The Primal Hunter

Irinixis had wondered what had happened for a while after the Chosen had just one day disappeared. She had no way of contracting him as his token was unreachable, meaning he was either dead or not in the Order. She reckoned the latter for obvious reasons.

Her new teacher, the Velvet Mistress, also agreed that nothing would have happened to him. Geniuses did not die that easily, and if he had been gone, people would have learned about it. Irin also knew that the many statues of the Viper spread around the Order would reflect the loss of a Chosen through their aura, proving that he should be fine. Or that the Viper was capable of shrugging off the loss of a Chosen without much care.

Irin naturally hoped the Chosen was fine as he was her golden ticket. She had gotten a new mistress at the peak of S-grade, her status elevated above anything she could ever imagine, and her evolution had even come earlier than she had expected. Irin had always believed she would be able to reach C-grade, even if she didn’t always vocalize it. However, she did have fears of how she would make it to C-grade. D-grade was already the end of the line for most, and while C-grade was expected of her due to her heritage and position, no one expected her to ever reach B-grade. Irin hadn’t expected to ever get a shot at it either. Yet now… now it didn’t seem impossible.

All she had to do was stay in his good graces and, if possible, get even more involved with him, no matter what kind of role she was asked to perform. It was premature, but her ultimate goal was to become his personal liaison between the Order and him. To be someone officially involved and linked to the Chosen and his matters. But, it was hard to get an ”in,” so for now, she could only try to deepen their personal relationship. One thing she had learned was that the Chosen cared little for decorum or tradition but preferred casual interactions and demeanors.

Her mistress had made her work on being more appealing to the Chosen, which included unlearning many of her old methods. The Chosen did not seem to enjoy the overly subservient types but wanted someone who treated him far more equally than someone of this status was entitled to. Not too much, though, as Irin still wanted to make it clear she was there to make his life easier while hopefully also being a friendly face.

Anyway, she had worked on this for a long time but had worried as he had not called for her even once. Fortunately, the silence was broken as her token vibrated, and she felt the signature. Elated, she greeted him, and to make it better, he even asked for assistance – even being allowed to make a personal visit.

She had quickly gone and put on some more fitting clothes and got herself ready. The evolution to C-grade had done her many favors if she said so herself, even if the shape of the horns could get a bit annoying and get her hair tangled during showers.

Teleporting to the residence of the Chosen, she was instantly met by two auras surpassing her own. One was from the Chosen, whom she knew, even with her evolution, she stood no chance against. The second one was a female beast who had taken human form and, from the looks of it, was a snake of some kind. Irin also felt the Blessing from the girl and would naturally show the due respect such a thing dictated. Helping her was part of her job and something she would happily do.

However, what she cared most about was the gaze of the Chosen. It lingered for longer than it had to, making Irin very pleased. Still, she had a job to do and showed professionalism despite the gazes of the two other women that were certainly less friendly than the Chosen’s. One gaze was from the assigned slave for Lord Thayne called Meira. Irin was a bit surprised he asked if she wanted to join the Order too, indicating he wanted to release her. On-brand based on what Irin had learned of Lord Thayne. If he wanted people to treat him as an equal, the thought of having a slave forced upon him must have been less than ideal. Irin had also learned a bit about Earth from the human called Reika and come to understand a bit of their planet’s history – including how slavery was not popular in their part of the world. Downright hated, even.

The other gaze was naturally from the snake woman. A piercing one, Irin had to admit. Luckily she saw neither of them as threats to her goals, even if they were on good terms with Lord Thayne. She also got a feeling that her goals and the goals of the slave elf were somewhat similar, if very different in approach. Both of them wanted to stay integrated with the Chosen, one way or another, to secure their own futures.

With the two girls evaluated, Irin answered some questions and led the prospective member, Scarlett, away. A bow towards the Chosen was only proper, and once more, his gaze lingered for a moment before Irin and the snake girl left. Irin, of course, knew what she was doing.

Was she what humans would call a golddigger? Yes, though the term in the multiverse tended to be parasites for those such as her who forcefully tried to associate themselves with powerful individuals and feed off their Records. She wasn’t ashamed of it either.

Lord Thayne wasn’t stupid and most certainly not unperceptive. He knew what she was doing and allowed it. If the parasite and target both enjoyed and found benefits in the relationship, it could only be called synergistic, couldn’t it?

