The Primal Hunter

So… skill selections. It had been a good while since Jake had one last, and he would be lying to himself if he claimed he hadn’t been at least a little bit excited. Especially when it was his very first one in C-grade. The fact that he had gotten it while just sitting around waiting on a flying ship had definitely increased his enjoyment too.

He hadn’t rushed it, though. Usually, Jake wanted to jump right into them, but there was honestly no need to, especially not now that he had reached C-grade. While it was true that there could be some negative consequences to delaying picking a skill – primarily that you would end up getting worse options – the opposite was also true. For some factions, it was even pretty normal to delay skill selections until you had practiced a certain technique or magic with the hope of getting a skill.

This was also why there wasn’t even a warning about negative consequences for waiting with the skill selection prompt, contrary to evolutions. He also wouldn’t have to delay that long. Leveling-wise, floor forty-two had honestly been shit as they spent most of their time running and hiding, and with Jake having to constantly be on watch, he barely found any time to do alchemy. That is why he had only ended up getting his profession level while waiting in the capital of the Aloft Empire to meet the Emperor, at which point waiting just a few weeks more for the in-between room wasn’t out of the question.

So that is what he did. But Jake was still Jake, and his patience did have limits, especially when he didn’t just have a profession to choose skills but a class to pick for too.

After entering the boring in-between room, Jake excused himself from the party as the other four went to meditate a bit by themselves to fully recover their resources. He found a nice corner to sit in and, with high expectations and anticipation, began.

Considering his profession had reached 230 first, it was only right to start with that.

*Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper profession skills available*

Accepting the prompt, Jake saw five options appear, making him smile. His smile did fade a bit when he saw the total list had shrunk quite a lot, as many of the skills he had been offered in prior skill selections were now gone.

Though, on second thought, it probably didn’t actually matter that much, did it? He rarely went back and picked skills he had been offered prior anyway.

Shaking his head, Jake’s smile returned as he turned his attention to the skills on display. Man, I have missed this.

He was going to take his time going over every single skill on offer, that was for sure. Starting with quite an interesting one.

[Conjure Virtual Mind (Epic)] – What is better than one mind? Two. Create a simulation of your mind that can think autonomously and develop ideas. This will be a clone of your mind and thus still be limited by your current Records. Can only exist within your Soulspace and cannot directly influence anything around it or manipulate any energy. All information between you and your virtual mind must be relayed orally or telepathically. The duration of the virtual mind and its level of sophistication are determined by Wisdom, Willpower, and Intelligence.

The first skill and the system started out by offering an epic rarity one. This was the C-grade version of epic rarity, too, making it even better. The same as if the very first skill offered in D-grade had been ancient rarity… or maybe not. Either way, the first skill offered was sure something.

This seemed like the first step in creating an avatar, and he had quite a lot of ideas as to why he was offered the skill. The first was naturally Sim-Jake, who had effectively been not just a simulated mind, but an entirely separate version of himself. The second source of inspiration was maybe Minaga and his cloning ability… but that one was a bit of a stretch. Of course, it was also entirely possible this was just a basic skill most people got offered around this point in their Path, as cloning or at least avatar creation did seem like a pretty basic technique for most of those considered truly powerful.

Needless to say, this skill would be far from an actual avatar as the Virtual Mind was rife with limitations. Enough limitations for him to write it off pretty quickly, and not just for the “low” rarity. The real problem with it was… the Virtual Mind was made for thinking and not doing… and Jake recognized he wasn’t the best thinker. He was the type to do stuff until something worked. Or, in fancier words, he preferred doing practical empirical experiments to find solutions rather than relying on studying and theory.

In less simple terms, he wasn’t the smartest cookie in the drawer, and having another mind to think up dumb ideas wasn’t going to help him with anything.

