The Primal Hunter 9, page 44
Commenting on the armor itself, it was everything Jake was looking for. The design featured black leather with little decoration, the crafter having gone for utility over appearance. The stats were definitely great, too, with the best thing being the Shadestalker Nullification enchantment. According to the crafter, Shadestalker Monarchs were nearly invulnerable to physical attacks, as their bodies were half-ethereal, making them incredibly powerful variants. Jake now having some of that utility was definitely nice, and maybe his armor pieces would now prove actually useful beyond just being stat boosters.
After the leather store, Jake rejected going to another kind of leather store that Irin tried to make him visit. He expertly managed to dodge her teasing innuendos and instead made her bring him somewhere he could get some bracers.
Even as they walked, Irin worked in the background, telling him that she had several people working with her behind the scenes to assist in his quest for sweet loot. These other employees of the Humanoid Resources Department tracked down which shops had recent creations that fit Jake and were of sufficiently high rarity. So when Jake asked about bracers, she already had a place in mind that they had to teleport through two gateways to reach.
They appeared in a new neighborhood different from anywhere Jake had been before. Floating structures and massive towers and spires lined the horizon, and the mana in the air was so heavy he felt it faintly suppress him. Irin was even worse off, but she managed to keep steady as she explained where they were.
This was somewhere filled with mages, magic researchers, and crafters of the magical kind. No one below C-grade could live there due to the formation amplifying the environmental mana, and even if you were C-grade, it took a special visa of sorts to be allowed to stay long-term. Well, a visa or having the Blessing of the Malefic Viper. That one was kind of a free pass to anywhere controlled by the Order of the Malefic Viper.
It had to be mentioned this place was only under the control of the Order and wasn’t actually part of it. Jake saw that this neighborhood was primarily inhabited by elves, and Irin mentioned that roughly half of those living there had ties to the Altmar Empire or were members.
The reason they had come there was that a certain crafter had recently created a new pair of bracers that suited Jake nicely… but as with many eccentric crafters of high skill, they did not want to simply sell them. In addition to payment, he wanted someone with a unique or special kind of defensive magic to allow him to analyze and record them for research purposes.
Jake, seeing no reason not to trust Irin, gave it a shot. The crafter lived in a large magic tower, and upon entering, Jake felt the mana grow even denser. So dense that Irin chose to stay outside as Jake conducted business.
No one was inside the tower’s entrance area, even as Jake walked in. The place was pretty big, easily more than a hundred meters in diameter, with nothing there being spatially expanded. Apparently, the high mana density tended to mess with expansion, and even if it was possible, the upkeep would go through the roof, rendering it not worthwhile. For this same reason, these towers did not have teleporters and usually just used stairs.
After standing within the empty tower and inspecting the place’s interesting design, he felt movement. A person was walking down the long, winding stairs leading further up the tower. It was an older-looking gentleman wearing a mage robe.
The mage looked Jake up and down before scoffing. "You don’t look like a mage."
Jake could see what he meant, considering he had worn his leather armor, clearly making him look like a melee fighter of some kind.
"I wouldn’t call myself one either." Jake shrugged. "I am here for the bracers I heard you were offering."
"You have come to the wrong place, then," the man politely explained. "I am looking for barrier mages with unique classes and types of magic. That is my requirement for selling the bracers. Your information must have been lacking, seeing as you came all the way here."
"No, I know.” Jake nodded. "I would say my barriers aren’t all too shabby, and I think they would be of interest to you."
The mage seemed almost resigned. "Fine, follow me upstairs. You are the third person this week, so be aware my requirements are high."
Jake nodded as he walked up the stairs after the mage. He felt the other man was only in early C-grade despite how old he looked. Jake got the feeling that, as with the Sword Saint, his appearance was not one he had chosen to adopt. This man was truly old. Considering he was an elf, too, he was probably even older than Jake guessed.
On the upper floor, Jake saw a giant magical circle that filled the entire space. He felt complex magic at work, but his skill in identifying this kind of formation was way below his skill level in rituals, so he couldn’t really tell how it worked.
"The formation is made to record your flow of mana and analyze any barriers created within it, giving me data I can use to improve my own magic," the old mage explained, though his tone made it sound like he was just going through the motions. Clearly, his hope in Jake showing something interesting was near nil.
"Go ahead and enter the formation to display your magic whenever you feel ready," the mage motioned.
"Can I see the bracers first?" Jake asked.
The mage looked to be thinking for a second before just nodding. "Fine."
He waved his hand, and a pair of what looked more like wrist wrappings than bracers appeared. However, Jake instantly felt the dense mana within and used Identify.
[Wrappings of Immutability Magic (Legendary)] – Wrappings created from a special fiber, the fabric interwoven in a complex pattern to form an array. The bracers themselves offer little protection, as they will automatically fuse with the user if affected by anything that could destroy them. The magical array created by the pattern serves to empower certain forms of magic from the user. Increases the resilience of all magical constructs. Greatly increases the effects of all barriers made to protect your person. Enchantments: +500 Wisdom, +300 Willpower, +300 Intelligence. Resilient Magic. Immutable Barriers.
