The Primal Hunter

Jake stared at the fight with quite a bit of confusion. Sim-Jake crashed into the chimera and purposefully let himself be flung away. He charged again, but this time attacked while he used some odd version of Shadow Vault. His form seemed almost like it distorted for a moment as he was launched backward.

His other self noticed Jake when he entered and stopped fighting. That is when the second weird thing happened. When he stopped attacking, the chimera also seemed calmer, and even if it still looked aggressive, it no longer mindlessly ran at him.

At least not for a few seconds. Soon enough, hunger overtook it as it tried to eat sim-Jake whole, and his other self responded by making strings of mana like the real Jake and wrapped up the cursed beast.

”Came to take a peek?” sim-Jake asked.

”I got curious,” Jake shrugged. ”Good progress?”

”Really good. Your timing is also great because I will need you for this next part. At least a good portion of it. No rush, but I think it would be a good idea to practice with me before C-grade for the potential title,” sim-Jake said.

”Title?” Jake asked.

”We got one for making a legendary skill in E-grade, right?”

”Yeah?” Jake asked but instantly got it. ”You really think you, we, can do that?”

”If my entire Legacy will be a skill, it better be the best fucking one we got,” sim-Jake grinned. ”Mythical is not easy to reach, but it should be possible… if not, then at least a damn good legendary skill. I have been considering it a lot and even tapped into some memories of your talks with the Malefic Viper. I think we can do it.”

It had not at all been a goal of Jake’s to make a mythical skill while in D-grade, but it should be possible… shouldn’t it? Making one in C-grade would be far harder, but maybe sim-Jake could do it before they evolved? Yeah, if there was one thing Jake never lacked, it was self-confidence, even if that self-confidence was about another version of himself. He believed he could do it.

As for why it was harder to get it in C-grade… well, that should become clear when he evolved. Rarities were not created equal, and each rarity was relative to a grade. This meant that upon evolution, every single skill would be reevaluated by the system. Reevaluated in this case just meaning that a bunch of his skills would probably see themselves downgraded. Not all skills would be downgraded, and some he was sure would keep their rarities, such as the Malefic Viper ones and stuff like Brew Potion, never downgraded.

This entire downgrade thing was more or less a requirement, as, well, it just got easier to make skills when you got stronger. Any S-grade could teleport around, and most could even do some fancy time magic, both of which were considered rather mundane skills for them but would be ancient or higher skills for D-grades. As for why this downgrade only happened in C-grade? Well, because F, E, and D-grade were all considered the lower grades, and the difference between them was not that massive in sheer power, only relative power.

Not that any of this mattered for now; what happened during the C-grade evolution was something for future Jake to think about.

This naturally also meant that the requirements of a skill to be a certain rarity grew. So if Jake could get the Vault skill upgrade in D-grade, it would be best.

”Do you need me right now?” Jake asked sim-Jake.

”Not right now, no. I still need to finish some minor aspects, but you can begin practicing a few things while you are here anyway. Things that will be required,” sim-Jake answered.

Jake nodded. He had a few hours at least before he would reach the airspace above Haven, so he had the time.

”What kind of thing do you need me to do?”

Sim-Jake grinned. ”Sharing control.”

sim-Jake elaborated. ”Not to me, but to yourself… how can I say this… to your other self. Think about it, how do we, right now, exist as separate entities yet still share some memories, emotions, and whatnot? You are

down and

concepts. What is the most insane concept we have besides things related to our Bloodline? To me, it is my very existence. I exist as the Origin of an entire simulated universe, and

think that could actually stop our

no fucking way that is happening. Nah, we will still merge, but the skill will

to actually work. Clearly, something I would

Jake and Sim-Jake began their unorthodox practice as the hours quickly moved

destination,” Sandy said,

without you,” Jake

stay gone longer this time around? I kinda want to know how far I

with. By the way, I will also likely make a way

will probably go by

call,” Jake said, not paying the

turned and looked at the King. ”You ready to

take too long to heal, but he knew it probably would. The King was not overly liberal when it came to sharing exactly how long it would take, but as far as Jake could tell, it didn’t

both out as Jake waved off the massive worm who wriggled

create,” the

like that. Sandy has been Sandy even since before the evolution; the only

no interest in wasting time on trying to fix that. Your city should be directly below us? In that

pretty much back in top

note as they exited the last layer of clouds and appeared above the vast forest Haven was placed in the outskirts of. Jake looked towards the depths of said forest and how far it stretched. From up in the air, he had already observed and noticed how the forest extended all the way

where Haven was. The King mentioned a forcefield of sorts in the surroundings, but he got through it without any issues, something he accredited to

a brief search using his tracking skill as it was truly intended to be used. He and the King got quite the attention as they landed in the middle of the street in front of the office and

and gotten up from her desk. Jake decided to wait for her to come, and soon enough, she came down the stairs from her office on

smile soon turned to a frown. ”What is wrong

alleviate,” the King

worry about long-term,” Jake

down was a clear indication she planned for them to leave the

Sword Saint should already be

been back, and the old lodge had quite the memories attached to it. Hearing Miranda mention it also let him know that it was still standing, which was a big relief. He could totally see Ell’Hakan or the United Cities Alliance choosing to destroy it just to be dicks. In fact, he had almost expected them to at least wreck his laboratory, but from what Miranda said, that had not happened either, partly because

been a priority to investigate it, and if they expected Jake to die or at least to leave Earth, why destroy his stuff and not make use of it?

old valley was very nostalgic, but he did

he saw the time banana-tree-that-was-not-a-tree still there. All the bananas were gone, even if the magic circle left by

of one thing. One worrying

down in

really hoped no one had made trouble for the troll and the two child trolls while he

fine. Ell’Hakan and his ilk clearly had no interest in making trouble for some garden troll, and the United City Alliance quite frankly wouldn’t be able to… Rick is close to C-grade by now and swings a mean club. Plus, it would be a PR nightmare as the troll is quite popular with all those who do the dungeon, as he

he saw something horrific. Within his cabin, a single figure was already waiting while committing