To call the settlement in the Grand Mangrove River a city wasn’t quite right. It was more of a small village, though it had been expanding in recent times, especially after the teleporter was installed. The reason for this was also quite obvious.

It was a prime hunting ground.

A settlement like this was rare as one could teleport directly into a place with D-grades all around you while still being safe. One had to remember that only a handful of people on Earth could fight C-grades, and the vast majority thus still needed to hunt D-grades to progress. Even the people considered elite struggled with stronger D-grades.

Additionally, it was a great place for those with the wood of water affinity to fight. Finally, it had one other advantage that Jake hadn’t really considered: it was a place where C-grades could go if Jake wanted to meet with them there. Thinking about it deeper, it was probably the place Jake would meet with whatever final council member the King found.

All of this being possible was naturally due to a certain snake. A snake Jake was now on his way to meet once he felt done scouting out the village. It did have an interesting setup due to the environment, and there were quite a lot of people around, all of them pretty high-level D-grades. However, what he cared most about were two buildings.

The first of which was the largest building and a main office of sorts. The second one was a small but well-guarded building that Jake saw led into a pit of sorts going deep inside the Grand Mangrove River water. Not sure which one to check out first; Jake went for the pit after sensing the aura from it.

By the way, when Jake said well-guarded, then it wasn’t by any of the C-grades but just two humans. There were also barriers that would no doubt make everyone aware if someone tried to break in, but none of that was an issue for Jake as the guard recognized him and opened the entrance to the pit without a word.

As for why Jake wanted to explore the pit so badly? Because he felt a familiar aura from beneath. One that reminded him a lot of the monument that Chris had built that allowed him to teleport to the Order of the Malefic Viper…

Jake felt a flare-up of anger, but he quickly suppressed it before the guards even noticed and entered the pit.

I swear, that orange fuck is gonna get what he deserves, Jake said to himself as he began going down the pit. It looked more like a deep well than anything else, and Jake didn’t hesitate to jump down and allowed himself to freefall.

He fell for a bit over twenty seconds, putting the depth of the hole at around a kilometer. Upon landing, Jake found himself in a dug-out cavern with several tunnels leading away from it. He noticed that all of these tunnels had engravings on the walls and hummed with magic. Feeling curious, Jake began making his way through a tunnel and saw it lead into another similar chamber, though without the entrance. Closing his eyes, Jake used his senses to get a feeling for the space.

It’s a magic circle, he swiftly concluded.

The pattern was far too purposeful and distinct for it to be anything else. Jake wondered if the creator was anywhere nearby but soon got his answer. A presence made its way through one of the tunnels, and Jake turned to face it. A long brownish snake slithered in his direction, its size filling out nearly half of the tunnel, putting its diameter at nearly four meters. Jake guessed the beast had to be several hundred meters long, and its head was large enough to eat a human whole. Not that Jake felt any threat as he recognized the snake as one of those who followed the Crimsoneye one.

“Hey there,” Jake greeted the snake as it got close. It then did something utterly terrifying.

The face of the snake began warping. Bone cracked, flesh twisted, and a vaguely humanoid face straight out of a nightmare emerged, still on the body of the massive snake.

“Grrrreetingsss Maeeelefic’sssss Chooossssennnn,” the snake spoke, showing off the prowess of Jake’s translation skill by even allowing him to comprehend what the snake had said through the hissing.

“Good practice with the transformation, but how about we keep this conversation telepathic?” Jake offered. He really didn’t want to insult a snake that was clearly trying so hard.

Nearly instantly, the face warped back to the old snake visage as a voice echoed in Jake’s mind. “Thank you for your permission to speak in this fashion; I am not as adept as the others in the art of human speech and have neglected practice with the Polymorph skill.”

“All good,” Jake answered, happy to not look at the nightmare creature the snake had transformed into. He was also surprised at the telepathic voice of the snake. It sounded… old? Most beasts Jake spoke to telepathically sounded very young, but this snake sounded on the more mature side.

“Have you come looking for the mistress?” the snake asked.

“Partly. I also came to check out the work down here. Well, not specifically the work down here, as I didn’t know what it would look like, but it is quite impressive. Are you involved in making the magic circle?” Jake asked the large snake.

He had a feeling the snake was for a few reasons. First of all, he faintly felt the space affinity from the snake. Secondly, it was down in the tunnel where the formation was being made, and lastly, it had a Blessing of the Malefic Viper.

