Leaving Nevermore felt oddly weird. Probably because he had spent fifty years of his life within the World Wonder. He had met many interesting figures, learned a lot about the multiverse, and bonded a lot with his party members. At least he felt a lot closer to the Sword Saint and Fallen King now than before. Rather than simply be comrades of convenience, he would say they could actually be considered friends now.
Dina was also someone Jake now considered a friend, and he knew she felt the same way, even if she was still a bit reserved. Of course, Jake couldn’t compare to Sylphie when it came to making friends, as he was pretty sure all three of his other party members would gladly cause a war for her. Not to say Jake wouldn’t also do that…
Anyway, the point was Jake had made a lot of memories and bonds. Of course, Nevermore had also brought with it one other quite important thing. The primary reason he and nearly anyone else even went to Nevermore in the first place was its status as potentially the best place to level in the entire multiverse, and that was showing.
Fifty years was a long time, but Jake definitely wouldn’t say that time had at all been wasted, and when he did something he hadn’t for a while, it really made it obvious.
He pulled up his full status, tweaked things a bit, and compared it to before he had entered Nevermore.
Status
Name: Jake Thayne
Race: [Human (C) – 204 --> 278]
Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge – 203 --> 289]
Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper – 206 --> 267]Health Points (HP): 182,060/182,060
Mana Points (MP): 401,321/411,484
Stamina: 205,651/212,790
Stats
Strength: 8536 --> 26170
Agility: 12496 --> 34616
Endurance: 8911 --> 21279
Vitality: 8834 --> 18206
Toughness: 7389 --> 14488
Wisdom: 11181 --> 26335
Intelligence: 9276 --> 22425
Perception: 23246 --> 54595
Willpower: 9385 --> 23267
Free points: 0
Titles: [Forerunner of the New World], [Bloodline Patriarch], [Holder of a Primordial’s True Blessing], [Dungeoneer XV], [Dungeon Pioneer VI], [Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty], [Kingslayer], [Nobility: Marquess], [Progenitor of the 93rd Universe], [Prodigious Arcanist], [Perfect Evolution (D-grade)], [Premier Treasure Hunter], [Myth Originator], [Progenitor of Myriad Paths], [Mythical Prodigy], [Perfect Evolution (C-grade)], [Nevermore Challenger All-star], [Peerless Conquerer of Nevermore]
Class Skills : [Superior Stealth Attack (Rare)], [Splitting Arcane Arrow Rain (Epic)], [Archery of Expanding Horizons (Epic)], [Bestial Hunter’s Tracking (Epic)], [Piercing Cursed Arcane Fang (Epic)], [Avaricious Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Epic)], [Arcane Powershot (Ancient)], [Protean Arrow of Avaricious Horizons (Ancient)], [Steady Aim of the Apex Hunter (Ancient)], [Arcane Awakening (Ancient)], [One Step, Thousand Miles (Ancient)], [Fangs of Man (Ancient)], [Horizon-chasing Big Game Arcane Hunter (Ancient)], [Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon (Ancient)], [Mark of the Horizon-Chasing Arcane Hunter (Ancient)], [Penetrating Arcane Arrow of Horizon’s Edge (Ancient)], [Moment of the Primal Hunter (Legendary)], [Relentness Hunt of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Legendary)], [Arcane Supremacy (Legendary)], [Unseen Arcane Hunter (Legendary)], [Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter (Mythical)], [Primal Gaze of the Apex Hunter (Mythical)]
Profession Skills : [Path of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Grimoire of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Alchemist’s Purification (Inferior)], [Alchemical Flame (Common)], [Brew Potion (Uncommon)], [Craft Elixir (Rare)], [Concoct Poison (Rare)], [Soul Ritualism of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Ancient)], [Malefic Viper’s Poison (Ancient)], [Arcane Curse Manifestation (Ancient)], [Blood of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Sagacity of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Sense of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Wings of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Touch of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Legacy Teachings of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Legendary)], [Palate of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Pride of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Scales of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Fangs of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Anomalous Soul of the Heretic-Chosen (Legendary)], [Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter (Legendary)], [Chosen’s Offering of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)]
Blessing: [True Blessing of the Malefic Viper (Blessing - True)]
Race Skills: [Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races (Unique)], [Legacy of Man (Unique)], [Wisdom of the Hunter (Unique)], [Identify (Rare)], [Serene Soul Meditation (Epic)], [Shroud of the Primordial (Divine)]
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Primal Hunter (Bloodline Ability - Unique)]
--
As always, the entire status was long as hell. Alas, there were a lot of things to go through.
He hadn’t actually gained that many skills during his time in Nevermore, but he had upgraded a few. The real standouts were definitely Unseen Hunter, Protean Arrow, and, naturally, Primal Gaze. The upgrade to his Hunter’s Mark was also great, though that one had been a bit forced by the story page book.
