The Primal Hunter

It was already well-established that the First Sage was overpowered as fuck, yet his level of overpoweredness seemed to have no end.

Jake was silent for several seconds after Villy’s revelation until he also couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of everything. It was truly to the level of just being silly. It also helped Jake even further understand why Villy had never really viewed the First Sage as a “person,” and honestly, Jake had also begun to change his view.

He was more akin to a bug in the system. A natural force that had moved the entire multiverse in a certain direction. He had exploited early and often, taken advantage wherever he could, learning everything there was to learn along the way. At the same time, the system had apparently also been learning from him, creating what would eventually be the two most basic damn skills of the multiverse.

“He really is something,” Jake said, shaking his head as he stopped laughing. “Or was something. Honestly, I’m not sure how to classify him, and it feels weird talking about the First Sage as if he’s some ancient figure from history, considering I just spoke to him.”

“His existence being confusing is only to be expected, as even now I at times find myself perplexed when I recall things he could do,” the Viper joked. “I am also pleasantly surprised that you can even learn that he is the Origin of the Identify skill now. You couldn’t before.”

“I couldn’t?” Jake asked, confused.

“I tried to tell you once, but as it’s considered Forbidden Knowledge, it was censored. However, now it seems that has changed... perhaps not just for you... just give me a second real quick...”

Villy was silent for a few seconds before he reconnected.

“Nope, still Forbidden Knowledge. Details pertaining to Meditate, too,” the Viper said, Jake not even wanting to know how he’d just tested if it was still Forbidden Knowledge. Okay, he totally knew the Viper had just teleported some random innocent person to him, shared the Forbidden Knowledge, and confirmed the person couldn’t know. As for what he’d done to that person afterward... yeah not something he should think about.

“I could say the same about you. You also don’t appear very surprised upon learning that the First Sage is also the original creator of the Identify skill,” the snake god accurately pointed out.

“Well... it seems very on-brand for him,” Jake muttered, also realizing why the Viper wasn’t that taken aback when he reflected on his own lack of surprise. They had both been personally exposed to the ridiculousness of the First Sage, so why would they be overly surprised knowing the man had done something ludicrous? His entire existence was ludicrous in the first place, so whenever Jake heard he had done something else insane, his initial reaction was just: “Yeah, that tracks.”

A feeling perhaps only the two of them in the entire multiverse could share as only they could bond over just how overpowered the First Sage had been.

“I can also feel that this knowledge about Meditate and the Sagacity upgrade weren’t the only things you gained from Master. Through this connection alone, I can feel something has changed with you. You feel more... whole. Did you get an upgrade to your Anomalous Soul skill, allowing it to mutate further?” Villy asked, moving the conversation forward.

“It did indeed upgrade,” Jake readily confirmed as he scratched the back of his head. “The Record Fragment I absorbed manifested into an image of the First Sage within my Soulspace and proceeded to beat the living shit out of me until I learned how to not get beaten up anymore.”

“One must admire Master’s ability to change his teaching style according to the one he’s teaching,” Villy chuckled. “I do wonder... why did he even agree to help you? Can you tell me more about what happened during this vision?”

Jake nodded as he began to narrate everything that had gone down right from the moment he appeared in the town the First Sage hailed from. From the beginning, Jake’s narration got incredibly slow as Villy asked incredibly in-depth questions about things Jake would usually consider unimportant, such as the layout of the First Sage’s house and over-descriptions of everything in the entire city Jake had seen.

After some time, Jake understood why the Viper wanted to know so badly... because he’d never actually seen where the First Sage lived before the system. He’d never seen the library the First Sage held so dear or known many of the things the First Sage had told Jake during the walk down memory lane they had. Villy had known some things here and there, also aware of many things Jake wasn’t, but never had he gotten such a comprehensive history of the First Sage.

The more time passed, the more assured Jake became that the First Sage hadn’t just shared what he did to engrain his Records in Jake’s memory but because he knew all of it would eventually funnel back to the Malefic Viper. Perhaps he wanted the Primordial to remember, considering he couldn’t forget anything, or maybe he was just doing his disciple a favor. Either or, Jake gladly shared everything, leaving very few details out as he went over his entire encounter with the First Sage.

Jake also made sure to share the advice the First Sage had regarding getting over the feeling of loss. How one should instead focus on having a goal while finding comfort in that as long as one was alive, the memories – and thus Records - of those one held dear would also live on. It was basic sappy advice that Jake felt didn’t really resonate much with the Viper, as he definitely already had his own ways of coping or already knew. Still, Jake wanted to share it, and he also shared some of his own thoughts.

