The Primal Hunter

Jake wasn’t quite sure what to say. He could complain about Villy spurring him on, but that would seem rude to Vesperia, and he had ultimately wanted to do the ritual himself.

”What are you getting at?” Jake asked.

”I assume the Lineage Knowledge you inherited already made you aware of the importance of your existence to the Endless Empire?” Villy asked Vesperia, ignoring Jake.

She nodded respectfully in response.

The snake god smirked. ”Well, I will be nice and give Jake here a recap as he doesn’t. You see, he has this tendency to do things because he can, not because he should. He rarely considers the consequences, even when made aware of the potential significance of what he is doing, and-”

”I think she gets it,” Jake cut him off.

”That your Chosen displays such outstanding abilities and potential, even allowing him to do what was once thought impossible, is only a cause for celebration, is it not?” Vesperia also cut in, surprising Jake.

Her outburst seemed to surprise herself, too, as she quickly bowed.

”I apologize for my disrespect, Malefic One; I meant no offense,” she said apologetically and slightly afraid. Jake put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

”It’s fine,” he said, looking at Villy. ”Right?”

”Mm,” the Viper just hummed, keeping his attention on Vesperia. ”Interesting, isn’t it? You should have noticed by now that something is absent, shouldn’t you?”

”I… the presence of the Malefic One feels…” Vesperia also finally seemed to notice herself.

”Another peculiar trait of your sire. Any creature he has been involved in the evolution or creation of inherits this particular trait, effectively making them immune to the passive presences of gods. Be it because of the direct connection during the creation or the Records gained, who can tell?” Villy shook his head. ”Ah, but there is one thing I have been meaning to test, and as his first creation I have come into direct contact with, you shall be the subject.”

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed as Jake felt everything distort in his vision. An almost tangible pressure fell upon the room, Jake feeling himself be suppressed for but a fraction of a second. Then, in the very next moment, he felt his own heartbeat as his own presence flared in defiance, dispelling the effect instantly and making his vision return to normal.

He was about to ask what Villy was doing when he felt the couch move slightly. Looking to his side, he saw Vesperia shaking, her eyes dilated, and blood running from her lips from biting down too hard. She seemed utterly incapable of moving, making Jake frown as he pushed his own presence outwards.

Jake felt how difficult it was, but he still managed to cover Vesperia, and just as he did, she stopped trembling. Her eyes were still wide, and it took her several seconds of labored breathing before she calmed down a little, making Jake throw Villy an angry look.

”What the hell, man?”

”Interesting, isn’t it?” the god asked with a raised eyebrow. ”I just fully flared my presence with the intent to suppress the two of you, and it worked just an intended. Except there is one stark difference. While the True Royal had resistance, the moment that resistance was overcome, she had nothing to fight back. As for you, you don’t just have resistance but a presence of your own, able to make you pretty much immune unless someone can overcome it. Ah, but I must say even the resistance is impressive. The fact she didn’t pass out immediatly makes her innate resistance to presences surpass many gods.”

Jake frowned, not entirely keen on the Viper’s approach, even if he did understand what he did. ”So the resistance makes us immune to passive auras, but when intent also gets involved, you need your own innate intent-infused presence to truly fight it off. Something only I have at this moment, but that others usually only get through just getting stronger.”

”See, he isn’t that ignorant despite how he usually comes off,” Villy smiled, looking at Vesperia, who had calmed significantly.

”Rude,” Jake commented.

The Viper just smiled and shook his head. ”Back on topic. While the True Royal gets her wits back, let me give you a brief history of why what you did is such a big deal in a multiversal context. And can I just say it feels good to finally be able to give you a speech like this when it comes to your odd creature-creation extravaganza? This time I actually know why it matters, while the others had left me clueless. Anyway, do you have any idea what a True Royal is?”

Jake considered the vision of Records for a bit and gave it a shot with what he had put together. ”A categorization of ectognamorphs spawned directly by the system at some point, with there being a hundred of them in total in the beginning.”

Villy raised his eyebrows, and he also felt Vesperia beside him react. She stared at him weirdly as Villy just ended up shaking his head in disbelief.

