The Primal Hunter
Chapter 1111: Classification Change

Jake truly experienced the woes of being too strong, as even something like the Simivita had proven unable to put up a proper fight. He likely wouldn’t have bothered fighting the Simivitas, as battling a large tribe was unnecessarily stressful, and he preferred facing solitary monsters.

Picking up the loot dropped by the Chieftain, Jake saw that one was a rare sword, and the skull necklace was an epic item that could apparently be used in occult rituals. Neither were items Jake cared much about, and he had far better already, which once again proved that he was fighting beings far below his capabilities.

Still, he had taken on the challenge to do a good deed, and luckily, it seemed as if things had turned out well, as he finally had time to address the dryad and elf. The two of them had headed toward him after the fight concluded, likely in part to also check up on the kits within the mound. At least the dryad made sure to dispel the barrier of wood protecting it by turning the cocoon back into a seed she put away in her inventory.

Seeing the two approaching, Jake was ready for what would come next. It was the same song and dance he’d been through so many times before. Based on how much Jake had shown during the fight, they had definitely guessed he was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, as he hadn’t exactly been subtle, even using Scales of the Malefic Viper and poison during the fight. Not to mention that he was wearing his regular mask, which was apparently what many remembered him by.

Having already mentally prepared himself... Jake didn’t experience what he had thought would happen at all.

“Thanks for the assist. Things wouldn’t have turned out well without you,” the high elf said in a polite tone as she and the dryad got close. “I’m Keerla, and this is Solana. I think you’re owed an explanation of what’s going on, and what happened is that...”

She continued to explain what had led to all this. All about seeing this Fortuna Ferret, the mound, the kits, and their desire to protect the young ones from the Simivita, who apparently liked to eat the children of powerful races with the thought they would get stronger. Based on what Jake knew about Records, it probably even worked to some extent, as genuine belief had power in its own right.

As the explanation came to a close, it was apparent that the two women had no idea who Jake was but only saw him as an incredibly talented and powerful hunter. The way the dryad named Solana looked at him was with a bit of fear, but rather than fear of his identity, it was more fear of not knowing who he was and if their ignorance was somehow offensive to him. At least those were the vibes she gave off when she spoke in a cautious tone.

With the explanation done and dusted, Jake had a few questions, though. One more pertinent than any other. “What happened to the Fortuna Ferret?”

Keerla looked as if she realized something as her eyes opened wide. “Crap, I completely forgot... she should be returning soon if nothing else has happened to her, and considering it’s a Fortuna Ferret unless she encountered some B-grade, she’ll be fine.”

“Just pointing this out, but how reasonable do you think this ferret is?” Jake asked further. “Because I would be in quite a foul mood if I had just been flung far away and had to rush back to help those I care about.”

He was speaking from experience with that one, remembering what had happened when Ell’Hakan invaded Earth and sent him straight to the other side of the planet.

“I... hopefully it’ll be fine?” Keerla said, not sounding that sure before having a brief moment of panic. “No matter what, please do not harm the Fortuna Ferret! It’s one of the endangered species, and seeing one with kits is even rarer.”

“Relax,” Jake assured her, not interested in fighting an endangered ferret. “But you two do need to consider what comes next. The Simivita tribe knows of this mound, and where the Fortuna Ferret is staying now, I would be highly surprised if they don’t return sooner or later. Likely with an even stronger force next time.”

It would be a bit of a downer for Jake to save a bunch of baby ferrets only for them to die a week later. The two women nodded in agreement with Jake’s words as the dryad spoke. “Fortuna Ferrets aren’t unwise, and I’m sure we can convince her to relocate somewhere safer. The problem is that while many solitary monsters are in this area, the Simivita are still the strongest by far and have a presence everywhere. It’ll be hard to find somewhere safe, as even stronger enemies are to all sides... seeking away from the Grand Lake also isn’t an option as that requires passing through Rainbowfeather territory, which would be a death sentence to her and her kits.”

“Rainbowfeather territory? Do you mean the territory in that direction?” Jake asked as he pointed toward where he’d roughly come from.

“Yes... I’m surprised you didn’t encounter any, but from your first attack and ability to remain unnoticed by all of us, I assume your stealth skills are good,” the dryad answered.

“Oh, I did encounter quite a few of those damn birds,” Jake muttered. “Shouldn’t be a problem heading through that place anymore. Maybe it’ll even be safe to settle down there for a while.”

