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*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 180 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

And it was skill-selection time.

*Avaricious Arcane Hunter class skills available*

Jake was naturally excited. These last skill selections always felt special, and this profession skill had not disappointed with his freak soul mutation skill. Jake did not necessarily want a similar skill for his class but something more directly related to combat. Maybe an upgrade to Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter? Oh, how about a skill, any skill, that scaled with Perception? He would very much like that. He had some Free Points saved up, and if he happened to get a skill that scaled with Perception… well, he had an excuse.

So, without further ado, he dove in and saw five options. It was as expected, and true to tradition, he went through them.

[Minor Arcane Seal (Rare)] – Through the concept of stability, none shall find a path of escape. Allows the Hunter to create a seal by infusing stable arcane mana into a chosen target or area around the Hunter. Consumption of mana is dependent on the object or area the Hunter tries to seal. The durability of the seal is dependent on Wisdom and mana expenditure. Adds a minor bonus to the effects of Minor Arcane Seal based on Wisdom and Willpower.

And the first one was a solid dud that Jake quickly skipped over. He knew how to infuse stable mana into stuff already.

[Hunter’s Blade-Fang Style (Epic)] – To you, your weapons are your fangs, and your fangs are your ultimate shield. A defensive combat skill that revolves around countering and dodging your foe to keep distance and minimize damage taken. Unlocks intermediate proficiency in the Hunter’s Blade-Fang Style and adds a small bonus to the effects of Agility, Strength, and Perception when using a bladed weapon.

The first interesting option. It was an actual melee fighting technique skill. It had a slight overlap with Fang of Man, with the stat effect increasing while wearing a weapon. In cases like that, the strongest skill would take priority, and while you would gain a small bonus from the other one, it was minor. As for if he wanted to pick the skill? No. There was a chance Jake could upgrade it to the style he had made with sim-Jake, but there was also a risk the innate knowledge from this skill could lead him astray. One had to remember that Jake’s fighting style was dependent on his Bloodline, so no normal skill would ever be offered that truly fit him. Unless it actually referred to Jake directly in the description, he wouldn’t even consider it. Hence he moved on.

[Grand Arcane Explosion (Epic)] – Through sheer power and an abundance of resources, you can overwhelm your foes. Overload your surroundings with unstable arcane mana and detonate it all to create a massive explosion. This attack is especially effective against the environment but also causes significant damage to anything else caught in the blast. Adds a bonus to the effects of Intelligence and Wisdom when using Arcane Explosion.

Skill makes Jake go big boom; Jake no need; Jake already knows how to go big boom.

[Arcane-Shadow Vault of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Ancient)] – Your prey believes it can escape your avarice, foolish in its assumptions as your pursuit is endless. Through practice and sheer power, the Avaricious Arcane Hunter can turn into an Arcane-Shadow to either attack or defend. Allows you to vault forward a short distance between you and your destination. Phasing through physical or magical obstacles will result in either destroying the obstacle or impeding you entirely. Your methods are crude and destructive, allowing you to create an arcane explosion at your target destination based on the distance traveled. Adds a bonus to the effects of Agility, Endurance, and Intelligence when using Arcane-Shadow Vault of the Avaricious Hunter.WARNING: This skill is unlocked by and will serve as an upgrade to your existing Basic Shadow Vault of Umbra, resulting in the loss of the skill

And there it was. Jake had expected to see this kind of skill offered, and it came as expected. This was the reward for sim-Jake’s work so far, but it was clearly not good enough. He knew that sim-Jake would not accept his Legacy merely being some ancient rarity skill. In fact, he was pretty sure his simulacrum would want to beat him senseless if he picked it. Hence he moved on just as everyone would expect. Because, as always, the best was saved for last.

[Relentless Hunt of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Legendary)] – The Avaricious Arcane Hunter is relentless in his pursuit of a stronger foe, and it only ends when he so desires. Once a target is found, the hunt shall only end in death. When hunting prey, you only grow in deadliness. Allows the Avaricious Arcane Hunter to accumulate momentum during a hunt by slowly finding an opportunity to strike. This momentum can then be turned into a tangible weapon. Successfully landing blows while not taking damage yourself hastens the accumulation of hunting momentum. Can consume all hunting momentum to significantly empower a single attack to deal devastating damage. Momentum can carry over if a new hunt begins shortly after another one ends. All skill effects have an increased effect the higher the level your foe is. The base speed at which hunting momentum is accumulated as well as the maximum amount of momentum possible is determined by Perception.

