The Primal Hunter 13, page 54
In summary, Arnold believed the teleportation circle was good enough to work decently, but Jake was the only one who was a World Leader and could teleport home by himself. Oh, and should there be an accident that prevented that, his sugar daddy Patron could always bail him out.
It was a touch insulting, but it wasn’t like Arnold was wrong, and Villy would definitely laugh his ass off if he had to save a Jake floating about in the middle of fuck-all nowhere.
“Alright, I guess I’ll be your beta tester,” Jake agreed without any argument. “Now, I assume this works on the red-flag planets, right? Does it also work on the gray ones?”
“It works on every planet with a Prima Vessel on it,” Arnold answered. “That includes the three marked black. While they may be designated as destroyed, there are still Prima Vessels on them.”
Jake was pleasantly surprised that he could pick any planet, as that was just what he had hoped for. Thinking about it, these Prima Vessels were all incredibly durable, so they shouldn’t be destroyed by C-grades fighting. Secondly, it wasn’t like the planets that were marked with a black flag had all just exploded. They were still there, even if they were no longer considered actual planets.
“One more note before you go. We were forced to ensure anyone teleported would appear outside the planet’s atmosphere. Those we tried to teleport inside any atmosphere found themselves destroyed as they teleported through the atmospheric layers, so you will have to find your own way through. I’m certain you can handle it.”
Jake figured that was probably another reason they had picked him for this thing. “I’ll get through the atmosphere somehow. I have a few ideas. Now, do you have any particular place in mind you want me to go?” It was Arnold’s teleporter, so it was only nice to ask him directly.
“I don’t. You are free to choose yourself.” Arnold pressed a few buttons, and a screen was projected onto the wall. Jake instantly recognized it as identical to the one in the Prima Vessel, making Jake believe Arnold had just remotely streamed it.
Having an open choice for where to go, Jake considered his options. Going to a blue planet was quickly written off. He could go to those without this teleporter, and those he couldn’t visit were part of Ell’Hakan’s alliance, and he saw no reason to head there.
Red ones were the most obvious choice, where he had the highest probability of saving the most people while knowing there was a Prima Guardian there. It was also possible planets marked with a gray flag still had living Prima Guardians, and there were likely people to save there, too, so those two options were kind of close.
However, ultimately, Jake didn’t want to head to any of these. Instead, he looked at Arnold as he pointed toward a certain planet:
The homeworld of “I,” and the first planet to get marked with a black flag.
Arnold looked at the one Jake had selected and nodded. “I understand. Trying to discover more about the nature of this anomaly seems like a wise choice.”
“That’s also my thoughts,” Jake said, nodding. He also desperately wanted to sate his own curiosity. What kind of world had given birth to a creature now just going around destroying worlds? What the hell had the natives done to make such a thing happen? These were all questions he would hopefully soon have an answer to.
“Step onto the teleporter once ready,” Arnold said as he took out sixteen glowing cubes of metal, all overflowing with energy, and levitated them over to different focal points of the formation. Batteries of some kind to power the circle, and based on the energy Arnold had packed into them, Jake understood why they couldn’t just teleport people around willy-nilly.
Jake did as told, stepping onto the teleporter. With Arnold typing away at his console, different elements of the magic circle came alive one after another. The first thing Jake felt was space itself loosening up all around him, and through his sphere, he saw William carrying a sleeping Sandy out of the room. Arnold had also put up some defensive barrier around himself, which really didn’t make Jake feel super comfortable.
Next up, Jake felt space vibrate and stretch. Small cracks formed in reality, and for a fraction of a moment, Jake felt the presence of the void as Arnold’s unique brand of magic wormed its way in. Intuitively, he knew it was about to activate.
“One final thing,” Arnold said casually just before Jake was teleported away, his voice sounding distorted due to the formation. “The journey may be a bit rougher than you’re used to. Just know that is entirely within expectations.”
Without any further warning, Jake felt himself move as if yanked upwards. His vision turned dark, and his sphere began to pick up so much noise he had to rein it in to not needlessly stress himself out. He kept flying upwards for a good while before suddenly being flung to the side as if pulled by some invisible force.
This happened several more times, sending Jake tumbling around in a realm of total darkness, broken up by the occasional misplaced flash of light that disappeared as fast as it had come. After over a minute of this process, Jake was finally pulled downward to appear in the real world once more.
“That was fucking scuffed,” Jake cursed out loud as he worked to orient himself. The contrast between being tossed around at incredible speeds and suddenly losing all momentum and coming to a standstill was jarring, to say the least.
The entire teleportation process was far from consumer-friendly and definitely not very refined yet. Still… it had seemingly gotten the job done, as Jake found himself floating above a planet right outside where the atmosphere would be. Would be was a key description here… because there wasn’t any atmosphere.
For a moment, Jake questioned if Arnold’s teleporter was even worse than he’d first thought, because he could barely recognize what he saw below him as a real planet, and definitely not as one enlightened beings had once lived on.
