The Primal Hunter

Jake stepped through the gateway to the forty-first floor and instantly felt the sunlight upon his skin and the light breeze of the wind. Immediately, he knew he had come to a massive space, which honestly felt damn refreshing after Minaga’s Labyrinth.

Greenish soil was beneath his feet as he opened his eyes and saw that they found themselves standing on a vast desolate plain of nothing but barren ground. The soil felt dead and bereft of energy, and looking around, Jake noted they were standing atop a small hill with a very slight incline, giving them a good look at their surroundings.

“A planet of some sort,” the Sword Saint noted.

“Ree!” Sylphie added, saying that there was a lot of wind there, indicating it was a larger planet. Jake still remembered the planet they had been on during the very first floor, though he was unsure if that had even counted as a real planet or if it had just been a big meteor or something. Planets after the system just all seemed so damn big, though Jake had to admit he hadn’t seen that many, and using Primordial-4 as any kind of frame of reference seemed like a horrible idea.

He also had to remember the message about these floors all being a lot bigger. As Jake was having these thoughts, the notification welcoming them to the floor appeared.

Welcome to the forty-first floor of Nevermore: Tri-World

You have arrived on Tri-World, a planet occupied by three major factions vying for control. First is the Beastfolk Alliance, a faction consisting of beastfolk and beasts alike that have united after finding themselves suppressed by the two other factions for years.

Second is the Enlightened Republic, the most powerful faction of the three. Elves, humans, and dwarves used to be in conflict, but many years ago formed a republic to battle the two other factions, thus becoming the most powerful.

Finally, the Risen Kingdom is an offshoot of undead who have long lost contact with the true Risen Empire, yet they still retain much of the heritage from their faction. Despite being the smallest faction in both population and area controlled, they are considered second only to the Enlightened Republic.

These three factions have been at odds for millennia with no signs of stopping. As new arrivals on this world, you belong to no faction. Your actions from here on out shall be entirely up to you as you can explore and find all there is to Tri-World. Including the deep secrets of this planet. In this quest, you have only one objective:

Determine the fate Tri-World.

Main objective: Determine the fate of Tri-World

Bonus objectives: N/A

Current progress: Fate Determined (0/1)

Note: More hidden events, achievements, or objectives may be hidden on the floor.

Current Nevermore Points: 54373

They all rapidly read it over as Jake was left with a feeling of uncertainty.

“What exactly are we supposed to do?” he questioned out loud, half to himself and half to the others.

“It does strike me as very open-ended,” the Sword Saint nodded.

“Grandpa did mention that some trials like this exist in some dungeons, so it being present in Nevermore isn’t too odd,” Dina nodded as she seemed to be in thought. “In these instances, there usually isn’t a wrong or a right thing to do, as long as you finish whatever objective the dungeon gives, and I heard from Grandpa that many just use dungeons like these to experiment in. However, seeing as it is Nevermore and we earn Nevermore Points… I am not sure. I would guess some things would give more points than others.”

“Three factions all competing in a large world. I tentatively see a few approaches, but none of them are feasible before we know more. In either case, I would assume the most basic solution would be to assist one faction in completely taking over the planet, with another one being to wipe out every faction. All it says is that we must determine the fate of the world, not that the fate has to be good,” the Fallen King theorized.

“Those do seem like the most obvious scenarios we can choose,” the Sword Saint concurred.

“There… is one more,” Dina said. “We are on a planet, right?”

surroundings a good look. “Definitely seems like there is some curvature to the

but all planets have one thing in common: their core,”

getting at. Villy had mentioned this more than once when they were drinking, every time in relation to planetary sacrificial rituals. “Are you sure we wanna

a planet’s surface, then one could doom

Pylon in the core, if there is one, and then have one faction take control of the planet through that.

qualify as determining its fate,”

not destroying the planet,” Dina said resolutely, staring daggers at

one who

Dina protested

Jake smirked as he looked to the side.

that,” Dina said, still looking at him with

people,” the Sword Saint said as

caravan of sorts appeared, moving rapidly towards them. More than a dozen large wooden barges flew a few meters off the ground, with people standing atop each of them. The one in the front looked bulkier than the others, and from a distance, Jake could Identify the figure at the helm, along

Guard Captain –

–

as they were

levels were also disappointingly low, as in way too low for them

an introduction to

likely. We should

the Sword Saint

talk to them and learn more about the different factions and decide if any is worth supporting. The fact that the welcome message clarified where each faction is in the power hierarchy makes it obvious that more points will be earned should we support a weaker

Jake and company and decided to slightly change their course to move straight to them.

later, they got close enough for them to hear each other, and the Guard Captain at the helm of the

careful! You shouldn’t just be standing

Fallen King’s voice echoed out in an offended tone. However, the other party didn’t seem affected in the slightest, as

thing! Some nasty Tunellers are found in this area, so I just wanted to warn you that standing on the ground can be dangerous. They react to vibrations

“Freak-accident teleportation,” Jake responded.

Captain said.

expression as he just answered. “From another universe entirely,

other guards also chuckling along after he made a hand motion. “You should just have said you got

Jake stood with

the Caravan Guard Captain explained casually. “Happens quite frequently. Heck, that is why we have so many different races on this planet. I myself was teleported here quite a few years

dungeon is this?” Jake questioned

peculiar

right?” Jake tried to ask, seeing as the guy seemed to have some level

think that name is still semi-recent as a few still referred to it as Quad-World when I first got here, but

dungeon-fuckery makes them not know they are in a dungeon,” Jake

have come up with to describe people getting

am just going to assume that the word I hear is not the same one you do, as

believe,” the Sword Saint said. “Takes me back to before the system. You know, one of my great-grandchildren was really into that sort of

learn about this damn place and continue,” Jake insisted. He felt like the system was trolling him with the kind of words it used sometimes, but… fuck, it