The Primal Hunter

”How the hell am I supposed to say hi to someone for you if you don’t tell me who…” Jake grumbled as the damn birdbrain didn’t make any sense at all. He genuinely had no idea who she was even talking about… it could be so many. Maybe another Primordial, seeing as Jake had met, like, half of them during Nevermore? Some Void God was also entirely possible… or maybe Artemis? It could even be that Wintermaul elemental, in case the one who’d blessed that guy was closely related to Stormild. Wait, it could definitely also be Minaga. Both Minaga and Stormild were chaotic as fuck.

Shaking the thought away as it really wasn’t worth dedicating any brainpower to, he turned his attention to Sylphie, who looked curiously at him. ”Ree?”

”No, just Stormild messing with me,” Jake sighed. Yeah, that was his conclusion, even if the Primordial could have actually meant something with her words. He really wasn’t a fan of people acting mysterious just for the sake of acting mysterious.

”Ree,” Sylphie responded.

”Yeah, not surprising an elemental spirit likes to mess with people,” he just agreed. Jake also took a moment to really feel the Union Oath once more. It was odd. When it disappeared, Jake hadn’t really missed it overly much, likely because he still always had the Golden Mark of the Fallen King to find and contact Sylphie quickly.

Then, after Nevermore, they quite frankly all could do with a bit of time apart to do their own thing. Now, it felt oddly comforting to have it back, though. Sylphie also seemed happy, which made Jake happy in return.

”So, what are your plans now? Gonna continue to help Whaleman?” Jake asked the hawk.

”Ree, ree, ree,” Sylphie confirmed. She also told him some interesting details he hadn’t heard before. Sylphie had recently adopted the role of primarily hunting elementals and given them stern talking-tos. Elementals tended not to be very good at listening, and even if they were intelligent, they were more akin to children than adults.

Some more adult-like elementals - such as the water elemental at the harbor town Jake, Carmen, and Sylphie had stopped by on their way to Paradise - were already working on taming the elementals close to human land. At the very least, the elementals were trying to eliminate them as threats to humanity.

Elementals trying to control other elementals was a lot easier than beasts trying to control other beasts, primarily due to their lower level of intellect. If a smart and powerful water elemental entered a group of dumb water elementals, these other water elementals would instinctively begin to follow the smart one.

Sylphie was this concept taken to the extreme. Other wind elementals practically worshipped her. She even told him of the time she went to the cloud islands that had drifted away from hanging above Haven a while ago. All the Cloud Elementals, Storm Elementals, and other variants were incredibly subservient to Sylphie without her even needing to do anything.

Maybe it has something to do with that Authority skill, too? Jake questioned himself without having any means to confirm. Sylphie also had no idea when he tried asking her, either.

”Seems like you got a quest ahead of you,” Jake smiled, happy Sylphie had something to do.

”Ree?”

here, I reckon,” Jake said. ”Gonna do some alchemy and be available for when people start returning to Earth. Jacob, Casper, Eron, and many others will make their way back for the Prima Guardian event, and I want to be ready for when that happens. Or, at the very least, be within quick flight distance to

waving her goodbyes… but not before

little, so that was great. Not much else had changed, though. Truthfully, it would have been weird if the musa had experienced any great changes in less than a year, as these

have any more obligations for now. With Miranda back, he also felt a lot more assured that things would be handled elsewhere, and he also trusted that there wasn’t really anyone capable of making trouble for her. At least not anyone where Jake’s skill set of beating people up could help, as he trusted she could do that herself. She had genuinely

domain. He recalled the Dark Witch and her simple domain that already made her a lot stronger and more difficult to deal with. Adding someone with actual intellect and cunning to control such a

straight-up but did weird shit to win. To be clear, Jake was totally okay with that, as long as they weren’t his enemies, because damn did he hate fighting super-tricky opponents. To date, Valdemar had still been the best kind of foe there was: just a

for sure the Prima Guardian would be a flesh and blood Vitality-based lifeform, Jake heavily assumed it was based on how most of the Primas had been beasts. It really wouldn’t make much sense for a big robot

little more to do now than wait for the system event that would decide the fate of the planet. Oh, and greet his acquaintances and friends as they returned to the

in the ninety-third universe. The ones that had enlightened ones who successfully united under one banner anyway. Planets like the one Draskil came from had effectively fallen already and were now

that had technically united still faced huge challenges, as even if the World Congress had elected a World

when one introduced the powderkeg that was people returning from Nevermore. People, more powerful than ever, some of whom had finally hit their stride, were not satisfied with their stations and were now grasping for organizational power.

perhaps make do even if there was internal chaos. However, for others, this led to their chances of handling the Prima Guardian significantly

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when some people had to abandon the planet – not unlike how the Holy Church

some – assuming the goal was just to beat the Guardian - if a lot of people from their planet had left to become more powerful with divine factions, having thus killed fewer Primas. This was

power of every individual planet wasn’t necessarily the only deciding factor. There was also the entire Prima Guardian Alliance – an aspect of the upcoming event Earth had voted not to take part in. At

on with this event, but at

Primas who had grown more powerful while away. More beasts would likely join them, making it only reasonable to prepare by ensuring that not too many or too powerful beasts would join the Primas. This entire army and the Prima Guardian must be defeated

enlightened races, kill them all, or become some sort of benevolent leader, meaning having the Prima win was actually the best outcome imaginable. Or, you know, it could just make the planet

point is, no one knew. Not

here and there, allowing some of the oldest

any initiations, adding even more interest. As hinted at already, chances are individuals could take control of parts of the World Wonder. With time, perhaps even the entire World Wonder. WIth how things were playing out currently, it was reasonable to assume one potential method to take control was through these system events during the initiation. That was an

But they all had one hope. The most powerful of planets tended to vote for dealing with the Prima Guardian themselves to get the most rewards, just as Earth had. However, there was one exception to this. One pinnacle planet

Ell’Hakan.

he had joined the alliance. After he returned from Nevermore, the belief in his skills had grown to newfound heights, as they placed all their trust in him. While he hadn’t beaten the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, he had proven himself second of

created by the system, nearly five hundred were now already under his banner. A massive coalition, controlled by the Chosen of Yip of Yore, with many of the gods supporting Yip, having blessed people on the many planets, as it quickly became clear this alliance was morphing into something more than simply a temporary

to the Seat of the Exalted Prima… and who knows, there might even be a