“Yes, this one has been given the honor of creating this grand work of art. I thank the Chosen for this opportunity. I hope to do the task to the utmost of my abilities,” the large brown snake said in an overly polite and submissive tone. He could try to convince the snake to treat him more normally, but it wasn’t worth it.

“From the looks of it, you are doing a splendid job,” Jake praised the snake. “But I heard a part of the process requires my assistance; am I correct?”

“Such is the will of the Malefic One. The circle will need to be attuned and rely on the True Blessing of his Chosen so only he can teleport and decide who goes or not,” the snake explained.

“Great, what do you need of me and where? Please lead the way, and let’s get it solved right away.”

“Please follow me, my Lord,”the snake said and did something Jake had not seen coming. It managed to turn around in a narrow tunnel as space around it seemed to warp and twist. A second later, the snake had done a one-eighty and began moving, Jake following the old snake through the winding tunnel system of runes and magic. As he moved through, he did notice spots where his ritualism skill made him aware things were missing or unfinished, making it clear it was still a work in progress. Yet it also gave him the sense it was “done.”

“Say, is the formation functional after this infusion part?” Jake asked.

“Yes,” the snake confirmed. “However, as the Chosen has no doubt noticed, the work is far from done. The Malefic One has plans beyond a simple teleporter requiring your presence but wishes to allow it to hold more functions that will be helpful to the Chosen later on.”

Jake nodded, not asking any further. One thing was clear, the current formation was already far more potent than what Chris had managed to make. Then again, this was created by a C-grade with innate talent, while the other one had been made by a low-level D-grade. Thinking about it further, the fact that Chris could even make the monument, to begin with, was impressive. Now, as much as it sucked, the monument site had been turned into a graveyard. A memorial and reminder.

They did not exchange any more words before they reached what Jake assumed to be the center of the formation. At that center was an intricate circle with vein-like green pulsing fissures leading away from it and into the tunnels. The very epicenter held a pillar of metal Jake did not recognize with even more advanced scripts on it. Jake could feel it was a natural treasure of some kind but had no clue as to its properties.

“My lord, if you would do me the honors of stepping into the center circle and blessing the pillar with the Touch of the Malefic Viper,” the snake asked Jake.

Jake did as asked and used One Step to enter the center circle and activated Touch of the Malefic Viper as he touched the pillar. The moment he did so, he felt a response from the pillar, and the energy Jake injected was guided through magical channels in the metal. Jake gladly complied and infused his energy into these channels as the metal began to glow dark green.

The fissures of green energy began to shine brighter all throughout the spacious cavern, and Jake felt part of his own presence be mimicked by the pillar. He felt a pull on the part of himself that made him a Chosen, the natural treasure taking everything in. A few minutes passed as Jake simply infused his energy as the treasure naturally guided him to do until it stopped wanting anything.

At that moment, Jake felt an odd connection form, and the pillar cracked as parts of it fell off. The shards that fell floated in mid-air as they reassembled into an about ten-centimeter-long shard of metal filled with runic lines and humming with energy.

Jake reached out and grabbed it, making him instantly know what it was. It was there to control this entire magic circle.

“It is done!” the snake said with much happiness. “Truly marvelous! I thank the Chosen for blessing us with his presence and displaying his prowess. From my understanding, the shard you just received shall function as the control catalyst for the formation and shall allow you to teleport to a corresponding circle outside of this universe.”

“I see. Excellent work,” Jake simply answered, already feeling it himself. As he stood there in the center circle, he knew he could activate and be teleported to the first universe if he so wished. He even felt like he didn’t necessarily need to be in the center circle but that he could quite easily draw up a smaller circle that allowed him to tap into the concepts of this main formation to teleport from elsewhere.

Jake marveled at the shard a bit longer and analyzed the formation as best he could, but he did not have long before something else caught his attention. An aura approached through the tunnel, one far faster than the old brown snake had been. Far stronger too. He smiled as the presence was a very familiar one, and soon enough, an albino figure appeared before him… though she did look quite a bit different.

He failed to hold back as he lightly smiled and bowed his head briefly in gratitude. “It’s been a while. I am sorry for not stopping by earlier and thanking you for keeping Miranda and the others safe.”

