The Primal Hunter 7: A LitRPG Adventure, page 61
The beastfolk was about to speak up again when Reika cut in. "So, what brought you here, by the way? A meeting of some sort? What about?"
"Maybe we should talk more privately?" Jake asked, nodding towards the cat lady, who seemed very interested in their conversation.
"Alright," Reika agreed without hesitation. The beastfolk didn’t protest, but just shrugged and waved them off.
"Have fun!" she said with a suggestive grin.
Reika groaned, led Jake into her own personal room, and closed the door behind her, activating the seal on it.
Feeling they were isolated, Jake finally spoke freely. "So, how have you been enjoying being in the Order of the Malefic Viper so far?"
Okay, not the most pressing question, but Jake was interested. Reika came from quite a different culture and, contrarily to Jake, didn’t have a good buddy who also happened to be running the entire place. She had a far more raw experience without any real help, and Jake genuinely wanted to know how she was doing. The old swordsman had also asked him to check in with her, so it was only right.
"It has been… better than expected?" Reika answered. "Not to be insulting, but I had expected things to be far worse and even less professional, if that makes sense? Everything feels above board. Well, ignoring the fact that there seem to be far fewer restrictions on everything compared to the old world. I also do not particularly enjoy the fact that I have had a dozen people so far try to sell me slaves or questionable organs and body parts clearly belonging to humanoids."
"Does indeed have its issues, true," Jake agreed.
"But overall, I find it incredibly generous that the Order gives so much and demands so little. I have been able to attend lessons with experts I could only ever dream of learning from. All I have given up in return is some labor by selling some things I crafted. I would think this entire setup was too good to be true if I didn’t experience it myself. I can only imagine how much better it is for you."
"Well, glad to hear you are settling in nicely." Jake smiled. "And the reason why I came today was actually to ask you if you wanted to participate in a mission with me and a few others, so that should earn you some more Academy Credits too. It is a dungeon run, and I have been asked to look for alchemists to join."
Reika looked surprised when Jake pulled out the paper detailing the mission, but she instantly shook her head. "This one is designed for late D-grades… I am not quite there yet."
"Eh, you are level 154; it should be fine. Your profession is late D-grade, right? That counts. The dungeon itself just requires the one entering to be D-grade, and all we will need of you is your alchemical knowledge.” He was already pretty determined that if Reika didn’t wanna go, they would just do the dungeon as a three-person team, as he didn’t want to spend time getting to learn and work with a stranger.
"Are you sure these other people would be fine with that?" she asked, concerned. "Who are they, by the way? Ones I know?"
"So far, it is me, Draskil, and Irin going.”
"Oh?" Reika exclaimed, surprised. "Irin? The succubus? How and why? I would assume she had already completed the dungeon, or has she truly never done it before? And even if she hasn’t done it… why go now? She is not an alchemist, as far as I know, nor a good fighter. At least not someone who would be useful with you and the Malefic Dragonkin around."
"I was surprised too," Jake answered, not sharing Draskil’s reason why he wanted to bring her along. "And I actually think your how and why are related. Why would she have gone before? The only reason now is because Draskil decided to ask her, probably just to not go alone or make her recruit alchemists to join or something."
"Hm," Reika said, clearly still unsure. "So it will be the four of us? Sure I will be of help?"
"Why not? You have been focused on alchemy and were already pretty good before you went to the Order. I would rather work with you than some random." Jake shrugged. "Draskil also doesn’t know shit about alchemy, so I would have to handle everything without you around, and that sounds like a bad and very tedious idea."
"I see." Reika nodded in confirmation, a bit more assured. "It would be my honor to attend, then, as long as all of you are fine with it."
"Great. We go in three days." Jake smiled, not giving Reika time to comment on the short notice. Jake had also gotten short notice, so it wasn’t his fault. "Moving on… I see you made a friend?"
"Bastilla," Reika said, nodding. "Yeah, we get along well. She is also an alchemist and rather talented. A bronze token like me, and I think she will upgrade to silver within a few years at most. Where she came from, no one really taught her anything, making her progress fast after entering the Academy. She is a bit like myself in that regard, even if our methodologies vary widely. Her methods are far closer to yours than mine."
Jake nodded as he got a brilliant idea. "Do you think she wants to come too?"
"Come to what?" Reika asked, genuinely confused.
"The dungeon."
"I… Would that be wise?" Reika muttered. "To bring along two bronze tokens… The disparity in the group will be massive."
"Eh, it should be fine," Jake said, brushing it off. "Just try to convince her to come so we fill the group. Not to brag, but I would probably be able to do most of the alchemy myself anyway, so I just need you two to help speed up things by pointing out obvious things I am too dumb to notice."
Reika shook her head and smiled. "Fine, I’ll try. Anyway, you talked about a system event back on Earth?"
"Well, not on Earth," Jake began. "It was in this giant space station of sorts, and I think it may even be a World Wonder…"
Jake began recounting the system event and how it had worked, Reika being very interested in the details. He also shared his brief conversation with the Sword Saint and let her know things were fine back on Earth. Reika herself began talking more about her experience in the Order, how she had felt incredibly insecure initially but had begun to find confidence again in her skills and talent, and how she had managed to get along with her roommates. Jake even told her of his bout with a C-grade—not because he wanted to brag or anything. He didn’t talk much about his trip with Carmen, as he didn’t want to share the Runemaiden’s personal details.