“I am ninety-nine percent sure the reason he wanted to die wasn’t actually because of how he struggled with his memories,” Jake said. “Sure, it may have played a minor role, but the true explanation is definitely part of something bigger. Some grand plan of his. He kept talking about how it just had to be that way. What I’m trying to say is that you really have no reason to feel guilty about killing him in the first place.”noveldrama

“I already halfway knew that there was far more to it, but thank you for confirming,” Villy said after a bit. “Guilt is a weird thing, though. I know he wanted me to kill him; I know it was part of his plan, yet I still feel guilty for having done so. Maybe I just believe like I should feel guilty, and the explanation he wanted to die out of sadness just fit better with that narrative.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of dumb,” Jake shrugged, trying to lighten the mood with his jovial attitude. “Clearly, he didn’t die because he was sad, and let’s be honest, if the old man hadn’t wanted to let you kill him for some grand design of his, he would have turned you into string cheese before you even managed to touch him. I have a very hard time seeing anything kill him unless he wanted them to.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“True, I guess,” the Malefic Viper said before urging Jake to continue talking about the vision.

All estimates Jake could have had about how long this talk would take were entirely overshot as the two of them spoke for hours upon hours, mainly because Jake had to go into so many details. It was as if the Viper wanted to form very vivid images from Jake’s descriptions so he had an as accurate understanding of what happened as possible.

Jake had totally expected Villy to be utterly shocked when Jake shared the First Sage slaying the Void Dweller, but he seemed to think that was entirely normal and just urged Jake to continue as explanations of how the emptiness of space looked naturally weren’t that interesting.

Soon enough, they reached past the point where Jake had Sagacity had upgraded, and the vision would soon be coming to an end. Villy was a bit surprised when Jake said that the First Sage had effectively killed himself to create the Record Fragment book but didn’t question it further as Jake continued and moved on to what had happened inside his Soulspace.

Surprisingly enough, the Viper didn’t seem very interested in what had gone down within Jake’s Soulspace at all. To Jake, it had been pretty damn impactful, but Villy didn’t care much beyond knowing the result. The god also clarified he knew Jake’s soul had a chance to mutate in the direction it had, but as always wanted Jake to find out himself.

As for Villy never having told Jake to train and get better acquainted with his Soulspace... well, according to the snake god, he had never seen the need to. In his words:

“To me, it wasn’t a question of you hunkering down and working tirelessly on your Soulspace to better understand yourself and find balance, but merely one of time. I don’t even believe it left you vulnerable to images of Records, as should you ever be truly at risk, the Records of your Bloodline would do all it could to survive. Now, the First Sage is a complete outlier who has all the right qualities to push you toward this upgrade. Something I wouldn’t be able to do even if I wanted to,” Villy simply said.

“Would you recommend that I keep practicing and trying to improve the Soulspace further?” Jake questioned.

“I would recommend studying the Record Fragment about the Meditate skill left by the First Sage and try to learn from that before doing anything else with your Soulspace,” the snake god answered. “In fact, I would put it quite far up on your priority list to learn from the First Sage, though I doubt you can learn even a fraction while still in C-grade. I truly believe that in the vast multiverse, there is no better teacher.”

“Not gonna disagree with that one,” Jake nodded, having firsthand experience getting two mythical rarity skills and a book for future study from just one brief encounter.

Soon enough, Jake reached the end of his narration of his vision adventures, right up until the moment the First Sage turned back into the Record Fragment book... at which point the old man had said some words Jake felt a bit awkward passing on, but knew he had to.

“This feels a bit weird, but the First Sage did ask me to pass on a message to you right before he disappeared,” Jake said, taking a deep breath. “He wanted me to tell you that he’s proud of you and proud of what you’ve become.”

It was a brief message that, to some, perhaps even seemed hollow. Yet it carried a lot of meaning, and after Jake said this, the Viper took a moment to himself. Jake remained quiet throughout, giving the snake god all the time he needed before Villy eventually spoke.

“Thanks for passing it on.”

The two of them were quiet once more for a while, Jake trying to remember if he’d forgotten anything important. He had purposefully excluded some tidbits of information here and there and hadn’t shared stuff like the First Sage saying it was good that Villy had a friend and all that, as saying something in that vein would just be too damn awkward.

