The Primal Hunter

Jake analyzed the structure as he noticed several errors in it. This structure in question looked like a large square building, at least twenty stories tall and made of pure mana. It was hardened and reminiscent of Jake’s stable arcane mana, but it was indeed just pure mana formed into a shape and then compressed and strengthened through formations.

His job was to bring the structural integrity up to a certain level but to do that, he had to address flaws embedded within the structure. Not just on the outside either. This meant he had to ”drill” holes and infuse mana to fix what was wrong before he could cover everything up again – all while making sure none of what he did would make the entire thing collapse.

As several formations also covered the building, he had to avoid those too. How long it took him, Jake didn’t know, but he quickly found flaw after flaw, and in many cases, he had to make up new methods on the spot to fix a particular problem. His preferred method was to strengthen the mana using hardened braided mana strings, almost functioning as rebar.

Due to its nature as a mana puzzle, Jake couldn’t use his arcane affinity, but he could infuse some concepts from it. It reached a level where the normal mana was nearly identical to his arcane mana, though there were still some stark differences, such as the sheer gap in durability between the two and the far more physical nature of his stable arcane mana. While a powerful enough disruptive mana wave could make the entire ”solid” structure in front of him collapse, it wouldn’t be able to do the same to his arcane mana.

After an undetermined amount of time, Jake nodded. Everything seemed good. With a thought, a prompt appeared before him.

Submit Completion?

This was something else Jake had learned. The Puzzle Box was programmed to respond to things he did and worked a lot like a computer program, even able to summon system prompts while he immersed his consciousness within it. In some ways, entering a box was a lot like entering his Soulspace.

Jake confirmed his submitted completion. Suddenly, pressure washed over the entire mental scape, as it felt like gravity increased dozens of times over. Jake himself was utterly unaffected as he had been turned completely intangible, also making him unable to interfere with the test.

The building held strong, but then a powerful wind of pure mana came in from the side… which was when Jake saw he had slightly damaged one of the formations around the ninth floor. A part of the wall crumbled, and the wind invaded the structure, ravaging through it. Within seconds, the entire mana structure collapsed and dispersed into nothingness.

Level failed. Retry?

I’ll get it this time!

Yeah, this wasn’t his first attempt…

Retrying, the building reappeared, but it was not exactly identical. The difficulty level was the same, but the test itself itself was different. The formations were similar but placed in different locations, the flaws were never the same, and the entire building had slightly changed and was even twenty-one stories this time.

This was naturally done so one couldn’t just try the same level over and over again until they completed it. It was a test of skill, after all, not pure trial and error.

More time passed as Jake fixed everything he could find and made sure to strengthen certain sections of the building he feared weren’t strong enough to handle the stress. After double-checking everything looked right, he once more got the system prompt.

Submit Completion?

Like last time, he approved, and the pressure reappeared. This time the building held, and even when the disruptive mana wind swept through, none of the formations were dismantled. The entire stress test went on for about two minutes before everything stopped, and he got another prompt.

Level 54 completed. Proceed to level 55?

Jake said yes, as he appeared on the next level. This one was a massive hanging bridge of mana, and Jake instantly began to analyze it as he became aware the task this time was to make sure the bridge could bear a certain weight while staying stable for at least one year in a sped-up stress test. However, he did not get far, for within his Sphere of Perception, he saw something he hadn’t hoped would happen…

The Sword Saint was walking towards his room… which could only mean one thing: Sylphie and the Fallen King were done collecting their damn coins. The Golden Mark left by the King tended to expire after a few weeks, which was why the old man had to go get him in person.

It was with mixed feelings he emerged from the box. He looked down at the precious object for a moment and smiled.

[Puzzle Box of the Seeker (Divine)] – A puzzle box created by the god known as the Seeker. This box is filled with a total of 10000 levels of mana puzzles of ever-increasing difficulty. Fully unlocking the box will reveal an item sealed within. Soulbinds to anyone who beats the first level. Levels completed: (54/10000).

After giving the best Puzzle Box in the world a hug, he put it away as he stood up. Checking the time, he saw he hadn’t moved from the floor in about a month, so he stretched a bit and went towards the door, ready to open it the second the old man knocked.

The bastard never knocked but just stood outside for a moment before speaking.

”Jake, I know you know I am here.”

you knock anyway?”

”No.”

”Please?”

as he reached out, but just before

totally surprised, right?”

head. ”I assume you know

got

headed out of the hotel. ”And she is not happy

”Did Carmen and her

did. They left just a week ago,” the

”Fuck me,” Jake grumbled.

she did not say

Casper leaving, we had fewer excuses to meet. Her going to say goodbye would have been weird from an outsider’s perspective,” Jake shrugged. It wasn’t

Jake would likely have been forced to go all-out, and he wanted to hide some of his abilities if he could. Especially skills like Eternal Shadow, which were incredibly effective

reached the floor. Are you going to go greet

shrugged. ”Besides, I reckon he would have reached out to me

about your brother or Maria?” the

I quite frankly expected us to have already moved on by now,” Jake

man nodded, not saying

had ended up taking just over two years doing Minaga’s City Floor. Sylphie had ended up being the big limiter in how fast they

biggest toll to pay, but she also had the problem that her marketable skills were limited. She couldn’t craft anything, and when it came to tasks she

and her powerful innate knowledge

help her as much as possible. She sold items they had obtained within Nevermore and reached the cap for

to the toll booth, where they met up with the three others. Sylphie was indeed a grumpy bird, with the Fallen King looking more

time you arrived,” the Fallen King said when they

me for adding another five minutes to this city floor. When

just proceed,” the Unique Lifeform said, really seeming in

walk through the gate leading to the next floor. The moment he paid, Jake got a system prompt that he had honestly forgotten

Pay the Toll to leave the city floor without ever

points, huh?” Jake said with

it is something,

is almost insulting. This entire floor has just been a useless waste of time,” the

damn inefficient when it came to gathering Nevermore Points, but that didn’t mean it had been a waste of time. They had all stayed in contact during this time, and based on

to continue painting even when he didn’t need it for Minaga Coins, as the old man wanted to rake up some more profession levels. In his words, then it was rare he had calm periods like this to just relax and paint, and he seemed hit

say you wouldn’t have preferred to do without?” the Fallen

put

joined in on

is delaying our progress now?” the Sword Saint butted in as he

blocking the entrance to the next floor. Through this barrier was just another gateway, and without further

first seen on the thirty-first floor, but it all seemed a bit more… high-brow? The old-ish-looking temple

you arrived here. That took quite a while, huh?” a voice echoed through the hall as their dear dungeon master appeared on the central

whose fault is that?” Jake

if that is what you are insinuating,” Minaga denied. ”You can’t blame me for you

of the city floor,” Jake

mean you are even more at fault? Because me being wrong couldn’t be the case, hence why it must be entirely on you. Definitely,”