The Primal Hunter

Submitting the acid was uneventful, which shouldn’t really surprise anyone, considering Jake and Nevermore had spoken only a few days prior.

By now, Jake just wanted to be done with the Challenge Dungeon and move on to the next. He didn’t like spending too much time in the laboratory as he had caught himself with less-than-pleasant thoughts more than once. Especially after one of his more focused crafting attempts, Jake exited it excitedly, and as he looked at his concoction, he briefly wondered why Temlat hadn’t come to ask him anything recently, only for realization to instantly set in right after.

There were just too many bad memories and reminders there, so without any unnecessary delays, he went to work on the final Creation.

The Hemonecrotic Poison, like the acid, had more or less already been completed before. In fact, he had already managed to create an improved version of the Potent Hemonecrotic Poison before, one that he nearly felt was good enough to submit.

[Heartrot Poison (Rare)] – The heart blackens as it rots away. Blood pumps throughout the body as every beat brings with it only death. Mixing potent Hemotoxin and Necrotic Poisons, a Hemonecrotic Poison has been made, capable of rotting your foe from the inside. If inflicted, the poison will spread throughout the bloodstream, binding itself to your foe’s vital energies and using it as a vehicle to spread necrotic toxins. This poison seeks toward the heart and binds itself to it, making it linger for far longer and spread faster. Wounds caused by necrotic poison are extremely difficult to heal. Cleansing the Hemonecrotic Poison from the bloodstream is extremely difficult.

This poison was an improvement over the general Hemonecrotic Poison in every way. Rather than simply infect the bloodstream, this one would seek out the heart and try to bind itself to it. This would not only make the poison a lot harder to heal, but effectively contaminate the vital energy of whoever Jake hit. Coupled with the stickiness of hemotoxins and the damaging aspects of necrotic poison, this poison would surely do a number on any vitality-based lifeform he hit it with.

What’s more, it was great at accumulating. As it all gathered in one spot, Jake would have an easier time controlling and amplifying it with Touch of the Malefic Viper, making it even better.

It was, without a doubt, Jake’s best poison to date, but he still decided to keep crafting more until he ran out of ingredients with the hope of making the best concoction he could.

Jake had asked the attendants, as he didn’t want to waste the time of Nevermore, what would happen to any excess Merit Points he had once he exited the Challenge Dungeon and had it confirmed he would lose them. He then considered just buying some rare stuff before leaving but was promptly informed that any materials he bought within the Challenge Dungeon would also be lost upon exiting. So Jake had to use everything, or it would go to waste. He couldn’t even bring any of what he had created out with him, but at least he could use the materials for a bit more crafting experience.

After Jake had crafted a particularly good Heartrot Poison, he considered calling it quits but saw he had materials for one more attempt. After that, he would be out of both Merit Points and ingredients, and Jake thought it would be cathartic to use this last batch. To have a clean break with the Challenge Dungeon to allow him to move on more easily.

Sitting with his cauldron, Jake first poured in some purified water, followed by some of his blood, naturally infused with Blood of the Malefic Viper. Mixing everything for a bit, Jake soon tossed in the epic rarity black moss he had bought, followed by a mix of mushrooms and roots that either contained hemotoxins or necrotic toxins, with a few also in there to serve as binding agents for the two, allowing them to work together. Finally, he just straight-up poured in two pre-crafted poisons of the hemotoxic and necrotic kind.

As Jake placed the last ingredients in the cauldron, he let his mind wander.

The House of the Architect had been a weird Challenge Dungeon for Jake. He had made some great progress in many aspects, especially his alchemy. Many things had begun to fall behind during these last many years doing Nevermore, and now he had time to finally play catch-up. Not only that, Jake had even managed to upgrade his stealth skill to legendary rarity, something he was incredibly happy about.

had managed to replenish, but he didn’t regret doing

learned to craft a Grimoire. That was a great and invaluable experience, and he knew the next one he made would be even better. If he had a scribe produce the ink and make the book itself for him to use during the

the most fruitful when it came to pure progress, only capable of being slightly rivaled by the time shortly after he went to the Order of the Malefic Viper. However, it was indisputable the gains of this Challenge Dungeon had

of time to properly learn how to not suck ass at teaching. To be able to have at least some confidence in what he was doing. Even if he wanted to be a free-range teacher who fostered independence and self-study, he at

wanted to, at the very least, be able to look at his students with

then, something stirred him. He looked down, and his eyes narrowed as he felt the mixture between his hands near completion.

why this particular concoction was so good, everything around him rumbled as a presence descended from above. Jake felt as if reality itself began to warp as what looked like a single scaled finger momentarily appeared from above, seemingly piercing through every layer of protection set by Nevermore and the system. At the tip of

its rightful place, this narrative is not

finger disappeared as fast as it had come, reality returning to normal, but Jake instantly knew what it was. He had felt it a few times before, after all, which also

power of the Malefic Viper

– A new kind

was that simple. The skill always seemed to trigger at odd or

at his

the inside. If inflicted, this poison will merge with the heart, turning it black as death overtakes it, forcing it to pump

way. Seeing it, Jake honestly had some mixed emotions… and

the damn poison for himself and hand in the regular Heartrot Poison. Jake would very much like to just keep this one as an

the evaluation, so he did what any reasonable person would do, which also happened to be the one way he knew for him to keep a part of the poison with him. Starting with the Heartrot Poison he had left over that wouldn’t make any sense to turn into Merit Points, Jake began to chug down his

It tasted like shit.

Jake honestly had nothing better to do with it. However, something he did know was

during his fight with Minaga had been either partly or fully consumed by Jake. Especially the first poison had given Jake some great insights into vital energy and whatnot, with him sadly only passively

poison while at the same time having the benefits of being recognized as the crafter of it. Actually, thinking about it, Jake wouldn’t be surprised if this skill was another attempt

Poison, it was time to move on to the main course. Jake was a bit more careful with this one as he only dripped a few drops of the poison on his tongue at first. As it entered his stomach, Jake felt the energy it gave

eyes not long after, frowning

powerful through his passive skills, but he could even consume the poison in a far more