The Primal Hunter

“Were you nervous?” the dragon god in humanoid form asked as he looked at the black-scaled god sitting across from him. “Your Chosen did look to be in trouble quite a few times there. He was lucky his teammates were able to assure their victory.”

Vilastromoz looked at the Wyrmgod, who clearly enjoyed watching the recording. Yes, recording. A live feed was all well and good, but Jake knew when they were watching using that. With a recording, he would only know one person was looking while remaining unaware of all those who saw the recorded footage. It was a great workaround the Viper had noticed and begun taking advantage of a long time ago.

“If he hadn’t won, I would have been disappointed, though I do question if perhaps the difficulty has spiked more than in previous years,” Vilas wondered.

“Hey, I was being totally fair and equal!” the third person chimed in, sounding incredibly offended at the notion that he had upped the difficulty.

It was naturally Minaga, the creator of the floors. Though this version of him was of the divine variety.

“I never said you weren’t fair, just that the difficulty has grown,” the Viper shook his head.

“Maybe a bit,” Minaga admitted. “And, alright, you do have a point that not all challenges are equal, but I have to hold myself back too much that total equality is impossible, and slight variations can happen, you know? Or are you telling me to never have fun and do stuff like my little duel with the swordsman?”

The Viper looked at the Wyrmgod. “Have I complained about anything? Have I proposed any changes?”

“No,” his fellow Primordial shook his head. “You just made an observation.”

Minaga looked a bit between them. “Damn, you old guys teaming up against the poor unpaid dungeon engineer.”

“Do you wish to be employed?” the Wyrmgod asked with a raised eyebrow. “That could be arranged, with a proper contract in pla-“

“Figure of speech, figure of speech,” Minaga waved him off. “But hey, your Chosen is fun, if extremely infuriating. Though I guess you already know the suffering. That guy is just kind of crazy with that Bloodline of his.”

The Viper just smiled as he looked at the Unique Lifeform, not bothering to comment on how Minaga was the crazy one. Because in the eyes of many, himself included, Minaga was one of the craziest existences in the multiverse.

Minaga was a mistake born in the middle parts of the third era. At least Vilastromoz firmly believed he was a mistake, and the system seemed to agree based on no creature like him ever appearing again. Furthermore, the fact that the system had so uniquely limited the abilities of the Unique Lifeform meant that the sheer level of power from that one Unique skill was roughly estimated to be equal or superior to every single skill Minaga would have earned from when he was born in C-grade all the way to godhood. The only skills Minaga ever got were certain “earned” skills that were pretty much required, such as some related to godhood. However, he even lacked many basic skills and had things he couldn’t do, including giving Blessings.

However, he was still a Unique Lifeform. Just due to his sheer stats, he was able to overwhelm most foes at equal levels from birth, and even from birth, he could create clones of himself. About a dozen from what Vilastromoz estimated, with the number steadily growing as Minaga grew. By now, being a powerful god, the Viper had no idea how many clones he could have in total. However, if one included just the divine-level clones, he estimated it to be in the thousands.

And… this led to why the Malefic Viper believed Minaga was a mistake. The entire concept behind his existence was too much.

Vilastromoz had told Jake that Aeon was perhaps the hardest god in the multiverse to kill, and he still stood by that… but if he had to say who was the hardest to get rid of permanently, he would say Minaga. Minaga himself was strong, yes, but he was not a pinnacle god. At least Vilastromoz didn’t think so, but it was hard to know how powerful the highest-leveled clone was.

single clone. There was the benefit that if you killed the currently

a new thing, and Vilastromoz had many tools to do so. Eversmile was an example of someone who rarely cared if people had hidden ways to try and survive, even if

until a week later when a new clone appeared and wreaked havoc until it, too, was killed. A few days later, another clone appeared on a nearby planet and attacked the faction again. This kept happening with at least one

Minaga’s killed. Three gods hunting down Minaga for over ten thousand of these years, with their biggest accomplishment being a thousand years of peace after they believed they had

the stupidest of reasons. The entire conflict had been due to someone telling Minaga he should bow in the presence of a superior, something the Unique Lifeform had not liked, and told the other guy to stick his staff up his behind. They

of Minaga’s existence, as this story sent the rumor machine of the multiverse into overdrive. Many factions approached MInaga, curious gods investigated him, and quite a few even tried to kill him just

why this warning was given, as after Minaga became a god, he went on quite a revenge spree. He became a menace that ravaged dozens of pantheons for

nightmare, but they were ultimately limited by only being a single individual, even if they could make armies of avatars and whatnot. The reason why the Automata and True Royals were

a single conflict. He would be a relentless force of destruction that would bear down on you infinitely, impossible to ever get rid of. Not that many worked with him, as he was also known to be an actively infuriating character and refusing to ever do what others told him. Most thus chose

all clones, so age would have still been his end if he failed

that was utterly ridiculous from the Viper’s point of view. One of the biggest reasons he firmly believed Minaga was a mistake, even in the eyes of the multiverse. Because his unique cloning skill had led to a “bug” in the

a creature present in the multiverse at once, which meant that one could never bring multiple copies or prior versions of an individual out of a dungeon. However, at the same time, then having a prior version of

clones was a bit similar to the energy Hive Queens used to create spawn or perhaps even what Jake expended to bring out Primeval Origins. That is to say, he spent a form of energy separate from anything else

where the

number of clones, as they don’t affect

and remain unique,

clones in dungeons, and they are

already at his clone cap, the clone will die upon exiting a dungeon,

potentially billions of clones hidden in dungeons throughout the multiverse. No, it was certain he

off for good in the entire multiverse. Not for lack of trying either, as Minaga’s personality had made him quite an infamous figure. However, there was one being who had managed to forge a mutually beneficial relationship with this unique Unique

given floor, but I find most solutions will have other unintended consequences. Seeing as

advanced systems to work around it, rather than just removing the bug… or ignoring it, I guess,” Minaga said, sounding offended by

he

the deceit about his Bloodline?” Minaga asked the Viper curiously. “That whole aura-resistance thing is a good lie and all, but we both know that the Bloodline is so all-encompassing

smiled a bit to himself, fully aware that even if Minaga and the Wyrmgod had a lot more insight into Jake’s Bloodline than nearly anyone else, they still only knew a bit of it. From what he had gathered, they were still unsure if the Primeval Origins aspects came from the Bloodline or if the

fact it included a percentage amplifier to a stat. One that was even growing with every evolution. Even Jake didn’t understand

to you in the early days when they learned of your ability? The many pantheons who wanted you to join the moment you became a god?” the Viper answered Minaga with a

Jake is already part of your social club, so I can’t see that being a problem,”

they may not try to recruit him outright… but that doesn’t mean they can’t become major pains in the ass,” Vilastromoz shook his

it can be obtained without having him join them directly: through the act of procreation. Suppose they succeed in getting him sufficiently attached to a member of their faction. In that case, there is also a chance they might eventually