The Primal Hunter

Jake felt the influx of knowledge as his class evolved. For a moment, Jake felt as if he sitting within an endless void with only darkness all around him, except for a single horizontal line of light impossibly far away. He blinked, and it was gone, making Jake certain he had not actually been transported anywhere… it was just a vision.

It lingered for a while before Jake shook it off and returned his attention to what the evolution had brought with it.

Checking it out, he saw that he got one skill upgraded and another new skill, mirroring what had happened in D-grade. The skill that had upgraded was once more Big Game Hunter, with a name that was now just getting silly with how long it was.

[Big Game Arcane Hunter (Epic)] – A true hunter seeks not the easy prey but a true challenge. Your hunt has taken you further than ever before as your methods improve, and you have embraced the Arcane. The Avaricious Arcane Hunter has, through his many hunts, become more accustomed to facing higher-level enemies. Increases the user’s resistance to auras and gives a small increase to Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Willpower while facing enemies above your class or race level. The bonus is based on the disparity between the level of your prey and you. Limit of 1.25x your level or 50 levels, whichever is highest. May your hunt be fruitful and your Avarice sated.

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[Horizon-Chasing Big Game Arcane Hunter (Ancient)] – A true hunter seeks not the easy prey but a true challenge. Your hunt has taken you further than ever before as your methods improve, and you have embraced the Arcane. As you forever chase the horizon, you have become more accustomed to facing higher-level enemies. Increases the user’s resistance to auras and gives a small increase to Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Willpower, and a substantial increase to Perception while facing enemies above your class or race level. The bonus is based on the disparity between the level of your prey and you. Limit of 1.30x your level or 75 levels, whichever is highest. May your hunt take you toward the horizon.

A bit of change to the flavor text, with substantial changes coming in the later part. It had upgraded all current functionalities and increased the level cap of when he would get extra bonus stats, but more importantly than all that, it had finally added Perception to the list of bonus stats.

More than that, it had done so that the skill boosted Perception more than the others. Jake touched on it before, but together with Malefic Viper’s Poison, this was one of those unsung heroes that he never really thought about. It was just there, always in the background, always making him stronger. Looking at it also made Jake more determined to hunt higher-leveled enemies more often. He had fought a lot of powerful variants lately, making them not above his level by much but still powerful. Of course, there was also the fact he was right at the end of a grade before, while he had now just entered C-grade, giving him 150 levels before the next evolution.

Jake was more than satisfied with the upgrade and looked forward to feeling and mentally noting the effect of the skill for two fights before forgetting it existed until his next evolution.

Moving on, Jake had only gotten one skill this time around. Another passive skill, from the looks of it, and a pretty weird one at that.

[Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon (Ancient)] – To allow your arrows to reach the horizon unblemished and unobstructed is nothing but a given for a hunter of the Horizon’s Edge. Allows your arrows to gain significant resistance to all environmental factors and far more easily destroy any environmental energy or material. Grants a slight increase in penetrative power against energy-based defensive barriers and magical interference that may obstruct the arrow. The potency of the Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon skill is determined by the inherent power of the arrow. The maximum and minimum potency of Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon is determined by Perception.

He called it a weird one, but it was still pretty simple in concept. Just not what he had expected.

The skill would effectively allow Jake’s arrows to have less trouble when in flight, and with how he understood it – and the instinctual knowledge granted from the skill confirmed – he could now ignore things like wind resistance in most cases. More than that, he would now be able to far more easily shoot through obstacles that were considered environmental. That meant he could be able to shoot through rocks or soil, while something like the trees would still prove difficult as they were living beings.

To add on, the skill even helped a bit against magical barriers and what the system called “magical interference,” which Jake was not 100% on what that meant. Maybe it meant domains or something like that? Such as the flames around the Fireheart Bears he had killed? Yeah, that seemed probable.

In the end, this was the kind of skill Jake would have to test out in the field to fully understand. Something he sure planned on doing in not that long.

Done with all the evolutions and now firmly in C-grade, Jake pulled up his full status.

