Should Jake question why Carmen was half-covered in blood? Maybe. He didn’t overly care, though, as he waved when he saw her come over. “Hello again.”
“You got here faster than expected, huh? Didn’t anyone wanna host you longer or what?” Carmen commentated, and Jake saw his escort grimace at her curt tone. Even the poor S-grade threw Carmen a look, which she seemed to not notice or care about. As things should be.
“No, they all threw me out on the streets,” Jake said with an exaggerated sigh. “I only came here because I accidentally started four or five wars due to my sheer political incompetence and reckoned Valhal would be on-theme as my next visit.”
“Oh, so you’re looking to hire us, eh?” Carmen smiled. “Not gonna be cheap. I hope those potions have been selling.”
“If all else fails, I’ll just have to take out a payday loan… or does Valhal do commissions on credit? I can pay back in installments,” Jake kept joking.
“If the Chosen desires to hire any mercenari-“ one of the three bald warriors commented as Carmen threw him a look, making him shut up.
“For fuck sake,” she muttered before looking back at Jake. “See what I’m working with here?”
Olaf also sighed at the warrior, who looked confused for a moment. It appeared as if he had the situation explained to him telepathically in the next moment, as he looked like he wanted to somehow make himself smaller. Quite a tough task for someone of his size.
“Oh well, that killed the mood,” Carmen shrugged. “Guess I should do that formal stuff. Welcome to the Nevermore Valhal Compound or whatever the official name is.”
“Thanks for having me,” Jake smiled. “Now, I feel like it’s only polite to ask, but who did you just beat to death?”“Hm? Oh, yeah, no. I was just having some light spars with some of the young ones who just got here and talked shit and groups who already did Nevermore and didn’t accomplish fuck-all,” Carmen scoffed, clearly annoyed. “They were bitching about there being no one from Valhal on any of the top 10 Leaderboards; who the fuck gives them the right to talk? These are groups who didn’t even hit the top 1000… they deserved a good lesson.”
“I see,” Jake nodded as he smiled teasingly. “Say, why didn’t Valhal take any of the top spots?”
Carmen glared at him as she shook her head. “Because we had a few dead weights in the party, and the Challenge Dungeons were absolute shit. Seriously, they sucked ass, every single one of them. Test of Character only tested how much bullshit I could keep up with, Neverending Journey was like going back to my old retail job, Minaga’s Labyrinth was just shitty equations and puzzles, House of the Architect was a bloody waste of time, and the one with any promise, Colosseum of Mortals, was ruined by its idiotic rules.”
“I would have thought you would do decently in the Colosseum?” Jake questioned.
“See these,” Carmen asked, raising a hand. “Yeah, right now, I can catch a speartip or use my palm to deflect swords. In the Colosseum, I would lose a damn hand if anything sharp hit it. I had to go back to how I fought before, making me feel like I regressed, and ultimately I had to pick up some fist weapons and stuff… it sucked.”
Jake slowly nodded. “Yeah… does sound like a bit of an oversight, honestly.”
“Sure as hell does,” Carmen sighed. “Anyway, wanna go show off in front of them or have a look around first?”
“Are you offering a tour of the compound?”
“I feel like Olaf here would get mad if I didn’t,” Carmen said, throwing the S-grade a smile.
“It does sound like I’m no longer needed here and am just getting in the way,” Olaf said with a nod. “I will be in the central building if there is anything. Do not hesitate to come by.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jake responded as he saw Olaf leave, the man not even trying to hide his smile from Jake and Carmen’s interactions. It was pretty understandable why, too. Jake and Carmen didn’t make it a secret they were close, and if Olaf had been tasked with trying to make Jake feel welcome, it had to be a huge relief to see the two of them interact.
“Now, what do you wanna see first?” Carmen asked once the guy was gone as she pulled out a washcloth and cleaned herself up a bit.
“Any recommendations?” Jake asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Just a few. First of all, we could go check out the arena and maybe even go for a bit of a spar if you’re up for it and not afraid of me hurting your pride. Secondly, we could go check out some of the training facilities, as Valhal has some interesting ones, including an archery range where you can spatially expand the range itself. Third, we could visit my personal residence, where having another kind of spar is possible,” Carmen offered, giving him a knowing wink.
“You know what… I think I’ll take the second one first,” Jake responded. “A spatially expanding archery range sounds pretty damn cool.”
“Right,” Carmen smiled, shaking her head. “My place is this way.”
Jake looked at her weirdly as Carmen stopped herself mid-step. “Wait, you’re serious?”
Scratching the back of his head, Jake couldn’t help but look toward where he thought this training area was. “We can go to your place after?”
Carmen looked at Jake incredulously for a bit before just shaking her head and smirking. “Fine, let’s go play at the archery range… man, are you a nerd sometimes.”
