Jake Thayne/Story

Pre-System Integration, Jake was a run-of-the-mill office worker. His job was painfully boring and he had trouble connecting with his co-workers. Jake never felt like he fit in. This had been a lifelong issue.

As a child, Jake held a blatant disdain for authority and his younger brother, Caleb, often had to run interference to keep him out of trouble. Jake didn't care for team sports, but excelled at archery. He'd been seriously considering going pro until an injury derailed his budding career. He instead went to college where he managed to gain a small group of friends including his best friend Andrew and his girlfriend, Madeline. However, this came to a crashing halt when Jake discovered the two in flagrante.^[1] Furthermore, he discovered that his entire friend group knew and just chose not to tell him. Deeply hurt, he ended all contact with the entire group and focused on his studies, becoming a top student.

After graduating, Jake accepted a job at a company owned by business mogul Arthur, where he worked under the supervision of Jacob (always accompanied by his bodyguard, Bertram). Day to day, Jake worked alongside his coworkers Caroline, Casper, Ahmed, Theodore, Joanna Elkmann, Dennis, and Lina. While deemed standoffish, Jake got along relatively well with Casper, who was a kindred spirit,^[2] and Jacob, the team leader who wanted everyone to feel included. Jake also harbored an unrequited crush on Caroline. With these tenuous connections to his co-workers, Jake accepted an invitation to lunch and they were all together in an elevator on the fateful day that the System arrived in the 93rd Universe.^[3]

After the weird messaging in the elevator and losing consciousness, Jake awoke sitting at a table in a well-lit, all white room that reminded him of an interrogation room, minus the two-way mirror.^[4] He was greeted by an androgynous humanoid figure that welcomed him to the multiverse. He saw his stat page for the first time and was prompted to select a basic starter class. Jake selected the Archer class and was granted the starter skills of Basic Archery, Basic One-Handed Weapon, Archer's Eye, and Identify. He also received starter equipment including a bow, a quiver, a brown cloak, a knife, and a small satchel that includes health and stamina potions. After he equipped his gear, Jake was transported to the Tutorial.

Upon transporting to the tutorial, Jake found himself on top of a huge pillar in the middle of a vast forest. Before he can truly orient himself, Jake is notified that he has been granted the titles of Forerunner of the New World and Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races,^[2] titles granted automatically to those from uninitiated universes upon entry to the tutorial.

Jake discovers that he has been reunited with half of his elevator group, including Jacob and Caroline, and four other employees from his group. They are all dressed in starter gear for their selected class. Jacob is dressed as a warrior, Caroline as a healer. With what little time they have as their platforms lower, they come up with a tentative plan. The ten will stick together. They have one light warrior, two medium warriors, one heavy warrior, two archers, three casters, and one healer. Jacob is the de facto leader of the group and their focus will be survival. They would hunt beasts as a necessity but would avoid antagonizing other tutorial participants unless they didn't have any other choice. Jake doesn't necessarily agree with the strategy, but he doesn't say anything and goes along with the group.

The group heads off, intending to find food, shelter, and a water source. Before long, they encounter badger-like creatures. The group spends several long minutes discussing a plan of attack before finally engaging the badgers. The group is largely ineffective, save for Jake, who is a solid shot with his bow, and Bertram who uses his shield to bludgeon the targets to death. Having gotten his first level ups and a taste for the hunt, Jake wanted more. Later, as the group is trekking through the woods, Jake senses something approaching them through the brush. He reflexively shoots and kills a small boar-beast. This triggers a series of events where the group is attacked by the mama boar and Joanna is grievously injured.^[5] The entire group blames Jake and none are shy about sharing their opinions, not even the normally amicable Jacob. Jake strongly feels he has done nothing wrong and, for the first time, begins to consider if he should even stay with the group.

