The Primal Hunter

Delivery jobs were definitely one of the most vital functions of modern society. Before the system, who could even live without getting stuff delivered to their house within a day of ordering it online? It was truly an impossibility, and the hard-working delivery workers were the ones who made that a reality.

Jake had spent a while in university working as a delivery driver to make some money and let’s just say he didn’t particularly enjoy the job. True, there was something zen and relaxing about having a route and a set number of packages every day to deliver, being entirely on his own throughout. At least it was zen until the quotas just got more and more unrealistic to the point it began to interfere with Jake’s studies, making him quit.

All of this is to say that Jake entered the Neverending Journey with a clear advantage over most other Nevermore Attendees as he had experience in the field. Surely, working as a package delivery driver for less than a year over a century ago would have led to translateable skills in a Challenge Dungeon within a World Wonder, right?

Jake’s thoughts on the description of the Challenge Dungeon were also pretty simple. The entire thing seemed straightforward from an initial assessment, but he got the feeling it wasn’t as so. Why did the Wyrmgod feel the need to warn so many times about people trying to take advantage of him? Especially the note about trusting no one set a kind of ominous tone of what was to come. One thing’s for sure: this wasn’t just going to be about going fast from A to B. Definitely still a part of it, but far from everything.

Still standing outside of the city, watching the crowd enter, he tried to get a better feeling for the people he would be dealing with. A few quick uses of Identify showed that the guards at the checkpoint were all around high to peak D-grade, with a single C-grade captain of sorts sitting inside of the guard building, reading something.

Seeing this, and considering he was meant to be a Courier, Jake didn’t sneak in but got in the queue to enter. He even went as far as to remove his mask, pull down his hood, and lowered his level to just over 200 using Shroud of the Primordial. At this early juncture, he saw no need to attract unnecessary attention.

After about ten minutes of queuing, it was Jake’s turn. He went up to the small booth with a bored-looking elven guard sitting on a stool within. ”Name, level, and occupation.”

”Jake, level 212, no formal work, but looking to become a Courier.”

The guard looked up and quickly gave Jake a scan. ”New around these parts? Where do you hail from?”

”Never been in this area before, no,” Jake answered, not answering the last part on purpose.

Noticing this, the guard narrowed his eyes. ”I asked you where you’re from?”

”Nowhere,” Jake answered kind of truthfully. ”I’m a hunter. I just went wherever I wanted and always traveled before this.”

”Hmph,” the man let out a sound as he shook his head. Using some device that looked a bit like a typewriter, he wrote a few things before printing out a small credit card-looking thing and handing it to Jake.

”Here, hold onto that. It’s an identification card. If you are looking for Courier Jobs, check out the local Guild Hall,” he said after handing the card over. ”Oh yeah, and don’t cause any trouble.”

”Thank you. I’ll be on my best behavior,” Jake smiled and nodded as he headed into the city. Checking out the small card on the way, he quickly read what was on it. It was as basic as could be; just saying he was an early-tier level 212 C-grade, had set occupation as blank, and name as Jake. Besides that, there was a small magical seal down in the corner, probably functioning the same as a pre-system chip or watermark.

He had arrived during the day, and the city was positively buzzing. The streets were filled, and Jake guessed this place alone housed a few hundred thousand. Race-wise, he saw a lot of humans, but there were also plenty of other enlightened races. He even saw his fair share of beasts both in and out of humanoid form. Among them, the highest leveled one he saw was level 234, so still a bit low, but a good start considering he was currently in the easiest part of the Challenge Dungeon.

Walking down the well-paved streets with actual streetlights lining it, Jake didn’t at all feel like he was in a dungeon. The people there also weren’t merely window-dressing but acted entirely normal, so that was a good thing.

With his Pulse, he quickly managed to locate the Guild that the guard had mentioned. It was a massive building toward the center of the city, about six stories tall. It was also filled with people, with dozens exiting and entering every minute – some from the doors and some flying off the roof.

