“Is he…?” the plump old alchemist asked as he looked at the screen.

”Yep,” Vilastromoz confirmed.

“This scene is a bit odd, isn’t it?” Duskleaf questioned.

“Not gonna question it,” the snake god shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with the admittedly weird-looking scene.

They were naturally watching Jake give Vesperia head pats, the prideful True Royal sitting perfectly still but, based on the antennas shaking slightly, clearly enjoying it. If any outsider saw this, it would look like a younger man patting the head of an older woman, perhaps even finding the entire scene indecent.

“You know what Jake and I talked about?” Vilastromoz asked his disciple. ”About him coming out as Chosen?”

“Yes, and I also know what you are going to argue,” Duskleaf shook his head.” Him revealing it purposefully does not mean you win our bet on when he would leak it on a technicality.”

“Well, he can’t leak it if he openly reveals it, now can he? Something already well-known can’t be leaked, can it? Or did the definition of the word leak somehow change within the last few minutes?”

Duskleaf just looked at him for a few moments before shaking his head.” Fine, you win, happy?”

“Not really when you act like that,” Vilastromoz pursed his lips. Still kinda happy.

“Our stupid bet is meaningless before what Jake managed to accomplish today anyway. I had assisted him in the ritual and based on the Sylphian and that cosmic worm, I had begun to hope he could perhaps even hatch a Quasi-Royal, but to see a True Royal be born… one of a fallen Lineage too,” Duskleaf said in awe. ”This truly is unprecedented, and I feel fortunate to have been involved in her creation. Rewarded too.”

“Wait, you don’t mean?” the Viper asked, surprised.

“I did not expect to gain levels from a C-grade succeeding in a ritual I assisted with either,” Duskleaf shrugged and smiled.

Vilastromoz nodded and smirked to himself. So I wasn’t the only one.

Jake had to admit that his thought process when he decided to pat Vesperia on the head had not been all that sound. He had spent far too long considering what he wanted to say and not what he would do, but as he saw Vesperia clearly feeling sad, he did the first thing that sprung to mind: head pats.

Sylphie loved head pats… so… yeah, not the best logic.

However, to his surprise, the application of head pats turned out to be a great success. It was subtle, but he felt her slightly lean into his hand, and her antennas shook oddly as she just sat there, eyes closed. Jake had no idea how long he was supposed to keep things up, but considering her lack of complaints and his own amusement at the movement of the antennas, he probably went on longer than he should have.

For a second, he considered if she needed a hug, but that seemed a bit too much. Jake had never been the type to show much physical affection, and head pats were already a lot for him. After he stopped rubbing her head, she looked up at him with teary eyes.

She didn’t speak but just stared. Jake, sensing some confusion, shook his head and grinned.” Feeling better?”

“Yes…” Vesperia asked after a brief pause.” I… am unsure… but what does the rubbing of the head of another signify?”

Jake raised an eyebrow and did the only thing that made sense. He patted her on the head again. ”That you needed some head pats.”

It once more proved super effective. Jake remembered his dad used to do it all the time whenever Jake got upset or if he needed him to calm down. It worked back then, and it worked still. He felt like it was a nice middle ground between a hug and just words.

Jake stopped soon after once he felt Vesperia was fully calmed down. He guessed that one of the reasons why she felt as she did was partly because she didn’t really know Jake and that he often didn’t act with thought, and Jake had to also admit that he didn’t truly know Vesperia very well. They had just met, after all. So he thought it only natural to have a good conversation that wasn’t about history, skills, or anything system-related. Just two people getting to know one another.

The next few hours were spent with the two of them just talking while looking around the rest of the mansion, Jake telling her about himself, and Vesperia sharing her own thoughts on different topics. Being a True Royal only born that very day, Vesperia had a personality primarily formed from her Lineage Knowledge and innate disposition, making her appear aloof and straightforward while viewing herself as a superior creature to most others. In some ways, she was the exact opposite of Jake.

Jake felt superior to pretty much everyone else, but he had spent his entire life working on not acting on this feeling. This was simply the coping mechanism he had learned while growing up to properly fit in with modern pre-system society.

