The Primal Hunter

Chapter 965: Jake the Beta Tester Chapter 965: Jake the Beta Tester

Jake had been looking forward to this day for several months, and now it was finally here. Granted, it was only called a beta test, but Jake still chose to remain excited. He had played enough video games before the system to know that calling something a beta test was just another term for a demo and to convince people to pre-order the product.

It turns out that wasn’t the kind of beta Arnold was talking about… the guy actually used the term correctly, as when Jake arrived at the teleportation circle, it clearly wasn’t fully ready yet. In the room with the teleporter, Jake found Arnold on what looked like a large terminal with wires of mana connected to the teleportation circle, with William writing something on one of the walls in deep concentration and a shrunk-down Sandy chilling in the corner, seemingly asleep, contributing nothing.

”So… how are things progressing? Does the circle work now?” Jake said as he walked in, Arnold not even turning to look at him.

”We completed all the milestones of alpha-testing after a period of twenty-six days and have now entered beta-testing. The teleportation circle now successfully taps into the power inherent in the Prima Vessel, using the star map and our own relative calculations of coordinates of every target planet based on this map. This is further corrected using a scan for mana signatures correspondent with Prima Vessel teleporters to accurately estimate the final teleportation destination,” Arnold briefly explained, Jake nodding along as he glanced at William.

”I noticed no mention of any karmic magic involved,” Jake commented.

”That is part of the elements we are working to implement in the first phases of the beta testing,” Arnold answered, with William still deeply focused on… something. ”It is intended that we will be able to get a general scan of what will be found on each planet to supplement what is provided by the Prima Vessel. More accurately, a method of knowing if notable figures are there that are either best avoided… or pursued. Additionally, karmic considerations are part of the calculations, but due to my own lack of knowledge on the subject, I cannot make effective use of the karmic mage’s knowledge.”

Jake raised an eyebrow, as honestly, the way they wanted to use karmic magic did sound kind of neat. It also didn’t escape Jake how Arnold clearly stood up for William, even raising his gaze from the terminal and giving Jake a look that told him to back off. Jake also instantly realized why.

William was part of the project.

Arnold was the project leader.

Arnold was a good boss who wouldn’t allow his project members to be thrown under the bus.

Jake took the hint and changed the subject as he kept asking about the teleporter: ”What is left to be ironed out before you would say the teleporter is complete?”

”The most substantive challenges right now are the power consumption and relative inaccuracy of every teleport. We are working over long distances with many concepts and factors at play that may disrupt our calculations,” Arnold continued. ”The more entities are teleported, the more inaccurate it will also be. We have done a few tests already with objects or captured low-intelligence beasts with trackers on them, and the results are both encouraging and troubling.”

”How so?” Jake asked, hoping the problems weren’t too bad.

”Let me first clarify that the power of those we teleport only affects energy consumption and not the inaccuracy. During some of our first tests, as we honed in the accuracy of the teleporter with single-entity tests, the outlook was positive. However, the moment we tried to teleport two at once, things proved difficult,” Arnold began as he looked a bit exhausted just talking about it. ”Every subsequent entity added to the teleportation exponentially increases the energy consumption and the inaccuracy. When we teleported two, they appeared five days of Sandy’s full flight speed within subspace from the planet. Three entities were over a month’s worth of travel distance away, four over a year, and with five entities, they appeared too close to the local star to even get any proper readings, indicating a travel distance of more than twenty years if we are conservative. These are just rough estimates, but I hope this clarifies my meaning.”

of all at once?” Jake asked, though he probably didn’t have to as Arnold would

after each teleport, built in as a safety mechanism. Additionally, as we weaken the immediate void membrane around the circle with every activation, we

asked curiously, as he was interested to know what an actual void user would

are speaking from a purely theoretical standpoint, we would temporarily open a hole to the void and, without the ability to stabilize this gateway, likely end up consuming most of the Milky Way Galaxy before the natural laws of the universe naturally fix the hole,” Arnold answered

term for the wall between the universes and the void, and the only ones capable of breaking it open were people with the power of gods. The thought that gods could

it seemed like he would have to wait a bit longer. At least that’s what he

”This beta test will not be as short as the alpha testing, and I cannot make any gaurantees we will even finish everything before the Prima Guardian system event has concluded, if ever. However, that does not mean it isn’t useable. Single-entity teleportation is already stable and accurate enough that I have full confidence in its ability to teleport you or any other singular person within a short distance of any target planet in the database. The reason why I believe you are the best subject is because we have no method to return the one teleported. It is possible the teleporter within the Prima Vessel can be used, or the local population that remains can offer assistance, but your ring remains the most consistent method available to ensure the return is possible. Even if

true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding

the teleportation circle was good enough to work decently, and Jake was the only one who was a World Leader and could teleport home by himself. Oh, and should the accident be out and he

but it wasn’t like Arnold was wrong, and Villy would definitely laugh his ass off if he had to save

agreed without any fight or arguments. ”Now, I assume this

Vessel on it,” Arnold answered. ”That includes the three marked black. While they may be designated as destroyed,

what he had hoped for. Thinking about it, these Prima Vessels were all incredibly durable, so they shouldn’t be destroyed by C-grades fighting. Secondly, it wasn’t like the planets that were marked with a black flag had all just exploded. They were still there, even if they were no longer considered actual

atmosphere found themselves destroyed as they teleported through the atmospheric layers, so you will have to find your own way through. I’m certain you can handle it,” Arnold explained, which was probably another reason they had picked Jake for

in mind you want me to go?” Jake asked Arnold. It was his

don’t. You are free to choose yourself,” Arnold said as he pressed a few buttons, and a screen was projected onto the wall.

considered his options. Going to a blue planet was quickly written off. He could go to those without this teleporter, and those he

was a Prima Guardian there. It was also possible planets marked with a gray flag

didn’t want to head to any of these. Instead, he looked at Arnold as he pointed toward a certain

of ”I” and the first planet to get marked with

had selected and nodded. ”I understand. Trying to discover

nodded. He also desperately wanted to sate his own curiosity. What kind of world had given birth to a creature now just going around

to different focal points of the formation. Batteries of some kind to power the circle, and

stepping onto the teleporter. With Arnold typing away at his console, different elements of the magic circle came alive one after another. The first thing Jake felt was space itself, seemingly loosing up all around him, and through his sphere, he saw William carrying out a sleeping Sandy so they weren’t in the room.

fraction of a moment, Jake felt the presence of the void as Arnold’s unique brand of magic wormed its way in. Intuitively, he knew