Jake read the skill over carefully.

If one asked Jake what his biggest problem was, it would be huge finisher attacks. Arcane Powershot was damn strong, but not some massive finisher, and while Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter had filled that role for a good while, it wasn’t at the level of what some other attacks he had seen. Carmen had her Fist of Ragnarok, his brother had that huge lighting attack, and many beasts also had supremely powerful attacks they could only release as a final gamble. Shit, that weird space-tunnel attack by the Panther had been insane, even for its level. Jake had kind of wanted something like that, and while he realized this skill would not give him some massively powerful blow, then it was good too. Dependent on how effective it actually was, of course.

There was only one huge plus. It was a skill that scaled purely with Perception and was a skill that allowed Jake to translate his Perception into actual damage. Some of his class skills and his archery skill already did this, but this added another layer. Moreover, nothing said it required one to use a ranged weapon, so Jake could also land a far more powerful melee blow using this Hunting Momentum. Yes, that was now the official name of the momentum Jake accumulated during the fight.

Needless to say, Jake picked the skill because why the hell wouldn’t he? It was a no-brainer and clearly the best. The moment he did so, he felt the instinctual knowledge enter his head. Honestly, there wasn’t much to it, and he knew that to truly get a feel for the skill and how good it was, he would need some actual combat. What he was sure of was that his overall damage output had just increased a lot.

After his talk with Villy, Jake had also changed his mind about just charging back. It seemed like Ell’Hakan and Arthur did have lines they refused to cross, and he had to trust other people in his life to be able to fend for themselves. Caleb should protect Jake’s family, and Miranda could handle herself, especially if she managed to get to the Grand Mangrove River. In there, she should be absolutely safe. He also wondered why, even now, no one had tried to take the Pylon in Haven yet. As long as he wasn’t put on that thirty-day timer, he truly wasn’t in that much of a rush. And if it was taken, he could just get it right back.

Speaking of Miranda. Jake had already reached out for her to contact him once available. If Ell’Hakan was making some plans, so would Jake. Ell’Hakan had clearly done a lot of research into Jake and even had his Patron help, but his research was limited. There were things not even the gods knew or could find out.

So why not make use of that? Of course, for him to truly figure out a method of approach, he would need to speak and strategize with Miranda. He just hoped she had gotten to the Grand Mangrove River safely.

Miranda regretted not forcing Sultan along. Not to have his companionship or fighting power, but solely due to that flying ship of his. Neil had managed to teleport them far, and they were making good distance with him teleporting them a few more times, but outside of these teleports, they were slow.

The problem was with Mark and Louise, Hank’s son and daughter. Neither of them had reached D-grade, making them far slower than everyone else and forcing Hank to carry one and Christen, one of Neil’s party members, the other. Miranda was not at all a physically proficient fighter, but even she outclassed the two of them several times over.

Now, being slow would be fine if not for the fact they were being chased. It was clear that the United Cities Alliance wanted her dead, just as Ell’Hakan had warned, and a group was in hot pursuit. Clearly, then the United Cities Alliance had some teleporters still around somewhere, or at least some way to teleport around, as they quickly chased after, despite teleporting so far from Haven.

This meant that despite their headstart, they were slowly getting caught up with. It was unsure if they could fight this group, but Miranda doubted it. Neil and his party were good fighters, but not at all at the level of true elites, and information on them was also abundant, making her sure Arthur had factored them in. Miranda herself also wasn’t a good fighter in a straight-on battle like this.

Luckily for them, they reached the Grand Mangrove River before they were fully reached by the other group.

“Shit,” Neil cursed the moment they entered the mangrove. “I felt a teleport about… more than a kilometer, less than ten, right behind us.”

“Can you teleport us further in?” Miranda asked with concern, looking at Hank and the others.

“No, this place is messing with my space magic quite badly, I can use it locally, but it is like the entire area is warped slightly,” Neil shook his head.

During this time, they never stopped running as they dove further and further in. In far enough for monsters to appear and hassle them, but fortunately, Neil and his party were there to handle with. Eleanor, Levi, Silas, and Neil handled most everything, with Lillian also offering some support, but it was limited what she could do.

The water below them stirred as Miranda felt movement behind them through it. It was lucky the area was swamp-like, giving her some benefits as a Verdant Witch but far from enough to fight without proper preperation. Thinking quickly, Miranda took out some bottles she had gotten some Jake a long time ago for experiments. They all contained his blood infused with Blood of the Malefic Viper, and she had nearly forgotten she even had them after she discovered how useless they were if anyone else than Jake used the blood.

