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.

a lot of problems, though,” Minaga pointed out. “Admit it, this entire Challenge Dungeon was a bit of a mess and not the most

that nothing truly scenario-breaking happened, and the overall performance was fully acceptable. A few individuals being able to exploit a Challenge Dungeon does not make the entire project a failure. If it did, we would have had to decommission

shook his head. “But hearing you talk about how it isn’t a total failure… I wonder,

back to the Viper. “Three of them have already completed it, with only the Unique Lifeform yet to be done. As for how they all did or are doing… see

the Endless Journey in a highly sped-up fashion, showing their entire runs in mere seconds in Realtime, which was more than slow enough for the gods

as he looked at

standing on a podium in what 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

and division of land, an accord was struck, as peace – at least temporarily – was established. A clear political victory, achieved in an entirely intended way by a man who had been ruling

himself from politics and focus on his Path of swordsmanship, that didn’t mean

performance was considered exemplary, as he ended his Endless Journey run with a Legendary Medallion, still a good distance away from getting a mythical one. Perhaps he could have done slightly better

then proceeded to peck them, too, until more powerful people came, and she had to

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

business and Sylphie failed her job. This she did

Amazon without

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 her

of a “genius.” Sylphie was happy enough, though, as she did manage to scam some natural treasures out of PETE before she left. She ended up with a Rare Medallion only, despite having spent quite a while in the dungeon,

All across the massive planet, portals had opened as the enlightened races entered, the Guild Founder and many others among them as they prepared to establish themselves anew, knowing they could not face the dragon tribe in combat without facing

and managed to get the Forsaken Dragonkin on their side with promises of telling him of a place in the universe that could give him the final push to godhood. Luckily for them all, Dina had managed to work with a

on her Bloodline perhaps more than Jake and used plenty of summons to carry out tasks. Annoying customers and those trying to

conversations she had with the Sword Saint about the art of Leadership had really come in handy there. This all led to an ultimately great performance, even if she did make a lot of

this one for last. He had struggled a bit with being treated like a mere Courier in

him was no difficult feat, and liars and scammers utterly failed 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 system-recognized king to get his way in certain situations. One had to remember that while Jake was also a noble, he didn’t

them hesitant to make aggressive moves toward him. This status as a king would also have its

this Challenge Dungeon was his lack of speed when delivering goods during the regular Courier Jobs, and while he did alleviate this a bit through different means, this was ultimately

were several others, including

as these figures approached the chamber. The barrier sealing him in naturally faded as Jake stepped forward and saw the S-grades approach. “I take it matters

time to rebuild… but with the dragon tribe no longer lurking as a threat, I have

the Forsaken Dragonkin interrupted as

his way out or

said completely honestly. “But I swear to you that I will share with you the true Path to godhood