Hence, he moved on to the next one… which he felt like he had seen before.

an ingredient, making

by and will

Yeah, he was pretty sure it was. The only difference was that it had now added Grand to the skill name, which had seemingly allowed it to even retain

he could easily do himself… which was still the case. So, why hadn’t he? Well, the thing is, purification was usually used to bring an ingredient to a desired state or to “fix” ingredients with problems. The first of these reasons required the person to have a pre-known

Path of alchemy was just to make stuff work by throwing it together. He had very basic

on his own already was proof enough that he didn’t need this. Jake couldn’t recall a single time using the skill outside of purifying water a few times since he reached D-grade. Usually, if he wanted something gone, he would only figure that out

waiting to find a use for it or to merge it with one of his other skills. Probably one of his Legacy skills… and if he wanted to do that, then picking an upgrade to

summarise, Jake didn’t need it, and picking it could even turn out to be detrimental

Fragments by stabilizing the volatile curse energy using your arcane affinity and encasing it in stable arcane mana. These Curse Fragments can be used in rituals, as alchemical ingredients, and as catalysts in crafting and transmutation. Curse Fragments cannot be effectively used directly as weapons. Be warned that wielding the power of curses can lead to unexpected results and requires a high level of control. Curse Fragments left unattended may begin to influence the world around them. The quality and amount

still very much spooked him back then. Especially considering he had just managed to fight off the influence of Eternal Hunger, so when he was offered Condense Curse Marble, skipping it was a no-brainer as his use of a Sin weapon was

weren’t

he liked it or not, curse energy was now a big part of his Path. Eternal Hunger wasn’t going anywhere but would stick with him until the day he died or managed to figure out a way to separate it from himself… if that was even something

Core, as he knew it was a wellspring of energy that was still only growing by the day. A source of energy that Jake was uniquely qualified to control. While his affinity for dark mana was great, his ability to tame and control curse energy was far superior,

presence Eternal Hunger had when it relied on its chimera form. Eternal Shadow, his only mythical skill, was

face the reality that he didn’t use curse energy nearly as much as he could or should but only relied on it for special circumstances or with a limited number of skills. Which, in retrospect, was

do just that. It was a way to begin integrating curses into his alchemy and

depended

Alchemist to research and potentially create plagues of various natures. Plagues are incredibly complex self-replicating toxins that can spread independently of the creator by taking root in each infected target and using them as carriers. Do be warned that plagues can mutate

he hadn’t expected the first-ever plague-related skill he was offered to be legendary. He wasn’t even

with malefic properties had to be powerful, right? Jake assumed it meant the skill borrowed from the malefic affinity, something he was pretty sure only his Legacy skills did under normal circumstances. It made the rather normal-looking skill that was filled

into his head related to plagues. From both Palate and Sagacity, mind you, as the two of them had tag-teamed him in unlocking a flood of knowledge from the drop of blood when he

did also make Jake aware of just how little he wanted the skill. And it wasn’t just because of the multiverse generally not being a fan of plagues, as Jake was pretty damn sure he could get away with researching and even making plagues with his identity as the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, but because he knew just how

the hell would Jake want to spend a shitload of time cooking up a plague only for it to work on people way weaker than himself? That would just be a waste of time, which was why he had no interest in the skill. Oh yeah, there were moral reasons for skipping it. Can’t forget

final offering, one thing instantly caught

The rarity.

barely believe his eyes as he saw it. The very first Mythical skill he had ever been offered

Shroud of the Heretic-Chosen (Mythical)] – To follow the Path of one who is blessed, yet a heretic, is an audacious and auspicious one, but there is safety to be found for those who follow the Heretic-Chosen of the Malefic Viper. Your very presence as a Heretic-Chosen helps protect those around you who follow a similar Path, hiding their identities as heretics by masking them as blessed instead. All those hidden under your shroud also experience a growth in Records gained related to the Path of the Heretic-Blessed. This skill partly borrows Records from your Shroud of the Primordial skill, making it work even against beings of divine nature. The shroud

to himself while sitting in the

a bad skill?” the Sword Saint questioned, having heard Jake complain and aware he was doing a skill selection. Jake hadn’t exactly been

“Well, it’s mythical.”

“Oh? That sounds incred-“