The group remains disgruntled with Jake as they settle for the night. They arrange a watch schedule and Jake ends up the only unpaired person, due to Joanna's injury. Jake is unbothered and uses the alone time to consider everything he has learned. His rumination is interrupted by an attack. A group of higher level, armed attackers ambush and it is clear they intend to kill everyone in the camp. However, they didn't anticipate someone as combat capable as Jake. He is able to wipe out the entire group. By the time Jake's team awakens, there is nothing but corpses and a blood-covered Jake, grinning ear to ear. The team's feelings towards Jake slide from irritated to fearful.^[6]

As Jake studies his gains from the fight and analyzes what he could have done better, he gets an odd notification from the system. A bloodline has been detected and now it has awakened. The Bloodline of the Primal Hunter. ^[7]It's not a skill and it has amazing effects: enhanced instincts, the ability to perceive his surroundings, perception of danger, and a percentage stat increase to Perception. Additionally, he received the title of Bloodline Patriarch.

Although his actions saved their lives, Jake's teammates remain very conflicted about his having killed fellow humans. Caroline refuses to believe that the attackers couldn't have been reasoned with. Jacob points out that the attackers could only have gotten their much higher levels by killing other humans. Fed up, Jake tells the whole group off, insisting that the tutorial is a training for a new world order. Things will never return to the mundane calmness of their prior lives and they either have to adapt or die.

Not long after, they are approached by a large group led by Richard.^[8] Although Richard tries to come off as benevolent and harmless, he has a level of menace that is obvious to both Jake and Jacob. Richard is looking for a healer and is very insistent that Caroline join their group. While he is willing to take on the rest of her group mates, it is blatantly obvious that he's equally okay with killing them just for access to their healer. Outnumbered and under-leveled, the group is pressured into joining Richard. However, Jake refuses to go with Richard's group. He instead chooses to go hunt on his own. Before leaving, he warns Richard that he will return to check on his co-workers and kill Richard's entire group if any harm has come to them. ^[9]

Outwardly, Richard assures the group that they'll be taken care of and pretends he doesn't think much of Jake's threats. Secretly, he dispatches Nicholas, an archer and his right-hand man, to lead a small group to hunt down and kill Jake.^[9] With his high perception, Jake is well aware of the clandestine plans and he decides to turn the hunters into the hunted. This triggers a cat-and-mouse archery shootout that only ends when Jake has killed Nicholas and his crew, save for one survivor who is allowed to escape to deliver a message to Richard, reminding the would-be leader of Jake's promise.^[10]

Now operating independently, Jake immerses himself in the tutorial experience. He experiments with his new tools and skills, hunting and learning how to best utilize his new abilities. While out hunting, he spots a large, odd hole in a tree trunk.^[11] Investigating, he finds a shiny, bejeweled metal box. Intrigued, he discovers that its impervious to his Sphere of Perception. Taking a chance, he opens the box any way and discovers a pair of bracers. Pleased to discover that loot boxes are a feature of the tutorial, he mentally resolves to keep an eye out for them between fights.

With the understanding that the tutorial has videogame-like mechanics, Jake doesn't hesitate to explore when he discovers a cave. After a little persistent exploration, he discovers a tunnel that inexplicably ends in a rotted, wooden door.^[12] When he touches the door, the System displays a message notifying him that he has discovered a Tutorial Challenge Dungeon. The prompt offered equal measures danger and rewards with a chance for natural treasures.

Inside the dungeon, Jake faced increasingly difficult and somewhat bizarre challenges that pushed him to his physical limit and challenged him to think creatively. At the conclusion of each challenge, he gains a bit more information about the life and legend of a snake-turned-dragon. Far from being awed or intimidated, Jake sets a goal in his heart to one day fight a dragon.^[13]

After he has completed the initial challenges, Jake finds himself in what appear to be living quarters. After a bit of exploring, he finds a pedestal with a hand imprint atop it. Placing his hand into the mold, he is jabbed through the palm with a black spike. Within seconds, it is visibly clear that he has been poisoned. Before he can react, another platform raises with a book upon it. The cover bears an illustration of the same snake Jake has been seeing throughout the dungeon. As Jake considers the book, he receives another system prompt:

Intrigued by the first option he's ever seen to obtain a profession, Jake accepts. He immediately receives a notification that his profession is now set as Alchemist of the Malefic Viper.^[14] He also gets an info dump from the system about his new profession and its associated starter skills. With all this, Jake sets off to learn all he can about alchemy and to figure out an antidote to his poisoning.

