The Primal Hunter

The Sword Saint sat in meditation as his inner vision materialized. He stood up and drew his sword as he began his sword meditation, his movements slow and ethereal. Each swing took several seconds, allowing even the smallest of children to avoid them, but each also held insight beyond what most could handle. The air itself parted for the blade, rather than impede it, as an odd shimmer appeared around his body.

Getting blessed by the Primordial of time benefitted Miyamoto in many ways. It had helped him upgrade his skills, allowed him to modify his Transcendence, and taught him an entirely new form of magic. Or, perhaps, revealed to him the talent he had in this school of magic.

However, he did not allow himself to get carried away. Many called him a stubborn old man, but he had truly taken the advice of Jake to heart during their duel. His sword was his essence, and he saw no purpose in adopting magic that did not fit him.

In his eyes, magic was only a way to improve his swordsmanship. An extension of what he already had. Trying to integrate time magic into his swordsmanship appeared difficult at first, but Miyamoto soon found a path. Time magic was often viewed as external magic: a manipulation of the world and others. In the arts of creation, it was used on certain items that took a long time to grow and could take the hit to Records. It was also used for time chambers and even applied to quite a few dungeons through system assistance, this being where most everyone encountered time magic on a more regular basis.

Miyamoto knew he was no mage. He truly did not believe himself talented in it. The conversations he had with Ms. Wells about formations or rituals only assured him of this fact. He already had a hard time understanding computers before the system; how was he to ever learn about these magical scripts? To him, programming had already been sorcery before, and now it had only become all the more complicated.

However, what he did understand was his own body. He also understood time, perhaps because he had experienced a lot of it. It was odd that even his Patron called him an old soul. By all measures, the Sword Saint was nothing more than a child before a Primordial, and yet he didn’t feel like he was made to feel like he was a youngster.

This had befuddled him for a time, but Miyamoto soon came to have at least some insight into this. Time was, as most everyone knew, relative. The passing of time varied based on the concepts of space and movement, but also on a more personal level with how each person experienced time. As one grows older, it feels like time passes faster and faster, not because it actually does, but because of how time is perceived.

What was it called? The proportion theory the old man believed it was. The theory is that it feels like time passes faster as one grows older, resulting in each year feeling shorter than the one before, as it is a proportionally smaller period compared to your entire life. The old man could definitely attest to this, as it had felt like the last few years before the system arrived had passed in the blink of an eye. Yet, now, with the system, it felt… different.

From conversations with his Patron, the Sword Saint came to learn that this psychological concept didn’t only exist before the system. In fact, it had gotten infinitely worse not only in regard to proportion theory but also in feeling the moment itself. Many negative emotions that would result in it feeling like time passed slowly by were suppressed by Willpower, and the ever-expanding lifespan as one could grow older and older only contributed further. Retrospective time, prospective time, felt time…

If one is busy, it feels like time passes faster. If one is bored and unstimulated, any period of time would feel like it drags.

However… there were also times when one was deep in focus where it felt like time passed slower. Periods where one got more work done than expected or where one enjoyed time enough to truly focus on the moment and for every second to count. Quality time, one could call it.

What the Sword Saint had realized was that even if he was not skilled at time magic in the outside world, his body and mind were primed to be affected by it. Perhaps his old age before the system made him considered ancient by proportional standards, even if that thought was a bit insulting.

Be it what it may, one of the first things he did was not work on actually interfering with the concept of time but merely interfering with his own perception of it. To make every moment last slightly longer. From a mere psychological concept, it evolved to one that affected time itself. His own time.

That was how his newest evolution of Sword Meditation was born. A personal time chamber of the mind where he became one with his body and his sword. Every second passing for everyone else was a dozen for the old Sword Saint as every moment mattered. Every sword swing was worth remembering. He came to learn that this still counted and came with the same negative consequences as something like a time chamber, but that was acceptable. For even with these restrictions, it would serve its purpose.

Others had ambitions for C-grade and how they wanted their evolution to be. Miyamoto was no different. He had spoken to Jake a bit about their plans before the evolution, and Jake had mentioned his plans of creating a mythical skill, making the Sword Saint consider…

Why shouldn’t he?

This was Jake’s… third time doing time magic stuff? Yeah, it should be the third. Wait, no, there was also that time during the trial dungeon for the Order. Yeah, so four. Four wasn’t that many, so this should still be fine, right?

