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

shook oddly as 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 of

second, he considered if she needed a hug, but that seemed a bit too much. Jake had never been the type to show much physical affection, and head pats were already a lot for him. After he stopped rubbing her head, she looked up at him with teary

but just stared. Jake, sensing some

brief pause.” I… am unsure… but what

did the only thing that made sense. He patted her

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 then, and it worked still. He felt like

calmed down. He guessed that one 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

mansion, 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

working on not acting on this feeling. This was simply the coping mechanism he had learned while growing up to properly fit in with modern

considering Jake sucked at manipulating others socially, he just went with hiding

treating him as better than them in order to not stand 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

needed 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, her hive

Jake did have something to learn from that. Vesperia also seemed to think so and was gleeful when he actually asked for

voiced her thoughts. ”Others will grovel, so just accept it with stoicism. Some will give you gifts, so accept them. These gifts are as much for the giver as they are for you. It is to openly display their support and respect towards you and the Order, and to reject these gifts due

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 was still Jake, after all. But it would probably be

public while staying incognito was still an option as long as everyone wasn’t actively looking for him.

could also make the big announcement with Villy

Yeah, fuck that.

at some big announcement where

him look more intimidating. A lot more

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

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

yeah, he wasn’t going to do that. They could learn the truth at the same time as everyone else and hopefully scramble in panic. He did want to be a fly on the

honestly neglected for a while. He was missing a lot of potential stats, and the defensive capability of of his current equipment was less

status of what he already had, fully aware he would probably have

of 110, 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