Zogarth
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Chapter 832 - Nevermore: Odd Jobs Galore
🕑 Added 2024-01-19 11:44:12 +0000 UTCIt turned out that poor old Polsted had been held up at home by a fourth accomplice of the people trying to rob his store. Everything had been part of some big conspiracy where the young man had been a new employee who was just there to scope out the place, and after learning where the jeweler lived, they followed him home one day and held him at swordpoint. From there, they would spend the next day robbing the store, and the reason the young man had been the only one in the store was to inspect the magical seals on the display cases and eventually dismantle them.
The Darkeye Diamond hadn’t even been part of the expected haul. It was pure coincidence Jake had come by that day, and the thieves had assumed they could just rob the stupid Courier along with the rest of the store. That, or Jake’s insistence on seeking out Polsted had put a target on his head.
Of course, Jake knew there weren’t actually any coincidences going on, but a carefully crafted scenario that tested the Courier and kind of set the stage from the get-go for how these jobs would work. Jake wouldn’t be surprised if the easy option had been to just deliver a letter in a mailbox, with the medium option being something in between that and what Jake had to do.
Jake’s takeaway from the first job was that he had to be careful while delivering stuff, as it was pretty damn easy to mess it up and fail the delivery. It also made a lot more sense he wouldn’t lose one of the three lives if he did mess up, as it would have been so easy. In fact, Jake would guess quite a few would just have given the package to the young man who appeared to be working in the jewelry store. The only reason Jake had been suspicious was because of the very minor clues the young man had given off and the fact he remembered the dwarf calling the one he had to deliver to ”old man Polsted.”
Unless calling him an old man was some weird inside joke between the dwarf and Polsted, Jake had a strong feeling something shady was going on.
After being done with the job of delivering the diamond to Polsted and teaching another robber the literal definition of the phrase ”if looks could kill,” Jake headed back toward the Guild for another job. On the way, he also took the time to reflect a bit on the newly upgraded mythical rarity Primal Gaze. He hadn’t really had a good opportunity to test it since the upgrade, and he had to admit it had gotten a lot stronger than before, especially when it came to the soul-killing part.
In truth, he hadn’t thought it would actually work. He had just hoped to either do some serious damage or knock them out, but the skill turned out to do a bit more than that. True, he had used it with the intent to kill, so it wasn’t like he felt bad about the outcome. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Killing someone around twenty levels below him with a single look was damn good. Before, killing any C-grade outright wasn’t easy, but now it had worked effortlessly, and he got the feeling it would still have been lethal even if they had been a few levels higher. They were pretty weak for their levels, yes, but they were also enlightened and tended to have a bit stronger souls than the average monster.
Then again, it wasn’t like killing them without Gaze would have been hard. A single well-landed stab with Eternal Hunger on each would have gotten the job done just as well. An arrow from a few dozen kilometers away would definitely have, too. But Primal Gaze was definitely the best way to kill them for a few reasons, one more important than the other.
First of all, it was as fast as a kill could be, making it by far the most efficient. Secondly, killing someone with a look had a damn great intimidation factor, and convincing the young man to not only tell him where Polsted was but even turn himself in for his crimes to the guards had been easy as pie after seeing his two friends die from a glance each. It also helped that Jake very much implied the young man could share the same fate as his friends if he didn’t go to the guards.
Third, and most importantly, with the way Primal Gaze worked, Jake would effectively pit his own soul against someone else’s when using the skill. This was actually pretty good exposure training for his own soul to potentially experience a bit of growth simply due to the practice, though he wasn’t sure how much it would help, especially when the targets were so weak.
Oh… and finally, one incredibly vital reason: killing with weapons was messy, and Jake was a good Courier who didn’t also leave the client with an extra unnecessary clean-up fee.
As Jake was still deep in thought, he arrived back at the Guild. It had only been a few hours since he left the first time around, with the only reason it took so long because he had to deal with guards who came to Polsted’s place for a statement after everything was done.
Entering, he went to get a number as the same dwarf he had talked with the first time called him over.
”Hey, new Courier, over here!” he yelled.
Jake didn’t need to be told twice that he could cut the line as he hurried over. Surprisingly, nobody gave him any nasty stares. The dwarf seemed to notice Jake’s surprise and explained as he arrived in front of the desk.
”People give some extra respect for Couriers; it’s a dangerous job, after all, and few want to walk down that road but prefer to just do other odd jobs,” the dwarf explained. ”Something I am sure I don’t need to tell you after that last job of yours. Things got nasty, eh?”