Requirements: Lvl 200+ in any humanoid race.
Just as he used Identify, the mage took them away again. "As I said, they can be bought only if you manage to convince me with your barriers. I don’t care about any amount of Credits you can offer me."
Jake nodded and smiled. "Just basic barriers are enough, right? I don’t have any skills to summon barriers. I just free-cast it."
He saw the expectations of the mage drop even lower as he just nodded. "Whatever you think is best."
"Alrighty."
Jake stayed optimistic as he went into the middle of the magic circle. Without further ado, he condensed his magic to form a barrier of pure, stable arcane mana in front of him. He held it as he stared at the barrier mage.
The mage just looked at the barrier for a few seconds before looking confused. "Wait a second, please." He went over to the formation and squatted down to touch it. He closed his eyes and frowned deeply. "It works as it should…"
Standing up, the mage looked at Jake holding the barrier. "Would you allow me to check out the barrier in person?"
"Sure," Jake said, shrugging.
The mage walked over and began to inspect the barrier, which just looked like a pink-purple-hued plane of glass. Jake felt him infuse some mana into it, forcing Jake to respond by also infusing a bit. The mage just seemed even more confused, and he looked it over while taking out something that looked like an icepick. He stabbed it into the barrier, making cracks form all over it, but they rapidly repaired and pushed the stick back out.
"What affinities are behind this barrier?" the mage asked, his demeanor changed from bored to extremely interested.
"I don’t know exactly,” Jake said. “It is based on my arcane affinity… but I call this kind of mana stable arcane mana."
"Arcane affinity?" The mage nodded, impressed. "Marvelous. It registers as a physical object to my formation, yet when I inspect it in person, it is undoubtedly made of magic. Can you show some more variants of your barrier and make changes to it? Even if I can’t tell anything right now, the formation is still gathering data I can use for later analysis."
Jake complied, spending the next half an hour just summoning stable objects of arcane mana, even showing off the destructive part a bit here and there to demonstrate its ability to change. The more time passed, the more enamored the old elf became. He repeatedly praised Jake’s mana and turned into the friendliest dude Jake had met in a long time.
After all was said and done, he practically threw the bracers at Jake, but even so, he seemed hesitant and stopped Jake before he left.
The mage smiled as he shook his head and spoke, "I feel like I am almost taking advantage of you for showing me this. Tell me, is there anything else I can help compensate you with?"
"Probably not," Jake declined politely, adding on, "Unless you have a ring for newly evolved C-grades with a lot of Perception on it."
"Something like this?" the mage said as a ring appeared in his hand.
[Opal Eye of Farsight (Ancient)] – A golden ring faceted with an Opal Eye Gemstone of ancient rarity, created by a talented crafter. The Opal Eye Gemstone is a natural treasure found only in environments with potent mana, and is a favored item by all who seek to perceive the world better. Further improvements by the crafter bring out the innate power of the gemstone, allowing the user to temporarily infuse it with energy and greatly increase the effect of Perception on their visual organs. Enchantments: +1000 Perception, +200 Wisdom, +200 Intelligence. Opal Eyes of the Farseer.
Requirements: Lvl 200+ in any humanoid race. Must possess physical visual organs.
Jake stared for a few seconds, dumbstruck. "Exactly something like that. How did you…?"
The mage smiled. "A close friend of mine is a talented jeweler, and I stocked up on rings I could offer in case someone showed me barriers not quite good enough for bracers but still worthy of reward. Do you want it?"
"Hell, yeah." Jake grinned, having just spared himself going ring shopping with Irin—something that would no doubt have led to many comments from her.
The two of them chatted for a bit longer before the mage politely told Jake that he was eager to get on with the further analysis of all the data the formation had gathered. Jake said his goodbyes and walked down the stairs, leaving the elated mages to his business.
Jake exited the tower a happy man with a new ring and bracers before meeting up with Irin again. They had some time to spare now that he didn’t have to go ring shopping, and Jake took stock of what he still needed to look into improving.
With four good upgrades in a day, this left Jake with his necklace, boots, gloves, and second ring yet to be upgraded or replaced. All of which had a bit more of a complicated replacement process. Irin had some ideas for this, but for now, they had other plans, because—with permission from Jake—she had booked a table at a restaurant.
But not just for the two of them. A certain white-scaled danger noodle and her friends would also join them, allowing Jake to finally check up on how Scarlett was doing.
Chapter 50
A Big Surprise for Everyone Involved
Thinking about it, the prevalence of restaurants pretty much everywhere in the multiverse was kind of weird. It was understandable they existed in low-ranked areas with a lot of people in lower grades, but somewhere like the Order? Barely anyone had to eat. Yet they were still in every single district, and from the looks of it, damn popular too.
Jake asked Irin a bit about the benefits of consuming food, and besides the minor buffs to regeneration and the fact that eating restored some resources, there wasn’t really any practical purpose. At least, not from the food offered in restaurants like one could find in the Order. Yet it was just a custom to eat among people of all grades, be they D- or S-grade.