After a significant amount of experimenting and successful concocting, Jake is able to level his profession to level 25. He is notified that he has met the requirements to evolve his profession. He is given five options, the max number of options offered during an evolution. He ultimately selects Prodigious Alchemist of the Malefic Viper, but instead of receiving an influx of new knowledge from the System, Jake instead finds himself transported to an odd plane of nothingness.^[15]

After Jake is transported, he lands in a plane that is dark enough to challenge his perception, full of a light, foggy mist. As he is trying to regain his bearings, he feels someone observing him. A man with extremely find black scales, green reptilian eyes, and long, unkempt, black hair appears before him.^[15] Jake attempts to identify the man but gets nothing more than a single [?]. Bemused, the man identifies himself as the Malefic Viper and promptly tells Jake to fuck off.

Jake, a new denizen of the multiverse, has no idea where he is, why he's there, or how to leave. This confuses the Viper who had presumed that Jake was a member of the Order. He is outright delighted when he learns that Jake is a tutorial participants who stumbled upon one of the Viper's old Challenge Dungeons.^[16] He gives Jake a brief explanation of why he created his dungeon and made it so arbitrarily difficult (basically for kicks and giggles). He seems very proud of having found a way to circumvent the System's protection of tutorial participants to make his dungeon potentially lethal.

Over the course of their discussion, the Viper expresses approval of Jake's attitude toward risk taking. Additionally, he's impressed that Jake doesn't seem overwhelmed by anything that is happening and has the ability to speak to the Viper as though he's just an average person. ^[16]

The two chatted for a while, both seeming to miss the simple act of talking to another person. Jake shared about his world pre-integration and the Viper told stories about the multiverse and his past. They were "just two lonely people" talking. Before Jake leaves, the Viper gives a few small bits of advice and then gave Jake a "small string of karma."

After Jake leaves, it is revealed that the Viper could sense Jake's extremely powerful bloodline and was intrigued. As such, he had decided to grant a blessing to his new acquaintance. When Jake returns to the tutorial, he has a constant searing pain in his hand, one that extends up his arm and into his entire body. It doesn't feel malicious, just far more powerful than his body is capable of handing.^[17] He then receives a notification that he has received the True Blessing of the Malefic Viper. Although confused, Jake is stunned by the stats his new title, Holder of a Primordial's True Blessing, grants him. He reviews his new skills, including Shroud of the Primordial. He is a little bummed that his only divine skill is a passive skill (he later learns that tutorial participants cannot be granted divine level active skills), but considers it still unspeakably overpowered.

Pleased and more determined than ever, Jake continues his work on the dungeon challenge. On the advice of the Viper, he spends a significant amount of time experimenting with mana manipulation in addition to his experiments with health and stamina potions. He evolves to E-grade and gains the meditation skill before finally reaching the deadline to cure himself of the deadly poison. After weeks of experimenting, he has created a concoction that he believes will combat the poison he's already suffering. Drinking the concoction throws Jake into a life and death battle for control of his vitality.

After a brutal battle between death and life energies, Jake's Toughness and Vitality prevail and he passes the dungeon trial:

For completing the dungeon, Jake receives^[18]:

• 2 titles (Dungeoneer I and Dungeon Pioneer I)
• Boots of the Wandering Alchemist
• Prodigious Alchemist's Necklace of Holding

Excited by the gains, Jake exits the dungeon and searches out more opportunities to progress and improve.