”Definitely did,” Jake confirmed. ”Say, can you tell me a bit more about this odd treatment of Couriers? I also noticed how the guards seemed weirdly… I almost wanna say hands-off with me and just told me that you guys at the Guild would handle it.”
”Because they are hands-off,” the dwarf said. ”For someone who entered the Courier industry, you sure know little about it. Oh well, you are promising, so let me give you a quick rundown. Couriers are neutral, unaffiliated individuals who do not answer to or work for any specific faction outside of the Guild. This means you have some levels of diplomatic immunity dependent on the rank of your Medallion, and the Guild is in charge of taking care of any potential trouble you get into. Of course, there are limits, so do control yourself, but in a case like this, you acted in the interest of your client and didn’t go overboard, so things are fine. Just know that if you do go too far, the Guild itself may send an enforcer… you don’t want the Guild to send an enforcer.”
”I’ll be careful… but I’ve also been wondering, what exactly is the Guild?” Jake also asked, knowing full well that if he was a native to this world, he would have just outed himself as either a complete moron who had lived under a rock his entire life. Or maybe it would have outed him as a transdimensional traveler. Well, or, you know, someone just doing a Challenge Dungeon inside of a World Wonder.
Luckily for him, the dwarf didn’t at all comment on Jake’s lack of any common knowledge but just answered:
”The Guild is a massive organization that operates on every single continent, has affiliates in every major city, and has managed to remain entirely neutral despite the political turmoil. Not to say there aren’t internal problems, but those aren’t for you to deal with. Suffice to say, the Guild has enough power to rival any faction and we are quite respected.”
”This is a bit cheeky of a question, but who is the strongest in the Guild?” Jake asked for fun, wondering if he could take them.
”The Founder,” the dwarf said with a sense of respect. ”An absolutely legendary adventurer. Rose to power about forty thousand years ago after he managed to single-handedly beat back the dragon tribes, even slaying the the Dragon King in the process. He made the Guild after retiring and still rules it today and is one of only five known S-grades in the world.”
Jake was nodding along mentally to the explanation until he got to the end. There were fucking S-grades in this world. That meant there were also plenty of A-grades and B-grades around. All of this is to say that fucking around could quickly lead to finding out if he somehow managed to piss off the wrong people. This was definitely good to know.
It also left him with one other important question.
”Any gods?”
”Gods?” the dwarf asked. ”Well, some people do refer to the Founder as a godlike entity, but I am not sure if calling him a god is right despite his overwhelming power.”
”I see,” Jake nodded as he conducted a minor test. Purposefully, he began to let out a bit of aura from his Shroud of the Primordial. It was the part that signified his Blessing as the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. The aura with divine quality slowly seeped out, but the dwarf didn’t at all react as he just looked at Jake, who stood there quietly.
”So… any more questions? I also got some more clients waiting if you wanna take another job, or do you perhaps want to take a rest first?” he asked after Jake hadn’t said anything for several seconds.
Jake fully retracted his aura and smiled. ”Yeah, let me look at the jobs available.
His small test had naturally been regarding Blessings. He wanted to see if others could feel his Blessing, as that could potentially have allowed him to use it to mess with people at some point. However, it seemed not a single soul could detect it, making Jake believe the Wyrmgod had cut off using divine auras from being a thing. This restriction was probably for the best. It would be an absolutely massive advantage for those with Blessings as they could use the aura to intimidate practically everyone, especially in a world with no actual gods. Jake could only begin to imagine the ways one could exploit Blessings… and he wasn’t even that crafty compared to others who could have no doubt found far more ways to take advantage.
”Here ya go, three more jobs available,” the dwarf said as he took out three papers. Right as he did so, three system messages also popped up in front of Jake’s eyes.
Courier Job 2 (Easy): Deliver five letters to their respective destinations within the city.
Courier Job 2 (Medium): Deliver the shipment of Minor Vitae Ruby to the Merchant’s Union within the city.
Courier Job 2 (Hard): Go to the Firesteel Blacksmith and pick up the Governor Blade. Then, deliver the Governor Blade to the Governor’s office. Both locations are within the city.
After skimming them all, still working on getting a better idea of how this entire Challenge Dungeon worked, he naturally picked the hard option again. The only new revelation here was that old jobs would disappear if he didn’t pick them and that a Courier Job could be chained. That is to say, have multiple steps and not just a point A to point B delivery.
