The Primal Hunter

Jake was teleported out of the godly meeting and appeared in front of the Challenge Dungeons like nothing had happened. He couldn’t help but smile a bit to himself after what had just transpired, finding the entire ordeal quite amusing. It was also really nice to see Artemis again.

He couldn’t lie… there was something about her divine aura that was just fundamentally appealing. Jake hadn’t been able to hold himself back from teasing her a little, and based on her responses, he hadn’t offended her too much. In fact, he was pretty sure he had quite an interesting meet-up planned for after Nevermore.

Shaking his head, Jake tried to refocus on the task in front of him. He still had to finish Nevermore before anything else could happen, and he got the feeling that while he found Artemis’ divine aura appealing, she would very much like it if he performed extraordinarily well in the World Wonder. At least he was telling himself this because who didn’t want a bit of external motivation along with the internal one? Either way, Jake stopped dallying as he thought about the next dungeon to enter as a notification popped up in front of him.

*You have successfully taken part in a meeting between gods standing at the apex of the multiverse without compromising on your Path as a Heretic-Chosen. Instead, you have further proven yourself capable of standing tall even when confronted by the most powerful gods, acting far above your station. All while performing your duties as a Chosen and acting according to your Patron’s will – A new feat has been accomplished. Bonus experience earned*

Jake stared at the notification for a while, quite frankly having forgotten he could even get these. Sure, he had gotten one when he made William turn away from Eversmile and even when doing other heretic and Chosen stuff, but he pretty much only leveled his profession using alchemy normally, making it easy to forget this was a thing.

He hadn’t really expected anything out of doing this secret god meeting outside of meeting some gods… and looking at the following notifications, he definitely hadn’t expected the level of rewards to be so high.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 252 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points*

…

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 259 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 254 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

…

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 257 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

8 fucking levels from just meeting a bunch of gods in some casual get-together? Wasn’t that wholly too much for something so completely non-extraordinary? Jake hadn’t done anything super special in his own mind and had acted just like he had when interacting with others… which was maybe the reason he had gotten this “feat.”

This was Jake’s first time doing it in a public setting and the first time for the system to truly recognize it. For anyone that wasn’t Jake, just being able to exist in that meeting would have been an extraordinary feat in itself, while Jake had even talked to them and gotten into a metaphorical dick-measuring contest with a Primordial. All in all, he had entered the meeting, acting not just as one of the random gods there but as a being standing on par with the Primordials.

As Jake considered the matter more, he also quickly concluded this wasn’t replicable and some secret super-fast leveling exploit. He could go back to the meeting again, and it wouldn’t really reward him as he wouldn’t “accomplish” anything in the eyes of the system. These feats would only give massive rewards the first time he did something. Jake did believe that if he continued to attend meetings and continued to show off, he would be able to get more levels out of it. He would also make a lot of enemies and feel wholly uncomfortable doing it, so it wasn’t going to happen, but as a Heretic-Chosen, this was a legitimate way to level.

He also guessed that one reason why the experience gained was so high was due to how little he did as a Heretic-Chosen and how much he did as a pure alchemist. Jake, doing something he rarely did, was probably rewarded extra by the system, a bit like how he got more experience from working on transmutations after making potions for a long time. At least, that is what he guessed as he shook his head and decided to move on with what truly mattered.

Getting 8 random levels was definitely nice, but it didn’t really change anything, and he still had to focus on the Challenge Dungeons to come. The Test of Character Challenge Dungeon had been chosen purely as a way to recover from the Colosseum of Mortals, and it honestly had been the one he wanted to do the least and the one he guessed he would do worst at.

This left three others that he all thought were a lot more interesting. This was despite Jake not truly knowing what they were about, just him relying on his own guesses and assumptions.

House of the Architect made Jake guess it had something to do with energy control or something like that. Maybe something with imagination and your ability to make up and design new things, or if he got really lucky, a Challenge Dungeon that was similar to his Puzzle Box from the Seeker, where he had to fix and work on mana constructs? Or maybe it was about creating physical structures where he could maybe cheat with his arcane affinity? Doubtful, but hey, maybe. No matter the case, Jake felt pretty good about this one.

Endless Journey was a bit of a weird one, but he took a shot in the dark that it wasn’t about riding some weirdly scary dog-looking dragon through the sky as if he was taking part in some neverending story that wasn’t truly endless. There was a good chance it had to do with traveling, though. Maybe some sort of endurance run? A set of traps for one to overcome? Maybe a story where you got chased by something or someone? There were many possibilities, but assuming it had to do with journeying around, Jake felt confident.

