Chapter 1141 – Secrets Disclosed

It took a while for the Warpsnatcher to finally calm down enough that it was comfortable being alone. Artemis had definitely been right in that it could sense the power level of others, something that was really hammered home when the poor Warpsnatcher went outside and saw the giant Primordial tree in the distance. This resulted in the poor thing hiding in Jake’s arms for another few hours.

The little fella was pretty quick at adapting, though, and while it remained scared of Artemis, it could at least exist in the same space after about half a day. It also helped that the castle or palace or whatever Jake wanted to call his residence had so many rooms, as that allowed the Warpsnatcher to go elsewhere if too uncomfortable.

Also, it gave the C-grade somewhere to hide all its loot. The residence had a cellar area, and the Warpsnatcher quickly took a good section of it as its personal storage. Seeing as Jake wasn’t the sort to store fine vintages, he didn’t need the place he was pretty sure was originally meant to be a wine cellar.

Once the Warpsnatcher had left and was busy setting up its own little home, Jake finally found himself alone with Artemis once more.

“So, how did you find the Hunting Ground?” Artemis asked curiously. “You seem to have at least found it interesting based on you bringing something back from there.”

“It was pretty good,” Jake smiled. “Killed my fair share of B-grades.”

“I can see that based on your progress,” Artemis nodded. “Quite an astonishing speed considering your Path. However, I must warn you. Those B-grades are, to put it kindly, barely even qualified to be called that.”

“Yeah, they were all very low tier,” Jake agreed.

“Below low tier, I would say,” Artemis shook her head. “Bottom tier. These are creatures that, based on their own innate talents, likely wouldn’t have ever even made it to C-grade. The environment in the Hunting Ground was very curated to allow their growth and existence in the first place. Sure, sometimes there are standouts, but those are few and far between.”

“Some of the variants weren’t that bad,” Jake said, considering things like the peak C-grade Simivita Chieftains. Sure, they were pretty weak, but not outright horrible.

“I’m not talking solely about their stats but their ability to display their true power,” Artemis sighed. “As we talked about a lot, conceptual understanding and application are a cornerstone of the powerful. This comprehension is gained either through practice and enlightenment or innate understanding, either granted directly by the system or simply through nature.”

Artemis held out a hand as wind began swirling above it despite no detectable amounts of mana being used. “Sylphie is a great example of a creature with high innate comprehension, though I do see she has also learned a lot by herself. However, even if she didn’t try, the Sylphian Hawk would have gained a high level of understanding merely from their race and inherited knowledge. The Warpsnatcher is very much the same. They know how to use their magic and have at least some level of understanding about how it works by nature. Meanwhile, the enlightened like you and I need to learn most things on our own, though we are given assistance through receiving more system skills.”

“Meanwhile, I guess those B-grades had neither innate nor learned affinities?” Jake asked, having reached the natural conclusion of where Artemis was going.

“Precisely. Of course, they have truly reached B-grade, so given proper practice and if they’re taught enough, even those B-grades may end up becoming halfway decent creatures at one point, though A-grade will be a long shot for any of them.”

Jake nodded, at least finding it a bit comforting to know the Sovereign at least still had some chance to become stronger and not be stuck in low-tier B-grade forever. Sure, he hated the damn bird with a passion, but they had still been comrades in arms for a little while.

“The Warpsnatcher doesn’t seem to fall into the category of weak variants, though,” Jake commented after a few seconds.

“It’s not. Usually, a creature with a relatively high-level variant would be removed from a Hunting Ground of that level as it would upset the balance too much, but due to the Shimmerfur Warpsnatchers being non-combat focused, it was left alone. Also, it is the natural way of the Warpsnatchers to grow up in all sorts of different environments, so its presence was considered acceptable,” Artemis explained.

“The poor little fella did find itself stuck, though,” Jake sighed.

“Only until B-grade,” Artemis shook her head. “At that point, we would have had to move to remove the beast as its presence would truly upset the balance then. Even if the Warpsnatcher is not a combat-focused race, it would still be more than capable of slaying every other B-grade on that planet upon evolving. In the scenario where it didn’t do that, all treasures would be monopolized, and the balance once more broken. So in that sense, you removing the Warpsnatcher now is a good thing.”

“Oh, yeah, totally did it for the sake of the future balance and whatnot,” Jake said cheekily as he had a thought. “Say… I’ve not really been able to figure this out yet, but do you know if the Warpsnatcher is male or female? Perhaps neither?”

“It’s male,” Artemis answered. “You can tell from the ears. They’re more pointy on the males. At least while they’re still in C-grade. After evolving, their look changes based on the personal preference of the Warpsnatcher in question.”

“What grade are Warpsnatchers normally?” Jake asked curiously. Peak races in the multiverse were natural B-grades and included things like dragons and other mythical beings.

“Natural C-grades. They tend to spend the first few years while in D-grade accompanying their parents, but upon evolving to C-grade, they’re sent off into the multiverse to live on their own. Only upon reaching B-grade will Warpsnatchers usually try to look for a mate, starting the cycle all over again.”

“They only reproduce with others of their race?” Jake asked curiously. He knew a lot of monsters had children with enlightened races or even other monsters. The powers of the Polymorph skill and the ability to take on humanoid forms all allowed for that.

“For the most part, though, there are always exceptions,” Artemis said, looking at him curiously. “I must admit, you seem a lot more interested in Warpsnatchers than I would think.”

“Yeah, I’m considering something… say, do you know if the Warpsnatchers have some kind of powerful ancestor they descended from? You know, like fire birds can often trace their Lineage back to phoenixes and such,” Jake asked, still doing a bit of research.

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“Not as far as I know,” Artemis shook her head, now looking even more curiously at him. She seemed indecisive for a moment before finally just coming out and asking something she had likely wondered for a while:

“Say… is this related to your abilities as the Harbinger of Primeval Origins?”

Her question meant Jake now had to consider matters. For a while, it had been common knowledge that Jake was capable of manipulating Primeval Origins, but the details around this ability were all kept very vague on purpose. The leading theory seemed to be that Jake had some kind of unique Soulbound item only he could use.

Other theories included that it had something to do with Jake’s bloodline, but that there were some serious limitations to it, such as a cost Jake wasn’t willing to pay or some other requirement.

The point was that only Villy and Jake knew the full truth. Well, alright, Duskleaf and Meira likely also knew for the most part, while his creations also had a good chance of knowing. However, he had never told any outsiders, and the Viper had made it clear it should be kept that way.

It wasn’t necessarily a question of trust either, but limiting the potential of someone leaking the truth. The easiest way to limit exposure was to limit the number of people capable of exposing him.