The Primal Hunter Chapter 1229 - Hunting Profile: True Dragon

“Oh, I’ve found her, and believe me, she is quite the specimen,” Villy remarked, his excitement palpable as he prepared to brief Jake on the dragon selected for his Chosen’s hunt. This enthusiasm was only heightened as the snake god cleared his throat, rising to his feet to address Jake with a look of profound seriousness.

“Are you prepared?”

“Yes?” Jake replied, his voice laced with confusion.

“Then the briefing commences,” the Viper said with a grin. He teleported behind the sofa toward a nearby wall, where an image suddenly materialized on the white surface. It read:

Dragon Hunting 101: Choosing the Right Prey

Jake watched in stunned silence as the Viper began. With a snap of his fingers, the title vanished, replaced by bullet points and a diagram.

“Are you actually using a slideshow?” Jake couldn’t help but ask.

“That is precisely what I am doing,” the Primordial replied, radiating self-satisfaction. “Now, pay attention.”

“Is a slideshow really necessary?” Jake attempted to intervene again.

“It is. Now be silent so we can get through this,” Villy dismissed him with a wave. He cleared his throat once more, even going as far as to emit a thin beam of green light from his fingertip to serve as a makeshift laser pointer.

“Let us start with the fundamentals. Dragons are powerful monsters possessing scales that—”

“Villy,” Jake interrupted, shooting the god a flat look.

“Ugh, very well,” the snake god sighed, rapidly clicking through the presentation. After bypassing nearly three dozen slides, he finally landed on the information that truly mattered.

“Here we are: your target. Following extensive investigation, I settled on this individual. I genuinely believe she will provide a decent challenge while being entirely deserving of a hunt,” the Viper explained, displaying an image of a draconic woman.

“Her name is Yrelstromoz, formerly of the Lumenflight. She is several centuries old and reached full maturity, ascending to the status of a True Dragon roughly thirty years ago. However, since her evolution, she has been nothing but a plague upon everyone she encounters.”

Villy transitioned to the next slide.

“Born to two peak A-grade dragons, she was raised in extreme luxury, even by the standards of the Dragonflight. She never lacked for anything, and because her parents were overprotective, she led a sheltered, isolated life devoid of real-world experience.”

Jake raised his hand, and the Viper nodded, granting him the floor.

“If that’s how she was raised, doesn’t that mean her combat experience is lacking?” Jake inquired. He didn't doubt the inherent power of dragons, but he worried the hunt wouldn't be rewarding if she didn't know how to fight.

“Allow me to address that,” the Viper said, skipping a few more slides before continuing. “As a member of the Lumenflight born destined to be a True Dragon, she underwent intense training from infancy. This included the mastery of magic, martial combat, and various essential skills. While she lacks experience in life-or-death struggles, she is far from incompetent. My data suggests she was quite talented during her youth and received private tutoring from her parents. To summarize: she knows how to wield her innate power. At least in theory.”

Jake nodded, feeling somewhat reassured. With the question answered, the Viper moved on.

“Now, let us get to the justification for her execution,” Villy stated bluntly. “First, the tragic backstory. Less than a decade before her evolution into a B-grade True Dragon, both her parents perished within a dungeon. They were attempting to break through their bottlenecks to reach S-grade but failed, dying in the process. This left Yrelstromoz quite miserable, particularly once she discovered the motivation behind their desperate push for evolution.”

After flicking through several more slides, the Viper displayed a picture of two dragons—one looking mournful and the other striking a proud pose.

“The Lumenflight offers excellent education to young dragons, but once they reach B-grade, further Cultivation is largely a personal responsibility. However, influential parents can use their status to aid their offspring. In a bid to evolve and gain more political weight for her sake, her parents pushed themselves beyond their limits despite being ill-prepared.”

Jake nodded slowly, though he still struggled to see why he should hunt down a grieving daughter whose parents had sacrificed everything for her.

“A question for the class! If this were you, and your parents died trying to secure your future, how would you respond?” the Viper asked.

The room fell silent. Jake assumed the question was rhetorical until he realized the Viper was staring directly at him. With a sigh, Jake raised his hand.

“Yes, you in the front. What would your reaction be?” the snake god prodded, pointing his green laser at Jake.

“I’d be devastated, obviously. Then I’d probably want to honor their sacrifice by becoming as powerful as possible, hoping to one day surpass them,” Jake answered, unsure if he was giving the "correct" response.

“Interesting,” the Viper nodded. “Would it shock you to learn that Yrelstromoz felt differently? In fact, her reaction was the polar opposite. Following their deaths, her first priority was squabbling over her inheritance. Her second was squandering that fortune on trivialities. As for her Cultivation… well, there was no effort to speak of.”

Jake was starting to see she wasn't a sympathetic character, though he hadn't heard anything truly villainous yet.

“She reached B-grade simply by existing and maturing, but once she evolved, she stopped trying altogether. The power of a True Dragon went straight to her head; she had zero ambition to progress further. To be fair, even a fresh True Dragon is a powerhouse in the multiverse, capable of a very comfortable life. I won’t even bother asking if you think she chose a path of peace.”

Jake nodded, sensing the "justification" was imminent. The next slide confirmed it, showing a massive crater riddled with deep cracks and jagged holes.

“Deciding to use her wealth to travel, she roamed her universe like a spoiled brat. Gambling became her favorite hobby. The problem is, the house always wins… unless the loser is a True Dragon with no emotional control. When she loses, she tends to get angry enough to vaporize entire cities, killing tens of millions in a heartbeat.”

