The Primal Hunter

Jake becoming the World Leader? Where the hell did that come from? Yeah, definitely not something many people would have predicted, but that was the best cause of action that not only Jake but also the Sword Saint and Miranda landed on. Even the King had agreed it would be the best choice, and it was no decision that had been made half-heartedly.

The problem was that Earth had turned out to be rather special, whether they liked it or not. It was the planet that had likely spawned the most talents of the entire ninety-third universe, making it instantly an object of interest even to powerful beings of the multiverse. Beings who would want to come and study or maybe even seize the planet to try and figure out why.

Special planets were nothing new in the multiverse. Besides Great Planets, which were just so massive it went against any logic, there were planets that were effectively massive natural treasures. Others just had a bigger chance to spawn natural treasures, some had many natural formations on them that led to unique things, and some simply had some undetectable concept that seemed to make all those who came from there more talented.

One such example of a planet was the one Valdemar originated from. It was one only a bit larger than the current Earth but which constantly gave rise to new S-grade talents, with no one truly being able to explain why. The leading theory was that it all boiled down to Records. With it being the planet Valdemar originated from, it only made sense that those who also grew up there would get some innate Records just for being from the same place.

If this theory was true, then Earth was already in a similar situation. Jake, the Sword Saint, Sandy, Caleb, Carmen, Eron, Sylphie, Arnold, Jacob, Casper… there were so many notable figures from their planet. That alone would leave echoes and influence the future of their little rock floating through space.

It wasn’t necessarily even that Jake wanted to be World Leader, just that there truly was no other choice. In the short term, sure, it would be fine no matter who was picked, but not in the long term.

That is one place where Arthur had been right. He had recognized that the long term mattered, and Valhal was a good choice of ally due to their track record. What they wanted from Earth was to use it as a recruitment ground as they no doubt recognized the uniqueness of the planet. The management and all that was something they would gladly offload to someone else, especially a native who just wanted to nurture and grow the population. This was further reinforced by Arthur being human and Valhal being a primarily human-focused faction due to its roots.

Any actual leader in charge would have to be strong enough to contest with Valhal, the Holy Church, the Risen, or any other faction of the multiverse. It had to be someone who could, at the very least, force them to the table or make them hesitate before making a move. Someone with backing capable of doing all this… which left options slim.

The Fallen King? He was a Unique Lifeform. He had no Blessing, and his biggest backing was Jake, making it second-hand backing at best.

Miranda? Same deal. The Witches of the Verdant Lagoon were powerful, but not at the level of being able to intimidate other top factions. Her becoming the leader would also effectively force the planet to be part of the Order of the Malefic Viper, which also came with restrictions and rules she did not have a position making her capable of breaking would apply.

The Sword Saint? He didn’t want to, and he also lacked the backing. Not in the sense that Aeon Clok, despite his stupid name, wasn’t someone powerful enough, but due to him not having a faction of any kind. And, to be honest, he also only had a Divine Blessing, so no one would actually believe that Aeon himself would descend and intervene for one single planet.

Jacob? Yeah, fuck no. The Holy Church was not an organization that Jake would ever be fine with taking charge of Earth.

They had tried time and time again to find someone better, but time and time again, they went back to Jake being the best. As stupid as it sounds, then the second-best option would be Sandy due to their True Blessing, but that was a hard sell.

Even if they wanted to elect someone else like the King… it would be hard. Something Miranda made clear right off the bat was that monsters were very unpopular right now after the many beast attacks in recent months. It was only made worse by the lull before the storm that had been before it, leaving many unprepared and feeling like they had been led behind the light.

They still needed the support of the population, and Jake also still wanted a world where there could be some kind of balance. If someone like Arthur became the leader, it would be one hundred percent human-favored. Jake wanted beasts and monsters to at least have a seat at the table. This led to the second reason why Jake thought him becoming the World Leader was best.

Jake had the ability to tell everyone to fuck off.

Okay, one can argue any leader had this ability, but Jake would be able to do this for one simple reason: he wouldn’t actually need to care about the political issues that could result from that. Why not, one might ask? Because he was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. Him being the World Leader was not synonymous with him actually leading shit; it was just establishing he was the top dog.

