The Primal Hunter 8: A LitRPG Adventure, page 62
"There we go—four out of five Ministers appointed," Jake said with a nod.
He knew it was common knowledge that the last member of this council would be a beast, as much of the discussion before the vote had revolved around people arguing about who to add. Most of those opposed to a beast joining the council naturally wanted someone from their own clique, or at least another human.
Valhal also had the decency to shut the fuck up during all this time, and naturally, Caleb and the Court had no interest in any kind of official position. All he did was give Jake a cheeky smile after he became World Leader, miming being so proud he had to wipe away a tear. Asshole.
They still had a few more topics to talk about, one of them being related to Valhal and a way for Jake to publicly call them out. Miranda had mentioned that he had to outwardly take a hard stance and make it clear he disapproved of what they’d done. All of it had something to do with the plans of the Viper, so Jake just rolled with it.
However, before he had a chance to… the second vote began unprompted.
The second vote of the World Congress relates to Earth’s final trial.
The enlightened species have had time to establish themselves on the planet and form alliances and connections, but will it be enough to truly lay claim to the planet as a whole? There live more than the enlightened in the multiverse, and soon Earth will have to prove it can hold up.
Chains hold back that which seeks to claim the planet as its own, but with the links broken one by one, it shall soon be released.
The Prima Guardian awaits its freedom.
To truly lay claim to planet Earth, the Planetary Pylon—a core that is currently protected by a barrier that requires two keys to open—must be claimed. One key shall be given to the elected World Leader, while the second key is held by the Prima Guardian.
However, before the Prima Guardian comes, a choice must be made.
Face your trial alone, or seek out allies.
In five years, the Guardian will arrive on Earth with its army. It must be defeated within five years of arrival, or the Guardian will move to claim the world for itself as the barrier naturally falls. All planets can choose to either engage the Prima Guardian alone or ally with others to create an army capable of defeating each planet’s Prima Guardian.
Note that the strength of each Prima Guardian is based on the number of fragments collected from slain Primas, as their Records and power have been absorbed by the Prima Guardian, as well as the overall performance of the planet in all prior system events. Rewards for slaying the Prima Guardian will be split amongst all contributing planets. Bonus reward for any planet defeating the Prima Guardian on their own. But be warned, for should the respective World Leader of any planet die, the Prima will claim the key and thus the planet.
The Prima Guardian Alliance Interface will open up for all World Leaders whose planet votes to ally with others. Should a planet choose to face its Prima Guardian alone, this interface will only appear after the World Leader’s own Prima Guardian has been defeated.
What Path will Earth walk? One where they face the Guardian by themselves, or with the help of the rest of the Milky Way?
Votes remaining: 25/25
Time remaining: 7:36:55
It was quite a chunky description that could be summed up rather easily: Big boss coming to Earth in five years, choose now to face big boss alone or ask for help like a bunch of losers. Sure, it also said that all of this was to finally claim the planet properly, but Jake cared more about the prospect of facing this Prima Guardian. He was also quite surprised by the mention of this Prima thing again.
Seems like all of that stuff about the Exalted Prima is indeed a major theme of this universe, huh? Jake thought. He had heard from the Viper that other universes had also had initiation events centered around some topic, location, or entity. However, with all initiations and all the system events that followed differing so significantly, no one could truly predict what would happen, making it all a bit more exciting. At least to Jake.
Chatter appeared around the room, bringing Jake out of his wayward thoughts and back to the World Congress chamber. Though he was unsure why people were even discussing it. He quickly placed his votes before speaking up.
"What is there to talk about?" Jake spoke loudly. "More accurately, why are all of you talking about it like it matters to you? We all know the answer already, right?"
Jake turned to the booths around him.
"If Earth truly requires aid to defeat this Prima Guardian, then no other planet in the Milky Way will be able to do anything," Caleb said, speaking up first—and omitting that there was one who did have people who could help, but no one considered that orange fuck a possibility.
"Help seems wholly unnecessary," the Sword Saint also spoke up.
"It is indeed a waste of time to even consider it," the King agreed.
"There you have it," Jake said. "So finish this damn vote already. No fucking way we are going to share our prey and bounty with other planets."
In all fairness, Jake would prefer not to share it with the others on Earth, either, but sometimes one had to be nice. Also… he saw an opportunity and leaped on it.
"Besides, the last time we invited aliens from another planet, it didn’t end well. Oh, yeah, which begs the question… Will we be able to rely on Valhal in this matter, or do we need to sign some shitty contract first before you are willing to defend Earth?" Jake said this in a venomous tone as he looked toward Sven.
Sven, to his credit, looked like he had expected this and did not try to make any excuses. "We of Valhal can only lay ourselves down flat in surrender and realize we misjudged the entire situation and made many mistakes. I thank the Chosen for showing mercy during this time so that we, with time, can make it up to you to hopefully establish a healthy and mutually beneficial working relationship, allowing us to prove ourselves to both the Chosen and Earth." Sven finished by bowing deeply.
