Two weeks after Jake had returned to the Order, he was hard at work with the many cores he still had in storage. Meira had continued to buy new cores to keep the ritual going during his absence and had quite a stock built up to complement all those Jake had also dropped off.
Working on the cores was slow progress as Jake tried to figure out how to infuse this energy he had decided to call Primal Energy. Could he call it Origin Energy? Yes, perhaps, but he felt like it wouldn’t be as accurate.
From the beginning, he knew this energy was pretty much just his arcane affinity. At least a part of the arcane affinity. If his arcane affinity had a unique name, Jake would naturally name it the primal affinity, as that seemed to fit him well, hence why he landed on Primal Energy.
Anyway, Primal Energy was something Jake had a hard time properly understanding. It seemed utterly unrelated to the two concepts of destruction and stabilization. It leaned more into the concept of simplicity as far as Jake could tell, though that also didn’t perfectly fit either.
There was also the ultimate question ne needed to answer… what exactly was an Origin? The word held great meaning, and Jake had met it in so many different contexts. The very first time he saw it was when he got his Bloodline, more specifically, in the Bloodline Patriarch title.
[Bloodline Patriarch] – Unlock a unique Bloodline ability. The power found in the Origin of your Records is yours, and yours alone to wield and pass down throughout the multiverse. May your Bloodline prevail. +15 Vitality, +10% to Vitality.
It said Origin of his Records. Origins and Records were tied intrinsically to one another. In fact, when one spoke of an Origin, one always spoke of Records. From what Jake had gathered, most, if not all, things in the multiverse had an Origin of some kind. A place where they first appeared. That is to say, the first person to ever create a sword would have created the Origin of Swords. However, even that would still be far behind someone who made the Origin of Weapons or someone who somehow was the first to ever craft anything.
All of this is to say the word Origin stemmed from the word original. The first. Jake was the first one to ever have his Bloodline, and hence he was the true Origin of the Primal Hunter. In the same vein, Sanguine had been the Origin of all vampires.
There was some power in being the first in something, but being first did not hold innate power if what you were the first at had no meaning. A bit like back on old Earth and world records. Being the world record holder for running a hundred meters was damn impressive, but being the world record holder for eating the most sausages during a skydive, while impressive, didn’t exactly hold much meaning to most.
All of this made Jake think. Sandy had Genesis in their name, a word that was often synonymous with Origin and also meant the beginning of something. In fact, out of every evolution Jake had been the cause of, Sandy was the most straightforward example as it had happened through one natural treasure. A natural treasure that Jake amplified to bring forth some kind of Origin through his transmutation and infusion of Primal Energy. So the question is what he amplified.The full name of Sandy’s race was Juvenile Cosmic Genesis Worm. If he took the genesis as a standalone, it didn’t mean much, but what if the two were meant to be read together? Cosmic Genesis. The beginning of the cosmos itself. Based on what Jake had gathered on cosmic energy through recent research, it was often seen as some combination of space, creation, and the concept of matter. It was the presence of space and objects existing within the space.
Many theories put forth the claim that the first matter to ever exist was cosmic dust that then slowly formed into everything else tangible. Based on what Sandy had said and their ability to always sense this cosmic dust like it was sand in space this did seem entirely possible. Cosmic dust was present anywhere space was present, after all.
So, if what Jake thought was correct, Sandy had become infused with Records of the Origin of the cosmos itself, which would explain the worm’s level of power. He had felt some energy within the meteor back then he had amplified, and Jake now believed that a tiny bit of energy very close to Primal Energy was present within it for him to grasp onto.
If that indeed was true, then what about Sylphie? With her, there had not been this spark of Primal-adjacent energy. Back then, Jake had clearly amplified the Origin of Wind, which had ended up being related to sylphs, an extremely powerful variant of wind elementals. How exactly that had happened, Jake wasn’t sure about, and there were too many factors in the ritual circle back then, but one thing was for sure: whatever this Origin was, it had an extremely profound effect on the Records of Sylphie.
When it came to Eternal Hunger, Jake was also somewhat stumped. He knew that he had simplified the curse into the base emotion of hunger. Perhaps one could say it now held Records related to the Origin of hunger itself. On that note, distinguishing hunger from consumption or gluttony was essential.
Gluttony was the act of overconsumption to the level of unhealthiness. Consumption was the act itself, not an emotion at all. Hunger, on the other hand, was a constant gnawing feeling of never being full. Rather than gluttony, where one consumed simply because one wanted to, hunger felt like a necessity. You needed to eat, or you would die. At least you would feel like if you didn’t eat, you would be at death’s door, making it a far more powerful emotion, and thus curse.
Anyway… finally there was Jake himself.
