The Primal Hunter Chapter 1247 - Impressively Ignorant & Overpowered

Jake hadn't encountered many curse elements to draw ideas from so far, yet this short discussion on the idea of death had sparked some intriguing thoughts in his mind. Regarding poisons, his expertise lay mainly in those tied to death affinity, though he recognized their applications were quite narrow and targeted.

Just as Lyra described, Jake concentrated nearly entirely on turning death energy into a counterforce against life energy, thus dealing heavy blows to living organisms. Her words also explained why the majority of poisons he'd dealt with included elements of death affinity.

The bulk of poisons aimed to eliminate their victims, aligning them inherently with death's essence. Such harmony existed, and Jake was certain he'd leveraged it without realizing through all his death-based poison creations.

However, his own shallow grasp might have held him back to an extent, and it probably still did. The gap between basic awareness of a concept and deep comprehension was huge, much like how knowing gravity pulls objects down doesn't equate to a physicist's full insight into its mechanics.

Even so, that basic insight could kickstart a path to real mastery, and during his next solid meditation at the Gate of Enlightenment, Jake planned to reflect on this exchange.

Dwelling so much on death affinity also prompted him to ponder its stark counterpart: life. This led him to question his own simplified view of life's concept.

Numerous aspects of Dina and Eron's magic had always puzzled Jake, such as their ability to mend beings like the Fallen King or even Sylphie, who carried elemental traits. They'd given him some rundown, yet it remained unclear to him.

Viewing life and death in this light brought another query to Jake's mind, one that might sound simplistic.

“Say, how do Risen and other undead heal themselves or each other?” Jake inquired. Self-healing was straightforward since all entities could do it naturally, but what about healing spells among the undead?

“Oh, that’s easy,” Casper shrugged. “Skills mainly, though some rely on freeform magic too.”

From that reply, Jake suspected Casper deemed his question foolish, yet he pressed on anyway.

“Yeah, yeah, but what concepts are involved? Am I at least right to assume that the life affinity doesn’t work on the Risen and other undead?” Jake questioned.

“Yes and no,” Lyra replied helpfully. “Life energy fails on the undead and actually damages us instead of aiding. But that doesn't mean life's concept can't help us at all. Actually, the blight affinity holds hints of life affinity inside it. You could say that if death represents the shift toward nothingness, life does the reverse, reviving what's fading away.”

“So, undead healing magic includes bits of the life concept?” Jake asked with interest, debating if he ought to jot down more than just thoughts from this chat.

“To be precise, I'm not sure 'healing magic' fits the bill,” Casper chimed in, sounding a touch more earnest. “It's closer to repairing death magic. This kind can boost and surge our forms with extra spirit… wait, you get what spirit means, right?”

“I'd take offense that you'd doubt it, but given how my questions keep coming off as clueless to you both, I'll overlook it,” Jake sighed. “Spirit is the undead's equivalent to stamina and health points, substituting for vital and inner energy.”

Though Jake could concede his vast gaps in knowledge for a near B-grade, he wasn't entirely clueless! He mostly picked up such details from alchemy studies on potions for other races' resources, but it counted nonetheless.

“Right,” Casper nodded. “Like I mentioned, Risen healing is basically kickstarting our natural regen, similar to mending an elemental or any non-health-point creature. So, instead of labeling it healing magic, it's more about invoking recovery or the like. Truth be told, we're no specialists there; we just know it functions.”

Jake nodded, now wondering if he should swap out 'system-fuckery' for 'concepts' in relevant spots. Still, items like gear caps were surely just system-fuckery, and he'd never buy into any other take, explanations be damned.

“Well, this chat's been eye-opening, and I'd like to pick it up again soon, but let's hunt more for the moment,” Jake suggested, figuring it wasn't smart for the trio to linger chatting in the dungeon's initial zone.

“I’ll return to the locket to recover,” Lyra said with a slight bow before dissolving into ghostly energy and slipping back into Casper’s form.

“She can’t stay out of the locket long and heals much quicker within,” Casper clarified. “To clarify, she could linger outside for days without issue, but she can't stray too far from me. We're aiming to extend that range.”

“I didn’t ask,” Jake shook his head. “Not judging you for having a stay-in-locket wife.”

Casper shot Jake a glance, but the hunter merely chuckled and eyed his distant target. “Since you two graciously handled the first one, it's fair I demonstrate a bit and claim one myself.”

