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

Prime Consort infused energy into each of them

Jake thought, seeing how to open it. Perception came in tight once more, allowing him to see

looked to be made out of old golden parchment. Jake stared at it for a bit.

Consort said as she sat down beside him.

lie detection skill was activated once

really,” Jake

once more be truthful, she gladly

powerful the moment he was summoned, but he was far from invincible as he still had to grow. We constructed what is now the Demon Lord’s castle to nurture the Demon Lord and created artifacts to make him

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,

Jake said, amazed. It sounded like that artifact would add a domain of sorts that

two others are the Armor of

sound amazing,” Jake kept up the act. “The Demon Lord must be so much

indeed,” the Prime Consort said as she had a slight change in expression. “Now… I believe you had something you

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 him aware it was quite the potent

myself there,” she

smiled in return as she backed off, sitting

as she picked up his wine glass and handed it to him, the pill entirely dissolved within. Picking up her own glass, she looked him

the glass, Jake smiled

they both downed the wine glasses. Jake saw her wince slightly as she drank it,

didn’t show anything despite feeling a powerful toxin begin spreading through his system. It had merged with the 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

Viper. He quickly analyzed it and had it under control within seconds, but he didn’t dispel it; he just controlled the majority of it, as he allowed some to spread through

slouch even more as he muttered. “Man, that one

he had been fed. One that would work fast and make him completely unable to move while not shutting down his mind and usual bodily functions. It more or

smiled. “There is one thing I didn’t quite share 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 sealed, yes, and while it made him weaker, it also gave him

a bit as he allowed the paralysis poison to partly

as… required as before. No, we need a new Demon Lord. A better one,” the Prime Consort said, smiling deeply as she stood up, a bit unsteady 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 than ever. Do not worry; I shall allow you to retain as much of what makes you, you as I possibly can. We wouldn’t want

the poison spread

thing,” she said, sitting down beside him and laying a hand on his chest. “You shall become the new Demon Lord… the new master of this entire domain. Of course, we will need to get rid of the old Demon Lord for that, but as I said, I

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

you are reborn, we will have

stop glaring at

After that brief movement, she held her head before shaking it. “That wine was a bit stronger than

tried to stand up once more but briefly lost her footing. The Prime 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

Prime Consort kept trying to walk but soon wobbled and nearly fell. “Goodness…” she

stand up, she fell on the floor again. She tried two more times before giving up. Instead, she did a silly roll as she went back to Jake and leaned on him. “Heh… I guess we got time… all

was 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 as he contacted the group using his golden mark, not bothering to act