The Primal Hunter

Meira was nervous after Lord Thayne left her alone. She had been shopping many times before, but never for herself. Wasn’t it just a waste of money to get her equipment? Currently, she only got a bit of Wisdom from her spatial necklace, with the rest of her items not even counting as equipment. Receiving that necklace had already been far more than Meira would expect, but at least she saw the usefulness in that. It allowed her to more effectively transport materials for Lord Thayne as it even had a storage specifically enchanted to store alchemical ingredients.

“Follow me, lassie; let’s get you sorted,” the shop owner said as she hurried Meira into the back room. Meira just followed along with the far smaller woman, still not sure if all of this was a good idea.

“Relax there,” the dwarf said with a calming smile. “Young masters like that like to treat their girlfriends nicely, so you better take advantage while you can.”

“I… he doesn’t think of me like that,” Meira denied, embarrassed. He had made that clear when they had gone to that other shop. She was mad at herself for thinking that Lord Thayne had taken her there with those kinds of intentions. Nearly as mad as she was for feeling dejected that he hadn’t.

“Really?” the dwarf asked. “Well, color me surprised. Either way, he gave me the heebie-jeebies, so there is no way he is average, and people who aren’t average got money to treat those they care about. And he does care about you. Any damn idiot can see that. So stop dilly-dallying, and let’s get you a proper set, alright?”

Meira looked at the dwarf for a moment, considering her words. It was true that Lord Thayne didn’t think of her “that way,” but it was also true he had always been very nice to her, so maybe he did care? Just in another way? And if he did that, it should be fine to get some equipment if he asked her, right?

“Okay,” Meira said with a smile as the dwarf got to work, and the two discussed what kind of equipment would suit Meira best. They spent a good while going over everything, and the dwarf even showed her different pieces of jewelry she had in stock that would go well with what Meira needed. It was all a bit overwhelming as many of the items were probably more expensive than Meira would have been if the Order had just decided to just sell her to someone over giving her to Lord Thayne.

Yet it also felt oddly liberating – a feeling she thought she would never feel – to be there alone. Buying things for herself. She hoped to make Lord Thayne proud and to want to keep her around, which was the primary reason she worked so hard. But after the entire incident with Nella and Utmal, she had been thinking if maybe it was okay if she did some more things for herself? Izil also tried to convince her she should be more selfish, or at least not as selfless.

Maybe she could begin to get stronger for herself? If Lord Thayne wanted her to no longer be his slave but instead be a full member of the Order by her own merits, she would need to be more independent. She would need to make her own choices and be a member because she wanted to. But she was afraid that becoming a member would mean that Lord Thayne would have her leave. Have her get her own residence or enter the dorms or something. Meira desperately didn’t want that to happen, so she would have to selfishly find a way to make Lord Thayne want to keep her around even after she was no longer bound by a slave contract.

She wanted to stay no matter what she had to do to make that happen. It was selfish of her to want more from him than what he had already given and promised to give her… but he did want her to make her own choices and do what she wanted. And what Meira wanted more than anything was to stay, so this selfish wish of hers was okay… right?

Jake walked out of the castle-like building wearing his new cool gloves. On the way out, he had already done a bit of experimenting and found that they were actually very similar to his old gloves. He could instinctively use Scales of the Malefic Viper only on the gloves, and he instantly felt the scales already sewn into the gloves be filled with energy and strengthened to an insane level. The gloves stayed flexible like before, but he felt like his hands had become near-impenetrable. Of course, any blunt force would still hurt like hell, and if he tried to block a sword, he would find his fingers broken, but for anything magical, it would be insane. He could also use it to grab sharp edges and whatnot, as he had already done with his old gloves.

The stat effect was also interesting. Whenever Jake used Scales of the Malefic Viper, he felt a slight increase in power based on how big a part of his body he covered. It was super small when he used it only in local areas, but Jake reckoned that if his entire body was covered, he would get what would amount to roughly 100 more in each of the five stats the armor gave. It was small, but there, and frankly, the biggest thing about the gloves was the insane amount of stats they offered to begin with, along with their sheer level of durability when Scales were used.

good idea but discovered that maybe it wasn’t the best as the mana drain when he infused the gloves was rather intense. A full set of armor would be

went through the teleportation gate to the same area she was in, allowing him to quickly

as his mind sank into his soul. Once inside, he was met with the sight of an almost exact copy of himself who was, for some reason, repeatedly hitting the ground as dark pulses

more and more like Jake’s own over the last few months. It had already been similar, but now they barely talked anymore as there was no need to.

who was naturally aware he was there. His other version stopped his practice and turned to Jake. “Don’t look glum like I am dying or something; we both

“Still,” Jake sighed.

his motion as they charged each other.

follow-up, but Jake was ready as he countered, getting the upper hand. He managed to land a minor wound but was pushed in return when he tried to capitalize on the one hit he

about twenty minutes, with both of them slowly taking damage. It looked very even until Jake made a minor slip-up and was cornered. He had slowly been losing ground, and after a combo more than

he was gonna win this one. Both their wounds had also already healed.

“Still improving,” sim-Jake smiled.

but knew that the simulacrum focused nearly one hundred percent of its time on Vault now. He had to, as his memories of the simulated world were slowly fading, and continuing to improve the fighting style was now meaningless. Now all he had to

simulacrum, genuinely having no idea what he was doing. It was like all the Records pertaining to Shadow Vault had been integrated into sim-Jake for him to perfect. It was to the level of the real version of Jake feeling unsure about even using the skill. He got the sense that he was lacking some of the instinctual knowledge the skill gave about how to use it but naturally couldn’t know what he didn’t know. However, what he was sure

with a sigh before he left his Soulspace, having felt Meira and the dwarf

time. He saw Meira carrying a whole bunch of things, all placed in separate boxes. They

one shopping here, not me. Whatever you picked is fine as long as you didn’t get a full set of legendary gear in an attempt to

in embarrassment. She clenched one of the boxes and asked in a nearly whispering voice: “Please look at them a

himself and nodded. Meira took out a white dress from one of the boxes and proudly showed it off. It didn’t look that much different from the

of all blows made against the wearer. Passively absorbs a portion of all attacks, be they magical or physical in nature. This energy can then be infused

140+ in any humanoid

feared he would have returned to her having selected a full set of common rarity equipment with a few inferior rarity items mixed in. Jake was happy to see she had selected equipment of proper value. It wasn’t overly extravagant either. One had to remember that Meira was not a monster like Jake and needed far fewer stats than he did from his equipment. In many ways, then a full epic set of gear would be just as good for her as a full legendary set. Sure, the legendary gear would be better overall and have better

good,” Jake approved with a thumbs

get the little lassie all settled for a good while,” the dwarf said with a smile. “Gives above her total stat limit, leaving some room for her to grow into. The rings are both purely defensive, too, so don’t worry about her getting targeted as a healer. They will all find themselves dead before getting to kill her. And if all else goes wrong,