The Primal Hunter

Jake felt like perhaps this would be the first ”real” job. It gave him a different feeling compared to all the ones he had done prior, and after accepting it, he was more sure than ever these Special Courier Jobs were a bit like those special fights in the Colosseum. In more ways than one.

Based on the words of the Guild attendant, Jake suspected that all of these Special Courier Jobs were linked. A part of a longer quest chain of sorts. He believed he had only been offered this job because he had made the run with that Space Locator, and it was even probable his speed at having done so factored in. In fact, Jake wouldn’t be surprised at all if these jobs changed based on how a person performed beforehand, and Jake would have gotten an entirely different – or maybe just slightly easier – job if he hadn’t been as fast as he was.

If all of this was true, it made sense the difficulty had a big spike with this job where he even had to potentially interact with a B-grade. Of course, Jake didn’t believe for a single second he would have to fight one, as that would just be insanity, but he could see himself being thrown into a situation where he had to not make the wrong dialogue choice.

Returning to the job at hand, Jake found himself standing outside the Guild, four sets of eyes on him. That in itself wasn’t out of the ordinary, but the fact two of them followed him even after he walked away from the Guild proved they weren’t just the usual observers who kept track of all the adventurers and Couriers coming and going.

Not wanting to have a few tails, Jake sped up and quickly weaved in between the many buildings and streets. Within only a few minutes, he felt that no one was keeping track of him anymore, making him duck into the upper floor of a house with an open window no one was currently in. Yes, this was most definitely trespassing, but if someone broke into your house and trespassed, but you never noticed anyone had ever been there, did it really happen?

Inside the house, Jake started out by making his mask visible, hiding his face. So far, he hadn’t worn it a single time throughout the entire Challenge Dungeon. It tended to have a negative effect when making conversation, so he had purposefully gone without. However, things were a bit different now, and he was totally fine with coming off as intimidating as he doubted anyone who would want to talk to him during this trip did so with kind intentions.

Next up, he changed it so Shroud of the Primordial once more hid his level and didn’t just tell everyone he was 211. As a final touch, he infused a bit of mana into his cloak, making the shadowy thing almost seem alive as it began to ripple a bit, like a flickering shadow. He also considered using his stealth skill but decided against it. It may sound weird, but he wanted people to know he was leaving.

With all his preparations done, Jake checked himself over and confirmed everything was as it should be.

Definitely looking a lot less approachable now, he thought happily as he exited the house he had trespassed into once more, making sure to remove any traces he had ever been there.

Checking the compass on the Medallion, Jake saw the direction to the mid-sized city and got going. He wasn’t going to relax at all with this job as he, quite frankly, didn’t have the leeway to do so. When he was checking out the library, he also studied the local geography and memorized a few maps, which made him know the distance to the mid-sized city was a bit over twice what he traveled to the small-sized one. With the first trip taking him one and a half days, this one would take at least three.

This was another reason Jake felt confident this Special Courier Job was the first mission with some real difficulty because he seriously doubted someone like the Fallen King could even make the trip within the required seven days. He simply wasn’t fast enough. The Sword Saint would also struggle, but Jake believed he would be able to make it quite comfortable if he wasn’t disturbed too much on the way, while whether Dina could do it or not was a total toss-up. Sylphie would naturally be able to easily, being the fast little bird she was… assuming she didn’t get scammed by someone.

Flying through the air, Jake quickly exited the city limits, feeling a few new curious eyes on him during the flight. Those who were just curious about the hooded figure flying around weren’t what bothered him, as gawking was a pretty normal reacting, but a few lingered for a bit too long. He even felt that two skills reminiscent of his own Hunter’s Mark were attempted to be placed on him, but Jake rebuffed both. One of them tried again, but Jake once more defended as he sped up and seemingly got out of range.

This was definitely the most attention that had been placed on Jake for any job thus far. Far behind him, using his Pulse, he even saw the two who had tried to mark him fly into the air and look after him, both holding some devices in their hands… likely for communication.

That about confirms it… this flight is gonna have some turbulence.

