The Primal Hunter

Duskleaf appeared beside the Malefic Viper as he joined him in staring down at the young human within the time chamber.

“Did you ask me to come by simply to confuse me?” Duskleaf asked the Viper while looking down at Jake.

He had a break from assisting his Master as he could handle everything there himself for now. This had allowed Duskleaf to send his clone back to help the little elf girl catch up and make sure she stayed on top of her studies without any of his personal projects being affected. He even had time for this brief excursion to see what Jake was up to, though he, at first sight, didn’t learn much.

Though there was one thing.

“Why has he embedded the weapon in his chest?” Duskleaf asked. He saw that Jake had the weapon he had created firmly stabbed into his own chest, more accurately, into his own heart. At first, Duskleaf thought he was absorbing some of the curse energy from it directly into his body, but he felt no movements of energy.

“Good question,” his Master smiled. “Sadly, I have no bloody idea. What I do know is that what he wants to accomplish is linked to that mythical weapon of his.”

“Further strengthening his connection to a Sin weapon does not seem wise… it may influence his Path and lead him somewhere he did not intend to go,” Duskleaf disapproved.

“It will only become a problem if he allows the curse to influence him too much. Besides, from my understanding, what he is doing is more than merely strengthening the Soulbound connection,” the Malefic Viper explained.

Duskleaf looked a bit at the young man below and sighed. “How long has he been in there anyway?”

“From whose point of view?” the Viper asked.

“His.”

“I would say… about forty years, give or take?”

Duskleaf frowned. Not that long for himself, but a notable amount of time for a D-grade. “Has he-“

“Yep. Every single goddamn second.”

The old alchemist nodded. He stared at Jake and saw how he still remained focused. Not a single disturbance could be detected in his aura. There was only a sensation of serenity and focus from his Master’s Chosen as he worked on his task.

Duskleaf had lived for… a while. He had many students during this time, having not taken the position of Grand Elder of the Academy in the Order just for show. Throughout the years, one learned things.

There had been heaven-sent geniuses. Individuals who had formed several legendary skills in F-grade, alchemists who had crafted as if they were three times their own level, living encyclopedias, and absolute monsters of mana control. Yet none of these had ever made it to godhood. They had made it far, they had gotten powerful and respected, but ultimately they had fallen short despite everyone saying they would no doubt ascend.

A foolish assumption on their part that they would make it. An arrogance born of talent. In some ways, Duskleaf even pitied them because geniuses tended to all run into the same problem down the road. They became impatient.

For a prodigy in magic, forming legendary skills, amazing all your peers, and showing off by killing foes in higher grades were all expected. They would be hailed and respected, but as they got stronger and stronger, things began to change.

Rather than compete with individuals that were D-grade and had trained for a century, they would meet C-grades who had lived for millennia. They would meet B-grades who had lived for tens of thousands of years. Even if this heaven-sent genius was only a few hundred years max, could he truly make up the gap fifty-thousand years of experience and practice had formed? Most couldn’t.

Not to misunderstand, they were still talents. These people would catch up, becoming stronger than the old expert in a fraction of the time, but they rarely did. They got frustrated. They saw magic a mage had spent ten thousand years making and couldn’t comprehend how they hadn’t perfected it themselves in a decade. In a way, their talents became their downfall as they had never learned the act of patience.

focus. Never stood before what seemed like an insurmountable barrier, and rather than giving up or trying to find a way around, began to slowly and methodologically figure out a way to climb it, a single

could cruise relatively easily through these grades but chose not to. In all honesty, then Jake was not the

trial dungeon where Jake had gained the highest possible assessment from that part of the alchemy test. Coupled with his inability to

of a task was the mundanity of it, he would simply view overcoming his own boredom and lack of stimulation as just another challenge to beat. In a way, he truly was a born hunter, be it the hunt to kill or a hunt for success. Even if

Jake reminded Duskleaf a

the basic potions and even longer to properly learn how to make poisons without constantly hurting himself. Oh, and don’t even get me started on rituals. The only

his head

small step at a time. Usually, we talk about people meeting barriers in their Path, but this guy was running an obstacle course from day one. Yet he kept slowly trodding forward. Shit, he was downright crawling at times. He was just a stubborn fool who loved alchemy far too much to give up, no matter how badly he sucked at it. Though I guess he did become decent at it after spending a long enough time bashing his head into

Viper looked at Duskleaf with a

you agree, my dear dunce of a

the two identical men slid back, both also raising a hand and releasing a blast of energy. Simultaneously, they dodged and circled around to clash again. Every hit was blocked or dodged, both looking

both men froze as their eyes flashed yellow. The fight was paused for half a second as both disengaged

arrows flew as each curved in opposite directions to not clash. Dodging them both was effortless for the two men as they switched tactics in

forward and clashed weapons as they each blocked and dodged. Rather than a fight, it looked more than choreographed dance, and in some ways, that was a more accurate description of what their bout had

by mere millimeters. Then, they both swung, having their two

Yet, the first to move would also be the one to incite a response, and if everything went as it did the other times, that person would

“Another tie,” Jake spoke.

sim-Jake answered. “We don’t need to

decisive blow on the other for more than a year. In fact, it had been months since

has indeed become meaningless,” Jake agreed. There was nothing more to learn

there was to learn from the other about combat. Sim-Jake had learned to use the bow merely by observing and copying Jake, and Jake had done the

but sim-Jake had reached the same level of archery as Jake far before Jake reached sim-Jake’s skill level in melee combat. However, now, and for the last few… years? There had been no difference between them. Outside of magic, neither could do anything the other couldn’t. Sim-Jake had even learned to use a few important skills of the regular Jake

plan, but Jake had naturally learned all there was to the fighting style. Both of them had kind of hoped to improve it together but found it

fighters who needed experience to improve. They needed actual combat. In fact, even trying to improve the style by only fighting each other could end up worsening it, as it would be adapted to fighting against someone with his Bloodline. No, they needed

sim-Jake and Jake looked at each other for

“It’s time.” “It’s time.”

to learn. Sim-Jake’s body already gave off a sensation reminiscent of Eternal Hunger, and the cursed beast no longer attacked

finish up here and head towards the dungeon. I will finish up the final attunement

melancholy. “I

fully integrated with Eternal Hunger, his Records would fully join and

bone that held sim-Jake’s existence had already begun to show signs of failure. Microcracks covered it entirely, and even if it remained sturdy enough and was still useful, Jake knew it was close to the end of its

had even sped this up by giving away his memories and Records. Sim-Jake had admitted that he couldn’t remember a damn thing anymore from before the system in his simulated reality - nothing aside from what Jake had seen during his vision, anyway. Even the Tutorial was just snippets here and there. His only reason for retaining an ego now was his inherent will to survive and that he had actively

things must come to

goodbye is a bit too strong of a word. It is more that I will change. In some ways, wasn’t

“Well-argued,” Jake smiled.

a fast one and try to take over your body at the very last second?” sim-Jake

that