Jake had kind of expected this, but the response did make him suspect that Sven did not know that some shady stuff was going on with the Viper’s involvement. He acted more as a CEO of a company: The board of directors did something moronic, and he now had to take responsibility. Jake would’ve felt sorry for him if not for the fact that he was still the damn CEO, and like any CEO asked to do some dumb shit, he had the option of refusing and potentially quitting. Being a heretic wasn’t that bad anyway.
"We at Valhal realize that the new World Leader and his council will need many resources to stabilize their rule, and to help this cause, Valhal is more than happy to offer gifts to expedite everything," Sven continued after a brief pause.
Did they need a lot of resources and stuff? Well, probably not, but fuck if Jake knew. What he did know was that he liked free stuff.
Staring at Sven, Jake still continued acting harshly. "You are lucky I consider the Runemaiden a close friend, or Valhal would have either gone the way of the Holy Church or the way of the alien invader’s comrades. You are on a tight leash, so don’t fuck it up. No third chances."
Sven bowed once more. "That is all we could ever ask for. Thank you, Chosen of the Malefic One."
Jake exchanged a glance with the man, feeling a sense of gratitude from him. Confronting Valhal publicly not only proved that Jake was still mad at them to everyone—including any potential spies or individuals who had a relationship with Ell’Hakan—but also allowed Valhal to apologize and get a way into the good graces of all the other factions. Many of them would have hesitated to interact with Valhal if they thought the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and his council remained pissed at them.
"Approach the council after this and discuss terms," Jake said, sweeping his gaze across the room. “For now, let’s just get this vote over with. What are you people waiting for? We are facing it alone, so place those damn votes already.”
Also, he really had to hold himself back from admonishing a lot of them some more, especially those from the United Cities Alliance. This second vote made it clear that Earth had more dangers to face, and he could already imagine the result if they had gotten their way. Jake, the King, the Sword Saint, Sylphie… So many powerful and promising individuals would have been tossed off the planet. Shit, they’d managed to make Casper leave—someone Jake would very much have liked to have around.
At least those morons seemed to listen to him now, as they finally got their shit together and placed their votes.
The election concerning the final trial of Earth has now concluded!
Earth has chosen to face the final trial alone. Your Path is set, and the Prima Guardian will descend upon the planet in five (5) years. With it shall come an army and all of the formerly undefeated Primas that have gained more power through the Seat of the Exalted Prima.
Warning: Based on collected fragments and Earth’s performance in all prior system events, the difficulty rating of the Prima Guardian is considered extremely high.
Prepare yourselves, or the Prima Guardian shall find no equal and lay claim to your world.
Jake read the message and the part about the difficulty rating. Others around him began chattering loudly again, with some mentioning how they’d made a mistake, others trying to calm them down, with a third group even asking if perhaps there was a way off Earth if things went south. Jake cared for none of it, as he could only smile to himself.
To him, it wasn’t a warning.
It was the promise of a good time.
Chapter 71
A World That Makes Sense
He had hoped it would end… but no. The World Congress was a cruel mistress and allowed them to stay within the system event for the remainder of the allotted time. Jake wanted to leave, but a sharp look from Miranda made him know that he’d better stay. Alas, it was probably for the best, as seeing the newly elected World Leader run away prematurely probably didn’t inspire confidence.
However, even if he was forced to stay physically, no one had told him to not go on a mental journey to somewhere better. Even if he did try to stay engaged and at least feign interest. Hey, he had tried, okay?
Jake would firmly classify the rest of the World Congress as a waste of time. Miranda would probably disagree and call it a "valuable opportunity to calm the doubters and display unity to the many City Lords of Earth, thus inspiring confidence in the council."
In fact, those had been the exact words she used.
Anyway, Jake had nearly eight hours to listen to mundane chatter, and by the time the subject of tax codes was brought up, Jake completely zoned out and went into his Soulspace to talk to a way better conversation partner: himself.
Within his Soulspace, sim-Jake and the cursed chimera both sat calmly, and sim-Jake had a hand on the huge monster. It did not react, instead letting him stay there, and Jake knew what he was doing. Some kind of attunement. The details were still a bit fuzzy, but Jake knew that the curse energy and Eternal Hunger were instrumental to the mythical-rarity skill he and sim-Jake hoped to make.
After waiting a while, sim-Jake was done, and the moment he released his hand, the huge beast of pure curse energy attacked, forcing sim-Jake to seal it again. Once that was done, Jake’s other self turned around and regarded him.
"This entire deal with World Leader is a waste of time," sim-Jake said, commenting on recent events. "Why bother? Just evacuate everyone to the Order of the Malefic Viper and leave this stupid rock behind. All you are doing is creating distractions for us."
"Maybe, maybe not." Jake shrugged. "In either case, I don’t plan on making it into a distraction, but an opportunity. We don’t know what benefits being World Leader may offer in the future, but I am willing to risk it leading to nothing for the chance to gain something unique."
"And if it doesn’t?"
"Then I will have wasted a bit of time. How much lifespan do we have by now? Do you even know? I reckon at least a thousand years or something, and probably ten times that at C-grade. So what is a few years chasing a bad lead?"