Alas, there wasn’t much Jake could do about it right now. As he flew, he took out the Sealed Elemental from beneath his clothes and observed it a bit more closely. As mentioned, it was about the size of a table tennis ball and pretty smooth. Inspecting the magic circles on it, Jake confirmed what the Guild attendant had said. He had no way to extend the duration of the seal. In fact, the entire structure of it was almost as if it was made to collapse. If it was on purpose or not, Jake didn’t know, but he wouldn’t rule it out… though the ones he suspected of being behind this faulty seal weren’t necessarily any bad actors, but could just as likely be the Wyrmgod who designed the job.

Jake considered for a moment where best to hide the item if a fight did break out and decided that the safest place would be somewhere it couldn’t ever fall out and had a way smaller chance of accidentally getting hit. Using his arcane mana, he covered it on a thin but firm layer of protection before popping it into his mouth and swallowing hard. Inside muscles inside his body that weren’t really something normal humans had access to, Jake stopped it before it even fully entered his stomach, where it could sit nicely for the duration of his travels.

Sure, eating it was a risk, and he even considered using Palate on it, but he didn’t wanna risk it due to the stomach being a bit too close to a spatial storage. Besides, he was busy nurturing one of the ten legendary rarity Blightroots in there. A natural treasure filled with death affinity energy he had gotten as a present from the Risen during his Chosen Ceremony. It had been in there ever since the stomach healed from the whole Dark Witch debacle and had been a great help when making all his necrotic poison. He still didn’t feel confident working with the root, but there was definitely much to be gained from it… especially as it seemed to contain traces of the Blight affinity created by the Viper’s fellow Primordial, the Blightfather.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Back on topic, Jake had eaten the Sealed Elemental for a few reasons despite the risk. Having it inside of him would shield it from most detection and divination magic capable of specifically searching for it, and if someone was nearby, they would always have a way harder time sensing it. There was also just that it made Jake feel safer knowing where it was and that he didn’t have to think about it falling out while fighting. Yep, he definitely ate it solely for logical reasons… and no, he didn’t want to think about what would happen if the seal broke while he had the thing inside him.

With the Sealed Elemental in his stomach, Jake continued his journey as he summoned his wings and used One Step in between wing flaps. This was his fastest method of movement and allowed him to truly build up momentum as he flew and teleported through the air while flaring his aura to keep any monsters who got too curious at bay.

After about half a day of travel, Jake spotted something in the distance. It was a village from the looks of it, and for a moment, Jake considered making a pit stop there as he doubted its placement right in the path to the mid-sized city was an accident but decided against it. Besides, as he got closer, he got the feeling he wouldn’t even have to go greet the village. In fact, it looked like the village would be more than happy to fly out to greet him! With quite a few people, too, for a wonderful unwanted welcome party to a village, Jake didn’t even plan on visiting. How nice of them.

For a second, he thought about flying around and avoiding them but stopped himself and just continued flying toward them. He wasn’t sure what they had up their sleeve, but he got a feeling he would regret it if he didn’t go to them directly.

As he got closer, the group that consisted of about thirty people fanned out, clearly to block his path. Getting the message, Jake stopped as a human man with a large beard wearing full, heavy armor flew slightly forward to greet him. Using Identify, he saw the man wasn’t dangerous in the slightest, though he was one of the higher-level individuals in the group.

[Human – lvl 249]

”Hello there!” the man said with a reassuring smile as he projected his voice to Jake while still keeping over a hundred meters distance between them. ”Real sorry to bother you, but we have had reports that smugglers carrying illegal substances have recently been through this area and have been tasked with putting a stop to it. Due to the crackdown, they have even begun to use Couriers… you wouldn’t happen to be a Courier recently out of Hillspring City, would you?”

”Drugs, really? Damn, that sucks. Luckily for me, I am not carrying any drugs, so no reason to bother me,” Jake said with a smile as he felt the use of a skill on him. It didn’t work, but Jake recognized it as similar to the one Silas from Neil’s party had that was capable of detecting lies.

”Ah, you must have missed me asking… but I need to confirm if you are a Courier or not,” the man insisted.

This was probably a crucial moment where one could attempt trickery… but Jake didn’t feel the need to. ”Yep, Courier here straight out of Hillspring less than a day ago.”

