The Primal Hunter

What the actual fuck, Jake thought as William finally started stringing together sentences more than a few words long. He began to explain what he had done since returning from the Tutorial, and it all just felt so odd to hear.

Right after returning, he had met up with the psychiatrist – not a psychologist, Jake still kinda didn’t know the difference – as well as her child. They had then set off, and William had leveled, gotten a Pylon, and done all that one would expect someone to do in the early days of the system.

Besides going to the first World Congress, that is. Both because William did not want to go, but his Master had also discouraged it.

From that first mention of his Master, Jake began to notice the pattern.

William had then kept doing what he did, and… well, he had done a lot more than Jake knew. He had met with Reika and talked to her while she made her way to Haven. He had met Sultan at some point too, and he had even met Jacob several times. As for what he had done with them? Well… asked them questions and talked to them or something like that?

Jake asked why he did what he did, and his answer was consistent. It was what his Master had recommended. Not even William knew the purpose of much of what he did; he was effectively just reading a script. As time went on, it also sounded like he started to question Eversmile less and less.

The Treasure Hunt? His Master had also told him going to that was a bad idea and that it would be better to head for where Jake and Caleb’s parents lived to learn more about Jake.

Second World Congress? William had considered going, but his Master had once more said it would be a waste of time.

William had also helped Ell’Hakan by proxy as he helped awaken memories in beasts. Why he had done this, the young man admitted he didn’t know. He said as much quite clearly, yet one thing lacked. There was no real questioning anymore, just an admittance he didn’t know.

He also mentioned the nightmares. From the time William had nearly died while killing Richard, he had suffered from nightmares whenever he slept and even sometimes while he meditated. After Jake had killed him for real, the nightmares had only gotten worse, and Jake was apparently the primary topic of these nightmares.

So that explained why the PTSD just kept trucking along and seemed to not get better even with a professional like Ms. Kim around. Oh yeah, William talked about Ms. Kim a lot. Enough for Jake to feel weird about it.

The final thing that really put the nail in the coffin was the Myriad Paths event. His Master had said that William already knew his Path and didn’t need it. It was with this last one Jake especially caught on. That he truly took note of the one commonality in all of William’s horrible decisions after the Tutorial.

“Holy shit,” Jake said after William was done talking. By now, he had taken a seat on a stone with William having barely moved besides shifting his feet here and there.

One thing was clear from all of this. Clear to Jake, but not William, that is.

Eversmile, William’s Master, did not actually give a shit about William or his progress in the slightest. No, that wasn’t even right. It was more than that. Eversmile had been actively handicapping William for some inexplicable reason, and Jake had no idea why.

“Did you never stop to think for yourself for a single second?” Jake asked William. While William was a naïve moron, the young man had not given Jake the impression he was a complete idiot. Was the fact that he was being fucked over not evident enough?

William seemed confused by the question. At this point, Jake’s annoyance at encountering the young man had nearly been entirely replaced with curiosity to figure out what the hell was going on. Almost. He also wasn’t quite at the stage where pity became a thing.

“Eversmile, or Master as you call him, is clearly the reason why you can’t advance in your Path,” Jake easily concluded. “Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you? He has been cutting off your legs beneath you at every turn to handicap you. Jeez, how blind are you?”

“I… Master is the only reason I even made it as far as I did and-“ William tried to argue, actually showing a bit of spirit.

“Bull-fucking-shit,” Jake scoffed. “Who the hell can’t evolve to C-grade with the kind of start you got, being blessed by a Primordial and all that? Shit, even without the events, you should have been able to. Think for just a single second here. If your dear Master guided you so thoroughly, then why are you still stuck? Why is the Path he has shown you not one that works? I would begin to question my GPS if it made me drive into a wall.”

William did not answer but just looked confused. He also looked up for the first time, made eye contact with Jake, and promptly proceeded to look back down. In that brief second that they exchanged glances, what Jake saw in William’s eyes surprised him a bit. There was only fear and what Jake could almost describe as hopelessness.

It reminded him a bit of Phillip, the man who used to lead the Fort. He, too, had given up and more or less retired, with no desire to really do anything, and approached everything half-heartedly. Yet he had bounced back. Even now, he was holding down the fort in Haven while keeping all those from the United Cities Alliance in a political chokehold.

Jake just signed. “Alright, let’s go over things a bit. First of all, why did you go to Nevermore? What did you gain from it? You did not use the power and temporary advantage for anything as far as I can tell.”

“Master said I would need it…” William muttered.

