The Primal Hunter

Jake instantly understood how the list was full when he laid his eyes on the first wall, which displayed the top ten individuals of the ninety-third universe.

Nevermore Leaderboards (C-grade): 93rd Universe.

1. Holy Templar – Low Tier

2. Holy Knight – Low Tier

3. Holy Priestess – Low Tier

4. Holy Ranger – Low Tier

5. Holy Knight – Low Tier

6. Holy Mage – Low Tier

7. Holy Duelist – Low Tier

8. Holy Mage – Low Tier

9. Holy Knight – Low Tier

10. Holy Templar – Low Tier

--

They were all shit scores. For reference, there was no actual display of points; people were just placed into a “tier” based on their performance, with the lowest being the Low Tier. After that was Middle-Low Tier, High-Low Tier, and then Peak-Low Tier. Then from there, one moved into the Low-Mid Tier, Mid Tier, High-Mid Tier, and so on and so forth.

All of this is to say that Low Tier was the bottom rung. Jake was still a bit surprised, especially when he saw the list dominated by people who chose to remain anonymous and only post the archetype of their classes. Moreover, they were all from the Holy Church based on their names.

The reason he found it weird was that having “completed” Nevermore already shouldn’t really be a thing, right? To complete it would require one to spend the full fifty years inside, which would be at least a year or two, even with great time dilation by getting to the lower floors, something these people clearly hadn’t. Jake had only managed to reach C-grade recently, same with the others, and this list was only for people from the ninety-third universe.

Perhaps there were some beasts and whatnot already inside, but the final score would only appear on the Leaderboard after one was done in there… so how had the Holy Church managed to speedrun the place? Jake wasn’t the only confused one.

“Have I misinterpreted how Nevermore functions? I believed one would have to spend their full term inside before the score displays?” the old man asked.

Jake was about to comment as Dina spoke. “It’s normal.”

“Could you elaborate?” the Sword Saint looked at her while smiling.

She nodded enthusiastically as she explained.

“The Holy Church always does this. Every new era, the Wyrmgod changes up the dungeons, and the Church sends in C-grades from the new universe to effectively scout it out for their later, more talented parties. While those who get through it can’t relay any direct information, through different methods, the kind of environments, mana types, and of course, the general sizes of the floors can be determined. They even often wear equipment capable of tracking distances traveled through subtle means,” Dina explained quite articulately. “To see the new version within the first decade, one must bring along at least one person from the new universe too, so that is why they are on the list.”

“Huh,” Jake said. “But how did they complete the dungeon that fast already? They can’t have reached C-grade that long ago…”

Dina looked at Jake before she gazed back at the old man, and it was only after he nodded she answered.

“They don’t try to complete it… they just get helped by four far more powerful individuals to the first city layer. There, they then enter a time dilation chamber just to wait out the time and get their names on the Leaderboards. They do this to communicate they have knowledge of the floors and try to recruit people and sell intelligence,” Dina explained.

“That… sounds like such a waste?” Jake said, confused.

“The Church often does things that seem like a waste… and I am sure they also got other parties going to the floors after the first city layer. They usually only bring one member who is getting helped by the four others, and then that person is abandoned for someone they deem actually talented for the floors that provide actual challenges.”

Jake nodded as he kept staring at the Leaderboard. “So they are pretty much sacrificial pawns?”

“Sounds like it,” the Sword Saint said with a frown.

Dina didn’t deny it as she subtly nodded.

“Is this knowledge they gain even worth that much?” Jake asked. “Or the advertisement by having a bunch of low-tier scores on the Leaderboards?”

“No, not really,” Dina admitted. “But a bunch of C-grades aren’t worth much either.”

Jake wanted to protest… but after just thinking for a moment, there was some truth to it. If the Church just had some people who weren’t judged to very talented level to C-grade quickly, ignored trying to get Perfect Evolutions or even good classes or professions, it shouldn’t have been that hard. Especially if the Church invested extra resources in them to help raise them. Maybe these people wouldn’t even have been able to reach the grade naturally.

Or maybe the Church had just thrown away talents because they viewed them as a dime a dozen. Either way, it left a bad taste in Jake’s mouth, and he looked at one of the other Leaderboards that showed the scores from those of the 92nd universe to try and better his mood by seeing the performances of some actual geniuses.

That didn’t make him feel better.

Nevermore Leaderboards (C-grade): 92nd Universe.