Being a narcissistic asshole who thought he was better than everyone else was a great way to fail in the old world. True narcissists knew how to hide their true feelings and manipulate others, but considering Jake sucked at manipulating others socially, he just went with hiding how he really felt by suppressing it entirely. It had made him come off as meek and unopinionated to others and resulted in them often walking right over him, with Jake seemingly not caring. All done to try and fit in.

Now, in the new world, Jake still had this same innate disposition to reject others treating him as better than them in order to not stand out too much. He didn’t necessarily view this as a bad disposition to have, and he himself felt like he had found a good middle-ground by not thinking he was innately better than anyone else while also not thinking anyone else was better than him. This went against his nature and even Bloodline, but shaking off his entire upbringing was not that easily done, and he did believe it helped ground him. Sim-Jake had been many things, and overly arrogant towards anyone that wasn’t his literal clone in the real Jake was definitely one of them.

Vesperia never needed to suppress her feelings of superiority. As a True Royal, it would even be detrimental. She was born to lead her Lineage, born to be a decisive leader that would put their own existence over others. If she died, her hive would die, and she had to have a personality making her willing to sacrifice millions of her kin to keep herself alive. She fully embraced her role and innate superiority as part of her Path, outwardly displaying it with pride.

Perhaps Jake did have something to learn from that. Vesperia also seemed to think so and was gleeful when he actually asked for some advice.

”As the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, it is only expected of you to act with a certain demeanor. You are second only to the Primordial himself in the eyes of many, and if you act meek or like others are equal to you, it can prove detrimental to both yourself and your Patron,” Vesperia voiced her thoughts. ”Others will grovel, so just accept it with stoicism. Some will give you gifts, so accept them. These gifts are as much for the giver as they are for you. It is to openly display their support and respect towards you and the Order, and to reject these gifts due to your own personal feelings will be a slap in the face to the giver. It will reject their goodwill and communicate to the rest of the world that you don’t want a good relationship with them. So just accept them with pride. If you choose to use the gifts is up to you, or if you choose to take advantage of those offering to serve you is ultimately your own choice, but do not reject what is given outright. Only do this if the gift is truly something you find offensive and want to communicate your disgust.”

Jake had not considered much of what she mentioned and the broader implications of him sticking to his personal feelings on the matter. He had little sense of decorum or knowledge on how to act like a proper Chosen, and he knew that he would never truly be able or want to act like one. Jake was still Jake, after all. But it would probably be a good idea to begin putting some thought before some of his actions when he was acting in an official capacity.

When he was not… Jake still had Shroud of the Primordial and always wore a mask. Going out in public while staying incognito was still an option as long as everyone wasn’t actively looking for him. He would just have to either wear another mask or walk around without one.

Well, could also make the big announcement with Villy while maskless…

Yeah, fuck that.

No fucking way Jake would do that. He felt like he had gotten better at dealing with social situations, but that didn’t mean he felt comfortable at some big announcement where he was the center of attention. While he had some confidence in controlling his facial expressions, he couldn’t entirely ensure he wouldn’t slip up, and the mask was an extra assurance.

Also, he had to admit it did make him look more intimidating. A lot more like the Chosen of some snake god of questionable morality, that was for sure.

Vesperia and Jake’s conversation continued for a while longer until they mutually decided it was time for them to get to deal with their own matters. Even if Vesperia did not have any special resources available, she still wanted to work on her skills and potentially spawn some proper guards for herself. She would only work on the eggs for now, but she seemed eager to get started following her Path as a Hive Queen.

Jake himself had a few things he also needed to get done before it was time for the big announcement. First and foremost was shopping, but he also wanted to warn those he knew in the Order about what was about to happen, so they at least had a heads-up. He did not doubt Reika, her roommate, all the alchemists from Earth, Irin, Draskil, as well as Meira and Izil would get hounded after his big reveal. It was only proper to at least allow them to make preparations for what was to come.

As for warning the Emberflight… yeah, he wasn’t going to do that. They could learn the truth at the same time as everyone else and hopefully scramble in panic. He did want to be a fly on the wall for whatever emergency meeting they would have, but he would just have to ask Villy for an update as he was sure the Viper would take a peek if asked.

