The Primal Hunter

Chapter 713: Nevermore: City Floor Forty

Jake and company spent a bit over two weeks just relaxing in the in-between room, as they all had exerted themselves perhaps a bit too much during the Minaga fight. The fact they had also just all gotten cool new items they wanted to either absorb or experiment a bit with was certainly also a factor.

During this time, the Sword Saint managed to set up the Sword Formation within one of the bedrooms and even had a light spar with the Minaga clone. They also tested and discovered that only the Sword Saint could use the formation, so that was a bit of a bummer but probably a necessary limitation for Minaga to even give it out. If not, it could maybe even have been used as a defensive formation, as it quickly became clear the Minaga clone in the formation could pretty much exert whatever force it deemed necessary.

Dina was enamored with her wooden branch and instantly got to work on a formation that would allow her to properly absorb it, though it didn’t seem like that would be a small project. Absorbing any kind of high-value item like that wasn’t something to be done haphazardly, according to her. Jake’s advice of just throwing it into a cauldron while mixing it with a bunch of high-rarity stuff and just seeing what happens was not taken seriously.

The King was more relaxed with his gift and ate the Soulcore of Minaga the moment he got it and promptly began meditating. The two weeks they waited before continuing was the time it took for the Fallen King to awaken once more. By the time he did, the cracks on the mask were fully healed, but nothing much seemed to have changed, though Jake reckoned he had good gains based on his uncharacteristically jovial mood.

Sylphie was the one who had gained the most precarious treasure, and Jake had to confess he was a bit nervous about her using it. He had insisted on being present the first time Sylphie infused energy into the nest-like treasure. So he had. The bird had just sat in it like a normal nest, and after infusing some energy into it, she seemed to get sleepy and dozed off.

It had taken nearly five hours before she woke up again, only to yawn, say the dream-projection of the Sylph was super weird but kind of nice, before going to sleep again. So, yeah, Sylphie was definitely loved by the wind, putting Jake at ease.

Speaking of Jake… with everyone else playing around with their loot, he naturally also got some alone time in with the Cradle of Soul’s Kindling. At first, he had just been infusing some energy into it while – pretty stupidly – testing how durable it was by trying if he could knick the urn. He couldn’t, and based on all the things he tried, he doubted any C-grade could even leave a mark. That isn’t to say B-grades necessary could either, as Jake honestly had no idea how durable it was.

Ah, but he was also a bit productive.

Jake discovered that not only could he infuse his energy into the urn, but he could also look inside. And what he saw was honestly astonishing. The description of the Cradle had talked about a world inside, but Jake had seen that more as either a metaphor or perhaps just a small space like what could be found inside Sandy’s stomach.

What he instead was met with could truly be described as a world. A massive space resided within the Cradle, making it look like a miniature solar system. At first, Jake thought he was looking at a sea of stars until he noticed it instead was actually tens if not hundreds of thousands of Soulflames burning in space like small stars. Some chased each other, some fled, some did nothing, and some simply found themselves consumed by the environment.

The edges of this space weren’t just emptiness either, but instead solid walls. These walls were of all kinds of varieties and had entire cave systems within them. Some of the walls were made of rock, others of metal, ice, wood, pure mana, water, lightning, clouds, pure light, pure darkness, and many more. Honestly, the entire place just didn’t make any sense based on all the rules Jake knew of affinities. Yet it all seemed to be in balance, and on all of these walls and within all of these tunnel systems, Soulflames were moving about.

As he observed, Jake noticed what he believed was a Soulflame about to be born. He watched with excitement as the energy gathered, but he was soon left with wide eyes as the process didn’t stop. The mana kept gathering until a fully formed elemental was just about to appear.