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.”

now, exist as separate entities yet still share some memories, emotions, and whatnot? You are clearly the primary version, with me a secondary, and I am able to be the carrier of pretty much all Records related to Shadow Vault. What if we keep this separation but also entirely

sat down

our Bloodline? To me, it is my very existence. I exist as the Origin of an entire simulated universe, and the concepts to make me who

could actually stop our merging?”

is happening. Nah, we will still merge, but the skill will still allow us to tap into the concepts if my plan works out.

enough to actually

as the hours quickly moved by, and soon enough,

the destination,” Sandy said,

what would I do without you,”

the way, will you stay gone longer this time around? I

Lots of stuff to deal with. By the way, I will also likely make a way to leave this

Sandy answered. ”I still got plenty of stuff to eat here first. Maybe later. Though I will probably go by myself or through the

paying the egg business too much

the King. ”You

the Unique Lifeform simply answered. He still looked as weak as before, with the masks still cracked all over. He hoped it wouldn’t 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

out as Jake waved off the massive worm who wriggled

have helped create,”

weird when you put it like that. Sandy has been Sandy even since before the evolution; the only thing that changed is what the worm eats and where they can go,” Jake

King jabbed at him. ”And I have no interest in wasting time on trying to fix that. Your city should be directly below us? In that case, we should

– as they both began flying down. He was pretty much back in top form after the rest inside Sandy, even if he did feel

encounter anything of 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

The King mentioned a forcefield of sorts in the surroundings, but he got through it without any issues, something he accredited to being close to Jake. Having some kind of defensive barrier that at least made Miranda aware of everything within was not really a surprise to either of them, but seeing that it was active

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 entered. None of

had also noticed him and gotten up from her desk. Jake decided to wait for her

back faster than expected,” she smiled, but her smile soon turned

temporary issue that time shall alleviate,”

said. Nothing to worry about long-term,” Jake said. ”So, where are

down was a clear indication she planned for them

your house. The Sword Saint should already be waiting there

hadn’t missed the place. It had been many months since he had 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 they hadn’t known much about it, and if they did know, why would they have

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? Every faction

into the old valley was very nostalgic, but he did see

commented, annoyed as 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 Mystie was still intact. As for the time musa itself, it had grown a bit

Jake of one thing. One worrying

about Rick down in the

one had made trouble for the troll and the two

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

Within his cabin, a single figure