The Primal Hunter

Jake’s second nap of the day was quite a bit longer than the first one. He ended up sleeping nearly ten hours straight, the longest in quite a while. And yes, he still categorized that as a nap.

Honestly, sleeping at higher grades was a weird thing. You didn’t need to sleep, and Jake had heard that some races just straight-up couldn’t, but those who started at lower grades where sleep was a necessity still retained this ability. As you then evolved, sleeping changed from being about physiological needs and became closer to a hidden skill of sorts. During sleep, one regenerated resources far faster, even when compared to meditation, and it especially helped refresh mental energy. Finally, and perhaps most importantly… sleeping was just nice.

Waking up, Jake struggled to get out of bed, not due to his body still being weak, but the allure of just laying there five more minutes. Alas, he had to get moving, so he got up and did some unnecessary stretches. Looking over his own body, he found most of his armor still in shambles, but at least he wasn’t outright dirty, as the arcane energy had thoroughly destroyed any blood that had gotten on him during the fight. He still went for a dip in the pond outside of the lodge to freshen up before heading into town to check up with Miranda.

Jake took out the cloak from his inventory – an item he didn’t really bother wearing anymore due to how useless it was – to at least cover up the broken armor. Looking at least a little representable, Jake made his way to the main office building of Haven, releasing a Pulse of Perception to confirm Miranda was there. She was currently alone in her office, giving Jake a perfect opportunity to sneak in.

He quickly made it there, and before he had time to knock on the door, she spoke from within.

“Come on in.”

Jake complied as he opened the door, seeing Miranda surrounded by papers and seemingly hard at work as always. He also felt that she had not quite reached C-grade yet, but she was close. Very close.

[Human – lvl 199]

He reckoned she was dealing with a quest or two, as Jake heard that it usually took most a bit of time to do those. Especially the race quests. Something Jake had not experienced due to the… peculiarity of his circumstances.

It was also possible Miranda was just delaying her evolution on purpose to upgrade some skills. A bit like how Jake wanted to upgrade all his Malefic Viper skills before his own evolution.

“How did your adventure in the termite hive go? None of the drones sent out by Arnold caught you leaving, and I suddenly just detected you back at your lodge, so what happened?” Miranda asked, her voice not really concerned but more curious.

“I would say it went pretty well. I am relatively sure I took down the top Queen as well as the strongest fighter in the form of the Isoptera Hive King. Afterward, I had to tactically retreat as C-grade warrior termites came swarming, which does confirm there are more C-grades around,” Jake answered.

“We are aware. Arnold’s drones have scouted quite deeply, and while the hive does appear weakened, it is far from doomed. There are dozens of D-grade Queens still, and I am having a meeting with the World Council later today to discuss how we will address this threat looming under our feet. I assume we will likely create hunting parties and assemble an army of sorts to go and clean it out, at least as much as we can. In the deeper reaches, the termites seem busy dealing with other C-grade monsters, so hopefully, cutting off their resource supply from the surface and severely limiting their potential for growth will deal a heavy blow. Based on my understanding, a C-grade Queen cannot birth another C-grade Queen directly, requiring these D-grades to grow and evolve on their own. As long as we kill all the D-grades, we should thus cut off their future potential,” Miranda explained.

“Sounds like you got things handled,” Jake nodded, happy to hear that Arnold had agreed to help and, from the sounds of it, even done a stellar job.

should indeed have a grasp of the situation. Hunting the C-grades ourselves currently isn’t possible, though I will bring up the possibility with the Sky Whale if he can provide monsters capable of breaking into the deeper layers from the oceanside and create some chaos,”

not have to deal with any of the cleanup or hunting of the termites himself. While he would welcome another Hive King to fight, he didn’t want to just go on a rampage

waved him off before asking: “There is one thing I have been meaning to ask you. Haven, as in the city here in the forest, is at the moment rather limited in area and population very much purposefully. However, we have had a flood of applications from people

here stay, and still allow in people actually worth having around. High-level individuals who have some level of actual power,

adventurers who have taken up residency. Many former mercenaries of the Holy Church, Risen, and United Cities Alliance now find themselves without any faction and, seeing as they want to stay independent, have set their sights on

things for everyone. No one wants endless queues at the nice skewer

will do so, but I still value your input,” Miranda nodded. “Now, was there more you wanted to discuss? I have to prepare things

you evolving? What

I want to improve and touch up on to specialize myself properly in C-grade,” Miranda answered. “As for when I will evolve… should not be too long, but it all depends on if I can

report world-threatening termite hives

long as you leave them in a state where they are no longer world-threatening, sure,” Miranda shrugged. “It would have been outstanding if you had decided to spend a few months wiping out every termite in the hive and never told me about it. But we both know that wouldn’t

feel like you

is it not praise to recognize your ability to do what most would only consider the expected course of action? You being responsible is outside the norm and needs positive reinforcement,”

getting bullied here,” Jake said, faking hurt. “Screw this place; I am going

indicating there wasn’t more for him to deal with. If she did need him for something, she was a big girl

set up down there. A few minutes later, he was once more dragged through the void and back to the first universe,

first thing he did was check in on the Bee Queen ritual, where he saw things were going as expected. It was pretty much ready for the final push to actually awaken the Queen, and even if he decided to do this final push now, a C-grade would hatch. But Jake wanted

Let’s get to work.

time, and he had ideas. Combat was truly the best way for Jake to progress, and he felt like his energy control had improved quite a bit from this fight, where he had finally allowed himself to let loose. He

far more central to this entire thing than he had first thought. He had several more insights too, and he didn’t bother

asking Duskleaf for some basic input, he did not allow himself to get distracted as he reflected and

Touch of the Malefic Viper had been involved… but to call what Jake did transmutation during those times didn’t feel entirely accurate. He had recognized before that aspects of the skill still had to be applied as Jake was ultimately transforming Records and energy. However, Jake was now beginning to

often-discussed law of equivalent exchange. More Records were never created during a transmutation, but all one truly did was mix and change those already present. If one wanted “more” Records, a fusion of different materials or the use of high-level catalysts was required. But, again, this did not

the item Jake had used to upgrade his boots when he was in D-grade or what the Sword Saint had told Jake about having done to his old ancestral sword. In

However, improving Records through outside items was not only possible for