The Primal Hunter

Chapter 379 - A Truly Cursed Ritual

As with most things, there were many different approaches to achieve the same result. This was also true when it came to transferring a curse from one vessel to another and when using a catalyst to empower the curse further.

Casper would most likely do it through a large ritual circle, using several items as buffers for the curse, maybe even spread out the curse energy and integrate it a little at a time, potentially taking days, if not weeks, to get it all done.

The Holy Church would potentially choose to spread out the curse energy to hundreds of people at once and then have them work together to tame it before infusing it in a new vessel or something. Jake wasn’t sure; these were just some of the methods he had come across when it came to empowering a Sin curse and infusing it with compatible outside energy.

There were dozens of ways, but Jake had ultimately decided to go with one of the simplest ones, as he liked simple. It was also the ones that would lead to the least waste and likely also the one with the highest compatibility in this particular instance due to the nature of the curse.

Jake had been the one who transmuted the curse, to begin with, transforming it from a Sin curse of Debuchery into one of Hunger. Before all of this research into curses, Jake didn’t really know the exact meaning and implications of such a thing, besides getting him an actually useful weapon that didn’t require him to do fucked up shit to empower.

But after his research, he came to realize what he had done wasn’t normal. Not with any stretch of the imagination. He had effectively taken a curse and whittled it down to its absolute core component, bringing it back to its base Origin, which was Hunger in this instance. One of the most basic of Sin curses in existence.

He had also begun to realize he had done similar things before. It was linked to his arcane affinity to simplify and make things into their most basic state. Stability and destruction were as simple as they could get, and the thing is, sometimes there was power in the Origin of anything, but it did require luck.

Sylphie had been a “victim” of Jake discovering this - victimhood that she gained significantly from. Jake had not fully formed his arcane affinity back then, but some parts of it had still been mixed in and helped her become a Sylphian Hawk. Villy had also helped a lot there, of course, but it had also in large part been luck. Not everything brought back to an Origin would make it stronger or more useful. Sylphie could just have easily have become the weakest basic hawk, like a “wind hawk” or something.

Without the Mystbone, Villy, and the many Cloud Orbs and all that, that may have just happened. All of this knowledge he had gotten partly by accident by studying curses would no doubt be useful when it came to the Pollendust Bee Queen and his plans for that. Because he could 100% see himself just try to use arcane affinity and make it evolve into a far weaker “Flower Bee Queen” or something.

Back at the whole making-a-cursed-weapon-thing, Jake was just about ready with his simple setup, which was actually just a small protective barrier he had prepared in advance. It was primarily to hide him away and make sure he was undisturbed as he went through everything.

As a final thing, he took out the vat of water he had prepared. It was little more than a larger than average barrel with a lid on it. Inside, it was filled to the brim with the rare Serene Water to hopefully allow him to keep his head calm throughout the process.

He also chose to trust the King as he played with the marble in his hand.

With everything ready, he took out the three main characters of this event. First was the scimitar, the current vessel of the Sin curse he wanted to use. Next was the ancient rarity Chimera weapon from the Treasure Hunt that would serve as the new vessel. Finally, there was the Root of Eternal Resentment, which is where the true lunacy of what he was doing stemmed from. The pure curse energy in it far surpassed the scimitar by more times than Jake could even estimate. But as it was directionless, it was also easily consumed.

The Hunger curse was perfect for absorbing all this curse energy. If it had been another kind of Sin curse, like one of wrath or tyranny or something like that, he doubted it would work. Without him having consumed the Root with Palette for a few months, he also wouldn’t be as confident. Even if he still held some doubt, this should work out well.

Everything was ready as Jake did the only logical thing, which was to jump into the Serene Water with all three items. The first thing Jake would do was to transfer the curse, or at least begin the process. That would be the easy part and one he wasn’t particularly afraid of.

He would channel the curse of the scimitar through himself and try to place just parts of it into the Chimera weapon. This would not work out as the Chimera weapon was frankly just too powerful, which is why once the link was established with him as a bridge, he would bring the Root into the mix. How would he do this? Well, the Root was originally designed to infuse its curse into whatever it was stabbed into, so he would naturally stab himself and forcefully absorb all the energy of the curse. Of course, this would again only work due to the passive nature of the curse.

Jake inhaled a bit of the Serene Water within the vat and felt his head cool down. Then he popped the golden marble into this mouth and honestly didn’t feel much difference except a bit of energy entering his body and gathering around where his heart – and soul - was.

Then, grasping the scimitar in one hand and the Chimera weapon in the other, he began – the Root held by a string of mana just floating in the water.