What was Jake’s Origin? Well, he had many. That was another thing; few concepts had only one Origin. Jake was the embodiment of the Primal Hunter, but he was also a human, meaning he was related to the Origin of humans. Had his innate PrimalEnergy from his Bloodline amplified his Origin as a human? Mutated it into something that wasn’t quite human at all? Knowing the answer to that was honestly far above his pay grade. Who knows, maybe his race variant was only possible to have for someone with his Bloodline?
So, where did this leave Jake? Well, it left him with some hypothetical answers and a million more questions. He still wasn’t even sure why his Bloodline allowed him to use Primal Energy and why this Primal Energy could even influence Origins. But more than that, if all Jake had theorized was true, one thing bugged him more than anything… why did Villy and everyone seem so surprised by him being able to do this?
Why was it not a normal profession to have Origin Amplifiers? What made it uniquely tied to Jake?
Jake had nothing to do with the concepts of Origins. At least, he didn’t think so. He wracked his mind over this for so long but didn’t come up with a good answer. All he could truly do was trial and error and try to transform some of the energy into energy holding Records of an Origin. It was an uphill battle, as often Jake just ended up infusing his arcane energy, which had effects he didn’t want, like simply destroying or stabilizing the energy within without altering it at all.
All in all, he had a long way to go, and the only thing that would lead him toward success was repeated experimentation. So far, he had chosen not to use Touch of the Malefic Viper in any way, but he knew that, at the very least, he would have to introduce aspects of the skill with time, however, wanted he wanted was not simply corruption or transmutation, but something even… better.
At the beginning of the third week since his return, Meira finally came to him, saying she had obtained all the materials on the list given by Arnold. She sought out Jake, who was busy in the laboratory, and waited patiently for him to get done with the core he was currently working on. Jake saw her through his sphere but still continued his current experiment. After a few minutes, the core in his hand crumbled into dust, making him shake his head. He had delayed a bit more, but now it was time to have an annoyingly hard conversation.
Meira, non-the-wiser, patiently stood outside the lab and greeted Jake as he exited.
“I have acquired all the requested goods, Lord Thayne,” she said with a light bow.
“Great, let’s head out into the garden and go through them; I want to see exactly what that mad scientist wants,” Jake said with a smile.
That wasn’t entirely a lie, either. Jake did want to properly see what Arnold had wanted Jake to get. Additionally, he wanted to frame this not as him distrusting Meira to get the right things but as him going through them purely for his own vanity.
“Yes,” Meira nodded, using the same a-bit-too-cordial tone she had adopted ever since his return to the Order.
Jake and Meira walked to the garden at a relaxed pace, with Jake studying Meira closely throughout. She was good at hiding her nervousness, but Jake still picked up on it. She was on edge all the time, almost fearful. Based on Jake’s conversation with Duskleaf, he now also understood why. She probably had legitimate fears of Jake no longer wanting her around, something he also now knew probably shouldn’t surprise him. In fact, getting rid of her would be considered standard practice.
Within the Order, replacing your slaves with ones of a similar grade to yourself was expected, as slaves a grade lower were considered far less useful. It was also a problem of status for many, as having a slave an entire grade below yourself was viewed as something only those unable to afford an “upgrade” would do.
To be honest, Jake had not even considered this before after his conversation with Duskleaf. That was probably also why Meira had been so disturbed by him giving her a deadline to join the Order before C-grade. In her eyes, he had pretty much told her that even if she evolved to C-grade, he would no longer want her around. That him having her join the Order was just a gentle way of firing her.
Once they made it to the garden, Meira got started right away. “Does Lord Thayne want to view all the items or only those considered as standouts?”
“Just the standouts; based on what I remember, he also wanted a whole bunch of boring, mundane stuff,” Jake waved it off, trying to lighten the mood a bit. “Was these things hard to get, by the way?”
“I had to request assistance from Izil for two of them as they were manufactured exclusively in the Altmar Empire, but for the others, the usual channels proved adequate,” Meira explained matter-of-factly. Jake did bite onto how she seemed to emphasize she had gotten help from Izil… almost as if she tried to say: “hey, look, I do have some personal connections I can use to be useful.”
“Let’s see those things from the Altmar Empire first,” Jake simply said.
Meira proceeded to take out a weird sphere filled with holes in it, all of which looked to be filled with some kind of glass, as well as something quite recognizable. A human-sized golem, looking a bit like the Altmar Census Golem, but Jake could see this one was far more straightforward in design.
“The first one is known as a Sunflux Core Amplifier. It stores light and sun magic to power up certain kinds of attacks, while the second one is an Altmar Battle Golem, both the model number and version requested,” Meira explained.
“I have to ask, what do you think he will use them for?” Jake asked, trying to start some conversation. “For context, the guy who requested them is a mad scientist who loves technology.”
“The Altmar Empire is one of the greatest factions when it comes to technology-based concepts, so I would argue he primarily got them to study. However, this will likely prove incredibly difficult due to innate safeguards, so perhaps he simply needs them to use as-is,” she answered promptly.