Keerla looked perplexed at Jake for a moment before she realized. “Did you wipe them out?”

“They didn’t leave me much choice,” he shrugged in response, wondering if such actions were looked upon negatively by members of the Pantheon of Life. “I will warn you that the area took some damage during the fight, though, but with how rapidly the jungle recovers, it should be fine.”

“Are you a member of the Pantheon of Life?” Keerla asked straight up. “Because if you are, I seriously wonder why I never heard about someone like you.”

“I’m not,” Jake answered truthfully. “Just a visitor here to experience the Hunting Grounds and what else the Pantheon of Life has to offer.”

“I see,” the elf said, not trying to pry further. “I’m not sure you need this warning, but the Rainbowfeathers are very vengeful creatures, and if you killed that many of them, they can likely track you through karma now. While it’s true there are no truly powerful Rainbowfeathers in Area 1, the same is not true elsewhere. It’s likely even a B-grade may make a move against you.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Jake said, barely stopping himself from saying: “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

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He also wasn’t particularly scared of being tracked through karma unless Eversmile had randomly decided to help the Rainbowfeather Songbirds. Shroud of the Primordial should block all attempts to track him from the birds, though that naturally didn’t rule out them tracking him down anyway using more old-fashioned ways.

Right then, as Jake was in thought, what they had been waiting for also happened. Jake felt an aura approaching, one more powerful than the Chieftain he’d just slain by a fair margin. It was moving fast, blazing through the jungle and reaching the mound within seconds of Jake detecting its approach.

Out of the thick greenery, the lithe form of the beast appeared, its aura flaring out, and its mood definitely not good. Feeling this aura of the beast, Jake nearly wanted to go for a tussle with it. He definitely understood why the apes had sent it away and wanted to avoid a fight. Identify also confirmed it was indeed a beast at the peak of C-grade.

[Fortuna Ferret – lvl 349]

Its eyes darted around the battlefield, likely trying to get an understanding of what had happened. There were clear signs of fighting, and the ferret did look like it was about to attack Jake and the two women, but Keerla quickly raised her hands and motioned for them to back away from the mound.

“We came to help you,” she spoke in a soft voice. “We made the Simivitas retreat, and your kits are safe.”

The ferret understood her words and quickly moved toward the mound and entered it. Through his sphere, Jake saw the mother nervously approach the five sleeping kits, nudging them a little with her nose and rubbing her face all over them until satisfied. A few seconds later, she turned around and walked out of the mound again, all her aggressiveness gone as she regarded Jake and the two women.

Its eyes lingered on the women only for a moment before settling on Jake, proving it had pretty good instincts, managing to identify him as the strongest despite being the lowest level.

“No need to thank me; I came because of these two,” Jake said, the ferret nodding in acknowledgment as it opened its mouth and started cutely dooking.

Solana and Keerla looked confused as the elf spoke apologetically. “I’m sorry, I don’t-“

“Yeah, they’ll definitely come back,” Jake answered the ferret’s question.

The Fortuna Ferret looked troubled as it let out its cute sounds once more.

“We talked about it earlier, but I wiped out all those damn birds in the Rainbowfeather domain recently, and while I can’t assure it’ll be safe there, it’s definitely an option. From what I saw, no other monsters dare approach the area,” Jake explained.

Considering this proposition for a moment, the Fortuna Ferret eventually agreed that evacuating there would be a good idea. The elf and dryad both looked at Jake rather confused, as the ferret went back into its nest.

“You understood what she said?” the elf asked, surprised.

“Evidently so,” Jake shrugged. The word “understood” was an odd one here, as Jake naturally also only heard cute dooking noises from the ferret, yet he knew what it wanted to ask anyway. Perhaps his many years Sylphie-whispering had given him a great talent to understand beasts... or perhaps he had always been inclined toward the more bestial side of existence.

“Wow... it usually takes me at least a few days before I begin to understand the beasts I care for,” the elf muttered. “Tell me you at least have some skill related to husbandry.”

“Nope, pure talent,” Jake smiled.

