The Primal Hunter 8: A LitRPG Adventure, page 57
Jake nodded, not asking any further. One thing was clear—the current formation was already far more potent than what Chris had managed to make. Then again, this had been created by a C-grade with innate talent, while the other one had been made by a low-level D-grade. Thinking about it further, the fact that Chris could even make the monument, to begin with, was impressive. Now, as much as it sucked, the monument site had been turned into a graveyard. A memorial and reminder.
They did not exchange any more words before they reached what Jake assumed to be the center of the formation. At that center was an intricate circle with green, vein-like pulsing fissures leading away from it and into the tunnels. The very epicenter held a pillar of metal Jake did not recognize with even more advanced scripts on it. Jake could feel it was a natural treasure of some kind, but he had no clue as to its properties.
"My Lord, if you would do me the honors of stepping into the center circle and blessing the pillar with the Touch of the Malefic Viper?" the snake said to Jake.
Jake did as asked, using One Step to enter the center circle and activate Touch of the Malefic Viper as he touched the pillar. The moment he did so, he felt a response from the pillar, and the energy Jake injected was guided through magical channels in the metal. Jake gladly complied and infused his energy into these channels, and the metal began to glow dark green.
The fissures of green energy began to shine brighter all throughout the spacious cavern, and Jake felt part of his own presence being mimicked by the pillar. He felt a pull on the part of himself that made him a Chosen—the natural treasure taking everything in. A few minutes passed as Jake simply infused his energy, the treasure naturally guiding him to do so until it stopped wanting anything.
At that moment, Jake felt an odd connection form, and the pillar cracked as parts of it fell off. The shards that fell floated in mid-air, then reassembled into a roughly ten-centimeter-long shard of metal filled with runic lines and humming with energy.
Jake reached out and grabbed it, making him instantly know what it was. It was there to control this entire magic circle.
"It is done!" the snake said with much happiness. "Truly marvelous! I thank the Chosen for blessing us with his presence and displaying his prowess. From my understanding, the shard you just received shall function as the control catalyst for the formation, allowing you to teleport to a corresponding circle outside of this universe."
"I see. Excellent work," Jake said, having already felt it himself.
As he stood there in the center circle, he knew he could activate it and be teleported to the First Universe if he so wished. He even felt like he didn’t necessarily need to be in the center circle, but that he could quite easily draw up a smaller circle that allowed him to tap into the concepts of this main formation to teleport from elsewhere.
Jake marveled at the shard a bit longer and analyzed the formation as best he could, but he did not have long before something else caught his attention. An aura approached through the tunnel—one far faster than the old brown snake had been. Far stronger, too. He smiled, as the presence was a very familiar one, and soon enough, an albino figure appeared before him… though she did look quite a bit different.
He failed to hold back a light smile as he briefly bowed his head in gratitude. "It’s been a while. I am sorry for not stopping by earlier and thanking you for keeping Miranda and the others safe."
Miranda’s description of the human form truly didn’t do it justice. She looked human, yes, but also clearly not. The scales were strategically placed throughout her body, not a single one of them of a cosmetic nature. Her reptilian pupils were honed and improved compared to even her snake form, and the skin-like dress she wore was far from just a useless garment, but no doubt had quite the defensive properties. Was the form made to be aesthetically pleasing to humans? Yes, but it was also made with function in mind. Some sacrifices had been made to help her look more human, but overall, the form was refined and incredibly well done. However, her human form did have one major drawback compared to her snake form.
Her demeanor as a shy teenage girl was even more obvious.
The Alabaster Crimsoneye Snake—a mid-tier C-grade—stood nervously and twisted some of her hair around a finger, looking like she didn’t quite know what to say.
"I… eh… I just did as the Chosen would expect of me, you know…" she mumbled.
"You did me a favor, whether you thought it was expected of you or not,” Jake said, still smiling in what he hoped was a welcoming and comforting way. “For that, I am naturally grateful and owe you one. I heard you even spent quite some time with Miranda and the others. I hope they were pleasant guests?"
"Yes, of course!" the snake girl insisted. "Ms. Wells was very nice and taught me a lot. She even helped me with making this settlement and stuff, and I wanted to go visit Haven, but I can’t teleport due to the stupid system.” Even if the last part was grumbled, she looked a bit more comfortable now.
"It is what it is." Jake shrugged. "How about we get out of here and get up to the main office? I think we are done here, right?"
The last part was addressed to the large, brown snake, who nodded. "Yes, my Lord, you have more than done your part. I shall no longer delay you from attending to your matters."
"How come Old Grumpy isn’t using his human form?" the snake girl asked with a questioning look. “He has been working on it so hard.”
Jake scratched his chin. "We decided telepathy was more efficient."
A bald-faced lie that the albino snake nodded to instantly… before suddenly looking faintly horrified. "Would… Would the Chosen prefer for me to use telepathy, too?"
"Hm?" Jake said, surprised. "No, I prefer your human form and talking like this."
Again, a bit of a lie. Jake didn’t really care much either way if the snake was in human or beast form or used telepathy or not when they spoke. But he had enough awareness to know that the snake girl had only become a snake girl to try and better cater to what Jake wanted, and he saw no reason not to make her happy by saying he preferred her human form. When being kind was free and not a hassle, why not?
