The Primal Hunter

Jake and Draskil left Draskil’s residence soon after, with the Malefic Dragonkin making sure Jake once more walked through and saw his entire damn harem that Jake was pretty sure had grown by a few people in the short time they were in the chamber.

The conversation with Helen had been short and matter-of-fact, with Jake wanting to finally set up a damn meeting. He honestly hadn’t cared where it was, so he didn’t question when Helen proposed meeting at one of the local headquarters of the Emberflight Dragonflight. It was only after Jake had already agreed and planned to meet Helen to take them there that he became aware of where they were going.

He came to learn that the Emberflight Clan apparently had quite the local presence on the Great Planet known as Primordial-4, right in the vicinity of the Order. Close enough so that there were teleporters between the Order and the land controlled by the Dragonflight nearby, though they were locked for anyone, not of the Dragonflight.

The place they were supposed to hold the meeting was called Firebound City. From what Jake had gathered – by asking Draskil – the leader of this Firebound City was a dragon god from the main clan who resided on something called the Firebound Peak close to the city.

Yes, their names were less than imaginative. Jake blamed the translation skill.

As they prepared to teleport away, Draskil turned to him. “What happens if you piss off one of their elders or something, and they decide to just kill us? Or, well, at the very least, kill you.”

Jake just shook his head. “Well, then that would suck, so let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

Chances also are Villy would take that as an opportunity to show himself and force Jake to reveal his identity. Not that Jake would disagree with that approach, as he found being known as the Chosen publicly a slightly preferable fate to being dead.

“Would suck,” Draskil agreed as the two of them teleported towards the common area they would meet Helen in. When they appeared, Jake instantly spotted the dragonkin woman in his sphere, but he also noticed her aura.

She hadn’t evolved to C-grade yet.

[Dragonkin – lvl 199]

Jake also got an idea as he looked at her. His Identify skill had upgraded to also allow him to see if people had Blessings, but Jake didn’t use it normally due to not really needing to. A lot of people could detect when someone used Identify on them, and a lot of skills protected the user from Identify. The less information one tried to Identify, the easier it was to do and the harder it was to discover. Hence, his default was not to also look if people had Blessings or try to see what else he could get out of the Identify skill. Finally, it was kind of considered rude by some to just go around Identifying people all the time.

Of course, with it being Helen, he didn’t really care about offending her, so he gave his improved Identify a try.

[Dragonkin – lvl 199 – Intermediate Blessing of Matriarch Fireplume Emberflight]

“Hey, Draskil,” Jake sent telepathically. “You know who a god named Matriarch Fireplume Emberflight is?”

The dragonkin looked at him briefly. “The Grand Elder of Firebound Peak, the place we are going. She is the de facto leader of this branch of the Emberflight and one of their Matriarchs. Don’t tell me this girl is blessed by a Matriarch of the Emberlflight?”

Jake threw Draskil a smile and looked toward Helen.

By now, she had spotted them, and Jake saw the surprise on her face. Not just from seeing he had evolved to C-grade, but from Draskil being with him. Oh yeah, he didn’t bother telling her he would bring a friend along either.

He waited for her to approach, and it didn’t take long for her to walk over. “I congratulate Mr. Thayne for reaching C-grade. The same to you, Lord Draskil; I apologize for not having prepared for you to join too.”

The way she spoke them made it clear she viewed Draskil as someone of higher status. Sure, they wanted more from Jake than the dragonkin, but they also seemed to be under the impression that offending Draskil was worse than offending Jake.

“Why would I reject orders from above when they’re to help a friend?” Draskil smartly answered.

I am pretty damn sure he has gotten smarter since reaching C-grade… or maybe he has just finally integrated and learned stuff about the world, Jake thought. One thing was for sure, Draskil had become a lot more articulate… in most circumstances.

“Also, when I heard it was to meet you, I at least knew there would be something pleasant around to look at,” he added needlessly.

