The Primal Hunter

It took Jake a good week of sitting in meditation before he got the feeling he could handle the world around him again. Upon reflection on his current state, Jake would liken his injuries to as if he had strained some mental or soul muscle far more than he should have. As if he had torn something metaphysical that wouldn’t simply heal in a few days. Luckily, though, it was healing. In just a week, Jake had gone from feeling either wholly overwhelmed by his surroundings or having all stimuli nearly completely suppressed. In fact, he felt confident enough to walk all the way to where one entered the Challenge Dungeons now.

However, Jake still had one thing that seriously bothered him. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t recall how he felt during the moment he unleashed his Bloodline, and he honestly didn’t quite understand what exactly he had done. He remembered everything he had done, but the methods as to how he had done things eluded him. He had tried to replicate aspects to no avail, as he realized that during his full unleashing of his Bloodline, he had somehow embodied concepts he simply had no way to touch upon now.

While this was annoying, Jake wasn’t that demotivated. Because he knew that it was something he could replicate in the future. Perhaps one day, that state of clarity would just be how he felt all the time, and he couldn’t wait for that day to arrive. A man can dream.

Oh, Jake did also discover one more thing that did genuinely suck. During these thirty years of doing Nevermore, Jake had built up quite a lot of Jake Juice – or Origin Energy, as boring people called it – but that was now pretty much all gone. It had functioned as the fuel to allow him to do what he had done, and without it, the backlash would probably have been way fucking worse. Of course, that energy would also come back in due time, but it was the one true “loss” he suffered.

Either way, during this one week of healing, he tried to keep himself distracted by focusing on things that could keep his mind occupied, which luckily included messing with some of his items. His energy also moved normally, so he used what he had to infuse into the Soulflame Cradle. Sadly, the Puzzle Box wasn’t really useable, though, as that required him to use his senses.

The Cradle had been out of his possession for more than a year and a half, yet when he checked it out, the inside looked just like it had when he entered the Challenge Dungeon. He guessed that time inside had been frozen by the system during his absence, which was probably for the best. Jake could already imagine someone like Dina, who walked around with a garden in a spatial storage, entering the dungeon only to see her garden entirely ruined the second she got out due to lack of maintenance.

Inside of the Cradle, his arcane affinity was gaining more and more ground. A few small areas now consistently birthed – and instantly killed – elemental-like creatures made of his affinity. By now, it was only a matter of time before an Arcane Soulflame would appear… Jake just hoped it would be a high-grade one. If not, well, he wasn’t in a hurry and could wait for some better to come along. Working on the Cradle was a nice distraction, for sure.

Another place Jake felt all fine was within his own Soulspace. There, all his senses worked as they should without any problems, making it a place he could seek out if he needed reprieve. Unfortunately, him immersing his consciousness in his soul seemed to slow down, if not entirely halt his recuperation, so he only checked out his Soulspace sparingly.

He still took the time to make sure his curse energy was fine. Having all his equipment back was great, too. Especially Eternal Hunger had been dearly missed. The Sin weapon luckily also hadn’t starved during his time in the Challenge Dungeon but had been frozen in time the same way as the Cradle.

Anyway, after this week of just healing, Jake believed it was time to stop stalling and get a move on. He didn’t want to be that one guy on a group project who dragged everyone else down by being late with an assignment, so he had to get his ass moving if he wanted to avoid being the last person to finish all his Challenge Dungeon.

He just hoped this Test of Character dungeon would indeed be one he could do even in his messed-up state while hopefully even finding the space to heal in there. Also, he seriously hoped it wouldn’t be as hard, but it shouldn’t be, right?

Jake wasn’t all that confident he would do super well, though… he had always sucked when taking tests. Well, besides multiple-answer tests where he could pretty much cheat by just getting a feel for the correct place to set a cross or fill in the circle. He doubted this test would just be him having to pick between a few choices on a sheet of paper, though.

No matter what, he didn’t really have any other choice as he made his way to the entrance of the Challenge Dungeons and began his second Challenge Dungeon out of five: Test of Character.

was the Test of Character Challenge Dungeon an

just test the character of the person who did it, despite the name. How would that even work? What were the criteria for judging a person?

having them take some silly personality test? Maybe it would use his horoscope and star sign or throw some tarot cards in the mix? In either case, Jake found the notion of a dungeon judging someone’s character kind of dumb, so he couldn’t

out it

the dungeon, after a brief moment of nothingness, Jake found himself lying in a large, comfy bed. He was

and his arm dropped down again, as he lost control of his own body. Jake was perplexed and

Nevermore Challenge Dungeon Entered!

events and scenarios for you to experience and live through as you influence the stories while

original source, this story is not meant to be

between controlling the current character you inhabit or letting the original story play out as a simple bystander. Taking control allows you to change the course of the story to create an outcome you find ideal based entirely on your own

equipment have been confiscated and shall be returned upon exiting the Challenge Dungeon. Each story has a final choice you will be presented with that will also mark the beginning of the end of the current story and allow you to move on to the next. Stories can be ended before the final choice is presented should certain actions be taken. Be warned that should the character you are inhabiting die, the story will immediately end, and you will move on to the next. The death of the character you are inhabiting will have no negative effects on you but may influence your evaluation during the

the anthology through to

objective: Experience

hell. So weird that Jake, in all honesty, had no idea what he was actually

own body right now… wait, was he in his own

body, Jake moved to touch his own face, only to feel his body instantly morph. The second he had taken control, the character he was currently inhabiting had morphed into Jake’s

of his control, it instantly morphed back. Jake let it be as he tried to understand the dungeon a bit more as a minute or so

of a mirror as Jake saw who he was supposed to be. In the mirror, a man who looked in his mid-thirties stared back as

day. During this period, Jake realized that even if he saw everything the body did, he didn’t know the character’s actual thoughts or motives, forcing him to interpret any actions by himself. Perhaps this was part of the test of character? Again, what the hell was he supposed to do

man soon finished up at home and left his house. Jake still had his murky shitty sphere, but at least his eyesight and other “normal” senses were good enough for now. He couldn’t see even close to as far as before, but he could manage. Moreover, from the looks of it, this entire scenario he found himself in was filled with only weak people. His ability to

work as a guardsman for the city. He guarded the walls, checked the documents of traders and travelers who wanted to enter the

the day, the sun had long gone down, and the guard went and

there in darkness. At any moment, he could take charge of the body, but he didn’t. He hadn’t done anything throughout the entire day either but had just followed

Jake contemplated the Challenge Dungeon introduction and noticed that one option he did have was to skip any current story by simply killing himself. Or, well, killing the character he was currently inhabiting. It said that would end