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.”

was maybe shit, but they still had one thing going for them. Jake smiled as he closed his eyes and released a Pulse of Perception.

sand, all about ten to a hundred

the sand and sent the shard flying into the air.

Fragments

others. “Aight, the shards appear hidden beneath the sand and are pretty much indestructible. Should be easy

his Perception

that orange thing?”

Jake smiled, happy she was even

Dina nodded. “Okay.”

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

wellspring of vines popped out everywhere. This happened to every single one, as soon there were several hundred. Jake curiously used Identify on one of them, not expecting

Seed Soldier

it had a level, but he also felt like it was summoned and not a “true” creature. Closer to an ectognamorph drone than a truly living

to the many Vine Seed Soldiers. Without any indication they even understood her, the many plants began wandering off into the

that will work?”

what to do,” Dina said with

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 move on to

would lean towards agreeing. Attempting to fully complete this floor would be a waste when all subsequent floors give more points,” the Sword Saint also voiced

then. First, we need to find the end boss, and I do still think we need to collect these thousand fragments, so finding this

nods and a ree in confirmation. “Great. Aight, Fallen

solid, physical form before flying out to each of them. Once they touched the orb, they

We good?”Jake

and clear,” the Sword Saint said in a rather

faced on Nevermore was communication over vast distances. Jake had initially just wanted to bring in some walkie-talkies made by Arnold but came to learn that items like that were either not allowed or

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 by using the King as the focal point of their telepathy

of them being lucky… one thing many groups needed more than a proper method of communication in dungeons was consumables. More specifically, they needed that good shit Jake chugged down with

was naturally an attempt by the system and the Wyrmgod to introduce some level of fairness for those who weren’t swimming in wealth or had huge backings. It was naturally impossible to truly curb all advantages

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

up he went. As far as Jake could tell, it wasn’t even a false sun either, like what he had encountered in so many other

felt his skin begin to hurt a bit from the sheer heat, and he identified some other concept mixed

stable arcane mana, he condensed a parasol to cover himself as he turned to look down at the desert

planet,”Jake told the others through the soul walkie-talkie. “Got a diameter of around nine to ten thousand kilometers based on my estimates. Can’t spot any boss quite yet, but there

and this hidden treasury?” the

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

was hard… Jake had

finally noticed the environment truly begin to change in the distance. It wasn’t that it was no longer a

had moved to the other side 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

Ice elementals.

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,

faced his first

–

even bother stopping as he simply summoned two spears of destructive arcane mana and blew it 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

intensified, but Jake easily handled it. He did begin flying a bit closer to the ground as the constant drain on his resources to fight off the unfriendly environment was an annoyance,

after, this theory was dispelled as he saw something on the horizon. A large mountain of some kind of limestone-looking rock appeared, the entire thing covered in dense ice. At the peak of this mountain, on its spire-like tip, was

Dunes