Status

Name: Jake Thayne

Race: [Human (C) – lvl 200]

Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge – lvl 200]

Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper – lvl 200]

Health Points (HP): 81070/81070

Mana Points (MP): 151421/151421

Stamina: 83881/83890

Stats

Strength: 6649

Agility: 11568

Endurance: 8389

Vitality: 8107

Toughness: 6393

Wisdom: 9691

Intelligence: 8207

Perception: 19251

Willpower: 8193

Free Points: 130

Titles: [Forerunner of the New World], [Bloodline Patriarch], [Holder of a Primordial’s True Blessing], [Dungeoneer IX], [Dungeon Pioneer VI], [Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty], [Kingslayer], [Nobility: Marquess], [Progenitor of the 93rd Universe], [Prodigious Arcanist], [Perfect Evolution (D-grade)], [Premier Treasure Hunter], [Myth Originator], [Progenitor of Myriad Paths], [Mythical Prodigy], [Perfect Evolution (C-grade)]

Class Skills: [Traditional Hunter’s Tracking (Uncommon)], [Arcane Stealth (Rare)], [Superior Stealth Attack (Rare)], [Splitting Arrow Rain (Rare)], [Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter (Rare)], [Descending Dark Arcane Fang (Rare)], [Archery of Expanding Horizons (Epic)], [Mark of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Epic)], [Avaricious Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Epic)], [Arcane Powershot (Epic)], [Steady Aim of the Apex Hunter (Ancient)], [Arcane Awakening (Ancient)], [One Step, Thousand Miles (Ancient)], [Fangs of Man (Ancient)], [Horizon-Chasing Big Game Arcane Hunter (Ancient)], [Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon (Ancient)], [Moment of the Primal Hunter (Legendary)], [Gaze of the Apex Hunter (Legendary)], [Relentness Hunt of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Legendary)], [Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter(Mythical)]

Profession Skills: [Path of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Grimoire of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Alchemist’s Purification (Inferior)], [Alchemical Flame (Common)], [Cultivate Toxin (Common)], [Brew Potion (Common)], [Craft Elixir (Uncommon)], [Concoct Poison (Rare)], [Soul Ritualism of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Epic)], [Advanced Core Manipulation (Epic)], [Malefic Viper’s Poison (Ancient)], [Blood of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Sagacity of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Sense of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Wings of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Touch of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Legacy Teachings of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Legendary)], [Palate of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Pride of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Scales of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Fangs of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Anomalous Soul of the Heretic-Chosen (Legendary)]

Blessing: [True Blessing of the Malefic Viper (Blessing - True)]

Race Skills: [Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races (Unique)], [Wisdom of the Hunter (Unique)], [Legacy of Man (Unique)], [Identify (Rare)], [Serene Soul Meditation (Epic)], [Shroud of the Primordial (Divine)]

Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Primal Hunter (Bloodline Ability - Unique)]

--

It hadn’t gotten that much longer since the last time he checked, only adding a few new skills. One in each category, to be more exact. Some changes were better than others, of course. Seeing so many of his skills reduced in rarity was painful on a fundamental level, but this was sadly just how the system worked. At least he could now upgrade them all again and hopefully come back stronger than ever.

The biggest change in his status was naturally his stats which had all experienced explosive growth.

However, he did begin to notice some issues. 6649 Strength versus 11568 Agility was quite a disparity, one far bigger than before he had evolved. The primary offender was the extra 550 Agility from the Path of the Hunter during his race evolution and the 10% extra stats in it too. Jake now had an 80% multiplier to Agility and only 60% to Strength, making the disparity only grow. At least he got 35 Strength and 40 Agility from every level in his class, making the difference not grow that much.

But that still left him with an issue here and now. He knew it would begin to negatively impact his combat potential if the stat fell too much behind, even if he didn’t rely on it as much as others. He looked at it for a good while before shaking his head.

I can decide later.

He did have 130 Free Points from the evolution to spend, and he would gain far more. In fact, he got a lot of Free Points. 50 for every class level was quite insane alone, which should allow him to shore up any weaknesses. He also had room for more elixirs now, and he saw that the cap of stats one could get from elixirs was 45 per race level this time around. Three times the 15 it had been in D-grade, making it scale like everything else.

Jake also had to look into getting new equipment now. His stats from equipment was right now 6400, but he could have a total of nearly 12000 if he had good enough stuff. That was over 5500 missing stats just from not wearing C-grade equipment. Effectively, these stats were not as good as the usual ones as they didn’t scale with his percentage amplifiers, and some skills didn’t amplify them either, but it was still a major lack of potential power.

Lying down on the bed, Jake smiled a bit to himself. More elixirs, new gear, looking into making grimoires, getting the Bee Queen ritual properly started, exploring his new skills, getting some levels, upgrading some skills, getting levels... so many things, with even more he had probably forgotten.

But more than any of that, he had to consider his upcoming trip off-world. Nevermore was calling, and Jake needed to be ready for the mega-dungeon World Wonder.

As for who he would go with… he already had a few in mind. One of which he felt approaching at a quite frankly alarming speed.

