The Primal Hunter Chapter 1287 - A Successful Upgrade = Scammed (?)

Jake held lofty expectations for his enhanced Alchemist’s Purification skill. Without them, he wouldn’t have invested such tremendous effort in elevating it and integrating it with his Lesser Primeval Energy.

Yet, this didn’t stop him from being stunned upon witnessing the skill vault directly from inferior to mythical rarity. Not long before, he’d boasted about the enormous leap in his Alchemical Flame following the absorption of his Supreme Arcane Soulflame, but now he’d already outdone that achievement. Not by a huge amount, of course, as shifts in lower rarities pale beside those in higher tiers, but nonetheless. It marked a phenomenal enhancement.

Given his repeated success in crafting legendary rarity items, he’d anticipated upgrading it to legendary rarity. That outcome felt logical, especially considering his recent evolution to B-grade. Elevating skills at B-grade proved far tougher than at C-grade, and even his existing skills now seemed somewhat underwhelming within their ranks, without any real rarity reductions.

Thus, the new Alchemist’s Purification soaring straight to mythical rarity struck him as extravagant. Jake didn’t dwell on it excessively, however, interpreting it instead as evidence of the sheer potency of Lesser Primeval Energy. A single, straightforward application by Jake had elevated the skill to mythical status.

As a unique profession skill, Lesser Primeval Energy Manipulation left Jake speculating on its equivalent rarity in standard terms. He’d initially pegged it between mythical and sacred, favoring the latter, though now he questioned even that assessment.

Regardless, the effortless jump to mythical rarity stemmed purely from the overwhelming power of Lesser Primeval Energy. It also owed much to Jake being Jake, with his innate mastery over this energy likely unmatched and, as the manipulation skill’s rarity implied, one-of-a-kind. Lacking both elements, success would have eluded him so early.

This raised another query… if Lesser Primeval Energy wielded such might, how insanely dominant was Primeval Origin Energy? And how utterly remarkable was Jake for harnessing and wielding it?

Anwers Jake figured wouldn’t come soon. Sure, he knew his own greatness, but the true caliber of these Bloodline energies remained elusive. Besides, time and focus were scarce right now; he still needed to process his triumph and the transformed flower before him. Superficially identical to ordinary Red Lavender, closer scrutiny revealed profound changes.

The flower appeared lifeless overall, despite its familiar look. The stalk and most blooms were stripped of their typical energy, retaining mere traces—barely sufficient to prevent collapse. Stable arcane energy alone preserved it from withering to dust, sustaining the faint concepts and energies that defined it as Red Lavender.

Yet one section diverged sharply from the others. The core of a single tiny bloom radiated energy dwarfing the original herb’s total. Applying Identify to his creation brought reassuring results for Jake.

[Lesser Primeval Red Lavender (Legendary)] – A Red Lavender purified via Lesser Primeval Energy. The life affinity mana in the tiny blooms has been greatly refined and boosted, while the remainder is almost entirely drained. It exhibits relative stability but hints of volatility. Once the key component for health potions, its suitability for such now seems dubious.

Prior Identify attempts yielding nothing signaled Jake’s insufficient grasp. Now receiving a solid description signaled huge strides in his understanding of this novel energy.

Moreover, its stability outshone even his Iron Flakes, a boon since botanicals inherently outpace metals in instability. This Red Lavender surpassed all previous efforts, fittingly coinciding with the system’s upgrade recognition.

Regarding uses for this Lesser Primeval Red Lavender, Jake drew a blank. Crafting with it lay beyond reach, its energy too intense, and even a full suite of similarly purified ingredients offered no assurance.

This modified component vastly outpowered any standard alchemical material Jake had handled, remaining more unstable than typical high-rarity ones. Plus, purifying one Red Lavender succeeded, but crafting demanded far more.

The process had compressed the yield to minuscule amounts. For a viable potion, hundreds of Lesser Primeval Red Lavenders would be needed, alongside equal or greater volumes of transformed grass.

Blending energies from hundreds of legendary items posed a daunting challenge already, ignoring the inherent volatility.

In essence, while Jake reveled in upgrading Alchemist’s Purification, he grasped that Lesser Primeval Energy remained impractical for now. Purified ingredients exceeded his crafting capacity, and applying the new skill to potent materials likely required extensive practice. System aid during Alchemist’s Purification was substantial but no success guarantee, hence the “attempt to” phrasing.

As for the skill description itself, little stood out. Mythical rarity aside, Primeval Alchemist’s Purification simply delivered as advertised, precisely per Jake’s design—entirely predictable. Only the initial flavor text and embedded volatility warning mildly surprised.

All told, Jake savored the upgrade, though he admitted rushing post-evolution over acclimating to B-grade first. Superb ingredients were feasible now, but synthesis eluded him—for the moment. Jake’s prowess promised future mastery.

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Time spent hadn’t been squandered, even solely for growth, as the upgraded skill yielded unexpected experience gains—more than anticipated.