The system had shown a tendency to not force Paths upon others. Jake had been the City Owner of Haven since the day he returned to Earth, and the amount of city leading he had done was just transferring all of the responsibility to Miranda.

Jake would essentially just become the World Owner and outsource any actual leading to Miranda. He would still be there as a backer for following system events… which added the third reason why Jake realized becoming World Leader was potentially a good idea.

System events. Jake liked to have autonomy and decide on things himself or, at the very least, have some serious power when it came to making decisions. The World Congress so far had led to two important system events, which had both resulted in titles and a lot of good stuff, and Jake did not want to miss out on that. Villy also thought that becoming World Leader wasn’t that big of an issue and ultimately only beneficial if he wanted to keep Earth as his home.

Again, this wasn’t only Jake’s idea either. Miranda had actually been the first to propose it. Jake’s initial plan had been for her to become World Leader, but she had shut it down and even added some extra things Jake had not even considered.

”My entire Path so far, ever since exiting the Tutorial, has revolved around you, Jake. I manage the city for you. I got my Blessing because of you. It would not be an understatement to say that everything I am is due to your existence. If I became World Leader, that would be separate from you, and I am not even sure how well that would work for me. I do not doubt that being World Leader will offer a potential C-grade evolution option, one that would likely be unwise to skip over, and I would not pick that as it would negatively impact me. However, if you become World Leader, we will build upon what we already have, just scaled up from a city to a planet,” Miranda explained, the King and Sword Saint both agreeing.

Jake had also been curious how him becoming World Leader would work for the King, but that wasn’t a problem either. In all honesty, then the system had probably expected people to become World Leaders who had no interest in actually leading their world. Jake wasn’t even sure Ell’Hakan had the profession of a World Leader based on all he had shown. Maybe some off-shoot or variant, but it being the vanilla version seemed unlikely.

As for if it was actually possible to outsource all this leadership, Miranda had already researched it. She had access to the Verdant Lagoon through her dreaming skill and had managed to discuss with people and find some records. This entire thing with Pylons of Civilization was not new, and people knew what World Leaders were capable of. At least in broad strokes. There were always small differences, but the essence was the same.

What she had learned revealed that the World Leader did indeed not necessarily lead the world. As one would imagine, then a system where the strongest made actual administrative decisions probably wasn’t the best form of governance, and in previous Eras, each World Leader could appoint up to five Ministers who would effectively function as depute leaders.

It did not take a genius to figure out their plan from there. Miranda had proposed a council of sorts. Five people were an unequal number, meaning they could handle votes themselves, and then there was, of course, Jake, who would still sit at the top and be able to veto stuff.

Pretty much what Jake would do was just expand his current method of governance from Haven to the entire planet.

As for who should be on this council? The three people in the room besides Jake were a given, but that still meant they needed two more. This was primarily what their meeting was for, in addition to planning the prep work they had to put in during the four or so weeks they had before the Congress.

”For the council, the most essential aspect will be the representation of all interests of value,” the King said, getting nods from around the table. ”I would not be able to lead humans as they distrust me, and many beasts only respect me due to my power. I can represent many of the monsters, yes, but we will need someone else in addition. I asked Sandy about this on the way here, and the Cosmic Genesis Worm has no interest, so someone else will have to do.”

Jake was a bit surprised the King had even asked Sandy, but considering he hadn’t known the worm for long, who could blame him? As for who else to pick… Jake had no idea. They discussed this, and Jake did get some ideas for the King to maybe look into.

Anyway, to summarize who they wanted on the council: The Fallen King, Sword Saint, Miranda, some other beast or monster. Finally, there was someone proposed who Jake really did not want to have there. In fact, he had argued many times against it but found himself being shut down at every turn.

”As for the final member, there really is no other option, is there?” Miranda asked, getting a glare from Jake.

”No, it is the best choice,” the King agreed.

Jake grumbled and sighed. ”I am still not convinced.”

Who could this final member be if not the glorious leader of the United Cities Alliance… Arthur.

Even Primordials could not simply teleport anywhere in the multiverse they wanted. While traveling through the void was faster than anything else, it wasn’t instant, and established teleportation networks simply couldn’t stretch across the distances a god sometimes had to travel. The reason why he had headed out was also simple: he was there to reclaim something that would potentially be useful for what was to come.

