Miranda had been working at high speeds as she made her way towards the Fort and while waiting outside. Lillian fed her information as she traveled with the hawk, and she and Lillian managed to put two and two together after Phillip came back and told them the merchant’s name was Sultan. He was one of the people they had become aware of already, as he had made quite the name for himself in some of the surrounding cities.
A ruthless man with a massive ego, but one incredibly good at hi...
2021-07-19 10:55:44 +0000 UTC
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Sultan was relaxed and confident as he studied the masked Chosen of the Malefic Viper. A powerful man worth working with. He had done his research before coming and believed he had an understanding of the man.
As a Chosen, he would naturally be a reflection of his Patron, so with the limited information on the Progenitor himself, he instead studied his god and the Order his god was in charge of. He studied customs and the ethos of the Order. Their logos and their - albeit lack of - &nbs...
2021-07-18 11:06:00 +0000 UTC
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”Based on current estimates, Haven should enter the Treasure Hunt with eight to ten D-grades. Neil and his party make five, then, of course, you, Phillip, and myself. I have no idea if Arnold will participate, and Phillip can’t get a straight answer from him either. I guess even he doesn’t know,” Miranda said, giving Jake an overview of how many they planned on bringing to the Treasure Hunt.
There were a few other potential prospects, hence the eight to ten, but it was rocky at ...
2021-07-16 10:45:35 +0000 UTC
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When Jake had asked if the hawk called Sylphie could join them, Miranda had naturally just agreed. Why would she not? It looked cute, and it could sit and listen in when they talked. However… she hadn’t expected it to also eat with them. Alright, even if it would eat with them, then it would just get some meat or something and sit off to the side. That would make sense to her. The current situation didn’t.
Jake cut off a slice of meat and ate it, having nice table manners. Miranda...
2021-07-15 10:47:58 +0000 UTC
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Jake waited outside the building for a few moments as he looked through the Fort using his sphere. Hank and the four others went to another meeting room while Arnold looked busy with Jake’s Nanoblade. Arnold had it suspended in some device and was firing a laser or something on it. Jake wasn’t a craftsman, so he just shook his head and went on his way.
It had been close to a full day since Jake had been back in Haven, and it was approaching evening time. He had a meeting with Mirand...
2021-07-14 10:45:17 +0000 UTC
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It had been a while since the last time he used Touch of the Malefic Viper on an item to transmute it. The last item he had transformed was his bow. Actually, that one could have gone better. Sure, the bow got better overall, but the change from Windsoar Bow to Windsorrow Bow made him feel a bit like a baddie.
Before he began the process, he took out the notes Arnold had made on the gloves and read them over. It was a meticulous list of how they had been crafted. What items had been use...
2021-07-13 10:56:19 +0000 UTC
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As expected, Jake didn’t take long before he made it to the Fort. On the way, he took note of one thing in particular… he never left the influence of the Pylon. Even when he stealthily entered the outskirts of the Fort, he was still within its range.
The Fort had expanded even more than before. Jake could see why Hank had to be there. If construction in Haven was rapid, the expansion of the Fort was just insane. He knew a lot came from caravans or smaller settlements that chose to i...
2021-07-12 11:05:15 +0000 UTC
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Hm, should I go for human-form Villy looking silly? Nah, that would be boring. Small snake eating a mushroom? That could be funny. Oh, what if I added a plaque below saying ‘danger noodle’? Yeah, that could totally be funny, Jake thought as he considered his options while waiting for the two men to wake up.
His hands were weaving different figures of stable arcane mana as he tried out a few shapes he thought could be funny.
After fifteen minutes, Chris woke up. Felix ...
2021-07-11 10:53:00 +0000 UTC
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Jake was confused, Felix excited, Chris super confused, and Villy was laughing hysterically in Jake’s head.
It took Jake a moment to realize that Villy had seriously just blessed someone just to fuck with him as a setup for this joke. Along with the hug, the old snake god seemed to have one hell of a time. Too bad for Villy… two could play that game.
Felix looked expectantly at Chris, who looked nervously up at Jake for guidance. They had attracted quite a lot of attention as ...
2021-07-09 10:46:05 +0000 UTC
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”Message received, over,” Jake responded mentally to Miranda. “Another merchant god? How many damn merchant gods are there?” Jake also asked Chris as they stood before an overly gaudy statue made of what looked like gold.
“Finally, I was beginning to think the skill didn’t’ work… Anyway, hey Jake, I evolved to D-grade and upgraded my profession, which got me a skill to contact you through some formation for communication. I was lucky I had the ingredients re...