"Ultimately, the choice is yours." Sim-Jake shrugged. "You are the one who will have to deal with all of the annoyances. I just don’t want you to dilly-dally and end up stuck at S-grade because you decided to fuck around and not focus on what truly matters."
"If I get stuck at S-grade, I will just have to hunt a few gods or something," Jake said with a grin, unafraid. "Or die trying. Both are acceptable."
Sim-Jake just shook his head. "Anyway, we will need a lot of time to prepare, and especially with this Prima Guardian arriving… do we have time? Can you figure something out with the Viper?"
Jake nodded. "Should definitely be able to. Once we go to the Order, we can look into it. But you are certain that this Path you have chosen to walk down will work?"
His other self just smiled. "I am betting my entire existence on it."
Everything was wrong. At least, it had been. Suddenly, everything looked so clear, the muddiness of reality washed away as the many strings that held William down were forcefully severed by the system itself.
He felt so weird he had a hard time describing it. He had joined the World Congress after having practically been ordered to, not sure what he could even get out of it. He had spent the last month just wandering around, unsure of where to go and what to do. Ms. Kim had told him that maybe being lost and working on finding himself for a while wasn’t the worst, but William hated feeling so… wrong.
Quite a few times, he regretted wanting more emotions that much, but in the end, he knew it was for the best. It just sucked to feel like he was walking through a swamp, as though the endless threads of karma around him were a net made to slow him down and incapacitate him.
That is, until he joined the World Congress. In an instant, the threads disappeared. The net was gone, clarity washed through his mind, and he even felt like his body underwent a cleansing. That was when he realized why the Chosen of the Malefic Viper had wanted him to enter the World Congress.
In the Congress, nothing could influence him… and all ongoing influence was dispelled. While William could not be sure, he had a fear that Eversmile had placed several karmic magics on him that denouncing the Blessing did nothing to address.
Yet, even with his mind clear, it only became more evident how truly lost he was. William was still afraid of the Chosen, yes, but it wasn’t the same kind of fear… In fact, standing there in the World Congress, he had no particularly negative feelings. It made William wonder if the intense fear had ever been his own, or just the result of Eversmile doing something.
William had slept once during this month as a test, and for the first time since the tutorial, he didn’t have a nightmare. That at least somewhat confirmed that the cause of his nightmares—all of which just amplified his fear of the Chosen—was not natural in any way.
Hearing the speech of the Chosen also made William realize one thing: The Chosen truly didn’t care about a lot of things, and he probably didn’t care about William at all, either, unless he made direct trouble for him. It was comforting but also disturbing, as William realized that the strongest emotion he could detect towards himself using his karmic magic wasn’t anger or killing intent. It was apathy. An emotion he realized the Chosen had also had before their last encounter…
William simply wasn’t a noteworthy character in the eyes of the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. At most, he was a curiosity to the man. Their disparity in power was large, and seeing people like the Sword Saint and the King around him only made it all the more evident how insignificant William truly was.
It made it clear that William, indeed, wasn’t a protagonist of the world as he had gone around thinking for so long. The Chosen was one. The Sword Saint. The Fallen King. But William? William was just a karmic mage who could hopefully one day be helpful to all the people he’d screwed over. He realized this and could only smile to himself.
A huge weight lifted from his shoulders, as he was finally free of the endless net of toxic karma and pressure. He wasn’t really anyone special… and he didn’t need to be. He just had to be who he wanted to be and do what he himself wanted to do. Find out what he actually wanted out of life.
Race Evolution Quest
As you reach the end of D-grade, you have walked a Path seeking perfection. A Path of discovery of yourself and what you want to be. Yet you have not found it. Without determination and vision, there is no Path. Without desire, there is no progress. Without willingness, there is no life.
Objective: Find your Path (1/1)
*Race Evolution Requirements Met*
WARNING: Evolution unavailable during ongoing system event.
William saw the system message as the quest completed, and he could only sigh at how stupidly simple some things could be.
--
Jake’s escape was glorious. He teleported back to Earth after seven damn hours of super engaging political discussions that sometimes disturbed his and sim-Jake’s far more interesting conversation. Sadly, he went straight from the pan and into the fire, as he had another damn meeting at the main office of Haven just after the World Congress. The Sword Saint, King, and Miranda had been teleported back to where they had entered from, so at least they were all gathered again right away.
More politics. More talking. Luckily, Jake quickly managed to find an excuse to sneak off, but just before he did so, the old man at the table asked for a bit of his time.
The Sword Saint led Jake into another room and erected an isolation barrier around them. Jake wondered what it was about until the old man explained, "I have considered matters more related to this entire situation with Ell’Hakan. From what I gathered, I believe others here have a misunderstanding. Jake, when you fought him, how powerful did you think he was? How would you evaluate him?"
Jake considered for a moment. "Elusive, fast, resilient, but overall not a major threat in direct combat. He mainly used his goons against me and took more of a supportive role as a caster. Don’t get me wrong—he is strong for his level, but he is a pompous dick using tricks over power."