Vilastromoz repeatedly teleported as galaxies passed by. He had entered the forty-fourth universe several hours ago and was finally approaching his goal. The closer he got, the more well-protected the planets became. The more familiar signatures of prominent factions, he felt.

The galaxy closest to his goal was nearly overpopulated. Billions of inhabited planets, factions owning entire clusters had grouped there. The Altmar Empire, Automatons, Endless Empire, Valhal, Court of Shadows… no faction that operated on a multiversal scale was missing. Even enemies such as the Risen and the Holy Church coexisted within a relatively small space. At least considered small on a cosmic scale.

As for why all these factions had gathered here? Well, the reason was simple. About fifty billion years ago, a figure had decided to move his Starforge close to there to make use of a natural treasure to power it. A giant star had been born, and the greatest smith of the multiverse had moved to claim it.

The Starseizing Titan, a fellow Primordial.

Vilastromoz saw the figure of his old acquaintance before he even saw this galaxy. He felt the shockwaves of his forge that sent waves throughout this entire part of the universe. Even the nearby galaxy was far away as nothing short of a god could even approach the forge when it was in operation. What celestial objects had been close once upon a time were now nothing more than cosmic dust.

One may ask the reason why he saw his old friend before the galaxy, and for that one, the answer was easy… because he was bigger. Way bigger.

It was well-known that one should never disturb the Starseizing Titan, yet these factions had gods stationed in this galaxy with hopes of having the Starseizing Titan assist them. It was a bit how Villy used to be hounded by people wanting him to do alchemy for them before he just started killing them for not going through the proper channels.

This well-known rule of not approaching naturally did not count for everyone, and Vilastromoz took a single step as he got closer.

The towering form of the Starseizing Titan filled his entire field of vision. His body had a blueish hue with countless stars glinting within. Even planets were inside, his body large enough to house entire galaxies. It was a form of such size it was nearly incomprehensible, making his title of being the single-largest living entity in the multiverse well-earned.

This size was indeed abnormal and the trait he was most known for outside of his smithing talent. One other thing that made the Starseizing special was that he had been a Unique Lifeform before he became a god. Another thing that made him special, one a bit less known, was that he didn’t have a divine realm.

He was his divine realm.

As the Viper got closer, the massive form slowly moved, his actions no faster than that of a regular pre-system human. A massive forge containing millions of stars was in front of him as he wielded a black hammer in his hand, all of it slowly moving as if he was the personification of the cosmos itself.

”Vilas,” a voice echoed out through the vast space, the voice alone enough to make nearby planets crumble. ”It has been… long.”

Vilastromoz smiled as he nodded. ”That it has. I hope you are doing well. Based on how you seem to have grown a few times in size since the last time I saw you, I reckon you have?”

”The Path is endless,” the voice of the Titan answered before taking a long pause. ”I have been well, yes.”

”Glad to hear,” the Viper said. ”Besides greeting an old friend, I assume you know why I am here?”

The Titan regarded him for a few moments before the Viper felt space warp. The entire universe seemed to collapse for a moment as soon he found himself standing before a figure only about three meters tall. His entire body still looked the same, and in reality, it was the same.

He has improved, Vilastromoz recognized. What the Starseizing Titan did was not space magic… no, the spacial reaction was simply from him shrinking his form. What the Titan did was far more than that. He condensed his body into a smaller form… losing nothing in the process.

”This is the most delayed a client has ever been,” the Starseizing Titan said, his voice far more normal now.

”I was… busy,” Vilastromoz excused himself.

”You have nothing to apologize for,” the Titan said as he held out his palm. ”After I repaired it, every Era, I revisited… and improved it. I felt it grow as you did. It is only right it finally returns to its master.”

Vilastromoz smiled as he saw it appear. He felt space slightly shake as it began breaking down, and the Starseizing Titan even took a step back as the staff resonated with its true owner.

”Welcome home, old friend,” the Viper spoke as the staff floated over by itself. The staff was simple, looking like a long black snake stretching out and sleeping - the eyes and mouth both closed.

His hand closed around the metallic body as the eyes of the snake opened, and black veins spread throughout the body of the staff as a loud hiss resounded through space.

As a Primordial, was it not only right to have a weapon befitting of one?

A true weapon surpassing even the Divine rarity.