The Primal Hunter

It was inarguable that the main portion of Nevermore was the many floors that seemed to continue endlessly. One had to remember the primary function of the mega-dungeon was to be a great leveling spot, and the entire Leaderboards part was just a fun extra event for an extremely small portion of those who attempted the C-grade version of the World Wonder.

If Jake didn’t care about the Leaderboards, he could have entered Nevermore alone and probably done quite a few floors in fifty years. Shit, due to how his Path worked, he would potentially even have gained more experience faster that way, though it would have meant missing out on any exclusive rewards from getting a good record on the Leaderboards.

Other versions than C-grade Nevermore – as a general rule - didn’t even have any Leaderboards, but it was just a bunch of floors that people tried to either solo or do in parties. It was even considered pretty normal for people to do as many floors as they could solo before then joining up with others to progress further.

However, in the C-grade of Nevermore, they had one more essential thing than just city floors and regular floors.

They had Challenge Dungeons.

Apparently, one could also find Challenge Dungeons sometimes in later grades, but they naturally wouldn’t be part of some Leaderboards evaluations. Instead, they just existed to test the people doing them. To challenge themselves and allow them to improve in some way.

Then there was one more type of Challenge Dungeons that the Wyrmgod had temporarily closed off access to due to the Leaderboards competition. Legacy Challenge Dungeons. Ones like the one Jake had entered to get his profession and put him on a collision course with the Malefic Viper.

Some gods would enter agreements with the Wyrmgod and be allowed to place a Legacy Challenge Dungeon on a city floor that people could attempt. The god could then use that as a recruitment tool or even as a way to find students worth personally tutoring.

Dina mentioned that a god had once even placed a Challenge Dungeon in the S-grade portion that was just a glorified dating show for her to find a partner. Apparently, the Wyrmgod got more involved in controlling what Challenge Dungeons would and would not get accepted after that.

Jake’s money was on Minaga having been the one to approve the dating dungeon.

Anyway. Challenge Dungeons were considered the solo portion of Nevermore, as one could only do those alone. It was also an important aspect of raking up points, and it had long been said that the final positions on the Leaderboards would ultimately be decided by who did best in the Challenge Dungeons.

Right now, Jake and everyone in his party had the exact same number of Nevermore Points. After the Challenge Dungeons, that would naturally change, and they all knew that. Which, to the surprise of no one, only ignited their competitive spirits.

Sitting in the house, discussing their plans, it pretty fast became clear what they wanted to do.

“So we are all in agreement that we are tired of seeing each other’s faces and need time apart?” the Sword Saint asked in a teasing voice.

“I wouldn’t say that…” Dina muttered. “But… taking some time to focus on individual improvement will likely be a good idea.”

“These Challenge Dungeons should add apt opportunities for self-improvement in a relatively safe environment,” the Fallen King agreed.

Oh yeah, that was another important aspect of Challenge Dungeons. You couldn’t die inside of them. If you died, you would just be reset to the last “checkpoint” and have one less life. Once you ran out of lives, you would be thrown out, and your Challenge Dungeon time was over.

This meant one could do far more risky things. For example, one thing Jake planned on doing was to be more reckless if he ever found himself facing an opponent too powerful to beat and push Arcane Awakening further than before. Doing that anywhere outside of a Challenge Dungeon was just too damn risky.

Sure, you could make it safe by doing it under the protection of someone powerful enough to save you should you fuck up, or maybe even in some specially prepared formation, but none of those things could compare to a true life and death battle – even if death wouldn’t be permanent.

“True, true. I do have a few things I wanna test,” the Sword Saint smiled. “Sadly, I have been informed the system will not allow me to go all out as death will not reset the repercussions from a Transcendence. I guess that also counts as a warning to you.”

He said the last part talking to the Fallen King, who nodded in acknowledgment. The unique special abilities of Unique Lifeforms were borderline considered Transcendent skills and would not be reset either. There was even a chance something like Jake’s Eternal Shadow wouldn’t be fully reset due to the mental drain. Alas, he would find out.

“Do you all know which Challenge Dungeons you will be going for first?” Dina questioned.

Jake looked at the painting from the Sword Saint that looked a lot like a whiteboard, as he considered. There were five Challenge Dungeons in total. Each of them had their own themes and, as far as he knew, an endless number of “levels” until you became unable to continue and gave up or lost all your lives. This endlessness only became a thing after they reached floor seventy, mind you, which made this a great time to do it.

“Ree,” Sylphie answered as she also joined Jake in staring at the list.

