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]

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

managed to reach him if he used good positioning, but if they did catch up to him… yeah, he was not going to outrun them. Four legs

and that didn’t even kill it. While he doubted that the stag was

thus decided to ignore them for now. After another level in his class, his race would also level, granting him quite a bit

and went on his way to look for other prey. It did not take him long to come upon another

giant chickens and ostriches. A type of flightless bird, based on the fact that their wings were way too

fact that he could hear them clucking. They, however, did not peck at plants or for insects

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

so he had no idea if they were secretly overpowered super-beasts. But whatever they were, they

call them. He used Identify

prey. Their necks were incredibly exposed if hard

raised his bow and fired an arrow, already drawing another before the first one hit. It hit one of the ostriches and penetrated straight through its neck, hitting a tree behind it. The beasts that hadn't been hit raised their heads from the badger they had been pecking at and spotted Jake as another arrow came. The one that had been hit only made gurgling noises as it spasmed

managed to avoid it. Not really intentionally, though, as they were just shifting their legs to get into a

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, as he tossed the bow to the

with their beaks, reminiscent of a snake trying to bite, and powerful kicks. Without his danger sense, he would have been

when they snapped forward. With a backhanded blow, he managed to plunge his dagger into the neck of the one he had wounded earlier. This, however, left him open as the other kicked

his shoulder dislocate. He barely managed to get up and roll to the side as the beast

this point, as he had dropped the one not currently stuck in an ostrich’s neck when he got kicked. He knew where it was due to his sphere, but the beast didn’t look like it wanted to give

hung uselessly to his side. Dodging was easy enough with only one enemy left and his forever-present bloodline ability. The ostrich finally managed to slip up as it

once more reminded of the power of the peck when he saw it penetrate its beak into the tree. The power working against it this time as it was unable to pull it out from the tough bark again, leaving it stuck. Jake quickly pulled an arrow from his quiver and stabbed it through the exposed and

too, finally fell dead from the blood-loss. He quickly

earned for killing an

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

lvl 8] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 128

animal’ even if they weren’t completely equivalent to that animal. Then there was also the big piggie that, for some reason, was called an Irontusk boar. The tusks

more questioned why he wasted so much

it into place, it was not something he had ever done

hour positioning his arm in weird ways, slamming his shoulder into trees, and doing weird movements trying to snap

pain throughout his body. As he wondered how