1. Yip of Yore – Pinnacle Tier

2. Altius of the Blade – Pinnacle Tier

3. Holy Templar – Pinnacle Tier

4. Hand of Umbra – Pinnacle Tier

5. Chosen of the Blightfather – Pinnacle Tier

6. Warrior of Valhal – Pinnacle Tier

7. Monk – Pinnacle Tier

8. Anonymous – Pinnacle Tier

9. Scion of Life – Pinnacle Tier

10. Altmar Prince – Pinnacle Tier

--

Jake read over all the names, and his eyes naturally settled on number one. Yip of Yore. It seemed that even in C-grade, he had been at the top of his game. As for the others, Jake didn’t care much. Most chose to just name themselves something representing their factions and not themselves as people. The one exception was the top two, which did make Jake wonder who this Altius of the Blade was. Not that it truly mattered.

Instead, he inspected the Leaderboard showing the scores from the ninety-third era. While the Leaderboard before only displayed individuals native to the ninety-second universe, this one displayed every single C-grade who had completed Nevermore during this entire Era. In other words, the top geniuses of nearly fourteen billion years.

Jake opened it… and while it shouldn’t have been unexpected, he saw a familiar name at the top once more.

Nevermore Leaderboards (C-grade): 92nd Era.

1. Yip of Yore – Era’s Pinnacle.

2. Monk – Pinnacle Tier

3. Anonymous - Pinnacle Tier

4. Altius of the Blade – Pinnacle Tier

5. Anonymous - Pinnacle Tier

6. Champion of Valhal

7. The Eldritch Dancer

8. Anonymous - Pinnacle Tier

9. Estrastromoz Regalflight – Pinnacle Tier

10. Chosen Son of Gwyndyr – Pinnacle Tier

--

This list was of the entire era. The top ten C-grade geniuses for billions of years. Yet Yip of Yore still found himself at the top, recognized as the Era’s Pinnacle. Jake was also surprised to see that the guy called Altius of the Blade managed to come in fourth overall, making it seem like there were two supreme geniuses in that era. Jake wondered what happened to that guy… though the most likely explanation was that he failed to ever become a god. In fact, Jake got the feeling that one of the reasons few names were used was because most were dead. At least it would help someone like Gwyndyr to have his name referenced on the Leaderboards even if this Chosen Son died.

Jake shook his head as he looked at the final Leaderboard – the one for the ninety-third era.

Nevermore Leaderboards (C-grade): 93rd Era.

Leaderboard Opens in 615 Days

He wasn’t sure if he should be surprised to find it empty. No one had gotten on it yet, as it wasn’t even open yet, but even if it had been open, Jake didn’t imagine many top geniuses would have had time to get Pinnacle scores, which seemed to be the norm for the top geniuses. Jake felt determined to, at the very least, put his name towards the top of that list – if not at the very top.

The 615 days till it opened also seemed rather arbitrary, though perhaps it did have a deeper meaning Jake wasn’t aware of. Or it was literally just a random number chosen by the Wyrmgod based on how fast the Primordial estimated people will take to clear it.

Wait, maybe it has something to do with titles?

Yeah, that made sense. If claiming the top spot, even for a moment, rewarded a special title or something, then it made sense to not allow people like those chumps from the Holy Church to just claim it. Jake also reckoned that even if you completed your Nevermore run before the Leaderboard opened, you would still be rewarded whenever it did, just on a delay.

However, as he stared at the four Leaderboards, one thing did strike him as odd.

“Is there no all-star Leaderboard? One for the best of the best?” Jake asked.

“No,” the Sword Saint asked. “I had asked my Patron about this once before, and he explained to me that while there was one in the past, it was eventually done away with. The issue is that each era tends to be too different to directly compare their scores, so the Wyrmgod believes a composite list of comparrisons to be faulty. In most cases, the top spot would be claimed by the most powerful of the current era, making it shift all the time and ultimately be useless. At least that is the official story.”

“Official story?” Jake asked. “So, what is the unofficial one?”

“That it still exists, but if you aren’t worthy of placing yourself on it, then you aren’t worthy of knowing about it either,” the Sword Saint said with an amused smile. “I do still think there is some truth to the official story, but I believe the framework is still in place if the Leaderboard did exist once upon a time.”

“Hm,” Jake mused to himself. No matter what the truth was, it didn’t change their goal in Nevermore in the slightest. They just had to do as well as possible in both the group portion and the individual challenges.

“We have delayed enough, have we not? Let us continue towards the entrance to Nevermore proper. We shall claim the top places of this Leaderboard and stand here next in admiration of our own glory,” the King said with confidence in his voice.

None of the others seemed to disagree with heading off. However, just as Jake was about to agree, he heard voices behind him from two C-grades speaking loudly.

“The Chosen of Yip of Yore will claim first place, won’t he? You saw in him the northern arenas?” one of them said with reverence in his voice.

“Yeah, did you see when he took on an entire party from the Altmar Empire? It wasn’t even a fight…” the other guy answered with an equal level of reverence. “He is probably the top genius from the new universe, right?”

“Definitely,” the first one agreed.

