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.

pointed out. “Admit it, this entire Challenge Dungeon

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 your entire labyrinth many eras ago,” the Wyrmgod said in his usual dry tone as he verbally

isn’t a total failure… I wonder, how are Jake’s team members doing in this Challenge Dungeon? Or if they’ve already completed it,

Attendant, and after the god nodded, the Wyrmgod turned 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

the Endless Journey in

thought as he looked at the

the Sword Saint 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 had never encountered or even knew existed. This was clearly the end of his run, and the mere fact he had gathered

victory, achieved in an entirely intended

if the swordsman had repeatedly said he wanted to distance himself from politics and focus on his Path of swordsmanship, that didn’t mean he had to throw away the political abilities he

a mythical one. Perhaps he could have done slightly better if he had

customer while pecking him on the head until guards came to arrest her. She then proceeded to peck them, too, until more powerful people came, and she had to run away and flee from

with a lengthy criminal record, something she didn’t like, which got her killed as she tried to fight

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 a ruckus in the Guild, and ended up getting chased away from the city again. Having decided to just explore a bit, Sylphie eventually ended

without permission from

two deaths, she got a bit more serious and even did a number of jobs, but 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 her Endless Journey while taking down the Duke of Flames in a political act of mutual destruction that also got the hawk burned to

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, mainly just messing

presence. All across the massive planet, portals had opened as the enlightened races entered,

side with promises of telling him of a place in the universe that could give him the final push to godhood.

and used plenty of summons to carry out tasks. Annoying customers and those trying to

had really come in handy there. This all led

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 a mere Courier

way. Also, while it was a skill he rarely used, being able to detect lies of those a lot weaker than 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 really integrate this fact into his Path, nor did he

the other hand, did this openly, acting as if he were some high-level diplomat working for another massive faction far away. This did seem to get the job done for the most part, as he progressed steadily and kept everyone 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 Journey Exploits Log, but ultimately deemed a non-issue as C-grades with the system-recognized title of king wasn’t

did have in 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 still his big limiter as he continued his Endless Journey. However, even with this,

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 Nine Seals Demon, who

him in naturally faded as Jake stepped forward and saw the S-grades approach. “I take it

but happy smile. “It will take a long time to rebuild… but with the dragon tribe no longer lurking as a threat, I have hope our

any of that… you have a promise to keep,” the Forsaken Dragonkin interrupted as he looked at

he try and bullshit his way out or lie, the situation would not turn out well, especially considering Jake had yet to be told he could leave

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