The Primal Hunter

Vilastromoz appeared just as he saw Jake pass out. He crouched down and placed a finger on his Chosen’s forehead, making the hunter twitch slightly as an instinctual response, but otherwise, Jake did not move. The Viper scanned his body briefly before nodding.

He had thoroughly exhausted his own resource pools, and his soul seemed more feeble than usual. Health Points were dangerously low, stamina too, and even his mana was thoroughly drained. The core of his soul remained firm, but the outer layers showed faint cracks all over, indicating low levels of self-inflicted soul damage. Nothing that wouldn’t heal within the day, but it showed how much he had overstrained himself. Vilastromoz also felt something else was missing, but he could not quite place what, so he turned his attention to the result of this entire thing.

The Viper looked down at the core still cradled in Jake’s hand, and frowned as he scanned it. He felt the Records pulsing within, and he did a simplistic divination to see what it would do and what its effects would be if used on the Bee Queen or any other ectognamorph for that matter.

Peculiar.

It was immediately obvious that Vilastromoz would not be able to take the item away. In fact, he felt it only remained stable while in the vicinity of his Chosen, making the Viper believe whatever concepts allowed it to stay whole would disperse if he took it away. Proof it was an item tied directly to Jake. Right now, a feeble balance had been reached, but more than that, the Viper felt movement within the core.

It feels… alive. Yet not.

Vilastromoz could only grin. His divination had failed when it came to showing the actual effects of the item, too, proving that it truly was related to Jake’s Bloodline. He kept scanning it for a while, questions appearing with every passing moment.

In the end, he sighed and shook his head, displaying an even wider grin. ”What a wonderful sensation.”

The Viper felt an emotion that had been oh-so-rare until recently. Curiosity. Interest. It was amazing as he realized he only got more and more questions the longer he looked at the odd core – the longer he spent with his utterly baffling Chosen.

”I have no idea how it works. How he works.”

He waved his hand as a faint mist spread out around him, entering his Chosen’s body to restore him faster. Vilastromoz felt impatient as he wanted to see what would happen next. After observing Jake for a few more minutes to make sure everything was as it should be, the Viper teleported away, excited to view the conclusion of the ritual. The resulting creature he would spawn.

And Jake’s reaction upon seeing his creation.

Jake felt like he had a massive hangover as he slowly awoke. He felt oddly weak, and not the kind of weakness that came from overusing his boosting skill, but something far more… foreign. He inspected his own body thoroughly and found things were not as they should be.

Somehow his resources had fully regenerated, and he sensed remnants of energy in the air and the lingering presence of Villy.

”Thanks for the heal,” Jake muttered to the snake god, continuing his self-inspection.

He moved his limbs a bit and found strength rapidly returning. Yet he still felt like he had lost something. Like something was missing. Within a minute, Jake felt back at full power, and he knew that his combat ability was not affected in the slightest. The fogginess and feeling of having a hangover also faded as he moved about, making his mind clear.

Shaking his head, Jake looked down at the item between his legs. It looked nothing like a core from an ectogna anymore, but more like some crystal ball or perhaps a large snow globe. The outer shell reminded him of his own stable arcane mana, but it was what was within that interested him the most.

In the center was a dark purple spark, flashing with energy, and tendrils of lightning-like energy hit the edges of the core at regular intervals like whatever was within tried to escape. Jake looked at this spark and knew what it was. Pure energy and Records. Stabilized… at least for now. Jake used Identify on the changed core and was not disappointed.

[Origin Core of the Hundred Royals (Unique] – A core containing immense Records related to the Hundred True Royals of the Ectognamorph Lineage. This vast amount of energy and Records will allow any ectognamorph Queen that consumes it to embrace its Origin related to the Hundred True Royals. The core desires to fulfill its purpose and will dissipate if not allowed to. Follows and is tied to the will of its creator, the Primal Hunter.Requirement: Soulbound.