2021-07-08 10:50:19 +0000 UTC
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Jake stood looking at the large temple, deep in his own thoughts. He stood over to the side, and no one particularly bothered him. He got a few glances, but that was only to do with him looking a bit suspicious. He was a bit more self-conscious about it now, but nothing that really irked him.
It had nothing to do with him hearing Olivia’s words before he left. If he took off his mask and cloak and just walked around like that, he would likely get far fewer stares… but if he was hone...
2021-07-07 10:55:09 +0000 UTC
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Jake didn’t find it in a jiffy. In fact, he didn’t find it at all. In his defense, though, he wasn’t really looking that hard. He was walking the city and checking different things out instead. The number of shops was insane, but even more so, he noticed the average level of the people around being quite a bit higher than he would have expected.
He saw many above 50 and even quite a few above 60 managing the shops. Even more impressive were some of the people looking to be more co...
2021-07-06 10:55:52 +0000 UTC
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He now realized he had truly neglected his gear for far too long. Jake hadn’t made proper use of humanity and their ability to create items. Arnold had given him the Nanoblade, a far better weapon than his old Venomfang. Why not also get gear in his other slots? He had replaced everything from the first dungeon with the Badger Pants gone, but he had more subpar equipment to get rid of.
Actually, Jake still had the two pieces of equipment he earned from the challenge dungeon, which was...
2021-07-05 10:56:11 +0000 UTC
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<Author Note>
Some tables in this chapter... and I found out Patreon has no way to put them in natively, so I had just to upload pictures. Yay. Tell me how it worked out.
Also, remember no chap Sunday. B-day time for Zogarth.
<Author Note Over>
Vilastromoz smiled as he considered going on a bit of an expedition. He hadn’t been to the Altmar Empire in… well, since he went into seclusion in his realm, so it would be inter...
2021-07-02 10:56:14 +0000 UTC
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<Author note>
A quarter of the way to a thousand chapters! I just wanted to thank you all for the continued support, and I hope you all continue to enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoy writing it.
I guess this is also a great time to say there will sadly be no chapter this Sunday for the hunter-tier. I am celebrating my birthday (was last week), and won't have time to write/upload it with all the preparations and the celebration itself.
&...
2021-07-01 10:56:55 +0000 UTC
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The third round wasn’t like the ones prior. There were no flashy attacks or advanced tactics deployed, no powerful skills used, or anything in that vein. Instead, it was just two opponents duking it out with sloppy blows in a battle of pure endurance and grit.
Jake dodged the wild swings of the golem as he swung his scimitar to try and land hits in return. His blade left shallow cuts on the golem’s body while it seemed to want to take him out in a single smash. He was fine with how ...
2021-06-30 10:59:02 +0000 UTC
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By now, he felt like he understood his foe well enough. He needed an arrow not to hit his foe hard but to do one thing only: disrupt the fuck out of it and drain a shitload of mana. This was his understanding, and the system seemed to recognize it as valid. The skill at least responded as an arrow began being summoned.
Out of everything Jake had ever summoned – besides maybe that soul-destroying arrow versus the Indigo Fungus – this arrow was the most unique. It was made of metal bu...
2021-06-29 11:04:40 +0000 UTC
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Against pretty much any other foe, using a blunt weapon wouldn’t be even close to as good. It didn’t work even with any of Jake’s skills. Additionally, it was a bit unwieldy to use for anything except wild swings, and it was far slower to swing. Finally, against most foes, it would deal roughly equal damage anyway. Though he doubted he could even hit most foes.
But the Altmar Census Golem was not most foes.
*DONG!* *BOOM!*
He swung again, hitting it in...
2021-06-28 11:07:01 +0000 UTC
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As Jake charged his Arcane Powershot, there was one aspect of his usual opening salvo he became a bit doubtful about. Some basic sense of danger seemed to be an inherent ability of most beings in the multiverse, which meant landing powerful opening shots could be problematic if the attacks weren’t fast or powerful enough. Even then, some foes could still avoid it. Unless, of course, the attacker had some way to stop their target from evading – like Gaze of the Apex Hunter.
This is w...
2021-06-27 11:01:13 +0000 UTC
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Why the hell would he leave a dungeon when he had spent so much time gathering those goddamn mushrooms? He had yet to use more than a handful of them, and he still had more than a dozen of the Infused variant.
