Chapter 1431 - Upgrades & Theories (Patreon)

Jake, quite frankly, found the concept of forgetting things highly unsettling. It was one of the reasons he’d found the Virtual Mind Devourer so damn scary. Fighting something you knew existed and fighting something that could make you forget you were even in a fight in the first place were very different.

A similar concept seemed to have existed with those white lines that filled the entire virtual world. Jake had forgotten them right after they disappeared every time, yet when they reappeared, he instantly remembered them again, though he forgot he’d forgotten them in the first place. It was only when he’d infused himself with Primeval Origin Energy that he stopped forgetting. Perhaps because he saw the lines for longer than all the glimpses prior, or maybe it was just his Bloodline. No real way to find out.

However, that wasn’t the only thing the virtual world had made him forget. Jake really liked his void lollipop that he always gave a quick lick for that Perception bonus whenever he leveled up, yet within the World of the Exalted Prima, he hadn’t done that. He’d entirely forgotten that the item even existed in the first place.

Forgetting the white lines made sense, but why had the simulated world made him forget an item like that? After getting out of the simulation, he perfectly remembered it again, including the fact that he’d forgotten it existed in the first place. While being able to see the white lines and the simulated world making him forget could be seen as a bug it was desperately trying to cover up in real time, hiding the void-related item seemed like intentional design.

Jake had asked the Viper his question, with the god taking a couple of seconds to respond as he conjured up a theory.

“If I’m right, I would guess the void isn’t properly simulated within the World of the Exalted Prima, and if the void isn’t simulated, neither would Void Gods be. That little orb of Perception of yours is a part of Oras. Without Oras, it cannot exist,” the snake god said.

Frowning, Jake had a realization.

“Is that why Arnold didn’t want to go either? In fact, I don’t recall encountering any Void Followers in the World of the Exalted Prima,” Jake muttered, thinking on it further. “Wait, but won’t that fuck a lot of things up? Even in B-grade, some people have integrated subtle concepts related to the void into their Paths. Won’t this make them weaker?”

“While it does sound plausible that Void Followers would be screwed, and this is one reason they’re not interested in going there, I don’t think those who simply have aspects of the void will be in trouble,” Villy shook his head. “Instead, I reckon the simulation will simply mimic the effect rather than actually rely on the Void. Would mean that getting enlightenment regarding anything related to the void would be borderline impossible, but in general, I wouldn’t try to seek enlightenment within a virtual world in the first place.”

Hearing this, Jake frowned even more.

“Wouldn’t that mean upgrading skills within the World of the Exalted Prima is a bad idea?” he asked, having upgraded a few skills in there already. He hadn’t even thought about that potentially being a negative thing, and he really hoped it wasn’t. Especially considering he even had two extremely important upgrades for his Path during this fight with the Eastbound Monk and the Sword Saint. The first of which had been to the arrows he shot.

[Avaricious Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Epic)] --> [Boundless Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Ancient)]

[Boundless Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Ancient)] – A hunter going beyond mere avarice, realizing the potential of arrows is boundless. Allows the Hunter to conjure arrows made of highly condensed arcane mana on a spectrum between destruction and stability. This balance can be freely manipulated. A stable arrow will be sharp and durable, while a destructive arrow will explode upon impact. Conjuring arrows consumes mana and stamina, and the conjuration is instant when shooting the arrows using a bow. Does increased damage against foes at a higher level and based on the distance between you and your foe. Adds a bonus to the effectiveness of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Perception when using Boundless Arcane Hunter’s Arrows.

This wasn’t some massive upgrade that drastically changed how the skill worked, but it was still an incredibly important one as it made every aspect of the skill better. Especially adding the Boundless affix was huge, allowing his arrows to do more damage based on the distance between him and his target. The same effect many of his other skills had, and having more of that was purely a good thing.

Besides that bonus, the only other change was allowing Jake to conjure arrows by methods other than drawing one and shooting it with his bow. It effectively allowed Jake to switch out shooting bolts of arcane mana with arrows of arcane mana. The difference didn’t seem big, but it truly was.

Having his “arcane bolts” count as arrows allowed them to benefit from all of his passive skills that worked with arrows. As he didn’t shoot them with a bow, they still wouldn’t benefit from his arcane skill, though he could kind of get around that by conjuring magical bows shooting arrows.

That wouldn’t really be worth it, though, and would consume far too much mental energy and mana. It had only been worth doing when Jake had been empowered by the Staff of the Magi. Even if these arrows shot by conjured bows would benefit from some aspects of his archery skill, they would remain far weaker compared to Jake physically shooting them, not benefiting from all his physical stats. Would these arrows theoretically be stronger if Jake’s mental stats were double that of all his physical ones? Maybe, but they weren’t, so the point was kind of moot.