“Maybe that’s what it takes to reach the top of the Leaderboards,” Jake said, trying to look deep in thought. “Arnold also placed pretty highly, you know.”
“Man, fuck you,” Carmen sighed. “We’re definitely also making a visit to the arena later.”
“Does sound kind of fun,” Jake agreed. He was genuinely interested in seeing just how strong Carmen had become.
He could feel her aura, and it felt kind of… odd. It was incredibly stable, to the level of it being unnatural. Usually, people leaked energy all the time, but Carmen barely gave off anything. He knew part of the reason for this was her lack of mana, but even with stamina, one burned it all the time just moving around. Carmen surely did, too, but it seemed either far less than everyone else, or she had some way to keep everything internally somehow.
It had to have something to do with her unique Path as a Runemaiden. A Path that definitely was powerful, as the presence she did leak was unmistakably a top-tier one. So, a little visit to the arena to see just how tough she had gotten sounded fun, and he wouldn’t say no to another kind of spar before or after either.
But first… archery range.
And, damn, was it everything Jake had hoped for.
“So I can just turn this knob and… wow,” Jake muttered as he stood with a control panel floating in front of him. Turning a single knob, he saw the target move further away and come closer again, based on how he adjusted it. There were several other buttons, too, some of which added different kinds of targets, changed the nature of the environmental mana, and even summoned projected creatures for aim practice.
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What’s more, it had different “modes” for everything from D to A-grade. Jake was currently in the B-grade version, where he could expand the range to what looked like an entire planet away. The only limitation was that Jake had to stay on the metal platform he was on, or everything would return to normal.
Carmen was with him, standing with her arms crossed as she looked at Jake, playing with the options. “You like it?”
“This is beyond my expectations,” Jake muttered. It felt as if he was in some sci-fi virtual space, but everything was real. The spatial expansion was just insane, though it was done using some ingenious means. By limiting what had to move within the expanded area, the space had to be far less stable all around, while it also didn’t have to house any living beings. It also didn’t really add any details when it expanded space, making it far, far more efficient. Still had to take up a lot of energy, but definitely not as much as one would expect… because Jake learned another interesting detail.
“Apparently, it was made by the Altmar Empire, and they made it by first creating the largest possible archery range and then shrank that down, making any expansion far, far cheaper, as spatial shrinking is a lot easier. Valhal has a few similar training grounds here and there similar to this, though in many cases, they also just make custom dungeons to practice within,” Carmen shared.
“I should definitely look into getting one of these myself,” Jake said as he pulled out his bow and shot a few arrows. All of them hit, as Jake tried to expand the range a bit more before he took more shots.
“Is it just me, or are your arrows somehow accelerating the further they fly?” Carmen asked with a frown.
“Yep,” Jake nodded.
“That… doesn’t make much sense.”
“Nope,” Jake agreed.
“But I guess it’s pretty damn useful,” Carmen muttered.
“Definitely is.”
Jake ended up spending another three hours or so in the training hall, also seeing some of the other facilities. There were some things Jake had never even considered one might need, including what was effectively weight-lifting equipment.
Carmen explained these weren’t really to train but to become more aware of your own power and how you applied your different muscles while completing tasks. This area was also pretty damn busy, and Jake saw many members of Valhal be engrossed as they did their practice.
While stats did mean the majority, the ability of each individual to apply those stats still mattered a lot. The difference between getting punched by someone who knew how to throw a punch and someone who didn’t wasn’t small, and with ethereal elements such as concepts also getting more and more mixed into every action one made, things got even more complicated.
Theoretically, Jake understood why someone might need machines like these… it was just that he couldn’t see why he, in particular, would need them. He already had a good grasp of his own power, and he felt as if he was pretty decent at using his body optimally. At least he felt like he was good at it.
It had to be noted that anyone who could reach C-grade already had a high understanding of themselves and that the differences wouldn’t be like the one between a professional and an amateur. It was more like that of an athlete and a top athlete.
“Wanna give it a shot?” Carmen asked as they stood before what looked like a shoulder press machine.
“I guess,” Jake shrugged as he took a seat.
“Remember, it’s not about using your full power on this one, but all about efficiency,” she reminded him.
Needless to say, a small crowd had gathered at this point upon seeing the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. They all looked on with interest as Jake grabbed the two handles and lifted up without really thinking much, making sure to engage the right back muscles by instinct. He did a few lifts, keeping a consistent pace before stopping.
“This does bring back memories of going to the gym before the system,” Jake smiled as he got up. “Anyway, how did I do? Does it even have some way of measuring?”
Carmen just looked at Jake with a glare. “Alright, time to visit the arena.”
“Why?” Jake asked, genuinely confused.
“Just… fuck you,” Carmen muttered as he turned and saw the machine did have a small display he hadn’t seen before. And, well… 99.95% did seem like a good percentage if Jake said so himself. The approving looks he got all around from the observers also confirmed Jake was indeed a master lifter.
