The Primal Hunter

It was inarguable that the main portion of Nevermore was the many floors that seemed to continue endlessly. One had to remember the primary function of the mega-dungeon was to be a great leveling spot, and the entire Leaderboards part was just a fun extra event for an extremely small portion of those who attempted the C-grade version of the World Wonder.

If Jake didn’t care about the Leaderboards, he could have entered Nevermore alone and probably done quite a few floors in fifty years. Shit, due to how his Path worked, he would potentially even have gained more experience faster that way, though it would have meant missing out on any exclusive rewards from getting a good record on the Leaderboards.

Other versions than C-grade Nevermore – as a general rule - didn’t even have any Leaderboards, but it was just a bunch of floors that people tried to either solo or do in parties. It was even considered pretty normal for people to do as many floors as they could solo before then joining up with others to progress further.

However, in the C-grade of Nevermore, they had one more essential thing than just city floors and regular floors.

They had Challenge Dungeons.

Apparently, one could also find Challenge Dungeons sometimes in later grades, but they naturally wouldn’t be part of some Leaderboards evaluations. Instead, they just existed to test the people doing them. To challenge themselves and allow them to improve in some way.

Then there was one more type of Challenge Dungeons that the Wyrmgod had temporarily closed off access to due to the Leaderboards competition. Legacy Challenge Dungeons. Ones like the one Jake had entered to get his profession and put him on a collision course with the Malefic Viper.

Some gods would enter agreements with the Wyrmgod and be allowed to place a Legacy Challenge Dungeon on a city floor that people could attempt. The god could then use that as a recruitment tool or even as a way to find students worth personally tutoring.

Dina mentioned that a god had once even placed a Challenge Dungeon in the S-grade portion that was just a glorified dating show for her to find a partner. Apparently, the Wyrmgod got more involved in controlling what Challenge Dungeons would and would not get accepted after that.

Jake’s money was on Minaga having been the one to approve the dating dungeon.

Anyway. Challenge Dungeons were considered the solo portion of Nevermore, as one could only do those alone. It was also an important aspect of raking up points, and it had long been said that the final positions on the Leaderboards would ultimately be decided by who did best in the Challenge Dungeons.

Right now, Jake and everyone in his party had the exact same number of Nevermore Points. After the Challenge Dungeons, that would naturally change, and they all knew that. Which, to the surprise of no one, only ignited their competitive spirits.

Sitting in the house, discussing their plans, it pretty fast became clear what they wanted to do.

“So we are all in agreement that we are tired of seeing each other’s faces and need time apart?” the Sword Saint asked in a teasing voice.

“I wouldn’t say that…” Dina muttered. “But… taking some time to focus on individual improvement will likely be a good idea.”

“These Challenge Dungeons should add apt opportunities for self-improvement in a relatively safe environment,” the Fallen King agreed.

Oh yeah, that was another important aspect of Challenge Dungeons. You couldn’t die inside of them. If you died, you would just be reset to the last “checkpoint” and have one less life. Once you ran out of lives, you would be thrown out, and your Challenge Dungeon time was over.

This meant one could do far more risky things. For example, one thing Jake planned on doing was to be more reckless if he ever found himself facing an opponent too powerful to beat and push Arcane Awakening further than before. Doing that anywhere outside of a Challenge Dungeon was just too damn risky.

Sure, you could make it safe by doing it under the protection of someone powerful enough to save you should you fuck up, or maybe even in some specially prepared formation, but none of those things could compare to a true life and death battle – even if death wouldn’t be permanent.

“True, true. I do have a few things I wanna test,” the Sword Saint smiled. “Sadly, I have been informed the system will not allow me to go all out as death will not reset the repercussions from a Transcendence. I guess that also counts as a warning to you.”

He said the last part talking to the Fallen King, who nodded in acknowledgment. The unique special abilities of Unique Lifeforms were borderline considered Transcendent skills and would not be reset either. There was even a chance something like Jake’s Eternal Shadow wouldn’t be fully reset due to the mental drain. Alas, he would find out.

“Do you all know which Challenge Dungeons you will be going for first?” Dina questioned.

Jake looked at the painting from the Sword Saint that looked a lot like a whiteboard, as he considered. There were five Challenge Dungeons in total. Each of them had their own themes and, as far as he knew, an endless number of “levels” until you became unable to continue and gave up or lost all your lives. This endlessness only became a thing after they reached floor seventy, mind you, which made this a great time to do it.

“Ree,” Sylphie answered as she also joined Jake in staring at the list.

Challenge Dungeon available:

1. Colosseum of Mortals

2. Neverending Journey.

Test of Character

4. Endless Minaga Labyrinth

House of

that it wasn’t a social type. In fact, there were no profession-focused Challenge Dungeons. One had to remember these were not just for enlightened but beasts too, so all were combat-related in some ways, or

was self-explanatory. Jake just wondered if Minaga himself would

he kidding?

was the House of the Architect which could be many things but

of

in

“Ree?” Sylphie asked.

good point,”

Endless Labyrinth do strike me as similar in nature. Considering it is a Challenge

during the Minaga Labyrinth, which is a difficulty modifier in its

returns, then I shall concede trying to get the best performance there,” the Fallen King

Dina nodded. “I just hope

in single combat, but she at least did have some solid offensive options. She was also damn durable and probably had the largest survivability of them all. Outside

Saint smiled to comfort her. “But

an elite to run out of lives, with elites usually taking longer,” Dina shared. “Considering there are five Challenge Dungeons, I think dedicating two

“Ree?” Sylphie questioned.

someone is doing better than expected and will need more time, they can naturally stay longer but hopefully still leave once they reach a checkpoint to at least inform us of what is happening,” the Sword Saint answered. “Not using all your

per dungeon seemed fine to him. Of course, they would have to figure out a way to properly organize their meeting time after as the Challenge Dungeons would split them up not just

he honestly hadn’t bothered trying to find out either. All he knew was that, based on his estimates, they would probably not even spend three years in Nevermore from the outside world’s perspective. Which was honestly a pretty good level of time dilation considering the lack of any

years based on internal

small blank pictures and handed them one each. “When inside the dungeon, infuse mana into the picture. The paint used to paint it will fade in exactly ten years after being revealed, so that should function as a

huh?” Jake

while you

he would get some levels. He also gave the others whatever they wanted. Intelligence for Sylphie, Willpower-increasing for the Fallen King, and finally Vitality-increasing for Dina. This was not necessarily the stats they had the most of, but just what they wanted

bother Jake a bit, though, as he asked the old

had already prepared the pictures, that

a few dozen

that makes sense…”

will still have ample time afterward to try and get

should really get moving,” Jake smiled as he stood

said, a

of Stormild had slowly been weakening for a long time, and while it didn’t seem to go faster just because they were in Nevermore – likely because it

Dungeons. The bond had become second nature and was something they didn’t really think or talk about.

it will hurt you or

“Ree.”

we are inside Nevermore…” Jake muttered as he looked up. “Hey, Wyrmgod, can you or Minaga, who I am sure is also around somewhere, ask the Viper if he knows if anything bad will

as Dina looked

“I don’t think that-“

them as an aura fell over the room as the

if it expires while inside a Challenge Dungeon, you will barely feel it considering you are already separated. Also, I have seen what the Challenge Dungeons are about and… yeah, I know I can’t tell him, but… just

the hole in space disappeared. For a moment, their party of five just stared as it suddenly returned, this time in

place; I made a bet that

space collapsed