The Primal Hunter Volume 6

Challenge Dungeons 2

“Hm, good point.” Jake nodded.

“Indeed, the Colosseum of Mortals and the Endless Labyrinth do strike me as similar in nature,” the Fallen King said. “Considering it is a Challenge Dungeon, perhaps some special circumstances are applied in one of them?”

“You forgot to factor in the constant mental attacks from the live commentary during the Minaga Labyrinth, which is a difficulty modifier in its own right,” Jake said, grinning.

“If that truly returns, then I shall concede trying to get the best performance there,” the Fallen King said with a sigh.

“Yeah…” Dina nodded. “I just hope I do okay.”

Dina was the one facing the toughest situation in the Challenge Dungeons. As a healer, she was naturally less powerful in single combat, but she at least did have some solid offensive options. She was also damn durable and probably had the largest survivability of them all. Outside of Jake fighting foes he could dodge, that is.

“I am sure you’ll do fine.” The Sword Saint smiled to comfort her. “But what timescale are we looking at?”

“Based on prior eras, it usually takes between seven and twelve years for an elite to run out of lives, with elites usually taking longer,” Dina shared. “Considering there are five Challenge Dungeons, I think dedicating two years per dungeon should be a safe bet.”

“Ree?” Sylphie questioned.

“If someone is doing better than expected and will need more time, they can naturally stay longer but hopefully still leave once they reach a checkpoint to at least inform us of what is happening,” the Sword Saint answered. “Not using all your lives in every Challenge Dungeon, where death is a possibility, would be a wasted opportunity.”

Jake nodded. Two years per dungeon seemed fine to him. Of course, they would have to figure out a way to properly organize their meeting time afterwards, as the Challenge Dungeons would split them up—not just spatially, but in time too.

Challenge Dungeons tended to have more time dilation than the regular floors. Jake didn’t know exactly how much more, and he honestly hadn’t bothered trying to find out either. All he knew was that, based on his estimates, they would probably not even spend three years in Nevermore from the outside world’s perspective. Which was honestly a pretty good level of time dilation, considering the lack of any downsides.

“So, ten years based on internal clocks, right?” Jake asked the group.

“Yes.” The Sword Saint nodded as he took out five small blank pictures and handed them one each. “When inside the dungeon, infuse mana into the picture. The paint used to paint it will fade exactly ten years after being revealed, so that should function as a fine timer.”

“You came prepared, huh?” Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Had to make myself useful while you were making my elixirs. Speaking of which…”

Jake sighed and tossed the old man a few Strength-increasing elixirs in case he would get some levels. He also gave the others whatever they wanted. Intelligence for Sylphie, Willpower for the Fallen King, and finally, Vitality for Dina. These were not necessarily the stats they had the most of, but just what they wanted elixirs for these days.

One thing did bother Jake a bit, though, so he asked the old man, “Did you already know we would dedicate ten years to Challenge Dungeons?”

If he had already prepared the pictures, that had to mea⁠—

“No, I just made a few dozen variations while practicing,” he answered casually.

“Oh, alright. Yeah, that makes sense…”

“Should we get going already?” the Fallen King questioned. “If we dedicate ten years now, we will still have ample time afterward to try and get a few more floors down to get higher Leaderboards positions.”

“Yeah, we should really get moving.” Jake smiled as he stood up and stretched. “Or does anyone have anything to add?”

“Ree?” Sylphie said, a bit worried.

“Hm, good point.” Jake nodded seriously. She had a point.

The Union Oath Jake and Sylphie had formed so long ago with the help of Stormild had slowly been weakening for a long time, and while it didn’t seem to go faster just because they were in Nevermore—likely because it was facilitated by Stormild and thus worked on Realtime—it was still reaching the end of its lifespan.

Sylphie was worried about what would happen. Especially if it dispersed while they were both in their own Challenge Dungeons. The bond had become second nature and was something they didn’t really think or talk about. It only really materialized by allowing them to sense each other’s locations, while the rest of its effect was behind-the-scenes Records stuff, as far as Jake knew.

“I don’t think it will hurt you or me, will it?” Jake asked.