She smiled and nodded. "Yes, my Lord! Shall we head upwards, then?"
"Let us," Jake said as he began walking through the tunnel, followed by the snake girl. That was when he remembered one of the most important things he had to ask. "By the way, did you ever settle on a name you wanted?"
She stopped for a millisecond when he asked, getting all shy again. "I… I had a really hard time deciding. Ah! Not because the suggestions of the Chosen were bad, but solely due to my own lack of naming sense! I loved both Scarlett and Allie, and I even suggested combining them as Scallie…"
That would have been a perfectly fine name, Jake approved internally.
"…but Ms. Wells shot that down. But… I still loved both, so I thought of maybe still combing them somehow? That is when Ms. Wells said that humans can actually have more than one name, or even have a first and a last name. So… I thought maybe go with Scarlett Allie? Or Allie Scarlett? Or make it the last name, so maybe Scarlett Allieson?"
Jake considered it and nodded. "I think all of those are fine, but does Allieson fit? Normally the ‘son’ part comes from a parent or ancestor or some other family member called that."
"My mom or dad could have been called Allie?" the snake girl said without a hint of joking in her voice.
"You know what? Who is to say?" Jake smiled and shook his head. Should I begin to call Sylphie “Sylphie Hawkson” now? Wait, how does it even work when she is a daughter… Who the hell even made up this entire stupid naming convention? And people call my naming sense bad; that is no more original than adding "ie" at the end of someone’s race name.
"Then… Then can I be Scarlett Allieson from now on?" she asked in a shy tone.
"Sure, if that is what you want," Jake said, nodding.
"Then I want that name," she said with affirmation.
Jake stopped and turned around to extend a hand. "Well, then, nice to meet you, Scarlett Allieson. You can just call me Jake Thayne."
Scarlett looked even shyer as she extended her small hand and took his. "Ah… the pleasure is mine?"
Miranda has done some socialization work on this one, Jake joked internally as he turned around and continued walking towards the main building above.
The two of them only exchanged some casual chatter as they made their way toward the surface for a proper meeting… though he did fail in getting her to call him Jake or even Mr. Thayne or something a little less formal than "Chosen."
But hey, baby steps. One had to be patient with teenagers, after all.
Chapter 65
C-grade Checklist
Scarlett had a hard time imagining it. The first time she met the Chosen had been so brief, and she had barely had any time to talk to him since he was busy making his way through the mangrove forest. She also hadn’t fully realized who he was back then. With time, she’d come to understand and begun to think about how she could make herself useful to the Forefather and his Chosen.
She’d naturally been elated when the Chosen trusted her enough to defend his comrades from danger, and even more happy when those comrades chose to stay. Ms. Wells had even taught Scarlett so many things. The more senior servant of the Forefather’s Chosen had told her about how some enemy Chosen of an extremely powerful god had backstabbed the Forefather’s Chosen and tried to kill him. Or, well, maybe the goal was not to kill him? Scarlett wasn’t sure. All she knew was that several comrades of the bad Chosen had been killed and the coward had fled, resulting in the Malefic’s Chosen taking over the world just as one would expect. As things should be.
Now, after his victory, he had finally returned to the Mangrove, where they were doing everything to help him—Old Grumpy snake was even making a formation for the Chosen to teleport to the Order as he pleased.
But what she had truly had a hard time imagining was not any of his feats, but his demeanor and sheer presence. Scarlett had met many humans and beasts, but one thing was for sure:
The Chosen was the coolest of them all.
Like, he was so cool in everything. He was only D-grade, sure, but Scarlett felt like she walked beside a far more powerful beast than herself. Logically, she knew she didn’t, but his presence was still awe-inspiring. To add on, he had not a shred of fear. Scarlett had honed her skills in evaluating humans. She could quite literally smell fear and weakness, and any kind of nervousness would be clear before her eyes. Yet she felt none of those things from the Chosen. In fact, she was the one who felt scared and nervous when she walked with him… How couldn’t she? He was the Chosen of the Forefather.
"Scarlett," the Chosen said, making her feel all bubbly inside from him using her name, "have you considered what your future plans are?"
Scarlett was perplexed for a moment about what he meant. Thinking a bit about it, she didn’t really have any plans besides helping the Chosen. The formation was not anything she could help with, and the Mangrove was firmly under their control. Even if she was not there alone, the other C-grades could easily handle anything that cropped up. Besides that, her only plan had been to maybe explore the ocean and hunt there—something she had already been doing for a while. It wasn’t the best hunting ground, and it often took a long time to find worthy prey, but she had to take what she could get. Worst of all, she had to do the hunting in her true form.
Not that anything she currently did mattered if the Chosen had other thoughts in mind.
"Does the Chosen have anything he wants me to do?" she asked, feeling a bit of hope. Maybe he had more he wanted her to help with?