”Some kind of Record vision? Must be. Either way, yes, you are correct, but don’t share it casually again as the Endless Empire views this as quite the secret. The True Royals were a group of one hundred ectognamorphs, all born within a hidden realm during the first era, with this hidden realm now being the heartlands of their race. Each of them was born at C-grade, like the Vespernat Hive Queen here, and rapidly grew in power before they made themselves known to the rest of the multiverse,” Villy began explaining as he moved his hand to make some visuals queues, showing a hundred humanoid figures.

”All of them were the Origin of a specific variant, though there was some overlap. Ectognamorphs resembling ants, as an example, have several True Royals among them, and one True Royal of a particular vairiant does have some faint overlap with similar ones that allows them to also exert pressure against their less royal cousins. The same is true for Vesperia here, who is also partly related to ants, though it is weak and not worth much.”

”The Endless Empire still has True Royals from the ant Lineage even now, so my royalty towards these ants is mostly meaningless,” Vesperia added, looking back on top and not offended by what Villy had done earlier in the slightest.

”True,” Villy nodded. ”But as I said, then the connection is weak… both ways. This will become relevant later as to why a Vespernat being born is so important in their eyes. For now, back to history.”

The Viper made a motion of his finger as two of the hundred figures disappeared.

”Even for a True Royal, the Path to power is filled with danger. Two of them died without leaving any spawns capable of becoming True Royals themselves being born, ultimately resulting in only ninety-eight reaching S-grade during this era. No True Royal reached godhood before the second era.”

Jake frowned. ”With their talent…”

”Becoming a god was still not attainable,” Villy shook his head. ”Plus, their method of reproduction to spawn more True Royals is far from ideal. Vesperia, if you would?”

The True Royal nodded. ”Spawning another True Royal is incredibly difficult and near-impossible in nearly all cases. Plus, the Path is severed if the last True Royal of a particular variant dies. This is because a True Royal can only appear in one of two ways. Well… outside of the system or you getting directly involved and circumventing these rules, that is.”

Jake took that as a compliment.

”The first method is through regular breeding. When a True Royal has a child with a powerful enough partner, they will spawn what is known as a Quasi-Royal. Quasi-Royals can also spawn naturally if a Hive Queen is particularly talented, though those of a severed Path will never be able to become True Royals themselves, as intersecting with the Records of the connected True Royal is a requirement. In other words, they will have to meet the True Royal themselves or be given something by a still-living True Royal. Many True Royals send out treasures into the multiverse to try and allow Quasi-Royals to be born and potentially even help them on their Path to true royalty. They naturally also do this to try and recruit more members for the Endless Empire.”

”And the second method?” Jake asked.

”Due to the importance a True Royal holds for their Lineage, there are ways to ensure one is born. We all hold a skill allowing us to effectively rebirth ourselves at the cost of our own lives by creating an egg of a True Royal. Naturally, this can only be done once, and the egg will spawn at the beginning of whatever grade the True Royal was. Moreover, this egg will never hatch naturally but will need intensive nurturing from the hive and, dependent on the grade, everything from a few years in C-grade to a thousand in S-grade before it will hatch. Do also note that this is not truly a rebirth as a new individual will spawn, though we can leave a message through the Lineage Knowledge,” Vesperia explained.

”And there you have it,” Villy explained. ”True Royals are all pinnacle creatures, sometimes even compared to Unique Lifeforms due to their innate power, but this also means they suffer from a lot of rules and restrictions. The Endless Empire has done many things to overcome these restrictions throughout the ages, and the one thing they did that proved most effective was to team up and create said Empire, allowing their hives to work together in times of conflict… and conflict they have faced. Tell me, Jake, what do you know of the Automata Legion?”

Jake saw Vesperia flinch at the mention as she grasped her dress and had a murderous look. ”Not much, besides being the faction of the Primordial known as Rigoria the Maker.”

”Well, that is all you need to know for now. That, and the fact that ever since the first era, the Endless Empire has been their mortal enemy, and Rigoria has tried to exterminate the entire ectognamorph race from the face of the multiverse with not a single era of peace,” the Viper explained as the ninety-eight summoned figures began disappearing one by one, indicating the deaths of True Royal Lineages.