Crushing all the bottles, she spilled the liquid all over the water. She knew it could attract something they didn’t want to attract, but it could also do just the opposite. Just after she did this, a large crocodile emerged from below, one nearly at the peak of D-grade.

“Hank! Take Mark and Louise and keep running!” Miranda yelled to the builder as Christen tossed Louise to him. Hank complied and started running further away. Not only because of the croc, but due to what came from behind.

Sadly, he did not get far. The water rose in front of him like a barrier as it crackled with lightning. Hank turned back in a panic, and so did everyone else who was not too busy with the crocodile.

A group of five appeared, all of them giving off strong auras.

Miranda recognized them as the group with Arthur during the Auction, and all of them had powerful equipment, and there was even a caster with the Fulgarian Deepcaller class Jake had sold the Akashic Tome to. He was also the one who had made the barrier of water. She identified a few of them and knew they were in trouble.

[Human – lvl 174]

[Human – lvl 178]

But she still believed they could at least put up a fight until more presences appeared behind the wall, having circled around with incredible speed. Miranda saw them as she squinted and gritted her teeth.

[Infernomaw Hound – lvl 199]

[Frostmaw Hound – lvl 199]

[Thundermaw Hound – lvl 199]

Three large dog-like creatures, each of them more than five meters tall, guarded their path of escape. Miranda prepared her magic to hold them off as she released a pulse of Verdant energy. It entered the water below, but the Fulgarian Deepcaller slammed his staff into it, sending a pulse of lightning through, nullifying her mana.

He smiled confidently as Miranda frowned.

“A pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Wells. I am Mahowny, leader of the first advance party of the United Cities Alliance. Took us quite a while to finally catch up, but here we are,” the man spoke with confidence. Not that Miranda could fault him. He turned to the others in the group and smiled.

“We are not merciless. It is only the City Lord of Haven and her assistant we are after, and the rest of you are free to leave. But should you choose to stand in our way, we will show no mercy,” Mahowny said, almost tauntingly. He was full of himself, and Miranda wanted to do something.

Just then, he opened the barrier a bit, and all three Hounds jumped in and killed the crocodile. It was an obvious show of strength, and they all knew one side was superior.

“I still don’t understand why you find this all necessary. You are choosing to work with an unknown Chosen from another planet, and for what? Do you truly think this will end well, even if all your plans work out? He is using you, not the other way around,” Miranda said.

Mahowny just smirked. “One of the good things about being a soldier is that my job is not to think about those things. I just follow orders and get the job done, and in this instance, my job is to kill you. Truly, it is nothing personal. Now, you can either decide to give yourself up and have your followers here leave or fight. I am fine with either option.”

Miranda tried to look like she was deep in thought. She felt herself being closely monitored by the party in front of her. All five of them were above 170, but the biggest problem was the three hounds. If she tried to use any magic, she did not doubt they would react and pounce. The other side clearly knew that they risked taking a loss or two if Miranda or the others had any trump cards, making them prefer if she just surrendered.

All Miranda could do was to make use of this and drag out the time. All she remembered about the Grand Mangrove River was that Jake had made a friend there, and she had hoped to draw them closer using the blood.

“Time is up,” Mahowny said after Miranda did her darndest to look conflicted for around a minute. Miranda prepared herself along with the rest of her group as the other side was about to engage. “You have made your choice, and now it is time to-“

He didn’t get further as he clamped up. Everyone stopped in their tracks, with the three hounds suddenly lying down on their respective branches, whimpering. An aura had swept into the area, making Miranda’s eyes open wide. It was stronger than anything she had ever felt on Earth, and she had no doubt the source was well in the C-grade.

She slowly turned her head and saw the figure that was the source of the aura through the thick roots of the mangrove. Miranda did not know what to expect, but it was not that. A young woman with snow-white skin and scattered scales across her body walked on water like it was solid ground. Her hair was long and white like the rest of her body, and her eyes were red with reptilian pupils. She wore a dress that looked like it was made of snakeskin, swaying behind her as if weightless. She looked like something out of a fairytale.

[Alabaster Crimsoneye Snake – lvl ???]

The young woman - no, C-grade monster turned humanoid - watched them all as she seemed to be looking for something. Or someone. Finally, her eyes landed on Miranda.

“Who are you?”