The Primal Hunter

Chapter 929: Mysterious Third Party Chapter 929: Mysterious Third Party

William’s revelations about Ell’Hakan and the shit he had been up to were quite something. It sure as hell gave Jake some food for thought, and he did end up asking some more clarifying questions, some of which the metal mage could answer and some he could only speculate about.

One of the things Jake was curious about was how long it would take for people to get what was effectively brainwashed after Ell’Hakan took over a planet, something William naturally couldn’t really know as it hadn’t happened yet.

However, he had been on Ell’Hakan’s planet for over a year. During this time, he had constantly been subtly affected, yet he felt nothing from it, making him believe the manipulation was so subtle that any reasonable level of pushback would nullify the effect. True, William did mention thinking that “maybe he isn’t that bad” a few times, but a quick thought that “no, he actually sucks” was enough for him to remain unaffected.

This made William guess that this passive takeover only really worked if there was no disagreement but pure cultural homogeneity. It wasn’t like he could just take over a Pylon, and suddenly everyone loved him. It was a slow, insidious process that only took hold after continual exposure in a highly controlled society.

That’s assuming the goal was to make them worship Ell’Hakan.

William also reminded Jake that Ell’Hakan’s Bloodline wasn’t to make people feel positive emotions toward him. It was to manipulate emotions. It wouldn’t be a far fetch to believe that Ell’Hakan could manipulate the core emotion amplified by the Pylon of Civilization’s or Planetary Pylons to be anything he wanted… such as to amplify faith toward other gods, factions, or individuals.

Ell’Hakan could also not make it about any positive emotions at all. He could make it about the hatred for others. He could slowly spread a creeping feeling that Jake actually sucked, and if further amplified with some good propaganda campaigns, this hatred could quickly spread, especially to those who didn’t really have any opinion of Jake prior, making all the exposure they ever had to him completely negative. Shit this already worked pretty damn well without any Bloodline-powered manipulation.

Honestly, Jake was even beginning to wonder if maybe Ell’Hakan was the one with the most overpowered Bloodline of the two of them… alright, that was a bad joke. Ell’Hakan’s Bloodline probably didn’t even give any Perception.

To clarify, while what Ell’Hakan was doing did seem extremely fucked up… it wasn’t comparable to something like a plague, much less a karmic plague. It still required direct manipulation. It wasn’t something that could spread on its own and get out of control. Comparing it to the Holy Church and their extreme propaganda was far more accurate, as even their indoctrination could sometimes reach such a level where it was borderline impossible to dispel the delusion. Combining both the indoctrination and the Bloodline, though… scary thoughts.

In any case, William had brought back some pretty damn valuable information. There were still a few things that struck him as weird, though.

“I’ve been thinking… why did you even go to his planet in the first place? What made you decide to go? Because, let’s be honest, you don’t seem like the kind to just do this out of the kindness of your heart. I also doubt you are invested in the good of this planet, so what made you do it?” Jake asked a thought that had bothered him for a while.

“Firstly, fuck that guy. I wanted to know if Ell’Hakan knew I was getting fucked over by Eversmile, and unsurprisingly, he did. So that’s one reason. I want revenge, but I’m also fully aware I don’t stand a chance at taking him down myself, so I’m hoping you can do the job,” William said. “Secondly, I was hired to go explore the planet and report back to you about my findings.”

Jake frowned as he looked at Miranda who just shrugged, clearly unaware this had been a thing. So, definitely wasn’t her or anyone from Haven who’d hired him. On the top of his head, he couldn’t figure out who it could even be. Especially not someone who would specifically ask William to report back to Jake.

“Who exactly hired you?” Jake questioned further.

“I don’t know,” William readily admitted. “The one I spoke to was clearly just a go-between of some kind, and I didn’t ask too many questions. All I cared about was that they helped me teleport to the planet and offered information about when Ell’Hakan and others were gone, and some basic intelligence on the planet. Perhaps I was used, true, but I can accept that as I don’t see myself losing anything doing this. Quite the opposite and I seriously doubt the one who hired me has any positive intentions toward Yip’s Chosen.”

some mysterious hooded guy just came up to you one day and asked you to go to this other planet for an even more mysterious third party, and you just said

the corpse of the woman who had been used as a go-between, though, but that’s where the trail went entirely cold, so they know

they worked with prior was behind hiring you, and who is powerful enough to manipulate karma to some extent... and they did this while only telling you to report to me and not anyone else?” Jake said, trying to wrap his

come for anything else, and in truth, I would probably have preferred only reporting to Ms. Wells, but I made a promise to report to you, and as someone walking a Path of karmic magic, it would hurt me quite a lot if I

“Hm…”

handed Miranda what was effectively a report of all his observations. Now, this report was originally meant for Jake, but Miranda took it in his place, as she was

has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any

next?” Jake asked William after

actually been beneficial to Jake. He hadn’t done

wasn’t going to let him be in his good graces after a single encounter, much less trust the guy. Jake knew it could be argued the current William wasn’t even the same person that had been in his Tutorial… but that

won’t interfere with the strike team for the boss, but I can at least help on the perimeter to kill a few Primas,” William answered. “After that, I hope the plan is to do what Ms. Wells said and engage with the Prima Guardian Alliance to assist other planets. The difficulty of the Prima Guardian here on Earth will no doubt be the highest of the entire Milky Way,

other planets out after we handled our own, right Jake?” Miranda said, with a

miss a chance to fight a bunch of powerful bosses for cool rewards while even fucking over Ell’Hakan’s plans as a bonus?” Jake grinned. “Hell no. Not gonna

feeling sorry for the poor planets that will have you storm

doesn’t get overrun by an army of Primas that kill

winding down, the metal mage

if you ever need to go to Ell’Hakan’s homeworld, let me know. I don’t think anyone knows I’ve been there, at least no one that would warn him, so

coordinates, that may be all I need when the time comes,” Jake said in a serious tone. “But such a visit would be for after all

nod as he hesitated for a moment before speaking. “And thanks for not killing

me a reason to,” Jake said in a curt tone. “Better yet, give me reasons

William said with a wry smile as he walked toward the exit of the valley. On the way, his form shimmered, and he

the same level as Unseen Hunter. Probably, no, definitely, karma-related in some way. Powerful for

just fucked him over a lot, and now that he was free, it was almost as if he had gotten new wings. Perhaps he was finally doing things for himself and because he

saying Jake couldn’t curb-stomp him into the afterlife, but it did mean he could be a troublesome

what William had done. He had never really faced any “justice” for what he’d done, and Jake knew that William’s actions couldn’t just all be blamed on Eversmile.

William wasn’t