The plate-wearing man likely expected some kind of information from the person detecting lies, but even if he didn’t get told anything, he didn’t miss a beat. ”Is that so? I am really sorry to bother you, but were you tasked by the Guild to deliver an item to the Infernal Baron? That is the cover currently used by the smugglers to trick Couriers, and the Baron himself isn’t involved at all. They are even sophisticated enough to change item descriptions and make the delivery look like something it isn’t.”

Jake, acting shocked, gasped in an exaggerated way. ”Shit, really? I am transporting something to that Baron!”

A big smile crept onto the man’s lips. ”Good thing we caught you then, or you could have gotten in real trouble once you arrived at Infernal City with your delivery! The Baron would have had your head, even if you are a Courier! Tell you what, I do know this seems fishy, but let me share this… the crackdown on this particular substance to the level where every gateway scans for it. That’s also the reason you were forced to make the trip by yourself and not just take the gate. What’s more, due to the nature of the substance, I even heard it cannot enter spatial storage.”

”You’re describing exactly what I was asked to transport,” Jake confirmed enthusiastically.

What Jake was doing right now could seem risky as the Special Courier Job required the cargo to not be discovered… but Jake felt very confident discovery wasn’t just them knowing he had cargo for the Baron or even what it was. They clearly already knew. No, it was to ensure no one could Identify exactly what he was transporting. Shit, he even felt confident that should someone discover it and die before they could report it to anyone, he still wouldn’t fail the job. In conclusion… it was probably only these ”enemies” of the Baron that couldn’t discover the Sealed Elemental.

“I see,” the plated man said with a sigh. Jake wondered what his next response would be as the man smiled. “I know this is a lot to ask, but could you show me the goods in question? I would hate for this to be a false positive and to have made false accusations. Of course, if it is as we suspect, we would more than gladly take the illicit goods off your hands. Naturally, we will make sure the Guild is properly notified of everything, too, and we have the express permission of the Infernal Baron to produce a letter of annulment for the Courier Job.”

Honestly, the more the guy spoke, the more believable he sounded. Not even necessarily because of what he said but because of the powerful mental manipulation skill he was applying. This was likely why he had been the one to walk forward and speak.

“That all sounds great, mister package police!” Jake answered with a big smile behind his mask. “Sadly, I got my orders, and even if everything you said is correct, I got a reputation for being reliable, you know? Besides, everything you just said is total bullshit, so it isn’t like there is much to consider.”

The man’s smile faded instantly when he heard Jake’s response. Yet he didn’t outright attack. “Look, this is a far more complicated matter than you want to get involved in… there are people you do not want to make your enemies. So just hand over whatever you need to deliver to the Infernal Baron and be on your way… or things could get tricky for you.”

As he said this, an aura erupted from down in the village as a figure flew up. Jake had noticed this person long ago, throwing them a glance and Identify as they joined their mates.

[Scalekin – lvl 311]

Jake smiled, now finally knowing why he got the feeling he would regret not clashing with this group directly.

Seeing the lack of a response, the bearded man seemed to assume that Jake was shocked or something as he spoke again. “We have nothing against you and would prefer to settle this without unnecessary bloodshed. Yes, this is very much a threat, but we are under orders, same as you. So just make the easiest choice for everyone involved and live to see another day.”

“Thank you,” Jake said, entirely ignoring the man as he looked at the scalekin in the back. “You know, it feels like it’s been so long… probably because it has.”

“What the hell are you going on about?” the bearded guy continued as Jake also continued to ignore him, and he instead held out his hand as a bow appeared in it. Between the many Challenge Dungeons he had done, he had truly missed something like this... especially after having just done the House of the Architect.

“Can I ask you to do me a favor too?” Jake asked the scalekin directly.

As a response to Jake’s words, and probably also the fact he had pulled out a bow, the scalekin released their aura as a wand appeared in one of their hands. Jake felt the aura and grinned even more than before. Not weak… not weak at all.

“I was gonna ask you to put up a proper fight as it’s been so long since I had a proper one… but it looks like that’s freely included already.”