The Primal Hunter

Calling what Jake had done a gamble was definitely an accurate description. He was messing with a concept no one really understood, not even someone like the Malefic Viper, making everything unpredictable. The only real question was how good his odds were that he would end up with something beneficial. Using Origin Energy tended to result in a good outcome for him… but this time, he quickly concluded something was off.

The string of Origin Energy entered the small snake and mushroom, representing the Palate of the Malefic Viper skill, and at first, Jake thought things were going well. The skill accepted the energy and responded to it.

He felt the two merge, and then… then everything no longer went as Jake had hoped.

A loud heartbeat made his entire Soulspace shake, and in return, a green pillar rose from the small snake and mushroom. It pierced toward the sky as Jake’s arcane energy was scattered, and Jake stumbled back, feeling the pressure both inside his Soulspace and on his body outside.

Focusing, Jake lifted his hands to try and control the energy output, not panicking quite yet, but it kept growing. He spotted the shadowy version of himself representing Eternal Hunger back away before falling to the ground not far away, utterly suppressed, and from the floating drop of the Viper’s blood, Jake felt almost a sense of glee as it began to react without Jake doing anything.

Refusing to give up, Jake poured in even more energy as he refused to see himself suppressed within his own Soulspace. Within his own damn world. Jake’s heartbeat sent a wave of power through the entire Soulspace in response to Jake’s conviction, his Bloodline refusing to surrender, and with this wave of absolute power and control, the green pillar seemed to stop growing and consuming his Soulspace…

And with it came the notification.

Due to your Bloodline, the skill [Palate of the Malefic Viper (Legendary] is evolving.

Jake smiled as he felt the pressure remain, but he believed that things would work out as another notification appeared... and right as it did, Jake’s eyes went wide as a sensation unlike anything he’d ever felt before washed over him, and from the depths of his Bloodline… uncertainty and powerlessness.

Some skills related to the [ERROR] may be lost or changed

Warning! INSUFFICIENT [REDACTED]

The system messages flooded Jake’s vision and mind as they kept coming, warning and error upon warning and error. For the first time, Jake wasn’t sure what to do. The green pillar began expanding again, unstable as its power kept growing along with its Records. From the system messages, Jake was only sure of one thing: this was extremely fucking bad.

A sense of hollowness began to sneak into his body as his arcane energy in the sky flickered, and a headache struck his body. He tried one final time to rein in the pillar representing the Palate of the Malefic Viper skill, and as he did so, he finally understood what was happening. The Records of Palate were expanding endlessly… forcibly being upgraded. But in the process, everything else was being consumed, leaving nothing left. Not even the C-grade vessel not powerful enough to contain what the skill would eventually become.

With this realization, he also knew what he had to do. In this moment of desperation, clarity struck him, as his Bloodline fully backed him, and he was ready to mobilize every bit of Origin Energy he had… but not to get Palate under control.

There was no other choice.

He had to destroy the Records related to Palate of the Malefic Viper and the skill, no matter the consequences. It was that, or certain death… and not just for Jake.

The Fallen King was flying toward the Prima Vessel alongside Vesperia and Sylphie, the hawk speeding them up as a gust of wind carried them forward. The travel distance was annoying, but the Unique Lifeform saw no true cause for complaint. This entire part of the system event didn’t strike him as particularly interesting in the first place in the first place. All they had to do was kill weak Prima Guardians that any of them could handle on their own. The only reason the Fallen King even stuck with Vesperia and Sylphie was because he believed it a waste to try and travel around pretending to be a hero on his own.

What fool would accept a Unique Lifeform traveling to their planet? Even more so than that, what cause did the Fallen King have to save a bunch of enlightened races? He cared not who won between the Guardian or the native enlightened. They were not his subjects, thus not his problem. Meanwhile, there was some value in having a True Royal feel a closer sense of kinship and gratitude toward him.

He had to make plans for the day he was no longer bound to the hunter, after all. Preserving the valuable connections he had formed through the Chosen only seemed like a logical approach until he finally managed to fully reclaim and restore his soul.

Just then, as he was flying, he felt something odd. For a fraction of a second, he believed it was the sensation of when Jake teleported the Fallen King to his side… but this wasn’t it. This wasn’t the Unique Lifeform being pulled toward Jake, but something coming toward the King. ʀἈＮỐΒË𝘚

Before he could even stop his flight, it hit him. Like a sledgehammer striking his soul, the Fallen King was forced to dedicate everything to defense. He faintly felt Vesperia and Sylphie stop as they noticed the Fallen King rapidly falling toward the ground as he stopped maintaining flight, golden cracks forming all over his mask.

All the Fallen King could do as he struggled with the invasion of his soul was to curse Jake for whatever he was doing, but even that, he did not have the mental power left over to do so.

--

Eron watched the hunter closely as he kept healing him, battling the desolation trying to consume his body. Seeing the effects of desolation firsthand was an incredibly valuable experience and he did admittedly sometimes allow it to infect an area a bit longer than he had to before healing it, just to see what would happen. A minor crime he was confident his fellow Bloodline Patriarch wouldn’t care about.