"I think rather than question why people eat, you should ask why they wouldn’t," Irin said as they made their way to the restaurant where Scarlett and her friends were. "We live long lives, and while you are pretty damn one-track-minded, the majority isn’t. People need time to mentally recharge and simply enjoy themselves once in a while. It isn’t even about being lazy. A few days of break from a difficult task can help you come back with a healthier mental state, allowing you to spot things you couldn’t before."
"That makes sense," Jake acknowledged, even if he didn’t feel like that himself.
He never truly had the need to relax, but he could recognize that it was nice to just take time off once in a while, like when he spent time with his family. It also wasn’t like this would hurt your Path in any way. With the lifespans people had in higher grades, it did become unreasonable to work all the time.
"Why do you think entertainment is such a big thing in the multiverse?" Irin smiled. "Many adopt hobbies, even if they are not related to their professions, though the enlightened do have it easier, as they can switch between profession and class to bring diversity into their progress. For monsters in particular, you need something other than just constant work, which is why you stumble across so many forms of entertainment. Gaming houses, gambling, and competitions of all kinds can be found anywhere. Ah, and of course, one of the most popular forms of entertainment."
"I already know what you’re gonna say, and—" Jake tried in vain.
"Sex—or, you know, brothels." Irin grinned, clearly enjoying being blunt with Jake. "Don’t even think the people working there always do it just for Credits. You would be surprised how many individuals of all sexes and races go there not to earn anything, but simply to entertain themselves. Many of the brothels aren’t even about exchanging money. They are more just places where you meet up, mingle, and hopefully find someone else with mutual attraction. Of course, there are also a lot of brothels operating under far worse conditions, and the entire slave business is certainly propped up by people looking for slaves to entertain them, but you would be surprised by how rare that kind of thing actually is. If you can afford slaves, you are probably wealthy or powerful, in which case you don’t need to buy partners who will willingly jump into bed with you."
"How did we get here from me asking why restaurants are so popular?" Jake sighed.
"Because I wanted to semi-subtly tell you that worrying about power dynamics when trying to look for mutual entertainment is kind of stupid, as you take the topic way too seriously.” The succubus smiled before looking slightly disappointed. "Ah, we are here. I should have walked slower."
Jake felt relief at escaping being called out by Irin as he looked at the massive building in front of him. It resembled a pagoda, but with far more floors than was feasible on Earth. The entire thing was made of wood and very well-decorated. All in all, it looked like an expensive place to eat.
"Oh, well, let’s head inside," Irin said as she grabbed Jake by the arm and dragged him inside.
Jake was taken by surprise, as he had been busy scanning his sphere to see if he could spot Scarlett, but he saw someone else he recognized before her. Sitting at a large table on one of the upper floors was Reika, joined by her beastfolk roommate Bastilla. He hadn’t seen Reika for a while, so it was a pleasant surprise.
Her being there also wasn’t a coincidence. She was sitting together with Scarlett, one of the other human alchemists from Earth, and two scalekin Jake did not recognize. Considering they sat on the same side of the table as Scarlett, he assumed they were her friends.
The demoness just flashed the waiter a token, allowing them to walk straight inside and over to one of the teleporters. The floors of the pagoda were all individual rooms, and each could only be accessed through teleportation, with powerful formations also isolating the rooms for privacy.
Irin’s token allowed them to teleport straight up into the room where everyone else was waiting. Jake smiled as he saw them, making his mask invisible.
They all turned to look at the two new people who had appeared. Reika and Bastilla were the first to turn and look, and they didn’t appear surprised, meaning they had expected him. The human alchemist sitting with Reika also just nodded politely. Scarlett, however, had a weird reaction. She flashed a smile before her eyes turned into slits, and then she froze, staring at Jake and Irin.
Jake followed her gaze and only realized now that Irin still held his arm, now tighter than before. Almost as if she’d waited for him to notice before letting go, she finally disengaged and bowed to everyone at the table. "Hello, there. Some of you know me, but for those who don’t, I am Irinixis of the Humanoid Resources Department."
"Congratulations on your evolution," Reika responded. "To both of you."
She herself was still level 199, meaning she was probably working hard on catching up with either her class or profession—or perhaps shoring up weaknesses before evolving. Bastilla was lower at 186, with the other human alchemist at 192.
"Thanks," Jake said as he regarded them all, including the scalekin. "Jake Thayne. A pleasure to meet you all."
Scarlett seemed to have calmed down after seeing Irin let go of Jake, but she still glared daggers at the succubus before standing up and bowing. "Thank you for joining us, Lord Thayne."
Her tone was overly polite, and Jake could see she had clearly gone far for this entire event. She did not wear her usual dress made of her own skin, having instead bought one, and even her hair was set up. Remembering his recent conversation with Vesperia, he wanted to at least acknowledge the work she had put in.
"I should thank you for inviting me," Jake said while smiling at her. "You look great, too. It suits you."
It was just a small compliment, but Scarlett turned, well, scarlet in the face as she beamed. She quickly invited Jake and Irin over to take a seat, seemingly entirely over Irin’s entrance shenanigans. He thought so, anyway, until she made Irin sit in the middle of the table while she placed Jake at the end, with her sitting on one side and Reika on the other.
