The Primal Hunter

The King had indeed asked a very pertinent question. Why the hell was Jake even wasting a second of his time on William? The little psycho was not an ally, a friend, or even an acquaintance. Shit, he was worse than a stranger in that he was a former enemy.

However, Jake’s curiosity had won out. Eversmile was someone who had fucked with Jake before, and Jake had assumed that William was his favored little disciple, but now it turned out that he, too, was just another guinea pig to be fucked with and discarded.

Or was he? That was the big question. Was all of this a part of Eversmile’s plan? Maybe the plan was that Jake should kill William and somehow form a karmic connection between Eversmile and Jake? Maybe it was for William to try and kill Jake or something?

Maybe Jake had no fucking idea and should probably stop guessing what a Primordial that had lived for trillions of years was thinking? Even Villy said he didn’t truly understand Eversmile and found him perhaps the most unpredictable of all the Primordials.

Now, what would Jake then do? He still had the option of just killing William, but that just seemed too damn meaningless. He did not give Jake the impression he would even fight, meaning he would likely just run away if Jake tried anything. Could Jake catch him? Maybe, but what would he get out of that? Jake didn’t even think it would give a single level.

What the future threat level of William represented was also something to assess. Jake could, for obvious reasons, not accurately predict this, but his gut told him it was low-to-nonexistent. William was still scared of Jake, and Jake was totally okay with that. He had also not really done anything to harm Jake or those around him since returning to Earth, and the ambiguous things he had done, like messing with Jake’s parents, had not resulted in any harm and were done under the pretense of Eversmile ordering it.

Jake waited a bit around with the King as William seemed to consider what Jake had said about finding his own Path. It took a bit, but Jake didn’t feel like he was in a rush considering he was still recuperating from using Arcane Awakening. Was meditating a better use of his time? Probably, but it was also infinitely less entertaining.

”I…” William finally began. ”I just fuck everything up…”

”Not going to argue with that one. You do have a pertinacity to fuck things up,” Jake agreed snarkily.

”Every time I decide what to do, it just ends up fucked,” William began muttering. ”The Tutorial was… horrible.”

”To be fair,” Jake said. ”If not for me, you would have probably succeeded. I heard a bit from the Viper about what would have happened if not for me, and things would have turned out infinitely better for you. Not better in the sense that you would have killed the final boss like I did, but way better than getting bitch-slapped into ground paste within your tin can armor.

”Oh, though, I can’t say what would have happened after. No one could besides maybe Eversmile, and who knows if he even has a clue? I don’t wanna try to figure out what he is trying to do. Trying to understand crazy sounds like an excellent way to waste your time,” Jake shrugged.

”Everything in the Tutorial was me…” William said, having registered but clearly not digested Jake’s words. ”I killed people for barely anything…”

”Why does this human take such issue with ending the lives of his own species?” the King asked Jake but spoke out loud so both could hear it. ”Is it not natural to want to establish dominance over your own kin? To kill them is the ultimate sign of supremacy.”

”Eh, humans aren’t as ultra-individualistic as you Unique Lifeforms. We are flock animals, and probably due to evolutionary reasons, we are inherently resistant to killing or seeing those of our own species killed. Establishing dominance over others was usually done in ways that did not cause too great harm. Didn’t want your gatherer to have broken hands or be unable to work and all that. Not that humans don’t also love killing each other, but we usually do it for greater reasons than simply to prove we are better than someone else. Greater reasons that often end up just being bullshit, but if the flock decides it is acceptable, it becomes acceptable. Those who did kill people for what others would view as trivial reasons were very much ostracized as they posed a danger to the stability of the flock,” Jake explained.

Probably not entirely scientifically accurate, but that was at least how Jake had understood things from his social studies and biology classes.

”From my understanding, William here was what we called a psychopath. An inherently broken human without the ability to feel empathy and thus unable to properly integrate and operate within the flock. He could wear a mask and act like a flock member, but it was all an act. When the Tutorial hit, he could finally unleash crazy, and as he didn’t feel anything when killing other humans, he could do so easily. In retrospect, being at least a bit of a psycho is probably an advantage in this new world,” Jake continued.

Again, Jake was not a psychologist or psychiatrist. The fact he didn’t really know the difference between the two should be a dead giveaway of that. The last part was mostly what he understood from his talk with that Ms. Kim lady during the World Congress.

”He then evolved, and with evolution got this little imbalance fixed, making him able to feel empathy and emotions and all that again,” Jake finished explaining to the King.

you humans, the more I realize how flawed of a

have kicked your ass,”

own kin without mercy and dominate them unhesitantly. Does that not make you

a bit out of the ordinary?” Jake answered, not really caring about the King’s judgment in that area. Was Jake a perfectly stable and healthy person mentally? Fuck no, but he also didn’t see why he should be. If he wanted to reach abnormal levels of power,

little minor detail of his Bloodline being a thing. If Jake becoming more stable and considered ”mentally sound” would result

at hand, Jake

easily advised. ”If you don’t know how to not fuck shit up, then don’t you have some less crazy people around you by now like that Ms. Kim lady? Use her; she seems interested in helping you, so let her. But

Master must have a reason

clearly not for your good,” Jake said, getting a bit tired of how dense William was. Then again, he had undergone years of indoctrination,

just…” William muttered

what anyone says or does. See if that changes anything,” Jake said. ”Or, you can just stop chickening out and get rid of it now. Find your own Path. If your Master truly cares, he will reach out when you evolve to C-grade. Shit, shouldn’t he be happy if you figure out how to evolve, even if that evolution comes

William ”getting better” were low as hell. He still wasn’t even sure why he was helping the kid. I

seemed to be considering his words. After thinking a bit, he frowned as if he had detected

the planet,” William

you

higher-leveled enemy Chosen off your planet –

of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 193 - Stat points allocated,

…

Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 197 - Stat

Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 194 - Stat points allocated,

…

(D)] has reached level 196 - Stat points

continue what he was about to say as he stared at the

landed on his lap, and Jake was confused about what had just happened. Okay, the system explained what had

a conversation with Villy after he was dealing

appears he has,” Jake recognized. ”But how do you

him are also gone besides the one lying right here

sure are you?” Jake

have the ability to obscure himself

Eversmile fucked William in incredibly many ways? Yes… but he had taught him karmic magic in a genuine fashion. Sensing someone powerful, especially someone with a Bloodline like Ell’Hakan, was not easy, but from the sounds of it, William could do so rather effortlessly. Jake also didn’t

goal, Eversmile? Jake

I have to get going. The World Congress is in…”

days, four hours, and eighteen minutes, soon to be

and shook his