“Go ahead,” Casper said, gesturing with his hand. “The sole tip I can give is they're pretty tough, with Toughness as their top stat for sure. Or maybe all their Records go into defensive skills. Once you crack their shell, they're simple to shatter.”

“Thanks for the advice; I know you mean well,” Jake replied in a mildly mocking tone, the intent soon to reveal itself.

Designing and forming a Protean Arrow during their talk hadn't drained much mental effort, and though Casper's input didn't aid him greatly, observing the battle had. At minimum, it enhanced the arrow he was set to unleash.

Casper was spot on that piercing the sturdy casing of these Construction Golems posed the main hurdle, but by blending Penetrating Arrow into his Protean Arrow, Jake felt assured of success. Particularly with all the extras he'd layer into this strike.

“Impressive-looking arrow,” Casper commented. “And is that the cursed weapon you set as the arrowhead?”

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“It sure is,” Jake smiled, nocking the arrow while aiming. He pulled the string, triggering Arcane Powershot and Arcane Awakening at a steady 30%, seeing no reason to unleash full force against such foes.

Energy swirled around him as he built up the shot. Casper observed the process, his expression neutral initially, but as Jake sustained the Arcane Powershot and the surrounding energy's power grew, his face grew grave.

He appeared ready to speak but held back to avoid interrupting. Moments later, Jake deemed it sufficient, and with a lone Construction Golem hefting a massive metal pillar in his view, he let the string snap.

Arcane energy burst from his frame as the arrow soared, the foe blind to its doom thanks to Unseen Hunter. It only stirred at the last instant, but a swift Primal Gaze froze it solid; deploying that skill also verified another detail.

The arrow hit the Construction Golem, its tough shell providing scant defense as the whole B-grade erupted at the torso, hurling arms and head skyward in a spectacular blast of arcane mana. In a flash, before the golem could grasp the assault, it fell, utterly defenseless.

[Aginian Construction Golem – lvl 352]

Lowering his bow, Jake clicked his tongue. “Definitely a contender for the weakest B-grade I’ve ever encountered. These golems must be mass-produced.”

Casper kept gazing at the ruined golem afar. Or its remnants, rather. After a moment, he turned to Jake.

“You’re fucking broken, you know that, right?” Casper said, shaking his head. “Then again, should I be surprised that someone who took down a True Dragon is easily capable of one-shotting weak B-grades?”

“Eh, I’ve been able to one-shot B-grades like this for a while,” Jake shrugged casually.

“See, you’re not exactly helping yourself against the allegations that you’re broken,” Casper said, unable to hold himself back from chuckling. “Tell me, what’s the secret to such power?”

“Incredibly powerful classes and professions, a fuckload of titles giving you a stupid amount of stats, high-rarity skills, top-tier equipment, oh, and of course, most importantly, an absolutely overpowered Bloodline,” Jake answered in a deadpan tone.

“That’s fair,” Casper said with a sigh. “I guess I only have a few of those, though I do make up for a lot of what I lack with an awesome ghost girlfriend.”

“My girlfriend could beat up your girlfriend,” Jake said in the pettiest voice he could.

“Oh, really? Then bring her and let’s meet outside the dungeon when we’re done here. Wait, you can’t? That’s a shame,” Casper said in a teasing tone.

“Touché,” Jake surrendered that one. For now. “Anyway, your turn to show off what you two can do.”

“Eh, I’ll prefer to save that for later,” Casper said, also fine with moving on. “For now, let’s just clean up the exterior and start making our way into the Grand Labyrinth proper. Our goal should be the center, and I’m sure we’ll find more interesting enemies the further in we go.”

“Gotta ask, do you know what we’ll find at the center?” Jake couldn’t help but ask.

“The entrance to the next dungeon coming after this, I would guess,” Casper shrugged. “Alongside a boss that will give us context for the next dungeon, of course. For reference, the cabin we started in was – according to Minaga’s lore anyway – created by a powerful mage capable of traveling to the past through his special magic circles.”

“Minaga is taking a lot of liberties with the rules of the multiverse with that one,” Jake shook his head in disbelief. “Unless this mage was more powerful than the Primordials, I’m pretty sure actually traveling to the past, much less allowing others to do so, isn’t a thing.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely not,” Casper chuckled. “Though I guess it would have theoretically been possible to create a simulated reality based on a snapshot of a certain point in time, and while it would take a lot of groundwork, it could then be recreated within a dungeon or perhaps even a Divine Realm. Not perfectly, but close enough.”