"No, not anything like that," he answered, making Scarlett a bit disappointed. "I was just wondering if you have considered going to the Order of the Malefic Viper? I have explored a bit of Earth, and while it is possible, I doubt the planet is that good of a place for someone like you to grow. I am positive there are no B-grades, and even peak C-grades would be astronomically rare, assuming they even exist. Meanwhile, going to the Order would open up a multiverse of possibilities.”
Scarlett listened intensely, barely holding herself back from screaming "YES!" after the very first sentence so as to remain respectful. "Going to the Order of the Forefather would be both an honor and a privilege," she answered as courteously as she could with a big smile on her face, even bowing the same way she had seen some young human women do it.
"Great," the Chosen said with a smile. "Now, if possible, can you show me a safe place for a measuring device within the settlement?"
"Naturally," Scarlett complied without asking further questions.
"And can you then do me one other small favor?" the Chosen asked as he turned and looked at her.
"The Chosen does not even need to ask," Scarlett said with conviction.
"Nice—I just wanted you to bite me a few times."
Scarlett froze and took a moment to process what he had asked before her face turned red, and she completely zoned out… only to still hear the very next sentence.
"Eh, to make it fair, I could bite you too?"
In retrospect, maybe Jake’s words could be misinterpreted, but he really couldn’t hold himself back forever when standing next to a snake girl like her. It was irresistible and impossible not to ask for at least a little bite to get some of that sweet snake venom.
From a distance, her venom was not detectable, but when walking right next to her, his Sense of the Malefic Viper kept making him aware that the small snake girl harbored venom capable of killing hundreds of D-grades with a single drop. It was so strong that not even Jake was sure how he could handle it with Palate at legendary rarity, but he just had to give it a go.
It took him a minute to calm the poor snake girl down after she looked to have short-circuited. Once he got her to relax and listen to his explanation, it suddenly made a lot more sense to the girl, though that still added the complexity of her now being super embarrassed she had misunderstood.
"Are you certain, Chosen? My venom is quite potent, and I have only honed it further since I received the Blessing from the Malefic One, my Toxicity stat growing significantly.”
Jake bit into the last part. "You have a dedicated Toxicity stat?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes?" Scarlett answered. "Oh! Yeah, humans have different stats. I got a stat called Toxicity that is related to how toxic anything I do is, making it stronger."
"Did it replace any of the nine we humans have?" Jake continued asking curiously.
"I do not have the Intelligence stat. This one allows my toxins to be far stronger, but it does limit my magical capabilities in many other areas.”
"Makes sense," Jake said, nodding. "But I still want some venom for my own Palate skill. It has been a while since I encountered a toxin it proved ineffective against. Don’t worry; if it goes wrong, I have plenty of anti-toxins."
Not that he was sure those would work, but why worry her? Jake was confident in his survival.
"Okay… but…" Scarlett kind of agreed, clearly unsure.
"Aight, you win. No rush—we can always do it after going to the Order, if you want, where we’d have assistance nearby if we do mess it up." Jake then smiled to comfort her. It maybe was also smart to have Meira nearby, as she was a healer. Oh, and Duskleaf.
"Let us wait…" Scarlett said with relief.
"Got it. Now let’s go get this weird machine placed for Arnold."
It only took him a bit before Scarlett showed him a place where he could deposit it safely, and Scarlett even told a C-grade snake to keep an eye on it. Jake activated it right away, watching it spin to life as what looked like a satellite dish emerged from its top. He faintly detected the device sucking in mana.
With that done, Jake didn’t really have any more plans before it was time to go to the World Congress. A Congress that should, for all intents and purposes, be nothing more than a formality.
Scarlett was clearly intent on shadowing him, and he saw no reason not to allow it. It was a bit awkward, though, like going to a birthday party as the oldest cousin and having teenagers ten years younger than yourself follow you around.
Luckily, what he planned next did not include a lot of moving around. With some time to spare, Jake found a nice place to relax and jot down his aptly named pre-C-grade checklist:
1. Become World Leader at the World Congress.
2. Upgrade Sense of the Malefic Viper.
3. Upgrade Sagacity of the Malefic Viper.
4. Go to Order and defeat baby Snappy.
5. Mythical skill creation with the help of sim-Jake.
6. Actually evolve.
Jake nodded at the mental checklist and didn’t immediately notice anything missing. The first item was easy and would come in a couple of days, if all went to plan. As for two and three, upgrading the two skills was something Jake had subtly been working on for a while and had thought a lot about, even during his holiday, and it honestly should not be too hard. Plus, he would use Path of the Heretic-Chosen for both, as he had two uses left.
Four and five, Jake would combine, though it was more accurate to say that Jake wanted to do four during five. Jake knew that he needed a good battle for an upgrade, and he had discussed the skill sim-Jake wanted a lot with his other self. He also knew that it was not as easy as both of them had hoped, and that they would likely need more preparation than first expected. However, in any case, they both knew that live battle was the best time to consolidate everything and make the skill. It was only in a life-and-death situation that Jake’s instincts were at their sharpest, allowing for the best results.
Number six should also be kind of easy. As for the evolution quests, Jake wasn’t worried. In fact, he had a strong feeling as to what they would be. Especially the one for his profession. But rather than theorize, it was better to just see the quest, and the easiest way to do that was to get one more level in his profession.
