The Primal Hunter

Vilastromoz had to admit that the Wyrmgod had managed to gather quite the respectable images to be used as Champions. To see Gudrun had already been surprising, as she wasn’t really known to be that huge of a fighter these days. Even before she became a god, she had been more of a shaman or leader than a Valkyrie that used a spear. Well, it was not like she could have been one, as Valkyrie wasn’t really a term before Gudrun, as she was the one who more or less created that Path.

Yet the seven Champions were even more noteworthy. Two of them were entirely system-created, and their images did not stem from “real” beings – those two naturally being the Lightning Monarch and Archmage. Truthfully, the Viper didn’t care for these two. The only slightly interesting thing about the Lightning Monarch was that his arcane affinity had been taken by the system from a now-dead S-grade that failed to ascend to godhood.

But the other five were quite something.

As Jake had theorized, the dark elf was Umbra. However, based on the Viper’s assessment, it was a significantly weakened Umbra in every single way, with many of the things that made her truly dangerous removed.

The Phoenix Queen was, interestingly enough, the daughter of the Phoenix that the United Tribes had sent to Jake’s Chosen reveal party. In the outside world, she had managed to become a god a few eras ago and now worked alongside her mother.

Vilastromoz didn’t have many comments on the Necromancer. He was a divine general from the Ghostlands and was an incredibly powerful necromancer when he was still a mortal.

That Lord of the Hunt was an archer god Vilastromoz had never interacted directly with. However, she appeared to hail from the Pantheon of Life, so it should be a fun fight.

Finally, there was the Wargod… who was definitely an interesting fellow to include in a Challenge Dungeon like this. Mainly because he – despite the name – was not truly a fighter in the outside world but a renowned blacksmith.

One thing had to be clarified, though. Even if these gods were not fighters or pinnacle beings in the outside world, it truly didn’t matter. The Wyrmgod could have taken any random S-grade and created an image from them, and chances are they would have been far, far beyond Champion material. If he chose to copy their S-grade conceptual understanding and technique level, that is.

However, all these images were made by copying the skill level that the image sources possessed in C-grade. In some ways, it was close to fighting the C-grade version of gods, but even then, there were big differences… because when in C-grade was the image copied from?

There was a vast difference between a level 200 and a level 349 in their technique and conceptual comprehension. For many of the earlier fights, it had been early C-grade images, while the further one got, the further in C-grade the images were also copied from, with many of the Champions copied from late-stage or even peak C-grades.

That is to say, Jake was not fighting a level 0 with the understanding of a level 250 like himself, but more often than not, a level 0 with the understanding of someone above level 300.

“So, what level is Umbra copied from?” the Viper asked.

“Roughy level 280,” the Wyrmgod answered. “The Warmaster is level 349, with the others between level 300 and 340. I believe they will offer your Chosen quite the challenge, and I would be impressed if he manages to eke out victories against every opponent without losing any lives.”

“At least there are no real penalties to losing lives anymore,” Vilastoromoz shrugged.

“Yes, I believed it to be counterproductive to penalize those who attempt to beat the Champions further than the lost bonus from every remaining life. Should he beat two Champions, he will have made back the potential loss,” the Wyrmgod explained. “There has to be balance, after all. And beating the Champions without losing lives is far from intended.”

for the grand finale?” Vilastromoz asked with a smirk. “It has to be a big one when you have Umbra as just

be the end of his journey.

lie, you may have overdone it with that one… then again, it is meant to be the end of the Challenge Dungeon if you beat the final boss, so maybe it’s

got me all curious…” Vilastromoz smirked even more, but he knew not to probe more than necessary. He had some personal theories about who the Wyrmgod

Yip of Yore show up somewhere, but the Viper knew better. And it wasn’t because the Wyrmgod didn’t want an image of Yip, but Yip himself, who would have refused. In fact, he hadn’t really

designed Challenge Dungeons, and he would never risk giving anyone else the slightest level of freedom with an image of his. Due to his Path, he wanted, no, needed

was meant to

Champions

by one for every opponent? That way, we get seven times the

will beat all the Champions without losing any lives?”

smiled. Looking at the lineup… he wasn’t going to answer that

long time, and Jake presumed the Lightning Monarch had chosen to accept the fight so fast to try and take Jake by surprise. In fact, it wouldn’t shock Jake to find out that the shortest time

Monarch had already researched Jake and believed that any additional research time would benefit Jake more than him. Of course… it was also entirely possible the guy was just so damn confident he didn’t believe he needed any time to prepare, and based on what Owen said, that was actually a

Gauntlet last time because he hadn’t been careful enough during the fight and slipped up. He had simply refused to believe his opponent had

it as an arcane affinity. Based on conversations with Villy, he also knew that inheriting talent, even for things like arcane affinities, was totally a thing, so seeing

which allowed Jake to analyze it and figure out

effect. At least when Owen used it on himself...

energy got a lot weaker while outside the body, while inside, it made Owen both faster and stronger while giving him significant resistance to any energies

those really only ever showed when the lightning coated a weapon. That was

it was a great affinity for spell blades. During Jake’s preparations, he also studied whatever he could concerning the man’s fighting style and whatnot,

Points? Potentially, however, Jake decided that he knew

the fight began, Jake was standing ready to enter the arena, with Owen beside him, looking visibly nervous. “You know… I didn’t really think about how messed up this situation

beaten people up for worse reasons,” Jake shrugged. “Also, shouldn’t he be rich if he is a Champion? Why live on

of a large city... Owen said, scratching the back of his head. “Just... be careful,

I’ll do all I can to not kill your old man,” Jake tried

he thinks he can become a Grand Champion, he is still incredibly powerful. His title of Champion is earned, and while you have promised to try and not kill him, he will not show the same mercy. It doesn’t matter if he knows we are friends or not; he will do all he can to win,” Owen said, his nervousness somehow getting even

too strong, I won’t show mercy either,” Jake said, padding the guy on the back. “Alright, how about we make a bet… if I win and beat up your dad so he sees reason, you’ll ask Polly

have to do with