Meanwhile, having recently clashed with Casper, and feeling a bit out of sorts, William is delighted to come across an isolated archer traveling alone. This was an opportunity to prove that his weakness against Casper was an anomaly. William quickly shifts back into his harmless but helpful teenager persona. The archer, Jake, asks admits that he's been off on his own and asks if William knows of any survivor strongholds. William informs him that there are two major camps and admits that there is a crazy war going on, although he doesn't admit his role in provoking the conflict. He even offers to lead Jake to his camp, internally gleeful over the opportunity to harvest more tutorial points.

Jake, not an idiot, has fully clocked William as wholly untrustworthy. He even feigns falling for William's ambush attempt.^[19] However, when William goes for the kill shot, Jake evades and pull his bow. This leads to an all out fight with Jake using his power shots and William using his metal manipulation. Eventually, Jake begins to get the better of William, even poisoning the caster. Panicked, William plays his escape card, Flashing Steel, a move that causes the whole area around him to explode with metal fragments. Jake is forced to retreat to safety, allowing William to escape the confrontation.

In the aftermath of the fight, Jake decides to focus on getting stronger. William, in turn, flees back to the camp.

While fine-tuning his skills in the forest, Jake encounters a hunting party. They specifically ask if he is "Jake". When he confirms that he is, they flip out and begin to attack him, yelling "This is for Mickey, you fucking psycho!" When all of Jake's confused attempts to deescalate are rebuffed, he has no choice but to go on the offensive. He eventually kills all five of his assailants but based on the crazy things they screamed as they were attacking, he realizes he is woefully out of touch with the political maneuverings that are happening in the tutorial.^[20]

Meanwhile, Richard has capitalized on Jake's isolation to offer him up as a red herring to mollify Hayden and his followers. Over Jacob's objections, Richard present Jake as the spark that ignited the war between the two camps and proposes they unify to take out this mutual threat.^[21] When Jake later contacts Jacob asking for a meetup, Richard and Caroline secretly conspire to have both camps ambush and execute Jake, eliminating Jake as a threat to Richard's ultimate goal of becoming the sole leader of the tutorial participants. Having let his guard down around his former colleagues, Jake is caught off guard and critically wounded, but manages to escape into the inner dome of the tutorial. His pursuers are still too low level to enter the restricted area.^[22]

Grievously wounded, Jake somehow manages to send his soul to the Malefic Viper's private chambers. He initially thinks he's dead and the Malefic Viper gladly goads him on until Jake finally realizes he didn't actually die. With the joke busted, the Viper listens to Jake's explanation of what happened. He then asks Jake's ultimate goal for the tutorial. After a bit of spitballing, Jake's ultimate answer is to be able to see how far he can possibly goal and to be powerful enough that no one dares to cross him.^[23] Not long after this realization, he returns to his body in the inner dome. After capitalizing his gains by evolving his class, he continues his quest to grow stronger, no longer giving any thought to the remainder of the tutorial participants.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Jake, the tensions between the two camps reaches a head. Richard, Desmond, and their respective fighters clash brutally, killing freely in their fervor to be the sole remaining camp. Richard ultimately prevails only to then be betrayed by William who kills first Caroline, then Richard's supporting fighters, before finally killing Richard himself in a clash of magic that leaves Richard dead and William on the brink.^[24]

Once William recovers, he returns to the camp intending to kill the remaining survivors, but finds that only Jacob and Bertram remain. Jacob has become an Augur of Hope^[25] and used one of his skills to capture the souls of the tutorial participants to spare them the pain of being killed. Jacob encourages William to complete his kills so that he can continue his Path, asking only that the kill be quick and painless. William kills Jacob and Bertram but is wholly confused by their calm peace in the face of death. Unable to understand their emotional motivation, William shrugs it off and determines to kill Jake, the only other remaining survivor of the tutorial.

