The Primal Hunter

Lights danced in the sky as the music kept playing while the All-God Legion, better known as Minaga, walked down a pair of invisible stairs right above the two blank Leaderboards. He easily got the attention of everyone, and Viridia had to admit he was perhaps the best creature in the multiverse to do something like this… he was both a mortal, making his aura not overwhelming, and a divine being that could stand alongside the pinnacle all on his own. This offered him the possibility of absolute confidence.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome! What a great day for all of you to show up and all just to come and see little me!?” Minaga’s voice was projected all throughout Nevermore City, reaching not just the square.

“Oh wait, I read that wrong… you’re here for the Leaderboards, eh?” the Unique Lifeform joked around, not a single person present letting out the slightest laugh.

“Alright, alright, tough crowd, everyone’s so freaking serious, so let’s just stop messing around and get right to it! The great Leaderboards reveal! Okay, I lied; we won’t get right to it. One small intermission first, and I need to make a few clarifications, and as a preamble, I will share some stats!” Minaga said as he summoned a floating screen above himself. “Firstly, I can happily announce the death rate for this year’s Leaderboards-competition groups was 10.3% below the expected amount! That means only about 9.4 out of every 100 Nevermore Attendees competing on the Leaderboards ended up dying, compared to 10.1 out of every 100 last era.”

Viridia looked up at the screen and saw the stats that represented millions of dead at the very least. But it also meant that more than ten times the number of dead had come out of Nevermore, now more powerful than before and with a brighter future ahead of them. She also knew that the members of the Order tended to survive far more than the average due to their far higher average power level.

“The Nevermore Points achieved by the average group is also 3.6% higher than the last era, sitting at a whopping 42.214! Pretty good if I say so myself, and you can all be proud for fostering another great generation… especially now that we’re getting to the juicy part.”

Minaga smiled even more brightly as he dispelled the prior screen and showed a new one. It was just a single number, but Viridia instantly understood what it meant. That’s… impressive.

“10.5%. That’s how many more Nevermore Points the average in the top 1 percentile gained this time around compared to the last era. To clarify, this is the second biggest jump between two eras ever seen, and compared to last time, there is no explanation besides one simple fact: even the average talent of this era vastly surpasses any we’ve ever seen prior.”

For the first time, there was an actual crowd reaction as claps were heard. Viridia also joined in, along with the other S-grades around her. It was an applause for the next generation and what she believed was an outstanding performance. A generation the Chosen of the Order was a representative member of.

“Now, at the very tippidy top we will soon see on the Leaderboards, the disparity is a bit harder to find, showing that those at the Pinnacle Tier, even in prior eras, are still not to be taken lightly. But, fret not, the young talents are a little bit better, but within the margin of error,” Minaga continued once the applause had fully died down, as Viridia heard some low discussion all around.

To see the average rise was a good sign.. but to see the top shift wasn’t, especially not after the last era. Yip of Yore had been an outlier who had been praised for surpassing all prior eras, and what he had grown into could only be described as a problem for many divine factions. The many factions had also long learned that many top geniuses would be very difficult to control unless they had an existing connection to a top faction.

Those from the new universe naturally didn’t have any pre-existing connections, making them far more unpredictable. So, while seeing the average grow was good, many hoped to not see the top spot once more be taken by someone from the new universe… something that would be difficult to achieve, seeing as quite a few of the top seeds were from the new universe.

“The following clarification is mainly for those who haven’t really been paying attention to how the Leaderboards work… but the Leaderboards have naturally been open for quite a while; we just decided not to show them. In fact, they’ve been open for about a year, but we have naturally kept them hidden, as honestly, quite a few of you are utterly insufferable when it comes to wanting to show off. You are so desperate to have names from your factions shown on a list that is shifting every hour that it’s honestly kind of sad. Seriously, how many people have been forced to cut their Nevermore journeys short halfway through for some insecure Holy Church, Risen Altmar Empire, or whatever, to use their lost futures as a brief marketing stunt? Anyway, so, yeah, to stop this pathetic display, we chose to hide the Leaderboards till now, when the rankings are at least semi-stable, and I am certain no one has anything against that, right? We allow people to at least see the Universe Leaderboard a bit in the beginning for you bastards to do your scouting or whatever, and even that’s too much, in my opinion…”

Viridia stood and stared blankly as the entire square was silent after the Unique Lifeform’s rant. She couldn’t help but look over, and she saw a Cardinal from the Holy Church clench his staff tight, holding in his anger after the All-God Legion effectively insulted the entire Holy Church and even the Holy Mother herself. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say Minaga had just insulted half of the peak factions with a single rant… and Viridia knew that out of nearly anyone in the multiverse, Minaga was perhaps the only one who could do just that without ever suffering any repercussions.

