The Primal Hunter

The feeling of absolute control was exhilaration, yet Jake barely felt anything from it. It was an odd paradox that even his own feeling of happiness and sense of power was suppressed by his own skill, but perhaps it was ultimately for the best as it allowed Jake to stay focused.

All perception of time disappeared as Jake simply worked on creating the weapon. Within the cauldron - both on the outside and inside his Soulspace - the curse still grew in power as it absorbed the energy of the Root that had been transferred into Jake’s own soul.

Jake had quickly realized his mistake was to absorb the power of the Root into himself rather than pour it directly into the Chimera weapon, but in his defense, he had been very, very hungry and wanted to consume everything and anything. So with the curse energy of the Root had been right there, he hadn’t really been thinking.

He was not afraid anything bad would happen from having it in his Soulspace. This was within his soul, where actual power did not matter anymore. The power of the Soulspace and the power of a person were not directly linked but had more to do with the total level of one’s Records.

If one used the same comparison that the Records were the cup and experience the water used to fill it, Jake had a really fucking huge cup. This isn’t to say Jake’s soul was “stronger,” as this strength was still based on his own total power.

That is why the King could still damage Jake’s soul. Because he never damaged the Soulspace directly. The Soulspace was the Truesoul, untouched by anything and anyone. Only the user themselves could possibly affect it, and even then, it was ultimately the domain of the system itself. All Jake saw was his own perception of his Truesoul.

If everything around the Soulspace was shattered, leaving only the Soulspace itself, then there was no Jake to dwell within. His Truesoul – or this Soulspace – would still exist; there would just be no one to perceive it besides the system itself. Without this Soulspace’s connection to the outside world through Jake himself, none would be able to find it. In fact, this space likely didn’t “exist” anywhere at all, and if it did, it was somewhere only the system itself could see and was aware of.

But… back at Jake and his work, things were progressing as expected. The curse energy floating in the sky of his Soulspace was being pulled down faster than before, which translated to Jake infusing more of it into the cauldron in the outside world.

A part of Jake knew that what he was doing would not necessarily end up leading to an ideal outcome, as while he was calm right now, he would have to face the brunt force of the curse upon exiting meditation. But, as with all other things, Jake would handle that when it became relevant.

Days passed as Jake just sat there, the bodies rotting all around in the real world. Jake’s poison mist mixing with the corpses created a toxic atmosphere that kept away other would-be predators while even giving Jake a bit of mana regeneration.

Not everything was fine and dandy, though, because the curse of hunger still drained Jake as he sat there. Without outside energy being given, Jake was constantly having his vital energy absorbed too. Under usual circumstances, this would mean certain death with his inability to exit his current state of meditation… but Jake was a cheat.

Every single one of his senses were cut off. Every connection to the outside world was gone – at least every connection that could be cut off. Because just like when he spoke to the King in his Soulspace, he could still feel the outside world courtesy of his Sphere of Perception. The fact it was unaffected by the meditation skill was one of its hidden bonuses, and now that his meditation had become even more extreme, the bonus just got better.

In summary: Jake could use his sphere to still chug down a potion every single hour to not have his own transmutation kill him.

As time passed, the sky in the Soulspace began clearing up. The curse energy had soon entered the weapon wholly, and Jake felt that the weapon had fully integrated – or eaten – the legendary Nalkar Vampire Heart, all with helps from the Catalyst that had made this entire process possible. It had truly been a wonderous item and had even helped smoothen the curse energy absorption.

Everything finally came together as Jake felt the moment it was complete.

Energy suddenly exploded out of the Altmar Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity as the black metal orb flew out of it. A loud crackling was heard as the cauldron distorted and now had several cracks in it, with Jake himself being blasted back and hitting the wall like a ragdoll.

He didn’t even react as he was still within his Soulspace, where a transformation was also happening. Gone was the cauldron as only the black metal ball floated there, now giving off an entirely new aura. At the same time, he felt the influx of energy not from inside the space itself but coming from the outside.

During the ritual, the curse had been powerful enough to send a wave of pure curse energy across the planet, and now that energy was being returned and absorbed. It had been amplified by the many people it had affected during the time the ritual had taken place.

The feeling of hunger from over a billion humans, tens of billions of beasts, and creatures in the trillions entered the black metal orb - entered directly into Jake’s Soulspace. The sheer energy and the weapon itself seemed to come alive within Jake’s soul as something entirely new was born.