The dwarf once more infused Jake’s Medallion before the newly appointed Courier got to work. The second job turned out to kind of be easier than the first one, with the only added difficulty coming from Jake having to enter the Governor’s Office which was well-defended. The defenses were at least a lot better than elsewhere, with guards around level 250, and they gave off decently strong vibes for their levels. The magical formation protecting the office was even better, likely laid down by a high-tier C-grade.
This job took a bit of socializing, but not enough to put Jake off. If he had to guess, this entire mission was to hammer home the concept that Couriers had a unique political position in this world. Just flashing the Medallion was enough for the suspicion of most to fall away, and while Jake didn’t get to meet the Governor directly, he was attended by a direct aide and seen immediatly.
With another job done, Jake saw no reason to stop as he headed back to the Guild again and accepted a third hard job that required him to deliver items to three different people across the city. That seemed easy enough… except this one was on a timer as it was an urgent job.
Alright, it was still easy as hell, Jake not having to rush at all. This Courier Job did teach Jake that Couriers were allowed to fly freely, even within cities. So that was a nice snippet of information to get as Jake completed the rush delivery to all three clients.
Like this, the Courier Jobs continued for several days as Jake stayed within the first starting city for all of them. Every new job introduced minor new elements or twists to add to the difficulty or teach him new job concepts. One of the Courier Jobs was even to deliver a person. No, not some fucked up slavery shit, but an escort mission as someone had to enter the slums and didn’t feel safe going there. Mind you, there wasn’t anything in the slums that was actually dangerous. The client was just a posh lady who acted entitled throughout, with the biggest difficulty during this job coming from resisting just punching her in the face and leaving.
Besides that, it was a lot of small interesting twists. In one, he had to find the client he had to deliver the item to himself as he had gone into hiding. In another job, he had to deliver a letter without being seen by any of the neighbors of the client, but Jake’s favorite one was a job where he was attacked by a dog in a yard.
That one sure brought back memories from his old delivery job days, and the same solution he used back before the system also worked wonders here. Needless to say, Jake couldn’t and wouldn’t hurt a dog that was just protecting its territory as it was supposed to, so he always just made dogs back down by staring them down.
Sure, Jake did know staring into the eyes of a stranger’s dog was heavily advised against, but in Jake’s case, it had always been a great way to make the dog go away. His Bloodline was truly versatile even back then.
By now, Jake had completed nineteen jobs already, and he was honestly beginning to feel more than a little bored despite the new elements introduced. It honestly just felt like a normal job, which even made him suspect that the initial Courier Jobs being this mind-numbing was also part of the experience somehow.
However, when he returned to job number twenty, something finally changed.
”Back again, I see,” the dwarf said with a big smile. ”You are definitely the most hard-working Courier I’ve seen in a good while! Listen, the third job this time around is a bit different from those prior… it will require you to leave the city for a while.”
That’s right, Jake was finally allowed to not just act as a small-time in-city delivery man, but had graduated to become a… not in-city delivery man? Jake wasn’t sure there was a term for it, but damn, did it feel good to finally be let outside.
Comments
DBOMB YO
Sorta weird there isn't like a fake pay or something, because currently it seems all couriers work for free and for fun lol
Benjamin Krumrei
He was a conduit for Villy to bless her. But he has noted that it *feels* like he might not need permission
Seen Death
I find it unnecessary to put a timeline on "how long you want X to last [in # of chapters] " but i do appreciate you starting a discussion of what we have to look foward to coming up. Id imagine jake potentially finishing just a bit early of the designated date they all agreed on (i think its pretty safe to assume theyll be ready to go? Maybe sword saint or mr unique might have some injuries from fighting too hard? Jake did but he seemed to recover pretty quick, endless journey could injure him aswell with those potential S grades lurking)
Seen Death
I forget who did it, but the god showed up and was basically like "hey i know u and villy are friends and all, but no tomfoolery when it comes to important matters [threat]. Ive been protecting viper/the order since hes gone into hiding" kind of thing
Vincent Hill
Didn't he bless Scarlett? I honestly don't remember if it was him or not.
Michael
So I've had this on my mind for a while and I'd thought I'd propose the question to see what others think. So before we've had a few instances stating Jake could give out blessings without the vipers permission. While this isn't something he's done yet or revealed he can do to anyone else, I'm curious as whether or not the blessing is truly the vipers. From what I theorize, when Jake eventually decides to bless someone without asking the viper, it won't be a blessing necessarily from the viper, but more a heretical blessing from Jake himself. My grounds for this being a possibility is because we already know when Jake evolved his profession in C grade, he took more of the vipers blessings away from him, thus affecting his maximum capacity of blessings to give. My thought is that if someone does event get a blessing from Jake it might say "heretic blessing gained, minor-major blessing of the Heretic Chosen of the Malefic Viper gained" or something like that
Michael Fannon
I'm betting Jake will be conquering most of the galaxy while in B-grade. Been enough hints I feel like.