Finally alone, Jake could relax. Meira had gone off to her own residence to tend to her studies after their lengthy talk, and with Scarlett and Irin also gone, Jake had the main mansion all by himself. Free of the ”drama” he had just been a part of, he felt relieved. Jake was a bit dense, sure… but even he could see that the three women were interested in him. Or at least interested in his status.

However, it was honestly easiest to just act like he didn’t know. Things were just too complicated. Meira was still his slave, making it break at least a few moral lines to respond to her feelings, and Jake wasn’t even sure she actually liked him, even though she thought she did. He had helped her, and she clearly felt indebted to him. Confusing gratitude with stronger emotions was not uncommon at all.

Scarlett was just… no. She reminded Jake of a teenage girl, and she also revered Jake to an unhealthy level. With both her and Meira, the power imbalance in their relationships was all out-of-whacks too. So… yeah, better to just ignore it.

Then there was Irin. That one made felt the most complicated to Jake. So complicated he didn’t want to think too much about it but get on with working on his checklist.

Jake had two goals for now. Sagacity of the Malefic Viper and the entire situation with sim-Jake and their joint attempt to create a skill. For both of these, Jake had some issues he needed to overcome. After some consideration, he ultimately decided to take on Sagacity first as he wanted to fully dedicate his attention to the potential mythical skill. Also, the extra Wisdom would be nice.

With no need to delay, he got to work and sat on the sofa in the living room as he leaned back and stared at the ceiling while gathering his thoughts.

He already had some insights into the topic of Sagacity already, especially after the last vision. For a long time, Jake had wondered what the point of the Sagacity skill even truly was. For a good reason too.

[Sagacity of the Malefic Viper (Ancient)] – To hold just a fragment of the wisdom of a Primordial is more than most ever achieve. Much less to be personally taught that knowledge directly by the god himself. Allows the Alchemist to peek into a fragment of the Malefic Viper’s Records to seek his knowledge. Grants the Alchemist of the Malefic Viper a far better understanding of mana and of most affinities. Allows the Alchemist to make creations he does not have the associated crafting skill for (does not receive stat effectiveness bonuses without associated skill). Passively provides 1 Wisdom per level in Alchemist of the Malefic Viper. May your search for knowledge be as inexhaustible as the Malefic One.

Sure, it did help Jake in some ways, but it was minimal. It had two primary passive elements: a better understanding of mana and the ability to craft without associated crafting skills. The first part had some value, but It was just a small passive bonus that he barely noticed.

Then there was the thing about not needing a crafting skill. It sounded nice, but… Jake had these crafting skills. He had all he needed, and his evolutions tended to just give the skills if he wanted them or not. Also, if Jake could choose, he would want the crafting skill anyway for the stat effectiveness bonus that Sagacity did not offer.

To summarize, Jake only really got anything out of the extra Wisdom and the mana thing. Which seemed really subpar compared to all his other Malefic Viper Legacy skills.

Okay, there was one final active part of the skill: to peer into the Record Fragment of the Viper. This part had been pretty useful, but… Jake couldn’t see why he needed a skill for that. He had stolen the drop of blood without a skill, hadn’t he? And he also restrained it within his Soulspace quite easily.

So, to summarize, Jake found little value in the Sagacity skill and even wondered what its primary function was and why the Viper had it, as clearly the blood-peering part was not a part of the Viper’s version. At least Jake had wondered this until the latest vision. He had kind of misunderstood the core of Sagacity from the beginning, not realizing that the reality was… the skill wasn’t made for the enlightened races. It was made for monsters.

Jake had seen the Viper try and craft without the required crafting skill and seen how difficult it was. It was, without exaggerating, a hundred times harder than crafting with a skill. The Viper had struggled to make health potions even after he found the issue, and that was while in C-grade. Jake could only imagine the pain of having to do this entire process of figuring out a ”manual” approach to every new alchemical method. But Jake had a feeling the Viper had done exactly this and then condensed it into this one skill. A skill that was now part of his Legacy and could be obtained or taught to other monsters, allowing them to benefit from his trial and error.

It was a catch-all skill for alchemy crafting. A way for monsters to still be alchemists and compete on a far more equal playing field with the enlightened races. The things about affinities and mana were just passive elements gained from a better understanding of the fundamental principles of how alchemy worked. Or, perhaps, an added bonus as the system knew the significantly reduced value the Sagacity skill had for someone like Jake.

He felt like he was on the right track, but some things still bothered him… and while he tended to prefer to avoid it, he decided to approach the source of the skill itself to confirm his theory.