Yeah, this is getting nowhere, Jake muttered internally but nevertheless kept going.
He tried to make a joke here and there and make Meira respond as they went over all the items of note. Jake tried damn hard, but Meira remained annoyingly stoic throughout, making his efforts wasted. He really couldn’t figure out what her plan was… did she think acting more professional would make him change his mind or something?
As they finished up the last item, Jake stored them all in his own spatial storage. There was honestly a shitload of goods, Arnold having ordered tons of different metals Jake didn’t even know the name of before being sent shopping.
“I hope my performance has been satisfactory. If allowed, I shall take my leave and-“
“Why are you acting so weird?” Jake asked, having had enough.
Meira looked confused but quickly collected herself. “What does Lord Thayne mea-“
“There you go again. You’re acting weird,” Jake said, shaking his head. He closed his eyes for a moment, resolving himself just to rip the bandaid off. “Okay, let’s go to the living room and have a proper talk about this entire thing. About the future.”
Finally, Meira showed some emotion. She looked incredibly nervous and stammered out: “If… if I have done something that Lord Thayne dislikes, I-“
“The only thing you have done I dislike is acting like a robot,” Jake shut her down as he motioned for her to get moving. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but Jake’s insistence made her stay silent. He saw her skittering hands as they moved, even if she tried to hide her apparent nervousness.
Thoughts of just abandoning this serious talk went through his mind several times, but ultimately he knew he couldn’t back down. He would have to sit down and discuss with her at one point or another.
Entering the living room, Jake made Meira sit on the couch as he sat across from her. His mask was already made invisible, and he looked at her as she just stared at the floor. Jake knew he had indeed made the mood accidentally mirror that of a firing or scolding, but in his defense, he wasn’t exactly comfortable doing this either.
“When I said you have to attempt to join the Order or find an alternative before C-grade, what did you think I meant?” Jake asked her first thing.
After a brief pause, Meira responded in a quiet tone: “Change my current status as a slave and become free...”
“So, at least we both understood that the same,” Jake nodded, happy at least that got through. “Now, why do you think I want this to happen and even set a deadline?”
“Lord Thayne has no need or desire to have any slaves,” Meira answered, still meek. “And… I became one unintentionally… so… naturally, Lord Thayne wants to correct this error, but in a way he finds acceptable.”
“Right so far. I don’t want any slaves, not you, not anyone,” Jake did clarify. Seeing Meira look hurt that he stated his dissatisfaction with having her be a slave felt so bloody weird to Jake, but he soldiered through. “But where I think we have a breakdown of communication is what do you think this change of status means for you. What do you think will happen?”
Meira, for the first time, looked up at him.
“I… if Lord Thayne possibly… if… I don’t know,” she finally confessed, tears almost in her eyes.
“Me neither,” Jake shrugged, trying to lighten the mood. “Which begs the question. What do you want to happen? The fact that you stop being a slave is non-negotiable, but no one says that has to be a bad thing.”
Meira just made a weird face as she seemed to try and understand what Jake was getting at. Like he was fishing for an answer. Sadly for her, Jake truly did just want her to make the choice of what she wanted to do herself.
“I won’t get mad no matter what you say you want to happen. What you want me to do with your future? Where do you want to see yourself in ten, a hundred, or a thousand years? Again, you can speak freely. Any desire is valid. I swear that I will consider what you want no matter what.”
Jake really wanted her to feel like she could just say what she wanted. He has spoken as sincerely as he could, even going as far as swearing he would consider her words – something Villy had actually warned about doing, as oaths could hold real power, especially with Jake now being C-grade.
He hoped her words had worked as he saw her look up with determination in her eyes.
“I… anything?” she asked for clarification. “So… if I wanted to stay here with Lord Thayne even after joining the Order, would it be okay?”
“Yes,” Jake said, happy he had gotten through to her and allowed her to speak freely. “As I said, I will respect your opinion.”
“So, will Lord Thayne allow me to keep working for him?” she once more wanted him to clarify.
“I told you, yes,” Jake smiled, looking straight at Meira. “I do consider you one of the people I care about, and I will be more than happy to keep you here, but not due to some contract but your own free will. We met by circumstance, yes, but I am not one to just toss those close to me away.”
Meira looked at him for a bit with teary eyes before wiping them. She seemed deep in thought as she clenched her hands and stared at the floor, seemingly unable to meet Jake’s gaze.
“Can… could I maybe…” she turned beet-red as she stared intently at the floor, trying to gather her courage. “Would Lord Thayne also consider taking me as a…”
Jake got a bad feeling. “A… what?”
“If possible… when I am C-grade… would Lord Thayne also make me his mistress like the others?“ she said with much determination as she looked up at him with hopeful eyes.
That is when Jake realized he had perhaps allowed her to speak a bit too freely.