Lots of interesting stuff there. First of all, the description reminded him a lot of the Mystbone, so that was good, considering he had hoped to make an item reminiscent of that. Its rarity of unique also further added confidence to this. The last two sentences were a bit odd, especially as it talked about the item having a desire and what he could only read as a warning that the item had a limited window of opportunity before it would cease to be. He did not get the feeling they were talking hours or even days, but more months or years… which seemed like a long time, but in a multiversal context, it really wasn’t.

The part about following Jake’s will and how it was tied to him was also a bit odd, especially the fact that it used the term ”the Primal Hunter” and not something like the creator or alchemist or any other such generic term. This reliance on Jake was further established by its status as a Soulbound item, which did kill all hopes Jake ever had of becoming an Origin Core merchant.

Now, he did have some questions about the nature of what he had made. Such as what the hell the Hundred True Royals of the Ectognamorph Lineage was? Jake took the educated guess that it was those hundred Queens he saw during the odd vision, but that didn’t make all that much sense to him. He had clearly felt like it was the cosmos itself that had given birth to them, but… maybe it did kind of make sense it turned out like this?

Did the system transform it into something more tangible and usable?

It was possible. Made even more possible by the next string of messages. Jake had hoped to see his Core Manipulation skill upgrade, and it sure did not disappoint there.

[Advanced Core Manipulation (Epic)] – To touch upon a core of pure energy and Records is to touch upon the broken shell of a soul. Allows the alchemist to far more easily manipulate cores and the Records within the broken soul shells with the goal of refining them. Refined cores will, in most cases, be more effective, and you can also choose to amplify certain effects. Having taken it further, you have learned that the layers of souls can be malleable in some circumstances, and applying this knowledge, you have learned to fuse cores containing similar Records and even change their nature in some circumstances as your own soul influences the core. Adds an increase to the effectiveness of Advanced Core Manipulation based on Wisdom and Willpower

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[Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter (Legendary)] – The soul of all is sacred, the Truesoul infallible, yet even the impossible awakens when the Origin calls. Allows the Primal Hunter to far more easily manipulate cores and the Records within the broken soul shells to refine and even fuse them for increased effectiveness or amplification. Infuse the essence of your being into a core, allowing its Origin to awaken, resulting in an unpredictable transformation of Records. Be warned that being the harbinger of primeval origins comes with a cost and should not be indulged in lest you wish to lose your Path and Lineage. Delays between each use of essence infusion are heavily recommended. Adds an increase to the effectiveness of Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter based on Wisdom, Willpower, and Perception.

First, the elephant in the room. Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter. This was Jake’s first time seeing a profession skill carry that name, but perhaps more than that, it was the first skill Jake had consciously made carrying the name.

The skill also included some explanation as to this odd weakness. It looked like Jake did expend some intangible energy, be it Records or something else, whenever he made these crafts. However, the system did not include a warning to never do it, only one telling him to do it sparingly and have delays in between each use.

He could only interpret this one way. System-fuckery did kick in.

A wave of relief washed over him at the system’s recognition and looking at the item he had created, it didn’t look like the system had nerfed him too much, if at all. If nothing else, it had turned the skill more useful. The general upgrade to the Core Manipulation skill was also more than welcome, as he instinctively knew all its existing effects were improved along with this new ability to ”infuse his essence,” as the system called it.

All in all, it was a damn great upgrade. It even referred to what Jake did as being the harbinger of primeval origins and called him the Primal Hunter in the description, which was damn nice. It was frankly better than Jake had expected. Made even better by the next part.

Because with the skill upgrade had naturally also come the sweet, sweet levels.

*You have successfully crafted [Origin Core of the Hundred Royals (Unique] – A new kind of creation has been made. Bonus experience earned*

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 201 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points*

…

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 204 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 202 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 203 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

Jake nodded, satisfied and honestly not that surprised by the four levels he had gained. Upgrading a skill directly from epic to legendary in C-grade was no easy feat, and Jake did not doubt for a second that it was a high-tier legendary skill too. Not to mention the sheer act of creating the Origin Core, a potentially never-seen-before item. It put Jake at 203, still leaving him plenty of leeway for Nevermore, but no longer entirely a newbie in C-grade.