Gaining three levels might appear modest, but at B-grade, progression dragged compared to C-grade—a lag Jake hadn’t truly encountered in his profession yet. Spirit of Man had flooded levels upon evolution, then one-and-a-half years yielded three more via an inferior-to-mythical skill leap.

This pace verged on absurd, though Jake knew it wasn’t sustainable. Spirit of Man was unique, and such upgrades weren’t repeatable on demand. Likely, alignment with his new Path amplified the experience; future Malefic Viper Legacy upgrades might yield less, time would reveal. Or perhaps his broken Spirit of Man supercharged gains beyond expectations—a hypothesis for B-grade validation.

Currently, Jake embraced his gains without overcomplicating. Prolonged Lesser Primeval Energy handling demanded a break; wielding such profound concepts taxed even B-grade minds.

With a sigh, Jake rose, stretched, and stowed the flower in a crystal vial against ambient energies, joining his other Lesser Primeval product. He flashed a grin before meditating to refresh his mind fully.

No complete reset, just a half-day respite until eyes reopened, invigorated. True sleep beckoned since B-grade evolution, but one task preceded it.

The table bore Lesser Primeval Energy-infused Iron Flakes and Red Lavender, prompting action during rest. Useless for crafting, yet salvageable via a clever plan.

Jake gathered all Alchemist’s Purification upgrade byproducts onto the table. Beyond flake and herb lay unstable failures, un-exploded but risky—previously isolated in another room’s barrier to safeguard successes.

Arrayed fully, Jake smiled ceilingward, sensing impending delight for someone. He invoked the skill, summoning a intricate magic circle beneath the Lesser Primeval Energy-laden assortment. Ancient might filled the space as the link formed, fully activating.

“Divine Bargain of the Malefic Viper.”

Energy enveloped the items instantly, vanishing them into the offering to his Patron. The circle lingered seconds, awaiting the Malefic Viper’s balancing counter, soon delivered.

Replacing the volatile discards stood… a Malefic Bargaining Fragment. Predictable, as his Planetary Pylon yield was ancient rarity; this surpassed it noticeably.

Identify on the prize drew Jake’s approving nod.

[Malefic Bargaining Fragment (Mythical)] – An item obtained from a successful Divine Bargain with your Patron. Contains Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper. Has many alchemical uses.

”Damn,” Jake muttered to himself. A Planetary Pylon fetched ancient rarity before; these scraps yielded mythical. Excellent, but the valuation implications thrilled more.

Divine Bargain quantified system-assessed value of Lesser Primeval Energy items—evidently immense. Jake beamed… for three seconds, until a voice sounded behind.

”You just got fucking scammed,” Villy said with a cheeky grin as he stood there with the two crystal bottles floating in front of him. ”Like, generationally scammed. Giving your credit card to a random guy on the street who says he’s from your bank levels of scammed. Sending your life savings to some prince or princess who sent you an email with broken spelling tier scam. Investing in-”

”As I said, scammed,” the Viper grinned. ”The only reason you got a mythical rarity Bargaining Fragment is that your skill is only mythical rarity, so that was the limit, and unfortunately for you, I didn’t have the option of offering anything better.”

Jake stared at the god for a few moments before looking down at his fragment.

”I want a refund.”

”No refunds, sorry, sold as-is,” the snake god chuckled as he inspected the two relatively stable items Jake had offered. ”As a reminder, this is a bargain between the two of us. The value of all things is relative and decided by the people involved. I had nothing to use a damn Planetary Pylon for, but this… this is different.”

”I should have just eaten it for Palate,” Jake muttered sadly.

”Could have. Not sure how much it would have helped, and I wouldn’t want anything to blow up in there again, but you definitely could have,” the Viper said semi-jokingly before turning a lot more serious. ”In my hands, however, things are very different. Consider what you have proven yourself capable of doing with your Primeval Origin Energy, and now imagine what I’m capable of? The sheer potential of my Transcendent Skill and your energy.”

The Viper’s aura flared as he held up the bottle, and the entire lab got bathed in his presence as it subtly changed color. The snake god had an evil grin on his face as he turned to Jake with a sinister look. ”Of course, there is just one minor problem…”

With a flick of his wrist, the Viper took out the Lesser Primeval Red Lavender and subtly applied some energy.

”It won’t allow me to use it,” the Viper shrugged as his aura faded, and at the same time, the herb he’d only subtly tried to affect dispersed into pure energy. ”Which in itself raises some questions, wouldn’t you agree?”

Jake was about to answer as Villy held up a hand. ”To clarify, your agreement with my statement has no bearings on the fact that it is odd. Also, I would get into an entire conversation with you about this, but unfortunately for me, someone else has been waiting for over a year already to visit, and I have a feeling you wouldn’t have anything against her visit cutting mine a little short. Oh, and I’ll leave this here, should make you feel a little less scammed than before, though to be clear, you were still very much scammed.”

Before Jake had the time to say anything, the Viper was gone, and on the table next to the Bargain Fragment was an item that made Jake’s eyes open wide as he grinned. Yeah, alright, that definitely did make him feel a lot better about being scammed.