Later, on the way to the final dungeon, Jake begins to see monster corpses, evidence of another tutorial survivor operating in the area. Jake quickly determines to ignore the participant and continue on with his quest. However, he finds himself confronted by a humanoid figure completely covered in silver armor. The metal peeled away from the face and reveals the person to be William who quickly launches into a somewhat comically villainous monologue about this being this being the final confrontation of the last two survivors, the epic battle of destiny to determine the true champion! Jake is completely stunned to learn that he and William are the sole living participants. This greatly amuses William, who mocks Jake as oblivious and brags about killing Jacob. He then begins deriding Jake as a coward and a complete joke who is so afraid of disappointing others that he buries his head in the sand. This accusation hits a little too close to home and triggers Jake who proceeds to absolutely curb stomp William until the younger man is just a pile of crushed armor and leaking body fluids at the bottom of a crater.

The death of William necessitates divine intervention. Eversmile intervenes to revive William, at the cost of owing the Malefic Viper a favor to be determined at a later date. The Viper shows up to protect his Chosen and to be a listening ear as Jake is experiencing facing a despair event horizon. Jake really struggles with the idea of focusing on his own goals to the exclusion of every thing else. The Viper counters that the path to godhood is a selfish one and each person is responsible for themselves. They then discuss a lot of the meta of system mechanics: bloodlines, souls, titles. The Viper then tells Jake of an alternate history, one in which Jake didn't have his bloodline and was fated to die, one in which William would have ultimately succeeded in the tutorial.^[26] Jake's entire existence is a spanner in the works of fate. He encourages Jake to keep going, to keep defying destiny, and to see how far he can go. He also assures Jake that Jacob, Bertram, and Casper are still alive and that he'll see them again after the tutorial. Spirits lifted, Jake heads off to continue his quest, unaware that he is fated to lose to the King of the Forest.

Unaware of the devastation that has taken place in the outer ring of the tutorial, Jake continues exploring and encounters another cave. He ventures in and finds a door. Touching it prompts a system message:

He chooses to enter the Badger's Den and is given the objective of defeating the Den Mother. ^[27] It is a challenging dungeon and Jake upgrades his class, race, profession, and skills during his attempt. After finally killing the Den Mother, he gets a success message. He is rewarded the Den Mother's Poison Gland, a rare rarity sack of liquid venom. Additionally, he receives an upgrade to his Dungeoneer and Dungeon Pioneer titles and receives a quest:

Jake enthusiastically pursues this new quest line. He next challenges the Lucenti Plains dungeon. Over the course of the dungeon, he selects the skill Bestial Survival Instincts. His bloodline repeatedly forcibly evolves the skill until it becomes Moment of the Primal Hunter, a legendary skill that earns Jake the title of Legendary Prodigy for creating a legendary skill before reaching D-grade.^[28] Jake eventually defeats the Great White Stag and receives:

• an epic rarity Corrupted Mooncore Shard
• an Akashic Tome of the Lucenti Mage
• a unique item that grants the user a mage class
• a rare rarity Staff of Lucent Realms
• His Dungeoneer and Dungeon Pioneer titles also advance.

The third dungeon Jake finds in the Quest line is the Forgotten Sewers dungeon where he is tasked with defeating the Nest Watcher.^[29] This particular dungeon allows Jake to experiment with dark mana and his darkness affinity. Eventually, he is confronted by the Nest Watcher. Jake is stunned to learn that the ratman is sapient. The Watcher questions why Jake is attacking his nest and killing his kin. Jake explains that he is defeating the Beast Lords so he can kill the King of the Forest. The ratman refuses to believe that Jake is capable of taking on the King and attacks Jake. Eventually, Jake overcomes the Nest Watcher. In his dying moments, the ratman explains how the Beast Lords came to be trapped in their respective dungeons. He also explains that each Beast Lord has a tool that when used all together can be used to overcome the Fallen King.^[30] Having defeating the Nest Watcher, Jake receives:

• Dark Bead of the Nest Watcher (Epic)
• Gloves of the Nest Watcher (Rare)
• Armor of the Nest Watcher (Rare)

After his confrontation with William and decompressing with the Viper, Jake moves on to the final dungeon, the Valley of Tusks, where he is challenged to defeat the Horde Leader.^[31] This challenge dungeon is filled with variations of Steeltusk Boars. While fighting the boars, Jake experiments with his stamina, Touch of the Malefic Viper, upgrades his Mediation skill, and is able to level up both his class and profession. After the boars consume the water he contaminated, Jake proceeds to slaughter them using Infused Powershots. Ultimately, Jake defeats the Horde Leader and receives:

