The Primal Hunter

Jake smiled as the Viper probed him. He felt the Blessing strengthen as he knew he had just entrenched himself even further with the Viper, and clearly, so did the snake god.

“Just upgraded my profession. A straight upgrade, the same name, too, meaning I am still a Heretic-Chosen Alchemist. So nothing overly exciting,” Jake answered his divine buddy.

“A straight upgrade that dragged even more out of me,” the Viper said. “To a level where it is beginning to limit the maximum number of other Blessings I can give out.”

“… Is that bad?” Jake asked with a bit of worry.

“No, I am not even close to reaching that maximum and probably won’t be unless I one day wake up and decide to give high-level Blessings to an entire planet. What actually happened isn’t the problem; it is the principle in the thing,” Villy answered, clearly not a trace of actual worry in his voice.

“My apologies, then,”Jake said with a grin.

“Did you at least get something out of it?”

“Let me check,” Jake answered, already knowing the answer as he checked the first of many notifications.

Your bond with the Malefic Viper is further strengthened as you now share not only a karmic and bodily connection but a bond of history and Records, sharing memories known to no one but the two of you. You will no longer be able to receive a new Blessing even if the Malefic One perishes unless you purge yourself of all his Records.

He had not expected that to happen. No longer being able to receive a Blessing would probably seem like a very bad thing to anyone else as that meant if the god started to dislike you for some reason, you would be screwed. Luckily for Jake, Villy could not take it back, so the snake god was fucked in that regard and would have to talk things out with Jake if they had problems. Or kill him. As for the Viper dying… yeah, Jake saw the chances of that happening as really fucking low, especially before Jake himself either died or reached godhood.

Jake checked his Blessing and saw that it indeed had changed slightly from this upgrade.

[True Blessing of the Malefic Viper (Blessing - True)] – An Alchemist recognized by the Malefic Viper himself that has now seized parts of the Blessing in an act of defiance. Few throughout the ages have found themselves blessed by the Primordial, despite their desire to be so. You are his Chosen. Now even the true blood of the Malefic Viper himself is found within your very being, only strengthening your bond further. Your Records are more and more intertwined with that of your Patron, and through a powerful direct karmic and bodily connection, the Wisdom, Willpower, Vitality, Intelligence, and Toughness of the Malefic Viper empower you. +10% Willpower, +10% Wisdom, +10% Vitality, +10% Intelligence, + 10% Toughness. Grants access to many new paths. Only one Blessing can be held at a time. Cannot be denounced or retracted.

“Villy, not to sound like an ass, but why do the stats tied to your Legacy suck so much?” Jake asked after seeing the Blessing had been empowered to also give an extra 10% Toughness. Why did it have to be Toughness? Jake didn’t want Toughness.

“Wow, you come in here, steal some of my Records related to Blessings to empower yourself, and then complain about it not giving the stat you want?” Villy asked with a faux tone of outrage. “Very heretical of you, that’s for sure.”

“Just following my Path. I firmly expect it to increase Perception next time,” Jake said with a smile. “Anyway, I still got all the skill changes and upgrades, so talk to you later?”

said, finishing off the conversation so Jake could get

skills. Two that had experienced changes and one new.

with a rarity above that of your Concoct Poison skill if certain conditions are met. The poison may at most be upgraded to the rarity of the Malefic Viper’s Poison skill (Rare --> Epic). Allows poison not to lose

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prey. Increases the potency of all created poisons. Grants the ability to craft a poison with a rarity above that of your Concoct Poison skill if certain

Arcane Hunter – another skill he felt fairly confident would upgrade during his evolution – this skill was one of his unsung heroes. It was simple, and while Jake had barely activated that special ability part of

just made everything poison-related better. It made all poison Jake crafted better and made it last longer when applied to a weapon. Both were great things that he took for a given due

Blood. Besides that, It just improved every part of it by a little, and that was it. In fact, the only real change was the rarity the triggered ability could upgrade to and the wording changing for how long

yeah. Great to see it upgrade,

skill Jake

the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)] – A unique path between the Primordial known as the Malefic Viper and his Chosen, the Progenitor Jake Thayne. Allows you to experience the Legacy of the Malefic Viper on a far more direct level by relying on your direct connection as a Chosen and the mentality of a heretic. Focusing on the Malefic Viper’s Legacy’s core skills, a skill that you adequately comprehend will allow you to peer into its true Records as you journey through time, space, and reality, to experience history firsthand. Be warned that gains are not guaranteed, and while the journey cannot harm you directly, the journey may cause harm or have lasting effects – a risk you must take

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journey through time, space, and reality to experience history

was in how Jake could use it. The old version required Jake to focus on a skill, while this version required him to focus on a skill, event, or entity. What this meant was in no way lost to him, and he already knew at least one goal during his journey through C-grade just from reading this

up with the First Sage. With the wording of the skill, Jake should even be able to focus on the guy directly and hopefully learn some spicy secrets. The skill was still a bit fast and loose with the actual requirements to trigger the skill, but hopefully, it would work. If not, then the limitation of only being able to focus on a skill once was also gone, so maybe he could use it to cheese

should be proof of that. This would only be doubly true in this instance, seeing that none of the Legacy skills had downgraded in rarity. Them not reducing in rarity still meant they had reduced in quality,

A project for later.

every twenty levels and

Jake was looking forward to using more than ever. There was so much to see and so many juicy

the way, there was still one more skill gained. In D-grade, every alchemist had gotten Craft Elixir, but there was no such basic crafting

the Grimoire depends on a multitude of factors, including crafting ingredients, the will of the creator, and several unknowns. Requirements to use the Grimoire vary. A cooldown period is required between each crafting

he begrudgingly had to admit it fit his entire Path of the Heretic Chosen thing. This skill would allow him to spread his Path, creating these tomes that others

confident it wasn’t something he could do entirely alone. A high-level scribe would

was also clear the system really wanted him to make one, with the last part pretty much telling him that it would lend a hand and make them better than normal. The boost also seemed significant, with

had come across a total of three Grimoires in his life. The first one had given him the profession he had today, the second he had gotten from the Great White Stag and given to Lillian, and the third had been from the Treasure Hunt. That one had been the Fulgarian Depthcaller that Jake came to learn was killed unceremoniously by Scarlett. At least he

offered. The second best option was using it

Grimoire for? Especially if it was alchemy-related? The only one

if he would call the given skill a bummer