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 take in everything. Jake smiled and felt

moved on, and Jake also felt the attention of dozens of other similar attentions leaving him. Arnold sure had some protection set up in the Fort from

do you say?”

so weak. The weak are protected by the strong. Hunting others is

Within that metal dome is one of the most dangerous

metal looks nearly as resilient as my scales,” she said, impressed. Not realizing that it said more about her damn scales than a giant dome of metal. The worst part was that Jake also estimated it to be the truth, if not an understatement to

around destroying stuff to

much indignation as she shook her head and tried to raise her hands, but her

go of her hand. ”Let’s head back

stared at this hand with disappointment for a moment before

he headed out of the Fort with Scarlett. The two of them flew, and Jake had to admit that even with him using wings and Scarlett just flying with regular energy manipulation, she was still far faster than him. He didn’t doubt that she could destroy pretty much any human settlement on

made their way back to Haven, Jake led Scarlett toward the lodge. Miranda and the others were still stuck in the office discussing stuff, so he would have to leave her alone for a bit with

wait here for a while?” Jake asked her

around, prompting Jake to explain a bit about where they

where I first started to

far different eyes. She

head. ”An… accident

was probably nowhere close, he had a strong feeling they could get to him pretty damn fast. To make sure his sandworm friend wasn’t too slow, he took

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

well, I guess a congratulation is in order, revered World Leader of Earth,” Villy joked first thing. ”I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am from seeing you move up in the world

for holding back your curiosity and not contacting me right after my most recent vision

do. I was actually doing alchemy, you know? Duskleaf is over the moon,” Villy said, clearly grinning on the other

this vision, you were also doing alchemy and being rather shit at it.

in strides as they finally got down to business. ”So, another one of

this upcoming final trial

detail, pretty much just reading what the system messages said. The Prima Guardian would appear in five years, but as they both interpreted it, then they only really had to fight the Prima within ten. Five or ten years wasn’t a lot of time, but it also wasn’t a little. He

you think this Prima Guardian will be B-grade?” Jake asked

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

really that bad? Isn’t it only really a thing if you hunt a lot of the same kind of enemy or if the fights get

where you could kill a thousand beasts higher level than you and still not level up. It happens to many who try to rush their 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 the way, like skill upgrades, but it can only do so much. The best thing to do is simply wait and focus on other pursuits. Even beasts have to do this, hence why they rarely hunt but instead consume natural treasures to slowly progress or work on improving other qualitative aspects of themselves. Ah, but I would note that