”Rigoria would be angry with me for saying this, but the Automata and the eusocial ectognamorphs are very similar. Both need endless expansions to consume resources, and both work as collectives. These days, I would say the Endless Empire has the edge in their war, but back in the first era, things were quite different. Rigoria was a god, and while she couldn’t move much around due to the nature of her being, she could very much spawn armies, including her own avatars. Avatars with the powers of a god,” the Viper said, Jake, seeing twenty-six of the figures disappear, meaning only seventy-two remained. Which he found odd.

”Not to be offensive… but how the hell did Rigoria fail to wipe them out? One side had a god, the other didn’t,” Jake asked.

”I told you, True Royals are monsters. Rigoria is a Primordial, yes, making her a powerful as fuck god, but even she failed to invade the heartlands of the Endless Empire more than a handful of times, and every time she tried, dozens of peak S-grade True Royals would face her. Individually, Rigoria was, of course, superior, but when outnumbered, she would eventually lose out, and her avatar be destroyed. However, there was still a huge gap in power, and the True Royals did begin to fall one by one. The war effort also meant that many regular ectognamorphs died by the billions every single day, and the variants at the vanguard were those made for combat. Such as the wasps led by their Vespernat Hive Queen. As part of the vanguard, it should not come as a surprise she died despite her combat power being ranked top five of all True Royals,” the snake god gave Jake a history lesson. ”Things stabilized a lot after that as some True Royals managed to reach godhood, but the war is still ongoing to this day, having only grown in scope.”

Damn, Jake thought, noting one particular thing. Top five, you go, Vesperia!

”Now, let’s get down to the crux of now that you have some context. Do you know why True Royals are so important to the Endless Empire?” Villy asked

”They are powerful and can help lead their race?” Jake guessed

”Technically true, but not the entire story. The Endless Empire does include all variants of ectognamorphs; some are not part of the faction at all. One of those types of variants is the vast majority of wasps and bees spread throughout the multiverse. The largest hives perhaps still maintain working relationships with the Endless Empire, but they don’t join it. Can you guess why?” the Viper asked leadingly.

”Pride and nature?” Jake assumed. ”True Royals would not want to give a non-True Royal the proper respect, and a leader of a hive that isn’t respected will not recognize them as their leaders due to their nature as Hive Queens not recognizing them as their True Royals. From what I gathered, they are all hive-first, so why would a Wasp Hive Queen make sacrifices for the Endless Empire due to orders from some foreign True Royal?”

”Right on the money. The reason why True Royals are so important is that they are respected innately. A Quasi-Royal wasp will not recognize a True Royal ant Hive Queen as superior to themselves, but at most as an equal despite their status as cousins. But if a True Royal wasp was to appear… even a Godqueen Quasi-Royal Wasp or Bee Hive Queen would follow them unquestionably. It is simply how their race works, a fundamental law of their state of being,” Villy explained.

Vesperia nodded in confirmation, making Jake frown as he was beginning to get the picture. However, it only truly sank in with the next part.

”Throughout the history of the multiverse, severed Lineages have only reappeared thrice, and every time due to some Hive Queen getting its hands on an item granted by the system directly, allowing it to become a True Royal,” Villy said with a smile. ”Oh, and now the fourth time is from you doing some fun-time experimenting while barely in C-grade. But tell me, Jake, what do you think the Endless Empire did the first three times? What lengths do you think they are willing to go to? How much value does Vesperia’s existence truly hold to them?”

Jake stared at the ground as he processed things. He now truly got it. He had kind of assumed that the Endless Empire wanted Vesperia because of historical reasons and maybe due to some odd sense of pride… but it was far more than that. Vesperia had mentioned she would be recognized as a leader of wasps and bees, but Jake had not thought it was so… universal and absolute.

For the Endless Empire, recruiting Vesperia was not a matter of gaining a powerful C-grade that could potentially reach godhood in the future and allow a new Lineage to reemerge:

She was a direct way to recruit every single hive of bees and wasps in the entire multiverse into the Endless Empire and expand their power significantly.