Anyway, it was a good upgrade that wouldn’t change how Jake fought at all, only make his arrows stronger and slightly change the shape of the bolts he’d summon in the future when he wanted to cosplay a mage. From bolt mage to arrow mage. Truly exciting stuff.

All irony aside, his second upgrade was as big as the first one. Out of all the skills Jake had, it was no doubt the simplest, especially considering the rarity, which was just the way Jake wanted it. And, based on the upgrade description, it remained exactly as it should be, perhaps even becoming simpler, given the short description.

[Arcane Powershot (Ancient)] --> [Arcane Powershot (Legendary)]

[Arcane Powershot (Legendary)] - Stamina the fuel, mana the guide, arcane the power. Using your arcane energy, charge a devastating attack using a bow that pushes your Path as an archer to its limits. Power is increased dependent on charging time, limited only by your body’s durability, chosen bow, and your mind’s control. Adds a large bonus to the effectiveness of Agility, Strength, Perception, Intelligence, and Wisdom when using Arcane Powershot.

Short and sweet, actually slightly shorter than it had been way back when the skill was only an epic rarity skill. There really wasn’t much to say about the skill, as it did exactly as it said. Not even the flavor text had changed. It truly was that simple.

The only real change was the description being cleaned up a little, and that was about it. Back when he’d upgraded it in Nevermore, it had already added some of the “new” things this one had compared to when it was epic rarity, but not even those things were truly new.

Arcane Powershot had only ever truly been limited by three things: Jake’s control, his body, and finally his bow. Very few skills existed that were powerful enough to destroy a weapon, but Jake’s Powershot was more than capable of breaking even high-rarity bows for his level. Fortunately, getting one made from a branch of Yggdrasil had turned that into a non-factor, meaning now Jake was truly only limited by his own body breaking down and his control. Jake had pretty good control and wasn’t exactly investing Free Points in durability, so the end result was that the biggest limiting factor remained his body's inability to handle the skill.

 It had been like that and likely wouldn’t change for a long time, if ever, and Jake was totally fine with that. There had to be some limiting factor, and his durability being that limiter was probably the best choice.

Theoretically, the power output of Arcane Powershot was limitless. If Jake had infinite control, infinite resources, and an invulnerable body, an indestructible bow, and sufficient time, he would be capable of channeling an arrow capable of even killing gods! Theoretically, really being the key word here. Well, in theory, Jake could also create a poison capable of killing gods if he was an invincible being with infinite everything, but even theorizing those kinds of scenarios seemed like a waste of time.

Reality was that Jake’s Arcane Powershot was a remarkably simple skill with infinite potential, which meant it allowed Jake to output power pushing the limits of what he was capable of. It remained one of the main reasons why Jake was capable of killing even powerful beings many levels above himself in a single shot, and it was probably his favorite skill due to just how simple and effective it was.

That’s also why Jake was downright horrified to even imagine he’d fucked himself over somehow by upgrading the skill within the simulated world. The upgrades to both of these skills and Rupturing Fang all seemed fine, but how the hell would he know if they actually were? Maybe some concept of “virtuality” had snuck itself in or something, making them weaker in the real world?

As Jake was mentally spiraling at these devastating thoughts, the Viper just shrugged.

“Nah, that’s not a thing,” the god chuckled, clearly recognizing Jake’s distress. “If you got an upgrade, the system was directly involved, yeah? Even if it happens within a virtual world, the concepts won’t be affected. If there are slight flaws or anything similar introduced by insights coming from a flawed world, the system wouldn’t allow these imperfections to persist in skills. Ultimately, the system inside the World of the Exalted Prima and here is the same. It’s omnipresent, and unless your skill descriptions outright state something related to the virtual world, you’re all good.”

Hearing this, Jake breathed out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t super surprised, but the mere thought had still been terrifying.

“Looks like you got some good upgrades in there,” the Viper smiled. “But let’s take a step back and discuss a certain monk. Perhaps more importantly, this Transcendent Artifact.”

Jake was a little surprised at the Viper wanting to talk about that first and foremost rather than his conversation with the Exalted Prima or the unknown faction. Meeting a Bound God and information regarding the void ambushers seemed a lot more pertinent, but the snake god didn’t seem to care as much about them as the monk’s Wheel of Samsara. Well, in all fairness, the wheel was definitely the most important, not because of what it did, but because of who it was related to.

“It’s called the Wheel of Samsara,” Jake answered, watching the Viper for a reaction. The god frowned, but motioned for Jake to continue. “Using it, the Monk was able to...”