Suddenly, out of the ball grew an entirely black sludge-like appendage, followed by another as the weapon floated up in the air, as more sludge-like growth appeared. Arms, legs, mouthes in the millions, a creature out of a horror novel was slowly being given form within Jake’s Soulspace, already growing larger than any mountain on Earth within seconds.

It was a figure so vast and so powerful Jake would have no chance to fight it in the real world. If it had been an actual creature, he did not doubt it would have been B or maybe even A-grade. It sure held the power of one as it finally stopped growing, now larger than even some smaller celestial bodies like the moon.

Jake understood. The abomination was Records given form, a representation of the curse itself. All of the hunger, all of the influence it wished to exert. Jake knew it had come to devour him and make him one with it, just like it consumed everything else eternally.

This was the final part of the ritual. The one where the curse was either given its own form and life, becoming an independent creature… or the part where it was suppressed and made part of Jake. He had created the soul connection to the curse himself, and now it tried to use that connection to become him.

“I guess this is where I am forcefully evolved into some cursed monstrosity as my own Records are overwhelmed by that of the curse and the weapon,” Jake muttered, still sitting on the ground, staring up at a figure infinitely larger than himself.

At least, that is how this would usually go. The thing is… Jake had been in this kind of situation before. Back then… when he fought scale-Jake as he called him. Back then, it was the exact same scenario; this one was just a little more dangerous.

Jake had gotten stronger since then - his Records had grown. Not that it mattered.

It wouldn’t have been able to do shit to him even back then.

Because, sadly for the monstrosity, it had met an even more frightening monster within his own domain. It had met the Primal Hunter within his own territory.

“Sit.”

The monstrosity was forcefully dragged to the ground as it smashed into the empty landscape, lying prone as it failed to move. It was still evolving even now, and soon it began taking on a form that made a bit more sense to Jake as he smirked.

“I guess there is some of that Chimera DNA in the weapon with Chimera in the name after all.”

Jake saw it struggle as he casually stood up and walked closer, the form of the Chimera shrinking every second. It did so as its power was compressed from trying to fight back, though Jake guessed “trying” was the wrong word. The apparition before him didn’t really have an ego. Maybe it would have one after a long period passed like the anti-vampire curse in Yalsten, but that was never going to happen now.

Actually, it was never going to happen as it would just have hi-jacked Jake and distorted him as a person to create a new ego. Quite insidious, but such were cursed.

Back in the real world, the orb was still hanging in mid-air, giving off a frightening aura, almost waiting for the confrontation to be over as Jake lay prone at a wall. The scene was juxtaposed with the domination happening within the Soulspace.

Jake began walking forward, every step creating mounting pressure as the Chimera got weaker and weaker. It began trying to consume the ground below itself but failed. It then tried to find something else to consume, and finally, its eyes landed on the one other thing besides Jake in his entire Soulspace.

“Bad call, buddy,” Jake commented as he allowed it to run for the singular drop of blood floating far above. He wanted to see what would happen, but honestly, it was a bit disappointing as the Chimera just closed its largest of over ten maws on the drop, only to harmlessly phase through.

At least he thought it had just harmlessly faced through until the entire thing began being eroded by just what little remnants of Records the curse managed to touch, forcing Jake to quickly intervene.

“No ruining my curse,” Jake said as he simply willed for the erosion to stop. The drop of blood was without will and didn’t fight it as Jake put a stop to it - only for the moronic curse Chimera to try and eat the drop again.

Jake stomped down as the entire creature was smashed into the ground. Jake then opened his arms as strings of arcane mana fired out from everywhere and bound the Chimera up in a cocoon of highly stable arcane energy.

He considered if he should do anything more but decided against it. To crush this apparition would potentially have negative side effects. So instead, he simply walked over to it and made sure it was well and nicely sealed.

Having the cursed creature within his soul was maybe a bit unsettling… but Jake was fine with it. Especially with his new meditation skill, which he finally checked out.

[Serene Soul Meditation (Epic)] - Enter a state of meditation, separating your soul from your physical body as you enter your Soulspace. While in meditation, regenerate stamina and mana significantly faster. While in meditation, all connections to the outside world are entirely cut off, and no outside stimuli can force you out of meditation. While in Serene Soul Meditation, you are calmer than usual and have far better control of your own emotions. Increases control of all energies while in Serene Soul Meditation. Beware that spending too long within your Soulspace may have adverse effects.

Jake read it over and nodded along. Him not upgrading his meditation skill before this was a travesty. Honestly, it shouldn’t have been that hard if he had just focused on it, but he had just been fine with Thoughtful Meditation.