Jake had been a bit apprehensive about doing it for a long time but realized there were more pros than cons to it. Especially if Villy said, it was okay. The thing that had worried Jake the most was the fear of his Records getting damaged or something else intangible that Jake couldn’t feel or even know was happening. He seriously doubted even his overpowered instincts would warn him about that kind of self-sabotage.

Villy had teleported Jake away with him as they appeared in the same chamber Jake had gone to while practicing Shroud of the Primordial. The two of them stood in the chamber as Villy turned to Jake.

“Do you have an estimation for how long you will need?” Villy asked.

Jake scratched his chin. “No, not really. This feels like one of those things that are done when they are done and shouldn’t be rushed only to end up with a shitty outcome.”

Also known as doing the opposite of a big videogame release.

“Got it, but I will drag you out if it goes on too long. I have seen people fucking themselves over too many times already by getting so engrossed in a singular goal that they lose all sense of time and simply let the years pass by. Trust me, I, of all people, should know what it feels like to lose track of time,” the Viper said with a less cheerful smile than usual.

“And you have my permission to toss me out if you deem it necessary,” Jake nodded. He would also rather give up on the mythical skill than end up waking up to discover that a few decades had passed in Realtime.

“Great. We will do it just like last time, and I will crank the time dilation as high as it can go without negatively affecting you. Or, at least, negatively affecting you too much,” the Viper explained. “Do note that movement may be a bit more challenging than usual and that manipulating external mana will be quite a bit harder than you expect.”

“As I said, as long as I can meditate and do some light movements unimpeded, we are all good,” Jake once more clarified.

Villy nodded. “Good luck and see you in… well, let’s hope not too many years. At least from your point of view.”

The snake god released some energy as many runes within the chamber activated. Jake felt like something in the environment was slightly shifting. It went fast in the beginning before Jake felt it slow down. Villy stayed in the chamber and stared at Jake, who had taken a lotus position in the middle of the chamber, ready to start meditating.

With every second, the smile of the Viper grew, and after a dozen or so more seconds, Jake began to feel his body be affected. It was as if thin needles pricked him all over, making him grit his teeth from the uncomfortable pain. The Viper noticed and nodded as he cranked down the time dilation a tiny bit, making the feeling disappear.

Jake tried to move his hand and felt like he was underwater, though without the pressure of the water bearing down on him at all times.

“How many seconds pass in here for every second outside?” Jake asked.

“More than one, less than a trillion. I guess you will learn when you are done,” the snake god teased him one last time. “Good luck, Jake. I look forward to seeing what you and that simulacrum of yours have planned.”

With those words, Villy disappeared, though Jake could feel he still observed him. Jake felt grateful as he was still a bit apprehensive with this entire time stuff, but with a Primordial keeping an eye on him, it should be fine.

Closing his eyes, Jake entered his Soulspace. Within, sim-Jake was already waiting for him so they could begin. As for what they planned on actually doing? Well, that was a bit… complicated.

To create a mythical skill, they needed it to be both powerful and rely on high concepts. They had already agreed on one major aspect, more specifically, the fact that sim-Jake was, well, sim-Jake. A simulation of a separate version of Jake himself. This in itself was already a major thing and something it would be moronic not to leverage.

Next up was Eternal Hunger. The weapon was mythical already, proving it, too, relied on incredibly high-level concepts. Jake had done some weird shit when he created the weapon and had been a bit delirious throughout most of the crafting process, but he did know it had absorbed a lot of so-called Jake Juice – or Jake Records – from him. Coupled with the sheer quantity of curse energy and the ability to keep growing, it lived up to its rarity.

Throughout the past months, sim-Jake had also been feeding the weapon through its cursed beast manifestation in his Soulspace. Feeding it with his own Records. Those separate from Jake himself. Sim-Jake had fed the beast with memories that Jake did not have, experiences he never had, and all that made up sim-Jake that wasn’t already identical or merged with the real Jake already. The ultimate goal? For sim-Jake to merge with the weapon, hopefully retaining some semblances of self.

Of course, for this to be possible, sim-Jake had to have more Records than the cursed weapon. This was perhaps the biggest gamble, as no one could be sure. Sim-Jake and real Jake already guessed that it would not simply spawn a cursed version of sim-Jake that was still “him” but something entirely different. One had to remember that the cursed weapon was a Sin weapon, after all. A cursed weapon that relied on a singular strong desire, and there was no way for sim-Jake to replace this, only become part of it.