It was a nice chat, and he ended up leaving a few hours later and heading back to his own residence. He got quite a few stares from Bastilla when he exited the room, and he saw that other people who shared the living space had also shown up to glare. Jake didn’t particularly mind as he headed home for some more alchemy and to prepare for the dungeon dive.
Jake got confirmation less than five minutes after returning to his residence that Bastilla was in the dungeon group. Didn’t take much convincing, it seemed. With a team assembled, Jake pinged Irin and let her know.
In what should not be a surprise at all, Irin didn’t even know Draskil had asked Jake and was more than pleased to hear he would come along. She also didn’t mind the two tagalongs and sent over some more information on the dungeon to Jake, which he then also sent to Reika.
With everything done, Jake got back to work with his usual schedule as he waited for the dungeon run to begin.
Draskil and patience apparently didn’t go well together. Jake had barely gotten started on his alchemy when Irin pinged him again very apologetically. She explained that the second Draskil heard Jake had already found two other alchemists, he saw no reason to wait three more days, as the wait was originally for Irin to find alchemists. So he wanted to go… now.
Others would perhaps get mad at this, but Jake’s response was a shrug and a quick call to Reika. Now, Reika liked to plan, and when she was asked to spontaneously go to a dungeon only hours after learning about it, she was hesitant, but her roommate Bastilla convinced her.
This is how the group of five ended up meeting only half an hour later within a large meeting room of sorts made for exactly this kind of thing. Draskil had been the first to arrive, impatiently sitting there and waiting. Jake was second, as he didn’t have better things to do—or, well, he chose not to begin doing important things. Reika and Bastilla came a few minutes later, with Irin the last to arrive, as she had to prepare some materials and ingredients they would need in the dungeon.
"Everyone is already here?" Irinixis asked with surprise after she stepped through the gate. "Well, that does make things simpler. I know it is on short notice, but has anyone managed to read the supplied material?"
Jake quickly scanned it before nodding. Reika also agreed along with Bastilla, who looked weirdly out of it. Draskil was just staying mute as his tail moved back and forth impatiently. Jake noticed that Bastilla kept staring at Draskil, who didn’t even glance her way in return.
He also took note of how the one at the highest level present was Irin at 193, followed closely by Draskil at 190. The dragonkin hadn’t gotten many levels recently—probably on purpose to strengthen his foundation before C-grade.
"Okay, then… brief explanation only,” Irin said. “The dungeon we are about to enter is made for late-to-peak D-grades and features monsters above level 170 as challenges, up to and including a weak C-grade final optional boss. The dungeon itself contains nine floors total, all of which need to be cleared to battle the optional boss. Each floor has unique herbs, natural treasures, and materials one needs to obtain to craft a required product to pass the floor and move on to the next. All of these aforementioned things are guarded by monsters of various kinds, and often some materials from the monsters themselves are also required in the alchemical process. That is about all. Any questions?"
"How long is it expected to take?" Reika asked. "Also, a pleasure to meet you. I am Reika from the Noboru Clan of Earth."
"The pleasure is mine," Irin said, nodding. "The expected duration is around two to three weeks total, but for this group, trying to go on any averages seems pointless. So the real answer is… I don’t know. Ah, but the maximum duration we can spend in there is four weeks before the dungeon itself collapses."
Reika nodded at the answer, and Jake followed up with one of his own. "What kinds of monsters will we encounter?"
"Assorted ones. The floors tend to vary in affinity and design, meaning I once more cannot say. Besides the general design, I do not know the specific details. No one does, due to how these dungeons work.” Irin shook her head. “It is only once inside that things become clear."
Jake nodded, guessing there was maybe some element of random generation going on? Either way, with that information, there was just one more thing to say.
Draskil stood up and stretched his wings as he smirked. "Then let’s just go and find out ourselves!"
In agreement, the party of two humans, one demon, one dragonkin, and one beastfolk headed out for their dungeon run.
Jake had at least prepared himself in the most important way for this run:
He hadn’t eaten breakfast for weeks and was ready for a feast.
Chapter 71
Girl Time & Guy Time
Irin took the lead as she led Jake and the others toward the location of the dungeon. It wasn’t as simple as Jake had thought it would be to get there. He had kind of just assumed it would just be another gate, and then boom, they would be teleported straight in front of it.
However, reality was a bit different. They went through a gate and appeared in a small waystation of sorts within an utterly massive, damp cavern, with the gate itself within a structure carved into the stone walls.
“We are currently within the first layer of Primordial-4," the succubus explained once they made it out of the small waystation. “This part of the layer is usually safe in this area, and we shouldn’t expect any C-grades to appear. The dungeon itself is placed deeper within this cavern. In case any of you are wondering, then not placing the dungeons in natural environments more suitable for the dungeon in question would just be moronic and waste resources unnecessarily. You need the mana density to reach a certain level, too, for the dungeon core to operate properly. This dungeon is also on the older side, making its placement a bit more inconvenient than usual.”
