The Primal Hunter

Jake went back to his mansion and decided to head outside and check up on Vesperia first thing. He walked out the door and saw a large magic circle placed on the lawn not far from where Vesperia had been born, the Hive Queen sitting in the center. A cocoon of energy surrounded her, and Jake felt she was in deep meditation. Looking at the circle, he was sure she would notice if he got closer, so he slowly backed into the mansion and closed the door after him, deciding not to disturb her.

Meira was out of the house, so Jake headed for his laboratory. On the way, he inspected all his new gear, feeling pretty damn good about everything he had gained. He nearly had all the equipment he would need for Nevermore with only the Altmar Signet left to address, but he hoped to bring that up with Izil if Meira could invite her over. At the same time, he would also reveal to the elf that he was the Chosen so she would not get taken by surprise at the announcement.

Now, Jake did encounter one problem with his new and upgraded gear. He was getting close to the stats-increase limit one could get from equipment, which had resulted in him actually hitting the cap in one instance. With the new gloves, he noticed how he got fewer stats than he should have, making him frown. More specifically, he got nearly 200 less Strength than he should have, making him wonder what was wrong.

He looked through his status and poked around before he remembered a system rule that frankly hadn’t been relevant for a while. One could only ever gain a maximum of 20% extra in a single stat and a max of 15% extra overall stats from equipment, and Jake had hit the limit for Strength.

Staring at it for a while, he knew things would change when he got a new ring or upgraded his Altmar Signet, but… well, he did also have 635 Free Points he hadn’t bothered to put anywhere after his levels from the whole Vesperia ordeal.

And he did also need more Strength as the stat was falling quite a bit behind.

So, in classic Jake fashion, he didn’t overcomplicate things and tossed every single point in Strength, getting him above the cap and giving him a massive boost. The moment he put the stats in, he felt the rush, and he couldn’t help himself from clenching his fists. He felt like he had just done some powerlifting and like he could lift anything, but the feeling faded within seconds as he adapted. Still, it was a damn solid boost.

Having nothing more to do, Jake decided to do some alchemy while he waited for Meira to come back. Jake still needed to get a good stock of poison before Nevermore began, and he also had to talk to Draskil to let him know he would go public soon. Lots of stuff.

Jake moved to sit down as he took out his cauldron. As he sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. The design of his boots meant there was a small flap around on the boots, both of them slightly ruined. Coupled with the leather that was thoroughly worn down, it had been well hidden, and it was only due to the odd angle when his legs were crossed that he spotted it. What he saw looked almost like some kind of writing, and as Jake looked closer, he saw it was extremely small text edged into the leather itself.

He was sure it hadn’t been there before but had appeared after his latest boot upgrade. Jake had been a bit disappointed no new lore or hint had been revealed about the owner in the item description, so he got excited something new had happened after all as he read it:

I look forward to meeting you once more; our meeting brief yet impactful. Hopefully, sooner rather than later. Your Path truly intrigues me.

- A curious admirer.

“That’s… odd,” Jake said, confused.

Jake frowned a bit as he checked the description of the boots once more, seeing it was the same. He just thought it was a bit of a weird message to leave when the boots said:

Boots once offered to an alchemist before setting out on a journey to experience the world outside at the behest of his master.

Why would a master write something like this on the inside of the boots? Or was it the alchemist who wrote it at some point? Maybe he gave the boots to someone else… but… actually, why did Villy even have these boots?

Jake was pretty damn sure they did not belong to Villy, Duskleaf, or anyone alive. He also had a hard time seeing Villy write that kind of message. Also, when had the boots been left there? Jake wasn’t sure how the rewards of Challenge Dungeons worked and if gods could change rewards given or if they were set upon the dungeon creation. If they were set, then these boots stemmed from the first era, which would limit the number of potential people even more.

was actively teaching him? Why leave a message at all in

of lost about what was going on with his

to figure it out

issues but just to take his mind off

asked for direct teleportation to her private quarters to avoid going through the usual gateways. She knew that if she returned to the office, her colleagues would instantly notice and question what had happened, and it would invite unwanted speculation. Best she kept herself away from most others for the

given Irin to locate her. Irin felt space in her immediate surroundings distort a bit later as she was teleported

”Mistress,” Irin instantly kneeled.

so urgent; what

up and saw the woman of such beauty she couldn’t even properly describe it. Her

Lord Thayne during these last couple of days, am I correct?” the Velvet Mistress asked with a

forcing herself

stand. ”So, my assumptions were correct; he is indeed the Chosen of the Malefic One. Curious why a Primordial would choose a human, but I am certain the Malefic One

led them both towards the large bed as she asked in a

just agreed, and they had gone into the hotel. She

she mentioned it was just the two of them and their

to whisper in her ear. ”Now, you never

nodded before stopping herself and pulling back a bit. ”I… I believe that should be kept between the Chosen

huh?” the Velvet Mistress said with a small giggle. ”Interesting… and he wants to

once more nodded in

To snatch a Chosen after such little time and even hold his interest… marvelous. You have gone above

was glad she had been recognized and returned the smile.

you say… or perhaps we had misjudged how difficult it would be? He is still a newly integrated young human man from the ninety-third era, after all, and even as a Chosen, he is still a C-grade man, isn’t he?”

herself as she looked in thought for a moment. Then, she smiled even more than before and spoke words that made a chill run down Irin’s

I should go visit and have

opened wide as her

could invite him here for a private lesson. One you

Viper to prepare for the ceremony, so did the rest of the multiverse

the multiverse, the news put out by the Order of the Malefic Viper spread like wildfire. This was the first event open to the public that the Order of

simply a celebration of his return, it was also the grand reveal of his Chosen, someone many had speculated about. Rumor had it that the Chosen was someone from the new universe and was at least in part a reason why the Malefic

even considered the possibility the person was a human. Whispers of a Malefic Dragonkin were often brought up, while others pointed at other powerful entities. There were a lot of scalekins from a snake Lineage as

was the time to

all aimed at