“Ah, I really needed to get that off my chest, now to get back into it. So, as I said, the Leaderboards have been open for a while, and the listing has sure shifted a lot. For the Era Leaderboard alone, the top 100 has had a total of 351 names on it, quite a few more than usual. As for the top 10, we have had a total of 21 names there. Again, this is for the Era Leaderboard… but we naturally aren’t going to address that first. Instead, let’s keep it a bit more local and discuss the far more volatile Universe Leaderboard.”

Having changed the topic away from insulting peak factions, Minaga shared some more stats. Waving his hand one more time, another screen appeared.

“I call this Leaderboard more volatile because it’s been quite the shuffle! People getting high spots only to be bonked down from the top 50 to below the top 100 within a day happened more than once! The higher average has resulted in far more than usual reaching the minimum Nevermore Points required for Pinnacle Tier to qualify them to even appear on the top 100. This has resulted in a whole new record of the most names ever appearing in not only the top 100 but even the top 10 of the Universe Leaderboards! An all-time record, too!”

The screen floating above Minaga began to be filled with the stats of the Universe Leaderboard. Stats that made Viridia and many others raise an eyebrow.

“1084 have had their name appear in the top 100, with a whopping 76 in the top 10 at some point! That’s a lot of people getting some sweet, sweet titles! However… there have only ever been three names at the very top. Two of which now still dominate the Leaderboards. Yes, Leaderboards, plural.”

This was the first real hint about the actual people on the Leaderboards. No hints as to who they were, just that they were from the ninety-third universe, which instantly made Viridia think that the Chosen of the Malefic One had to be among these two. He had to be.

Dungeons and the thought process behind their designs…” Minaga began before smirking and stopping himself. “Relax, I’m just messing with

disappeared as Minaga paced back and forth up in

like to ramble on, something you would be entirely correct on, but in this instance, I am also dragging out time purposefully, as we quite frankly started this entire thing at least a few minutes too early. You see, for suspense, we have delayed some arrivals of

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began to move as Viridia felt the energy of the Wyrmgod himself at play. All around the huge central square, figures began to appear in rapid succession, either on the stands or on top of

swordsman who had entered with the Viper’s Chosen appear, standing among followers of Aeon Clok. On another platform with followers of Stormild, she saw the hawk, and on a third belonging to the Pantheon of Life, the dryad. Finally, on their very own platform, a figure appeared, and Viridia was ready to bow as she saw it was

didn’t have time to say anything to this Unique life form before Minaga spoke

reveal… of one of the

had come. Space itself warped around the Universe Leaderboard as words began to appear on it line-by-line before soon showing the top ten. At the same time, beams of white light descended from above, highlighting ten figures who were all standing spread around the square. It didn’t take long to realize who was highlighted… it was naturally the ten

and

did better than anyone else… please join me in applauding the performances of our runner-up, Wintermaul, along with our

as things truly didn’t make sense. Where is

(C-grade):

–

Wintermaul – Pinnacle

– Pinnacle

Paladin –

–

Eastbound Monk

of Lucenti – Pinnacle

Sword Saint –

Faith –

High Templar –

of the large projections in the air were highlighed more than the others. It was the two atop the Leaderboard, and soon, celebration erupted from several places, and nearly everyone did as Minaga said

looked like someone who had just

an ice elemental of some form, looking a bit like a mix between a yeti and a bear, but made entirely of ice. To see an elemental do so well was rare… which had to mean this particular elemental was truly

so, Viridia turned to the Unique Lifeform that

am pleasantly surprised to at least find myself in the top 100… and to see the small planet I now call home have not just one, but for multiple individuals to be in the top ten…” the Fallen King said. “To see the mechanic with relations to the void outperforming the swordsman does surprise me a smidgen, though. Alas, I can only say

Lifeform. “What happened in

putting on an entire show, which was part of the reason I was held in a

is in charge of this

performer who enjoys making drama and putting on a show more than anything. So do

he said as they waited for Minaga to continue. A few

the top 10 from the ninety-third universe. You all have done pretty well for yourselves, considering you’ve only been part of the multiverse for just a short amount of time… but what’s perhaps even more impressive is that we

highlights repeated. Along with the highlight of the

Leaderboards (C-grade):

–

of the Fourth Hell – Pinnacle