When talking about new skills, Penetrating Arcane Arrow upped his overall damage output a lot, especially in combination with Protean Arrow. Out of every single skill he had upgraded or gained throughout Nevermore, the most impactful had to be the one he had obtained at level 230, though:
Arcane Supremacy.
It was the type of skill that worked in the background but offered incredible effects, making Jake far stronger in every aspect. It increased his overall damage and speed regarding everything arcane-related when in combat, and with his body even more attuned to arcane energy than before, he could keep his boosting skill active for far longer or charge Arcane Powershot more before his body gave out. To summarize, it was a force-amplifier of significant proportion.
Of course, skills were far from the only thing Jake had gained in Nevermore. No, the true growth was definitely to be seen in the stats department.
When he compared the stats of Jake before Nevermore and Jake after, the difference was stark, especially the extreme growth seen in his Strength, Agility, and, of course, Perception stats.
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Early on, he had decided to put all his Free Points into Strength and Agility, doing a roughly equal split between the two, with a bit more going into Agility over Strength. He had kept this going throughout the World Wonder for the most part, which had led to the two of them increasing so much.
Perception had comparatively fallen a bit behind, but Jake had at least tried to keep it up there, and it was the stat that had the biggest raw increase by quite a margin. He had primarily boosted his stat gain by licking the wonderful Void Marble he had been gifted by Oras, keeping his potential stats from items maxed out at all times. It had been a bit funny that Jake had crafted so many elixirs not to drink a single one himself, but hey, his party had demanded it, and who was he to deny Sylphie a tasty snack?
Anyway… Nevermore had taken Jake from barely in C-grade to now solidly in mid-tier C-grade, a bit over halfway to his next evolution. He had gone from being able to fight weaker variants in mid-tier C-grade to now feeling confident facing late-tier C-grades even if they were considered high-tier variants. Especially after the title he had gained from completing Nevermore atop the All-Time Leaderboards, he felt confident.
It wouldn’t be that long before Jake would be able to kill a weak B-grade. He wasn’t quite there yet, but he was getting close. He did reckon that finding worthy opponents in mid-tier C-grade would be borderline impossible, though, unless they were peak geniuses like himself, and even then, he wouldn’t back down.
All in all… Nevermore took a long time, but it was more than worth it, Jake once more concluded as he quickly arrived at the Order compound in Nevermore City. There was more activity than usual due to all the visitors wanting to make friends with the Order after Jake’s performance, but Jake didn’t want to get involved in any of that.
Through his Sphere, he did see Viridia busily talking with a group of important-looking people, making him not want to disturb her. So, he just headed straight for a teleporter placed within the heart of the compound. It was one powered by Nevermore itself, allowing anyone to easily travel between universes to set destinations. It could even pierce through most protections against teleportation, making it possible to go straight into the home bases of all the different factions. Jake knew a lot of thought went into who had these teleporters and who could use them, but he didn’t really care much as he approached the teleportation room.
Two guards stood outside, and merely bowed as they saw Jake enter. Walking up to the small stone platform with the teleportation circle on it, Jake stopped and smiled.
“You heading back with me?” he asked as he turned and looked at the snake god that had appeared.
“Might as well, no reason to keep this avatar here after you leave,” Villy shrugged. “All it could lead to was someone finding out it was there, and I risk someone wanting to meet me if that happens.”
“Perfectly understandable,” Jake nodded. Being forced to meet with people was indeed horrible.
“Before we leave… I had a run-in with Eversmile. Talked about those boots of yours and how interesting he found them. Also talked about meeting with you,” the Viper said.
“Yeah, he approached me during the forced get-together. Said that he’d go talk to you, so I didn’t think to mention it,” Jake shrugged. “Or maybe I wanted to let it be a surprise. I can be unpredictable like that. Also, not gonna lie; Eversmile seriously freaks me out. I prefer to avoid thinking and talking about him.”
“That’s fair; he is an acquired taste for sure,” Villy nodded. “He was very interested in the First Sage.”
The god gave Jake a weird look as he mentioned the First Sage, but Jake just wrote that up to the Viper, still feeling weird in general about his first and only master.
“Can’t fault him for feeling interested in that guy; the First Sage is pretty damn intriguing,” Jake said with a nod. “Did you tell him about the First Sage?”
“Hm, you can say I did, but also didn’t,” Villy acted all mysterious. “Either way, you did good not mentioning him. In general, you shouldn’t talk openly about the First Sage with anyone. In fact, don’t talk about him at all, not with me either, unless I ask about something specific, alright?”
