The Primal Hunter

Jake ripped his knife out of the fallen Irontusk Boar, the same kind he had killed when he was still with his party. The level 10 beast had been quite the challenge for their entire team then, but this time he took it down solo with little trouble. It still took a bit more than twenty arrows in total, but the beast did fall. It was by far the most resilient beast out there.

Like its brethren, this one was surrounded by a bunch of small level 1 and 2 boars. All of which were quickly culled during the fight.

The boar was strong, fast, and a boss when it came to taking hits. But all it did was charge back and forth, attempting to trample him. He just had to kite it around and make it smash into things until it died.

However, his reason for attacking this particular boar-group was not solely for the sweet experience. The reason was that he had spotted an object in his Sphere of Perception hidden within a hollow log in the middle of the pig’s clearing.

In the log was hidden a small box. However, this box was not a nice jeweled one, but just bronze. Using Identify confirmed it indeed wasn’t as good as the jeweled one.

[Magical Bronze Lockbox (Common)] – A system-created magical lockbox enchanted with the ability to block off all types of attempts to peek inside before opened

Nevertheless, beggars can’t be choosers. He opened the lockbox and found a small round object. It looked like a stone coin. Not wasting any more time wondering what exactly he was holding, he identified it.

[Tutorial Equipment Upgrade Token (Common)] – Upgrade any basic starting item from the Tutorial to common-rarity.

An item that was by far the most game-like he had encountered. Just a straight-up upgrade token. Not that Jake was in any way disappointed by the result. The thought of upgrading his cloak or bow was a welcome one.

He did not even consider upgrading his knife despite how much he used it. After all, his goal was never to use the dagger unless absolutely necessary, and a stronger bow would allow him to kill things easier.

His quiver was also out of the question because it was already common-rarity. Quite self-explanatory, really.

It was a toss-up between the bow and cloak then. Looking at this cloak, it was tattered and badly damaged, so Jake wondered what the effect of upgrading it would be. If it mended the thing, it nearly made it worth it.

The bow would likely increase the damage he could do. He had thought that his increased strength would make the bow less effective by now, as he would draw it fully. He even feared that he would end up snapping it at one point. However, the bow held up strong, and he did not feel its durability reach any limits quite yet.

In fact, it almost felt like it kept getting more durable along with him. Like it somehow adjusted to his higher stats and kept the string taut and the wood healthy and resilient. It was a bit like some of the more modern compound bows with adjustable draw-strength.

Those used technology and physics, though. While Jake’s current wooden bow used magic or system-fuckery of some kind. Ultimately it didn’t matter much; what mattered was that his current bow was still capable of fully supporting his fighting style.

Thus, he decided to try and upgrade his cloak. He took it off and laid it across a stone as he held the token up. He wondered how to use it as a window popped up.

Use [Tutorial Equipment Upgrade Token (Common)] on [Archer’s Cloak (unranked)?

He quickly agreed as the token turned to dust that was carried off by the wind. At the same moment, his cloak rapidly mended and was cleaned of all the blood and dirt. It was like new again. It didn’t look like it had changed much except for a good dry-cleaning in a quick visual inspection.

Touching it, however, it felt far less coarse than before and far more comfortable to wear. Jake quickly focused on it and used Identify.

[Archer’s Cloak (Common)] – A cloak handed out for the Tutorial, now upgraded with a token. Made of resilient cloth that is resistant to slashing attacks. Enchantments: Self-Repair.

Requirements: Tutorial Attendee. Archer Class

While certainly less impressive than his bracers, the self-repair enchant itself made it worth it. Finally, he would not walk around looking like a murderhobo. Well, he kind of still looked like a murderhobo, just one wearing a nice cloak.

of sweat and blood enter his nostrils at every moment. He proceeded to scout a bit around, looking for more lockboxes. Finding nothing, he noticed it starting to get a little darker. He opened the tutorial panel to

Tutorial Panel

62 days &

Total Survivors Remaining: 965/1200

TP Collected: 7335

they entered this place. With the timer saying 15 hours

not feel tired in the least as of yet, the improved stats doing work. He also took small breaks between battles. While the physical exertion did matter, mental exhaustion was the real killer. He had

active, but he doubted they would just leave him

Sphere of Perception offered him a great way of scouting his immediate surroundings, but it provided no way of

a small closed-off space. And it would be completely dark, something mattering little to him with his sphere, but it would likely handicap the beasts

but he decided

daylight to burn, beasts to hunt, and loot to… well,

high-level beasts. He still had the stag to go back

tried to ignore anything below level 8 but did kill a couple, but quickly noticed a huge issue.

but that did result in him missing out on several beasts to kill. He wasn’t going to attack other humans either. While Jake had killed quite a handful already, all of them were in self-defense.

way, he wasn’t going to go full psycho and begin hunting people. So

starting to get really dark, he had barely killed anything, and found no lockboxes or

it with his new bracers. They were incredibly strong, and he even had a

also got some tears and a few small holes during his

get too dark to hunt properly, and

hill earlier, with it being too late to hunt anymore. Or perhaps calling it a hole in a hill would be accurate, as it did not actually consist of

he had encountered, but this one gave him a bit of a special feeling. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but he felt like there

inside, he quickly found himself in complete darkness after barely entering and taking a single turn. The hill hadn’t been that big from

he walked, he found no beasts or enemies of any kind. All he saw was a musty cave. As he got in further and further, he spotted faint light in the

identify, only to be met with a generic

with the downward pattern continuing like a spiral staircase. The mushrooms only got more numerous as he descended, soon not only being on

considered going back. He was not very educated when it came to fungi, but he knew that they could be dangerous even if you didn't touch

by them, with potentially deadly spores floating in the air all around him. His Sphere of Perception was quite overpowered, but

but so do human lungs. The fact that a fungus can take root inside the body was precisely why they could be so

and they only found out

were glowing magic mushrooms. Even if they were just normal ones if they managed to infect him and take root within his body, would healing

the other hand, this place was unique. And if Jake had learned anything from videogames or novels, it was that unique and interesting places contain something

reward, he thought to himself as

he could not avoid stepping on mushrooms as he walked. Small

possible. His danger-sense was silent, but then again, he had no idea if it worked on passive threats like this. Assuming it was even

another ten minutes, he had descended quite a bit, and the mushrooms were at peak-growth. The moss had

late if these things were infectious anyway, so he decided just

to this place. Nothing had changed for the entire hour; it was just more of

wasn’t walking in a circle, exactly how far had he

to be down