minor issue that she felt completely out of her depth with both of them. She was used to powerful young masters throwing their weight around and caring about face above all else, but these two just did whatever. They were more like children than highly talented geniuses blessed by the Malefic One.

Perhaps their laidback attitudes are part of the reason for their growth, Irin thought, unsure if that could be the case. Either way, understanding Draskil seemed impossible at the current time, but as for the human? She had a great opportunity right there and then.

I guess it is just us till we reach the dungeon. Better get going so we don’t make those

she stood upon as a mode of transportation, having just flown using pure mana before. The beastfolk woman followed as she primed her wings with

deployed by the human, especially considering her limited time to train. She will advance to a silver token within not that long simply due to her talent in magic,Irin reckoned. I

had an Agility-focused race due to her feline heritage, making her on the faster side. She was about as fast as Reika, which in

spend some time together in the dungeon anyway. It wasn’t like they were in a real hurry

sure are something,” the beastfolk woman commented as she looked at Irin. “I am called Bastilla, by the way;

not thinking

he anyway, a gold token like that Jake guy?” Bastilla asked, confusing

them has gold tokens?” she

Reika. “You said he was gold, though.

finding it a bit endearing as she

and Draskil have black tokens and are both blessed by the Malefic One, the dragonkin – as

a moment before she opened her mouth. “For real? Isn’t that like… a big deal? A super big

deals, as you so eloquently put it,”

pressure here,” Bastilla shuddered.

answered as she looked

I didn’t want to show off, you know? It is also a bit embarrassing he is so much more skilled than me despite us spending an equal amount of time doing alchemy and learning energy control,” Reika confessed. “It is

is infuriating. That you managed to get bronze tokens is already more than the vast, vast majority of the multiverse can ever achieve, and you are both early on your Paths. So just keep working hard, and you can go far. Meanwhile, I am hoping to make those two black tokens my ticket to C-grade as, currently, it is still a toss-up if

a bit to the two girls, but she was truthful that she wanted to make Jake and Draskil – or at least one of them – her ticket to C-grade. It was what her profession was all about, after all. As for

I was asked to join,” Bastilla muttered, making

sighed. “In all honesty? I think the primary factor was proximity. Jake wanted

she heard the reason. I truly don’t understand these geniuses… but I

with a smile. “I strive to know more of those I am assigned, so I would love to learn more about you two

time to learn about at least one of the two geniuses when he

in the skill department when it came to traveling as One Step was a line of skills used for traveling and not necessarily for combat, while Draskil’s skill was more

catch up in the short time it

race was to the dungeon… and Draskil flew straight by it while Jake picked up the unique mana signature emanating from

to

was faster,”

competing about. It was who would make it to the dungeon first. Which I did,”

here first when I

get a headstart? And didn’t I slowly catch up to you?” Jake

not matter. I was the fastest to pass by the