The Primal Hunter

”When you say that you didn’t cut the feed off… what exactly do you mean? Did the system interfere directly, or was it something else?” Vilastromoz asked. If it was the first, then he would have many more questions, but if it was the latter… well, he would still have a lot of questions.

”Certain… concessions had to be made in order to gather all the images I wanted. When the system assists in extracting an image and downgrading it to F-grade, the targeted entity will have the ability to interfere with the aim of vetting what the left image will be capable of,” the Wyrmgod explained. ”This was primarily made with the intent for the god to filter out certain hidden abilities they wished to keep hidden, but it has also been used to implement certain things that didn’t necessarily need to be there. I have actively chosen not to attempt to moderate this, as I do not see any tangible downsides, and overall see the benefits outweighing the losses.”

Vilastromoz frowned at the explanation. He had already been aware that these images weren’t actually copies of people at F or G-grade. No, if that was the case, Jake would have been able to simply kill every single one easily. While someone like the Soulfist had been powerful in F-grade for sure, he simply didn’t have the time to gain insights anywhere near the level of even a weak C-grade.

No, the images were instead created directly from living gods with the assistance of the system. The image would then be downgraded to have insights roughly to the level the gods had in early or mid-tier C-grade before making them level 0 - all done with direct assistance and management from the system to ensure balance.

For certain gods to not just accept having such an image made without any input was understandable. Vilastromoz would not have accepted to have an image made without controlling how it would turn out. However, as the Wyrmgod said, this method did make it possible for images to have things implemented by the gods who made them… or even someone close to these gods.

”So what you are saying is that the Daolord implemented something that would trigger an opportunity for him to deliver a personal message to a combatant winning the fight? Naturally, with this trigger also including a blackout for any observers, something that you agreed to?” Vilastromoz asked. ”And I assume that means you know what was said?”

”A part of the agreement was that I would not be listening either, so no,” the Wyrmgod shook his head.

”The Daofather is behind it, huh?” the Viper nodded. ”Wonder what he is up to these days to want to deliver messages directly to random powerful Nevermore attendees. Is he desperate for new monks or something?”

Concluding that the Daofather was involved wasn’t difficult. While every one of the Daolords was a respectable figure in their own right, for the Wyrmgod to agree to not even listen in on a conversation within his own dungeon wasn’t something he would do for any of them. The Daofather was different.

Vilastromoz had to admit that out of every Primordial, the Daofather was the one he had the least interactions with throughout the eras. The Daofather wasn’t a very active participant in the happenings of the multiverse, so it wasn’t overly surprising, and the Viper barely heard anything about what he was doing. When it came to fights he joined, information was even more scarce.

In conclusion, he was an enigmatic figure that no one knew much about, not even his fellow Primordials. Vilastromoz had heard that he and Eversmile had interacted quite a bit throughout the eras, but that was about it. He tended to do his own things, and if the Dao Sect ever got involved, he would simply send one or more of the ten Daolords. Each of them was considered a pinnacle existence in their own right, and together, they could even stand up to Primordials. No need for him to ever get personally involved when that was the case.

”I believe there is a misunderstanding,” the Wyrmgod corrected Vilas after a slight pause, making him frown.

”What did I get wrong?”

”The message was not left for random participants but for a select few only. Your Chosen among them. Also, while I cannot tell you what was said, I am sure you can simply ask your Chosen once he leaves Nevermore.”

The Viper’s frown deepened upon hearing these messages were targeted. What was the Daofather up to? It wasn’t like this was a unique case, as he was used to the Dao Sect doing things he couldn’t fully comprehend, but it was rare that it ever involved people like the Chosen of another Primordial.

Moreover, was this a good or a bad development for Jake? Was it even something meaningful he left behind… or was he just planting a seed?

Only time would tell.

walked out of the arena after giving the corpse of the Benevolent Monk one final bow. The referee had promptly announced his win after the monk had died, the announcer and audience all going wild. He even saw Polly and Owen both look incredibly relieved through his sphere, with several more individuals in the arena standing also keeping a close eye on him. It was not the kind of looks that a bunch of casual viewers would have, but

person of

to go before he would be able to do his promotion match and become a Champion, and based on

exiting the arena, Jake first went to the Battlemaster, who

combat. He fought well and died an honorable death, which is the best most

condition after the fight, and he definitely planned on buying one of those recovery potions to make sure he would be, but he had been in a far worse state after his

bit of strategy to know when to have these Show Matches to make sure you are ready for your Paragon ones,” the Battlemaster further explained. ”And before you ask, there will be a break of a week between your tenth Paragon win and the Championship Match if you make it that far, so even if you wait a few days for the Show Match, you should be fine with getting in all your possible matches for optimal Colosseum Points gain. You seem to care a lot about

know,” Jake smiled. ”Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a potion and to go get my ruined

tossed a potion to Jake. ”On the

of free time from the looks of it. Owen was understandable as he had

his lightning magic in his promotion match before he reached Gladiator. While the guy had become pretty skilled with his spear, he was still

sad for Jake to lose his perfect teasing method, but he did at least discover why Owen had been so intent on hiding his abilities. His lightning had an odd deep blue color that was apparently unique to a special school of lightning magic… that a Champion of the Colosseum of

was actually the son of a Champion. A huge twist that had left Jake incredibly surprised… but not by

it was less than ten. So, Jake was ninety-nine percent

he could figure out who the rest of these

to relax, Owen made a comment that made Jake reflect on his fight with the monk a bit more closely, especially regarding how the Colosseum

monk who genuinely didn’t seem like he wanted to kill someone

even give any experience points. At least when he hunted for levels, it was with a purpose and not just to kill someone. But with the monk, he had only killed him

It was a duel between two willing opponents who were there just to fight one another. It had been a good fight that Jake didn’t regret having, and

assumed to be a divine being. It wasn’t like Jake had actually killed someone, and with that final message, it

to comment on the monk seemingly being possessed and saying some cryptic shit before falling over with his soul extinguished. Then again, dungeon-fuckery was a truly powerful concept that he had learned not to question too

got back to his little home, Jake

Be promoted from Paragon

Current rank: Paragon (1/10)

Colosseum Points: 709,210

Lives remaining: 10

final win as a Warlord had granted him. It was a good jump, but more than the jump for his gladiator matches, Jake wanted to see how much more the Show

points short on points compared to when he got promoted due to buying his bow, which honestly did put into perspective just how many more points fights gave now