Sim-Jake

Being a simulacrum, Sim-Jake is identical in appearance to Jake. However, having made different choices in life, Sim-Jake is liberally scarred from combat. Additionally, having chosen to be a light warrior in his tutorial, Sim-Jake wears armor and fights with daggers.

Sim-Jake is a much colder version of Jake, one that wasn't raised in a loving family, whose cold hunter instincts aren't warmed by familial or fraternal ties. He describes never really liking his fellow humans and actually feeling disappointed when Jake confirms that Sim-Jake truly is human.^[2]

Sim-Jake finds himself unable to relate to his fellow humans and feeling a visceral disgust at a fundamental level when he considers how pathetic their instincts are. He specifically describes himself as a "wolf living amongst sheep." He blatantly considers himself superior, wondering if he is maybe the next step in evolution or the apex of what humanity can achieve.^[2] Having an apparent inborn hatred of being born human, Sim-Jake hopes to eventually evolve into another enlightened race, one that will let him leave humanity behind and focus purely on combat and dominance.^[3]

Additionally, Sim-Jake has far less empathy than Jake, and Jake doesn't consider himself particularly empathetic. However, Jake's family instilled a measure of "humanity" into him. Jake truly loves and cares for his parents and his brother. Sim-Jake never had that connection and disconnected from humanity early on. Jake notes that in his observation, he never sees any signs of friends or lovers and Sim-Jake was always alone.^[4] Sim-Jake has so little trust for others that he even admits that he'd remained a virgin, not due to lack of opportunity, but because he didn't trust anyone enough to allow himself to be that vulnerable with another person.^[5]

Sim-Jake is accepting of the fact that he will eventually merge into a single being with Jake with his own ego being subsumed. He specifically highlights that he appreciates receiving Jake's own memories as a part of the process, as they give him vivid memories of having a loving family and positive life experiences.^[5]

During the Path of Myriad Choices, Jake is given four moments in his life where his choice was pivotal to the development of his current Path. Jake ultimately chooses to experience a simulation from a choice he unknowingly made as a toddler. Jake remembers his mother being heavily pregnant. He threw a huge tantrum and refused to calm down despite his parents best efforts and they were forced to stay with him rather than leaving Jake with his grandmother while they attended Debra's maternity checkup.

In the simulation, Jake's parents were attempting to leave to go to a hospital check-up for his mom. Jake got a horrible got feeling and threw a huge tantrum. However, in the simulation, instead of following his instincts that something bad was going to happen to his parents, Jake allowed himself to be calmed and his parents are able to make their way to the hospital. On the way, they were involved in a major car crash. Robert and Debra were killed on impact and Jake's brother Caleb was never born.^[6]

Following the deaths of his parents, he was sent to live with his grandmother. However, a short few years later, she also died, leaving Jake completely orphaned at the age of five. Instead of growing up with a loving family, Sim-Jake was placed in the underfunded and apathetic foster system. Sim-Jake bounced from placement to placement. Usually the youngest kid in his placement, he was often a target. However, unlike his real world counterpart, Sim-Jake never suppressed his bloodline or its hunter instincts. At seven years old, a larger boy attempted to take a foam dagger Sim-Jake had received from his grandmother prior to her passing. Rather than being intimidated by the bully, Sim-Jake stabbed the kid with a dinner fork, knocked his legs from underneath him, and then proceeded to stomp the kid in the head until the house matron came to save the older boy.^[7]

From that point, Sim-Jake developed a habit and reputation of using excessive force in self-defense, repeatedly landing himself in trouble until he finally ran away from the foster system all together. By the age of fifteen, Sim-Jake was homeless and working as a mercenary. During this time, he was approached by two members of an organization he'd been in an altercation with previously. The two attempted to intimidate and rough up the younger man, but Sim-Jake turned the tables in the attack. In the scuffle, Sim-Jake unintentionally stabbed one of his attackers in the heart, killing him. Stunned for a moment, something clicked and Sim-Jake then beat the remaining attacker to death with a piece of rebar.^[7]

Now comfortable with killing, Sim-Jake became a contract killer. He had somewhat of a code regarding who he was and wasn't willing to take contracts on. He doesn't kill anyone he believes is genuinely contributing to make the world a better place or anyone whose death would cause too many issues for too many innocent people.^[4] Sim-Jake was very successful on taking out high risk targets. This made him a number of enemies, but with his bloodline abilities continuing to grow, Sim-Jake was exceedingly hard to kill.

