The Primal Hunter 7: A LitRPG Adventure, page 58
Jake pushed back the chimera in their fight and got the advantage. He kept pressing and adapting faster than this foe could adapt to him. He stabbed it over a dozen times as he countered its blows before finally choosing to release his power and reseal it.
"That was better than before," Jake commented with a proud smile, looking at the wriggling form of the chimera within its prison of mana strings. It stopped struggling after only a few seconds and just went dormant.
"Yeah, if you weren’t us. You got a long way to go before you get on my level.” Sim-Jake shook his head. "But you are improving for sure. Fighting our instinct is hard, isn’t it?"
Jake nodded. It bloody was. Countering wasn’t a natural reaction for him, so he had to always register a blow, want to instinctually react by dodging, stop that reaction, and then counter instead. He would then, of course, need to quickly decide how to counter based on how he had wanted to dodge and what he sensed from his opponent. Jake needed to take in a whole lot of information and decide on it almost instantly. Something made easier by being able to quickly gather that information.
This was, as mentioned, a fighting style intrinsically linked with Perception. It was about not only reading your opponent, but reading your opponent better than they could read you, and if you saw them do the slightest adaption or shift, you had to pick up on it and counter-adapt. Always be one step ahead, never allowing the other side to get an advantage or any momentum.
To summarize the fighting style… it was about always knowing what your opponent did and taking advantage of those moves. It was such a simple concept made complicated by the sheer level of sim-Jake, and now real-Jake wanted to take it. Theoretically, this would be an unbeatable style as long as he wasn’t beat handily in stats, but reality was not that simple. There were too many variables in any fight, and often one didn’t know the variable before the very final moment.
A hidden skill, a saved trump card, a new item, a boosting skill, help arriving, the environment changing—everything and anything could happen. Sim-Jake had naturally recognized this, which was why the goal was never to know everything—just more than your opponent. Coupled with senses good enough to react to any trump card, sim-Jake believed that the most important thing was to be able to quickly seize back the momentum after surviving the trump card. Needless to say, simply expecting to instinctually survive these trump cards was only possible due to Jake’s Bloodline, and honestly, the entire style could only really be called a fighting style due to the Bloodline. It wasn’t something Jake could teach someone else, as there were no "moves."
Everything was reactionary. Well, okay, maybe there were kinda moves, but the moves were all based on reactions and tended to be simple, varying from opponent to opponent.
"Any progress on the Shadow Vault front?" Jake asked sim-Jake after discussing melee combat a bit longer.
"Some," sim-Jake said, “but nothing worth sharing. Just trying out some things. It isn’t like I can upgrade the skill myself, and honestly, I have a feeling if you just copied the progress I have already made, you would get an upgrade. Don’t do that, though. It is still not there, and I don’t want it to be a skill with a dead-end or one nearly impossible to upgrade further."
"Very forward-thinking for a simulacrum that will one day in the not-so-distant future cease to be," Jake morbidly joked.
"I will be immortalized through that skill and your melee style," sim-Jake said, waving it off. "I naturally assume you will become immortal. Anything else would just be a fucking embarrassment."
"Maybe I just die to some random critter?" Jake teased back. "Or maybe I find an opponent your super style is utterly useless against, and I get killed."
"Well, that would be all on you for not further developing it, then.” Sim-Jake smiled. "Even after I am gone, it will not be done… Remember, I made it with melee and katars in mind. We now have far more methods than that."
Jake shook his head. "One thing at a time."
He knew what sim-Jake meant. All Jake was learning was pure melee combat. There was no use of skills or any other means of combat besides just brawling. In actual combat, Jake would, of course, be different, and he also had some minor adaptions to make based on his use of poisons. While sim-Jake wanted to land a deep wound to do a lot of damage, it was more important for Jake to land a blow that was good at injecting some poison.
"I am just saying," sim-Jake said. "You know, you can even add archery in and make it an absolute god-tier style."
"Or, even better, I can take it one fucking step at a time and not bite off more than I can chew and fuck myself over," Jake said, shooting it down. That was one thing Jake knew he was better at than sim-Jake. While Jake would overextend in combat, sim-Jake would overextend in adding to his own workload, making him stretch himself thin. "Anyway, just keep it up with the melee practice and Shadow Vault. I am going to see Meira now, and I’ve got a class to attend in a bit too."
"I know," sim-Jake said with a deadpan face. "Remember. Same body, shared senses, partially shared memory. Ah, but do give Meira a thumbs-up from me. She is doing well."
"Already planned on doing that." Jake nodded and smiled as he disappeared from the Soulspace and opened his eyes to exit meditation.
Duskleaf noticed he had woken up, and Meira also breathed out in relief as he stopped openly releasing his presence into the library. "Had a good time? Any good progress?" Duskleaf asked.
"Plenty of progress as always,” Jake said. “I have the best teacher in existence, you know? I guess that sometimes if you want a job done well, you have to do it yourself."
"Ma—"
"Hm!?" Jake interrupted promptly.
Duskleaf groaned and corrected himself. "The Viper has made jokes nearly identical to that one nearly every time he summoned avatars, and I was around…"
"Great minds think alike." Jake smiled cheekily.