”Hey, Villy-”

”Yeah?” a voice answered as a smirking god stared straight down at Jake’s face, obstructing his vision of the nice ceiling.

”I thought you were busy?” Jake answered without moving.

”I am. That is why you are talking to this avatar and not the real me,” Villy said as he jumped over the back of the couch and sat on it. ”Can you tell the difference?”

Jake stared at the so-called avatar for a moment and tried to find any indications of it not being the real thing. The aura was vast and powerful as usual, but in its muted state, Jake had a hard time getting a read on it. ”No, not really,” he admitted.

”No need to be embarrassed, you weren’t meant to, and this avatar can exert a good ten percent of my full power if push comes to shove,” Villy explained. ”But this is not why you asked for me. What seems to trouble my little Chosen this time around? Oh, if it is love advice, then sure, you have fun with the succubus as you are both consenting adults, plus she seems like a fun one, and-”

”I wanted to ask about something with the First Sage,” Jake interrupted loudly.

Villy shut up but still smirked. ”He didn’t strike me as your type, so not love advice, I see. What do you want to know?”

”It is actually more about Sagacity than it is about him, but I have a feeling they are related. Firstly, the name Sagacity was not chosen randomly or decided by the system, was it?” Jake asked.

After a few moments of thinking, the Viper sighed. ”No, it was not. As you probably already guessed, then the skill is named after the First Sage. Tell me, what else have you concluded about this peculiar little skill?”

”It was made as a way to allow monsters to do alchemy without the crafting skills by creating one that does it all. It relies on your experiences and what you learned to fill in the gaps left by not having the many alchemical crafting skills,” Jake explained.

”Partly accurate. Yes, it is good for monsters and primarily used by them. Shit, Sagacity is one of the main reasons why monsters who specialize in alchemy prefer the Order over other places like the Altmar Empire, and Sagacity is one of the few Legacy skills that can be taught; the Records easily obtained to get the skill during a skill selection. But, you missed that also certain enlightened races with only a profession or a class can make great use of it. Plus, it is a skill tied to my Legacy and not necessarily to the alchemy profession, meaning even those with a profession utterly unrelated to alchemy can get it and become part-time alchemists,” Villy corrected Jake.

”Was it yours or the First Sage’s idea to make this kind of all-encompassing skill?” Jake asked. He still felt a bit bad about not telling Villy about what he had felt at the end of the last vision, where clearly the First Sage had been aware of him before the Viper knew. Which made Jake wonder if what the Viper had done – learned to craft without a crafting skill – was one of the reasons the First Sage wanted to take him in, to begin with.

”Hm, a bit of both,” Villy answered. ”He did tell me one of the reasons he wanted to teach me was to also learn from me. He was interested in all sorts of ways one could perform magic without any skill or system assistance, as well as how one could make use of the peculiarities of the system. His teachings were part of the reason I advised you to practice mana the first time we met.”

The Viper smiled a bit to himself. ”The old man used to have a saying that the experiences gained by he who knows nothing are infinitely more valuable than he who follows a false truth, as only the true essence of reality can be found by an unspoiled mind. In other words, the potential truths one can learn alone without guidance are worth far more than those merely taught. Think of your arcane affinity. If I had told you about how to find an arcane affinity and how you could try and create one, I doubt it would have ever manifested. In some ways, your ignorance led to it appearing, as its very nature is rooted in your basic understanding of mana.”

”I do remember you mentioning something like that before,” Jake nodded. ”But Sagacity strikes me more as a skill that is heavily tied to prior experiences and not new discoveries.”

”True, true. Partly,” Villy nodded in agreement. ”Sagacity is, as you said, the result of a combined effort of the First Sage and me to make a methodology for those who cannot gain the alchemy profession. At least, that was the initial core of the skill, but it has, from there, expanded. The core now revolves around my experience and knowledge more than simply crafting methods. Your version also has some elements related to mana, and you got a drop of blood that contains Records, right? Those are now also tied to it. So, to sum it up for ya, Sagacity is knowledge incarnate.”

Jake opened his mouth to ask something but forgot it instantly as a lightbulb went off. ”I… think I have an idea what to do…”

”Then my job here is done,” Villy smiled.

”May need you for something else if you are up for it later,” Jake said.

”Then I guess we will see each other again soon,” the Viper answered as he popped out of existence.

Jake didn’t delay but instantly got himself comfortable and entered meditation. Once more, Jake felt like he had missed something very obvious…