The Primal Hunter

”You got stuck?” Jake asked.

“I got stuck,” Sandy confirmed.

“Really stuck?”

“If I didn’t want to break anything and make people mad kind of stuck.”

“So really stuck,” Jake sighed while staring at Sandy, now back at full size, lying on what looked like a giant mattress. Meanwhile, Arnold was busy operating some control panel as what looked like lasers shot over Sandy’s thick skin here and there. Jake felt quite a few more devices at work, too, ninety percent of which he had no idea how even worked.

“In my defense, he cheated,” Sandy protected themselves.

“You entered my workshop without permission and triggered the automatic defenses, then proceeded to escape those, forcing me to step in personally,” Arnold said, not even looking up from the screen.

“You still cheated.”

“I only disrupted your application of personal spacial shrinkage, forcing you to expand within a limited space while jamming that frequency of space magic.”

“And how is that not cheating?” Sandy kept complaining, wiggling a bit in annoyance, earning a glance from Arnold before the worm went completely still again so the scientist could continue his measurements. The big worm was practically on a massive scanner due to their crimes against Arnold.

From what Jake gathered, Sandy had smelled delicious stuff in Arnold’s workshop, which, fair enough, there definitely was a lot of. Many of the treasures he cultivated also had powerful space mana within, especially the ones involved in projects he had going while in Nevermore. This naturally attracted the senses of a certain worm, who could detect these treasures despite all the defensive measures Arnold had deployed.

If Arnold hadn’t been at home, Sandy would likely – no, definitely – have succeeded in wrecking the entire workshop by eating most of the power sources, thus ruining all ongoing projects. However, with Arnold there, he had deployed countermeasures that forced Sandy back to their full size, which was a problem when stuck within a heavily fortified tunnel. Together with a space-magic jammer of sorts, Sandy had been stuck unless the worm released a lot of power to forcibly break free. Sandy totally could have done that and gotten away easily, but they would have broken things for sure in the process.

So, instead of breaking free, Sandy deployed the strategy of negotiation. At least, that’s what Sandy said. In reality, Jake highly suspected this entire arrangement was Arnold’s idea. Sandy was undoubtedly an interesting creature, and Arnold seemed more than interested in researching the big space worm’s abilities.

“Do you feel this?” Arnold asked as Jake felt some odd wave of energy move over Sandy.

“Not really. Like, I felt it kind of, but not very much,” the worm responded. “Hey, by the way, how did you even find me? Like… I was super hidden I’m pretty sure, prepared to do a quick hit-and-run. Get in, get out, a quick second or two, but boom, you were there right away.”

Arnold didn’t even seem to listen to what Sandy said after the worm responded regarding the odd energy, making Jake take over.

“Sandy, he is quite literally blessed by a Void God known as the All-Seeing. I’m pretty sure he’s good at spotting people, even if they’re super hidden,” Jake said with a smirk.

“Bah. Don’t tell me he is also one of those weirdoes with a lot of Perception?” Sandy complained.

“Pretty sure he is,” Jake smiled.

“I am,” Arnold confirmed. “Now, tell me what kind of response this invokes.”

A blast of energy struck Sandy in the side but seemed to disperse all throughout their skin, as if the impact was spread out evenly, resulting in no real effect. Jake watched on with interest as Arnold nodded while Sandy answered.

either,” Sandy said in a

a button. When he did, Jake saw a drone fly into the room, carrying what looked like a large slab of metal. Sandy gleefully opened their

the worm said happily. “More of

in a C-grade territory. So far, it has little purpose except its energy-richness and ability to handle certain affinities well. I fused a large amount of it into the slab and found no further

Sandy was doing this as

said. “It’s only fair if I have to sit here for a while that I’m at least fed in the

asking Arnold. “What are you using

“Sub-space travel.”

travel,” the

worm, Jake continued asking. “What even is this

shift on the spectrum of Perception. This wasn’t really the same, but Jake did know there were degrees to space and how

that are stacked on top of stable space. It changes the fundamental rules dictating the laws of time, distance, and speed by modifying them with a new conceptual factor that I call the sub-space affinity,” Arnold explained. “This affinity is heavily connected to, but not to be confused with the regular space affinity. It’s instead something relatively unique I’ve found only some creatures or objects possess. It appears to have little to no

through this sub-space?” Jake

must know where they’re going, or at the very least have a strong general idea, for example, to teleport a set distance in a direction. Sub-space travel is far different, and also a lot more sustainable for long-distance travel. It’s also a requirement for exploration of unknown space, as teleporting there simply carries too

nodded as he had another thought… did his Wings of the Malefic Viper escape skill make him enter this sub-space thing? It stripped away nearly all other concepts by corroding them, including space, so if it melted all layers away, maybe it left only this sub-space?

how long do you think this research project will take?” Jake asked as he saw Arnold walk over with

misappropriated from Royal Road; report

there is simply too much to explore,” the scientist said. “Before this, I used spacecrafts with special material and magic circles, allowing it to enter subspace through the consumption of vast amounts of energy, but this… this Cosmic Genesis Worm is like a

Sandy’s Sand World only makes sense, duh,” the worm

his head. “Anyway, are you fine with staying here for a while,

“That depends…”

vast

Why would I leave a nice buffet and a comfy

just smiled and, after talking with the two of them a bit more, left the workshop for Arnold to continue to use Sandy for his experiments while Sandy happily lived the life of a living trash container for all the valuable material Arnold had stocked up but no longer needed. He did wonder why the dietitian hadn’t been

the nice forest town were both called Haven, but what could Jake do about it. It wasn’t like changing

slightly, his talk with Holstred had been very enlightening, even if it had been cut a bit short, as he got a message from Arnold that he had caught Sandy, and Sandy tried to play it off by saying Jake

and Holstred went over the most important parts. Earth was facing problems for sure, and the integration of the freed slaves

half-expected to hear about some civil war having taken place or at least a purge of some kind. However, things had been pretty damn peaceful, even if there were still issues. It was clear Miranda had done a banger job, and done much to help integrate the former slaves to make them feel part

also why Jake decided not to get involved

No, it was definitely better to not make any rash decisions but, at the very least, wait for Miranda

bit longer, Jake kept being impressed by how much things had developed. It was all incredibly similar to a pre-system city, but the touch of magic could also be seen everywhere. People bought stuff and instantly put it in their spatial bags or other such items. There were flight lanes above the usual streets, and the stores made

empty plains overrun by angry cows just a few years ago, Jake sighed to himself. The world was still

the “real” Haven. With Sandy preoccupied, Jake had a certain place he

a rocky tunnel, he felt the dense life mana from the cavern below. The walls were lined with shining moss and a few mushrooms here and there, all of

with plants and life, appeared before him, with a hole in the middle of it all. In the hole, one could

lived in the cavern... but Jake instantly spotted a slightly familiar-looking figure. He said slightly familiar… because while he recognized the patterns on its skin, the troll certainly hadn’t been that

Cave Troll –

hadn’t noticed Jake, as he still had his stealth skill active, allowing him to silently just admire its work. Going a bit deeper into the cavern he soon saw the

hadn’t changed in the slightest. His entire body had turned a slightly green color, with moss