The Primal Hunter

It ended up only taking two weeks more before the whole gang was back together. Jake spent this time primarily working on some of the things he had been putting off a bit, like making sure everything was still running smoothly in the Cradle for his budding Soulflame and then doing the very important work of briefly checking out his Puzzle Box of the Seeker. He planned to just play with it for a day or two, so it was very understandable Jake felt slight annoyance when he was interrupted after only a couple of weeks.

Sylphie and the Sword Saint had already returned to the Order compound at this point and were all doing their own thing until it was time to meet back up, well ahead of schedule. Jake ended up being the last to arrive at their reunion, as he just needed to get in one more attempt for the puzzle he was currently on, something he was certain everyone would understand.

Walking through the small compound, Jake already saw the four of them gathered in a sealed-off meeting room. He enjoyed the feeling of the walk due to his even more comfortable boots, as he couldn’t help himself from feeling for natural treasures using the boots’ function. He detected a few, and he quickly realized their range covered the entire damn city floor.

Arriving in the meeting room, Jake checked out the situation just before entering. Sylphie was sitting on a small nest she had made on a table from what looked like tablecloths, looking very comfortable. Meanwhile, the Sword Saint and Dina were both sitting in chairs while the Fallen King floated menacingly in a corner. None of them looked different compared to the last time they met, though that wasn’t really a surprise.

But that didn’t mean they hadn’t changed. When Jake entered the room, he instantly took in their auras. Compared to eight and half years or so, everyone had gotten quite a lot stronger. Even if their levels hadn’t grown due to the nature of Challenge Dungeons – besides Sylphie and the Sword Saint, who had gained one on the sixty-ninth floor – that didn’t mean they hadn’t gotten stronger. Everyone had gained at least one title for a few more stats, but what mattered most were the skill upgrades and improved overall abilities through conceptual improvements and such.

Jake himself had also gotten quite a lot stronger. He was the one who had gained the most levels due to his little meeting with the gods and aura-measuring contest with Valdemar, along with the All-Star title. Not to mention all the skill upgrades he had gained, as well as just overall improvements across the board.

”Ree!” Sylphie instantly greeted Jake as she zoomed over and sat down on her usual spot atop Jake’s head. Jake just smiled as he scratched her head, making Sylphie flap her wings happily. He had to admit he had missed the little featherball.

”The last to arrive as expected,” the Fallen King commented.

”Says the person who was the last to get done with all the Challenge Dungeons,” Jake shot back.

”Yet I still finished within the agreed-upon deadline. Also, I thought it was viewed as impolite for humans to finish prematurely? Especially for you male versions,” the Fallen King retaliated verbally.

”Pretty mean of you to insult an old man like that,” Jake muttered as he shook his head with disappointment, throwing glances at the old man in the room.

”Good to see you too, Jake,” the Sword Saint said with a light smile. ”Now, rather than sit around and take jabs, let us get everyone up to speed. We will have plenty of time for banter when we continue our descent.”

The Fallen King didn’t argue, and Jake also knew when to shut up as he kept scratching Sylphie, who was also being a polite little hawk. For now, at least.

”To begin with… let us get a mutual idea of our shared growth during this period, as I am certain it has been most fruitful for us all. Let me begin with how I did in the Challenge Dungeons,” the Sword Saint volunteered as he summarized his Challenge Dungeons first in a brief manner. When he was done, he gave the floor to the dryad of their party as she did the same.

Dina had done pretty damn well, with a total multiplier of 70% from all the Challenge Dungeons, tying the Sword Saint perfectly. Broken down, she had gained 15% from the Colosseum of Mortals, 15% in House of the Architect, 10% in Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth, 20% in the Endless Journey, and 10% in Test of Character. Jake had to admit this was actually pretty good from her, considering she was a healer, and healers tended to struggle in places like the Colosseum of Mortals.

That was until she shared how she won pretty much all her fights by spreading poison spores in the arena to slowly kill her opponents. She did this by getting around the rules of the Colosseum that one could only bring weapons and tools bought for the arena to a fight. Using her skills and innate talent, she spread spores from outside the entire Colosseum before any fighting even began. She did this through a special flower she grafted by combining different herbs to allow it to have controllable spores while in flight, something she could then use her Bloodline to control. Overall, her tactics had been pretty damn gruesome, yet effective for someone who wasn’t the best in a regular fight. The mental image of her just delaying as her opponents slowly coughed up blood and died was a pretty dark mental image, though.

Colosseum of Mortals, he ended with a respectable multiplier of 15%, and in the Endless Journey, he repeated that feat, earning another 15%. However, things only went downhill from there as he only got 5% in the House of the Architect, Test of Character, and Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth. Jake saw the clear dissatisfaction from the Unique Lifeform, even if

deciphering the runes as all his magic was purely instinctive and not something he had studied to learn, teaching him the required skills. As for why he had done badly in the Test of Character, though… well, Jake wasn’t going

results next, and Jake saw the Fallen King looked a bit grumpy that she had gained the same level of multiplier as him.

a true representation of power, and a Unique Lifeform such as I am merely disadvantaged due to the bogus rules,”the Fallen King argued to make himself feel

Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the

”Ree!”

a unique skill does not make you

even jumped on

she is probably the only Sylphian Hawk in

as I are

”Ree.”

a little bit less unique, argued. ”Unless you have a title quite literally proclaiming you a Unique Lifeform, you

”Ree, ree.”

he stared at

does not, I can detect other Unique Lifeforms, and she

Jake’s eyes opened wide as everyone looked surprised. He and Villy had talked about Sylphie probably being unique, but they didn’t really have any way to truly know. Turns out they could have just asked the

new Lineage of powerful beasts. It quite literally called her unique and the first of the Sylphian Hawks. As for the effects of the title, Sylphie didn’t share anything as her parents had told her not to share such things. A good politic, making Jake happy that Hawkie

Sylphie didn’t give many details, they did have someone in their party who knew a

that title before. It usually appears when a regular beast or monster mutates or has a particularly impactful evolution into a powerful variant that differs a lot from any others, effectively creating an entirely new Lineage of races… sometimes even entirely new species. Naturally, the level of change has to reach certain thresholds, and the Lineage Progenitor is always

streaming party

as Jake realized. Oh… oh yeah, they definitely didn’t know

sense with context, so I guess it’s my turn to summarize my time

Jake was done telling about the Endless Journey, the Fallen King called him a cheater, as everyone else congratulated him for his great performance. After the House of the Architect, they remained impressed, as Sylphie had to get the jab in that Jake had already tied both her and the Fallen King regarding the multiplier with only two Challenge Dungeons. The small bird

he did… and… well, alright, he had probably overdone it a bit as he had done sixty Sections more than Sylphie, who had also gotten 25%. At this point, the Fallen King was truly looking salty over how much of a cheat Jake was. Especially as he had already tied the record-holders of their party with two Challenge Dungeons

naturally done the worst of all his Challenge Dungeons, but the non-existent face of the Fallen King

I ended up killing the image of Valdemar, which sure raised quite the ruckus,” Jake shared. ”I

and I find it difficult

got really close against both Umbra and the Undying General… but I couldn’t do anything against him, as he was entirely immune to my spores,” Dina muttered. ”I died ten times in a row without ever

a bit depressed that Valdemar had apparently just said he ”really liked her wind and found it refreshing,” before cutting it apart, Sylphie quickly getting torn apart despite her semi-elemental wind form. Valdemar’s

noted, it sure as fuck wasn’t easy, and apparently, killing the image is so rare that Valdemar himself decided to come by… followed by a few others, including Dina’s Grandpa who came along with Artemis,” Jake