It looked more like some sort of asteroid. The atmosphere was entirely gone, and below, Jake felt no trace of… anything. He frowned, as the sensation was so odd. He had expected to feel something—death energy, earth energy, some kind of wind—yet there was nothing at all.
Scouring the planet from far above using his high Perception, he could see a substantial part of it. He saw deep valleys and massive, crater-like holes so large they covered most of the planet, and he soon realized these had once been oceans. There were no traces of structures anywhere on the “mountains” he assumed were once islands or continents.
It was a surreal sight, to say the least, as he kept scanning the planet carefully.
Finally, on one of the landmasses, he found what he had been looking for. As the only structure-like thing on the entire former planet, the Prima Vessel stuck out quite a lot. However, even the Prima Vessel was gray and had lost all its shine. What’s more, it even had clear signs of damage, which was more than a little unsettling considering its durability.
Without delaying, Jake began his descent, his considerations for how he would get through the atmosphere never even relevant. Without any mana of note in the air, Jake could speed up nearly indefinitely, allowing him to reach the surface of the former planet a lot faster than expected.
As he got closer to the Prima Vessel, he released a Pulse of Perception and saw something that made his eyes open wide. Not within the Vessel itself, but what was around it. Buried beneath gray sand, he saw bones. So many bones. They looked vaguely human but were a bit off, and after some scouring of his memories, he realized they were orc skeletons.
When he landed on the ground, he also noticed something else disturbing. He had naturally used some resources getting down there… but he wasn’t regenerating anything. Instead, it was the opposite. The very land itself was draining just to stand on. The effect was slight, but it was there.
Releasing another Pulse, Jake finally felt as if he caught all the skeletons, and… he couldn’t even count how many there were. Hundreds of millions? Billions? It was as if the entire planet had died there.
Jake walked a bit before he knelt down and pushed enough of the sand away to find a bone. It was also gray, and with a slight touch, it crumbled into dust. As Jake felt this dust run through his hands, he sensed a concept that made a shiver run down his spine.
Desolation.
Chapter 60
The Concept of Desolation
Desolation…
A concept Jake knew a lot about yet felt like he barely understood. Not because he was a moron—though that could be debated—or didn’t have the affinity for the concept, but because he was only a C-grade. The concept of desolation was simply not something Jake had ever expected to see in a context like this.
Not to say the concept couldn’t be used by those at C-grade or even at lower grades, but this was desolation in its purest form. It wasn’t just a part of some skill with aspects of desolation added to it. No, this was far scarier. One thing was certain… Jake was a lot more apprehensive about this “I” character now than before. If it was a creature that could actually control the concept of desolation to this extent, this system event had just gotten a lot more dangerous.
One of the distinct aspects of the concept of desolation was its ability to cause “permanent” damage. As was shown when Villy removed the arm of an Azureflight member back in the Order, the concept wouldn’t just erase the arm itself but also the part of the Soulshape it usually inhabited. That meant there was no easy way to heal it, and no amount of potions or meditation would help.
Not to say it couldn’t be healed… but Jake had no idea how to do so, and he doubted anyone on Earth knew how either. The only surefire way of healing something like that was through evolution, where you were effectively reborn. Jake had no intentions of losing any limbs or anything like that, of course, but the mere fact such a risk existed for him and the others from Earth was unsettling. If someone did get injured, they would likely have to wait till the event was over and find someone worth healing them in one of the larger factions in another universe.
Standing up, Jake really took in the environment and its effects on him. His energy was slowly being drained, but what’s more, his resources weren’t regenerating at all. Jake even felt that should he sit down and meditate, he would only be draining himself further.
Turning to the Prima Vessel, he decided to inspect it more closely. He found that the damage was primarily surface-level, but the mere fact it had taken any damage at all was surprising. After inspecting the Vessel a bit further, he found the entrance that had been unlocked after killing the Prima Guardian, which he honestly wasn’t sure if he could even enter.
However, when he got close, the barrier allowed him inside. Jake noted that it didn’t even seem to check his key at all; it just let him enter, which definitely wasn’t how it worked on other planets. At least, not those with living World Leaders.
The inside of the Prima Vessel was pristine for the most part, except for one thing. Down the hallway leading to the three different rooms, a set of footprints could clearly be seen. They had left impressions that gave off the same concept of desolation as the world outside. When Jake used his boot to wipe away one of the footprints, he saw they had all been made up of gray dust and that the Vessel itself hadn’t been affected.
Jake continued further into the Vessel and saw more traces of the creature that had entered it. From the form and size of its footprints and other minor clues, he estimated it was some kind of humanoid being. Oddly, it also seemed to have some kind of limp. He couldn’t gather much more from what was left behind, except for the fact he only felt the concept of desolation and nothing else from all its traces.
