The Primal Hunter

Chapter 974: Not A Good Start Chapter 974: Not A Good Start

Being alone and useless had been quite a miserable experience, but the return of Sylphie and Vesperia had at least added something interesting to Jake’s everyday life. They naturally didn’t have much to do around the lodge either, and they had to keep things quiet and not make a mess, forcing them to stay inside most of the time. Something poor Sylphie had a hard time with as she couldn’t even fly around and have fun.

Vesperia was a lot calmer and seemed like the sort who could easily sit in meditation for a few centuries without complaint. Sylphie was really the exact opposite of Vesperia despite them being kind of siblings, something that was weird to think about when he remembered that Sylphie was the older of the two… a fact he made sure everyone knew about.

Jake had to wrack his mind a lot – which wasn’t a pleasant experience – to find a way to keep Sylphie entertained, which did kind of help keep himself occupied mentally. He had a few things in the lodge for entertainment, such as playing cards and a few board games that he wasn’t even sure when had gotten there.

Playing cards with three people was always hard, and poker with that few sucked, so he couldn’t really find anything fun there. As he went through the different board games, he found some of the good old ones there, such as chess, checkers, and a few different dice games, but also some more complicated ones that he seriously didn’t want to try and teach Sylphie in the week or so she would spend there.

Sylphie did turn out to be pretty good at some of the simpler games, and honestly, there was something precious about playing with a giant wasp amazoness and a small hawk moving her pieces with a talon while screeching in victory as she beat Jake and Vesperia by being better at rolling the special die Arnold had created that assured complete randomness with every roll.

Did Vesperia and Jake let Sylphie win? Of course not, fuck that. They were all way too competitive to let someone else win on purpose.

Anyway, Sylphie was good at dice games and she enjoyed it a lot, especially because Vesperia wasn’t a fan. Jake and the hawk also enjoyed teasing the eels, who were very scared of the green bird. Jake did have to remind Sylphie not to peck any of them, and eventually, he had to drag her off when a brave eel tried to bite the talon she was poking the surface of the water with.

Vesperia, on the other hand, turned out to be a big fan of chess. Chess was also one of the few games where Jake didn’t really have any advantages at all due to his Bloodline. His intuition didn’t seem to do much, and as there was no danger, but it was all just play, most of his senses didn’t seem to care much about what was happening.

Jake himself had never been a massive chess fan or super good at it, but he did at least know the rules and had played a bit in the past. Vesperia knew about the game, though her versions were a bit different and ones she offered to show Jake later.

Yes, versions. Plural. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a game like chess was also known in the wider universe, nor that there were numerous iterations, pretty much all of them far more complex than the Earth version.

The two of them ended up mostly playing basic chess, though. Jake was still in his heavy recovery phase at this time, and playing mega-chess was bound to induce a headache. Plus, ultimately, all of this was just an excuse for the three of them to relax and bond. At least that was one of the excuses Jake used for why he was constantly losing. They were just playing for fun, right?

Either way, despite playing games and messing about, most of their time was spent talking or chilling. Vesperia shared much knowledge about the Endless Empire and some of the other innate knowledge she had. She had a lot of exciting stories and legends from her faction, which both Sylphie and Jake enjoyed listening to.

Sylphie also shared some of her own adventures, though she truthfully hadn’t experienced much Jake or Vesperia weren’t aware of. She did have some unique stories from Nevermore, but other than that, it was mostly about times she spent way too long chasing down small critters only to let them go once caught because Sylphie was too strong and cool to hurt them.

Overall, Jake had six good days with the two of them, which included a lot of bonding. He still made sure to also consume some Serene Water during this time to help him keep a cool head and for its effect from continued consumption to stay active. He still wasn’t sure how much it helped, but at least it made him feel better.

Jake was feeling a lot better. He had gradually improved ever since he returned to Earth and was healed by Eron, but

out when she saw Jake walk out onto the porch after

for sure, and my resources

are fully healed,”

”And I will stay. It just feels good to not be entirely useless anymore. Now I can actually defend myself if necessary without doing something that could easily lead

had already taken her spot on top of his head the moment he had been on

want to,” Jake answered. ”I can take care of myself

sounding

with a big smile as he reached up and lifted her off his

content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any

for a bit before

head and laughed as he let Sylphie take off with a triumphant screech as she prepared to conquer – eh, save

away as Vesperia went over to the porch and sat down on the steps in front of him while also seeing her off. She sat there for a bit as she threw glances at Jake, who

Vesperia hadn’t done this for

needed it more,” Vesperia said in a low tone, with a big smile on her face as she leaned into his hand. ”I will stay here for a lot

he stared toward the sky. Lots of things were happening, and Jake hated not being able to take part. It wasn’t that he hated not actually taking part. He hated the fact he

bothered to come by. He had just sent a quick message he would go recover on his own and then make use of Arnold’s teleporter to go visit some red

if he went with Arnold’s teleporter, they would have any

over Jake’s beta-testing duties, they were severely understaffed. For Sylphie to offer assistance by

Valhal and the Court of Shadows would both offer assistance to whoever was willing to pay them. Maria had apparently already managed to get herself hired, and several more of the powerful fighters on Earth would begin to travel the galaxy more. Even if they weren’t strong enough to kill Prima

planets finished dealing with the event. Powerful groups, including World Leaders, would travel elsewhere to help out, with those helped then able

helped had been less than organized, and the World Leader and other powerful figures had to stay back and stabilize things to avoid civil wars or deal with the fallout from the

one other Risen planet in the galaxy deal with their Guardian. To make this new land for the Risen, he had to put down a shitload of formations, and Jake also heard that Miranda had helped them get a Pylon

freed slaves were complaining about the Risen being allowed to live on Earth, having somehow forgotten that just a few years ago,

a whole. It didn’t sound like anything overly surprising was happening anywhere, and the only unsettling news was the continued spread of ”I’s” influence