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.”

knock anyway?” Jake

”No.”

”Please?”

as he reached out, but just

were totally surprised,

”I assume you know why

got enough

walked out and began following the old man as they headed out of the hotel. ”And she is not happy about being the last one

it’s about bloody time,” Jake said. ”Did Carmen and her party manage to get ahead

just a week ago,” the old

”Fuck me,” Jake grumbled.

she did not say goodbye?”

and Casper leaving, we had fewer excuses to meet. Her going to say goodbye would have been weird from an outsider’s perspective,” Jake shrugged.

private fights. With how durable Carmen was, 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 when used without the opponent being aware of them. Jake not using his full power would also be disrespectful to

the floor. Are

is a big boy; he can handle himself,” Jake shrugged. ”Besides, I reckon he would have reached out to me if he wanted anything.

Maria?” the

expected us to have already

man nodded, not saying more

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

highest-leveled of them all, which meant she had the 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 could assist with, she was equally limited as many of these tasks required knowledge or skill in

to have ever learned anything complex, and all her powers came from instinct and her powerful

had obtained within Nevermore and reached the cap for how many coins she could earn every single month, but that

together to the toll booth, where they met up with the three others. Sylphie was indeed a grumpy bird, with the Fallen King looking more than a little impatient to finally get a move on. Dina looked fine and gave them a small wave as she saw them

arrived,” the Fallen King said

five minutes to this city floor. When was it you got done

proceed,” the Unique Lifeform

proceed to activate the toll booth together with the Sword Saint, allowing them to walk through the gate leading to

Completed: Pay the Toll to leave the city floor without ever

points, huh?” Jake said with a small

lot… but it is something, isn’t it?” Dina answered, trying to be

entire floor has just been a useless waste of time,”

productive for sure, but I won’t call it a total waste of time,” Jake shook his head. True, it had been pretty 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 how the number of opponents the Fallen King and Sylphie killed

his mana control with his Puzzle Box. The Sword Saint hadn’t sat still either but had chosen 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

waste, but can you truthfully say you wouldn’t have preferred to do without?” the Fallen King

if you put

joined in on

is delaying our progress now?” the Sword Saint butted in as he motioned for them all to proceed.

blocking the entrance to the next

vaguely familiar room. It gave Jake the same vibes as the usual “welcome” room they had first seen on the thirty-first floor, but it all seemed a bit more…

through the hall as their dear dungeon

whose fault is that?”

is what you are insinuating,” Minaga denied. ”You

of the

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