“So, in other words, not the same thing at all,” Jake shook his head. The closest thing Jake knew to time travel in the multiverse was things like Jake’s Path of the Heretic-Chosen, which only allowed him to observe and see the past, or the ability of gods to rewind time in certain areas. Aeon could probably also do some overpowered stuff, but nothing Jake knew about.

“Very different indeed,” Casper admitted. “Actually, one more quick question, that bow is pretty new, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Jake confirmed, more than happy to talk about his wooden companion. “Got it at the Pantheon of Life.”

“Nice,” Casper nodded. “It looks good and seems to have a certain aura about it. I assume its origin isn’t normal?”

“Eh, not that special,” Jake said casually. “It’s made by Nature’s Attendant using a branch of Yggdrasil and my old system-given bow, with the help of yours truly and even Artemis. Should be usable for a while, maybe even into godhood based on what those deities said.”

Casper just looked at Jake again before speaking. “Lyra says you’re being spoiled by overly curious gods.”

“Hey, not my fault I’m an interesting guy,” Jake defended himself.

“I’m not complaining,” Casper said with a sincere smile. “Without you, the Blightfather would have never even noticed my existence, much less helped Lyra and me. While I don’t have the evidence, I’m confident he only blessed me in the first place because I was close to you to form a karmic connection early on in the era.”

“You don’t know that,” Jake said with a frown. “It could also have partly been due to William’s existence, as Eversmile would have gotten involved with or without me being there.”

“Maybe, but I sincerely doubt it, and he certainly wouldn’t have done what he did for Lyra,” Casper shook his head. “But seriously, enough about that shit; let’s get killing already. I still need a lot of class levels, and I’m not gonna waste this golden opportunity to get boosted.”

“Wow, after being all vulnerable and emotional like that, you’re right back to trying to take advantage of me, huh?” Jake said, acting all hurt.

“Of course, I would be a fool not to take advantage of so many gods’ favorite mortal,” Casper said shamelessly. “Though in my defense, I do plan on proving myself useful. In fact… how many B-grades have you ever killed at once in a single fight?”

Jake considered the question for a while before answering. “Not that many. I tend to avoid taking on groups if I can avoid it and prefer slaying singular, powerful foes instead.”

“Understandable, but as they say, variety is the spice of life, or well, death in my case, but I digress,” Casper said, obviously amused by his own silly joke. “Point is, let’s have some fun. Say, how many of those golems do you count from here?”

Deciding to go along with whatever Casper wanted, Jake took a look and did a quick headcount of the B-grades. “Thirty-two, unless we want to go to another wall-section entirely.”

The Grand Labyrinth was an octagon based on what Jake could see, so there were eight massive outer walls in total. Jake saw absolutely no reason to go to another section when they could enter from here, but perhaps wiping out all the B-grades could be an idea.

Jake had no idea about the true difficulty of the dungeon, so it was entirely possible they would have to retreat to the safety of the cabin at some point. Risking B-grades patrolling close to the wall spotting them and giving chase mid-retreat could be a problem, as that would keep them in combat. In conclusion, killing them all was probably the wisest.

Admittedly, Jake also wanted to know what Casper was planning.

“Thirty-two? Sounds doable,” Casper said after a few seconds. “I might lack the damage output, but when it comes to control, I’ll have you know that the combination of my class and Dungeon Engineering skills is quite nasty.”

Jake quickly understood what the Risen was getting at, making him smile. “All of them at once?”

“Of course,” Casper said, almost looking offended. “Or don’t you have confidence in your damage output or endurance to kill them all, even with my help? It’s okay if you don’t. While it may take me a while, I’m fairly certain I could handle them all by myself. I’m just trying to give you a chance to get involved and speed things up.”

“While I’m confident when it comes to both damage and endurance, the more you keep talking, the less confident I’m getting in my aim,” Jake said, throwing the Risen a look. “Who knows, if you keep yapping, perhaps we’ll even have an unfortunate accident.”

“Eh, I’ll take the risk,” Casper shrugged with a smirk. “You only live once… well, twice in my case. You know what I mean. Hopefully. Your amazing level of ignorance about basic things has made me start questioning even what I consider common knowledge.”

“Just go gather those damn golems already,” Jake sighed, shaking his head. “Oh, and watch your back out there. With my amazing ignorance, who’s to say I even know how to differentiate enemies from allies?”

“I believe in you!” Casper gave him a thumbs up before wrapping himself in curse energy and teleporting away to gather all the B-grade golems below.