The Primal Hunter

Jake’s plans were spoiled right from the beginning. His nemesis reared its head the moment Jake returned to Haven: politics. More accurately, Jake was being asked to do political stuff in the form of going to greet a whale that had made it to the edge of the ocean quite a bit away, right at the border of where C-grades could go. It was annoying, but it appeared only Jake could ”invite” C-grades into the safe areas, so he had to go himself.

Miranda, who had been waiting in his damn lodge to ambush him after being tipped off by her evil witch Patrons, filled him in on all this. It had been decided to have the Sky Whale join as the last member of the council, and from the sounds of it, there were already positive relationships with the ocean-based faction the whale led being established. So, overall, a good choice from the sound of it.

”Just to tell you, Sultan has already gone and talked to the whale about the time it arrived,” she informed him.

”Sultan?” Jake said, remembering the shady merchant. He hadn’t talked to the guy since before the Ell’Hakan invasion. Shit, he had barely heard about what he was up to, which was a rarity as he usually didn’t keep a low profile.

”What did Sultan do during the invasion, by the way?” Jake asked Miranda. ”And what about afterward?”

Miranda got a smile of pure schadenfreude. ”Sultan stayed back in Haven after being contacted by members of the United City Alliance who had tried to convince him to switch sides. By the time we hid away due to the attack, he was already separated… and then Ell’Hakan got to him. From what I can gather, he never actually gave the nahoom anything, but he did help him by giving out information and willingly trading with him. After Ell’Hakan was gone and he began to realize how much he had fucked up, Sultan stayed away from you on purpose because he was afraid of what you would do, and he even tried to bribe me to put in a good word. I said yes to this request, by the way, which helped quite a bit as the city funds are doing well. On a serious note, I really don’t care what he did. He told me himself that Ell’Hakan made him think that he had to trade freely with both Chosen to make it a fair fight or something and that you would even be angry if he refused, as that would lessen the challenge. Something I honestly cannot fault him for as I could see you get mad over someone making life easier for you.”

”Huh,” Jake said. Well, that explained why the guy had avoided Jake altogether. ”So, you’re good with him?”

”He has been easier to work with since then. Though it has driven him to pursue more business ventures to try and make up for the losses he suffered by giving more back to Haven, and he is also actively leveraging the new position of Haven and the council,” Miranda answered. ”So, he is still the same slimy merchant as before, but one who feels like he owes us a major debt. And he does not strike me as the type to not honor debts.”

Jake shrugged. ”I never even knew he ”betrayed” me. Not even sure it was a betrayal? We just agreed that he could trade out of Haven, not that he would swear loyalty to me. So, yeah, I don’t care, either.”

Miranda nodded. ”He will probably be relieved to hear that. Ah, but don’t actually tell him; I like it when he squirms.”

”I am beginning to worry about the influence of those witches,” Jake muttered.

”Power brings out the worst in people,” Miranda smiled in response. ”Now be off. The whale has been waiting for over two weeks already. A patient monster, that one.”

Jake headed off a bit after that, wondering on the way why Villy hadn’t mentioned he had contacted that Karroch dude while Jake was in the time chamber. Then again, maybe the god didn’t really think it important?

Getting to the ocean was also a lot easier than it used to be. Teleportation gates were now properly established once more. In fact, the new ones were better, and with the elimination of most factions on Earth, there was less red tape and more cooperation to get the network up and running as fast and efficiently as possible.

All this led to Jake making it to an ocean town within only an hour of leaving Haven. Despite having been away for nearly two months, nothing special had happened back on his home planet besides more developments in cities. Beast tides had stopped, faction wars had died down, and while there was still some unhealthy competition here and there, it was nothing outrageous.

Another thing that had improved was also his mask. The cracks were pretty much gone by now, with only a few minor fractures left on it. This meant the King was likely also close to fully healed… which also meant the Unique Lifeform was probably sitting impatiently and annoyed, waiting for Jake to get on with his evolution.

Anyway, back in the ocean town, Jake instantly noticed the buzzing crowd and armies of people moving boxes from the harbor. People holding shareable spatial storages ran back and forth and teleported away, using the surprisingly big teleportation venue.

Walking through the city, Jake only stopped once because he saw a woman selling ice cream, but otherwise made his way down to the epicenter of activity at a good pace. From afar, he saw that a long floating pier had been constructed, stretching several kilometers into the vast ocean with several large sea creatures flocking around the end of it.

tent placed in front of it. Sultan was within, along with a dozen other people

his ice cream that didn’t seem to be

seemed ready to yell when Jake entered but instantly shut up as his

Jake had to admit: Miranda had a point.

said, menacingly taking a lick of his ice cream. ”I see you are doing well for yourself. Trading with the ocean creatures

the Chosen is indeed correct,” the merchant nodded. ”I entertained our guest

faction filled with C-grade ocean-bound creatures is a good trading partner and can offer materials far better than

his face in right away. ”I believe Lord Thayne has come for the Sky Whale? He is residing on a small island about a hundred kilometers off the shore, directly ahead of the

at Sultan one final time. ”We

a bit worried behind him. Jake didn’t actually know if he would talk to Sultan again anytime soon; he just wanted to spook

island. He summoned his wings and

of the C-grade

skin and a bald head. There didn’t

[Sky Whale - ???]

was. Scarlett was the only C-grade Jake had seen truly care that much about the Polymorph skill, as most just

humanoid figures sitting there turn to him. There were even

Sky Whale said as he stood up and nodded. Jake was glad he didn’t bow, as

you have already been

”We of the ocean also wish for a

Sky Whale to go where it pleased, also including the other C-grades in the pavilion after making

utmost to live up to expectations,” the whale said very politely. ”My Patron and I both thank you

you aboard,” Jake answered with a smile. ”If there is

said. ”I am certain the Chosen also knows of the approaching Prima Guardian, and I have a warning… I do not think we will be able to assist the Chosen in this matter. We who have grown from Unique treasures will be unable to fight the Primas but only

bit surprised at hearing this but just shrugged. ”It shouldn’t matter either way. I think we got it

about… it was to decide whether the planet would be controlled

wanted that evolution and partly because he saw the gazes of the merchants all seemingly

Jake flew off back to the harbor town. A few teleports and a bit of flying later, Jake was back in Haven again. Without further delay, he headed into

he thought about it further, he had barely bothered to explore this forest, the family of hawks having spent far more time

in on where he felt the subtle C-grade auras from the get-go. The levels of the D-grades grew the deeper in he got, as the trees also grew in height and power.

It was more like the Grand Mangrove River in that it had a limited number, perhaps no more than a hundred C-grades total. It was the kind of area

from the Mangrove in that it didn’t connect to the ocean even if it bordered the shoreline, still allowing C-grades to come and go. The strongest creatures on Earth Jake had encountered were either air or water-based monsters, and while

entered the domain of C-grades. Powerful D-grades were still in the area, most of them at or near the peak, and none of them of any interest to Jake. Making his way past all of them, Jake spread out his senses,

way, he did see a few beasts that had barely reached C-grade, all of them, surprisingly enough, running away from where he was going. One of them did seem to spot Jake but ignored him and