The Primal Hunter

Jake didn’t know how long they were falling. It felt like minutes, yet also hours. No notification ever popped up, and no prompt asked them to enter. They did not have to register or do anything to confirm they were a party, as the system handled all that. All they had to do was enter together and fall together.

Then, suddenly, Jake felt solid ground beneath his feet, and his sphere spread out to reveal the world around him. He also opened his eyes and was nearly blinded by the bright sunlight beaming down on him from above.

He and the others found themselves standing on a large rock in the middle of a giant desert-like landscape. Sand stretched infinitely no matter where one looked, and the wind was utterly still. Jake did not see a single living being anywhere either.

“So, this is Nevermore,” the Sword Saint spoke.

“It’s-“

Jake was about to say something when he was cut off by a notification.

You have entered Nevermore.

Welcome to the first floor of the C-grade portion of Nevermore: the Sunlight Dunes. In order to progress to the next floor, the main objective of this floor must be completed, and the entrance to the next floor must be entered together with all surviving party members.

Completing events, achievements, and objectives rewards points that count towards the leaderboards and final rewards.

Main objective: Defeat the Lord of the Dunes.

Bonus objectives: Gather at least 1000 Sunlight Fragments of the Dunes to open the Lord’s Treasury.

Current progress: Lord of the Dunes (0/1), Sunlight Fragments of the Dunes (0/1000)

Note: More hidden events, achievements, or objectives may be hidden on the floor.

Godspeed, Chosen of Vilastromoz; I look forward to your performance. Do not expect any assistance.

Current Nevermore Points: 0

Jake read the notification and smirked a bit at it getting personal towards the end. While this was indeed a mega-dungeon and a World Wonder, it was also the domain of the Wyrmgod. Even now, Jake felt an odd presence observing him. It felt different than when Villy looked and more like it was passive in nature. Rather than an individual looking, it was more like a trained AI kept an eye on things.

“Lord of the Dunes, huh? And a thousand of these Sunlight Fragments?” the Sword Saint once more commented.

“Ree,” Sylphie complained loudly.

“The wind is oddly silent, huh?” Jake commented. The lack of wind affinity energy in the air was an issue for Sylphie for sure, and when he looked at the Sword Saint, the old man simply nodded.

“I do feel this environment is less than beneficial than it could be,” he said. “However, it is not truly an obstacle. Besides, this is not one of the difficult floors, now is it?”

He then turned to Dina, who looked to be in thought. “How about you, Dina?”

“There aren’t that many here,” she said in a sad tone. “This land is… dead.”

Not good for her either, huh?Jake thought. He suspected she was talking about plants, so the environment was also bad for her.

“I am unbothered,” the Fallen King said. “How about you, hunter?”

“All good here,” Jake smiled. “Now, let’s not delay and get going right away.”

they still had one thing going for them. Jake smiled as he closed his eyes and released

shard-like items hidden in the sand,

mana, blew up the sand and sent the

Sunlight Fragments of the Dunes

quickly made his way back to the others. “Aight, the shards appear hidden beneath the sand and are pretty much indestructible. Should

his Perception

shard that orange thing?” Dina asked

happy she was

Dina nodded. “Okay.”

pouch that she could somehow put her entire hand into. Then, she pulled out a handful of seeds and threw them onto the sand

and a wellspring of vines popped out everywhere. This happened to every single one, as soon there were

Seed Soldier –

it was summoned and not a “true” creature. Closer to an ectognamorph drone

the many Vine Seed Soldiers. Without any indication they even understood her, the many

that will work?”

what to do,” Dina

nodded, seeing no reason to question her. He did wonder how they would bring the shards, but he had no idea how long they would spend there, so

and let’s get this area cleared out already and move on to the next

to fully complete this floor would be a waste when all subsequent floors give more points,” the Sword Saint also

do still think we

got three nods and a ree in confirmation. “Great.

held out his ivory claw. Four golden orbs condensed and took on a solid, physical form before flying out to each of them. Once

testing. We good?”Jake reached

and clear,” the Sword Saint

were either not

golden orbs people could infuse into themselves and then communicate over pretty much unlimited distances due to soul magic stuff. This was one of the kingly abilities the King had, and as the Unique Lifeform explained, the skill was originally made to keep in contact with his servants, and each orb could also be used to track through. The entire thing functioned

needed more than a proper method of communication in dungeons was consumables. More specifically, they needed that good

weren’t created by one of the individuals in the party. Their effect would be “capped” to be far worse and below that of what an average alchemist could make at their levels. All this was naturally an attempt by the

did one of the jobs he had been assigned: scouting. Jumping, Jake took to the air as Sylphie threw a gust of green wind his way, propelling him up faster than he could possibly fly on his own. The others spread out in the immediate area where Jake had pointed out seeing Sunflight Fragmented with his sphere.

far as Jake

were allowed to fly up. Jake felt his skin begin to hurt a bit from the sheer heat, and he

minutes, but soon he had to stop. Using his stable arcane mana, he condensed a parasol to cover himself as

planet,”Jake told the others through the soul walkie-talkie. “Got a diameter of around nine to ten thousand kilometers based on my estimates.

look for the Lord and this hidden

plan,” Jake smirked. He scanned the planet beneath him one more time before he began flying. Down below, the others got to work collecting fragments, with Dina covering a huge area with summoned vine soldiers while Sylphie kicked up tornadoes to send anything and everything hiding under the

Jake had not seen a

flying for an hour while scouting the ground below, he finally noticed the environment truly begin to change in the distance. It wasn’t that it was no longer a desert but because a

of the planet. Seeing as the shadow seemed to get closer faster than he flew, he had also correctly flown counter to the planet’s rotation. The sunlight energy had slowly been weakening for a while now, and looking ahead, he felt a different kind of energy. Squinting his

Ice elementals.

into the darkness, and soon after, it was as if he had passed some threshold. The warmth of the sun was gone, and rime began to form on his body and even his parasol. Seeing no need for it anymore, Jake dispelled the magical construct

air in front of him, and finally, Jake faced his first

Wraith –

up. The creature’s form was dispersed, but it managed to reform itself behind him. Luckily for it, Jake was long gone, and he had no interest

closer to the ground as the constant drain on his resources to fight off the unfriendly environment was an annoyance, but he still had

long after, this theory was dispelled as he saw something on the

of the Dunes