Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

Seth threaded his way through Trogan's bustling central market, a large leather bag he had just retrieved from his room slung over his back. Even though it was late in the evening, the place was as lively as ever.

'You should stop using that pocket watch,' Nightmare said from within the necklace. 'Two or three other ambushes and you'll be able to buy one of those belts you’ve been drooling over.'

'I doubt he'll send any Coppers again,' Seth answered. He’d expected the noble to lie about the pouch containing only the eighty copper, but he never would’ve guessed he’d find seven iron coins inside. Seven freaking iron coins.

And that was on top of everything else.

He’d gone through the Guardian’s belongings after the fight, too, but the young noble hadn’t carried a coin pouch. Still, Seth hadn’t left empty-handed. He’d grabbed the man’s heavy shield and sword, leaving him only his scarlet uniform since it would be unsellable anyway, then hauled the gear out of sight, stashing it in some bushes just beyond the city’s outskirts.

Marching through the gates with those slung over his shoulder would’ve screamed “thief” to every guard. He’d come back for those tomorrow with a bag.

Once that was sold, he’d probably have enough for an Iron-Tier spell. Seth hadn’t bothered buying a Copper Primalist spell yet at the outpost—seemed like a waste with the Iron Tier now so close. Better to save up and put the money into something better when the time came.

'Imagine how many of those an Iron Wielder would have in his pouch!' Nightmare argued. 'You could buy all the spells and gear you want!'

'Yeah, yeah,' Seth muttered, eyeing the massive adventurers’ outpost ahead. 'Let's try our luck with Iron beasts first.'

'You're such a joy killer—' the direwolf stopped abruptly, and excitement surged into his voice. 'Wait, we’re finally going to start hunting Iron beasts?!'

'Yes, we’ll give Rift Diving a shot during the break next week,' Seth answered, a faint smile tugging at his lips. He still found the academy's schedule strange—the autumn semester was finally over, yet they still had a full week of classes before the winter break officially began. While the professors claimed it was to 'spark curiosity,' the students knew it was just an excuse to bury them in homework. 'I'll buy an Escape Scroll.'

'Finally!' the direwolf replied, practically cheering as he hopped inside the teardrop’s domain. 'What made you change your mind?'

Seth let out a sharp breath, rubbing the back of his neck. 'Them knowing about the pocket watch now. And about you. We need you to hit Iron fast, before they try ambushing us again with more people. And Iron ones. Things will get extremely complicated… and dangerous from now on.'

'It wouldn’t even be a problem if we’d just killed them,' Nightmare answered flatly.

Seth pushed the outpost's door open. 'You think I don’t know that?' he muttered, frustrated at his own lack of guts. 'I just… couldn’t do it.'

A strong scent of ale and delectable food struck Seth the moment he entered the building; the place was full as always, the tables filled to the brim with people chatting and eating under the soft light of the lamps hanging from the wooden pillars. Behind the counter and perched on her usual high stool, Celine caught sight of him, and a large grin appeared on her face.

Over the past three months, Seth's relationship with the woman had grown into something truly valuable—she had become a trusted source of advice for his contracts, offering him hunting tips and insights about market values, on top of consistently giving top-notch prices for his beaststones. At first, Seth had considered waiting for Sericar to sell the stones, but since their value diminished after thirty days, he had decided otherwise.

"How was the hunt?" Celine asked with her usual warm smile.

"Not bad—aside from getting ambushed by two students," Seth said, leaning on the desk. "And no, I didn't kill them."

The woman’s eyes narrowed. "Do you know why they attacked you?"

"Yeah," Seth answered. "Traded my last potion to one of them for a few answers… and some coins. Turns out they were sent by Lucius, the Faertis I told you about."

"Some coins, really?" Celine frowned. "Got their names? The Faertis' youngest is untouchable, but maybe I could do something about those two?"

"Umm, a Guardian, William Sert and an Elementalist, Roland…" Seth scratched his head, trying to remember the guy’s name from their class together. "...something. Can't remember his last name."

Celine's eyes widened. "You fought a Guardian and an Elementalist at the same time?"

"Yeah," Seth answered, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn’t told anyone about Nightmare yet—not apart from Professor Reat—so he was still claiming all the credit. But that was about to change now that the Elementalist had seen the direwolf.

Seth forced a casual shrug. "They were pretty weak."

"Clearly," Celine chuckled. "If that Guardian had used Provoke, you’d have been roasted alive by some Fireballs."

Seth hefted his heavy bag onto the counter and pulled out a linen bag filled with beaststones, along with a folded piece of parchment. That was exactly what happened. But it was better to keep the discussion brief—to make sure not to slip up and expose his lies.

"I managed to get forty this time," he said, handing Celine the bag and the contract.

"In a month? With all the academy’s end-of-semester exams?" The woman ran a hand through her shoulder-length silver hair and sighed before peering at the stones inside. "At this rate, you're going to make every adventurer here feel like an amateur in a year or two… or we’ll find out you’ve failed all your exams"

"Hey, I already got my results and I passed everything," Seth answered with feigned offense as he took his Vita out and placed it into the silver bowl atop the altar on the counter. "It was close for that stupid history class, but I still passed! And I wouldn't bet on me surpassing anyone around here. Richard told me breakthroughs are much harder for Primalists."

A few weeks ago, at Celine's request, he had met the outpost's strongest Primalist, Richard, a fifty-year-old Peak-Iron Wielder. The man hadn't been quite as useful as the outpost’s administrator, but their brief conversation had still taught Seth a few things—one of which was that Primalist struggled more than others at the cap of each Tier.

"You'll manage," Celine replied with certainty, handing him twenty-four copper coins for the stones. The woman then touched the dark base of the Vita Altar, causing the runes to shift from a faint yellow to a bright, clean white.

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The light wasn’t as blinding as the one emitted back at Arthuri’s outpost. At first Seth had assumed it was due to the altar itself, but Celine had explained that it was actually because of her superior aether manipulation. By using less aether than Warsis to fill the runes, she minimized the amount that was wasted, resulting in a softer, less-intense light.

As the runes faded back to their initial golden hue, Seth grabbed the purple crystal and channeled aether inside.