“Did I break a record or something?” Jake asked Carmen as they walked out.
“You broke my damn record,” she said, shaking her head. “And by so little that it’s annoying.”
“… sorry?” Jake muttered.
“Just allow me at least one good punch in the arena, yeah?”
“Yeah… having seen some of the punches you’ve thrown in the past, not gonna make that promise,” Jake said defensively as they approached the arena.
On the terrace, the Viper was still smiling as he teased the shapeshifter, not really paying much attention to Jake playing around at the Valhal compound.
Eversmile’s visage changed as he returned to his “usual” form. He stared at the Viper with a level of seriousness the god rarely displayed. A look he had seen his fellow Primordial have several times before and always in the same circumstances.
He’s starving… starving to know what’s going on. The mystery is too intriguing for him to handle,” the Viper concluded, as he couldn’t help but broaden his smile even more.
Eversmile cared about studying karma more than anything else in the entire multiverse. The intrinsic web of connections formed between people, locations, objects, and anything that ever interacted with a soul. He wanted to explore every detail in an environment where details were infinite.
Over the years, he uncovered more and more as the “big” mysteries started to disappear and most of the time, he was actively seeking out new scenarios through his own experiments to make new major discoveries. However, now he had been faced with a new mystery when he saw Jake wearing boots with a powerful and unusual connection to the Malefic Viper, and even if it wasn’t necessarily that big of a mystery, it was still-
“You know exactly what I mean… why do those boots have a powerful karmic connection with every single Primordial, myself included?” Eversmile asked as the Viper’s smile instantly disappeared.
“What?
He… did not know that.
“What do you mean with what?” Eversmile said, getting riled up. “You gave him those boots.”
“The system did,” Vilastromoz said, deep in thought. “Can you explain what you meant when you said those boots have a powerful karmic connection with all of you?”
“Exactly what I said. Those boots are connected to us, and I cannot discern the cause,” Eversmile said. “My best theory right now is that this is due to your Records as a Primordial bleeding into them over time, which managed to form a karmic connection between the boots and anyone else with the title of Primordial. Boots, as equipment, represent the art of travel, progress, and shortening the distance between two destinations… it is theoretically possible for some of these concepts to have led to this, but I believe there is more behind it.”
The Viper remained silent as he listened to Eversmile talk with a fervor he rarely displayed. He understood why, too… because Vilastromoz earnestly wasn’t certain either. The boots were connected to him, yes… but also the First Sage. If it was him…
Deciding not to hesitate, the Viper waved his hand as a projection of a human man appeared. “Do you recognize this person?”
It was naturally a projection of the First Sage. It was odd, but Vilastromoz had never shown him to even another Primordial. In fact, he hadn’t thought overly much about his first and only Master for many eras. It was only now his name suddenly appeared so much… the Viper pretty much knew it had something to do with Jake. He definitely didn’t believe that any random person would have been rewarded with the same boots. They had been given to Jake specifically.
Eversmile looked at the projection closely, studying every detail before shaking his head. “No, I do not. Why? Who is he?”
Vilastromoz smiled as he looked toward the sky. “You know… these days, I’m asking myself that more and more.”
“Is he related to these boots?” the other Primordial pressed him.
“More likely than not,” Vilastromoz nodded as he dispelled the projection.
“Who is he? What’s his name?” Eversmile asked, clearly intrigued who this mysterious figure might be.
“I actually never learned his name, but he was known as the First Sage,” the Viper responded with a nostalgic smile.
Eversmile kept staring at the Viper oddly as he just stood there for a moment, as it felt like an eternity passed before the Primordial asked again. “So? Are you going to tell me why those boots carry a karmic connection with all twelve of us Primordials?”
The Viper frowned before shaking his head at the rare Eversmile joke. “Very funny. Good one.”
“Good one, what?” Eversmile asked, showing signs of genuine frustration.
“Wait… you’re not fucking with me, are you?” Vilastromoz said as he stood up. Without waiting for an answer, he summoned the projection of First Sage again. “Do you know who this is?”
Eversmile looked at the projection… studying it closely once more as if it was his first time seeing it, before shaking his head. “No, I do not. Why? Who is he?”
“The First Sage.”
Silence returned as the seconds ticked by.
Eversmile suddenly furrowed his brows and got a serious look in his eyes. “This… we were discussing the boots and their karmic connection with every Primordial... but…”
Finally, the other Primordial realized what was going on at about the same time as the Viper did. They stared at each other in realization as Vilastromoz and Eversmile muttered the truth they had both realized in unison.
“Forbidden Knowledge.”
This just left one grand question… why the fuck was information about the First Sage considered Forbidden Knowledge? Actually, make that two grand questions… why could Jake know about it?