He explained what the Wheel of Samsara had done as well as he could, including what he’d seen. The more he said, the deeper the frown of the Viper grew. Jake purposefully saved the most impactful to the end, as he finished:

“Finally, when the Wheel of Samsara was initially summoned, I felt a familiar aura from it. One I believe belongs to-“

“The First Sage,” the Malefic Viper cut him off with a sigh, shaking his head. “It really is the same, huh?”

“You know about it?” Jake asked, it really being his turn to be shocked now.

“Vaguely. When you described what it did, I was reminded of something similar, though not exactly what I saw when I was still being taught by him. Back then, it was used to show different ways a skill could be upgraded, and it went by the same name. This Transcendent Artifact is clearly different, yet created by the same person,” Villy said, looking deep in thought as he spoke.

“It originated from the virtual world as far as I can tell. The Exalted Prima was the one who gave it to the monk, after all,” Jake continued, also briefly covering what the Exalted Prima said regarding the First Sage, however limited that was.

“It does make sense he would know if he was simulated,” the Viper muttered. “Or at least that he would be able to figure it out. Your simulated self could, so I see no reason why he wouldn’t be able to. If he did figure out that he was simulated, he would likely act differently as well. One would think an entity like that would be deleted or otherwise removed, and while the First Sage is who he is, he ultimately remains below the system. If it deemed him a problem, he would have been removed or simply not simulated in the first place.”

“Which indicates his knowing wasn’t a problem,” Jake pointed out.

“Maybe even deemed beneficial,” the snake god kept the thought going. “I would love to go ask this Exalted Prima what more he knows, but that isn’t exactly possible.”

“He was surprisingly forthcoming,” Jake muttered. “I guess part of it was because his world fucked me over by not having proper Bloodline-proofing, but still. The fact he gave me that finger also seems overboard the more I think about it.”

“I don’t find it that odd,” the Viper shook his head. “As you said, the integrity of the system event was interfered with due to what happened, so some sort of compensation was warranted. Perhaps more importantly, aren’t the two of you related to some degree? For the same reason that I believe the Exalted Prima would also be rather forthcoming towards me?”

“We both know the First Sage, but I don’t think that’s enough reason,” Jake frowned, Villy clearly going somewhere with what he said.

“Oh, you more than know him,” the Viper smiled. “The First Sage personally gave you advice. Gave you some of his Records to help you create a Sacred skill and guided you to the Gate of Enlightenment while still in C-grade. While there’s nothing official in place, it wouldn’t be wrong to call him at least half a teacher to you.”

“And you think the First Sage also taught the Exalted Prima?” Jake asked, starting to believe he understood what the snake god was getting at.

“I’m surprised you hadn’t already guessed that,” the Malefic Viper smiled, chuckling a little. “The name itself always struck me as odd. Exalted Prima. The word exalted can mean many things, and in the instance of this Bound God, I at first assumed it was used simply to point out he was the Prima with the highest status. However, usually with classes, races, and professions, Exalted is used in a more specific context. Think about it, where have you seen that word appear before?”

Jake recalled that, true, it did exist in quite a few places, primarily in profession and class names. Shit, just recently, he’d run into it three times.

The Vermillion Archfiend had been an Exalted Champion of the Infernal Globe Devil. The Chosen of the Heartsoul Daolord had a profession called Exalted Heartsoul Cultivator. Jake himself had even been offered the class of Exalted Hunter-Champion of the Malefic Viper when he evolved to B-grade.

In all of these instances, the class or profession in question clearly referred to one being recognized in some fashion. A conclusion Jake shared, making the snake god smile and shake his head.

“Recognized is indeed the right word here. Which begs the question: who has recognized the Exalted Prima, a being that existed as a Bound God before anyone was aware of it?” the Viper asked. “Was it the system? The creatures within the simulated world clearly don’t know of his existence... well, except one.”

“You think he’s called the Exalted Prima because the First Sage recognized and acknowledged the Bound God?” Jake asked, really finding that a stretch.

“From my understanding, Bound Gods are a bit like Unique Lifeforms in that they have control over what they are called. They define their own names, as they are unique creatures. Exalted is often used not only because one is worthy of the tag but also in recognition of the one who acknowledged you. A sign of respect. In most cases, this happens between gods and their followers.”

The Viper was laying the breadcrumbs for Jake to reach the same theory as the Viper, and it didn’t take him long to do so as he muttered.

“So you think he was being forthcoming with me because of respect for the First Sage...” Jake muttered.

“Well, isn’t it only natural to respect a junior disciple?” Villy smiled, though he did have a rather conflicted look. “Because I wouldn’t be surprised if the Exalted Prima is called exactly that in recognition of his master, the First Sage.”