On that note, this city had sky-lanes. Marked areas in the air for people to fly, much akin to usual roads, just in the third dimension. It wasn’t something Jake hadn’t seen before, but in this city, it seemed especially well-managed, with colored beams of light directing people.

Entering the guild building, Jake quickly took in the atmosphere. It reminded him a bit of an old bar mixed with a bank, if that made sense. It didn’t quite give off the Adventure Guild vibe, but it seemed a lot more professionally organized. You even had to take a number while waiting your turn to talk to the employees.

Something Jake promptly did as he found an empty seat to wait. As he was sitting there, he began to scan the room more, including the people in it. There were very few present not in C-grade, with most organized into parties of sizes ranging between three and ten. What did genuinely surprise him was to see what made up these teams.

It was a mix of all races, even more extreme than on the streets. These parties included beasts and other kinds of monsters, many of which weren’t even in humanoid form, and no one batted an eye. Jake wasn’t really the one to talk, considering he was often seen with Sylphie, but he still thought it was weird to see a large wolf sitting at a table, eating from a plate with excellent table manners.

with a massive beard sat. ”So, how can I help you today?

for work,” Jake said as he also

turn to get a scan, and he felt the use of Identify on him as

pretty damn sure this was scripted by the Wyrmgod. ”Heard

of that damn Test of Character at the

dwarf gave him a big smile. ”Got

has been stolen; if detected

like that, three floating system messages appeared between

Job 1 (Easy): Deliver a letter to the Merchant’s Union

Transport a small shipment of ores

a Darkeye Diamond to Polsted in

damn easy. What’s more, they were all within the city. If he had to guess, this was just some

them at once?” Jake

time; it isn’t sure the client wants to keep waiting forever for you to

to deliver the Darkeye Diamond, then,” Jake said, naturally choosing the

finding anyone to deliver that for the entire day,” the dwarf said with a smile as he quickly reached below the desk and took out a token before handing it to Jake. ”As you said you were looking for work, I assume you don’t have

would be right,” Jake

as he handed a small metal token that looked like

for a bit

of Courier Medallion for a novice in the field. This Medallion will hold information related to jobs and can give general directions to your destination if those

Requirements: Soulbound

was mandatory anyway - Jake infused some energy into the item, making it his own. As he did, the

Courier Job accepted.

dwarf said with a courteous smile. ”Just two seconds

looked like a magical safe. He did some magic stuff as a small jewelry box appeared in his hand, wrapped in some kind of cloth with runes on

both hands but stopped right before he put it

sure, you do have a spatial storage item yourself, right? Or will you need to borrow one?” the

my own,”

down the box. Jake instantly put it in his

valuable, and I heard there might be others out to get it themselves. So be careful, alright? Only give it to old Polsted personally. When the job is done, we will know, but

and definitely come back later,” Jake said, matching the same solemn energy of

getting a good feeling about you. With some good jobs under your belt, your Courier Medallion should upgrade quickly,

a wink as he turned to leave. He wasn’t joking either; he was pretty sure the dwarf did indeed say that to everyone who entered this Challenge Dungeon. At least everyone who

He still had the Courier Medallion in his hand and quickly infused some energy according to the faint instinctive knowledge he got when first binding it. As he did, what looked like a compass appeared on its face, pointing toward

there. The city was pretty big, yes, but it wasn’t that big, and with a brisk pace and maybe a few One Steps thrown in there, Jake reached the street where the jeweler was placed within minutes. Using the Medallion, he quickly confirmed which

a desk inside, so Jake decided to knock on the door. The man behind the desk was a young-looking guy, and when he saw

asked carefully. On his way over to the door, Jake noticed quite a few curious gazes

to deliver a package to Polsted,” Jake said,

said happily as he

case. It was filled with expensive-looking jewelry, most of it enchanted but with what Jake would consider pretty low quality enchantments. It was also all made for D-grades, with the properties all being shit. It was probably to not incentivise those doing the Challenge Dungeon to try