The Primal Hunter

Chapter 997: Something Stupid (?)Jake and Villy continued speaking for a good while more, discussing some additional details of what Jake’s role would be in all this. He felt like an actor having a role way beyond his skill level put upon him, and he felt a lot of pressure to carry things out properly as the Viper wanted him to.

Acting and Jake were two things that really didn’t go well together, and the Viper at least took this into account and did so that Jake needed to do as little acting as possible. Moreover, this acting would nearly exclusively be done in front of people who didn’t really know him in the first place, making it far harder to detect any discrepancies in his actions.

They both also knew all this was for the Viper and had little to do with Jake’s own goals or Path. Jake was fine with just teleporting right now and attacking Ell’Hakan wherever he was, and the only reason he held back and would agree to any of this was because Villy was the one asking him to. Sure, Jake did excuse himself for going along with everything by arguing he owed the Viper a favor, but honestly, it was more than that.

Time and time again, Villy had helped Jake without asking for anything in return. He’d given him access to far more resources than Jake could possibly use: knowledge gathered by the Order since the very first era, personal guidance… so many things. And for that, he’d never asked Jake to do anything Jake wouldn’t have ended up wanting to do anyway.

Jake didn’t count his exploits and performances during system events as favors to Villy. All those were just Jake being Jake, and the fact it benefitted the Viper because Jake was his Chosen was just a bonus. Counting these would just feel wrong.

At the same time, Jake didn’t want to be the kind of person who counted favors between friends and made their relationship transactional… but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the clear disparity in how much one party helped the other. The best comparison Jake could make was with holiday gifts. Sure, gifts were not meant to be seen as transactions, and one wasn’t meant to count monetary value between what two friends gave each other… but if Jake gave someone a damn toaster and they gave him a new laptop, he would feel really awkward about it.

So, even if the Viper didn’t care – and kept saying he didn’t care – about the disparity in how much they helped each other, this was an opportunity for Jake to at least feel less awkward about things. Oh yeah, and helping out the god was also just something a friend would do, as while the sacrifices Jake had to make were annoying, they weren’t significant at all.

Finishing their conversation, Jake felt as ready as could be to carry out the plan and try to bring the others on board. It wouldn’t be easy, but he was determined to do his darndest. Before they cut the connection, Jake did have one last thing to say, though.

“Hey, Villy?”

“Got more questions?” the god asked.

“No, no, I’m good… I just want to make sure we’re on the same page here. This all ends with us both walking away whole and better than ever, right?” Jake asked.

“And what do you mean by that?”

“That you aren’t going to do something stupid,” Jake said in a rather stern tone.

“Duly noted, but truly, you have no reason to worry… still, thanks for the concern, I guess,” the Viper said, seemingly not entirely sure how to respond.

“That’s what friends are for,” Jake shrugged before smiling. “Now, let’s go pull off the scam of the era.”

“Yeah, no, that’s never gonna happen,” Carmen said, her arms crossed as she stood in front of the golden projection.

take into account that I’m not asking you to ensure it happens now but that you merely lay the groundwork for the future. Do not act as if you

fine if it doesn’t. It’s not like our respective factions will have fuck-all effect on things once all this

properly,” Gudrun said in a scolding yet motherly tone as she smiled. “Not

me for being curious when interesting stuff is going down in my own home galaxy,” Carmen smiled, preferring the casual tone of the conversation over the usual stiffness she had to adopt when interacting

gone to have a personal discussion with her Patron when Jake had. Rather than get Valdemar, she had ended up talking to Gudrun – which was honestly standard by now – and had begun this discussion. Her ritual for contact was to summon a projection like this, using a rather expensive item as a catalyst, as well as making use of her Divine Blessing, as a lower one wouldn’t allow this kind of

for what Gudrun wanted… well, as most times, it was related to Jake. More accurately, Jake, the Malefic Viper, and everything else currently going on, including the entire clash happening in the rest of the

Jake to the planet in the Milky Way

him to try something like that, but she was pretty damn confident not even she could talk him out of just recklessly charging at Ell’Hakan to

ruled by Valhal, Gudrun wanted Carmen to naturally come along. Once there, Jake would know no one except Carmen, and while he could certainly entertain himself, Gudrun

narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the

he should join. Even if it wasn’t now, then in the future, he should consider them. If not, then at least he should have

was thinking on a far longer timeframe than that… because there was a great precedent for mortals switching factions upon ascending to godhood,

forced to sign a long time ago. It was related to all the shady bullshit going on, and to ensure she wouldn’t spill the beans, Gudrun had her sign it shortly before Nevermore. All it did was make Carmen unable to talk about certain things when around others,

was accidentally about to say something she shouldn’t… so maybe the contract was a good idea? She wasn’t sure, honestly. At least she could

especially considering this knowledge was the kind not even shared with other gods. Carmen was one of the very few

One that did obligate Valdemar and Valhal to assist Yip of Yore in suppressing the Order and facilitate the clash between Yip and the

of make

loses? Will Valhal step in and help the Viper?” Carmen asked after a while, as she really couldn’t imagine a world where anyone

Yore is entirely on them. No one from Valhal will interfere. In fact,

the Viper loses…?” Carmen asked,

truly giving rise to Yip of Yore and a new being

Valhal is okay

“He recognized Yip of Yore has the potential to reach the peak. Valdemar wants nothing more than to have someone willing to battle and worth fighting, and if this

the Viper and her own Patron. She didn’t know if they were friends, enemies, rivals, or just two really old creatures who didn’t

bring Jake away from

sure he can handle everything else from there. Just play along with him and back up whatever he does, but don’t personally get involved in any battle should the animosity between the two Chosen