The Primal Hunter

Jake rarely felt nervous these days. He was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, Harbinger of Primeval Origins, and now even the top performer on the Nevermore Leaderboards. Yet he couldn’t deny his own trepidations before arriving at Skyggen.

There was no doubt that Jake was a pretty sucky son and now also uncle. Even before the system, he had been bad at calling home or visiting often enough, and with the initiation, he had become far worse. What made Jake feel even worse about everything was how he didn’t really feel that bad for not visiting as often. Just the knowledge they were doing well was enough for him.

His father’s words before he left last time also helped a lot, having pretty much given Jake permission to not worry about them. There was also the fact that Caleb was with them at all times and would ensure they were kept safe alongside Maja and Adam – his wife and son, also known as Jake’s sister-in-law and nephew.

Mixed in with his slight anxiety was also a lot of excitement. The last time he saw Adam, he had just been a baby, while now he should be solidly out of the toddler years. He naturally also looked forward to seeing his parents and how they were doing.

He was also determined to get some way of contacting them this time around, if not for nothing else but the ability to at least call home once in a while to check in on things. Though, rather than talking about some promotion or a funny anecdote of what had happened that day, Jake would talk about how he had met some frost wyvern or helped create a Demon Lord.

Nearly at Skyggen, Jake decided to have a bit of fun and check the local defenses. Activating his stealth skill, Jake wanted to see if he could sneak in without anyone noticing him. If he could, he would definitely have something to tease his brother about.

Sadly, the moment Jake arrived floating above the city, he encountered one of the outer barriers covering the city that served as the headquarters of the Court of Shadows. It became pretty damn clear Jake couldn’t sneak through without triggering it. There were over a dozen layers of barriers, most of which were only primed to the activated to defend against attacks. There were still three different ones designed for detection, though, as well as five, maybe six, made to help hide the city.

“At least Caleb made sure the city is properly defended,” Jake nodded. Haven also had defensive barriers, but far fewer than this. Instead, the city was primarily defended by two people: Arnold and Miranda. Both had placed down their own protective measures, and Jake knew that Arnold had launched a number of satellites to keep a lookout.

Entering through the barrier, Jake instantly knew he was detected. He could have taken the main entrance but decided it was more fun to fly down from above. That way, it would also be easier to find where his parents stayed, something he used a quick Pulse of Perception to discover.

As with most other cities on Earth, Skyggen had grown a lot over the last many years. Despite only really being a city for members of the Court and their family members, it looked surprisingly normal, especially the area where he spotted his family. It looked like the regular suburbs of old, with modern-looking houses on a closed-off street and big gardens. It didn’t look very defended either, which Jake perfectly understood.

Caleb and Jake didn’t want to keep their family in a cage with the justification they were just protecting them. That would be insulting and unhealthy for everyone involved. No, Jake would rather make it so the entire planet was a safe environment for not only his parents but everyone else. Despite never having spoken with his brother about this explicitly, he knew Caleb also felt the same way, which was why he had done things like this.

Flying toward the suburbs, Jake felt a few presences check him out, but the moment they realized who he was, they backed off, resulting in no one bothering him. He saw that his parents were currently both at one house, with his mother sitting in the back garden reading a book while his dad was in the house watching a projector – the system version of a TV. Assuming there weren’t already normal TVs.

There probably were normal TVs, especially if Arnold could walk around with a tablet.

In the house next door, he saw Maja with three other women, as well as a group of seven kids. It wasn’t hard to spot Adam, either. He looked uncannily like Caleb did when he was small, making Jake smile. The decision where to go first wasn’t hard either because there was no fucking way he was going to intrude on his nephew’s playdate. Especially not with his current get-up, as he had a slight suspicion a hooded masked man with glowing beastly eyes wouldn’t be that popular with the kids.

Landing in front of his parent’s house, Jake made his mask invisible, pulled down the hood, and tried to look as representable as he could. Knocking on the door, he was a bit nervous as he saw his father react inside by getting up and walking to the door before opening it.

Jake’s dad froze for a moment when he saw Jake who just stood there smiling. “Hey, Dad, I-“

“Debra, there’s another of those alchemist salesmen at the door!” his dad yelled, surprising Jake.

“Again!?” he heard his mother yell from the other side of the house as she made her way over to the door.

For a moment, Jake’s mind worked at high speeds as he considered what had happened. Could karmic magic affect the memories of people, or was it-

“A fancy one from that snake club, too,” his mother said as she walked over and smiled. “Doesn’t he also seem oddly familiar, Robert?”

“He does look a bit like our younger son, doesn’t he. I wonder what happened to our estranged older one; we haven’t seen him in-“

tone. “Also, calling the Divine Order of a Primordial a snake club would definitely be considered heretical to

were a kid was a real struggle,” Debra teased him as she went outside and didn’t really give him any time before she pulled

His father put a hand on his shoulder as they walked in, giving him

drink?” his mom asked. “We have coffee and… a lot of different teas. Actually, you may know this, how come tea is

herbs and can come in a variety of flavors and forms, allowing whoever is making the tea to aim for

rightfully

see,” his mom nodded. “So I take it you’re big into tea

do you have any hot

a smile and went into the kitchen.

[Human – lvl 144]

also used one on his

[Human – lvl 141]

D-grade and were on their way. Neither leveled fast at all, but they were still leveling as far as Jake could tell. Actually, he was pretty sure that many would

should at least reach C-grade at some point, Jake assured himself as he took a seat at the dining table with his dad. Robert, his father, didn’t look a day older than his last visit and still looked a lot healthier than he had been before the

quite busy,” his dad said after a brief pause. “Something about you

he visited. Still, if he was interested, Jake saw no reason not to answer. “Yeah, I managed to snag the top spot above

on how I understand it,” Robert said. “I won’t act like I really understand how big of a deal it is,

smiled. “Say,

a lot faster than Jake expected. “He is quite busy these days, and while he tried to take a small holiday

happy it wasn’t him. In some ways, it was also good to have some one-on-one time

bully your little brother for having a job,” Robert scolded him in jest before he turned a lot more serious. “I know that to us, you’ve only been gone for a few years, but for you, it’s been decades… Caleb was quite affected and stuck to Maja and

said with

exaggerated sigh. “Charity workers do good. You’re doing

transform into a Demon Lord, and just on the way here, I talked sense into a murderous and ignorant wyvern on top of a mountain while freeing a group of vampires from the fate of

first one doesn’t sound like it counts,”

from media misrepresentation,” Jake said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Most demons

as a figure many would describe with the adjective good,” his dad couldn’t help but point out.

just me, or do you two seem more educated on matters of the

a choice, now did we?” Debra asked while Jake took a sip of his hot chocolate, which,

you mean,” Jake

you?” Robert chimed in again. “It isn’t anything new for the

as he turned serious. “Have people been bothering you because of

his mom sighed. “It’s more that there have been some odd types who’ve approached us, and sometimes it can be hard to judge who is there because of us or you. It isn’t that big of a deal, though. We were already having similar issues because Caleb is the Judge of the Court of Shadows. Maja, too, and Caleb is doing a good

see…” Jake muttered. “What kind of odd types

are mostly very polite,” Debra answered. “There is this group of very weird people,

“Primordial Church,” Robert answered.

three in particular who are quite peculiar, though they don’t seem dangerous or deceitful in the slightest. They’re actually very straightforward about what they want, if a little pushy and overexcited,” Jake’s mom