The Primal Hunter

Chapter 959: The Impetus Takes Flight Chapter 959: The Impetus Takes Flight

Question of the day: what happens when a Planetary Core breaks?

Nothing good would be the short answer. For a more detailed answer, it was all a bit more complicated, with many factors in play. One of the main factors was the method by which the core had been broken.

Breaking it through pure power wasn’t something a C-grade was capable of. Not even a B-grade would be able to accomplish it, which quickly made Jake write off that the dead planet had its core outright destroyed. Instead, it was likely a method of more subtle means that had been deployed.

Jake knew annoyingly much about planet-wide sacrificial rituals due to Villy and his constant semi-joking, and one of the primary methods of doing such a ritual was using the core. The Planetary Core functioned as the wellspring of mana and energy for the entire planet, and it was what held the entire thing together. Corrupting it would thus lead to the corruption of the whole planet, and using the core as the catalyst for a massive ritual to kill every living being on a planet was truly the best method.

When the Planetary Core was transformed into a Planetary Pylon, things got even more complicated still. From Jake’s talks with Kindroth and Miranda, he learned that it was entirely possible to use their influence and control over the Pylon to mess with it. Miranda even mentioned that one could likely rig the entire planet to blow only using the control granted by the Planetary Pylon.

This wouldn’t be something that could happen in a day, though. Not a few months, either. This was why Jake was so confused about what had happened to the planet now turned black on the map. It was especially confusing why this creature known as “I” had done it. It had been the only living creature on the planet… why would it have to go out of its way to seemingly spend the last three months also destroying the core?

All that would accomplish was to make sure the planet would never recover. That no new life would appear. It would effectively just turn it into a giant dead rock, susceptible to the destructive forces floating in the universe, as one of the primary functions of the core was to maintain and regulate the atmosphere, and with that gone, it was open season for all kinds of meteorites and whatnot.

Jake was wracking his brain as to why anyone would bother with that, as the Sword Saint did offer some potential explanations.

“Is it possible the core was absorbed or transformed in some way? Perhaps this “I” was capable of devouring it?” the old man proposed.

“That isn’t possible,” Jake shook his head. “While there are creatures that can consume Planetary Cores out there, we would be utterly fucked if we were dealing with one here, as the power required to do something like that is ridiculous. If some kind of ritual had been used to absorb the core’s energy it would also have taken way longer than a few months. No, the core must have been corrupted somehow.”

“Would a C-grade truly be capable of such levels of magical corruption?” the Sword Saint questioned.

“I would be capable of doing it,” Jake just answered in a dry tone, earning him a judging glance.

“What? I didn’t say I would do it,” Jake muttered. If he remembered the work he’d done alongside Temlat and his study of planetary rituals the Viper made him do for funsies, he believed that if he used Eternal Hunger as a catalyst of corruption along with-

“Naturally, you would never do anything so crass,” the old man cut off Jake’s thoughts. “The question still remains, though. Why would someone who’d already taken control of their planet choose to destroy it?”

“The only explanation I can find is that it’s part of this creature’s Path. Clearly, it isn’t some unintelligent beast, as it requires more than just raw power to corrupt a core, especially when one considers that it must have entered the Prima Vessel after killing the Guardian, teleported to the core, and then done whatever it did there… in fact, the mere fact it was capable of doing that must mean this creature was the World Leader,” Jake frowned.

enlightened?” the Sword Saint raised an

system rules we are not yet aware of,” Jake sighed. It was entirely possible there were rules or exceptions, especially on planets with so few people on them. Either way, this entire situation was one

any applications from this creature to visit,” the Sword

had to tell her something like that, we would have even bigger problems to deal

a bit longer, talking about the latest planets they had visited. No one else came to the Prima Vessel during this time, which was to be expected. Only people from Earth who

but after some further deliberation, they made one anyway. In their first plan, Miranda wanted to send people to the planets they “saved” in order to not expose Earth

they wanted it far away from the Prima Vessel. Making the circle had been incredibly easy as the system had made it to be, and they placed it in a secluded small city with teleporters capable of taking the visitors elsewhere on Earth while

of making the magic circle had been

after they spoke a

thing about keeping up with Ell’Hakan also wasn’t a joke. His alliance was clearing planets fast, and while Jake honestly didn’t have a complete overview of who had done more, he had a feeling

from Royal Road; report any instances of this

saddle and kill some more would-be word-ending bosses as if they were some annoying

touched upon, the Prima Guardians had just gotten easier and easier with time. Not only did this mean Ell’Hakan’s alliance could clear planets more easily with their elite teams, but it also meant that Jake’s experience gain

too much, though… 3 levels – or 4 if he counted the first one on Olliandra’s planet

[Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 294 - Stat points allocated, +50

…

[Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 296 - Stat points allocated, +50

reached level 286 - Stat points allocated, +45

reached level 287 -

sure if he should be happy or sad about his level gain, though he was fairly certain he wouldn’t really get more than one,

their levels were only dropping the further the event went on. The uniqueness of the Records gained also reduced with every Prima Guardian kill, as while every Guardian was different, they still had many of their Records in

and it just turned into a regular unnoteworthy hunting trip. Jake effectively felt like a hunter regulating population numbers, with the desired population number of

to the updated list of planets looking for help made by Kindroth and the associated code he was meant to put in the application description. With it mentally noted, he went toward the teleporter, ready to kill yet

to his own world, but that did have its own charm. What was also very charming were the people of the planet. They were indeed an interesting bunch, from the

in her role as the de facto leader of the planet, she was adequate, if still lacking. Unsurprising, considering her young age as a human. They only lived for a few decades before

did find it confusing why the Court Witch was the leader in the first place. While their interaction had been brief, Kindroth had met the swordsman people called the Sword Saint – a title nearly as arrogant as his own. Never had he thought he would meet a human