Jake just sighed again.

“You know, I asked the Viper if I should maybe head to Nevermore. Wanna hear what he said? That the only reason one would go to Nevermore in D-grade was if one didn’t think they would make it to C-grade, had no true confidence in their ability to compete as a C-grade, or because they were fanatics part of the Primordial Church that went there for scholarly reasons or whatever. I, of course, asked why, and he explained that Nevermore has a few rules and restrictions. Due to this, then while one can enter at D-grade, it is smarter to wait for C-grade. Also, one can enter some competition or leaderboard or something like that if entering still in early C-grade, but if one went in D-grade, that isn’t possible,” Jake explained.

“That…” William hesitated. “Master never mentioned that, I-“

“If you don’t trust me, then maybe ask yourself why Ell’Hakan hasn’t gone either. Why no one from Earth has gone beside you. The answer is simple: because it is a bloody dumb idea,” Jake reiterated. “You are aware I have been outside of the universe. I spent months at a time away. Why would I not have gone to Nevermore? I am waiting for C-grade, that is why.”

William kept quiet as Jake kept going.

“Also, you talk about nightmares. Pretty funny now that I think about it. I have only had one real nightmare since the system arrived, and you know why that was? Because Eversmile was the one who caused it to mess with me. And now you say you are suffering from nightmares? What a coincidence, eh?” Jake said, shaking his head.

“Skipping all of the system events was also moronic. You kept saying your Master said they were not needed or a bad idea, which just leads me back to the same question from before: did you ever stop to fucking think? Why did my Patron recommend going? Why did Valhal, the Court of Shadows, Holy Church, or every single faction with just a fraction of knowledge of the multiverse put such importance on these events? Because they do matter. It isn’t about having found your Path or not; it is about the sheer amount and level of Records offered from these events. They are our advantage as a new universe.”

“It… makes no sense,” William actually argued. “Why would Master spend so many resources to revive me? Why bless me? Why spend so much time just to harm me? What could he possibly gain from me not taking part in events?”

“Fuck if I know,” Jake admitted. “Eversmile is insane. He is a scientist who just does shit to see what happens. But I do know why he wanted you out of events.”

It was actually quite simple. Others had already made use of this “feature” of the system events, such as Jacob when he warned Casper about the planned attack of the Holy Church on the Risen.

“The system restricts all outside connections during these events, including divine ones. While in the World Congress or Treasure Hunt or whatever, you can’t talk to them, and more importantly, you can’t be influenced by them,” Jake explained. “So that is clearly why he didn’t want you there. Geez, how much did he fuck with your mind, I wonder? Any idea?”

The last part was not spoken to William. The two of them had been there for some time, and that seemed to have attracted the attention of a certain Unique Lifeform. The King had appeared from below the ledge close by and landed on the ground.

“The metal mage,” the King simply said. “I remember him. He killed one of the Beast Lords during the Tutorial, did he not? Ah, yes. I observed him too for a while until he met his end to you. How does he even live? All I remember was seeing him die, and then I was unable to observe the area for a period.”

The King had spoken to both William and Jake despite clearly not caring much about the young metal mage. Jake did not want to explain either but just gave the cliff notes. “Killed by me, resurrected by a Primordial who loves karmic magic, and now it looks like the disciple of the karmic fucker has become the one being fucked with.”

“Explains some things,” the King merely said.

“Like what?” Jake asked curiously.

“His pathetic state,” the King pointed out, his interest in the conversation waning by the second.

Jake considered what the King said and nodded. “True, he does seem like an entirely different person, and not only in a positive way. He is like a damn husk of nothingness.”

William did not argue any of this as he just looked to be deep in thought. Jake decided to change the topic a bit as he pointed to the knocked-out nahoom on the ground.

“What’s up with him?” Jake asked. “I can see you knocked him out, but why did you do that? I thought you worked with Ell’Hakan.”

“I did,” William said. “Maybe. I helped guide the Ashen Phantom Devourer towards this mountain range, and I helped bring together some powerful beasts and stuff.”

The King finally seemed interested again. “You work with those annoyances? Explains why they came together if a third party was facilitating it.”

“Back to the nahoom,” Jake said. “Why knock him out?”

“I didn’t want him to know about this,” William answered, confused.

“What I was asking was not necessarily why you stopped him from observing but why you knocked him out. Not to unnecessarily bring up the past, but your go-to tends to be just killing people without any particular reason, doesn’t it?” Jake asked curtly.

