The Primal Hunter

The gods watched the screen as Jake just relaxed on the floor while yawning lazily. In space, the Forsaken Dragonkin was rampaging, truly motivated by a promise of a potential Path to godhood. No one in the room really said anything as they simply observed events unfold until, finally, Minaga chimed up.

“So… another note in the development log?”

“Yes,” the Wyrmgod simply responded.

“Alrighty then,” Minaga smiled, clearly not upset with the situation. Looking at Vilastromoz, he couldn’t help but give a big thumbs up.

“I fail to understand… how did your Chosen even do that?” the Blightfather questioned the Viper after a bit. The Wyrmgod had shown the screen to everyone in the inner circle –the Primordials, Nature’s Attendant, and Artemis – so he was fully aware of the shenanigans Jake had been up to. This was naturally with the Viper’s permission, as he found their reactions very amusing, and what was better than bragging to old acquaintances?

“Do what?” the Viper asked, feigning confusion.

“Project your aura… or at least a cheap imitation of it.”

“Oh, that… yeah, Jake ate a drop of my blood infused with my Records and power a while back and has thus far not volunteered to give it back,” Vilastromoz answered nonchalantly.

There were a few raised eyebrows around the room as the Holy Mother also joined the conversation for once. “Impressive. To be able to handle such Records without seeing his own Path broken is not something you see often, and it truly shows his dedication. It isn’t something I would expect many mortals to be capable of, much less a C-grade.”

“C-grade? No, he ate it in E-grade, and my guy didn’t even ask,” the Viper sighed as he shook his head.

Eyebrows were raised even higher than before at the revelation. The only one that seemed entirely undisturbed was Valdemar. Unsurprising. He and Jake had many similarities in this regard, as Valdemar was also known for eating stuff he really shouldn’t be capable of while he was still a mortal. Even now, as a god, he would just gobble down natural treasures other Primordials were wary of nonchalantly.

“In any case, Jake did pretty damn well,” Minaga said, carrying along the conversation. “He even gave us so much good feedback on the Challenge Dungeon, outlining many things to address for the next era. Of course, most of the stuff he pulled off was things I wouldn’t really expect many others to be capable of, but there were some good data points anyway.”

Minaga was in a great mood, and the Viper couldn’t help but take a jab. “Feels good to see another Challenge Dungeon be utterly exploited after your labyrinth, eh?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, and such accusations are utterly unfounded and unwelcome,” Minaga tried to shut him down with a deadpan face. “Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth is a marvel of dungeon engineering that is perfectly balanced with no exploits.”

“Right, right,” the Viper nodded as he kept smiling.

“You speak as if the Endless Journey Challenge Dungeon was an utter mess, but I believe its self-correcting mechanisms did well. The Viper’s Chosen also adequately adapted to the situations he was in, and even if he had unique advantages, he also faced some extra challenges due to them. Ones he overcame, mostly due to these same unique advantages, true, but if one can say one thing, it is that he is good at exploiting said advantage,” the Wyrmgod finally said after a while.

Minaga pointed out. “Admit it, this entire Challenge Dungeon was a bit of a

the entire project a failure. If it did,

you talk about how it isn’t a total failure… I wonder, how are Jake’s team members doing in this Challenge Dungeon? Or

the Viper. “Three of them have already

Each showed one of Jake’s party members inside the Endless Journey in a highly sped-up fashion, showing their entire runs in mere

see how they did,the Viper thought as he looked at the four screens

looked like a conference hall, talking to the many figures present. Among them were dragons in human form, the Founder, and a few other S-grades, including beings Jake had never encountered or even knew existed. This

– at least temporarily – was established. A clear political victory, achieved in an entirely intended way by a man who had been ruling a massive clan and navigated politics for close to a century before

swordsmanship, that didn’t mean he had to throw away the political abilities he already had. Skills

a good distance away from getting a mythical one. Perhaps he could have done slightly better if he

customer while pecking him on the head until guards came to arrest her. She then proceeded to peck them, too, until more powerful

her getting fired as a Courier on her second job with a lengthy criminal record, something she didn’t like, which got

to do a bit better but still got mad when a woman tried to scam her, making Sylphie retaliate by having a tornado rip a small village to pieces. In the Courier World, this was considered bad business and Sylphie failed her job. This she did not like and raised

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she barely did one a week as she got bored and just flew around. That is until she got a Special Courier Job that ended up getting her in contact with the son of the Infernal Baron. The difference here was that this man didn’t want to recruit Sylphie but had detected her elemental heritage and now wanted to consume her. This was how Sylphie ended up joining what Jake had called PETE, and Sylphie ultimately ended

overall performance in this entire Challenge Dungeon was what many would be considered pretty damn substandard for what one would expect of a “genius.” Sylphie was happy enough, though, as she did manage to scam some natural treasures out of PETE

as the plants swayed with her steps. The entire land was alive, pulsing with power, reaching the very peak of S-grade as the living planet allowed her presence. All across the massive planet, portals had opened as the enlightened races entered, the Guild Founder and many others among them as they

the final push to godhood. Luckily for them all, Dina had managed

Jake and used plenty of summons to carry out tasks. Annoying customers and those trying to scam her were also easily dealt with, mainly through a few compliant-making spores

of Leadership had really come in handy there. This all led to an ultimately great performance, even if she did make a lot of mistakes, netting her an Ancient Medallion, just shy

still doing the Challenge Dungeon, as he had done the same as Jake and saved this one for last. He had struggled a bit with being treated like

to get one over him. When it came to the Special Courier Jobs, he also performed great. In fact, he even had many advantages, as the Fallen King managed to leverage his identity as a

on their toes while making them hesitant to make aggressive moves toward him. This status as a king would also have its very own note in the Endless

when delivering goods during the regular Courier Jobs, and while he did alleviate this a

observed, Jake soon enough had visitors. The Forsaken Dragonkin was returning, but he was not alone. With him were several others, including the Guild Founder, Phoenix Queen, and even the

faded as Jake stepped forward and saw the S-grades approach. “I

longer lurking as a threat, I have hope our future will be a bright one… now, let us return to the

keep,” the Forsaken Dragonkin interrupted as he looked at Jake

skill to make completely sure Jake was telling the truth. It was certain that should he try and bullshit his way out or lie, the situation would not turn out well, especially considering Jake had yet to be

earlier,” Jake said completely honestly. “But I swear to you that I will share with you the