Benjamin Mages
Artemis only feels like a sub because the only other time we saw her was surrounded by people who can squash her like an ant and since Jake is basically the only person in the multiverse who can completely ignore a strength disparity like that, it's more a consequence of circumstances than personality.
Rahsheem Reid
Upgrade any skills that are lagging behind.
C. Adkins
Wow. I forgot I loaded the story hours ago, cuz there weren’t any comments until I posted. Sorry for the repeat!
C. Adkins
Yes he has. I just reread up to entering Nevermore (like yesterday lol) and at LEAST snappy was at the Chosen ceremony next to Jake while snappy protected the stage during the yip of yore appearance.
Luke Scheffe
He’ll likely still lose points on these early deliveries before he can meet anyone with enough power to be helpful.
Luke Scheffe
Yeah! Fighter: dammit, we’re running low on health potions! Mage, order more. Mage, using sending: Send health potions to undead fortress to northwest. Will pay on delivery. Urgent. Jake, just strolling up in the middle of the battle: Hey, heard you could use some health potions!
Michael Fannon
I don't think he did too well in Minaga's dungeon, and is probably did decent at the architect. But he is going to get 20 here like the coliseum. That leaves the test of character, which I honestly don't know how he did, but I'm guessing either 10 or 20 there. So Mango man likely will end up with around a 70 to 80 percentage boost. Meanwhile Jake has already gotten 80 and is going for 100.
Ty Cooper
Lol you are just thrown off the wagon because it is Friday and you are not left with a cliff hanger. It just feels almost wrong. 😅
Ty Cooper
I think it takes 3 yrs real time so Jake and team can get home have some fun then fight prima gaurd
Ty Cooper
He has met him. On the stage while yip and Villy were having their talk. Jake shielded him and everyone on stage from yips aura
Rui Lourenço
I was thinking The Wandering Inn couriers.
Cryfdwr
Agreed. Though I think it’s more like JakeEx. Maybe PrimalEx? HunterEx? Ooo, how about ChosenEx? 🤔😏
Lonnie Sizemore
Zog must have been feeling guilty about abusing Amazon drivers over the holidays 😁 I agree with a lot of you, I'm kind of burned out with the challenge dungeons. We still have two years of Jake being a courier, unless he completely cheeses it. I hope he does just so we have more of Minaga bitching about his ridiculous bloodline.
jord
Oh man, I hope Jake pulls some shenanigans like this. Delivery! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PITCHED BATTLE! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?!" Please sign for this. (Casual death glare at combatant that can't recognize the sanctatiy of a conversation)
Olof Karlsson
Thanks for the chapter!
Jonathon Corralejo Levotch
For sure at least 20% for this dungeon. I don’t see Jake sucking on this one.
mitchell kaiser
Snappy never came down and gave a speech like Villy did so I don’t think he did. But you would think he would’ve.
austin kutz
Ok, so Ell'Hakan is going to own this challenge dungeon. If his bloodline works on them even a little he's going to talk a S grade into following him around and teaching him or something
Ral
Jake should have to deliver a "message" door to door to any who would except it.
thomas behrens
He would have had at least met him in person once during the chosen ceremony, as they were on stage together.
John Balman
Thanks for chapter!!!!
Shiralee
I've been wondering the same thing.
Collin Rarig
So one step, thousand miles upgrade to cosmic step next week?
Vinstro
Consolidated gain from finishing the Challenge of Man Dungeon
Jeff McCulley
Kinda hoping this challenge lasts about a week’s worth of chapters. Impatient to get on with Jake’s real “never ending journey. I was trying to sort out Jake’s to do list? After Endless Journey: Craft and meet with his various and assorted friends while he waits for lagging teammates. Unless he ends up being the lagging teammate. Complete as many additional levels of the (maybe) thirty remaining as he can. Meet Artemis there at Nevermore. (I should note that I now feel that a personality more like the Architect would be a FAR better fit as a long term partner for Jake than a sub like Arty. Someone…complementary.) Check in at the Order. Chat with Villy. Go back to Haven See how much his “town” has grown…and deal with s**t he doesn’t want to with Miranda away. Set up and run Minaga’s labyrinth for the reward. Ditto for the Colosseum reward. (Alternately…totally forget about both) Assemble his posse. Who does that entail nowadays? Go to the Prima event. So……what am I missing?