“I… try not to kill…” William said. “Ms. Kim said that taking a life needs to be a deeply considered action, not just something you do.”

“Now I feel like you are calling me out,” Jake shook his head, not sure to even believe it. “So, the psycho turned all saintly, huh? Then tell me. What are you going to do now? You know, considering you have been fucked over by your so-called Master so badly, I could just do you a favor and end you here and now? That is one way to pay for all your sins if you feel bad about everything you’ve done.”

William actually looked like he seriously considered it for a moment but finally just shook his head.

“I promised Ms. Kim…” William said in a meek tone.

“So what are you doing then? From the looks of it, you haven’t renounced your Blessing yet. Pretty sure I would feel that, so what is the hold-up?” Jake said.

“I… Master isn’t answering… but… this doesn’t make any fucking sense!” William finally exploded and looked up. “No fucking sense! Master has helped me so much, spent ages teaching me karmic magic, guided me, given me tips and advice, and you say that was all to fuck with me!?”

“Sounds like it,” Jake shrugged.

“Why!? Give me one good reason! Why use the Leaf of Yggrasil, why give me a powerful weapon, why help me find the people I wanted to find after returning to Earth, and why help me awaken my Bloodline!? Why would he do all of this for some sick joke!?”

Jake was about to answer but bit onto something towards the end of his outburst.

“Bloodline?” Jake asked, confused.

“Yes! My Bloodline! You have one, right? So do I! So why are we so different! Why-“

“The mere fact you ask if I have a Bloodline is evidence enough,” Jake said.

“Evidence of what!?”

“You don’t have a fucking Bloodline, you dunce. Was that another damn lie he told you? I guess he didn’t tell you that everyone with a Bloodline can feel others with one. I have met those with Bloodlines, and you sure don’t have one. Oh, Eversmile probably told you some bullshit about this being a lie or something, right? Damn, hit that right on the nail, huh?” Jake said, tossing in the last part as he saw William about to protest.

“I have a Bloodline… the system says so,” William still argued.

“Do you have a Bloodline Patriarch title?” Jake asked.

“…no?” Wiliam asked.

“Well, the other guy from Earth with a Bloodline does. I do. Shit, this is getting more personal than I like, but what is your Bloodline about? Just some basic stuff,” Jake said.

William clamped up to that, but the King came in and asked. “At the very least, share the rarity. If you do so, then the hunter shall share too, will he not?”

Jake was confused about what the hell the King was getting at, considering Bloodline did not really have rarities, but he quickly understood what the King was hinting at. “Yeah, sure, that seems fair enough.”

The young man hesitated for a bit but finally answered. “Mine is ancient rarity…”

“A lie it is. Bloodlines do not truly have rarities,” the King answered before Jake could. “They are classified as Bloodline Abilities and not skills, to begin with, even having their own spot in the status screen, making them not part of your race, class, or profession. The only rarity a Bloodline can have is Unique, and that only appears if you are the only being in existence with your specific Bloodline.”

Jake threw the King a look of surprise at how much he knew about Bloodlines. What he said was entirely correct and aligned with what Jake had learned and experienced.

William now looked even more lost than before as he just stared at the two of them. Several seconds passed before Jake spoke again.

“I really hope we established by now that Eversmile is a right-bastard, and honestly a piece of shit of a Primordial. Oh, and apparently also a horrible teacher.”

The young metal mage did not respond but had gone back to staring at the ground.

“The young metal caster I saw during the Tutorial was a human with drive and goals. One who sought power selfishly and slaughtered anything in his way. I am not saying that version was better, but at least he moved according to his own will and not the will of another. You may think you have changed, but fundamentally I do not believe you humans can truly change that much,” the King said.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” Jake agreed. “You were a grade-A asshole, but at least you were a grade-A asshole of your own twisted volition. I totally understand why the system would say you need to find your Path because you seem to have completely lost all will to actually progress. Why are you even getting stronger? What for? Just to make the Master that you now learned is a lying piece of shit happy?”

“I… don’t know,” William muttered.

“Well, sounds like something you need to figure the fuck out. You don’t even need a good reason to want to get stronger; it just needs to be your reason. Your Path.”

Jake’s words seemed to sink in as William looked deep in thought. Jake felt proud he was getting through as he suddenly felt a mental nudge.

The King looked at Jake and sent him a private telepathic idea. “May I know why you decided to help a former enemy overcome this obstacle?”

Jake looked at the King, puzzled. He was about to answer when he stopped himself.

“I… kinda just got caught up in the moment?”