The Primal Hunter

Eversmile departed soon after, even more perplexed than when he arrived. This left Vilastromoz alone back on the terrace with his own thoughts as a deep frown marred his face. A lot of things weren’t making any sense right now. For something to be Forbidden Knowledge was… not normal.

To clarify, for the system to hide information wasn’t anything new at all. Restricted Knowledge was a relatively simple term, as it just referred to knowledge restricted by the system, as the name very obviously implied. It wasn’t any big secret either, and everyone encountered it throughout their Paths. Hell, it was what restricted people from sharing information about the Nevermore Floors or Challenge Dungeons to those who had yet to do the World Wonder.

This Nevermore example also nicely showcased another aspect of Restricted Knowledge: it varied widely to whom knowledge was restricted. For Nevermore, people like Jake could now talk openly about the World Wonder with anyone else who had either done it or wasn’t capable of doing it. In other words, anyone who had done Nevermore, or anyone at B-grade or above, could openly talk and hear about the C-grade version of Nevermore.

Forbidden Knowledge was a step above Restricted Knowledge. It was knowledge one was incapable of sharing at all with anyone but others who also already knew… with it many times even being a truth only you knew. In many instances, it also restricted people from ever learning these truths, to begin with, and simply being told Forbidden Knowledge was impossible.

Impossible for anyone but the Malefic Viper, that is. Because the concept of Forbidden Knowledge did not exist to him. He possessed the Bloodline of the Immortal Mind, a Bloodline that did nothing but give him perfect memory… which meant that he never forgot even that which was forbidden. Vilastromoz was likely the only one in the multiverse who could simply be told something that was considered Forbidden Knowledge and remember it.

This led to him being called the Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge by certain beings. Especially the Void Gods referred to him as such. Unsurprisingly, considering that they knew more Forbidden Knowledge than even the Primordials, and Oras had gleamed many secrets, he could now only share with the Malefic Viper. This led to the Viper safekeeping a lot of knowledge that many would consider useless… but could be highly valuable for someone seeking to use the system cleverly.

However, the thing that still made no sense about the First Sage was… he had not been Forbidden Knowledge before.

It wasn’t as if no one knew about the First Sage before Jake became the Viper’s Chosen. He had mentioned him to several people throughout the ages… yet this kind of response had never happened before. He had spoken for hours with his wife, and he even remembered referring to the First Sage a few times when he taught Sanguine back in the day, as the would-be creator of the vampire race sought to create a Transcendent skill, and the First Sage was naturally an expert at that.

Back then, there hadn’t ever been a problem, and while people were certainly alarmed whenever the Viper spoke of this C-grade master of his, they could definitely remember their conversations. What had changed besides Jake making contact?

He had to get to the bottom of this as he had to confirm something and remembered a certain someone. Vilastromoz had not shared anything about the First Sage with many… but his right-hand hydra had known about his existence for sure. Without delay, he had one of his avatars seek out Snappy within the hydra’s own realm.

“Master! To what do I owe the-“

“Skip the pleasantries,” the Malefic Viper interrupted the hydra, Snappy instantly realizing the Viper was being serious.

“What’s the issue?” the Lord Protector of the Order of the Malefic Viper asked.

“Do you remember someone called the First Sage?” the Viper asked, closely studying the hydra.

For a few seconds, there was no reaction before the hydra questioned him. “Did you just attempt to share Forbidden Knowledge?”

“Apparently, I did,” Vilastromoz frowned even more than before as he clenched his fists. For Snappy to have forgotten… this was a lot more than something simply getting a new designation as Forbidden Knowledge.

The Malefic Viper knew only of one precedent where this could happen. Removing existing memories that were already ingrained in the Records of a Truesoul was something the system never did. To take away long-term memories could be damaging in far too many ways, as the risk of it hurting someone’s Path was simply too high.

However, it could happen, just not by the system causing it. The only time he had ever encountered this was as an aftereffect of one of the most feared and powerful Transcendent Skills in the entire multiverse: Karmic Annihilation. Eversmile’s Transcendence.

The ability to remove someone from existence. To kill them completely, erasing even the Records and all memories anyone would have ever had of them. Complete and utter death, in every sense of the word. It was such a powerful technique that even Eversmile would find himself affected, unaware of who he had used it on. He would know he had used it, but all memories of why and who would be gone, and that was naturally far from the only backlash he would suffer.

To summarize… he could delete someone and turn anything related to their existence into Forbidden Knowledge.

Only the Malefic Viper would remember.

and it wasn’t hard to figure out who. The First Sage was the one behind this. He had made his own existence into Forbidden Knowledge,

dead. He

buts.

confirm the death of his master until he finally got it confirmed by the system itself. Even

was dead… yet now he was sending echoes through time. For what purpose, the Viper truly

her leather armor with a big grin on her face. The stands around them were absolutely filled to the brim with members of Valhal who wouldn’t miss out on a fight between the Chosen of the Malefic

but Carmen had insisted, and he did want to have a spar with her. He could do without the audience, though. Before they began, they also

that it has

to no active or boosting skills?” Carmen asked. “No

a good restriction,” Jake generously added a further handicap

in a small arena; I would be impressed if using a bow was even feasible without any active skills to create distance,” Carmen

my bowmanship,”

was only

shown back up, acting as the judge and the one to make sure they didn’t accidentally end up killing each other. Not that Jake thought that was an actual risk, but better safe

no active skills, boosting skills, limited items, and the Chosen is not allowed to use

as she

as Carmen shot forward,

Fast.

air vibrating from the blow. Carmen quickly pivoted and did a follow-up, but Jake backed away as he dodged five more quick hits while he retreated further and further back. The crowd cheered as his back was pushed up against

Jake simply looked down as the blow struck him. He felt all the air being pushed out of his body as he was smashed into the hard stone wall, a solid imprint of

got back up and

you dodge?” she asked,

calm tone as he spread his hands apart

I do?” Carmen

I expect a better performance out of myself this

time ago. Back then, Jake – to put it nicely – had no idea how to fight in melee properly. He was pure instinct, which did serve him well, but in front of a skilled fighter, he would be in trouble on the offensive

It was before Sim-Jake… and now Jake was more than eager to see the difference as he decided

before Jake’s improvements – but Jake had expected it as he countered her counter. Her fist was deflected slightly to the

didn’t stop as he attacked again, this time trying to use his Blackpoint Nanoblade and its slightly higher penetrative effect compared

as Jake also dodged. The two of them attacked half a dozen times each, both dodging all the blows of the other before Jake finally found an opening. The Blackpoint Nanoblade was slammed down into Carmen’s thigh… only for it to once more fail to penetrate as it slid down the side of her leg, nearly throwing

he

compare me to a giant space worm?” Carmen

Cosmic Genesis Worm,” Jake corrected her. “A very

again, Jake gladly meeting her offense. The two of them rapidly moved through the arena, Jake dodging every attack

also had more Endurance due to her stamina-only Path. However… in every other category, Jake had her handily beat. He simply had far more raw stats than her, and while hers being focused on only a few

of his stats, allowing their fight to look relatively equal. Then again, even if

traded blows, the woman also enjoying the bout even if she failed to land any blows. Several minutes passed, and despite little changing, the crowd and the combatants were fully engrossed in the fight as the two fighters got more

up a bit?” Jake asked as they clashed for what felt like the