The Primal Hunter

To call Scarlett absolutely ecstatic that Jake visited so fast again was an understatement. It only got more extreme when Jake asked her to help out with his experiment of allowing her to follow him to otherwise restricted areas.

”So, I will admit, I am not entirely certain how this works,” Jake said. He did not have a skill or anything to ”mark” people. Well, he did have one to mark people, but that was something else entirely. The World Leader ability was weird, and Jake tried to do the most basic stuff.

He concentrated and willed for Scarlett to be allowed to go anywhere. Nothing seemed to happen, and Jake feared that he couldn’t actually use this ability without a profession allowing it or a lot of practice. Yet after a few seconds, Scarlett spoke up.

”I… I think it worked?” she said, a bit unsure and nervous.

”And you are not just saying that because I want it to work and for me to feel better?” Jake asked skeptically.

”I would never do… I… no… I do feel a bit different. It is weird, and I can’t quite explain it, but I feel more… free? Unburdened?” Scarlett said, still as nervous as before.

”Have you tried using a teleporter before?” Jake then asked her.

”I have,” she nodded. ”But only ones within the Mangrove when Old Grumpy was experimenting. I cannot use the teleporters the humans set up to travel outside of my domain.”

”Out of curiosity, what stops you? You being C-grade or the system restrictions?”

”I do not know; it just simply doesn’t allow me to travel through,” Scarlett shook her head. A moment passed before her eyes lit up. ”Oh! You mean to say that maybe it would work now?”

”That is the hope,” Jake smirked. ”Willing to give it a shot? If not, and you are hit with some kind of backlash, you should be able to instantly teleport back again. Though it is a bit risky, and we could maybe just go to the outskirts of the Mangrove.”

”I trust the Chosen,” Scarlett smiled. ”And I am certain the system would not allow me to teleport if it would simply result in my demise.”

Jake was still a bit apprehensive, but Scarlett had clearly made up her mind. Seeing her determination, he could only agree, and they walked to the teleporter together. With several C-grade snakes watching curiously, the two of them went into the teleportation chamber.

He saw how nervous she was, making him reach out and hold her hand – with gloves on, of course - as he smiled comfortingly at her. ”Are you ready?”

Her otherwise ghostly white face flushed red as she did a small nod. They activated the teleporter, and Jake still held onto the hand as they appeared at the Fort. An entire snake girl was attached to the hand too, and she looked perplexed for a moment before looking around her.

Jake, still holding her hand, led her outside as they appeared not far from the giant metal dome, with a great outlook over the city that had sprung up at the Fort. And, honestly, it really was a city at this point. Jake had no idea how many people lived there – despite owning the land – but he knew it had to be a lot. It was turning into a real metropolis.

still held her hand as her head whipped from side to side and her reptilian eyes darted around to

floating there stopped observing them and moved on, and

do you say?”

The weak are protected by the strong.

be underestimated. Within that metal dome is one of the most dangerous humans on Earth, and he is a

her damn scales than a giant dome of metal.

go around destroying stuff to test

hands, but her movement made her aware she was still holding onto Jake’s hand, making her quiet down and look at the

just shook his head and softly let go of her

a moment before nodding. ”If

but didn’t say much as he headed out of the Fort with Scarlett. The two of them flew, and Jake had to admit

still stuck in the

Jake asked her

curiously around, prompting Jake to explain a bit about where they

started to live

to look at the lodge with far different eyes. She closely studied everything but soon noted something. ”Someone dared break the

his head. ”An… accident happened. Anyway, see you in a

they could get to him pretty damn fast. To make sure his sandworm friend wasn’t too slow, he took out the weird egg-that-wasn’t-an-egg and infused some energy into it during his ascent. Once he felt like Sandy had noticed, he

someone to set up a meeting. Jake reached out mentally as the

of Earth,” Villy joked first thing. ”I can’t even begin to tell

you for holding back your curiosity and not contacting me right

just had more important things to do. I was actually

alchemy and being rather shit at it. Couldn’t even make a health potion,” Jake mocked the

to greatness,” Villy took it in strides as they finally got down to business. ”So, another one of these World Congresses

got this upcoming

Guardian would appear in five years, but as they both interpreted it, then they only really had to fight the Prima within ten. Five

think this Prima Guardian will be

now,” Villy mocked him back. ”Even with Nevermore, reaching B-grade or a level where you can hunt B-grades within five or even ten years is utterly unfeasible. The time you can spend in Nevermore is still limited, and even if you did choose to just rush levels, you would be hit hard by diminishing returns. If you did somehow manage to make it to a level of power where you could fight B-grades in time, it would be with a shitty foundation and sorely lacking Records for a C-grade. So, no, at most, this Prima Guardian will be in the later stages of C-grade. I have never heard of any B-grade in any of

took it all in and nodded in understanding, but he did bite onto one thing: ”Are the diminishing returns really that bad? Isn’t it only really a

levels and not focus on other things. In fact, it happens to everyone to some degree as it kicks in after a singular kill granting experience. You can alleviate this issue with qualitative upgrades along