While desolation was an incredibly powerful concept, it was also very limiting. It tended not to work well with other affinities or concepts due to its nature. In fact, its properties meant very few creatures were able to natively use the affinity. In many ways, something being alive or at least possessing a soul was counterintuitive to the concept. Desolation was not only about nonexistence, but the continued state of nonexistence, and a creature existing while being all about nonexistence was weird.
There were some creatures and people in the multiverse well-versed with the affinity, though… Jake’s very own Patron being one of its most well-known users.
To the Malefic Viper, the concept had been a part of his Path for a long time. It could likely be traced all the way back to when he was known as the Wyvern of the Desolates. At least, Jake doubted it was a coincidence the snake god had been known under that name back then while also being well-versed in the concept of desolation now.
Later on, desolation had become one of the fundamental aspects of the malefic affinity, which was an affinity Jake couldn’t even begin to understand yet. He felt that way, at least, despite his own constant usage of the affinity through Touch of the Malefic Viper, the glowing, dark green color broadly considered a signature aspect of the affinity.
Jake had never felt the existence of desolation when using Touch, though. He was sure it would come one day.
Arriving at the control room within the Prima Vessel, Jake saw everything was still active and working, with the only traces of the creature being gray dust here and there. After only a moment of hesitation, he began seeing if he could control the Vessel. When this also didn’t prove difficult, Jake did something potentially risky and teleported the Prima Vessel down to the center of the planet.
Having seen the state of the planet’s surface, he could only begin to suspect what the core looked like. That was also why he knew this wouldn’t be without risk. The core room was bound to be far more dangerous than the surface of the planet, but Jake felt like he had to risk it to better understand what he was dealing with.
Going to the exit of the Prima Vessel, Jake began preparing himself. He started by summoning his Scales of the Malefic Viper, covering his entire body, followed by several powerful layers of stable arcane barriers. While doing this, Jake even used Arcane Awakening in its stable defensive form, increasing relevant stats by 50% while forming yet another layer of defense in the form of the small membrane of protective arcane energy right above the scales.
Feeling about as ready as one can be when about to enter a very hazardous environment, Jake exited the Prima Vessel. Instantly, he felt a shiver run down his spine as a sense of wrongness overwhelmed him. Everything within the core room was gray, even Jake himself and his arcane mana; the concept of color itself had seemingly been made desolate.
As he looked at his defensive barrier, it quickly began fading away. Desolation was not destructive or showy. It just drained everything and anything, allowing nothing to exist. Jake looked on with wide eyes as his barriers simply faded away one after another. He had to focus while he still could as he scanned the core room.
The colorless and lightless room made it difficult to spot anything in particular. However, locating the Planetary Core wasn’t difficult. It was by far the greatest source of desolation, and as Jake focused his eyes, he saw the cracked gray core that had once been the Planetary Pylon. It had been reduced to a Planetary Core and was now nearly unrecognizable.
Seeing this core brought Jake all the way back to the tutorial, where he’d corrupted a Quintessence to poison all the water in the lake with those big boars. The item had been intrinsically bound to the lake, and as long as he’d sufficiently corrupted that, the corruption had automatically spread to the entire lake, effectively turning it poisonous permanently.
This was no different. The Planetary Core was bound to the entire planet. It was what caused the atmosphere to exist, regulated affinities, maintained balance, and served as the source of constantly spawning new energy for the world. Now, it had been corrupted. Rather than do all those things, it had become the source of the planet’s total destruction. It would infuse desolation into every single part of the planet until, one day, the constantly growing power of desolation inside the core would become too much, making it crumble alongside the rest of the planet.
As Jake focused on the core, his final arcane barrier broke, and the energy of desolation made contact with his Scales of the Malefic Viper. Jake was ready to quickly charge back into the safety of the Prima Vessel, but then something unexpected happened. For the first time within the core room, he saw not only color… but light.
His scales subtly lit up with a dark green color as the energy of desolation was stopped in its tracks entirely. That wasn’t all. Next, Jake felt something even more unexpected: mana. A little bit of mana traveled from Jake’s scales and into his body, restoring his mana pool.
Jake was in disbelief at what had happened, yet he quickly recalled parts of the description of his Scales of the Malefic Viper:
“The scales are legendarily resistant to magic and will store excess mana from any magical attacks that would have otherwise damaged you... This mana will be slowly refined and absorbed or dispersed into your surroundings.”
In truth, this mana-restoring feature wasn’t new; it was just pretty bad, so he didn’t really ever think about it. It mainly sucked because Jake didn’t get hit by a lot of small, constant attacks to absorb a bit at a time. When he did get hit, it was by powerful attacks where the scales could only offer some extra resistance and nothing more. The mana he did absorb would simply be too powerful and too vast, nullifying the effect.
Unless the attacks carried certain affinities, that is. The scales were incredibly efficient when absorbing the light affinity, as one example, and for any poison-based mana, it was straight-up overpowered.
