The Primal Hunter Chapter 1286 - The Art of Purification

Jake observed his hand. The healing process had proven surprisingly rapid, fueled by the very ingredient that had just detonated in his palm—an irony that nearly brought a smile to his face. Within thirty seconds, the superficial trauma vanished, prompting him to give a satisfied nod.

He mentally logged the outcome before attempting the process again, triggering yet another blast saturated with intense life-affinity energy. This time, the conceptual potency buried within that energy felt significantly denser, confirming that he was drawing nearer to his objective.

Months had drifted by since Jake achieved his initial breakthrough with the Unstable Lesser Primeval Gold Mote. That sliver of success had spurred him to persist in his research, leading him to cycle through dozens of different metallic materials. He began with inherently inert, high-purity metals like gold, but he had long since moved beyond such elementary experiments.

Gold provided a useful baseline, yet it proved too uniform for Jake to observe meaningful fluctuations. Furthermore, its inherent fragility convinced him that crafting a stable Gold Mote was a long way off. As his studies deepened, another realization began to dawn on him.

Every time his Lesser Primeval Energy triggered a detonation, a specific energy signature within the ingredient would explode in intensity, dominating the others and inducing total instability. Initially, he had aimed to strip away every extraneous element, leaving only the desired essence behind. Now, he started to wonder if such a feat was even possible.

At least, not with his current mastery.

Take Red Lavender, a cornerstone for any health potion: it certainly contained abundance of life-affinity energy, yet it was comprised of a tapestry of other forces as well. Even when he extracted the lavender’s essence for potions, the result was never absolutely pure. While potent, it still contained residual concepts and trace energies that standard Alchemist’s Purification could never hope to eliminate.

This led to a new hypothesis. Was it truly practical to rely on Lesser Primeval Energy coupled with Alchemist’s Purification to reach one-hundred percent purity? He had pursued this path assuming it was the only road to a stable, Primeval-infused item, but now, that assumption felt increasingly shaky.

In his obsessive quest for purity, he had overlooked a fundamental truth: did absolute purity even exist? Even gold, the paragon of chemical non-reactivity, held traces of background energy—energies born from the foundational concepts of existence itself. Gravity, time, space, and luminescence were unavoidable, leaving their fingerprints on every material on a subatomic level.

Jake’s attempts to eradicate every trace of complexity using Lesser Primeval Energy were inherently incompatible with reality. Therefore, he sought inspiration from a different alchemical school: Transmutation.

The craft of Transmutation focuses on shifting a subject from one state to another. The alchemist’s primary duty is to maintain equilibrium, steering the transmutation toward the desired goal while safeguarding as much of the item’s intrinsic energy as possible.

If one desired to elevate the quality of an object, one would usually need to weave in secondary energies, often by merging items or employing specific catalysts. Simply dumping a mage’s own energy into an object rarely produced a qualitative leap. This explained why Jake’s past attempts to transmute weapons with his arcane affinity had consistently resulted in the erasure of their existing enchantments.

However, there stood one exception to this rule: Primeval Origin Energy.

Jake had attempted to transmute items using Primeval Origin Energy before, witnessing a massive surge in both the quality and volume of the material's internal energy. On the surface, this defied everything he understood about alchemy—unless there was a historical precedent for such a phenomenon.

He recalled the System-led upgrades from the Tutorial. Upgrade Tokens. These items existed solely to enhance equipment by consuming the token itself. Since these items were not uncommon throughout the multiverse—appearing in events and occasionally in natural dungeons—they had been, scrutinized by countless scholars.

The prevailing theory held that these tokens contained no energy of their own. Rather, they acted as "keys," bridges allowing an object to commune with an expansive, unknown reservoir of Records and power. This insight resonated with Jake, reminding him vividly of what occurred when he exercised his own Primeval Origin Energy.

He had theorized it before: his Primeval Origin Energy served merely as the spark. It acted as a key, unlocking gates to new Paths and primordial sources of power. His internal energy was a skeleton key for the Records found within Primeval Origins.

Lesser Primeval Energy was simply a diluted variant, so a similar mechanical function made perfect sense. He had forged a legendary item from a mundane gold bar—an impossibility by normal standards. Even if he had fused the energy of a million gold bars, he would never have hit the threshold required for legendary status, yet a single bar had yielded the Gold Mote.

Energy was leaking into the system from an external source. While Jake provided the Lesser Primeval Energy, it acted as the catalyst, not the sole fuel source. Re-evaluating this dynamic, Jake shifted his methodology.

He abandoned the effort to exert total micromanagement over every facet of the ingredient's transformation. Instead, he would act as an architect rather than a controller, plotting the process rather than strangulating it.

Early on, Jake had trickled in his Lesser Primeval Energy, relying on his Bloodline-empowered reflexes to react to the resulting instability. Predictably, it was a disaster; the sheer volatility and speed of the reactions always outpaced his processing speed.

He began to question his entire starting approach. In hindsight, clues had been hidden in his profession's evolution. The Harbinger of Primeval Origins class awarded two hundred and ten Willpower per level—more than his main class granted in Perception—yet it provided no Perception bonuses at all.