It wasn’t like Eron could risk Jake dying. He needed him for his own goals to come to fruition. Taking any kind of permanent or even semi-permanent damage also wasn’t an option, as Eron couldn’t have Jake slow down too much or fail to continue evolving. As C-grades, Eron and Jake were both too weak to accomplish Eron’s goals, so he needed the hunter to keep up with him at the very least.

Time passed, and Eron kept healing as a seemingly inexhaustible source of desolation kept releasing energy from inside Jake’s soul and into his body. He didn’t mind when he felt Jake move his energy or summon scales or anything like that. None of it disturbed him.

At least nothing had since suddenly, Eron felt something. It was as if a third presence appeared within the Prima Vessel, and as Eron stared at the flames that represented his soul… an ethereal second spark emerged before rapidly igniting, as Eron’s vision was filled with green flames that seemed to consume everything, Eron included.

His eyes rotted away as Eron was forced to explode his own body to escape. He appeared again, stumbling back as he sought to restore his own damaged soul… but he refused to heal his eyes, as even without them, he felt it. The unmistakable presence of a god had appeared within the Vessel… and the soul of the hunter, which was the source, was crumbling under the pressure.

If it fell entirely… Eron did not even want to think what would be unleashed, but he doubted it was something the Prima Vessel would be able to contain for even a moment.

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Gritting his teeth, Eron still reached out as he didn’t stop healing Jake, as it wasn’t only his soul that was being destroyed. He would have to keep preserving Jake’s body, hoping the hunter could deal with… whatever was happening. It was clear this wasn’t something intended or good, which only left Eron wondering:

What have you done?

Jake prepared to mobilize every bit of Origin Energy available as he acted decisively to empower his own Bloodline, giving him a chance to fight back. He knew this wasn’t a situation he would walk away from whole, and the losses would be extraordinary and permanent… but nothing was less permanent than death.

His body within his Soulspace filled with energy as he reached out to-

”It was bound to happen at some point, wasn’t it?”

The voice echoed throughout the Soulspace as Jake’s body froze. Not only in surprise but due to the pressure that fell over him, making him utterly unable to act or move. Even the Origin Energy and his Bloodline fell utterly silent in front of the presence. The only thing that acted with glee was the drop of blood from the Malefic Viper that began to glow even brighter.

Jake looked up as the giant pillar that was consuming his Soulspace began to shrink until it formed a small snake that rapidly changed its form into the recognizable humanoid Jake had shared many beers with.

”Playing with Records and transcendent-level powers such as Bloodlines can bring out both fantastical and calamitous results,” the Viper said as he slowly floated down and landed on the ground, with everything else within the entire Soulspace besides the Malefic Viper and his drop of blood seemingly frozen in time. ”This, Jake, is an example of the latter.”

The Viper slowly walked toward Jake as he observed everything around him. ”The idea was novel. To take a skill and infuse it with your Primeval Origins energy to try and get an upgrade. Perhaps you tried to just give it a little push in the right direction, eh? Well, here we are. This is the result.”

He stopped in front of Jake and sighed. ”I’m not saying it couldn’t work. In fact, I would argue quite the opposite. It worked a bit too well. You are now well on your way to turn yourself into nothing but Palate of the Malefic Viper. Of course, there is no way a C-grade would be able to handle that, and seeing as you were effectively operating outside the system, I doubt it would have come to your rescue, either.”

Leaning in, the Viper flashed a smile as he raised a hand and flicked Jake’s forehead, unfreezing him and making him tumble backward. ”You fucked up badly. Commendable attempt to minimize the damage, though. Empowering your Bloodline fully to try and destroy the Records of the skill could work, leaving you with either no skill at all or a fractured mess at best. Oh, and some pretty damn severe soul damage I wouldn’t expect fixed before your next evolution.”

Jake, able to act again, propped himself up as he looked at the Malefic Viper standing within his Soulspace. ”How are you-”

”Oh, I’m not,” the Viper grinned, no longer bothering to infuse his voice with power. ”You are currently speaking to Palate of the Malefic Viper in all its glory. At least the form I chose to adopt once I became aware of what you were up to. I will say, it was quite lucky you did this experiment of yours on one of my skills. If you had done it on any other, you would be dead or had to carve the Records of the skill from your being.”

Jake kept staring as the Viper kept explaining. ”Palate is made from my Records. I am its Origin. Your little trick empowered it enough from a qualitative standpoint for me to appear as a representation of my Records within your Soulspace. Of course, under usual circumstances, I would not be aware I had appeared here with my true body, especially not with a system event going on. Oh, and I would be way less lucid and far more insistent on carrying out the task of devouring all your Records. But, well, you’re not the only one with a capable Bloodline.”

”Fuck me…” Jake just muttered as he allowed everything that had happened to sink in. ”I did really fuck up catastrophically this time around, didn’t I?”