This was the first aspect of the plan. For sim-Jake to merge with Eternal Hunger. This would add both conceptual and actual power to the new skill they would create. Jake was not sure how it would work exactly, considering Eternal Hunger was a weapon and the energy within it linked to a weapon. Was it even possible to create a skill relying on a specific weapon? Or would it somehow affect the weapon to make it “more” than just a weapon?

All very exciting things for sim-Jake and Jake to discover together.

The second aspect of the plan was the skill itself. With the fuel determined, they needed to know what it would actually do. First of all, it would rely on the Basic Shadow Vault of Umbra skill. That was a given. The big question was just how much of the skill they wanted.

Basic Shadow Vault of Umbra was a movement skill, something Jake didn’t really need that much. This desired upgraded skill would still include movement, but exactly how it would work, none of them knew quite yet. Sim-Jake had worked a lot on upgrading the skill already, and if all they wanted to do was create an ancient-rarity Shadow Vault, they could within a week’s time. But this was not what they wanted, obviously.

However, this did not mean this time working on upgrading Shadow Vault was wasted. Far from it. Through practice, sim-Jake managed to not only learn more of the skill but also align himself far more with the shadow affinity. An affinity that was quite a bit more complicated than Jake had initially expected.

The shadow affinity was heavily tied to the dark affinity, but they were not the same. The shadow affinity was a rank of concept above mere darkness. It was, to simplify, that which existed within the darkness left when the light is obscured. As if it was a second layer of reality itself. Not to be confused with a layer of space but something… different. In fact, the shadow affinity and space affinity had no concrete connection, as shadows seemed to entirely circumvent the concept.

That was why the Court of Shadows had become so powerful. They could use the shadows far more than anyone else. They learned to enter and exit the realm of shadows, allowing them to strike from anywhere at any time. Those powerful enough could travel through shadows, jumping even from planet to planet if they so desired. Of course, while shadow magic was potent, there were also restrictions.

One still had to pass through the shadow realm, as many many called it. On a 2-D scale, using regular shadows was a lot simpler, and one could avoid many things, but interacting with the real world from the shadows was near impossible.

Shadow Vault did not interact with the 2-D shadows but instead temporarily made one “attuned” to the shadow realm. One did not truly enter it, but as the description said, simply embraced the shadows to temporarily become one with them. It was a gross oversimplification of what Jake assumed to be the true Shadow Vault of Umbra.

In its true form, it was more like a mix of stealth, teleportation, and a rapid movement skill. Sim-Jake and Jake theorized that this true version would allow one to fully merge with the shadows and travel within a 3-D version of the shadow realm. How exactly this would work was a mystery, but it would no doubt be damn overpowered.

Anyway, sim-Jake had learned a lot, and they would still rely on the concepts of shadows from sim-Jake. Sim-Jake even had the idea to use the remnant-Records of what had once been his Blessing from Umbra to upgrade the skill. They still wanted to make it separate from Umbra entirely, but from how they understood the workings of the simulated world, everything sim-Jake brought with him was considered his Records alone. It had been his world, after all.

As for the details of this entire shadow part of the skill, Jake was still a bit unclear. On purpose too. Because the final part of the skill relied on their separateness. It relied on them not being the exact same person with the same understandings and thoughts. Yet they also needed to fully understand each other… at least when it came to fighting.

So they had reached one conclusion to make it happen.

“Are you ready?” sim-Jake asked.

“I should ask you the same,” Jake answered with a smirk.

Two katars appeared in the hands of sim-Jake. Jake himself summoned a bow as the two of them stood across from each other.

Naturally, they had concluded that the best course of action would be to fight. Fight until they could each perfectly read and mimic each other, and their two instincts harmonized. They would still take breaks for sim-Jake to keep merging with Eternal Hunger and for Jake to learn what he had to about Shadow Vault, but ninety-nine percent of their time would be spent fighting.

Both of them had infinite resources within the Soulspace. Neither had to ever rest. Neither could truly die or take damage. Both would only use the power of the current Jake, copying his stats for their duel.

“Then here I come,” sim-Jake said as he leaned forward and turned into a shadowy form.

Jake took a step and teleported back as his other self chased.

Thus began the longest fight Jake had ever had, if not the longest he would ever have.