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.

a bit better now that he didn’t have the constant smell 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

Tutorial Panel

days

Total Survivors Remaining: 965/1200

TP Collected: 7335

timer saying 15 hours now, that meant

the improved stats doing work. He also took small breaks between battles. While the physical exertion did matter, mental

the beasts would react. They seemed not to be very active, but he doubted they would just leave him alone if he

of Perception offered him a great way of scouting his immediate surroundings, but

seen earlier when he looked for loot. His sphere would be incredibly useful in a small closed-off space. And it would be completely dark, something mattering little to

realize that caves were not the ideal place to fight for a ranged combatant like him, but

daylight to burn, beasts to

but quickly noticed the issue of finding high-level

tried to ignore anything below level 8 but did kill a couple,

to kill. He wasn’t going to attack other humans

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

moon was out, and it was starting to get really dark, he

with his new bracers. They were incredibly strong, and he even had a level 9 badger bite down on them,

got some tears and a few small holes

a tree as he conjured more arrows. It started to get too dark to hunt properly,

of the caves he had seen embedded in a hill earlier, with it being too late to hunt anymore. Or perhaps calling it a hole in a

and looked inside. It seemed rather unassuming like most of the other caves 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 was something special about

after barely entering and taking a single turn. The hill hadn’t been that big from the outside, but

of any kind. All he saw was a musty cave. As he got in further

blue mushrooms. Intrigued, he tried using identify, only to be met with a generic [Mushroom] message. Yeah, he

continuing like a spiral staircase. The mushrooms only got more numerous as he descended, soon not only being

he considered going back. He was not very educated when it came to fungi, but he knew

all around him. His Sphere of Perception was quite overpowered, but it did not allow him to spot minuscule

the cave certainly fitting that criteria, but so do human lungs. The fact that a fungus can

family who had a bad case of mold in their house, and they only found out when their youngest kid got really sick. It

him and take

had learned anything from videogames or novels, it

reward, he thought to

not avoid stepping on mushrooms as he walked. Small spores were swept up, visible in the blue light, as he

His danger-sense was silent, but then again, he had no idea if it worked on passive threats

he had descended quite a bit, and the mushrooms were at peak-growth. The moss had also gotten so bad that it hung from

back now would be too late if these things were infectious anyway, so

walking for over an hour, he started to regret ever going to this place. Nothing had changed for the entire hour; it was just more of the same. He even guessed he was stuck in a loop or something and

walking in

be down here.