The scimitar did not even struggle as Jake began pulling a bit of its energy out. It was a usual process that returned excess energy to him after all. But once he really began taking, he felt the resistance. Jake pressed on as he dragged and pulled, feeling the curse energy enter his body, just like the process had described. Then, Jake did something even more extreme.

With the hand on the scimitar, Alchemical Flame activated. The weapon almost screamed as Jake felt the effects of the Sin curse and the struggle of the weapon. It almost attacked him as an instinctive act of survival but found no purchase. So it listened to Jake as he directed it towards a new vessel. It had never been that attached to the scimitar, to begin with.

The Chimera weapon was also a weapon well-aligned with the concept of consumption and Hunger. It had been wielded by vampires and could drink the vital energies of others just like the scimitar, making the curse feel right at home as the curse began infesting it.

Jake felt the connection be established as he hoped for. His mind was still cool as he was now over the “hard” part, at least when it came to the skill requirement. Now came the part where he would probably lose his head.

With the string of mana, he controlled the Root as he stabbed it into his own back. It hurt only a little, and not much happened as he did. He knew why, as the curse energy was passive. It was just passively within the Root, doing nothing and being useless.

But the second Jake tugged, he felt his body be flooded with foreign energy. It felt odd, and it was as if his emotions were amplified, both bad and good. He gritted his teeth as he channeled the energy from his back and into the Chimera weapon.

It ate it up as expected. Almost too enthusiastically as it wanted more, the Hunger curse having begun to take effect and exert control over the former vampire weapon. The scimitar was still slowly being burned as all of the Sin curse energy in it was transferred, Jake’s body little more than an intersection of different curse energy.

With every second, it intensified. Jake was still able to hold calm, feeling the effects of the Serene Water on his mind. The marble from the King had yet to be used, but he had a feeling it would come.

Seconds turned to minutes as the curse energy was transferred, but he felt like he had barely made a dent in everything within the Root. There was so much to absorb it was ludicrous. Yet, with the exponential increase in the absorption rate of the Chimera weapon, it was only a matter of time.

Nearly an hour into the process, something changed. Jake felt the hand holding the scimitar close, and it felt as if he had grasped a handful of sand. The scimitar had turned to dust as the last shred of the Sin curse exited it. It went through his body as Jake inhaled even more of the water, not just through his mouth but his pores.

The rest of the power of the Sin curse entered the Chimera weapon, and now it truly became hungry. Jake became hungry. He felt like he needed more. Jake began absorbing all the water into his body. He felt like he was famished, an emotion he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Yet just as he was about to break out of his state of concentration, a warm glow emanated from his heart and protected his sanity. Jake knew it was the marble that had activated, and Jake used that moment of relief as he pushed everything to go faster.

His soul and mind were protected as he felt clear-headed. With both hands free, he grasped the Chimera weapon and activated the final phase. Touch of the Malefic Viper.

Something had to bring it all together, and what was better than the method of transmutation that had created the curse to begin with?

The weapon gladly received his energy as he began transmuting and corrupting it, consuming the curse energy in the process, making it all embrace the power of Sin. All of the water was finally absorbed into his body, as the sheer pressure of the curse energy broke the water vat apart. The ground around him began cracking as atmospheric mana was also pulled into the weapon.

Earth, wind, water, all sorts of affinities were forcefully absorbed, weakening the stone and thinning the air. The light dimmed as dark mana took its place, only to also be absorbed. A black hole of nothingness appeared as the curse hungered for hundreds of meters around him.

Jake pushed on more and more, until it was over. Not the ritual, but the power of the marble had been used up, and Jake suddenly felt a flood of emotions. The first of which was hunger, but then annoyance and anger as the weapon dared to try and consume some of his own resources. When he was already starving? How fucking dared it?

It could drink the fucking curse if it wanted; he didn’t need that. Yet it didn’t help sate Jake’s own hunger. He needed something more. He had already consumed all the Serene Water, so he ripped out a barrel of normal water and emptied it as he drank more than his own bodyweight… but it was as if all the water simply evaporated and the mana within consumed.

More.

Jake kept up the transmutation process, but he felt restless. It wasn’t like Jake completely lost control; it was more an unfightable urge to do something about the sheer feeling of wrongness he was experiencing. Anyone with Restless Legs Syndrome trying to sleep or some other physical or mental compulsion pre-system would understand. He could fight it for a bit, but he needed an outlet, or it would become absolutely unbearable.

So… he found an outlet.

He smashed the barrier he had put up himself as he stormed towards one of the holes in the ground that had not completely collapsed after his and the King’s fight. He ran down and through it, smelling, feeling, and intuitively moving towards anything with vital energy.