Around 18 or 19, Sim-Jake verbally expressed that he was aware of a presence that periodically watched him.^[2] The same ability that allowed Jake to know when Villy was watching had alerted Sim-Jake to the real Jake's periodic presence. The two versions of Jake worked out a rudimentary communication system and began to dissect Sim-Jake's life and the purpose of Jake's observation. Having cobbled together an understanding, Sim-Jake begins to freely share about his life with his hidden observer as Jake shadows him on various jobs. One thing becomes clear: Sim-Jake is a big fish in a little pond and actually suffers a degree of depression by how little challenge his world presents to him. He looks for greater challenges: underground fighting rings, hunting in the wild, even fighting animals.^[4] But it is all too easy. Then enter The System.

Much like his real world counterpart, Sim-Jake thrives in the tutorial. He elects to be a light warrior, fighting with two daggers and a basic set of armor. He attends the tutorial Caleb would have been in, the tutorial that produced Earth's Court of Shadows contingent. Sim-Jake displays Jake's resistance to auras and draws the attention of Umbra who gives him an unspecified blessing.^[4] However, Sim-Jake does not integrate into the Court's leadership and continues to hunt alone. The pair have a number of conversations which highlight how different they are due to a single decision.

During the reward phase of his tutorial, Sim-Jake requests to be able to actually see and interact with his hidden observer. This allows him to confirm his suspicion that the hidden version of himself and that he is, in fact, in a simulated reality.^[8]

Having realized the fragility of his existence, Sim-Jake begins to explore ways to survive the end of the simulation. It has already been confirmed that multiple versions of the same creature cannot exist in the same universe. ^[8] After a bit of negotiating with the System Guide, Jake and Sim-Jake leverage tutorial rewards and system event rewards to purchase a vessel capable of transferring Sim-Jake to Jake's universe, for Sim-Jake's Records to be safely stored in Jake's Soul Space, and for an item that Sim-Jake can merge into once in Jake's universe.

Sim-Jake is a limited manifestation inside Jake's Soul Space, a silent and undetectable observer to everyone but Jake.^[9] Villy clarifies that not even he, a Primordial, can interact with the simulacrum as Sim-Jake does not exist in their universe, only within Jake's Truesoul.^[1] He further asserts that the simulacrum will never die as long as Jake lives and that he has a naturally desire to merge with Jake. There is an innate power balance between the two and Jake doesn't automatically gain all of his simulacrum's memories or Records. The two will have to train together to achieve the maximum benefit.

Knowing that they would eventually merge into a single existence, Sim-Jake focuses on improving Jake for both of their benefits. This primarily focused on improving Jake's capacity as a melee fighter. However, Sim-Jake also wanted to leave a legacy of his own existence. He elected to focus on turning Shadow Vault into a mythical skill prior to Jake evolving to C-grade, with the assumption that doing so would earn a title. To do this, Sim-Jake would merge with Eternal Hunger to add both conceptual and actual power to the new skill. Then they would use the remnant Records of what was once Sim-Jake's blessing from Umbra to update Shadow Vault. Finally, Jake and Sim-Jake would fight until they full understood each other, being one in thought and understanding while being separate people.^[10]

Using time dilation provided by the Viper, the two battled until finally something clicked and they could feel the merging happen. With Sim-Jake ready to transition, Jake left the dilation and returned to the Order's training dungeon to once more fight the D-grade version of the Lord Protector.^[11]While Jake fought the two-headed hydra in the dungeon, Sim-Jake fought the chimeric Eternal Hunger within Jake's Soul space. Once Sim-Jake succeeded, the new skill was born: Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter (Mythical).^[12] Additionally, Jake's Legendary Prodigy title upgraded to Mythical Prodigy.

• Sim-Jake hilariously expresses a general disdain for professions in general and alchemists in particular, describing alchemy as "sitting with a stupid pot like some second-rate cook who only knows how to make fucking soup."^[3]
• Sim-Jake gives off a sense of strong anticipation when Jake is headed to visit his family. Sim-Jake had not seen his own parents since they'd died when he was a toddler. When Jake's mother hugs her son, Jake feels a well of emotion from Sim-Jake.^[13]

• "Also, I gotta add, having yourself as your teacher is the epitome of 'fuck it, I'll do it myself,' and I applaud it." - Villy