Jake saw that only a single person was present there, inside a hidden meditation chamber of sorts. While he could not be sure, he had a feeling this person was firmly in the C-grade and acted as a defender of sorts.
Not thinking deeper about the issue, Jake followed Irin as they began making it deeper into the cavern. The place was utterly huge, and when they made it out of a small cave system, they came to an even larger, chasm-like cavern where Jake couldn’t even see the ceiling. Below them were blue pools of water with beasts and monsters of all kinds everywhere, fighting and bathing in the water.
Jake felt that the water was some kind of natural treasure or perhaps the byproduct of one. Yet this trip was not to collect water or fight beasts, but to head to the dungeon. Besides, the beasts below were only around 120 to 140, so they were not worth his time at all.
"The blue water in the pools may look attractive, but it is actually completely useless by itself when it comes to alchemy,” Irin explained once more as Reika and Bastilla looked curiously at the happenings far below. “Instead, we allow the beasts to soak in it and refine the energy so that when they are killed, their cores can be harvested. Ah, but some members of the Order with heritages that allow them to make use of the pools also come by once in a while, so do watch out if you ever go hunting here. Would be unfortunate to kill another member of the Order."
Irin gave a few more explanations of the local environment and what one could expect to find there if one decided to go exploring at one point or another. Jake considered if he should go at some point, but he knew he probably wouldn’t.
On the topic of getting to the dungeon, they had chosen to fly there, as that was faster. There were some flying creatures in the cavern too, but none were threats. Hell, none of these flying monsters even bothered the party for one simple reason: Jake wasn’t trying to hide his presence at all. The beasts all avoided them, as they instinctually knew not to mess with them. Not that it was necessarily even needed for Jake to be the one to scare them off. Draskil’s aura was plenty scary all on its own.
"The dungeon is located at the end of this cavern, pretty much just straight ahead. It shouldn’t take us more than half an hour to an hour to get there." Irin smiled. "I do not expect us to meet any beasts or foes that are of any danger to us."
Draskil turned to Jake once he heard this. With a toothy grin, he spoke, "So, how fast is your flying speed?"
Jake wasn’t surprised in the least, and he smirked in response. "Are you looking for a race?" The dragonkin didn’t even respond as his wings began glowing with energy. Jake, in response, slightly raised his foot and got ready to step down. "No one says it needs to be flying, right?"
Draskil shook his head. "Loser owes a drink."
With those words, he exploded with power and took off. Jake threw a glance at Irin, and after he got a nod in response, he stepped down and warped through space. He appeared over half a kilometer away before stepping down again. Slowly building up momentum, he chased after Draskil, who had a small headstart.
Irinixis sighed as she saw the two of them run off like two children let loose. She had been working in the Order for a long time now and had managed many individuals… but this was her first time getting such important people as two black tokens that even had a Malefic Dragonkin with a Divine Blessing among them.
Quite honestly, it was all luck. Humanoid Resources assigned managerial staff to those from the 93rd Universe; the groups they would manage were chosen entirely at random. Most others who handled groups from the new universe had gotten mediocre to slightly above mediocre groups. Having a few gold tokens would be considered exceptional, and a few of her colleagues had bragged about it.
So when Irinixis had been assigned two black tokens, she was ecstatic. Not to misunderstand, she still was ecstatic to be their primary contact person. This was a huge opportunity for her. There was just the minor issue of feeling completely out of her depth with both of them. She was used to powerful young masters throwing their weight around and caring about face above all else, but these two just did whatever. They were more like children than highly talented geniuses blessed by the Malefic One.
Perhaps their laidback attitudes are part of the reason for their growth, Irin thought, unsure if that could be the case. Either way, understanding Draskil seemed impossible at the current time, but as for the human? She had a great opportunity right there and then.
"So, girls, I guess it is just us till we reach the dungeon," Irin said to the two of them with a smile. “Better get going so we don’t make those two wait too long.”
"Let us," the woman called Reika agreed. She began condensing a board of ice that she stood upon as a mode of transportation, having just flown using pure mana before. The beastfolk woman followed by priming her wings with energy, Irin doing the same.
The three of them took flight, Irin being the fastest, but not by much. She was surprised at the level of magic deployed by the human, especially considering her limited time to train. She will advance to a silver token within not that long simply due to her talent in magic, Irin reckoned. I should not doubt the judgment of a black token… Jake believed she was worth bringing along and knows things I do not.
As for her beastfolk companion, she clearly had an Agility-focused race due to her feline heritage, making her on the faster side. She was about as fast as Reika, which in reality was just proof of Reika’s talent, considering she was firmly in the mage category.
While flying, there was no reason not to get to know one another, as they would spend some time together in the dungeon anyway. It wasn’t like they were in a real hurry, either, as Jake and Draskil could just spend some guy time together while they spent some girl time.
"Man, those two sure are something," the beastfolk woman commented as she looked at Irin. "I am called Bastilla, by the way. A pleasure to meet you. Are you one of those management demons?"