Challenge Dungeon available:

1. Colosseum of Mortals

2. Neverending Journey.

3. Test of Character (Limited)

4. Endless Minaga Labyrinth

5. House of the Architect

All of them had names that didn’t exactly spell out what they were about but did give some hints. The first was obviously some kind of arena; the Neverending Journey was probably a travel-based one or maybe even one filled with different quests or something. Test of Character was a weird one. The only thing they were all confident in was that it wasn’t a social type. In fact, there were no profession-focused Challenge Dungeons. One had to remember these were not just for enlightened but beasts too, so all were combat-related in some ways, or at least concerned skills not about crafting or professions. That would just be unfair, the same as it would be unfair if there was a Challenge Dungeon all about absorbing and finding natural treasures or something like that.

Endless Minaga Labyrinth was self-explanatory. Jake just wondered if Minaga himself would be the-

Ah, who was he kidding? Of course, he would be.

Finally, there was the House of the Architect which could be many things but probably was related to energy control or something like that. Honestly, who bloody knew?

Well, the ones who had done the Challenge Dungeons knew, but they couldn’t tell due to Nevermore and its love of not allowing the sharing of information. Again, probably an aspect of Nevermore that assisted Jake, as others were way better at taking advantage of it, but Jake still liked to complain.

“I may just do them in order,” Jake said after reading them.

“Ree?” Sylphie asked.

“Hm, good point,” Jake nodded.

“Indeed, the Colosseum of Mortals and the Endless Labyrinth do strike me as similar in nature. Considering it is a Challenge Dungeon, perhaps some special circumstances are applied in one of them?” the Fallen King theorized.

“You forgot to factor in the constant mental attacks from the live commentary during the Minaga Labyrinth, which is a difficulty modifier in its own right,” Jake grinned.

“If that truly returns, then I shall concede trying to get the best performance there,” the Fallen King said with a sigh.

“Yeah…” Dina nodded. “I just hope I do okay.”

Dina was the one facing the toughest situation in the Challenge Dungeons. As a healer, she was naturally less powerful in single combat, but she at least did have some solid offensive options. She was also damn durable and probably had the largest survivability of them all. Outside of Jake fighting foes he could dodge, that is.

“I am sure you’ll do fine,” the Sword Saint smiled to comfort her. “But what timescale are we looking at?”

“Based on prior eras, it usually takes between seven and twelve years for an elite to run out of lives, with elites usually taking longer,” Dina shared. “Considering there are five Challenge Dungeons, I think dedicating two years per dungeon should be a safe bet.”

“Ree?” Sylphie questioned.

“If someone is doing better than expected and will need more time, they can naturally stay longer but hopefully still leave once they reach a checkpoint to at least inform us of what is happening,” the Sword Saint answered. “Not using all your lives in every Challenge Dungeon where death is a possibility would be a wasted opportunity.”

Jake nodded. Two years per dungeon seemed fine to him. Of course, they would have to figure out a way to properly organize their meeting time after as the Challenge Dungeons would split them up not just spatially but in time too.

Challenge Dungeons tended to have more time dilation than the regular floors. Jake didn’t know exactly how much more, and he honestly hadn’t bothered trying to find out either. All he knew was that, based on his estimates, they would probably not even spend three years in Nevermore from the outside world’s perspective. Which was honestly a pretty good level of time dilation considering the lack of any downsides.

“So, ten years based on internal clocks, right?” Jake asked the group.

“Yes,” the Sword Saint nodded as he took out five small blank pictures and handed them one each. “When inside the dungeon, infuse mana into the picture. The paint used to paint it will fade in exactly ten years after being revealed, so that should function as a fine timer.”

“You came prepared, huh?” Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Had to make myself useful while you were making my elixirs. Speaking of which…”

Jake sighed and tossed the old man a few Strength-increasing elixirs in case he would get some levels. He also gave the others whatever they wanted. Intelligence for Sylphie, Willpower-increasing for the Fallen King, and finally Vitality-increasing for Dina. This was not necessarily the stats they had the most of, but just what they wanted elixirs for these days.

One thing did bother Jake a bit, though, as he asked the old man. “Did you already know we would dedicate ten years to Challenge Dungeons?”

If he had already prepared the pictures, that had to mea-

“No, I just made a few dozen variations while practicing,” he answered casually.

“Oh, alright. Yeah, that makes sense…” Jake muttered.

“Should we get going already?” the Fallen King questioned. “If we dedicate ten years now, we will still have ample time afterward to try and get a few more floors down to get higher Leaderboards positions.”

“Yeah, we should really get moving,” Jake smiled as he stood up and stretched. “Or does anyone have anything to add?”

“Ree?” Sylphie said, a bit worried.

