The Primal Hunter

“Is he…?” the plump old alchemist asked as he looked at the screen.

”Yep,” Vilastromoz confirmed.

“This scene is a bit odd, isn’t it?” Duskleaf questioned.

“Not gonna question it,” the snake god shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with the admittedly weird-looking scene.

They were naturally watching Jake give Vesperia head pats, the prideful True Royal sitting perfectly still but, based on the antennas shaking slightly, clearly enjoying it. If any outsider saw this, it would look like a younger man patting the head of an older woman, perhaps even finding the entire scene indecent.

“You know what Jake and I talked about?” Vilastromoz asked his disciple. ”About him coming out as Chosen?”

“Yes, and I also know what you are going to argue,” Duskleaf shook his head.” Him revealing it purposefully does not mean you win our bet on when he would leak it on a technicality.”

“Well, he can’t leak it if he openly reveals it, now can he? Something already well-known can’t be leaked, can it? Or did the definition of the word leak somehow change within the last few minutes?”

Duskleaf just looked at him for a few moments before shaking his head.” Fine, you win, happy?”

“Not really when you act like that,” Vilastromoz pursed his lips. Still kinda happy.

“Our stupid bet is meaningless before what Jake managed to accomplish today anyway. I had assisted him in the ritual and based on the Sylphian and that cosmic worm, I had begun to hope he could perhaps even hatch a Quasi-Royal, but to see a True Royal be born… one of a fallen Lineage too,” Duskleaf said in awe. ”This truly is unprecedented, and I feel fortunate to have been involved in her creation. Rewarded too.”

“Wait, you don’t mean?” the Viper asked, surprised.

“I did not expect to gain levels from a C-grade succeeding in a ritual I assisted with either,” Duskleaf shrugged and smiled.

Vilastromoz nodded and smirked to himself. So I wasn’t the only one.

Jake had to admit that his thought process when he decided to pat Vesperia on the head had not been all that sound. He had spent far too long considering what he wanted to say and not what he would do, but as he saw Vesperia clearly feeling sad, he did the first thing that sprung to mind: head pats.

loved head pats… so… yeah, not the

she just sat there, eyes closed. Jake had no idea how long he was supposed to keep things up, but considering her lack of complaints and his own amusement at the movement

to show much physical affection, and head pats were already a lot for him. After he

stared. Jake, sensing some

after a brief pause.” I… am unsure… but what does the rubbing of the head

that made sense. He patted her on the

more proved super effective. Jake remembered his dad used to do it all the time whenever Jake got upset or if he needed him to calm down. It worked back

of the reasons why she felt as she did was partly because she didn’t really know Jake and that he often didn’t act with thought, and Jake had to also admit that he didn’t truly know Vesperia very well. They had just met, after

Jake telling her about himself, and Vesperia sharing her own thoughts on different topics. Being a True Royal only born that very day, Vesperia had a personality primarily formed from her Lineage Knowledge and innate disposition, making her appear aloof and straightforward while viewing herself as a superior

entire life working on not acting on this feeling. This was simply the coping mechanism he had learned

to hide their true feelings and manipulate others, but considering Jake sucked at manipulating others socially, he just went with hiding how he really felt by suppressing it entirely. It had made him come off as meek and unopinionated to others and resulted in them often walking right over him, with Jake seemingly not caring. All done

out too much. He didn’t necessarily view this as a bad disposition to have, and he himself felt like he had found a good middle-ground by not thinking he was innately better than anyone else while also not thinking anyone else was better than him. This went against his nature and even Bloodline, but shaking off his entire upbringing was not

to suppress her feelings of superiority. As a True Royal, it would even be detrimental. She was born to lead her Lineage, born to be a decisive leader that would put their own existence over others. If she died,

Jake did have something to learn from that. Vesperia also seemed to think

you. It is to openly display their support and respect towards you and the Order, and to reject these gifts due to your own personal feelings will be a slap

had not considered much of what she mentioned and the broader implications of him sticking to his personal feelings on the matter. He had little sense of decorum or knowledge on how to act like a proper Chosen, and he knew that he would never truly be able or want to act like one. Jake

had Shroud of the Primordial and always wore a mask. Going out in public while staying incognito was still an option as long as everyone wasn’t actively looking for him. He would just have

the big announcement with Villy

Yeah, fuck that.

do that. He felt like he had gotten better at dealing with social situations, but that didn’t mean he felt comfortable at some big announcement where he was the center of attention. While he had some confidence in controlling his facial expressions, he couldn’t entirely ensure he wouldn’t slip up, and the mask

admit it did make him look more intimidating. A lot more like the Chosen of some snake god of questionable morality, that was for

available, she still wanted to work on her skills and potentially spawn some proper guards for herself. She would only

about to happen, so they at least had a heads-up. He did not doubt Reika, her roommate, all the alchemists from Earth, Irin, Draskil, as well as Meira and Izil would get hounded after his big reveal. It was only proper to at least allow them to make preparations for what

else and hopefully scramble in panic. He did want to be a fly on the wall for whatever emergency meeting they would have,

a while. He was missing a lot of

took status of what he already had, fully aware he would probably have to replace or upgrade everything. Starting from the

with the enchantment to hide him better and change color while self-repairing. Verdict: utterly useless for a long time and only functioning outside of combat. He would just replace this one. Also, he didn’t need to go into that much detail with every piece of equipment if he didn’t care much for