Miranda’s description of the human form truly didn’t do it justice. She looked human, yes, but also clearly not. The scales were strategically placed throughout her body, not a single one of them of a cosmetic nature. Her reptilian pupils honed and improved compared to even her snake form, and the skin-like dress she wore was far from just a useless garment, but no doubt had quite the defensive properties. Was the form made to be aesthetically pleasing to humans? Yes, but it was also made with function in mind. Some sacrifices had been made to make her look more human, but overall it was incredibly well done for her to refine her humanoid form that much. However, her human form did have one major drawback compared to her snake form.

Her demeanor as a shy teenage girl was even more obvious.

The Alabaster Crimsoneye Snake, the mid-tier C-grade, stood nervously as she twisted some of her hair around a finger, looking like she didn’t quite know what to say.

“I… eh, I just did as the Chosen would expect of me, you know…” she mumbled.

“You did me a favor, whether you thought it was expected of you or not. For that, I am naturally grateful and owe you one. I heard you even spent quite some time with Miranda and the others. I hope they were pleasant guests?” Jake asked, still smiling in what he hoped was a welcoming and comforting way.

“Yes, of course!” the snake girl insisted. “Ms. Wells was very nice and taught me a lot. She even helped me with making this settlement and stuff, and I wanted to go visit Haven, but I can’t teleport due to the stupid system,” she grumbled, at least looking a bit more comfortable now.

“It is what it is,” Jake shrugged. “How about we get out of here and get up to the main office? I think we are done here, right?”

The last part was addressed to the large brown snake that nodded. “Yes, my lord, you have more than done your part. I shall no longer delay you from attending to your matters.”

“How come old grumpy isn’t using his human form? He has been working on it so hard,” the snake girl asked with a questioning look.

Jake scratched his chin. “We decided telepathy was more efficient.”

A bald-faced lie that the albino snake nodded to instantly… before suddenly looking faintly horrified. “Would… would the Chosen prefer for me to use telepathy too?”

“Hm?” Jake said, a bit surprised. “No, I prefer your human form and talking like this.”

Again, a bit of a lie. Jake didn’t really care much either way if the snake was in human or beast form or used telepathy or not when they spoke. But he had enough awareness to know that the snake girl had only become a snake girl to try and better cater to what Jake wanted, and he saw no reason not to make her happy by saying he preferred her human form. When being kind was free and not a hassle, why not?

She smiled and nodded. “Yes, my lord! Shall we head upwards then?”

“Let us,” Jake said as he began walking through the tunnel, followed by the snake girl. That is when he remembered one of the most important things he had to ask: “By the way, did you ever settle on a name you wanted?”

She stopped for a millisecond when he asked, getting all shy again. “I… I had a really hard time deciding. Ah! Not because the suggestions of the Chosen were bad, but solely due to my own lack of naming sense! I loved both Scarlett and Allie, and I even suggested combining them as Scallie-“

That would have been a perfectly fine name, Jake approved internally.

“-but Ms. Wells shot that down. But… I still loved both, so I thought of maybe still combing them somehow? That is when Ms. Wells said that humans can actually have more than one name or even have a first and a last name. So… I thought maybe go with Scarlett Allie? Or Allie Scarlett? Or make it the last name, so maybe Scarlett Allieson?”

Jake considered it and nodded. “I think all of those are fine, but does Allieson fit? Normally the “son” part comes from a parent or ancestor or some other family member called that.”

“… my mom or dad could have been called Allie?” the snake girl asked without a hint of joking in her voice.

“You know what? Who is to say,” Jake smiled and shook his head. Should I begin to call Sylphie, Sylphie Hawkson now? Wait, how does it even work when she is a daughter… who the hell even made up this entire stupid naming convention? And people call my naming sense bad; that is no more original than adding “ie” at the end of someone’s race name.

“Then… then can I be Scarlett Allieson from now on?” she asked in a shy tone.

“Sure, if that is what you want,” Jake nodded.

“Then I want that name,” she said with affirmation.

Jake stopped and turned around as he extended a hand. “Well then, nice to meet you, Scarlett Allieson. You can just call me Jake Thayne.”

Scarlett looked even shyer as she extended her small hand and took his. “Ah… the pleasure is mine?”

Miranda has done some socialization work on this one, Jake joked internally as he turned around and continued walking towards the main building above.

The two of them only exchanged some casual chatter as they made their way toward the surface for a proper meeting… though he did fail in getting her to call him Jake or even Mr. Thayne or something just a little less formal than “Chosen.”

But hey, baby steps. One had to be patient with teenagers, after all.