The Primal Hunter

Irinixis had wondered what had happened for a while after the Chosen had just one day disappeared. She had no way of contracting him as his token was unreachable, meaning he was either dead or not in the Order. She reckoned the latter for obvious reasons.

Her new teacher, the Velvet Mistress, also agreed that nothing would have happened to him. Geniuses did not die that easily, and if he had been gone, people would have learned about it. Irin also knew that the many statues of the Viper spread around the Order would reflect the loss of a Chosen through their aura, proving that he should be fine. Or that the Viper was capable of shrugging off the loss of a Chosen without much care.

Irin naturally hoped the Chosen was fine as he was her golden ticket. She had gotten a new mistress at the peak of S-grade, her status elevated above anything she could ever imagine, and her evolution had even come earlier than she had expected. Irin had always believed she would be able to reach C-grade, even if she didn’t always vocalize it. However, she did have fears of how she would make it to C-grade. D-grade was already the end of the line for most, and while C-grade was expected of her due to her heritage and position, no one expected her to ever reach B-grade. Irin hadn’t expected to ever get a shot at it either. Yet now… now it didn’t seem impossible.

All she had to do was stay in his good graces and, if possible, get even more involved with him, no matter what kind of role she was asked to perform. It was premature, but her ultimate goal was to become his personal liaison between the Order and him. To be someone officially involved and linked to the Chosen and his matters. But, it was hard to get an ”in,” so for now, she could only try to deepen their personal relationship. One thing she had learned was that the Chosen cared little for decorum or tradition but preferred casual interactions and demeanors.

Her mistress had made her work on being more appealing to the Chosen, which included unlearning many of her old methods. The Chosen did not seem to enjoy the overly subservient types but wanted someone who treated him far more equally than someone of this status was entitled to. Not too much, though, as Irin still wanted to make it clear she was there to make his life easier while hopefully also being a friendly face.

Anyway, she had worked on this for a long time but had worried as he had not called for her even once. Fortunately, the silence was broken as her token vibrated, and she felt the signature. Elated, she greeted him, and to make it better, he even asked for assistance – even being allowed to make a personal visit.

She had quickly gone and put on some more fitting clothes and got herself ready. The evolution to C-grade had done her many favors if she said so herself, even if the shape of the horns could get a bit annoying and get her hair tangled during showers.

Teleporting to the residence of the Chosen, she was instantly met by two auras surpassing her own. One was from the Chosen, whom she knew, even with her evolution, she stood no chance against. The second one was a female beast who had taken human form and, from the looks of it, was a snake of some kind. Irin also felt the Blessing from the girl and would naturally show the due respect such a thing dictated. Helping her was part of her job and something she would happily do.

However, what she cared most about was the gaze of the Chosen. It lingered for longer than it had to, making Irin very pleased. Still, she had a job to do and showed professionalism despite the gazes of the two other women that were certainly less friendly than the Chosen’s. One gaze was from the assigned slave for Lord Thayne called Meira. Irin was a bit surprised he asked if she wanted to join the Order too, indicating he wanted to release her. On-brand based on what Irin had learned of Lord Thayne. If he wanted people to treat him as an equal, the thought of having a slave forced upon him must have been less than ideal. Irin had also learned a bit about Earth from the human called Reika and come to understand a bit of their planet’s history – including how slavery was not popular in their part of the world. Downright hated, even.

The other gaze was naturally from the snake woman. A piercing one, Irin had to admit. Luckily she saw neither of them as threats to her goals, even if they were on good terms with Lord Thayne. She also got a feeling that her goals and the goals of the slave elf were somewhat similar, if very different in approach. Both of them wanted to stay integrated with the Chosen, one way or another, to secure their own futures.

With the two girls evaluated, Irin answered some questions and led the prospective member, Scarlett, away. A bow towards the Chosen was only proper, and once more, his gaze lingered for a moment before Irin and the snake girl left. Irin, of course, knew what she was doing.

Was she what humans would call a golddigger? Yes, though the term in the multiverse tended to be parasites for those such as her who forcefully tried to associate themselves with powerful individuals and feed off their Records. She wasn’t ashamed of it either.

Lord Thayne wasn’t stupid and most certainly not unperceptive. He knew what she was doing and allowed it. If the parasite and target both enjoyed and found benefits in the relationship, it could only be called synergistic, couldn’t it?

by himself. Free of the ”drama” he had just been a part of, he felt

honestly easiest to just act like he didn’t know. Things were just too complicated. Meira was still his slave, making it break at least a few moral lines to respond to her feelings, and Jake wasn’t even sure she actually liked him, even

and she also revered Jake to an unhealthy level. With both her and Meira, the power imbalance in their relationships was all

complicated he didn’t want to think

and their joint attempt to create a skill. For both of these, Jake had some issues he needed to overcome. After some consideration, he ultimately decided to take on Sagacity first as he wanted to fully dedicate his

work and sat on the sofa in the living room as he leaned

of Sagacity already, especially after the last vision. For a long time, Jake had wondered what the point of the

the Malefic Viper (Ancient)] – To hold just a fragment of the wisdom of a Primordial is more than most ever achieve. Much less to be personally taught that knowledge directly by the god himself. Allows the Alchemist to peek into a fragment of the Malefic Viper’s Records to seek his knowledge. Grants the Alchemist of the Malefic Viper a far better understanding of mana and of most affinities. Allows the Alchemist to make

minimal. It had two primary passive elements: a better understanding of mana and the ability to craft without associated crafting skills. The first part had some value, but It was just a small passive bonus that he

crafting skill. It sounded nice, but… Jake had these crafting skills. He had all he needed, and his evolutions tended to just give the skills if he wanted them or not. Also, if Jake could choose, he would want the crafting

the extra Wisdom and the mana

there was one final active part of the skill: to peer into the Record Fragment of the Viper. This part had been pretty useful, but… Jake couldn’t see why he needed a skill for that. He had stolen the drop of blood without a skill, hadn’t he? And he also restrained it within his

not a part of the Viper’s version. At least Jake had wondered this until the latest vision. He had kind of misunderstood the core of Sagacity from the

he found the issue, and that was while in C-grade. Jake could only imagine the pain of having to do this entire process of figuring out a ”manual” approach to every new alchemical method. But Jake had a feeling the Viper had done exactly this and then condensed it into this one skill. A skill that was now part of his Legacy and could be obtained or taught to other monsters, allowing them to benefit from his

mana were just passive elements gained from a better understanding of the fundamental principles of how alchemy worked. Or, perhaps, an added bonus as the system knew the significantly reduced value the Sagacity skill

while he tended to prefer to avoid it, he decided to approach the source of the skill

”Hey, Villy-”

down at Jake’s face, obstructing his vision of the nice

busy?”

to this avatar and not the real me,” Villy said as he jumped over the back of the couch and sat on it. ”Can you

for a moment and tried to find any indications of it not being the real thing. The aura was vast and powerful as usual, but in its muted state, Jake had a

not why you asked for me. What seems to trouble my little Chosen this time around? Oh, if it is love advice, then sure,

with the First

shut up but still smirked. ”He didn’t strike me as your type, so not love advice, I see. What do you