So all he really had to do for now was address his equipment. Something he had honestly neglected for a while. He was missing a lot of potential stats, and the defensive capability of of his current equipment was less than ideal, so it was definitely high time.

To get an overview, Jake took status of what he already had, fully aware he would probably have to replace or upgrade everything. Starting from the top, he got on with it.

Cloak: Rewarded from the Undergrowth. Rare. Level requirement of 110, with the enchantment to hide him better and change color while self-repairing. Verdict: utterly useless for a long time and only functioning outside of combat. He would just replace this one. Also, he didn’t need to go into that much detail with every piece of equipment if he didn’t care much for it.

Chest: Auction after Treasure Hunt. Kind of okay, with good stats, but it was also to be replaced. Not worth upgrading, that is for sure.

Leg armor: Also from Auction, and also kind of okay for the time he got them, but ultimately just not that useful now. To be replaced, not upgraded.

Boots: Upgraded once in D-grade and to be upgraded again. They held secrets Jake wanted to know more about, but more than that, the enchantments they held were damn good. One allowed him to sense earthbound natural treasures, and the other reduced cost of his movement-based abilities. Both were not something he had seen before, and they were incredibly useful, even now, even if the one for treasures was very situational. So, yeah, to be upgraded.

Bracers: Cool enchantment allowing him to poke himself with thorns and poison himself, but it turned out the poison was too damn weak by the time he got around to trying it, and this function fell to the wayside. So, just subpar stats. To be replaced.

Rings: Altmar Signet was one of the rings, and damn, had Jake loved this one when he got it. It still gave a thousand stats, but that was not really that impressive anymore. It was an interesting item he would hold onto no matter what, and it would be worth looking into getting it upgraded if possible. As for this other ring… well, Jake had only ever used that for stats too. It had the effect of allowing him to peer over long distances and at celestial objects, but that had never proved useful, and with Jake’s already insane Perception, it didn’t even seem to work properly.

Necklace: Spatial storage to be upgraded. Enough said. He had already upgraded it once and would damn well do so again.

Bow: Currently nearly broken but damn good, even if the enchantment began to drop off in usefulness. Look into potentially recrafting while retaining enchantment.

Quiver: An often unsung hero, allowing him to spawn arrows, including Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter within, and allowing him to store pre-poisoned arrows, so he never had to coat them mid-combat. Even now, it still worked as well as it did back when he got it from the auction, so he saw no reason to replace or even upgrade it.

Melee weapons: Blackpoint Nanoblade and Eternal Hunger. All good there.

Head: Mask of the Fallen King. Yeah, he seriously doubted he could get better there.

Gloves: This was the last and a hard one. In fact, this was probably the hardest one of them all, as the gloves were still damn good, but he also felt like he could get better. Looking at the gloves in more detail, he did appreciate them.

[Gloves of the Malefic One’s Grace (Legendary)] – By the grace of the Malefic One, your scales shall be your instrument of invincibility. Created by an incredibly skilled crafter possing the Blessing of the Malefic VIper, these gloves contain but a fragment of the Primordial’s will. Made from the hide and scales of an apex wyvern, infused with its toxic blood, and enhanced by a powerful, refined core, these gloves are incredibly resilient. Allows Scales of the Malefic Viper to be cast directly upon the gloves at a significantly increased effect. While using Scales of the Malefic Viper, the effect of all stats granted by these gloves is increased by a minor amount. Only one who has shown sufficient proficiency in Scales of the Malefic Viper may wear these gloves. Enchantments: +300 Toughness, +300 Vitality, +300 Strength, +300 Agility, +300 Endurance.

Requirements: lvl 175+ in any humanoid race. Skill: Scales of the Malefic Viper (Legendary+).

The level requirement was the highest of any gear he had that wasn’t Soulbound. The stats were better than the Altmar Signet by quite a lot too, and they were, of course, of legendary rarity. The effect of making his gloves tougher with scales was also massively useful, and he had even used it during his fight with Vesperia that very day. Of all his equipment, this was arguably the best.

Looking at them, Jake suddenly got an idea… these gloves weren’t bound to him. They were not broken in any way. He remembered that the place he had gotten them had a requirement that one could only get one item from there… so… what if he just returned these?

Maybe they offered trade-ins?