Breaking through a few barriers of soil with large arcane explosions, Jake found an entrance to the network of tunnels made by the termites, and soon enough, one entered his sight. It didn’t even have time to react as Jake ran over and smashed it with the metal orb that was the Chimera weapon.

Jake growled as enough logic entered his head to transform it into a sword as he ran on, finding another termite. And then another. He tore them apart one by one as he dove deeper and deeper, their levels growing slowly the further on he went through their tunnel network.

He just couldn’t sit still as he kept using Touch of the Malefic Viper and infusing the power of the Root while fighting and slaying everything. Jake felt so fucking hungry as he dragged out everything from his storage space that was edible and even went as far as tearing off the flesh of the newly slain termites to try and sate his hunger, no matter how disgusting it was. But nothing helped besides just killing and absorbing the vital energy of other lifeforms… it didn’t even like his own life energy.

But, it was not simply the vital energy it drained. It took all the energy it could from those it killed.

With every kill, the weapon grew stronger, and with every moment, the curse’s influence took more hold of Jake. It didn’t attack him. It didn’t necessarily force him to do anything. It just amplified an emotion he already had.

Shortly, he was killing larger and larger termites. Peak E-grades began coming out of the walls and towards him as the termites knew there was an invader. The more powerful members of the colony would come too. Jake didn’t need to think to know this, as this was simply how weak prey like this operated.

More.

Jake invited it all as he stormed through the termites like a whirlwind of blood, killing hundreds within only a dozen seconds. Nothing was left alive as he dove deeper, feeling something more nutritious further down.

More…

D-grades came, larger than any other termite, as they met the same fate. The tunnel network expanded, growing larger and denser as every step forced him into the mandibles of hundreds of insects.

More!

He kept killing, and soon, he felt as if something fell into place. The Chimera weapon had accepted all the curse energy it would take for now. Touch of the Malefic Viper continued as the weapon was far from complete, yet that is when he truly felt it.

The Root of Eternal Resentment was emptied of energy as it entered Jake’s body and soul, the weapon simply unable to absorb even close to enough of it. Jake had majorly miscalculated… he had been far too efficient. Far too greedy to not let anything to go waste.

A “ding!” entered his head as he knew the weapon had reached legendary rarity, but it was far from done. Oceans of curse energy still resided untamed and directionless in his soul, just waiting to be consumed.

The final thing Jake managed to do before he completely lost himself was deposit the Root of Eternal Resentment in his storage as Jake felt himself fall into a state of absolute bloodlust.

Casper was standing within a large cave network beneath the undead city, surrounded by magical scripts as he studied them and made some corrections here and there. Creating a dungeon was not easy, but only he could do it. Perhaps on the entirety of the Earth, he was the one closest, at least.

The Dungeon Core was a godsend as it allowed them to make a real dungeon. It was not just a fake dungeon that was little more than a separate space to explore… it was pretty much just a trial ground, and if someone entered and killed everything, then everything would be dead in there. So to make a fake dungeon, you needed to create an ecosystem of sorts. One could just call it glorified zoos where one could fight the animals instead of merely viewing them.

With the Core, he could make a real dungeon. One that created different dimensions, different realities for every group entering. It was a feat that required levels of magic even gods couldn’t manage as it was more or less infinite creation.

To do this, he would have to make the dungeon first. He would have to find the monsters to place in there, create the environment, make the scenarios, and a slew of other things while staying within the ruleset of the system. He couldn’t just make it completely free-form, as if he could, factions would just use them as cloning factories for certain expensive items – something the system seemed very aware of and had checks and balances to avoid.

One had to make it balanced, as balance was important in all kinds of creations.

As Casper stood there, focusing on his profession as a Dungeon Architect when he suddenly felt something from his class. A response from a skill primarily used to track down treasures.

Lyra also felt it as she shared his sensitivity towards curses, making her exit her locket. “What, what is that? Wait… it couldn’t be…”

Casper also frowned as he felt it. A wave of cursed energy rolled across the surface of their planet, undetectable for all without the specific skills or senses to detect it, but Casper sure felt it. Others would too, it would just be felt and manifest in minor ways few would link to a curse.

It was powerful. More so than Casper had expected. Jake had just made something Casper wasn’t sure should ever have been made or was ever meant to be wielded by a D-grade. But… to make it worse, Casper didn’t just feel the aura of the curse. No, the curse energy felt familiar in that it had traces of Jake’s aura in it, meaning he had done something Casper would for sure have warned him about: linked the curse to his own soul. Unintentional or not, it had been done.

That was how you forcefully evolved yourself into a monster.

“Let’s hope he knows what the fuck he is doing…”

Or is powerful enough to remain in control, at least.