Villy also clearly wanted a bit of time to digest everything, but soon enough, he restarted the conversation.

“I will say, the First Sage you met does strike me as slightly different to the one I knew and remember. Not in that he’s a different person, but he clearly knows a lot more than even when he died. At least it strikes me that way,” the Malefic Viper said. “Which is quite peculiar. I saw no signs of him having knowledge of the future when I knew him, but during that vision of yours, he clearly knew things that would be impossible to know during the first Era.”

“It has something to do with his Bloodline, right?” Jake asked without much thought.

“That would make the most sense. The question is how it works. One theory I had was that he could read the Records of our time through you and the system because his Records are so omnipresent throughout the universe through Identify and now apparently also Meditate, but some things seem off with that theory. Such as why he didn’t seem to have any knowledge about you, nor did he mention any of your creations you’ve made using your Origin manipulation,” Villy theorized out loud.

“Yeah, I did notice that,” Jake nodded. He also hadn’t purposefully brought any of them up or even mentioned his Primeval Origins abilities during his meeting with the First Sage.

“I guess it doesn’t truly matter how he knows about the future, just that he does... though it does give me some fundamental questions about how the multiverse, the Bloodline, and time works. One thing I do feel fairly confident about is that you caused him to know. You manifested his existence through your Path of the Heretic-Chosen, setting everything into motion,” the Viper continued.

Jake slowly nodded along, having already had thoughts that was the case, though he did bring up that it wasn’t entirely him. “I would say this seems like part of some bigger plot, though. I got the boots that the First Sage used to reach out and set up this meeting as a reward from the system, and I seriously doubt that’s just some big coincidence.”

“True,” the snake god agreed. “It’s all kind of exciting, isn’t it? All very mysterious. I must say, I doubt many – if any – other gods can brag about their C-grade Chosen somehow unveiling fundamental truths of the multiverse and creating genuine intrigue for their gods.”

“What can I say? I’m just built different,” Jake grinned. “And now better than ever after my soul upgrade.”

“Indeed,” the god chuckled before turning a bit more serious. “Now, while I feel fairly confident all knowledge related to the First Sage is considered Forbidden Knowledge, I would still be careful and avoid speaking about him and your recent encounter. Not even what you’ve learned. Especially be careful around that follower of Oras.”

“Arnold?” Jake asked, confused. “Why?”

“The only two people I know for sure have knowledge of the First Sage and his secrets are us. However, I cannot rule out that the Void Gods may also be aware of his existence. While I doubt the C-grade human will be allowed to know Forbidden Knowledge, I know that one of the primary reasons Oras even blesses people in the first place is to better connect to and perceive the material plane, making it not a stretch to assume he will be able to hear and see through those blessed,” Villy explained, giving Jake some food for thought.

And with good timing, too, as Jake’s immediate plan after talking with Villy was actually to stop by Arnold and discuss his bow, which was in a pretty bad state after his fight with Ell’Hakan.

“Any other warnings I should keep in mind?” Jake asked.

“Not really, no. Just keep trucking along and do remember to study the Records left by Master, especially the knowledge regarding healing your soul and thus Palete. While I’m looking into methods to fix it, no solution I can offer is better than one found through your own effort. Oh, and of course, don’t even think about evolving to B-grade before Palate is fully healed,” the Viper reiterated a warning the First Sage had also given.

“I know,” Jake sighed.

“Good. Now, I’ll let you get back to things, and I also have some ideas and thoughts I need to fully digest. When your system event is over, we can have a proper sit-down as we do have some more things to discuss, but I prefer to do so in person,” Villy said.

“Sure thing,” Jake nodded. “Any final advice before I set off? Perhaps ones pertaining to me soon invading the Holy Church’s territory?”

“Refining the bodies of Holy Church members into alchemical ingredients tends to create horrible materials as the holy affinity doesn’t mix well with the Order’s alchemy methods.”

“Very useful, thank you,” Jake said in a deadpan tone while shaking his head.

After a final goodbye and agreement to talk again later, Jake got up and prepared to go find Arnold to hear if he had some ideas regarding his semi-broken bow. As he was heading up toward the lodge, he also considered how everything was progressing in the Milky Way galaxy, as while the vision itself hadn’t taken much Realtime, the talk with Villy sure hadn’t been a short one.

I should also contact Carmen... Bertram did recommend having her as a potential backup when I invade the Holy Church’s territory.