The Primal Hunter

The next hallway was quite a bit longer than the previous one and suspiciously lacking in mushrooms. This meant that the narrow passage was covered entirely in darkness. Not that it mattered much to Jake with his sphere.

As he walked, he remembered that he had his skills back. He took out the dagger he had gotten during the second challenge room and identified it.

[Dagger of Bloodletting (Common)] – A dagger created by an ancient long-dead cult, made for sacrificial purposes. Enchantments: Any cuts made with this blade bleed more, for longer, and are harder to heal.

The enchant explained why it bled so damn much when he cut himself. He put the dagger away as he proceeded down the hallway.

After walking for a couple of minutes, he turned a corner and saw a light source in the distance. But this was not the blue light he had gotten used to, but ‘normal’ light—the orange/whitish kind. Well, technically, light is a combination of all colors on the color spectrum. What matters is that it was light with colors outside of blue.

He sped up his walk and exited the hallway to find himself in a new room.

It was not what he expected. It looked like an old library or perhaps an office. There were bookshelves all along the walls, filled with old leather-bound books. A chair and a desk with a few writing utensils were positioned in the middle of the room.

There was also an old wooden door at the wall directly across from where he entered. As hadn't seen any system messages yet, he walked up to one of the bookshelves and tried to take out a book but was met with an invisible barrier of some sort.

He tried with a couple of the other bookshelves with the same result. He also attempted to move some paper and the small cup filled with pencils and pens on the desk. Both of which he couldn’t touch either due to the same kind of barrier. Finding nothing else of interest, he went through the only door in the room.

He was met with a small, relatively normal-looking hallway with five doors in it, two on each side of the corridor, and one at the end. The first door he opened led into a room that had a bed in it. The rest of the room was absolute barebones, with only a small wooden table and chair as well as a dresser and a closet. He was unable to open the dresser and closet, met with yet another invisible barrier.

Leaving the room, he closed the door after him and opened the next one. This one could only be described as a medieval bathroom, that for some reason, had a modern shower and toilet placed in it. He walked into the room and tried flushing the toilet, which surprisingly worked. So, an ancient forgotten temple in a dungeon with running water. Got it.

The third room he entered was at the end of the hall, and what he found himself in wasn’t exactly what you could call a ‘room’. It was more like a hellscape in the form of a cave. Mushrooms. Everywhere. Not just the blue, glowing kind, but also other less evil-looking ones.

The cave was not closed off either and had another exit beside the wooden door. Jake walked out of the aforementioned exit and found himself in a small walled-off garden. Flowers were growing everywhere, weird-looking grass and bushes aplenty, many of which he had seen before outside in the tutorial forest. There was even a small pond with different aquatic plants.

He called the garden walled-off, but the wall that did so seemed to extend up into eternity. Hanging above the garden was a miniature version of the artificial sun he had seen outside in the forest, emitting both warmth and light. He was briefly confused, as Jake recalled it being late in the evening when he entered the challenge dungeon, and according to the timer counting down, only a couple of hours had passed since then.

Shaking his head at the weird garden, he went back through the cave and into the fouth room. This one was like an old laboratory. Not the modern kind, but the 1600’s mad scientist kind. It looked like a dream come true for an insane chemist.

There were mortars and pestles, alembics, and a slew of other tools and materials. In the room were also open barrels with what seemed like water. Off to the side were closed cabinets that couldn’t be opened either due to a barrier.

As he made his way out of the room towards the next, he wondered what exactly the system wanted him to do. No challenge had been represented, and no way forward had made itself known. This place seemed more like a living quarter than any kind of testing facility. Maybe the challenge is to find the challenge?

earlier. In the middle of the room was a pedestal. He moved to it and found a hand-imprint

flared as a black spike shot up, penetrating through it before he could react. He yelled out in pain and

small, subtle black lines spread through the veins in his

the depiction of a small snake. The very same snake he had seen on the symbols and mural. He tried opening the

running through your veins before it flares up and kills

result in the challenger being fully restored and returned to the tutorial

yourself of

Time remaining: 30 Days.

of the Malefic

Y/N

first option to obtain a profession he had seen since

never done it at any higher level. He also severely doubted that knowledge of chemical compounds would have a lot of use with magic being a thing

poison came from. The wound had already scabbed over due to

healed, walking away with a new dagger and a bonus to willpower. Oh, and a bunch of shitty blue mushrooms, along with

wasn’t even like he had spent a lot of

heaven-shattering dragon, it had to be powerful. Fantasy books and games had long conditioned him to unquestionably believe

further hesitation, he

obtained the Alchemist of

like it was split open as information surged

a massive headache and a considerable amount of system messages. He took a few more seconds to gather his thoughts; the headache also fading away.

be discovered. This rare type of alchemist specializes in the concoction of poisons. From a craft classically bringing restoration and improvement, the Alchemist of the Malefic Viper brings pain, deterioration, and death. Stat

assumed the ability to make potions based on his experience playing certain

part of the description a bit different. This variant of the alchemist profession focused on poison. The entire description was ominous, but then again, it was clearly modeled or at least heavily inspired by a snake. To be

also provided more stat bonuses than his archer class, giving two more stats per level overall. None directly impacting combat, however, and he was slightly sad to see no bonus to perception. But what’s done is done, he had accepted

the profession wasn't a minor one. Likely as significant as his class choice. If not more so as this one was clearly not some basic profession handed out left and right. Finally... Jake had to admit that the thought of doing alchemy

that, he moved on to the next part: Skills. With a quick skim, he saw that he had gained

throughout existence. The knowledge of plants and their effects is, therefore, essential to any alchemist. An alchemist must know what he works with in order to create his products

information he got upon receiving the profession. He now knew of a lot of different plants he previously had no idea existed. The thought was scary that the system could directly implant knowledge

the knowledge worked was weird. It was not immediate knowledge, like how he knew how to use his bow from previous training. It was the kind of knowledge that felt like it gradually appeared if he thought of something relevant to the skill. Like if he thought of needing a plant that had healing properties, a considerable

his head at the frankly

and butter of most alchemists. A potion can be the savior in a time of need, or that extra boost to defeat your opponent. Allows for the brewing of potions with common-rarity and below. Must have suitable materials and equipment in order to create potions. Adds a minor increase to the effectiveness of created potions based on

most focus on the aspect of giving life through their craft, others prefer to take it away. Allows for the concoction of common-rarity poisons and