The Primal Hunter

Jake was still within the vision of the Viper repeatedly doing alchemy but no longer focused much on it. As odd as it was to say, then Jake didn’t really have much to learn from the current Viper within this Record Fragment. Jake was better than him already when it came to making potions, and he had already seen all he needed to see during the first few rewinds.

Checking his notifications, Jake saw the level-up.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 199 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 197 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

197, Jake thought. He could almost taste the evolution now. With this level and his reaching the peak of D-grade, he also got one more thing: his very first evolution quest. Jake checked it, and if he was being honest, it was pretty much exactly what he expected.

Profession Evolution Quest

To walk the Path of a Heretic-Chosen is to not simply be given but to claim the power of your Patron. With every step, you move closer to the Malefic One, yet you remain a heretic, unswayed by the Records of a Primordial as they fail to supersede your being. Go forth, claim the Legacy of the Malefic Viper and make his Records yours to wield.

Objective: Upgrade skills related to the Legacy of the Malefic Viper to legendary rarity (8/6)

Jake had already completed it. It could be called anti-climactic, but as mentioned, Jake had expected this outcome. Why wouldn’t he have?

Evolution quests were not about pushing the person to their limit – it was to test that the person had reached the expected achievements of the class or profession. If it required Jake to do something insane for even him, all it would have been proof of was that Jake had not lived up to expectations during his journey to C-grade.

Not that this one was easy… it required Jake to upgrade at least six skills to legendary, and based on the ”8/6,” it seemed to still count more upgrades he got now. He read that as an indication that the system still recognized him upgrading more as part of the quest. Especially because the quest was still there and had not just been completed automatically.

Jake knew he could evolve his profession there and then if he wanted. Needless to say, he had no interest in this as he was aiming for the Perfect Evolution and also wanted to upgrade the last skill anyway.

Smiling to himself, Jake closed the quest menu just as he felt the vision was also about to end. He had barely been paying attention and still found himself merged with the Viper, but as had happened before… the vision extended a bit beyond the usual during this final time.

Still merged with the Viper, Jake felt the would-be Primordial’s happiness at his success, and he celebrated a bit by himself. Jake just smiled alongside Villy, happy for his buddy’s success, even if it was just a peek into history. Yet, mere moments before the vision ended, he felt something observing him – observing Villy.

A powerful presence that Villy did not at all notice but that Jake naturally picked up on. A familiar gaze that Jake had felt during a previous vision.

The First Sage?

The vision ended just as Jake became sure of the source and returned to the real world.

Scarlett felt all giddy as she guided the Chosen around the Mangrove. The thought of getting invited to the sacred Order of the Malefic Viper had never even crossed her mind, but the more she considered it, the more excited she became.

The Chosen was also nice and allowed her to stay with him during his visit to the Mangrove. She knew she had much to learn from him and would observe his every action whenever she could. Scarlett also noticed how the other humans of the Mangrove looked at him, and she felt their emotions. Their odd mix of emotions.

Fear and nervousness were two of the strongest senses other humans got from watching the Chosen. It was only right to feel fear before a superior being, and she could only approve of their understanding to not approach and needlessly annoy or delay the Chosen in his matters.

to the largest building in the Mangrove, where she led the Chosen to a room for him to meditate in. He did

her that much to allow her to use her venom on him? It was all a bit too much for her, and she was happy that he decided to meditate for a while so she

on a small planet like Earth appeared. Her eyes opened wide

stop herself from shaking. That had been the presence of the Malefic One… the Forefather of her entire race. What had the

it dispersed like it had never been there, leaving only the

in the main office in the Mangrove. Why had the First Sage looked at Villy? How had he been aware of him? Villy’s description said that the first time they met was when the Viper tried to sneak in and learn from the First Sage, but

the Viper knew. Had he been led into seeking out the man? If so, for what purpose?

mull it over too much. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to ask Villy about it… maybe it was just better to keep it to

the snake girl in the

presence of the Forefather. What happened? Did you go see the Malefic One?” she asked with much

say that,” Jake smiled. ”I used one of my

you for allowing me to

to tell her that he just didn’t really see any reason to hide something like this. She knew he was

Jake kept forgetting that part that blasted out the presence of himself and the Viper whenever he used the skill. In his defense, he had not actually planned on just using the skill right away, but when he focused on stuff, he kind of tended to forget everything and everyone around him, with it already having led to outing himself to everything from friends in the Order to projections within

you mind if I did some alchemy?” Jake then asked the snake girl. It was more a

here for a bit before heading back to Haven before the World Congress,” Jake

practice in with his new skill, and he had just the thing to craft: Perception Elixirs. He did have some already in storage, but he wanted to craft some more before he evolved anyway. He had three hundred stats to get and saw no reason not to claim them right away. Could he increase other stats?

still had some materials in store, so he could get started right away. The moment Jake summoned the cauldron and laid his hands on it, he instantly felt the difference

out of curiosity, focused on them. Water, wind, space, time, nature, wood…. so many affinities he recognized. Jake chose one as he strained himself, and in the middle of the cauldron, a small droplet of water began to condense

as

upgrade did not help much during crafting like this, as there really weren’t many details he couldn’t already catch with his Perception. It was far more

and while Jake was confident the Altmar Cauldron would survive, he was certain it would be damaged and be in need of repair afterward. It had the rune on the bottom to accomplish

stayed by his side silently for nearly two days, simply staring at everything he did with interest. She was damn lucky Jake had been conditioned by Villy’s constant staring, allowing him to

about time to head back to

have assimilated a strong

+5 Perception.

assimilated a strong energy

+5 Perception.

You have…

even offered some to Scarlett. She graciously accepted but only wanted a single one, which was a bit weird. Especially as she looked to have no interest in drinking the elixir but simply held onto it for a while before storing it

Perception in the bag, Jake smiled after he was done drinking. Over just a few days, Jake had gotten around one thousand more Perception from the skill upgrade, elixirs, and Free Points, making him feel quite good about himself. Jake knew that stat distribution also greatly impacted evolutions, and he

he told himself

the World Congress, I will come back here, and we will travel

”Will you need me

to bring anything, but we do need to talk about a few

well,” she acknowledged. ”I once more thank the