“Hm, good point,” Jake nodded seriously. She had a point. The Union Oath Jake and Sylphie had formed so long ago with the help of Stormild had slowly been weakening for a long time, and while it didn’t seem to go faster just because they were in Nevermore – likely because it was facilitated by Stormild and thus worked on Realtime – it was still reaching the end of its lifespan.

Sylphie was worried about what would happen. Especially if it dispersed while they were both in their own Challenge Dungeons. The bond had become second nature and was something they didn’t really think or talk about. It only really materialized by allowing them to sense each other’s locations, while the rest of its effect was behind-the-scenes Records stuff, as far as Jake knew.

“I don’t think it will hurt you or me, will it?” Jake asked.

“Ree.”

“Right, Stormild can’t exactly answer when we are inside Nevermore…” Jake muttered as he looked up. “Hey, Wyrmgod, can you or Minaga, who I am sure is also around somewhere, ask the Viper if he knows if anything bad will happen? This entire situation is partly his fault, after all.”

A few seconds passed as Dina looked at him.

“I don’t think that-“

Space itself cracked in front of them as an aura fell over the room as the voice of Villy echoed.

“It’ll be fine. You can always redo the oath at another time, though I would recommend that you wait until after Nevermore. In fact, if it expires while inside a Challenge Dungeon, you will barely feel it considering you are already separated. Also, I have seen what the Challenge Dungeons are about and… yeah, I know I can’t tell him, but… just a little… no, I told you already tha-“

The connection cut off as the hole in space disappeared. For a moment, their party of five just stared as it suddenly returned, this time in an odd warped state as it looked like the Viper had torn it open himself.

“Jake, Colosseum, own that place; I made a bet that you would at lea-“

With force, the space collapsed as the entire house shook.

Seconds passed as Jake turned to Sylphie. “Sounds like things will be fine. Should we all get going?”

Dina just stared as the Sword Saint questioned him. “Aren’t you going to address… you know?”

“Oh, right, yeah, I am doing the Colosseum first, I guess,” Jake shrugged. “Something I already planned on doing, for the record.”

“Ree?”

“We can talk about making a new oath after Nevermore for sure,” Jake smiled as Sylphie looked relieved. She jumped up as Jake caught her in his arms.

Despite being the age of a fully adult woman, Sylphie was still as much of a little hawk as she had been thirty years ago when they entered Nevermore. Sure, she had gotten smarter and wiser, but she was still – and perhaps always was going to be – a little goofy featherball.

Jake wouldn’t have it any other way as he rubbed her head, making her snuggle up to him. “You go create some carnage in those Challenge Dungeons, okay?”

“Ree!”

“Damn straight you will,” Jake grinned as Sylphie jumped out of his embrace and landed on his shoulder.

The old man and Dina smiled as they began to walk after Jake, who headed toward the entrance to the Challenge Dungeons. The Fallen King was the last to leave, as he muttered from behind.

“Are we truly going to ignore two Primordials having a scuffle over a bet?”

That is exactly what they were doing, as everyone ignored him while they walked to the Challenge Dungeons.

On the way, Jake did a final check-up of things as the others casually chatted.

Arcane affinity growing in influence within the Soulflame Cradle? Check.

Potions stocked? Check.

Poisons ready? Check

Void marble licked? Check.

Equipment not upgraded for thirty years but still good enough? Check.

Yep, everything seemed good to go. Jake’s injured Palate stomach had even healed quite a while back, making him all ready to go.

Reaching the Challenge Dungeons area, they finally saw other people. A few hundred C-grades were gathered in the area, with a few booths even set up not far away selling different things. Jake and the others weren’t interested as they looked at the five giant gates in front of them. Each had a motif on the gate. One was a grand Colosseum with what looked like two gladiators standing within.

Another was what looked like a road continuing infinitely. A third was a large square building of sorts, while a fourth was a single person sitting in meditation.

The final one was just a picture of Minaga’s face.

Very professional.

Jake couldn’t help to smile as he looked at it. Doing a bit of solo labyrinth fun was appealing, but alas, Villy apparently had a bet for him to win by doing… something.

“Where are you guys headed?” he asked the group.

“I think I will do the Labyrinth,” Dina said, surprising Jake a bit, though he didn’t really question it. He was sure she had her own plans.

“Ree,” Sylphie shared, having decided on just doing the House of the Architect first. Definity struck him as random.

“I shall do the colosseum, too,” the Sword Saint stated. That one made sense.

“Test of Character,” the Fallen King said, not wanting to elaborate.

Jake nodded, and after a final snuggle with Sylphie, he walked toward the Challenge Dungeon gate. Putting his hand on it, he looked back at this party. “See you all in ten years!”