Finally, there was Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth. Jake didn’t believe many comments had to be made about this one. Minaga’s Labyrinth on the prior floors had been a piece of cake for Jake, and he looked forward to utterly breaking the poor Unique Lifeform’s dungeon while listening to his ever-increasing complaints about how much of a cheat Jake was. Needless to say, Jake definitely felt the most confident about getting a good score in this one.

All of them were valid options, and Jake could do them in any order. All would be a pick-me-up after the horrible Test of Character, too.

Now the question just was… which one should he do first?

While flying to Firebound Peak, the red dragon Albaromoz couldn’t help but sigh at how his life had changed. How he had gone from being a diplomat and teacher at the Order of the Malefic Viper to… this.

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Albaromoz felt like the latest period of his life had only really revolved around one thing. Or, more accurately, one person. How could he have known that the fateful day he talked to a C-grade who participated in his lesson on Soulflames and made Albaromoz suspect he had a Bloodline would lead to all this?

At first, it had just been a simple mission to try to recruit him into the Emberflight clan. Nothing complicated that he, as an A-grade, hadn’t done many times before. It turned out to be a bit more complicated due to some unknown backer, but it wasn’t any big issue, right? Wrong.

They couldn’t find out who the backer was, and it quickly became clear why as the young Bloodline Patriarch was revealed to the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. A figure even he, as an A-grade, couldn’t casually approach.

And what’s more, he was far from a passive Chosen who just trained and did alchemy. Instead, he seemed to create chaos and “happenings” wherever he got involved. Ones involving the Dragonflights, too.

A great example of this chaos he could create was the entire ordeal with the Azure Dragonflight – also known as the Azureflight. Albaromoz wasn’t sure about the details; he just knew that an Azure Dragonkin blessed by the Venerated Azure Dragon had attempted to get close to a comrade of the Malefic Viper’s Chosen and somehow ended up offending the Malefic Viper himself, making the Primordial personally remove his arm.

This hadn’t led to anything back then, as no one knew the Bloodline Patriarch was the Chosen until after the Chosen ceremony was over. However, after, every faction dug up what they could on the Chosen, and through that, the Emberflight’s name was mentioned. Albaromoz was mentioned. Something that caught the interest of all the other Dragonflights.

Albaromoz had after the ceremony swiftly been called into a meeting with the Patriarch of the Azureflight himself present. As the person from the Dragonflights who had made contact with and talked with the Malefic Viper’s Chosen first, Albaramoz had become the go-to person if anyone had questions. As he had interacted with the Chosen before he revealed his identity, many believed that Albaromoz had known him better than pretty much any other person among the nine Dragonflights. Helen had also been called in for many things but had quickly been dismissed as all her meetings had been under the oversight of Albaromoz, making him the go-to. She also still had to focus on her personal growth and had many other jobs, while Albaromoz had far more time as an A-grade.

This pestering to know more hadn’t stopped. In fact, it had only gotten worse as other Dragonflights also wanted to know more about him. The Azureflight was just the beginning as more and more got involved. Especially his ability to manipulate Origins caught the attention of many high-ranking beings, as plans were slowly being formulated behind the scenes to try and get their hands on this ability one way or another. This had made him a busy dragon until, luckily, the Chosen went to Nevermore.

Albaromoz believed this would give him a reprieve, at least for a while. Sure, he would likely perform incredibly well in the World Wonder and gain much renown, but nothing chaotic would happen that required Albaromoz to be called to a meeting, right?

…right?

“Patron Fireplume,” Albaromoz kneeled deeply as he arrived at Firebound Peak and entered the Dragon Cave of the Grand Elder of the Emberflight who resided there. While kneeling, he also regarded the other figures who had appeared as projections in the cave. “Grand Elders.”

“Albaramoz,” Grand Elder Fireplume spoke. “Have you been following recent happenings in Nevermore?”

He got a bad feeling before he answered honestly. “No, I do not believe I have heard anything out of the ordinary.”

“Hm, so it hasn’t spread amongst the mortals yet,” another Grand Elder spoke.

“Perhaps best it is kept that way,” a third voiced their opinion.

“I concur,” a fourth chimed in.