Things had gone way better than expected. Jake felt like he was on a roll, and since he was on a roll, he wanted to keep going. It only made sense to ride the momentum of his success.

Seeing as he was fully regenerated and felt sharp as ever, he saw no reason to delay his actual objective: awakening the Bee Queen.

The final part of the ritual was honestly nothing more than a formality at this point. Jake had prepared for it so much, and the ritual circle had been primed in case whatever item Jake made had a very limited duration in which it was usable. Which had kind of turned out to be true, making Jake pat himself on the back for the foresight.

Jake got to work immediately as he headed towards the circle, speaking to the watching Villy as he walked over.

“Better call Duskleaf for the watch party to see the final part of the ritual and the end result.”

He did not get an answer but knew the god had heard him as he soon after became aware that Duskleaf was now also watching.

Looking at the Pollendust Bee Container in the center of the circle, he inspected the three-meter tall boulder filled with holes that housed the egg. This container was meant to serve as the home of the Pollendust Bee Queen even after awakening, but Jake had a feeling it was no longer necessary. He still chose to hatch the Queen within it as the ritual was already designed to feed all the energy into the container. There were doubts if the D-grade ancient rarity item would survive, but it really didn’t matter as long as the egg hatched successfully. The container was made for a Pollendust Bee Queen, and Jake seriously doubted that was what would hatch.

Jake did a preparatory round as he placed all the necessary time-sensitive items around the ritual circle. After some last-minute inspections, Jake was ready. He went to the central gathering point of energy and laid down the Origin Core. On a side note, Jake had discovered that storing the core in his inventory was impossible.

Crouching, Jake placed his hands on the humming ritual circle as he infused energy into it and activated the final step. The entire thing lit up, and all the catalysts and energy sources he had placed in the minor gathering points began feeding the egg at a rapid pace. The Origin Core remained unmoving, but Jake felt like it wanted to join the other energies.

He looked at it, and instinctively he knew. All it needed was permission.

“Go.”

Just as the word left his mouth, the Origin Core exploded, the energy surging into the ritual circle. It utterly dominated all the other energies as it drilled into the egg inside the Bee Container. Jake felt the entire ritual circle struggle with the overpowering Records and energy, but he stabilized it as best he could. He didn’t direct the ritual or do anything more now… because he knew he didn’t have to.

The egg itself seemed to have come alive and begun absorbing energy by itself. It intensified with every second, and Jake helped as much as he could and even complied when he felt the egg want some of his energy. Minutes passed by as the ritual circle slowly started fading and breaking apart, the lines drawn receding towards the center. This entire final process took about an hour until Jake knew.

It’s complete.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 205 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 204 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

A shockwave was released from the ritual’s center and destroyed the rest of the circle as the bee container blew up from the energy overload. A bright light and thousands of stone shards flew past Jake as dense energy washed over him. The energy was followed by the presence of a C-grade as a faint scent of flowers filled the air.

Jake felt elated and smiled as he felt the powerful presence released from the Bee Queen, but his facial expression froze as the bright light faded, and he saw her form in its full glory.

Before him stood what he could only describe as a tall mature humanoid woman. She was several heads taller than Jake, standing at nearly two meters thirty, resulting in him staring straight into the two massive mounds on her chest, both of them wholly uncovered. In fact, her entire body was naked, displaying yellowish skin all over her mostly lithe body.

Jake averted his gaze from the two objects that usually only mammals had and finally saw some non-humanoid and ectognamorph-like traits. Four transparent wings sprouted from her back and two antennas from her forehead. Finally, he met her black eyes with yellow irises, finding them staring straight back at him as she, too, inspected him as he inspected her. Jake felt unsure of what to say as she spoke.

“I greet thee,” she suddenly bowed deeply, making Jake even more uncomfortable at the movement of certain objects… not helped by the next part.

“My honored Sire.”