Cross
I feel like this portion takes a bit of inspiration from Skyrim couriers... like the way that they will show up to deliver a message regardless of whether you're inside a castle or at the top of a mountain. Closest example I can think of at least!
Nevermore is time dilated to high hell I believe
Jeff McCulley
Good catch! “[Gaze of the Apex Hunter (Legendary)] --> [Primal Gaze of the Apex Hunter (Mythical)] – A hunter who has embraced primal aspects of himself, his gaze more deadly than even most apex predators…” I suspect all of the incorrect answers show how most of us just glanced over that chapter…
deus vault
when did jake get mythic rarity gaze?
Jeff McCulley
No overly detailed cultivating stuff.
joel southard
Nice
Jeff McCulley
A simple “…would *even* (or would still) have been lethal..” would do the job.
Klown Keidra
That very much could be how Zog meant it for sure, I think then it needs something like as well at the end to make it clear.
Thomas Laptain
It makes sense to me the way it's written currently. Jake is saying that they're not the limit of what he could kill with a look, and that he could manage it with people who were a little stronger too.
ThatOneDamnWeeb
Thanks for the chapter
Klown Keidra
"Before, killing any C-grade outright wasn’t easy, but now it had worked effortlessly, and he even got the feeling it would have been lethal if they had been a few levels higher. " I feel like it should say it "would not have been lethal"
mitchell kaiser
Also has Jake ever met Snappy face to face not the image version? I’m kinda surprised that hasn’t happened yet being the Viper’s friend and all.
mitchell kaiser
So I was just finishing up book 8 on audible and it said the prima event started in 5 years; so is all of the Nevermore arc happening within 5 years of real-time?
Hunter Thornton
Still waitin to read the chapter with the widow wanting her “package”
Elijah Reitmeier
Thanks for the chapter! And MANY thanks for not giving us another Friday cliff! Have a great weekend Zog.
Isley
good chappie
Nate Green
Tftc
Zogarth
Fix
Patrick Ralston
The actual upgrade happened in Test of Character
KenTX325
Moving faster. Would be awesome to finish the challenge dungeons next week.
Sam Rosenberg
This chapter was kindof just slow build, but still enjoyed
Joseph Coonelly
"with one other question important question." Remove first question. "The aura with divinity quality slowly" Divinity- divine Thx for the chapter!!
Joshua Smock
Lol my courier rank is higher then Jake's, I have attained out of state courier status, unfortunately I am not likely to reach out of country status as I don't have a passport and they only let US trucks into Canada.
Bob Fight
Na it was chapter 788 he upgrades it to mythical rarity while chilling In a prison cell in the test of character challenge dungeon god we have been in nevermore for a long time can’t wait to finish this ark
Joshua Smock
During colosseum when his was using it w/o system help
Yaldabaoth
Woooohoooo!?!?
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
Julian
He has become the Intercity Deliverator!
JJB4345_80_815
Yes, thank you for the chappy, Zogarth!
BerciTheBeast
TFTC!
Fed ex delivery arc, ironically tho this is pretty entertaining
Bob Fight
I didn’t think the name changed from gaze of the apex hunter to primal gaze from that or is that just what Jake calls it now honestly I haven’t been paying attention to the exact wording of skill upgrades lately
Jaydan Man
Right ! It must be like when a chapter flows so well you get through it quickly
Joshua Smock
A 4th reason Primal Gaze is so OP is that it doesn't show any intent, like 0, you go from normal look to dead instantly. Even the best fighters telegraph their moves a little, Gaze doesn't.
Mr. Truthly
Non city delivery, then non country, then non continent, then non planet, then non system, then non galaxy, then non cluster galaxy, then non universe........
Alex Testa
That’s what I thought too then I went through it and was like nah it ain’t short it was just so good that it felt short af
Jaydan Man
i think he meant when he upgraded it in the colosseum
Idk How to describe it, but Jake‘s got a strong feel of a pitbull or smth throughout the chapter, especially with the last sentence xD
Strato Junon
I wonder what the outside world will be like. Tfc!
Bob Fight
When did he upgrade gaze again I mean when did it become primal gaze?
Karim Saadi
Jake always delivers ;)
Den
Jake is scary. I like scary.
Jaydan Man
TFTC - Are chapters shorter now than they used to be ? Or am i just impatient because its a friday
Nikolai Beckel
Time to deliver!
Tftc!
Abdulaziz ALRumaih
Thanks for the chappy