• Tusk of the Horde Leader (Epic)
• Bulwark of the Horde Leader (Rare)
• Stonescale Heart Elixir (Epic)

With the death of the fourth Beast Lord, his quest is complete and he is now eligible to fight the King of the Forest. Jake encounters the enigmatic figure immediately upon exiting the Tusk Valley dungeon. However, the System offers a choice: Jake can either forgo the fight, leave the tutorial immediately, and retain all his points and rewards or he can risk it all and fight the King to gain a one-time bonus of 300,000,000 tutorial points and additional awards. The tutorial ends at the conclusion of either choice.^[32]

Always hungry for a bigger challenge, Jake elects to fight. He knows that the King is at least D-grade and that fighting up a grade is a nigh-insurmountable challenge, but he uses every trump card at his disposal. But to Jake's dismay, the King is able to shrug off the Infused Powershot and even breaks Jake's bow forcing Jake to switch to melee. The King then begins to use powerful mental attacks against which Jake has no defense. Confident in his seemingly inevitable victory, the King begins to toy with the hunter. However, he is caught off guard when Jake deploys the boons from the Beast Lords: the Dark Bead of the Nest Watcher, the Corrupted Mooncore Shard, the Tusk of the Horde leader, the Den Mother's Poison Gland. They punch holes into King's otherwise impenetrable defenses and put him on the back foot.

Yet, this is still not enough to fully tip the scales. The King, irritated by the persistence of the Hunter, plays his trump card: Soul attacks, something Jake has never experienced for and is wholly vulnerable to. But just as Jake is about to fully collapse in defeat, his bloodline asserts itself and Moment of the Primal Hunter gives him a determined second wind. He rises and, without conscious thought, beats the King until they are both very literally falling apart. Finally, against all odds and predictions, Jake prevails and leaves the tutorial victorious.^[33]

*You have slain [King of the Forest- level 136]

Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level.

300,000 TP earned*

For being the sole survival of his tutorial and slaying an enemy over twice his level, Jake earns a plethora of rewards, including:

• Mask of the Fallen King (Legendary)
• 9 levels across his class and race
• Title: Kingslayer
• Title: Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty
• Title: Lord (Nobility)
• Title: Progenitor of the 93rd Universe
• A total of 21,892,112,142 Tutorial Points

Jake used his tutorial points to purchase:

• Gaze of the Apex Predator, which he merged with Hunter's Sight to created Gaze of the Apex Hunter
• Cauldron of Myriad Essences
• Altmar Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity
• One Step Mile
• An Omni-Tool

While waiting for the tutorial to end and for all Earth denizens to be allowed back to return to their planet, Jake receives invitations from four different gods: Karroch, Umbra, Gwyndyr, and the Malefic Viper. Of course, Jake chooses the 'cool-ass time-warped training session in alchemy' with his best bud god-pal.^[34]

During his time with the Viper and Duskleaf, the Viper's former disciple, the trio enter a time dilation and engage in what the Viper refers to as a training montage. Jake gains access to the Practice Cauldron of the Malefic Viper, a tool that didn't focus on ingredients, but rather the crafting process itself. ^[35] Jake completes a number of Alchemy challenges before finally being offered access to the Trial of Myriad Poisons, a challenge that offers a chance to update his Palate of the Malefic Viper. Jake accepts and is submerged in a vat of millions of herbs and toxins.

The meeting of the first world congress marks the beginning of system events for the 93rd Universe.

As a Chosen, Jake's interaction with the System span the entirety of the multiverse, as he routinely represents Earth, the Order of the Malefic Viper, and himself in direct competition with other factions

As Jake routinely gets into large scale battles, this list is limited to opponents who received an arc that included a heavy amount of planning or scheming on the part of both combatants and/or required multiple encounters to resolve.