“Ree.”

“Right, Stormild can’t exactly answer when we are inside Nevermore…” Jake muttered as he looked up. “Hey, Wyrmgod, can you or Minaga—who I am sure is also around somewhere—ask the Viper if he knows if anything bad will happen? This entire situation is partly his fault, after all.”

A few seconds passed as Dina looked at him. “I don’t think that⁠—“

Space itself cracked in front of them as an aura fell over the room, and the voice of Villy echoed.

“It’ll be fine. You can always redo the oath at another time, though I would recommend that you wait until after Nevermore. In fact, if it expires while inside a Challenge Dungeon, you will barely feel it, considering you are already separated. Also, I have seen what the Challenge Dungeons are about and… Yeah, I know I can’t tell him, but… Just a little… No, I told you already tha⁠—”

The connection cut off as the hole in space disappeared. For a moment, their party of five just stared. Then it suddenly returned, this time in an odd, warped state, as it looked like the Viper had torn it open himself.

“Jake, Colosseum. Own that place; I made a bet that you would at lea⁠—”

With force, the space collapsed as the entire house shook.

Seconds passed as Jake turned to Sylphie. “Sounds like things will be fine. Should we all get going?”

Dina just stared as the Sword Saint questioned him. “Aren’t you going to address… You know?”

“Oh, right, yeah… I am doing the Colosseum first, I guess.” Jake shrugged. “Something I already planned on doing, for the record.”

“Ree?”

“We can talk about making a new oath after Nevermore for sure.” Jake smiled as Sylphie looked relieved. She jumped up, and Jake caught her in his arms.

Despite being the age of a fully adult woman, Sylphie was still as much of a little hawk as she had been thirty years ago when they entered Nevermore. Sure, she had gotten smarter and wiser, but she was still—and perhaps always was going to be—a little goofy featherball.

Jake wouldn’t have it any other way as he rubbed her head, making her snuggle up to him. “You go create some c*****e in those Challenge Dungeons, okay?”

“Ree!”

“Damn straight you will.” Jake grinned as Sylphie jumped out of his embrace and landed on his shoulder.

The old man and Dina smiled as they began to walk after Jake, who headed toward the entrance to the Challenge Dungeons. The Fallen King was the last to leave, muttering from behind, “Are we truly going to ignore two Primordials having a scuffle over a bet?”

That was exactly what they did, as everyone ignored him while they walked to the Challenge Dungeons.

On the way, Jake did a final check-up on things as the others casually chatted.

Arcane affinity growing in influence within the Soulflame Cradle? Check.

Potions stocked? Check.

Poisons ready? Check

Void marble licked? Check.

Equipment not upgraded for thirty years but still good enough? Check.

Yep, everything seemed good to go. Jake’s injured Palate stomach had even healed quite a while back, making him all ready to go.

Reaching the Challenge Dungeons area, they finally saw other people. A few hundred C-grades were gathered in the area, with a few booths even set up not far away and selling different things. Jake and the others weren’t interested as they looked at the five giant gates in front of them. Each had a motif on the gate. One was a grand colosseum with what looked like two gladiators standing within.

Another was what looked like a road continuing infinitely. A third was a large, square building of sorts, while a fourth was a single person sitting in meditation.

The final one was just a picture of Minaga’s face.

Very professional.

Jake couldn’t help but smile as he looked at it. Doing a bit of solo labyrinth fun was appealing, but alas, Villy apparently had a bet for him to win by doing… something.

“Where are you guys headed?” he asked the group.

“I think I will do the Labyrinth,” Dina said, surprising Jake a bit, though he didn’t really question it. He was sure she had her own plans.

“Ree,” Sylphie shared, having decided on doing the House of the Architect first. Definitely struck him as random.

“I shall do the Colosseum, too,” the Sword Saint stated. That one made sense.

“Test of Character,” the Fallen King said, not wanting to elaborate.

Jake nodded, and after a final snuggle with Sylphie, he walked toward the Challenge Dungeon gate. Putting his hand on it, he looked back at his party. “See you all in ten years!”