Now, this new version was quite the upgrade, but it also had downsides. Compared to the normal meditation and even Thoughtful Meditation that only limited perception severely, this one just cut it off entirely.

Someone could walk up to someone meditating with this skill and kill them without them even waking up. Jake had to assume those with a variant of it had to use advanced arrays or have someone with special skills to contact them while in any kind of Soul Meditation.

He could only assume, as naturally none of that applied to him. He could still see outside with his sphere, and he was pretty sure his danger sense would also still activate to wake him up. One really had to love Bloodline shenanigans.

Closing his eyes, Jake prepared to shift himself back to the real world once more, still minding the warning to not stay in the Soulspace too long.

Once he did so, all Jake’s emotions, perception, and, more importantly, hunger returned.

In front of him still floated the black ball that was his new weapon. Jake gritted his teeth as he motioned for it to come to him. Before, Jake had been entirely dominated by the curse energy, but now? Now Jake could deal with it somewhat.

Holding it in his hand, he transformed it into a black sword the same design as his Nanoblade had been – with a long thin blade and a small handle. He admired it as he felt an intimate connection with the blade as he knew it hungered.

And after identifying the blade, it became clear:

It always hungered.

[Eternal Hunger (Mythical)] – A weapon born of eternal hunger - a living sin of consumption, forever starving, forever seeking sustenance. Given form by the [Redacted] Hunter, this new myth still holds properties of its Origin as a weapon created by vampires from the core of a Chimera, allowing it to change shape and adapt to the will of its master. This weapon is forever bound to its creator through their souls and will grow as it consumes. Any attack made with this weapon will absorb energy from the target. Foes slain by the owner of this weapon will have their souls absorbed. Can consume absorbed souls. Take pride as you wield hunger incarnate. Enchantments: Curse of Eternal Hunger. Souldrinker. Soul Consumption.Requirements: Soulbound

After reading it, Jake cackled a bit to himself, not entirely sure if it was because of the curse still influencing him or if it was just his genuine reaction. “Isn’t this just more evil than before?” he muttered.

There were a lot of things to address. This was the highest rarity Jake had ever seen outside of non-godly items was the most obvious one, as he guessed mythical was what came after legendary. There was also the fact that it directly mentioned he was the maker in the description by calling him the Primal Hunter – even if it had somehow redacted that part. Then there was the fact that it could now consume souls, something the original Scimitar of Debauchery could also do.

Honestly, the description didn’t look that complicated, but by just holding it, Jake knew that what he was wielding was a catastrophe given form. The sheer curse energy sealed within the weapon, and Jake himself, was enough to threaten the entire planet if released.

It was also clear that Jake could in no way use the weapon to its full power. Far from it. In fact, him sealing the Chimera inside his Soulspace was the only reason Jake could form coherent thoughts in the real world and not be busy trying to consume anything and everything in existence.

Being done with initial inspections, Jake finally opened his system messages. He saw the notifications of the new Meditation skill, but before that, he saw the weapon be upgraded to legendary rarity. He had not gained anything special from that one besides experience. But finally, at the very bottom of his notifications, he saw what he had been looking for:

The notification of when he had completed the weapon. With it came the usual experience, and to his delight, a title.

But when he read the title in question, Jake wasn’t sure what to think.

[Myth Originator] – Successfully bring a Mythical rarity weapon into existence while still in D-grade. A new myth has been realized through you, and henceforth, all creations made by you will be by one who gave birth to a new myth.

“What the hell does that even mean…” Jake muttered. He had hoped for a stat-giving title or something like that but had just gotten this vague-ass stuff. Was it good? Probably… but it wasn’t what he had been hoping for or even expected.

Then again… it wasn’t like when Jake had made his own skill. This was just him transforming an existing one. Jake could compare it to the difference between when Jake upgraded a rare skill to a legendary one through his Bloodline to make Moment of the Primal Hunter and upgrading an ancient-rarity “of the Malefic Viper skill” to legendary. Both upgraded skills, but one was done entirely by Jake, while the other was not.

Jake wanted to keep examining his gains, but his restlessness grew as he stood there. It had been a long time since the weapon had killed anything, and Jake quickly became aware of exactly how long he had spent inside his Soulspace.

Eighteen days had passed since Jake entered it, and Jake was hungry. Eternal Hunger was hungry, and to fully sate it, there was more killing to be done.

Thus Jake stormed forth, this time his head clear enough to make it an efficient hunt.

Jake had naturally gained levels but didn’t go through them right away. He just quickly tossed all his points in Agility as he put off everything else to kill and consume.