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.

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

stopped observing them and moved on, and Jake also felt the attention of dozens of other similar attentions leaving him. Arnold sure had some protection set

do you say?”

many humans in one place, yet all of them are so weak. The weak are protected by the strong. Hunting others is disallowed, too, right?

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

that it said more about her damn scales than a giant dome of metal. The worst part was that Jake also estimated

go around destroying stuff to test

Scarlett said with much indignation as she shook her head and tried to raise her hands, but her movement made

softly let go of her hand. ”Let’s head back to Haven,

moment

thought but didn’t say much as 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

were still stuck in the office discussing stuff, so he would have to

while?” Jake asked her once they

prompting

Earth. It’s where I first started to live after I returned

the lodge with far different

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

the sky to gather even more beast friends. Sylphie and family were all up there, and while Sandy 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 out the weird egg-that-wasn’t-an-egg and

a meeting. Jake reached out mentally as the

thing. ”I can’t even begin to tell you

off,” Jake joked back. ”I guess I should also say I am proud of you for holding back your curiosity and not contacting me right after my most recent

give me credit; I just had more important things to do. I was actually doing alchemy, you know? Duskleaf

also doing alchemy and being rather shit at it. Couldn’t even make a

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

we got this

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 did wonder about one thing,

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

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

the diminishing returns really that bad? Isn’t it only really a thing if you hunt a lot

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