When Jake chose to remain in the dungeon, the entire door lit up as the runes sprang to life. He felt some energy enter his body, and he tried to remove his hand but failed. It was like a pulse went through his entire being before entering the door again.
Finally, he could l...
2021-06-25 10:57:16 +0000 UTC
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The Heartwarden looked completely unaware of the hunter that was currently observing it. Yet Jake had a strong feeling it was aware of his presence. So even if it didn’t know where he currently was, it should have at least picked up that someone or something was coming.
This was why Jake didn’t aim to repeat his opening attack against the Prima. He was certain the Heartwarden had something prepared as while the Deepwellers weren’t the most intelligent creatures – mushro...
2021-06-24 11:08:08 +0000 UTC
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Jake’s skill selection for his class at level 120 had led to many things. A talk about slavery, a new skill for Jake to experiment with, insight into his own progress, and one more significant aspect. The system more or less telling him to start looking into using his arcane-affinity with more than mana.
As he went deeper and deeper into the Undergrowth dungeon, he began doing a bit of practice with it throughout some of his fights. He had quite a few skills that used stamina, and he ...
2021-06-23 11:16:12 +0000 UTC
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As with all new skills – or in this case, upgraded skill – it took a bit of experimenting and testing to fully understand his newfound capabilities. It had gone up two entire rarities, with many newly added functionalities. The first he tested was how many marks he could place in total.
Before, it had only been one, and that was quite frankly annoying. It was fine against singular, powerful enemies like the Prima, but it sucked against crowds of Deepdwellers. He would also like to t...
2021-06-22 10:56:16 +0000 UTC
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<Author Note>
This chapter is a bit of a weird one and a bit different than usual, but it is the kind of chapter I like to make once in a while. I believe they are important for many different reasons, even if the subject can get a bit heavy. Also, this chapter is a long one, nearly 1k above the normal average. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!
<Author Note Over>
Jake knew his class was considered good just based on the stats it gave...
2021-06-21 10:56:31 +0000 UTC
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*Avaricious Arcane Hunter class skills available*
Jake always liked getting new skills. Not just because he got something new and shiny to add to his repertoire, but because the list he got was a testament to his progress. Every single offering was proof of his achievements and a small insight into what kinds of improvements he had made. It felt like a good pat on the back and a high-five for how great he had been. The skills also often gave him good ideas for ...
2021-06-20 10:56:18 +0000 UTC
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”Yes, that’s good. A bit more detail there to the le- yeah, just like that.”
Miranda directed the young man before her while he controlled his flames with grace and beauty as he carved the large statue. It depicted three hooded humanoid figures standing on top of a Lagoon with small rune-like symbols inscribed upon it. The details were impeccable, and she had spent many weeks with the sculptor to get the details down to perfection, or at least as close to as mortally possible.
...
2021-06-18 10:57:19 +0000 UTC
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Jake sat regenerating on the ground, observing the trolls in his sphere. He was inside a dungeon, but everything was just like out in the real world. Yet he knew he wasn’t… dungeons were special. He knew that he himself could meet the trolls now and befriend them, the next party could kill them, and the one after that could never discover them to begin with.
The same troll could die a thousand times, give the same experience a thousand times, yet when party one thousand and one ente...
2021-06-17 10:58:42 +0000 UTC
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Jake guessed he had to go get the Golden Mushroom at some point, but quite frankly, it just made everything easier for him currently. Jake just had to shoot in the general direction of the mushroom, and he was sure to hit several targets at once when his arrow went boom.
He had also inadvertently made the troll mad now, properly drawing the lines between the three competing factions. Jake called it competing, but his contributions as a faction were just bombarding them from several kilo...
2021-06-16 10:46:09 +0000 UTC
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Jake came to a realization as he stood hidden far up in the air on solidified mana within the Undergrowth and observed the posturing of the Deepdwellers before the troll. As he prepared to watch the show, something was missing, and it took him a few moments to realize what it was…
I miss popcorn.
It felt like an eternity since the last time he had popcorn, and the battle about to unfold before him made him truly understand how much he missed those small poppy corns. He ...
2021-06-15 11:01:51 +0000 UTC
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One can have too much of a good thing. Something that would usually be highly beneficial could become unstable and even destructive in too large amounts or too high a concentration. Life energy was no exception.
The Deepdwellers were infused with so much life their entire bodies couldn’t take it anymore, and all had to be released. This resulted in the explosion that infused everything caught in it with so much life it died – only to rise again.
The massive area infected by th...
2021-06-14 10:49:20 +0000 UTC
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