I also forgot to mention that Albaromoz Emberflight will join us. I am sure you remember him as the one you attended

Albaromoz – not that he remembered

the Emberflight, so we thought it the simplest,” Helen answered with a smile as she motioned for

a weird mix of intimidation tactics, having someone around who could probe him, and a show

usual gates used by the Order. This was one capable of teleporting out of the Order and over greater distances, though it required a key of sorts based on the

some energy, and he planned on using their time queuing to study it a bit closer. Something that did not come to pass. The queue was long, and Helen clearly did not want to wait as she began acting

of the Emberflight Clan,” she spoke loudly to those

and, upon seeing the token, began giving way. Clearly, no one wanted to offend this young mistress, especially not after noticing she was with

Draskil to join her with a bright smile. She looked

hadn’t moved an inch. Draskil, because he was with Jake, and

actual

had given way stared at him and Draskil as they stood before the open path to the teleporter. Jake just mentally yelled at Helen and praised the

get back here

raised to skip queues just because he was impatient. Only true assholes didn’t respect the culture of queuing. If Jake hadn’t liked Helen before, he sure as hell didn’t now after learning she

shame in her eyes soon after as she gritted her teeth and slowly walked back towards

so much better at this politics stuff than me; that was such a powerplay. Have you also been

fifteen minutes in awkward silence, with only Draskil trying to make some small talk before it was their turn, and Helen once more took out the token and activated it. The teleporter charged up for a good thirty seconds before

they found themselves standing on a large platform that extended out from what looked like a massive palace in the center. A palace

he saw more platforms were higher up, with some of them having creatures lying on them.

City,” Helen said, having regained some of her composure upon entering her home turf. “I am not from here originally, but I was sent here by the main branch due to my Bloodline and talent in alchemy and was taken under the wing of Grand Elder Fireplume and given

and looked at Jake and Draskil as if they should be impressed. Jake was about to ask if this Fireplume would join them for their discussion but stopped himself. Gods joining in on conversations like

her bragging. One good thing about his publicly known Bloodline being about resisting presences was that he had an excuse to not be affected by stuff like the many dragons above and

a bit, but she quickly regained her gusto. “If Mr. Thayne desires to head

the offer. He wasn’t there to

then please follow me,” Helen said and turned her back to lead them into the main palace. Jake saw her grimace through his sphere as she no-doubt cursed him

curiously, and a few of the powerful dragons above also directed their attention down at Jake and the Malefic Dragonkin. Jake’s buddy nodded up at a few of them, potentially even having a few telepathic exchanges here

structure had already been massive, but inside it was even bigger as it spatially expanded. Once inside, he also saw that it was a massive atrium of sorts, everything made in huge sizes to accommodate dragons staying in their true forms. Only on the higher floors, though. Towards the bottom, things took on a more reasonable size, and it was

from above. He looked up and saw a dragon several hundred meters long fly down toward them. Its red scales glistened from the sunlight above, and its form practically radiated power and heat. The presence was a familiar one,

to swoop down in dragon form like this while blaring his presence all over them. The dragon landed gracefully, and his body rapidly began to shrink, and a red flash of light

meet once more, young Bloodline Patriarch,” Albaromoz said with a smile as he walked forward to

nodded to the true dragon, Helen standing at the side with

got you to thank for this entire mess, don’t I?” Jake sighed. “Let’s just head to the

even slightly offended as he simply nodded and took out a token. Jake felt the space distort around him as he was forcefully

be politicized by these people. The same was true for whom took a seat first, but this time they allowed Jake and Draskil to sit first, Draskil thanking the

meeting was on quite short notice, so please excuse me if I am not fully up-to-date on what

me first ask Helenstromoz why she decided to

to find out who this backer was, I decided to ask someone who may know who the backer was and have information about who you are to learn more about Mr. Thayne

her down. “I don’t have

that day that seemed to stump her the most. Even the damn A-grade dragon seemed surprised at his answer, with only

have any interest in the practice,” Draskil came in with the

Draskil. The dragonkin looked confused back at Jake, making him let a sigh as the dragonkin did not look like he would correct the