“Alright,” Jake readily agreed, though a bit surprised at the request. He got the feeling more was going on than the Viper let on… not that he had much to say, as he also kept some secrets regarding the First Sage from the Viper. And now Villy had just told him to keep keeping those secrets, so… things had kind of worked out on that front?
“Good. Now let’s head back,” the snake god said with a relaxed smile.
Jake nodded, and side-by-side the two of them stepped onto the teleporter as they returned to the Order of the Malefic Viper, Jake himself going there for a brief pitstop before it was back to Earth.
“Now, notice the polluted area and avoid it. Applying your healing there would do more harm than good, so… alright, good job,” Duskleaf said as Meira desperately tried to avoid the spear-wielding plant soldier as she healed the warrior of her makeshift practice party, who was already busy dealing with two plant soldiers himself.
The warrior regained the use of his arm due to Meira’s healing as he killed one of the plant soldiers, but Meira was still struggling to deal with her pursuer. She summoned barriers to keep it at bay, but it was a lot stronger than it looked, breaking them apart one by one, forcing her to just run away and dodge instead.
Suddenly, when Meira thought she had some space to cast another healing skill, she saw the plant soldier speed up out of the corner of her eye. It shot toward her, and a brief moment of panic paralyzed her as she was stabbed through the chest. She felt the weapon pierce through her, and even if she had felt pain like this many times before, the pure killing intent in the blow made her freeze up, as she feared for her death.
“Stop,” Duskleaf said as he raised a hand. All the plant soldiers withered in an instant as a green light fell over Meira, instantly healing her completely, as she was still breathing heavily with wide-open eyes. She felt the place in her chest where she had been stabbed as Duskleaf went over to help her calm down.
The members of her makeshift party simply stood there with empty eyes, as Duskleaf had also deactivated them. They were all homunculi – mere imitations of life – and only there for her practice.
“I… I panicked,” Meira said in a disappointed tone.
“I know,” Duskleaf just responded in a comforting tone.
Meira clenched her fists as she wanted to punch the ground. Again, she had lost her cool when things got rough. She had hesitated and frozen up for a split second when the spear-attack had come, making her get hit by an attack she now realized was entirely avoidable. The following killing intent only sealed the deal, and Meira just still couldn’t quite get used to it.
“Can we go again?” Meira asked with determination. She felt disappointed in herself and wanted to make up for her failure. No, she had to make up for it if she wanted to go. Because as she was now, Meira would just be a burden for any party she went to Nevermore with.
This entire training was for her to prepare to head for the World Wonder or just become able to properly fight, and this training had been going on for longer than she felt comfortable admitting. After she had evolved to C-grade, Meira had been very confident in herself and wanted to head straight for Nevermore. However, that was when her teacher – Duskleaf – made her aware of just how lacking she was.
During her leveling in D-grade, she had done some dungeons and stuff to gain levels, but she had always done so in a pretty safe fashion. She never truly took any massive risks and was well-protected as a dedicated healer. However, she couldn’t expect that in Nevermore or if she ever got in any real fights.
The problem was Meira had never really learned how to fight or deal with everything involved in fights. Especially not fights against superior foes. So, Duskleaf had set up this training to allow Meira to improve so she could one day head to Nevermore herself. She wasn’t going to compete on the Leaderboards or anything like that – heck, she likely wouldn’t go while still below level 210, disqualifying her – but she still wanted to at least pull her own weight when in there.
And to make that happen, she had to learn how to fight properly. As the Chosen of Duskleaf, she had to ensure that she didn’t embarrass her Master and Patron, and as she was right now, she definitely would. Even Duskleaf had learned how to fight in his young days, as even alchemists had to be able to defend themselves.
“We could go again,” Duskleaf said. “But I have the feeling you would prefer to go prepare before Jake comes back.”
“Lord Thayne is returning?” Meira asked, surprised.
“That’s what I heard,” he responded rather casually. “Apparently, he has been doing a really interesting ritual with a bunch of demons before coming back, and from what I heard, I will definitely need a word with him.”
“Let’s stop here for today,” Meira quickly said as she took a brief look at herself. She was covered in dirt, grime, blood, and bits of flesh and liquids she wasn’t quite sure about. Her clothes were also mostly torn, and her hair was an absolute mess. Moreover, she wasn’t sure when she took a shower last… not like C-grades really needed showers or any cleaning they couldn’t handle with magic, but Meira still liked the feeling of cleanliness after a bath or shower.
Without delay, she headed off from the training area and teleported back to Lord Thayne’s residence to clean herself up and prepare for his return. Things were a bit messy there, and she wanted everything to look as it did when he left.
Teleporting back, she appeared on the lawn and-
“Oh, hey there,” she heard, freezing up as she slowly turned her head and saw Lord Thayne, who had seemingly also just teleported there.