The Primal Hunter

Chapter 968: Understanding the Scales of Desolation Chapter 968: Understanding the Scales of Desolation

A pulsing sensation echoed through Jake’s entire body and soul as waves of desolation were released from within himself, seeking to spread out from its containment. This situation was very different from the scenario with the Dark Witch. Back then, he had a volatile and explosive core, but the Half-a-Planetary Core Jake had eaten this time around was the exact opposite of volatile.

In many ways, it was far scarier than something that just went boom. Jake didn’t even feel any pressure on the inner walls of the Palate stomach, nor did he feel any pain. He just felt a sense of emptiness and numbness wherever the desolation passed. It was honestly soothing and relaxing, making Jake think that it was okay to just relax. Perhaps he should even take a nap.

However, he still knew his situation wasn’t good, and his survival instinct was fully engaged, as surrendering to the calmness and letting his consciousness fade away would mean he would never wake up again. He tried different methods to handle the desolation, but it quickly became clear there was simply too much energy to handle.

Palate of the Malefic Viper’s internal stomach was a separate space within Jake’s Soulspace, where anything he ate was sealed within and slowly extracted of energy and Records. Now, the walls were being made desolate faster than they could absorb the energy, which forced Jake to not try and supress all the energy of the core, but let some slip through and into his body.

To fight back, whenever desolation washed over him, a wave of destructive arcane energy followed, destroying and canceling out the energy of desolation. This did have the problem that Jake repeatedly hurt his own body, and things were far from ideal. He still had options if things continued like this… but just then, he felt something.

A warm flow of energy came over him, as he felt the parts he destroyed with his arcane energy be restored. He had been so focused on the fighting within himself that he hadn’t noticed the external world at all, nor the man who now stood in the chamber with him. Jake wanted to open his eyes, but he stopped when a message entered his mind.

“Focus on doing what you must do. I shall maintain the integrity of your body in the meantime,” Eron’s voice echoed in Jake’s mind. As he spoke, even more energy fell over Jake’s body as the desolation still lingering was rapidly pushed back by what felt like a tidal wave of pure vital energy.

The bane of desolation was something too powerful or too filled with energy to make desolate… and Eron was like an endless wellspring of pure vital energy. Jake truly didn’t know how much energy Eron had, but in that moment, he had an odd sense of confidence that should this be a battle of endurance between the consumed core and Eron, the healer wouldn’t be on the losing side.

That wasn’t what Jake wanted, though. He didn’t want the core “fixed” of its desolation, and every bit of energy that seeped out of the Palate’s stomach and into the rest of his being was a loss. Still, with Eron now watching over Jake, he could fully refocus on his internal realm without worrying about his body becoming an empty husk devoid of energy and life in the meantime.

Using Serene Soul Meditation, Jake let his consciousness enter his own Soulspace. Opening his eyes within the vast realm that was his soul, Jake took everything in. The shadowy figure representing Eternal Hunger, the single drop of blood floating in the middle of nothingness giving off extreme power, and the sky the color of his arcane affinity all struck his eye first, as he took in the world representing his own soul.

The stomach created by Palate wasn’t in this space, and yet it kind of was. It was like another layer of space, separated from the rest of his Soulspace. Perhaps this was by design to protect the user of the skill, but it was clearly still connected. If it was not, how else would the drop of blood from the Malefic Viper have ever appeared within his true Soulspace after he consumed it using Palate?

Focusing, he observed Palate’s stomach more closely than before. He was still purposefully allowing it to leak out energy to not flood the stomach. It was a bit like if the core constantly leaked water into a limited container, and if Jake didn’t allow some of it out, the Palate stomach would end up bursting. To stop that from happening, Jake would really only have one of five choices:

Firstly, he could purposefully explode the stomach and destroy the core while suffering a backlash. The second option was the simplest one, as he could always just spit out the core… though that would definitely turn the inside of the Prima Vessel into a permanent no-go zone, and Jake would probably have to ask Arnold to send the entire thing into empty space to avoid a disaster in the future. Option three was to not allow the stomach to leak into his body, but try and redirect everything into his real Soulspace, but Jake seriously didn’t know the consequences of that. Of course, besides these three options, he could also just try and hope things would eventually work out on their own as he let more and more desolation leak out into his body with expectations that Eron could keep it at bay until the core weakened enough for Jake to be able to handle it. Needless to say, this option was shit, and honestly, the other three weren’t exactly appealing either.

His fifth and final option was one most others wouldn’t even consider. Not because it was a bad idea but because it wasn’t at all feasible, especially not in a situation like this.

The fundamental source of all Jake’s problems was that his Palate of the Malefic Viper couldn’t handle the core. Jake was the type who liked the easiest solutions to the most complicated of issues, and the easiest way to handle this was to simply make his Palate capable of withstanding the Desolation Core, as Jake had just impromptu decided to call it.

would

that option three – to simply release the desolation into his Soulspace – would do him much harm, but he did fear that it would effectively

would just flood his Soulspace, wake up an annoyed Eternal Hunger, or

soul… well, Jake didn’t know how to only pour a little into his Soulspace. He was only confident in effectively breaking down the wall and

preparation. The problem was that right now, the stomach created by Palate only relied on the Records of Palate itself, which limited it far too much. If Jake wanted it to be able to withstand something like half a Planetary Core, he needed it to fully rely on Jake’s overpowered soul. At least, that’s

be far more controlled, and as Jake considered what to do, he got an idea. However, he wasn’t sure how feasible it was nor

he tried to pry one off. Once he did,

off a sheet of his own flesh, Jake purposefully didn’t let it disappear as he made it float in the air. With focus, he then made scales grow on the

this narrative is not rightfully

it will not be fast… and Scales isn’t good enough yet

know how much time he had. It was all dependent on his current healer, and rather than wonder on his own, Jake dedicated some of his attention to reaching out telepathically

experience, and it would sadden

a go-ahead from the local medical team, Jake didn’t hesitate any longer as he began to put his plan into motion. As

Palate was integral and not anything he could afford to mess with. Anything swallowed wasn’t just slowly being consumed but also refined by Touch of the Malefic Viper at an accelerated pace, and that wasn’t

his Soulspace, yet still not be entirely within his Soulspace. His solution? An actual physical barrier within the metaphysical realm of his soul. A wall made of something

or if this would at all work how he expected… but he sure as hell hoped it would. If he could connect his Palate more closely with the rest of his Soulspace, he could rely on the full power of his soul with Scales and create a feedback loop even when he ate things

good enough for what he wanted to do in their current form. Right now, they had a lot of waste and Jake also wasn’t sure if his silly plan would

time back then to truly focus on improving the skill, though, but now he most certainly did.

external one, he covered his body with scales in the real world, allowing some of the desolation to seep all the way through and into the scales. Eron got massive credit as he noticed Jake purposefully led some of the desolation to his scales, and didn’t interfere but

only thing Jake had seen that wasn’t outright made desolate when encountering the energy, and as he observed them… he understood

Had it all backward…

were just supremely resistant to the concept of desolation, however, he now realized that he had it wrong from the

concept of desolation became too strong and overwhelmed everything else within the scale. From the outside, it looked and felt the same, but

could to really understand them more. As he did so, he realized just how complex those small dark green things really were. They were like marvels of magical engineering, perfectly evolved and improved over time as the Viper grew in power. From the time he was a small snake to a wyvern and finally a dragon… but that understanding wasn’t

of the Malefic Viper as being the scales of a dragon. Why wouldn’t he?