The Primal Hunter

Thinking about it, the prevalence of restaurants pretty much everywhere in the multiverse was kind of weird. It was understandable they existed in low-ranked areas with a lot of people in lower grades, but somewhere like the Order? Barely anyone had to eat. Yet they were still in every single district, and from the looks of it, damn popular too.

Jake asked Irin a bit about the benefits of consuming food, and besides the minor buffs to regeneration and the fact eating restored some resources, there wasn’t really any practical purpose. At least not from the food offered in restaurants like one could find in the Order. Yet it was just a custom to eat among people of all grades, be they D or S-grade.

”I think rather than question why people eat, you should ask why they wouldn’t,” Irin said as they made their way to the restaurant where Scarlett and her friends were. ”We live long lives, and while you are pretty damn one-track-minded, the majority isn’t. People need time to mentally recharge and simply enjoy themselves once in a while. It isn’t even about being lazy. A few days of break from a difficult task can help you come back with a healthier mental state, allowing you to spot things you couldn’t before.”

”That makes sense,” Jake acknowledged, even if he didn’t feel like that himself. He never truly had the need to relax, but he could recognize that it was nice to just take time off once in a while, like when he spent time with his family. It also wasn’t like this would hurt your Path in any way. With the lifespans people had in higher grades, it did become unreasonable to work all the time.

”Why do you think entertainment is such a big thing in the multiverse?” Irin smiled. ”Many adopt hobbies even if they are not related to their professions, though the enlightened do have it easier as they can switch between profession and class to bring diversity into their progress. For monsters, in particular, you need something other than just constant work, which is why you stumble across so many forms of entertainment. Gaming houses, gambling, and competitions of all kinds can be found anywhere. Ah, and of course, one of the most popular forms of entertainment.”

”I already know what you’re gonna say, and-” Jake tried in vain.

”Sex, or, you know, brothels,” Irin grinned, clearly enjoying being blunt with Jake. ”Don’t even think the people working there always do it just for Credits. You would be surprised how many individuals of all sexes and races go there not to earn anything but simply to entertain themselves. Many of the brothels aren’t even about exchanging money. They are more just places where you meet up, mingle, and hopefully find someone else with mutual attraction. Of course, there are also a lot of brothels operating under far worse conditions, and the entire slave business is certainly propped up by people looking for slaves to entertain them, but you would be surprised by how rare that kind of thing actually is. If you can afford slaves, you are probably wealthy or powerful, in which case you don’t need to buy partners who will willingly jump into bed with you.”

”How did we get here from me asking why restaurants are so popular?” Jake sighed.

”Because I wanted to semi-subtly tell you that worrying about power dynamics when trying to look for mutual entertainment is kind of stupid as you take the topic way too seriously,” the succubus smiled before looking slightly disappointed. ”Ah, we are here. I should have walked slower.”

Jake felt relief as he escaped being called out by Irin and looked at the massive building in front of him. It resembled a pagoda but with far more floors than was feasible on Earth. The entire thing was made of wood and very well-decorated. All in all, it looked like an expensive place to eat.

”Oh well, let’s head inside,” Irin said as she grabbed Jake by the arm and dragged him inside.

Jake was taken by surprise as he had been busy scanning his sphere to see if he could spot Scarlett, but he saw someone else he recognized before her. At a large table on one of the upper floors sat Reika together with her roommate, the beastfolk Bastilla. He hadn’t seen Reika for a while, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Her being there also wasn’t a coincidence. She was sitting together with Scarlett, one of the other human alchemists from Earth, and two scalekin Jake did not recognize. Considering they sat on the same side of the table as Scarlett, he assumed they were her friends.

Allowing himself to be dragged inside by Irin, the demoness just flashed the waiter a token, allowing them to walk straight inside and over to one of the teleporters. The floors of the pagoda were all individual rooms, and each could only be accessed through teleportation, with powerful formations also isolating the rooms for privacy.

Irin’s token allowed them to teleport straight up into the room where everyone else was waiting. Jake smiled as he saw them, making his mask invisible.

They all turned to look at the two new people who had appeared. Reika and Bastilla were the first to turn and look, and they didn’t look surprised, meaning they had expected him, with the human alchemist sitting with Reika also just nodded politely. Scarlett, however, had a weird reaction. Her face momentarily flashed a smile before her eyes turned into slits, and she froze, staring at Jake and Irin.

Jake followed her gaze and only realized now that Irin still held his arm, now tighter than before. Almost as if she waited for him to notice before letting go, she finally disengaged and bowed to everyone at the table. ”Hello there, some of you know me, but for those who don’t, I am Irinixis of the Humanoid Resources Department.”

”Congratulations on your evolution,” Reika responded. ”To both of you.”

She herself was still level 199, meaning she was probably working hard on catching up with either her class or profession or perhaps shoring up weaknesses before evolving. Bastilla was lower at 186, with the other human alchemist at 192.

them all, including the scalekins. ”Jake Thayne, a pleasure

seeing Irin let go of Jake, but she still glared daggers at the succubus before standing up and bowing. ”Thank you for joining

She did not wear her usual dress made of her own skin but

inviting me,” Jake smiled

over Irin’s shenanigans when they entered. He said that, but she made Irin sit in the middle of the table while she placed Jake at the

with Scarlett, one of them was a female, and the other was a male, with the male staring at him quite intently. He

– Divine

Adder –

be a dragonkin variant and even have the Blessing of someone named the Venerated Azure Dragon - a Divine Blessing too. The name of the god struck Jake as a bit weird, but he chose to not question it.

a server to take their orders using a token as she asked Jake about his new armor

Crimsoneye Snake – lvl 289 – Greater Blessing of the Malefic

learned she had gained four levels since joining the Order. This seemed low, but she had mainly been learning how to improve her current skills

of the Malefic Viper. From all he learned from Scarlett, he also

was interested in Scarlett. Not that Jake cared much, except he did feel a bit sorry for the guy, as clearly Scarlett

trial dungeon, these three asshole dragonkin tried to fuck this other guy and me over, but they were all idiots, not realizing

get into any trouble for killing them?” Jake asked,

came true,” she said with a vicious smile. ”Oh, and if I faced them today, it would be even easier. My necrotic and

show those to me

turned slightly red as she hesitated. ”Since you are C-grade now… should I

tried to figure out what the hell she was talking about. It took him

biting her a bit,” Jake tried to clarify, but his words had quite the opposite effect as Irin raised an eyebrow, Reika looked surprised, and the male dragonkin looked

to make it clear once more. ”For the Palate

did not seem to help at all as the other female snake looked embarrassed and stared back and forth between them. Finally, Irin seemed to realize something

these things,” she managed to get out in between laughs, her tone not insulting but as if she was simply stating facts. Which she kind of was. ”Lord Thayne, in case you didn’t know, then exchanging venom amongst

a joke, but seeing no one else laugh – especially not Scarlett and the other

not again, Jake could only curse as he

learn something new every day,

Jake really wondered if he shouldn’t find a class in the Order concerning the weird customs of other races and how

so I didn’t mean it like that!” Scarlett quickly said, glaring

One be so ignorant?” the Azure Dragonkin said in a slightly

dumb questions. Put two and two together why an enlightened from a newly integrated universe who is already

sharp. The Azure Dragonkin seemed taken aback at the succubus switching from making fun of Jake

I was invited too. Ah, but don’t let me stop you, if

thought your kind was educated in not