The Primal Hunter

Jake, by now, realized: he had fucked up. At least he felt like he had fucked up. But upon looking at Vesperia sitting beside him, calmly drinking her tea while Villy explained, he couldn’t say he regretted what he had done. Despite only meeting that day, he liked Vesperia. Who couldn’t like someone with a damn stinger gun?

”This is… kind of bad, isn’t it?” he finally asked, making Vesperia look at him confused.

”Why would it be bad that you managed to sire a True Royal? The Endless Empire, no, any faction would welcome you with open arms, and no one will dare attempt to kill you for fear of the Malefic One choosing to strike back. That is not even mentioning the many other factions who will also desire your protection and growth,” Vesperia asked.

”Yeah… the thing is, I am not really public with this entire Chosen of the Malefic Viper thing,” Jake scratched his head.

Vesperia looked at him weirdly for a few seconds. ”I… don’t understand?”

”Jake here is weird; we agree on that, right?” Villy asked Vesperia with a grin. The True Royal nodded, Jake, choosing not to take offense as she clearly just agreed with the god to be nice and because he was a Primordial. Right?

”Well, part of his weirdness is a constant fear of recognition and having people suck up to him. I do kind of get it, as having armies of annoying insects running after you constantly is less than ideal, and it is made worse for Jake by his preference for people to treat him like a person rather than a symbol,” the snake god explained.

Jake confirmed with a nod. ”Can you blame me for just wanting normal interactions with other people and not them constantly walking on eggshells or treating me like royalty?”

Vesperia now looked even more confused. ”But… you are, aren’t you? You have helped birth a True Royal, and I recognize you as my sire and parent. You are a being above nearly all others.”

”Not disagreeing that I am awesome, just that I don’t want to be treated based solely on some perceived status people think I have. The problem is that others don’t seem to be able to respect that I want to be treated like a person and not some semi-divine figure based on their preconceived notions of who and what I should be,” Jake tried to explain.

The True Royal nodded, though Jake had a feeling she didn’t quite get it. Which was kind of fair. As a True Royal, it was innate of her to be treated like royalty by others; it was simply how things were supposed to be.

”Anyway, let’s get back on topic,” Villy cut in. ”My point here is that hiding what you have done is… not possible. While I am also awesome, and while Shroud of the Primordial can block nearly all things, there are gods out there capable of piercing through it. I know of at least one of the leaders in the Royal Council that would be able to trace you if she ever examined Vesperia here, and no amount of cloaking on my end can stop that. It will make her unable to find you, but she will know who you are. Ultimately, Shroud of the Primordial is about hiding things about you, not the fact that you even exist.”

”The Odonstrom Hive Queen,” Vesperia nodded.

”Dragonfly True Royal, leading the Odonata Lineage,” Villy clarified for Jake. ”They are Perception-focused, so you may like them, and their senses are wicked. The True Royal has a compound eye on her forehead, able to see things not perceivable to nearly any other visual organ I know of. Karmic threads, mana, emotions… she is even able to view different fragments of time through her eye, observing both past and future. A real scary one.”

”Hm,” Jake said with a frown. He had to admit, he had kind of banked on Shroud of the Primordial being perfect… but he had clearly miscalculated on that one. However, there was also one other issue.

”Wait, does that mean she already located Vesperia?” Jake asked, not sure if he should be worried or not.

will instantly know her location and descend when she is not covered by the formations here. Of course, it is not even

part to Vesperia, who in turn looked at Jake for an

here, Vesperia. If you want to stay, I am fine with it, but from what I have gathered, you are already

his words but then turned to the Viper. ”May I ask what

don’t tell him what to do; I just enjoy his antics. Sometimes I even make him aware of the consequences of his actions. This, of course, being one such case. Oh, and

as a contract manifested in mid-air. ”Gotta have to make

asked. ”It isn’t like Sylphie or

to Vesperia. ”What we have here is a scheming True Royal Hive

have to do. However, if I signed an agreement facilitated by the system itself, I would be able to simply refer to that and only say the things we have pre-approved.

revealing everything about Jake can help the hive, you should have no qualms about doing so. Considering the Endless Empire is like one big hive, you get my

Vesperia clarified. ”Jake and I belong to the same hive. He is my sire; nothing will ever change that

Same hive. Not that he

Vesperia asked, sounding unsure. ”To say he belongs to my hive would indicate I hold a superior position, but to say I am part of his would indicate the opposite, a sentiment I am not sure would be ideal

smiled, Jake feeling

say I am your superior,” Jake

my personal feelings on the matter will lead to nothing,” Vesperia shook her head. ”This is only natural. A True Royal born and nurtured by another True Royal will still view their parent as superior on a personal basis even if they both sit at the

but do note that it cannot include outright lies, or the entire thing will be deemed invalid. So we can’t just write up some fake story that she can then

to do or say, as the Viper took

think before we move on, let me just make clear: you

is fine with it… yes,” the Hive Queen nodded. ”I am not saying it has to be immediately, but there

Empire can. They have special resources, crafters, areas, heritages, teachers, and whatnot to assist Hive Queens. They have had eras to hone their skills in nurturing their own race

know if I go there,” Vesperia answered, clearly

”Now let’s cook up our technically accurate story that is also full of deceit for this entire situation not to turn into a massive shitshow. Because that is a risk. While the Endless Empire and many other factions would love your ability to birth powerful variants, other factions, not so much. Especially Rigoria would be quite pissed if she found

the contract in front of

by the system, and you are just one lucky bastard who stumbled across it and managed to do a ritual resulting in a True Royal appearing. If we lean into this and say it was a one-time thing, we would be able to mostly wash our hands of any future issues but will also gain no potential future benefits outside the Endless

his hand again,

will write it off not as you being awesome but instead just give me all the credit. The benefit

wave and a third

of how things work. Rather than be a one-time use item you acquired, it is an item with potentially multiple uses, but we will keep the exact requirements of how it can be used more times ambiguous. It is the truth that you cannot use it repeatedly and that there are requirements, but we also need to really emphasize that only you can do this. We can explain this away either with your arcane affinity or Bloodline, but I think it would be best to just say the item you gained from the system is