The Primal Hunter

Every single universe in existence was filled with life, planets, stars, and incredible opportunities. Yet the thing it had more of than anything else was nothingness. Empty spaces that seemed infinitely large, so big that some S-grades would struggle to pass through it in their entire lifetimes.

One of the largest empty spaces of all could be found within the second universe.

And at its center, one could find it: Nevermore.

A floating flat landmass that looked like a continent just sitting there in space at first look, but once one came closer, it became obvious it wasn’t one. Instead, it was a ring. This donut-shaped object truly didn’t look like much to an onlooker, but once one got near, things changed. Beneath the hole, darkness stretched, coated in nothingness surpassing even the blackness of space all around it. Stretching down what felt like infinitely.

Not even the most powerful of gods could pierce this dark pillar. This dark space. An indestructible concept blocked their path, with the only way in through the large pit on the floating ring. When looking down this endless pit of darkness, it looked like certain death, but in reality, it was an entrance to the single-largest dungeon in the entire multiverse. Floor after floor extended downwards, and entire cities on ”safe” floors were interspaced throughout.

Despite the floors making it sound like it was a linear path, this wasn’t even true. The pit allowed you to fall to where you belonged, and when the system decided where to send you, you simply appeared there. Nobody could even know one truly appeared in a space inside this pillar.

Nevertheless, this place was a place no faction in the multiverse could neglect.

Even the ring itself had become home to a massive city, barely any space unoccupied as every single faction had made their own compounds, and merchants had taken what was left. All this was under the purview of the Wyrmgod of Nevermore – the dungeon master of this World Wonder.

And on that day, a party of five appeared in the ringed city that had aptly been dubbed Nevermore City.

Nevermore.

Jake had heard so much about it for years. William had used it at D-grade to get a huge level advantage, and many D-grades who weren’t considered top-tier talents went there to get an edge and often to try and overcome their current limitations. Nevermore was a well-spring of Records, surpassing other dungeons by quite a margin as the mega-dungeon had something none others did:

Unique titles.

The deeper you went, the better the title, so if you had little confidence to reach far into D-grade, going to Nevermore after evolving was a great way to ensure you would at least have some progress. For these people, C-grade was still a long shot, but Nevermore would at least give them a chance.

To people like Jake and his party members, they went there only at C-grade to compete on the Nevermore Leaderboards. These Leaderboards mattered not only for reputation and to show off to others but would give tangible titles based on how well you did. How the Leaderboards worked was also simple as could be.

Rack up points based on how you did in Nevermore. All scores were individual, and points could be gained both during solo portions of Nevermore and group portions, with the final score being cumulative, meaning to be the best, you had to be good at both. With a time limit of fifty years, it was a marathon to get as many points as you could.

The easiest way to gain points was to clear floors, do quests, complete challenges, get achievements, and participate in events. Simply killing a lot didn’t necessarily give any rewards, though level-gain during this period did also reward points. The fact levels gave points was also one of the reasons it was generally considered best to be at close to 200 as possible, though being at a higher level could help allow you to dive further down.

Getting to Nevermore was also far easier than one would expect. The Wyrmgod himself had set up teleportation beacons that were incredibly easy to hone into even for forces that didn’t have any gods, and through direct aid by the system, even the cost of teleportation was significantly reduced. During one of their long conversations, Jake had briefly talked to Villy about the Wyrmgod, and the Viper had revealed that out of every single Primordial, if not all gods, period, the Wyrmgod was the top expert when it came to space magic.

This is to say that Jake and his party of five arrived at Nevermore City without any issues. More accurately, they appeared within the compound controlled by the Order of the Malefic Viper. Even if the Order had become derelict throughout the ages, they had still maintained this compound, and it still remained one of the largest in Nevermore City since the day it was established in the second era.

”Welcome to Nevermore City, Chosen of the Malefic One and his comrades in arms,” an attendant spoke as soon as they stepped off the teleportation circle.

house millions, if not billions, without issue, though it appeared mostly empty. Besides that, he felt quite

of them were within the Order compound, too, indicating they were members. A few seconds

Jake greeted the

attendant quickly nodded and motioned for them to follow. Their odd party moved through the halls of the large building they had appeared in as Jake took the chance to ask the Sword

to go

new, and the bracers he wore also looked newish, but the sandals looked the same, and his sword was his old ancestral weapon. Jake naturally couldn’t see the old man’s jewelry, but he knew that if he had to rely only on stuff from Earth, he would have been struggling. Considering how recently the Sword Saint hit C-grade, it only made

necessary,” the

was quite a challenge to hit the stat

”Or, more accurately, I cannot get stats from equipment. I instead simply get stats when I am wielding

even know that was

I shun away from upgrading what I wear. The robe still offers good protection and even increases my resource regeneration, my bracers are defensively focused, my sandals increase the effectiveness of my movement-related skills, and

is

after

inside

smiled even more as he turned to Dina. ”Your friend Bobo can be

being asked but still nodded. ”Yeah, Bobo is

Sword Saint said. ”Though there will likely be some restrictions considering it is an item I cannot fully control, so I cannot promise we will have another combatant, just that he should at least be able to give out some advice. Not that he could fight for prolonged periods even without

alright,” Jake nodded. If they could summon the Monarch of Blood at all times… yeah, that would

the rules about Guardians and tamed beasts and whatnot were quite complicated when it came to dungeons. Sylphie and Jake had their Union Oath that technically made them Companions – hence why he could take her along to the Treasure Hunt – but that did not mean they could do the same for Nevermore. They each took up a slot, as while they were linked, they were still entirely separate entities. One thing Jake had

”owner” died, they would die, and their strength would always be directly tied to the ”owner” in question. This made them closer to permanent summons, at least in the eyes of the system, than true separate

gray zone, Casper and Lyra were in a gray zone, and there were so many damn gray zones one single rule simply could not exist. This ultimately resulted in every situation being judged

thousand beasts into a sewer dungeon also probably

strategy would be formed. In reality, they had not discussed much internally about how they planned on approaching the dungeon and tackling the challenges, as they all

were overqualified for the early parts of

ones to be far too easy for a party like theirs. It was possible to skip floors altogether, but Jake and the others had no desire to do this even if they could as these early floors were a good way to rack up

would have that time to also form some synergy and truly learn

consisted of some basic briefings. Oh, and of course, it was a chance to

were all in a meeting room, and he had sent the attendant away. ”First

”I got this gift from the United Tribes for you. It is the feather of

”Ree?”

will have to eat it rather quickly based on what the phoenix goddess who gifted it

”Ree,” Sylphie acknowledged.

to unlock it. The moment he did, the lid slowly opened, and powerful energy radiated into the room as it was bathed in orange. Jake saw the feather in the box, its almost

*Gulp*