Jake felt confident that had he chosen the Harbinger path, he would have gained a variant of the Lesser Primeval Energy Manipulation skill suited more for force of will than frame-by-frame reaction times.

If Willpower was the governing stat, relying on raw Perception and reaction speed was a fool’s errand. Thus, he transitioned to a proactive strategy. Instead of pouring in the Primeval energy bit by bit, he would inject it in one concentrated surge, but he would imbue that surge with clear, unwavering intent.

By pouring his Willpower into the energy beforehand, he gave it direction. While the intent remained simple, it kept the energy from detonating immediately, creating a window where the reaction remained manageable.

The results were encouraging. He endured plenty of explosions, of course, but the progress was tangible. He still struggled to calculate the exact ratio of Primeval energy required for each material, relying on trial and error for now, but he hoped an upgrade to Alchemist’s Purification might bring the consistency he craved.

Why go back to herbs if they caused so many explosions? Because they were less stable than metals, and having successfully created a small, stable flake of Lesser Primeval Iron, he had a prize to show for his efforts. Secured in a crystal bottle atop a table protected by a sturdy arcane barrier, it sat as a testament to his progress.

[Lesser Primeval Iron Flake (Legendary)]: A small fragment of Lesser Primeval Iron. Relatively stable, though it still exhibits slight signs of instability. Unknown uses.

The flake was minuscule—thinner than a strand of hair and small enough to perch on a pinky finger—but the fact that it had survived for two weeks was a massive victory.

The crafting had been grueling. Iron was more reactive than gold yet durable enough to withstand manipulation, so he had transmuted and purified an iron ingot until it reached the perfect state of refinement. He then injected a packet of Lesser Primeval Energy, heavily armored with his Willpower, while weaving in his own arcane energy to act as a buffer.

He treated the process like a delicate balancing act. His arcane energy protected the fragile, essential structures of the material, only retracting at the precise moment to allow the Primeval-empowered components to reintegrate.

He compared it mentally to boiling water: he had to heat the energy without boiling the mineral components contained within the mixture. It was an oversimplification, but it kept his thoughts disciplined.

This methodology birthed the Lesser Primeval Iron Flake. It remained slightly volatile, certainly not safe to mix with other reagents, but it wasn’t threatening to explode on its own. While he still faced the looming question of how to actually utilize these materials, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and kept working.

It had taken six days of effort to refine his approach to mimic the results of the Grand Alchemist’s Arcane Purification. Reducing a substance to its essence was, in his view, merely a form of transmutation—a way to cull the unwanted to elevate the desired. His method proved safer than the destructive, blunt-force approach of higher-tier skills.

He avoided skill upgrades for now, preferring to refine his mastery manually to ensure no hidden errors crept in. He could have upgraded his current abilities to epic tiers, but he wanted a perfect foundation before taking that leap.

Jake spent months turning his lab into a fireworks display, accumulating more metallic flakes and motes. Flowers proved more difficult; while he could reliably energize the life forces within a Red Lavender, he could not prevent the plant matter from eventually vaporizing.

Through it all, his solitude remained unviolated. He assumed the Malefic Viper was keeping curious visitors at bay. He felt the Viper’s gaze constantly, especially when testing his findings through the Invocation of the Malefic Viper.

By the one-year anniversary of his first Gold Mote, his mind drifted toward the upcoming Seat of the Exalted Prima event, but he ruthlessly shoved the thought aside. He had moved on from mere familiarity; he was now intent on mastering the practical application of his power.

His persistence eventually yielded a breakthrough.

It happened during a routine experiment, executed with the muscle memory of five thousand prior failures. He prepared the packet of Lesser Primeval Energy, layering it with his intent and a nuanced alteration to his energy-binding technique.

As he infused the Lavender, the reaction stabilized instantly. He stepped in with his arcane energy, his focus sharpened to a razor’s edge. Sensing the moment the structure verged on collapse, he funneled one final, concentrated pulse of intent and energy into the bloom.

Success.

: [Alchemist’s Purification (Inferior)]: Attempt to purify any alchemical ingredient. Purification can help remove unwanted properties from a component, making the finished mixture purer. Must have suitable ingredients. Must have suitable materials. Purification does not require any additional tools or equipment, but the skill’s effect can be amplified using certain catalysts. Adds a minor increase to the effectiveness of Alchemist’s Purification based on Wisdom.

-->

[Primeval Alchemist’s Purification (Mythical)]: For the Primeval Alchemist of Malefic Origins to display his true potential, he needs proper ingredients to work with. Something that cannot merely be found, hence, he must purify and refine them himself. Attempt to purify and refine any alchemical ingredient through the use of Lesser Primeval Energy and arcane energy. This purification can remove unwanted properties from a component by transforming them into fuel, thereby enhancing desired properties. Lesser Primeval Energy will further enhance desired properties, while arcane energy will ensure stability; however, be warned that this type of purification is still inherently unstable. Caution is advised. Must have suitable ingredients and materials. Primeval Alchemist’s Purification requires the use of Lesser Primeval Energy, and can, in rare cases, be amplified using certain catalysts. Adds a noticeable increase to the effectiveness and chance of success of attempted purifications based on Willpower, Wisdom, and Perception.