Albaromoz was confused as he quickly pieced together that they discussed something only gods knew about. So why was he there? There were a few options, but considering the mention of Nevermore, there really only be one explanation.

“Child,” the second Grand Elder spoke up again. “You were the first to identify the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and his Bloodline, correct?”

“Yes,” he answered, getting confirmed what he already knew. Who else could it be but the Chosen.

“Before he was revealed as a Chosen, how receptive would you estimate he was to the contact we made?” a fifth Grand Elder asked. “I am referring specifically to his interactions with Helenstromoz.”

Albaromoz was a bit confused, as he felt like he had answered this before, and he quickly shook his head. “He seemed neither positive nor negative, just as if he preferred as little interference with his life and Path as possible. His level of interest in Helenstromoz was also low. Moreover, recently, she has begun to get closer to the Malefic Dragonkin called Draskil, who carries a Divine Blessing of the Malefic One. This Malefic Dragonkin is also on friendly terms with the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, to the level where they may even be considered friends.”

“I see,” the Grand Elder responded disappointedly. “Do you deem it plausible he will show interest in any other attempts to form a closer relationship with him?”

“Are you asking about deploying honeypots?” Albaromoz asked.

“Potentially, yes,” he continued. “Would it be worth it to try and appeal to him through talented women and men?”

“I do not believe so, no,” Albaromoz shook his head. “In fact, I fear it may have the opposite effect of what we intend.”

“A shame,” the Grand Elder sighed.

“If… if I may, could I know what this is all about? The last time, we agreed upon holding back from trying to reel him in and keeping a respectful distance? To try and assure that even if we do not better our relationship with him, we at least keep it neutral until he matures more?”

This was far from his first meeting, which other Grand Elders than his Patron attended, though this one was where most were present. When it came to the question about waiting for him to mature, it was something they had discussed many times prior.

As a C-grade, the Chosen had a long way to go on his Path, and many things could go wrong along the way. He could die to any number of incidents, somehow get stuck in his Path, begin to fall behind his peers, and lose the interest and Blessing of the Malefic One, or a myriad of other things. All of this is to say he was still very young, and his situation was volatile.

This was the primary reason the Dragonflights had all agreed to their neutral and passive approach. It had become clear that obtaining the Bloodline in early grades wasn’t going to happen, and investing heavily in making friends with a C-grade was rarely worth it.

If the Chosen ended up dying, the Dragonflights would lose nothing but an opportunity, while should he manage to step into the realm of the truly powerful, it wouldn’t be too late to approach him then. The Emberflight firmly believed they had a good shot at forming a friendly relationship with him if they worked on their albeit feeble connection through Helenstromoz and Albaromoz, even if they waited a few grades. At least they did before.

“Things have changed due to recent happenings in Nevermore,” the Fireplume Grand Elder said with a sigh. “A gathering of powerful beings is currently taking place in Nevermore right at this moment. It includes five Primordials, Nature’s Attendant, and dozens of representatives from factions, including the Draconic Accords.”

Albaromoz nodded, this being the first time he heard of something this monumental taking place. He just had a hard time seeing how that related to the Chosen of the-

“And less than an hour ago, the Chosen of the Malefic Viper was also part of this meeting.”

“What?” Albaromoz exclaimed before quickly gathering himself and bowing his head even deeper. “I apologize; I was simply taken aback.”

None of the Grand Elders seemed to care as the Fireplume Grand Elder continued to explain what had happened. Albaromoz’s eyes only got bigger and bigger as everything was disclosed to him, including the fact he had directly clashed his aura with that of the God of War.

Albaromoz soon understood… sentiment had changed. Remaining entirely passive was no longer an option, as many other factions would likely try to get in his good graces now.

“When the Chosen of the Malefic Viper had the… incident with the Azureflight prodigy, he was with some people, correct?” the Fireplume Grand Elder asked.

Instantly, he understood. “Yes, he was. From our investigations, he appeared closest to his fellow humans and was originally invited there by a snakekin named Scarlett, who also carries a Blessing from the Malefic Viper.”

If they couldn’t form a connection directly with the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, they would do the next best thing. They would get close to someone who already had a connection to the Chosen, and Albaromoz already knew who they should approach.

The Alabaster Crimsoneye Snake named Scarlett was a perfect target because few knew she had such a deep relation to the Chosen. At least they hoped it was deep… hoped enough for them to gamble on it as the seventeen Grand Elders present began discussing their approach.