The Primal Hunter

Back in the main hall, the festivities that were actually just a glorified political event continued. A number of people still held hope that they could join the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and his party for Nevermore, as they all knew what that would mean.

It wasn’t out of the question for weaker individuals to effectively get carried through the mega-dungeon, thus earning a better title, more levels, and more items than if they had gone with equally skilled people. That was why those with supportive roles hoped they would get selected simply because there weren’t any better options. The scope of potential party members that met the stringent requirements was limited, as finding good support between level 200 and 210 who weren’t already with powerful groups wasn’t easy.

However, that hope was shattered when the Chosen returned. He did not come alone but was accompanied by a dryad who met the requirements, and what was more, she carried the Blessing of Nature’s Attendant. If there were anyone with Bloodlines, they too would have realized how screwed they were as this dryad surpassed any and all of them.

As the Chosen went over to greet his party members, it was quickly realized that the choice had been made, and all the young talents could do was be happy they had at least been able to attend, and some even had the chance to spar a swordsman who few would be able to forget.

Contrary to popular belief, the Fallen King was not actually related to plants or trees in any way. This was despite him looking like a tree guy and being named King of the Forest when Jake first met him. The bark-like skin also wasn’t even bark, or even wood for that matter, and while the mask did look and feel like wood, even being described as wood-like by the system, it wasn’t actually wood either.

All of this is to say that the Fallen King and the meek Dina didn’t immediately make friends due to her Bloodline, and Jake honestly felt a bit bad for the girl after being grilled with questions from the Unique Lifeform. Questions she mostly didn’t answer or just gave one-word responses.

In some ways, Jake found it liberating. This was the first time he had met someone who was worse at being social than himself. What they did get out of her was that her horrible ability to communicate wasn’t because she never talked to others. She just wasn’t used to talking to people. More accurately, she was the trope of a flower growing up in a greenhouse. In that, she had literally grown up in a large greenhouse with the plants there being all her best friends. Even the ones who couldn’t talk could still express emotions, which Dina could understand.

However, despite Dina’s issues with talking to them, there was one member of their group she looked capable of talking to. No, not Sylphie, as Dina didn’t quite understand what ”ree!” meant, but the Sword Saint and his overpowered old-man aura.

”So you did explore this forest with your friends?” he asked with a grandfatherly smile.

”Yeah… it was a bit weird there, and the beasts didn’t like us, but Bobo was with me,” she answered, seemingly only focused on the old man.

”You mentioned him before, but who is this Bobo?” the Sword Saint asked.

Jake was curious, too, remembering Nature’s Attendant mentioning this Bobo being with her.

”Bobo is my Guardian,” she answered before quickly looking like she had said too much. ”I… I mean…”

”We are meant to explore the depths of Nevermore together; secrets like that are counterproductive,” the Sword Saint smiled and shook his head. ”While we all respect each other and the respective secrets we all hold, please do not withhold information if it hurts others or hampers us in any way, alright?”

Dina looked in thought before she nodded. ”Alright.”

Old-man energy was truly too strong; even Jake got the compulsion to overshare. He had a strong feeling Dina was just more used to being around old geezers, which was why she could handle the Sword Saint so easily, but he did severely hope she would open up more with time or spending years with her in Nevermore would be hell. Luckily, the old man, using his old-man insight, already knew this.

”We need to trust each other and build rapport. As we learn from and about you, so will you learn about us, and I sincerely hope we can all get along well,” the old swordsman said with a comforting smile.

once more and looked at Jake and the

quickly realized the hawk wasn’t mad. The King stayed

is good to have you on board, and I look forward to seeing what you can do. Your grandfather hyped you up quite a bit,” Jake

didn’t work that well, as Dina looked embarrassed and stared at the ground again, but luckily she quickly recovered. ”I… I’ll do my

reached

seems a bit… you know?”Jake asked the

genius, he hired private teachers and people to teach her everything there was to learn. Yet even as she reached adulthood, her father kept her inside their compound. My uncle was narrow-minded

fucked her up,” Jake

awkward, but once she opens up, learns our social cues, and begins to feel comfortable, all will be well,”he explained further. ”But what my true point is, is that even if my cousin could not speak a full sentence in front of a man her own age, she could still write a thesis or give an ethereal performance on the violin – for that is what she had learned. This girl has learned how to be a dryad and a druid. I see no reason

me, but are

Fallen King,”the old

held himself together, no doubt helped by

don’t think your attempt to make friends is made easier by you

good point,” Jake answered,

power of telepathy, so only a few seconds had passed where the King had asked Dina some basic questions about her skills, and she – to the surprise of no one – revealed that she did nature affinity magic exclusively. Luckily,

Saint also informed him that with the final member of the party recruited, he wanted to take the time before Nevermore to check in on the members from

Viridia with something he had truly dreaded: acting nice in

all the attention. That worked out pretty well, as for a good hour, Sandy was the center of attention and got a bunch of gifts

the Lord Protector had sent out some basic information about Sandy, and once they learned these basic traits, gifting became easy. Because how hard could it be to find gifts for someone focused on the

came to gifting. Was it energy dense and considered a high-Records item? Good enough! The fact that they didn’t need to give gifts to the same level as what they gave Jake made it even

worm and sent several messages to Jake throughout this entire gifting session. The one thing he had feared was a lot of people judging Sandy for being, well, Sandy, but all he heard were positive comments about how dedicated they were to their Path and how rare it was to see such a powerful

imagined Sandy would spend the majority of the time he was in Nevermore digesting

supposed to attend, to begin with, so it wasn’t like anyone noticed. Villy had likely just had private meetings with all the gods he wanted to discuss with, and he also guessed a few

gone to a corner of the room, where Jake also saw Caleb had managed to sneak in. Jake hadn’t seen him around before now, wondering where he had been all

Jake said as he went as his brother talked to Dina, who already seemed more comfortable around the

Court and had a few meetings here and there,” Caleb said with a

hearing the

privately

thought the public information only said she was a student of his?” Jake

having a granddaughter who was soon to reach C-grade and was considered extremely talented, in part due to her Bloodline. I can put two and two together and guess this is her,” Caleb explained. ”Quite the find, all through the power

hard, I assume,” Jake