The Primal Hunter

Flying on the Sandy Express was definitely faster than riding the Jake Carriage, even if Sandy wasn’t in top form. After only about a day, they returned to Earth, where Sandy dropped off Jake at Skyggen before heading off to head back to the Order. Jake did end up asking how Sandy even traveled back and forth, as he usually had to use his connection to Villy when teleporting, and the answer was as obvious as it could be. The teleportation circle made by those snakes had just been altered a bit to allow Snappy to do the same thing the Viper did.

With Jake and Sandy split up once more, Jake made a quick visit to his family, who were all surprised to see him back so soon. Luckily, the moon being haunted was a universally good explanation for why he hadn’t wanted to stick around there. It did have the slight downside of Adam being very suspicious of the pretty rock Jake had brought back, and it took a lot of effort to convince him that particular rock wasn’t haunted.

Jake ended up staying in Skyggen for another day before he decided to head back to Haven. This time around, he didn’t have any stops on the way, so he just took the teleportation circle back. Honestly, the best new thing Jake had gained during all his time in Nevermore was definitely the Unseen Hunter skill, as it allowed him to travel around without being bothered by anyone. He could even take public teleporters and stuff without a whole crowd gathering to stare at him.

Plus, he could skip queues. A bit unethical, but a perk of being invisible for sure.

As Jake had already talked to Sandy about, he truly didn’t have plans set in stone. Yet it felt like he didn’t really need any plans either, as the Prima Guardian stuff was right around the corner. Having spent fifty years in Nevermore had changed his perspective on time quite a lot, and waiting not even two years was barely worth mentioning. It was a few good alchemy sessions at most.

Once back in Haven, Jake started out by quickly stopping by Arnold’s place. The man wasn’t surprised when Jake came at all, clearly able to see through his stealth skill. Truly, further proof Perception was the best stat.

“Hey there,” Jake said after he was let in as he joined the scientist in his workshop. As always, Arnold was working on stuff Jake didn’t at all understand, but a lot of it seemed themed around space exploration stuff. Jake got the feeling this was the topic the guy obsessed the most over these days.

“My satellites spotted you returning from space. Did you arrive on the moon safely?” Arnold asked with a genuinely curious tone.

“Well, we did arrive safely,” Jake scratched the back of his head. “Can’t say it ended well, though.”

Arnold raised an eyebrow, clearly communicating he wanted Jake to elaborate. So Jake did and told Arnold everything that had happened on the moon, including the presence of the Ghostvine and how Sandy believed the B-grade had merged with the core. Likely irreversibly so. He also included his future plans.

“Hm. If this was before the arrival of the system, I would call anyone wanting to destroy the moon someone aiming to doom this planet and humanity. Now, I am not even certain the gravitational forces applied to us by the moon have any tangible effects, nor that there will be any noticeable fallout should the moon cease to exist,” Arnold said after thinking a bit.

“I kind of assumed you would have told me trying to blow up the moon was a bad idea,” Jake muttered.

“I have no attachment to the celestial object. Meanwhile, I can see the risks associated with an instinct-driven antagonistic planet-sized plant living this close. Especially one that seems to carry an innate hatred for life. Getting rid of, or containing it, might be a necessity, not a matter of your vanity,” Arnold said, fully on board with Jake’s brilliant plan.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a bomb capable of blowing it up lying around, would you?” Jake asked.

“No,” Arnold shook his head. “I will not be able to make one before B-grade either.”

The way he said it made it clear the guy had already very much considered the limits of how destructive bombs he could make. Jake wasn’t sure if that should make him worried, but he decided not to be. Just to make a small mental note to not piss off the guy unnecessarily.

you still have the Blackpoint Nanoblade Katar?” Arnold asked

yeah, I do,” Jake nodded, surprised, as he took

into an ultra-thin blade. The blade itself can cut most materials effortlessly but has little to no effectiveness against magical wards or defenses when not infused with mana. The tip of the blade appears to have been touched by the void. A coating on the blade allows it to have an incredibly high level of mana conductivity and can handle most types of mana. The handle contains a series of energy cores capable of storing mana of any affinity.

200+ in

well during Nevermore, or did you switch to another weapon?” the scientist asked, as he took the katar from Jake without

a lot toward the end. Especially

between the two weapons,

said as he inspected the weapon, finding quite a few chinks in it from the many years of use. “Do you need it

content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it,

again?” Jake said with

this one’s creation

would be more than happy to get a weapon upgrade before the Prima arrives.

said, as he pointed and made a wall see-through, revealing the giant spaceship behind it, with robot arms poking it all over, doing science stuff. Jake had naturally already seen it in his sphere, but observing

be in Haven for

“Very well,” Arnold nodded.

about, Jake headed out and back to his little lodge. He was still impressed by how utterly massive Haven had become, and it was honestly to the level where it made Jake a bit uncomfortable. One thing

time, he did. One

hadn’t ever really used it, but now, he believed it would be perfect because he knew what he

Acids.

a waste not to explore it further. The large basin room, with several

off during his tour of the place after Jake came back from the Treasure Hunt. Arnold had helped make it with the glass walls and

That’s when Jake remembered what he’d done when he was here way back then. Checking out this particular section, Jake saw a stone lying at the bottom of the water

Serenity (Legendary)] – A small stone created by the combined effort of a group of water nymphs to help heal a close friend. This stone was eventually acquired by a powerful vampire and brought to Yalsten, where it has been ever since. Will

completely forgotten about that,” Jake said to himself as he also checked

of most mental afflictions. Will

I’m pretty sure that was only rare rarity before. I guess it grew more potent

memory. You had to

idea. That sounded way too much like work. Better to just

the main lab. Inside, things were as pristine as ever, and he was happy to be

more proper acids than what he’d made in the House of the Architect,