The Primal Hunter

Mushrooms were evil existences created only to bring suffering to everything and everyone. No one liked them, and they only created misery and sadness for anyone unfortunate enough to interact with them too much.

This innate evil gave them only two valid functions: to be destroyed or be used to destroy others.

Jake refused to see them have any other purposes. Hence why he had decided their purpose would be the latter. He would extract their vital essence and use it to bring down others in the form of poisons. He would allow the mushrooms only this one honor in their entire miserable existence, at least allowing them to display at least a smidgen of goodness by killing Jake’s foes and-

“Lord Thayne? Izil said she would gladly visit later today. I finally got through to her,” he suddenly heard Meira’s voice from outside his lab, throwing him out of his incredibly productive thoughts.

“Great! Can you call me shortly before she is here so I can finish up and get ready?” Jake yelled back as he kept working on his current concoction, still not wanting to give the mushrooms any reprieve from their righteous suffering.

“Alright,” Meira said, bowing outside the lab door where Jake couldn’t even see her.

Shaking his head, Jake refocused his attention on the only proper use of mushrooms as he worked on creating some more poison for his stock.

It had been about two weeks since he returned from his final shopping trip, and Jake had only left his lab twice during this time. Once was to check up on Vesperia and ask how she was doing, and the other was to talk to Meira about seeing Izil concerning the upcoming ceremony and a potential ring upgrade.

During this time, he also cleared it with the King, Sylphie, and Sword Saint that they would all attend the ceremony. Miranda would naturally also attend, and the agreement was that Jake would go fetch them in Haven the day of, with Miranda handling everything with who from Earth would come. Jake just stayed out of it and let her take charge while she coordinated with the Verdant Witches on the Order side of things.

He had also called Draskil to inform him about the upcoming ceremony, but the dragonkin had already known as the news had gone viral through all the news streams across the multiverse. Merchants traded in not only items but information, and with news like this, they gladly spread it for free, as it only made them look good that a Primordial-level faction trusted them to communicate it.

The reason she had not come before now was that Izil had apparently been busy, meaning Meira could not get in contact with her. Where or what she had been doing, Jake didn’t know, but he assumed he would find out later when she came by to visit.

When it came to his alchemy, Jake had been quite productive if he said so himself. It took over a week to get back into the groove of things as he had to adapt to his improved mana and the C-grade ingredients that also had energy of a higher level. His time making potions helped tremendously here, but it wasn’t enough.

If Jake just wanted to make weak poisons, it would have been fine, but he wanted to make the good shit. He wanted rare C-grade poisons. Hemotoxins, necrotic poison, and his Sleeping Night Toxin, more specifically. Those were the three he focused on crafting rare variants of, and so far, he had succeeded with the first two, while the Sleeping Night was still a bit more challenging. It was also the most situational poison, but Jake felt like it could come in handy.

It had to be noted that, unlike skill rarities, items did not deteriorate in rarity between grades but were more set from the beginning. That was why something like potions had hard requirements for what they could restore, and the rarities of poison were pretty much solely dependent on the skill of the crafter and the materials used. Two rare poisons could also vary widely in potency based on who crafted it and who used it, with the rarity honestly meaning little in a wide context but only held meaning if you took the one using it into consideration. This was true even more so for Jake and all his passive skills related to using poison.

Jake kept working on his alchemy for a bit longer before Meira returned and prompted him that Izil would arrive soon. Finishing up what he was doing, Jake quickly cleaned himself up before heading out of the lab and towards the living room.

He saw Izil arrive as he walked over, and the two elves hugged after not meeting for a while. Jake stopped in the hallway and waited for a few minutes as he saw the two of them talking, not wanting to interrupt their small reunion. After they moved from the entrance area, Jake also resumed his walk and soon joined them.

As he entered the living room, Meira was bringing in some tea with Izil and her talking. They both became silent when they saw him and bowed in tandem after Meira put down the tea set.

“It has been a while, Lord Thayne,” Izil said while bowing in a respectful tone.

“That it has,” Jake nodded as he motioned for them to sit as he also dropped himself into the sofa across from them. “I hear you’ve been busy recently? I hope I didn’t take too much time out of your day.”

and this was a great excuse to also catch up with Meira,” Izil shook her head, looking a bit frustrated. “Things are just a bit annoying right now with

more for her to vent, and

up with contact persons and other factions. Oh yeah,

stoically resisting saying anything. She was helped

too, as someone blessed by the Malefic One, right?”

this entire ceremony business was actually part of the reason I asked to meet you,” Jake said, scratching

I had kind of figured it was related to that. I apologize, but I doubt I can help with anything; I am already overworked as is,” Izil said with a sigh. “But I will

just shaking his head. “The thing

laughing. “You do have some talent in bringing up people’s moods, but I would be careful with such jokes. You may be branded a heretic even if it is done purely in jest. Thank you for

it wasn’t a

clearly not quite sure what

one. I have the True Blessing of the Malefic Viper, thus making him my Patron,” Jake said in no uncertain

full aura as a Chosen was unleashed upon the living room. Izil looked confused for several more seconds before her eyes opened wide. She barely managed to turn

“How is that…”

is that I met the Viper through rather unique circumstances, we got talking, and I ended up walking away with a True Blessing, and now here we are. I wanted to keep it a secret for personal reasons, as I am not a fan of being treated like some semi-divine being just because of a Blessing, but I knew the cat would be out of the bag eventually. With this entire debacle involving Vesperia – the True Royal Hive Queen – I knew I would have to reveal myself. So, better do it on

to realize something then.

the True Royal,”

is… you’re

is what it is,”

couldn’t tell you because of the contract, and Lord Thayne wanted to keep it

everything with Nella?” Izil asked, all the puzzle pieces slowly finding

it,” Jake said. “With the help of the higher-ups from the Order, who knew my identity, of

the floor as she kneeled. “I sincerely beg for forgiveness from the Chosen of the Malefic One; I meant no disrespect with any of my prior actions or words. My senseless ranting just now

help Izil stand up, with Jake not even needing to say anything as she comforted Izil. “It’s fine. Lord Thayne doesn’t get angry about that sort

confirmation as he nodded. “I legitimately don’t really care about all these rituals of respect and whatnot, so don’t worry. I am the one feeling bad about swarming you with work related to finding out who the Chosen was when I could have just told you earlier or at

his forgiveness,”

respected others’ ways of calling him, he still wanted it to at least

was desperately trying to comprehend everything that had happened.

about the Chosen

without

ever since the day I arrived at the Order of the Malefic Viper and is considered a friend of mine, too,” Jake smiled as he leaned back,

serious?” Izil asked with a lot of doubt. “I am a daughter of a mere noble of the Altmar Empire, to discuss matters with me privately

kinds of things. You are here as a friend of Meira, and that you happen to also be a member of the

ring appeared on his hand on top of his gloves. He hadn’t really looked at the description of the ring for a long time and used Identify on it as he also saw Izil move her

even if this ring is primarily a display of status, it is far from just a showpiece. For with great status comes great power. This ring has been customized by its owner to grant