Advancing the slide, Villy showed a city bisected by a massive, molten scar that looked like a bottomless trench.

“The Lumenflight excused the first few incidents, and local factions were too weak to protest against the Dragonflight. Yrelstromoz isn't a genius, but she isn't a fool either; she learned to only vent her rage in territories without major protectors or where she could hide the evidence. Here is another case where she leveled a residential district. The cause? Apparently, someone told her to 'blow me' during a heated argument, so she obliged by blowing up the entire block without regard for the casualties.”

By this point, Jake was convinced that Yrelstromoz was a genuine scourge.

“Next instance… actually, let’s just do a lightning round,” Villy said, flipping through slides at high speed so Jake could skim the text. There were dozens of entries. As the list grew, Jake’s expression darkened. By the end, he had one primary question.

“Why didn't anyone stop her?” Jake asked. “Specifically, the Lumenflight. You said she was a former member. Don't they police their own?”

“They attempted to,” the Viper replied with a shake of his head. “But not with much conviction, as she mostly targeted those too insignificant to cause a diplomatic stir. Only a few of her remaining relatives truly tried to intervene, but it was useless. She received numerous warnings, but they only served to fuel her spiteful tantrums.”

“What finally led to her expulsion?” Jake inquired.

“She crossed the wrong people,” the Viper said, moving to a slide of a young beastkin. “A group of talented C-grade youths from the United Tribes were exploring a neutral planet known for its dungeons. She slaughtered the entire party, specifically to spite the Lumenflight. One of those beastkin was the son of a demigod and possessed a Divine Blessing. The United Tribes were furious, and the Lumenflight, finally fed up with her behavior, officially cast her out.”

“Sounds like it was long overdue,” Jake spat. “They should have dealt with her years ago.”

“Likely, but they didn't, and now she is a rogue element,” the Viper shrugged. “As I’ve mentioned, the Dragonflight loathes killing their own, but now that she’s an exile, they won't interfere if someone like you decides to end her.”

Jake nodded, having decided she was a worthy target. In fact, she almost seemed too perfect. One detail still nagged at him, though.

“I don’t understand why she acts like this. It seems almost like a cartoon villain—just pointlessly evil,” Jake remarked.

“Having been quite the jerk myself in the past, I can understand her perspective,” the Viper admitted. “As a True Dragon, she believes she is a superior lifeform exempt from the morality of those she views as lesser. To her, killing millions of F, E, or D-grades is no different than stepping on ants. Now, in my defense, there is a key difference. She takes joy in slaughtering the weak because it makes her feel dominant. I, on the other hand, enjoyed outsmarting and killing the powerful. The death of the weak was merely collateral damage to me, never the objective.”

“You’re telling me she kills random people just to feel big?” Jake asked, finding the concept pathetic. To him, true power was found in overcoming a formidable opponent.

“It’s about feeling in control,” the Viper shrugged. “It’s likely why she rebels against her family. I’m no therapist, but I suspect she felt her life was never her own growing up. Now that she’s free, she wants to live without restraint. Her idea of a good time just happens to involve being a monster.”

“I think I get it,” Jake sighed. “The multiverse is definitely better off without her. Her motives are nonsense to me, but I guess some people are just rotten.”

“Precisely,” the Viper smiled, skipping to the final slide. “That concludes my presentation on your ideal True Dragon target. She is neither too weak nor overwhelmingly strong. She is unaffiliated, and frankly, so loathsome that no one will blame you for putting an arrow through her head. All I can do now is wish you luck and remind you to prepare thoroughly. She won't go down without a fight.”

Jake nodded, then paused. “There’s a reason you didn’t give me specifics on her abilities or her specific training, isn’t there?”

“Naturally. I wouldn't want to hand you an unfair advantage,” Villy smirked. “If you want that data, you’ll have to find it yourself, though I suspect you’d rather go in blind.”

“You’re not wrong,” Jake admitted. “Even if she’s a piece of trash, I want a fair hunt. It wouldn't feel right having a full dossier on her while she knows nothing about me.”

“She might actually know a bit about you if she’s been keeping up with the news,” the Viper noted. “You’re somewhat of a celebrity lately. Then again, she isn’t known for her intellect, so she might not recognize you until the arrows start flying.”

“We’ll see,” Jake muttered, looking at the final image of Yrelstromoz. She appeared mostly human, aside from two curved horns and slitted, reptilian eyes.

Jake knew this form wouldn't last. As Villy’s visions had shown, dragons reached their peak potential in their true forms. Given her Lumenflight background, he expected heavy light magic—a double-edged sword for him.

His scales provided light resistance, but his dark affinity made him naturally vulnerable to the element, a lesson he’d learned from the Great White Stag in the Tutorial. He was immune to blinding effects, but light magic was notoriously fast, making it difficult to dodge.

He figured it was a balanced matchup. Had she specialized in dark magic, he might have had the upper hand, but most other elements were neutral territory.

As he contemplated the battle, a surge of excitement rose within him. Coupled with his recent power spikes from his sacred skill and new title, Jake felt ready.

Villy noticed the change in Jake’s aura and smiled. “I’ll leave you to your preparations. Your prey thinks she’s successfully hiding, but don’t wait too long. Someone else might take her out, or she might provoke the wrong person again. I’d rather not have to make another slideshow.”

“I won’t be long,” Jake said, standing up and glancing toward his laboratory.

“Then get to work,” Villy said before vanishing.

Jake nodded, telekinetically grabbing his beer bottle. He drained it, set it down with a firm click, and focused. It was time to brew a fresh batch of toxins and elixirs.

Once the supplies were ready, the dragon hunt would begin.