The Primal Hunter

The arrow whistled through the air towards the unaware boar. It penetrated deep into the chest of the beast as it whimpered and walked only a couple of meters before collapsing. The second beast wasn’t any luckier as an arrow hit it first in its snout, followed by another to the eye shortly after, endings its life nearly instantly.

The final overgrown pig managed only to get hit by a single arrow before it finally saw the attacker. A rather unimpressive man stood on a small hill overlooking the clearing. Brown hair and eyes, a mediocre face, donning a cloak with a color palette a mix between brown and dried blood.

It charged at the man, and with its head kept low, managed to avoid any fatal hits. However, it helped it little as the archer dodged the boar just before it hit him and proceeded to stab his dagger into the side of the beast.

Squealing in pain, it tried to hit him with its tusks, only to once more be evaded and have yet another dagger plunged in its throat. It barely managed to gurgle out a few noises before it, too, collapsed.

Jake smiled to himself as he ripped his knives out of the beast, cleaned them on his cloak, and put them back in the two sheathes he had in his belt. He was starting to enjoy having two melee weapons, having kept the one he took from one of Richards archers.

He even considered getting the dual-wielding skill at some point, but that was for when he got his next skill selection. And speaking of levels, he took a brief look at his notification, noticing none had been gained yet. Then again, it was only the first group of beasts he had killed since burning Nicholas.

*You have slain [Boar – lvl 5] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 16 TP earned*

*You have slain [Boar – lvl 6] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 32 TP earned*

*You have slain [Boar – lvl 8] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 128 TP earned*

The one thing he did get out of it was to confirm his temporary theory that each level of the beasts doubled the amount of TP earned. He still severely doubted that it would work like that all the way, as the multiplication would just get silly at some point.

He also took notice of the part about bonus experience. His current level in his class was 7, yet he was counted as at a lower level. The only explanation he could find was that level was based on his Race Level and not his class level.

It did seem a bit imbalanced working like that, though. For him to kill a beast at his own level was incredibly easy. Even if one ignored his bloodline, he believed that even someone as untalented in combat as Jacob could manage a beast with an equal race-level as his own. Were humans simply favored by the system?

He had also noticed that the levels of enemies did indeed increase as he moved further and further into the forest. The place was huge, and he looked forward to knowing what was at the center of this whole tutorial area. In the beginning, the tutorial announcement had mentioned beast lords or something, so perhaps those were there.

Not that it mattered at the current time. What mattered now was levels. He felt free for the first time since entering the tutorial. Like the entire world was open for him to explore. Well, the entire world currently being this tutorial area.

Jake, however, quickly noticed a problem. The number of beasts in this area was severely lacking. So, to find more, he kept running inwards towards the center of the tutorial area. After only half an hour, where all he encountered was a group of low level badgers, he finally came to a big clearing with a waterhole in the middle.

Around the water, he counted five deer and what looked like a stag. It had a huge crown of antlers and seemed to be teeming with power. The antlers themselves were unnatural, to say the least, literally glowing with dim light that he saw reflected on the surface of the water.

Jake quickly used identify on it and was pleasantly surprised.

[? – lvl 13]

made him believe that the beast had some kind of magical ability. Jake himself was only level 7,

kill a couple of them before they managed to reach him if he used good positioning, but if

also only been level 10, and it took him all his arrows, and that didn’t even kill it. While he doubted that the stag was as resilient as the boar despite its higher level, the fact that it likely

another level in his class, his race would also level, granting him quite a bit more power. By then, he could

way to look for other prey. It did not take him long to come upon another group

consisted of what looked like a mix of giant chickens and ostriches. A type of flightless bird, based on the fact that their wings were way too small and their build way too bulky. From their long legs, he also assumed they could

What made them remind him of chickens was the fact that he could hear them clucking. They, however, did not peck at plants or for insects

only carnivores in this damn place? he thought. It just felt like a kind of fucked up and unoptimized eco-system that, quite frankly, made no sense. There were plants and trees everywhere, and yet not a single animal ate them. Or maybe the

but whenever he tried, they just dodged the arrow like it was nothing. He could not identify them, so he had no idea

them. He used Identify on them one by one, finding

incredibly exposed if hard targets as they

straight through its neck, hitting a tree behind it. The beasts that hadn't been

really intentionally, though, as they were

spotted him. He managed to shoot another arrow, hitting one of them in the chest, only doing insignificant damage based on it barely reacting. They reached him in mere seconds,

to bite, and powerful

the neck of the one he had wounded earlier.

air as he felt his shoulder dislocate. He barely managed

stuck in an ostrich’s neck when he got kicked. He knew where it was due to

to his side. Dodging was easy enough with only

when he saw it penetrate its beak into the tree. The power working against it this time as it was unable to

dead from the blood-loss. He quickly checked his notification but was quickly disappointed by the

[Ostrich – lvl 8] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level.

experience earned for killing an enemy above your

– lvl 8] – Bonus experience earned for

the hell the system decided on the names of these beasts. Most of them seemed just to be ‘generic animal’ even if they weren’t completely equivalent

his head, he once more questioned why he wasted so much time pondering on meaningless questions, which

shoulder that was clearly dislocated, and while he knew that you could ‘snap’ it into place, it was not something he had ever done or tried.

shoulder into trees, and doing weird movements trying to snap it back in place. The pain was excruciating as he cursed himself for not just drinking a

down on a stone as his shoulder sent waves of pain throughout his body. As he wondered how the hell to fix it, he suddenly