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.

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

gave a nod. An invisible drone that had been floating there stopped observing them and moved on, and Jake also felt the attention of dozens of other similar attentions leaving him. Arnold

you say?”

is… large. So 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?

creators, but remember they are not to be underestimated. Within that metal dome is one of the most dangerous humans on Earth, and he is a pure creator,” Jake explained as he pointed

Not realizing that it said more about her damn scales than a giant

destroying stuff to test that out,” Jake

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

shook his head and softly let go of her hand. ”Let’s head

for a moment before nodding. ”If that is what

we get to the Order, Jake 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 was still far faster than him. He didn’t doubt that she could destroy pretty much any human settlement on Earth if she so

Scarlett toward the lodge. Miranda and the others were still stuck in the

here for a while?” Jake asked her once they made it to the

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

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

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

and scratched his head. ”An… accident happened. Anyway, see

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.

up a meeting. Jake reached

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

joked back. ”I guess I should also say I am proud of you for holding back your curiosity and not

I just had more important things to do. I was actually doing alchemy, you know? Duskleaf is over the moon,” Villy said,

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

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

this

would appear in five years, but as they both interpreted it, then they only really had to fight the

you think this Prima Guardian will be

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

Isn’t it only really a thing

after you cleared that one below your city, or maybe went in to explore the forest right away, you would have gained some more levels, yes, but soon you would find the levels just stopped coming all-together or it would get to the point 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