The Primal Hunter

The scalekin sure hadn’t been the most talkative, so Jake hoped to get some information out of the bearded man who originally greeted him. He and all his friends were trying to run away right now after the mage had died, knowing that they didn’t stand a chance even if they got involved.

Power differences, especially at higher grades, weren’t just a simple math equation. Two people with half of Jake’s stats wouldn’t be equal to one Jake, and even if a few hundred of them came at him, Jake was confident in smacking them all down. There were certain conceptual gaps caused by higher stats and grades, resulting in far less damage being dealt by those who were a lot weaker.

Jake had ways to close the gap between himself and someone at a higher level, but such a thing was generally considered quite rare based on what Jake had seen. Likely because, in order to get stronger against higher-leveled opponents, you had to get used to only getting anything out of higher-leveled opponents.

All of this is to say that despite there being around thirty of them, the fact Jake could fight, let alone kill, the scalekin mage meant they wouldn’t be able to even touch him, Assuming he was in a condition to fight, of course. Jake did have the minor problem that he was on a timer as he flew toward the village.

Arcane Awakening had been suppressed down to the more stable 30%, but he had to keep it going, or he would enter a period of weakness. While he could re-trigger Arcane Awakening even while in this period of weakness, it would lead to an even worse backlash afterward, so he would very much prefer to avoid that.

Chasing down the bearded man didn’t end up taking long, especially with the stat boost active for some more stats. On the way, he also manipulated his cloak to entirely cover his body, and after a bit of quick cleaning up, he made sure to look like he hadn’t even taken minor wounds but was entirely uninjured after the fight. That should add a bit to his intimidation factor.

The man and his companions had fled through an underground tunnel to a hideout disguised as a small hill about ten kilometers from the village. From a distance, it looked entirely normal, as the ones who crafted it had transformed an actual hill and then placed all magic formations on the inside. Quite clever and a lot harder to spot that way, and most C-grades would definitely miss it.

Reaching the hill, Jake pulled out his bow again, nocked an arrow, and drew the string as he yelled, infusing his voice with mana and Willpower. ”I will count down from ten. When I reach zero… well, you can guess what happens. Ten, ni-”

Before Jake could even say nine, the bearded man along with two others, flew out from within the hill, their bodies phasing through it seamlessly. They all had their hands up above their heads, and Jake didn’t feel the slightest threat from any of them. ”Don’t shoot!”

Jake slightly relaxed the string but didn’t withdraw his bow immediately. ”See, that wasn’t so hard. Now, I believe we have some things to discuss, including why you decided that attacking a Courier who is just trying to do his damn job was a good idea.”

”We… we got a job… I am not sure about the details, so-”

”So you’re gonna tell me everything you do know? Great!” Jake said in a cheerful tone as he kept his eyes on the three of them. He also looked inside the hill, wondering if they were maybe trying to set up an ambush, but they were all just hiding… potentially hoping Jake thought only the bearded man and the two who exited with him were hiding there.

”We’re just middlemen. Adventurers,” the man hurriedly began to explain. ”I don’t even know who the job is from! That mage was the one who brought everything and hired us for his bosses. He had a letter with instructions, part of the payment, and everything like that. We were just here to make the presence of the Silenced less suspicious.”

Jake took in what he said, as that word toward the end stuck out due to the emphasis the man put on it. ”Silenced what? I know the scalekin wasn’t a big conversationalist, and I didn’t get anything out of him besides the occasional small grunt, but I’m not sure making his lack of talking his defining trait is polite.”

confused at Jake for a moment as he stammered. ”Do… do you not know

so he tried – and failed – to play it off cool. ”Remind

Slaves who have had their ability to speak or even properly communicate entirely sealed away and are primarily used by those who want them to accomplish tasks they really don’t want anyone to talk about or for anything to be tracked back to them,” the adventurer explained. ”Rare to see any C-grades of the Silenced Order, though. Mainly due

dialogue option. Especially the last part

communicate came to you with a letter telling you to stop me in my

we were never necessarily meant to kill you! Just incapacitate and intimidate. Look, all I know is that you are transporting something someone really doesn’t want the Infernal Baron to have, or at least not come in possession of, without this employer of ours knowing what it is. We didn’t even necessarily have to obtain what you are transporting, but

this employer?” Jake questioned, feeling

contact the employer…” the man said, afraid that Jake wouldn’t like the answer as he suddenly remembered something. ”Ah! But we can contact the broker who put us in contact with the Silenced! He should be able to at least find a representative of the employer! I have a token to do it

solution,” Jake said with a smile beneath his mask as he decided to put his bow away and, with

this narrative on Amazon, know that

He infused some energy into it as a semi-transparent screen appeared in mid-air. Seconds passed, as the bearded adventurer looked more and more nervous, hoping the broker on the

was a response. The screen began to warp and got big enough to show an entire person as a figure appeared. The person was hooded, and when the

you!? Where

figure barely reacted to his outburst, but instead, Jake felt the figure on the other side turn

Courier, I presume. I

as to

fuck did

his purpose… and so have you

exploded like a popped balloon. The two at his side followed suit as Jake saw even the people in the hideout suffer the same fate. Within less than three seconds, all of them had died, and in the environment,

magic… well, fuck

him. He hadn’t flinched for even a second, and he wasn’t going to do so now as he stared at the figure on the other end. He didn’t doubt they were, at the very least, well into B-grade, if not higher. At least he made that guess,

annoyed. He took this attitude very much on purpose for one simple reason… they couldn’t feel how powerful Jake was through the token either. Same as Jake couldn’t feel their power. So he would prefer

nothing, Courier. Our quarrel is not

the little lizard you put in my way,” Jake scoffed. ”Seemed pretty damn antagonistic to me when he

perhaps a bit… overzealous in their approach. Capture was ordered as a preferential resolution, but it seems like that was far beyond the capabilities of the Silenced,”the disembodied voice answered. ”However, that matter has already concluded. Rather than

wanted to strike a deal with Jake instead of just issuing threats was a good start, as Jake crossed his arms.

shall get in your way, but when you arrive, do not seek out the Infernal Baron. Instead, go to the Guild and inform them you lost the delivery on the way. We will then send someone to find you, and once the item is confirmed, post a Courier Job you are to accept. It shall be ensured