Sylphie whooshed through the air as it told her a lot of funny and interesting things. The wind had gotten a lot more talkative, though it often just said weird stuff that didn’t make any sense. But that was okay; the wind wasn’t really a person, so it wouldn’t make sense if it made sense. Sylphie still understood anyway.

She liked flying around and zooming really fast, though it was a bit boring right now. Finding baddies to beat up had gotten super hard after she had done another growing up, and now everything was either not grown up like her or didn’t wanna fight her. The wind did tell her about some strong baddies, and she had wanted to go say hi to them, but then Sylphie felt something.

Uncle was back at the home with the bananas, and he had now also grown up! Sylphie was so excited and rushed over. She had just been visiting mom and dad, who were both busy hunting the weak baddies, and had told her not to help, which she thought was pretty unfair. She liked helping.

Mom and dad could be really super silly sometimes. Sylphie was definitely sure of that. Most people were actually super silly a lot of the time when Sylphie really thought about it… or maybe Sylphie was just the smartest? Definitely possible. For sure, she was smarter than Uncle, as anyone smart would have thrown away that smelly pot a long time ago or at least begun hitting people with it.

Anyway! Both her parents said Sylphie was now nearly grown and had to be more serious, but that didn’t make any sense at all. Sylphie was always super serious; that was why she was so good and could grow up so fast.

Also! Big Bird said that growing up was “overrated” or something. The other kind of growing up, Sylphie came to learn, not the kind of growing up that made her wind windier. Sylphie agreed on that one; Sylphie didn’t need to change. She needed to be like the wind getting windier, and as Sylphie, get Sylphier.

But… she did get that Polymorph skill thingie that allowed changes, and as Sylphie was smart, she had to learn how to use it. She had heard about many not-humans using the skill to change how they looked. Sylphie could do that too, and she wanted to show Uncle that as she quickly approached the banana home.

--

Jake smiled as he walked out of the lodge and jumped upwards to get above the trees, allowing him to see the speeding green murder ball fly straight toward him.

He could easily feel that he was not the only one who had reached C-grade, and from the looks of it, the little bird had evolved quite a bit before him. Jake knew Sylphie was powerful and that she would grow into her power with time, but he still found himself pleasantly surprised by her progress.

[Juvenile Sylphian Hawk – lvl 204]

However, he was a bit surprised to see that Sylphie had indeed manipulated her own form using the Polymorph skill to change significantly. And when Jake meant significant, he meant that she had changed some of her feathers to a lighter shade of green to better match the color of her small vest from Treasure Hunt.

Seeing Uncle reminded Sylphie of something else!

Whaleman was weird.

Whaleman was one of the funniest things she had ever seen, mainly because he was a Whale and not a Whaleman, so why had he started to look like a Whaleman? Whale couldn’t even swim fast while looking like a Whaleman, but now Whale had become a Whaleman nearly all the time. At least the big annoying eating worm was better than that, knowing that being a human-looking worm would be mega weird. Why would anyone even bother looking like an Uncle or a Punching Lady? That would just be silly.

Besides, Sylphie thought very smartly, humans had some big flaws. Like how big they were.

As she flew over to Uncle, she did a pivot in the air and landed right in her nest on top of Uncle’s head. It felt a bit different than before, but it was okay, and she used her talons to put all the hair in the right places before sitting down and making herself super comfy.

Silly human beasts couldn’t sit in her nest on Uncle’s head, so why would she ever become human-looking?

That would just be silly.

“Hey, Sylphie?” Uncle asked her, making Sylphie look down and ask what he wanted.

“Ree?”

“When did you evolve?” he asked while smartly not moving his head.

“Ree!” Sylphie promptly answered very accurately.

“An entire month, huh?” Uncle said, raising his hand to give her the scratches.

Sylphie liked the scratchies.

“But you need to be a bit careful if you wanna go to Nevermore,” Uncle reminded Sylphie.

“Ree! Ree!” Sylphie complained as she had, of course, known. Big Bird had reminded her. Sylphie considered pecking the scratching hand for his wrongness, but she allowed him to continue. She was really nice like that.

“Of course you knew,” he correctly corrected and scratched her under her chin. That was the best spot, so Uncle must have truly realized he said dumb stuff.

Suddenly, he stopped and lowered his hand, making Sylphie prepare to tell him that it wasn’t okay as he spoke:

“What do you say to a little bit of sparring? I wanna test myself a bit and not just stand here in the middle of the sky.”

Sylphie looked down at Uncle for a moment. She considered but then realized something. If Uncle used that…

“Ree?”

“No… I won’t try to hit you with my cauldron; why would I even-”

“Ree!” Sylphie thus issued her challenge.

Uncle was truly underestimating her by not even using his ultimate weapon!