Chapter 1143 – Mask & Bow

Jake wasn’t foolish enough to believe that he had timed his return from the Hunting Ground so well that he only needed to be back for a few days before the Primordial of Life reached out to him.

Instead, they had likely been waiting for his return to begin the next phase of whatever they were doing. It had been made clear initially that the revival of the Fallen King wouldn’t be a quick endeavour, and Jake fully expected that they just needed him to continue the process.

As for the bow, this would only be the beginning. Dina had evidently reached out to Nature’s Attendant, who had gotten the ball rolling, and Jake hoped it would be possible to source some raw materials directly from the Primordial. Of course, matters likely wouldn’t be that simple, as Jake wouldn’t be capable of using something containing Yggdrasil’s Records as a mere C-grade.

Either way, time would tell. Artemis and Jake had headed straight toward the Primordial after the message was received, and it was quite evident the hunter goddess was even more nervous than the mortal C-grade. Jake was more excited than anything.

“Do you still get nervous when visiting Yggdrasil?” Jake asked as they went through a teleporter.

“You not being nervous is the outlier here, not me,” Artemis shook her head.

“I’m just wondering why,” Jake shrugged. “Like, what’s the worst that can happen? I doubt she would call us there just to harm us, so no reason to be nervous about anything in that vein. So the only thing we really could be nervous about is what she’ll think of us once there. Seeing as I reckon she already knows you quite well, as long as you act normally, what can go wrong? Just don’t say anything weird or start spouting your most batshit conspiracy theories that you really shouldn’t ever mention to anyone, and things will be fine.”

Artemis sighed. “You of all people should know that sometimes emotions can be irrational. This is one of those times. Also, now you got me curious about which insane conspiracy theories you’re hiding.”

“Ah, sorry, we don’t have time to go over all of them before we get there,” Jake answered cheekily, as with one more teleport, they were within the influence of Yggdrasil’s aura.

Once they were, the Primordial locked onto them both. Jake felt the subtle movements of space around him, and he didn’t resist as he was teleported one last time. Upon appearing again, the first thing Jake noticed was the change in the environmental mana. Right away, he knew they were back inside the Divine Realm of Yggdrasil.

Feeling solid ground beneath his feet, Jake opened his eyes and found himself standing in a meadow in front of a singular tree that looked like a miniature Yggdrasil. One that gave off the full aura of the Primordial.

Right next to him, Artemis instantly looked uncomfortable, making Jake unconsciously extend his own aura to protect her. She felt better right away and threw a thankful look Jake’s way right before a shift in the environmental mana caught their attention.

This mana gathered into a female dryad, embodying the aura of Yggdrasil. She looked at both of them before speaking.

“You came faster than I’d expected. Good. We are ready to move on to the next phase of the rejuvenation of the Unique Lifeform.”

With a wave of her hand, the tree in front of them had its crown open up, revealing a familiar-looking figure within. Jake’s eyes opened wide as he recognized the Fallen King’s body.

“Is that- “

“Part of the vessel,” Yggdrasil answered. “However, the true body remains the mask on your face. For now, at least.”

“What do you mean?” Jake asked with a frown.

“In the process of the rejuvenation, the Records of the Unique Lifeform were laid bare before me. I saw the connection that had been forced between you two, and the karmic linkage both of you wish to be rid of. This is an opportunity to do just that. Only should you wish for your fates to be severed, that is,” Yggdrasil explained before finishing off with an offer that Jake hadn’t even thought about.

In truth, he’d kind of forgotten the connection between himself and the Fallen King. It was an extremely one-sided bond they shared. One where Jake could forcibly summon the Fallen King to his side, snuff out his Truesoul with a mere thought, and the Unique Lifeform even found his own progress limited by Jake, not allowing him to evolve before Jake did. Worst of all, if Jake died, so would the Fallen King.

Jake had never liked that this connection between them had been forced. He was a reckless person by nature, one who liked taking massive risks for equally massive rewards. Doing that while the life of another directly depended on his survival sucked. Sure, it hadn’t stopped Jake, but it had crossed his mind at times.

For others, having a Unique Lifeform essentially bound to serve you would be something they would never want to get rid of. It was like having a pinnacle genius as your slave. To Jake, it was a horrible arrangement, though, and he knew that the Fallen King would have died sooner than it would have allowed Jake to treat him as a servant. Likely dying while trying to at least take off Jake’s head in the process.

So being offered a chance to sever the chains binding them… it was an absolute no-brainer.

“If you can make the Fallen King truly independent once more, please do so,” Jake said in a serious voice. “And if you need anything from me to make it happen, just ask away.”

Jake was fairly certain severing his connection with the Fallen King would have some negative consequences. No, he didn’t consider the fact that the Fallen King had once been an enemy and was an actual threat should he choose to turn on Jake. After having spent fifty years in Nevermore with the Unique Lifeform, he knew the King was an asshole, but he was also trustworthy. Perhaps more importantly, he wasn’t stupid and knew that if he and Jake had a proper fight to the death, it would end the same as their last death battle.

No, the true loss was right in front of his face. His mask. The mask currently contained the Truesoul of the Fallen King, and if the Unique Lifeform had to be fully autonomous again, it was natural that the mask had to go.

“I will need the mask you are wearing and your permission to manipulate it,” Yggdrasil said, exactly as Jake had expected.

Without any hesitation, Jake took off the mask and offered it up.

“Can you explain what you’ll do?” Jake asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.

The mask floated upwards, and Jake felt Yggdrasil prod for permission. Even as a Primordial, she couldn’t manipulate a Soulbound item without express permission from the user. It was a hard rule by the system, and unless she had a Transcendent skill or Bloodline to fuck with other people’s equipment, Jake had to give the go-ahead. Something he naturally did.

When he did so, he felt the consequences instantly as his mana pool instantly fell by tens of thousands of points, and his mana regeneration also suffered a severe reduction. Losing such a quite frankly overpowered item was a shame. However, it was a price Jake was more than willing to pay if it meant the resurrection of the Fallen King.

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“This mask is the true body of the Unique Lifeform, yet it isn’t. He can exist independent of the mask, the vessel holding a perfect mirror of the Truesoul. Entangled across any distance, space, linked through the absolute power of the system.”

Jake nodded along, already knowing that. Well, alright, he knew the general concept behind why the Fallen King could technically both be on his face and floating around shooting golden force beams, as well as how there could be two masks at the same time.

“We shall exploit this unique power. This duality of soul. Before, the mask you wore was the true body, while the mask on the vessel was the mirror. This shall be reversed. The original mask will become one with the Unique Lifeform, allowing him to become truly independent once more, while I shall forge the mirrored mask for you.”

“Wait… you’ll make a new mask for me?” Jake asked, having definitely not seen that one coming.