Meira, for some reason, nodded along with a serious expression like he wasn’t joking. Jake turned his attention to her, making her tense up before Jake calmly spoke, "How are you handling the presence training these days?"
"Uhm…. better?" Meira said. "It is difficult, but I am doing my best!"
The sweat on her brow had quickly disappeared after Jake stopped releasing his aura, and she had calmed down a lot. Meira hadn’t even noticed that she didn’t have any adverse reactions to Duskleaf’s presence despite him purposefully leaking out a little. Jake met the gaze of the old alchemist god, and he nodded approvingly.
Jake, fulfilling a promise, gave her a thumbs-up. "You are doing great."
She smiled shyly as Jake exchanged some quick words with Duskleaf before leaving the two be. He went towards the entrance hall and the wall to teleport to lessons. Meira still had some ways to go, and despite it being nearly four weeks since Jake said she could bring friends over, she had yet to bring any. Not from a lack of opportunity, as she had still copied some notes from books for them. Maybe they didn’t wanna go?
Jake did see how it could be intimidating, entering the home of another member of the Order of the Malefic Viper due to the rules, so maybe it was them not wanting to go? That explanation would make sense.
Shaking his head, Jake didn’t think about it anymore as he used the Order Token to open up the gateway to the lesson hall. This was one of those big lessons only held rarely for newer students, and Jake felt he would see many familiar faces there. It was the first time it had been held since he entered the Academy, and the teacher was also a familiar face.
It was Viridia, the S-grade Hall Master Jake had met briefly way back in the day when he astral projected to the Order by accident. The highest-ranked mortal within the Order of the Malefic Viper.
Well, besides himself, that is.
Chapter 67
"So, you want to join the Order of the Malefic Viper?"
Some lessons in the Order of the Malefic were limited to certain members. This was one such lesson, limited to individuals who had been in the Order for less than a year. The lessons were also held once a year, making it one you could only attend once. Jake heard that the Hall Master had missed some lessons in recent times due to being away training, but the teacher themselves didn’t have that huge of an impact. Rather than teaching much, it was an orientation of sorts, and Jake honestly only attended because it would be suspicious if he didn’t. Well, that, and one kind of ulterior motive.
As for the topic of the lesson? How to become a true member of the Order of the Malefic Viper. Currently, they were all members of the Academy, but they were not truly members of the Order. One had to remember that many who attended the Academy came from different factions from all across the multiverse. Risen, who were loyal to the Blightfather and the undead faction, people from the Altmar Empire, or even the Endless Empire of insect-like creatures. That wasn’t counting all those from minor factions.
Reika was still a member of the Noboru Clan and loyal to Earth, with no real sense of loyalty to the Order, as far as Jake knew. Jake didn’t really know if he would consider himself a true member of the Order, even if everyone else would, for one simple reason: he had a Blessing. That was, to many, a clear indication he was a true member. Even if no such rule existed, those blessed just tended to be. Jake was sure it would be touched upon how easy those like him had it with Blessings from the Viper.
With plenty of knowledge of what he was about to experience, Jake walked through the portal to the lesson hall, and to call this one huge was an understatement. But it was more than that. It was not one of the regular lesson halls, but one clearly specialized for this kind of thing. Carvings of the Viper lined the walls, and at the podium in the center was a massive statue of the Malefic Viper. It was a huge, coiling snake wrapped around a dragon and sinking its teeth into the neck of the larger beast, with the aura given off by the snake far more profound than the dragon. It was almost a statement that the Viper as a snake was superior to dragons.
On the ceiling was an equally impressive mural depicting the founding of the Order. At least, that is what he assumed it was about. It showed the Viper in human form followed by a huge swath of people in robes as he demolished an army of beasts and, with a wave of his hand, created a massive hole in the ground to begin building the mostly underground headquarters of the Order of the Malefic Viper.
The entire hall was pretty much an advertisement for how awesome the Malefic Viper and the Order were. As mentioned, Jake didn’t feel like he would get much out of this lesson, but he did also go for one other reason: to see familiar faces.
Being the hunter he was, he used his tracking skill to find the aura signatures of those he was seeking. He quickly spotted Reika with the other alchemists from the Noboru Clan, sitting with a bunch of other people and chatting away already. Jake had to admit that the other alchemists looked a bit haggard, but Reika looked full of positivity as she chatted with a female beastfolk Jake didn’t recognize.
Seeing as Reika looked A-okay, he left them alone. Jake scanned the room a bit more and spotted Draskil by himself, as always. By choice, mind you, as there were many who wanted to get close and talk to him. His Divine Blessing was just too effective at making people want to suck up to him and make him an ally or even friend.
Jake looked around and spotted a few more people he had seen or met before, including quite a few with whom he shared lessons. Ultimately, he decided to just go over to Draskil and sit with him.
One had to remember that Draskil had a standing higher than pretty much anyone there. He was no doubt known as a loner who was too haughty to bat an eye when anyone approached, and those he would bat an eye at wouldn’t approach him.
So Jake got quite a few stares as he casually walked over and took a seat next to Draskil. It was naturally unoccupied, as no one had dared to sit and risk angering him. The Malefic Dragonkin regarded Jake as he sat down, with Jake taking the lead.