”For sure,” the Viper nodded as he turned serious and looked Jake in the eyes. ”Jake, I’m not going to question your potential or talent. I don’t think anyone can. But to put it bluntly, you’re still pathetically weak. Your Bloodline may allow you to sometimes overcome the impossible, but that is only when it can have a fair fight of quality. In quantity, you are like a squirt gun trying to outfight an ocean-sized bucket in a competition of who can make the most people wet. Sure, your little squirt gun is damn good at it and far more accurate and efficient, but what the fuck can it do in my stupidly contrived and abstract example? The answer is fuck-all.”

Jake just kept quiet as the Viper continued.

”What’s more, you chose to take on this fight without any system-backed method to refill your little squirt gun with water. So, what else did you expect to fill it up with? The Records required to fuel this entire shitshow would have to come from somewhere. Of course, pulling them directly from me in this instance wasn’t an option, as that isn’t how any of this works, so the system had to find the building blocks elsewhere. All on your unwilling dime.”

”Yeah… I realize I overestimated myself and my Bloodline significantly and had no idea what I was doing at all,” Jake confessed.

The pressure of the situation from the half-a-Planetary-Core filled with desolation - that was definitely still a problem, by the way - had made Jake not really think things through more than he should. At least that was one excuse… but in truth, Jake had just been stupidly overconfident and thought himself infallible.

”As I said, your Bloodline is strong, and the only reason Palate could even hope to evolve to the level where it would erase your existence is due to how overwhelming your Records already are. However, you need to understand that you are still growing. With your Bloodline, perhaps you could have won this bout and gotten rid of Palate of the Malefic Viper to save yourself, which is a testament to its power, but remember, all you would rid yourself of was a single one my skills trying to grow into the true Palate of the Malefic Viper. A process that was more than capable of consuming all that you are, your Bloodline, the only survivor, to be recycled by the system,” the Malefic Viper said in a harsh tone.

”You’re saying that…?” Jake muttered.

”Yes. Palate of the Me, as a singular Legacy skill, has more Records than your entire existence, and it’s not even a close competition in the slightest. My mere existence here, capable of fully suppressing you within your own Soulspace, should be proof enough of that.”

”Then… how in the hell could I have gotten rid of it?” Jake questioned.

”The same way you created the problem. This is just my theory, but I believe you empower and awaken aspects of your Bloodline whenever you apply your special energy to it, which would allow it to grow tremendously in Records to a level I cannot even begin to guess at. Just for a little while, but likely long enough to overwhelm and deal with Palate, saving your life,” the Malefic Viper made his guess. One that did sound very probable and as good as any theory Jake had.

The two of them for silent for a few moments. Moments Jake wasn’t sure they had with everything else going on, the desolation still a pressing issue. Plus, how long could the Viper stay manifested like this? All this definitely left him with one essential pressing issue.

”This might be too late to ask… but how do I fix it?” Jake asked after a bit. ”What happens now?”

”Always the practical sort,” Villy smiled. ”The short answer is that you already know how to fix it. Pour some of that special Jake Juice into your Bloodline and get rid of me. Of course, that’s the solution where you fix things yourself and don’t ask your wonderful Patron to offer you his assistance.”

”Not sure my own solution could even be considered a fix, as it includes breaking one of my best skills and fucking over my Path as an alchemist,” Jake muttered.

”True that,” Villy nodded before sighing. ”I want you to know this doesn’t come cheap to me either. The system tends not to like interference like this, but it’s better than the alternative. Also, to clarify, everything I said today is just my own theories and gross oversimplifications of everything that happened, and there might be some minor hiccups. This shit is complicated and way above what you should be messing with, and it’s even annoying for me to deal with.”

”Thank you, my wonderful Patron,” Jake said in a semi-joking tone, despite still feeling like shit with everything that was happening.

”You better thank me,” the Viper said, his body flickering for a moment. ”I can’t maintain this form for long, so let me give you a quick explanation of what happens next. I’m going to fix what I can, but there will be some damage no matter what. You have lost a lot of Records already, all of which I will have to forcibly reclaim as you cannot handle them. When it comes to dealing with Palate of the Malefic Viper, I can see you have eaten quite an interesting object – something I’m not going to question anything about because I don’t want the backlash I’ll suffer after this shit to increase – but I will help you address it a little bit.”

The form of the Viper began glowing as he seemed to be pulling in energy. ”You fucked up Palate. I can’t unfuck it. But I can stabilize and freeze it for now, but be fully aware this will have consequences. The internal stomach will be completely sealed and you can’t take anything in or out of it. Moreover, upgrading Palate won’t be an option either due to its fragmented Records. I’ll look for a solution to this, but in the meantime, just be happy these are the only consequences… besides the severe soul damage you have already suffered, that is.”

Jake could only nod, as this was way fucking better than Jake just ripping the skill from his soul entirely.

The Viper smiled and shook his head. ”Let’s hope this becomes a teaching moment… but not a too important one. Your reckless experimentation and willingness to do the moronic is also one of your greatest strengths. Just maybe think it through a tad more next time. Now, let me get to work. Oh, and Jake?”

”Yeah?”

”This is gonna hurt. Like… a lot.”

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