Jake stopped listening in as they just kept sucking the orange fucker off. Jake couldn’t even say he was surprised anymore at hearing about the guy. Jake also wasn’t dumb enough to think this was a coincidence, and clearly, the Sword Saint agreed.

“This was planned,” the Sword Saint said as they still stood in front of the leaderboards. “That he is at an arena just when we happen to arrive at Nevermore also isn’t coincidental. He has been waiting for you.”

Nodding, Jake agreed. “Let’s go check it out either way.”

“Chances are he wants you to come. It is even likely he wants you to challenge him there,” the old man continued.

“I know,” Jake said.

“I do wonder who this Ell’Hakan truly is. Perhaps I should enter the arena for a bout with him,” the Fallen King voiced his interest.

“No,” Jake shook his head. “Can you take Sylphie and Dina elsewhere? The Sword Saint and I will go check out the arena and then regroup with you three afterward.”

“Why?” the Unique Lifeform questioned.

“Because he is dangerous in a way that pure power doesn’t work against. I know the Sword Saint faced him before and walked away fine, but I barely trust myself, which is why I won’t go alone,” Jake explained.

Jake knew the smartest move would probably be to just not go to this arena, but his curiosity ultimately won out over his logic. He wanted some clue about the party members Ell’Hakan had gathered, and he wanted to feel how strong the other Chosen had grown since their last encounter. After his recent talks with Villy, it became clear Jake couldn’t half-arse dealing with Ell’Hakan. This is why he didn’t want to risk exposing the others to the nahoom, or more specifically, expose them to his Bloodline.

His Bloodline was, in all honesty, scary as hell, and while Jake trusted the Sword Saint to handle his emotions, he wasn’t so sure about the three others. Dina, he barely knew, but she had grown up isolated and only around trusted friends, so she had little experience with the world. He could easily see just a single encounter fuck her up and potentially even poison the well entirely, making them lose her as a party member.

Sylphie was too free-spirited and probably wouldn’t be that affected, at least not when it came to turning her against Jake. However, if he instead tried to inspire doubt or even have her attack Ell’Hakan to break the rules of Nevermore and have her be punished or something like that, Jake could totally see Sylphie fall for it.

Finally, there was the Fallen King. Jake had defeated the King once, and he knew how prideful the Unique Lifeform was. At times, Jake felt like they were talking a tight line of mutual respect and viewed the existence of the other as mutually beneficial, and Jake couldn’t write off Ell’Hakan ruining that balance. Perhaps even go as far as make the King feel that death would be better than being bound to Jake.

Ultimately, it came down to Jake not truly comprehending what the other Chosen was capable of, and he knew it would be foolish to take too big of a risk by exposing them all. Hence why he would go with the Sword Saint only.

One other reason he wanted to go was for the sheer exposure. Chances are their final showdown would be in C-grade, and Jake wanted a better feel for what he would be dealing with Bloodline-wise. A part of him feared that perhaps Ell’Hakan’s Bloodline had also evolved and grown stronger like his own, which would add a whole other layer to the challenge.

Jake explained this logic to the others, and while the Fallen King wasn’t happy about it, he still complied.

“Very well, I shall respect your assessment. I have previously chosen to not respect the power of a Bloodline once, and I find it pertinent to not do so once more lest I wish to see myself twice-fallen,” the Fallen King said as he turned to the girls. “Follow me, hawk of the wind, dryad of nature.”

“Ree!?” Sylphie screeched at Jake in an offended tone for not wanting to take her along.

“He is dangerous, okay? He makes people think things that aren’t true. Like, what if he made you think that I was actually a bad person?” Jake asked.

“Ree!” Sylphie retorted.

“No, I am not saying you would for sure fall for something like that, but… what if he made you feel something really bad that made you do something you didn’t want to? Something really bad?” Jake tried again, pretty much saying the first thing. He wasn’t really sure how to phrase it…

“Consider this, hawk of wind. What if this enemy Chosen made you believe the rumored Smelly Pot, as you have aptly named it, is, in fact, the perfect nest?” the King said.

What the fuck kind of argument is tha-

“Ree, ree!” Sylphie’s eyes glowed with realization as she flew over and landed on the King’s head before promptly telling Jake to never allow the monster known as Ell’Hakan anywhere near her.

Jake stared a bit before just giving up. If it worked, it worked.

“I shall take these two somewhere else, perhaps another arena to observe some battles or have some entertainment for ourselves,” the Fallen King said. “I wish you luck facing your rival Chosen.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Jake smiled. Even if the entire plan was to not truly face him in the first place. Killing in the arenas wasn’t allowed, after all.

With that, the group prepared to split up as Jake and the Sword Saint headed to this Northern arena while the others headed toward the southern ones.