The Primal Hunter

“Now, where did you hear of the Secret Scrolls?” the Prime Consort asked with a raised eyebrow. She did not use her lie-detection skill, though.

“Eh… somewhere, I think?” Jake said, a bit slurred. “People are all secretive about them…”

“They are called Secret Scrolls,” the Prime Consort giggled.

“Yeah, but, like… what are they? Who even decided they are secret?”

The Prime Consort seemed to consider for a moment and had a moment of sobriety as she asked while using her lie-detection skill. “Let’s say the Secret Scrolls were potentially capable of weakening the Demon Lord… would you use them if given the chance? Or allow others to use them?”

“Heh,” Jake laughed. “Why would I ever want the Demon Lord to be weaker? The stronger he is, the better! Shit, if these super Secret Scrolls could make the Demon Lord stronger, it would be awesome!”

And those were 100% his genuine thoughts. Something the Prime Consort clearly noticed as she snuggled up to him and whispered in his ear.

“Wanna see one?”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “Really? You know where they are?”

“Oh, course I do, silly… I helped make them,” the Prime Consort smiled.

“How can I possibly not look forward to seeing something like that?” Jake smiled.

“If I show you, perhaps you can show me something of yours after?” she said, looking down.

“That could certainly be arranged,” Jake smiled.

“In that case, you just wait right here,” the Prime Consort said as she stood up.

Jake smiled after her as she went out of the room. The second she closed the door, Jake’s smile disappeared, and he looked at the wine glass she had left on the table. After not even a moment of hesitation, he activated his stealth skill and the enchantment on his cloak as he touched the wine glass, and his hand began glowing dark green. Touch of the Malefic Viper was on full power as he amplified the level of toxicity – alcohol potency - within the wine. After only a brief second, Jake also began doing the same to his own glass to make sure they at least had the same level of energy within them.

He kept track of the Prime Consort as he did this using his Sphere of Perception and even sent out a few Pulses. The alcohol level within the two glasses quickly increased as he amplified it using Touch. While he had confidence in resisting any effects, he doubted the Prime Consort could as she was already getting tipsy.

Also… yes, the messed up implications of what he was doing weren’t lost on him, but to be fair, she was the one who wanted to get him drunk first. Only a few minutes after she had left, the Prime Consort was returning, having gone to the underground pentagram cellar to fetch the Secret Scroll. When he saw her returning, Jake quickly stopped using his stealth skill and deactivated the cloak as he leaned back and just lay on the floor with a pillow under his head and eyes closed. He had to sell being plenty drunk, after all.

The Prime Consort entered the room soon after and saw him relax. She flashed a slightly sinister smile for a second before quickly returning to her usual demeanor. Seeing that brief smile flashing across her face instantly made Jake aware he wasn’t the one with ulterior motives. And no, he was not talking about only trying to get the other person blackout drunk and into bed. He had a feeling she wanted something else.

“Already asleep?” she asked, walking toward him.

Jake quickly sat back up and momentarily seemed disoriented. “Oh, no, I was just resting my eyes.”

“Sure,” she smiled as she showed off the scrolls in her hands. Or, well, the metal tube with a scroll sealed within. Looking at it, Jake could instantly tell opening the tube wouldn’t be easy. It looked to have some kind of locking mechanism.

Boring Scroll?” Jake grinned, trying to act

is indeed,” she answered as she infused some energy into the metal tube as seven magical circles appeared across it. The Prime Consort

tight once more, allowing him to see everything that was

Consort took a scroll that looked to be made out of old

said as she

skill was activated once

Jake

be truthful,

to grow. We constructed what is now the Demon Lord’s castle to nurture the Demon Lord and created artifacts to

scrolls for the artifacts. This one controls the Heart of the Demon Lord, an incredibly powerful fire affinity natural treasure that bathes his throne room in flames and allows the Demon Lord to grow far more powerful than he initially was in a short amount of time. After his return, he

like that artifact would add a domain of sorts that helped the

the two others are the Armor of the Demon Lord and, finally, the

sound amazing,” Jake kept up the act. “The Demon Lord

as she had a slight change in expression. “Now… I believe you had something you promised

floor. He momentarily panicked, but then he saw she had done it to obscure his vision of the two wine glasses. With a hand behind her back, she summoned a small pill from her spatial storage and put it into Jake’s wine glass using telekinesis. Sense of the Malefic Viper went kind of wild feeling that pill… making

there,” she smiled flirtatiously as she looked down at

she backed off, sitting

all day and night,” she winked at him as she picked up his wine glass and handed it to him, the pill entirely dissolved within. Picking up her own glass, she

the glass, Jake smiled

the wine glasses. Jake saw her wince slightly

alcohol and was quite a high-level toxin at that. It was clearly made to be hidden, and if someone already had a lot of alcohol in their system, it would bind to that, effectively making it undetectable and more potent than usual. Sadly for her, Jake did not have a lot of alcohol, and

of the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. He quickly analyzed it and had it under control within seconds, but he didn’t dispel it; he just controlled

as he muttered. “Man, that one hit

he had been fed. One that would work fast and make him completely unable to move while not shutting down

before… while these artifacts have strengthened, this empowerment is not active. You see, in the absence of the Demon Lord, a lot of things changed. While we do need a protector… the Demon Lord can no longer be controlled like before. He was

a bit as he allowed the paralysis

on her feet. “You see, my specialty was never just summoning rituals. It was demonification rituals. But to do that, I need a good base. Rejoice, for I shall give you the chance to be reborn more powerful

tried as the poison spread more

the old Demon Lord for that, but as I said, I made these Secret Scrolls. While the artifacts can indeed help empower the Demon Lord, they can also do just the opposite. The Secret Scrolls do not only contain the method to empower but

the floor, unmoving, acting utterly paralyzed. He glared up at her with angry eyes, only making her smile

Once you are reborn, we will have plenty of time together,

stop

that brief movement, she held her head

Consort managed to stabilize herself. Having turned her back, Jake now had the opportunity. His hand began to glow dark green as he amplified the alcohol within her body even

but soon wobbled and nearly fell. “Goodness…”

She tried two more times before giving up. Instead, she did a silly roll as she went back to Jake and leaned on him.

almost expecting a notification from killing her with alcohol poisoning, but she had only passed out. Breathing out in relief, Jake stood up and stretched