“Sometimes, the world truly isn’t fair,” the elf sighed. “Either way, I want to thank you again for the help. You didn’t have to, especially as a guest of the Pantheon. This may be a bit presumptuous, but could I have some contact details from you? I want to compensate you in some way after returning from the Hunting Grounds. I’m not saying I can offer much, but maybe I can even get some of my seniors to pitch in, seeing as you helped save Fortuna Ferret kits.”

Jake considered for a moment before shrugging. “Sure, I guess, though I don’t need anything.”

“That’s why I said it may be a bit presumptuous, as I mainly want a way to contact you again for purely selfish reasons. You’re clearly not a nobody, and if you are a nobody, you won’t stay one for long. I would be an idiot to not even attempt to make friends with someone who’s bound to go far,” the elf said, being surprisingly honest. The dryad clearly wasn’t a fan as she looked on a bit scared, wondering what Jake’s reaction would be.

He just chuckled and shook his head. “Appreciate the honesty. And you know what, how about instead of giving you a way to contact me, you give me something to reach out to you?”

“That’s fair,” the elf agreed, though she did look a bit disappointed. Jake guessed her plan had been to look into Jake using whatever he gave her to figure out who exactly he was. Additionally, Artemis had told him that it was actually pretty common for gods to bless people based on recommendations from those they had already blessed, and Jake could totally see a world where the elf was trying to figure out if Jake could potentially be interested in having Artemis bless him.

Which, while it would be funny, wasn’t really an option.

“Alright, here, take this,” the elf said, taking out a small wooden plaque. “With that, it should be pretty easy to reach out and find us. We live together, and I’ll gladly invite you over to dinner one day. Solana here is mean in the kitchen, and her cooking definitely isn’t something you’ll want to miss.”

“I’ll definitely take you up on that offer,” Jake smiled and nodded as he got a funny idea. “Would a plus one be acceptable?”

“Sure, the more the merrier,” Keerla smiled, clearly happy that Jake seemed receptive to the idea. If he truly had no plans to ever reach out again, why would he bother asking about such things, after all?

Of course, what she didn’t know was who Jake considered bringing along as he had the most hilarious idea... but all things in good time.

As their conversation ended, the Fortuna Ferret also returned, this time not alone. The five kits with it followed along with careful steps, having been woken up by their mother as they didn’t want to delay evacuating as no one knew when the Simivita would return.

Of course, not before Jake took the chance to be attacked by five curious human-sized ferret kits, all at their mother’s behest. All of them curiously sniffed Jake’s body and rubbed their heads on him, and whenever he tried to reach out and pet one, it reacted by rolling on the ground to dodge, playfully looking at Jake as if daring him to catch it.

Solana and Keerla looked at him with some jealousy while they briefly talked about what would happen next. Jake had a good time for a few minutes before it was time for them to head off. The two women would escort the Fortuna Ferret and the kits to the Rainbowfeather domain, and while Jake was offered to join, he wanted to continue his hunt.

While he wouldn’t classify this encounter as a waste of time, he did consider it inefficient. As he’d said to the Chieftain, he didn’t even expect a level from killing a peak C-tier anymore unless it was a powerful variant, and sadly for Jake, the most powerful variants in the Hunting Grounds were considered endangered.

He needed stronger opponents to push himself, and while he could get lucky finding a powerful, non-endangered solitary monster or face off against a large group of peak C-grades, Jake considered just not bothering with them anymore.

Instead, he reckoned it was time to finally seek out and take down his first B-grade, and from his brief talks with Keerla and Solana, he already had a target in mind.

As he headed toward the Grand Lake, Jake recalled the fond days of reaching D-grade and his first exploration of the forest near Haven. He remembered his Lighttail Monkey genocide, which had ultimately resulted in getting a banana musa and a good fight with his very first Prima.

Jake was now C-grade... and while these Simivitas weren’t quite monkeys, they were apes, and that was close enough. He’d already taken down one Chieftain, and he reckoned they weren’t very keen on him right now. Moreover, the apes Jake allowed to retreat had gone back and likely told this Warlord – someone Keerla confirmed to be B-grade - what had happened, so Jake was definitely on a shit list there. The two women had also confirmed that the Simivitas would definitely hunt him down if given the opportunity, and they even encouraged him to fight back and kill as many as he could - or be bothered to - as they were halfway considered an invasive species on the planet.

Seeing as Jake had already made them an enemy, and considering the Simivitas weren’t endangered, Jake decided to change their classification... skipping over endangered and going straight to extinct.