The Primal Hunter

Jake knew that he had some long days of alchemy before him. Looking at the dungeon challenge window, he exited the bedroom to the laboratory.

Time remaining: 26 Days – 6:21:57

He had only spent a bit over three and a half days in this dungeon. He had, in his mind, plenty of time to find a cure, but not enough time to slack off. With his evolution out of the way and being completely refreshed from the process, he had no excuse not to get to it.

He had days of hard work ahead of him. No way he was going to die here. A plan was already beginning to form in his mind on how to pass the challenge. One he could only snicker at for its sheer stupidity. But sadly, the plan did not include him leaving early. He knew there was an entire tutorial going on outside, but that could wait. Jake couldn’t help but think of his colleagues still outside and decided to check the tutorial panel.

Tutorial Panel

Duration: 58 days & 11:22:58

Total Survivors Remaining: 754/1200

A bit more than a third had died by now. Jake dearly hoped that his colleagues were not among them. While he held no love for Richard, the guy seemed competent enough, and he knew that if Jacob was good at anything, it was to get in the good graces of others. He believed their chances were good unless something very unpredictable happened.

Shaking his head, he threw the thought away. It was a waste of time to worry about others when he was already battling death. He would seek them out when he got out of there. For now, there was nothing he could do to help them in any way. The best way to help them was to help himself.

Determined, he cleaned the bowl, got the ingredients, and jumped right back into making more poisons and potions. He had a long grind ahead of him.

Jacob dragged his fingers across his chin, feeling the stubble that had now grown into a full-on beard. He hadn't had a beard for years now, always going with the clean-cut style. Not that he thought there was anything wrong with having a beard. He avoided one mainly for professional reasons as, while the company dress-code did not directly prohibit beards, it strongly discouraged them. It was a silly rule, but the company directors were quite conservative and believed beards to be unprofessional for some reason.

Not that any of that mattered anymore. The world was fucked. Jacob did feel rather sour in having spent so many years climbing the corporate ladder for it to all turn out to be a massive waste of time. That time would have been better spent going to self-defense classes. Fencing or archery or pretty much any sports teaching you just minor combat skills would be more useful.

He had never been a fighter. At least not in the literal sense. He had never been in a fight his entire life outside of maybe minor scuffles as a child. Instead, he focused on studying, excelling in academics, graduated top of his class in university, and became the youngest department chief the company had ever seen.

But now, in this tutorial, he was low on the ladder. As it turns out, Richard owned a private security firm before the initiation and had come here with many of his employees. Of anyone Jacob had met so far in the tutorial, Richard excelled the most.

He was also the first one Jacob knew of that had evolved and then afterward even the first to also evolve his class. Jacob himself was only level 19 in his class still, but he had evolved his race. The entire race evolution thing was… perplexing.

When someone evolved, they would disappear for a few seconds before appearing again in the same place. The effects of evolution were also interesting. After evolving, one could vaguely feel something in the air. Some kind of energy. It didn’t take long to conclude that this new energy was mana. Not that anyone knew what to do with this new mana sense.

By now, they had been in this damn place for only a bit over two weeks. Even in the beginning, Jacob was well aware of his own lack of combat prowess, but it had only become more apparent. He wasn't the lowest level among his peers, but far from the top.

left as he had neither heard nor seen anything of Jake since

had been the first among them to die. They had been fighting some more of those cursed badgers when he got unlucky and nearly tripped, allowing one of the beasts to bite into his neck. He had not died instantly, but they had run out of

at the time. In fact, they only had four healers in their entire camp, despite having already surpassed a hundred people. The highest leveled healer

got a lot slower once more after that. The first 10 levels were relatively easy, then it got a bit more difficult between 10 and 25, and then even harder once more after that. Jacob had no idea what level Richard had reached, just

that had died were Dennis and Lina. Jacob still remembered the two vibrant youths when they parted. Both

as them. Negotiations had been going well for a while, and there were even plans of merging the two. Then Lina and Dennis’s group got ambushed by the

their own to strike back, as a group from the other camp also got wiped out, and from

enraged the other faction as they had adamantly claimed they had nothing to do with the first

panel, it was depressing to see the number of

Tutorial Panel

49 days

Total Survivors Remaining: 599/1200

flared up on days where larger groups from the two camps encounter each other. On the worst day, 21 people were killed split between their two factions, and that was even excluding random deaths to

done. It had worked for the most part and

point, and finding beasts below level 10 was borderline impossible at this point. Most in the immediate area were around level 20, but only a short walk away, and one would

beasts grew in level. Jacob doubted there even existed any beasts below level 10 in the entire forest at this point. While this was generally considered a positive aspect for those seeking to grow stronger, it was a

It was manageable as they also had people with classes above level 25, but for lower leveled groups like his own, those beasts were formidable. Many of them had magical abilities

on professions, would not stand a chance if they faced any such beasts,

Joanna, who had been the first ever to get one, was still the highest leveled crafter. While she was still a bit away

Her leg had regrown. The wooden leg had simply been whisked away, and a

given all those with professions vigor like never before. Even Richard had been very pleased and gone to congratulate her and offered for her to be the crafters'

on from the other crafters around her. It had only been two days ago, but she held quite the political power within the entire camp by now, as professions'

profession. The food cooked by them allowed wounds to heal faster, and many could even help the body fight off potential infections or poison. Other than that, the food tended to provide additional bonuses, like increased mana and stamina regeneration, the best of it even giving a temporary bonus to the

foreman in a steelworks before the tutorial along with being a heavy warrior, who had even chosen a hammer as his starting weapon. As it turned out, the man even did smithing in his free time and had selected a hammer

if Jacob’s predictions were correct, he was currently the highest leveled when it came to race in their entire camp, despite not having upgraded his class yet. However, he was likely still above level 20 in his class.

by The Smith. Without a doubt, he had proved himself invaluable as time went on, and many of their weapons started to require repair. Many upgrade tokens had been found, giving the equipment self-repair, but it only accounted for less than

had the right materials. He did all of the work for free due to the experience he gained from doing so, which made Jacob consider the impact a leveling system would have had on the

cabin was constructed by another one of the newly discovered professions, one going by the name of 'builder'. As the name implied, they could build houses and even

a few days ago. He had chosen to be a caster attuned to frost magic. After his evolution, he packed quite the punch, throwing out

Bertram, who had been at Jacob’s side through

at level 5. He still

before himself was due to the conflict with the other faction. Night-raids had started happening four days ago, and Richard had increased the number of people on watch significantly. A job that was mainly given to the archers due to their high