"167."
"What?" Draskil asked, confused, before his eye widened in realization. "Was it a weak one? Barely evolved?"
Jake shook his head and grinned beneath his mask. "It was pretty newly evolved, yeah, but not on the weaker side at all. Wielded both dark and space magic, with the ability to clone itself and a bunch of other tools. Definitely not weak."
He was naturally talking about his successful C-grade hunt. The last time he and Draskil spoke, they had discussed Draskil killing a C-grade while still in D-grade, and Jake had now managed to kill one while a few levels lower. He had to brag about it, and the Dragonkin seemed more than interested in engaging him in conversation. Much to the dismay of many of the observers who probably wondered how the guy with a lesser Blessing managed to get so friendly with Draskil.
"Good!" Draskil grinned as she patted Jake on the back, clearly elated at his kill. With great interest, he leaned a bit closer. "How was the fight?"
"Damn good," Jake said, also grinning. "Man, it had this one attack…"
The two of them kept discussing as the stares of dozens inspected Jake carefully. Not many of those in this lesson were aware of who Jake or even Draskil was before attending. All the get-togethers so far had consisted only of those from the 93rd Universe, and that was certainly not the case for the lesson hall they were in now.
Jake even felt several C-grades present within the hall. Considering the Order recruited and allowed entry of people of all grades, Jake assumed there were separate lessons for them. It usually wouldn’t end well to mix B-grades with those significantly weaker, as their auras alone would crush those present. E-grades—which there were a few of—already felt the pressure from the C-grades and stronger D-grades, making them all congregate at one end of the hall.
Soon enough, about fifteen minutes had passed, and it was time for the lesson to begin. Everyone had taken their seats and the gates on all the walls closed. Down on the podium, in front of the statue of the Viper, a green portal opened as a green-haired, human-looking woman stepped out. Her aura instantly blanketed the entire lesson hall, making everyone know she was firmly in the S-grade. But there was more mixed in. It was like her aura carried a concept of authority, more than just something born of power.
Jake did not have a shadow of doubt in his mind. She had an incredibly potent social-type profession. Probably even one called Hall Master or something.
"Welcome, all newcomers, to the Order of the Malefic Viper." Viridia smiled as she regarded everyone in the room. Her eyes stopped on Jake for a second, clearly aware beforehand he would be there. She also lingered on Draskil a little but quickly moved on. "I hope you have all settled in during your time in the Order, or more specifically, the Academy. It is a pleasure to see so many attending, even more so in a time of celebration of our Patron’s return. No more words need to be said to fully establish that the Order is not the weak shell it was merely a few years ago; it is now truly a pinnacle faction within the multiverse once more. It is an Order that I must emphasize barely anyone here is actually truly a member of.”
A few confused murmurs were heard around the room—primarily from those who hailed from the 93rd Universe, but also some who had merely applied to the Order by doing an entrance test. Jake felt a bit good about others also being clueless about things they should seriously know. Even Jake knew this.
"While all here are members of the Academy,” she continued, “that does not make you members of the Order. As students, you are offered temporary membership while within the confines of the Order, but outside our territory, you are not considered one. This lesson today is about your status in the Order, how to improve that status, and how to potentially truly join the Order of the Malefic Viper.”
She waved her hand, and a projection of a hieratical structure appeared above her. It outlined the general power structure of the Order in a simple fashion. At the very top was naturally the Malefic Viper himself, and right next to him—but placed a bit lower—was his Chosen.
Beneath that were other gods of the Order, then the Hall Masters, followed by Branch Leaders, and then a bunch more ranks Jake didn’t bother to remember before finally getting to the bottom. Temporary outer members. This rank was highlighted as Viridia spoke again.
"For now, you need not consider the top. The Malefic One stands supreme, his Chosen second, especially among us mortals.” Jake briefly felt her attention on him, but her eyes didn’t even move, nor did she in any way indicate she was talking about him. "No, the ranks you can reach for are those at the bottom. Right now, the majority of you are the highlighted temporary outer members, which, as I mentioned, means you are not truly part of the Order.
"However, this sort of membership also offers benefits. As temporary members, you do not need to formally join or have any true responsibility towards the Order. You can remain part of any other faction as long as they are not enemies of the Order, and we will have no control of your actions or if you choose to leave. Not that we tend to exert much control over our actual members, but some responsibility is expected."
Being a temporary outer member was the end-point for most students of the Academy. Jake already knew that. Not necessarily because someone couldn’t join, but by choice. As mentioned many times, factions often sent talented individuals to the Order to study for a time, and these would naturally only be temporary members. While in the Order, these people were formally recognized as members, and their status from their home faction decided how they were treated, making them even sometimes viewed as having a higher status than true members. If the Chosen of the Blightfather chose to attend the Academy, he would still only be a temporary outer member, but his actual status would be far above his rank.
"As a temporary outer member, also know that your membership will end the day you stop attending the Academy or are made to leave,” Viridia continued. “If you wish to remain a member, you will have to become a non-temporary outer member of the Order of the Malefic Viper.
