The Primal Hunter

The warm flow went through his body as it quietly circulated through his system. The stream of inner energy was the natural cycle that was ever-present in any living being who possessed the energy and subsequently required it to function.

This was also why there was a passive drain of stamina whenever awake. Whenever the body was moved, a minuscule amount of this energy would get used. Of course, skills took far more energy as they easily drained hundreds of times the typical stamina consumption in mere moments.

Which was likely where the name stamina came from. It was the resource that allowed physical actions and skills.

It was very similar to mana in many ways. Except stamina was the ‘mana’ of the body. Much like a caster without mana would be unable to cast a single spell, a human without stamina would be unable to even move a finger.

The two energies were so similar in so many ways. Which made sense as there were ways to change one to the other. But if Jake could do so much with mana… why couldn’t he do it with stamina? But instead of injecting it into an item, why not inject more of it into some regions of his body?

He could already kind of do that currently. Whenever he used Powershot, he infused his arms, shoulder, and upper body with incredible energy. Enough so that if he channeled for too long, his body started taking damage from it.

Whenever he used Hunter’s Sight and Archer’s Eye prior, he also did so with stamina.

With these skills, no conscious effort to move the energy was made by him. It was the skill and, subsequently, the system doing all the guidance. He simply had to think he wanted to use Powershot and focus on doing it. Yet he remembered the feeling he got while doing so.

Which was what he was currently trying to do. At first, he couldn’t find this flow of energy coursing through his body, but eventually, he managed to feel the slight wisp of energy.

He focused on the feeling as he followed the flow. It was an odd sensation feeling the energy travel through channels in his body he was never aware of. Or perhaps they hadn’t been there before the system reforged his body upon entering the tutorial for the first time.

If one were into eastern martial arts and medicine, one would call these channels meridians. Jake had no way to further learn about these channels’ details, but he was nevertheless determined to discover the basics.

He did discover that these ‘meridians’ weren’t actually physically present. They were more metaphysical channels within his body that could change and weave to deliver energy as they pleased. He also discovered that the core of it was around his heart… the same place he felt his vital energy exit from.

Time slowly passed as Jake sat deep in meditation. Every single shred of his consciousness was solely focused on the stamina traveling through him. Slowly he started to try and nudge it a little here and there. Speed it up, slow it down, even perhaps try and change the way it traveled slightly.

While he did find minor success in the first two, he got nothing when he tried to change the direction.

The energy was his own, to begin with, a part of his body. It was energy just like mana was. So he tried experimenting with treating it more like it was mana.

Attempting some of the methods he used when making potions, more specifically stamina potions, he started to find rapid progress.

The artificial sun had already come up once more at this point, as Jake finally opened his eyes.

Standing up, he started punching the air. Or shadowboxing if one wanted to get fancy with the wording. Partway through, he started speeding up slightly as he focused on enhancing himself. It was a small difference, but it worked.

He tried increasing it as he got faster and faster. His fists started whistling through the air as the power got higher and higher. As his movements began to look like a blur, he suddenly felt something was very wrong. He felt numb in his arms, followed by pain, not unlike when he used Powershot for too long. But this was far worse.

He tried to stop the flow and the influx of stamina but found himself unable to. The speed stopped increasing, and he kept boxing, needing some kind of outlet for the energy.

The veins on his arms started bulging and turning red, his fists moving despite Jake trying to stop them. By now, he was entirely out of his stupor and discovered how utterly stupid he had been. He had focused so much on being able to do it and not at all on how to stop.

like they were overinflated balloons. Blood spewed

longer having a medium to travel to with

from his spatial storage, as he somehow

on the ground. He had believed himself to be on to something genuinely remarkable. And while he kind of had, it at the same time was perilous to play around with. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit to himself. Within such a

would be a lifelong disability. Now, he just found it a minor inconvenience as it took slightly longer to

health points, they had only decreased by a bit less than 1000 despite losing both

he could control his inner energy a bit better, it should help his use of skills. Say, what if he tried to speed up the charging of Powershot

the benefits of Powershot was the immediate release of energy whenever he let go of the

any sign of stopping or outlet.

power supply in a computer. While the power supply was technically drawing power from a source able to deliver far more energy than necessary, it would only take what was

cables directly to his graphics card, frying it real good. Sadly

only targeted his arms. He could only dread what would have happened if he tried to speed up the flow in his entire body. While it would likely grant a significant increase in power, it would equally as likely result in a rapid

the thoughts spun in his head, his arms were slowly regrowing. At the same time, the system popped

progress. Postponing or delaying your choice may lead to adverse

shit, Jake thought, as he was reminded of what he was doing before his

menu once more, he subconsciously checked the list and was surprised to find another new

same amount of damage to the enemy as

confirm his suspicion that one could somehow

why he hadn’t seen anything

Perception as he called it, which of course, allowed him to ‘see’ everything in a sphere around him and the danger sense, which gave

among the more tangible benefits. The everyday help

yet it didn’t provide anything but the bloodline ability. Jake opened the window to see it to confirm and was a bit taken

essence of your being. A unique, innate ability awakened in the bloodline of Jake Thayne. Grants the Sphere

description had changed. It hadn’t been a massive change, but it had changed nevertheless. Looking at the log, he couldn’t see the old version of it. But he could remember

pondered as he kept reading the ability. The function of the ability hadn’t changed, and he didn’t feel any difference either. It was just the wording. The wording used was the same terms

that mentioned his name. Even those that alluded to his name did so by addressing him. But

still in progress. Postponing or delaying your

he dispelled the message that popped up once more to warn him of how much time

he settled on the Splitting Arrow

prey becomes a field of death. Fire an arrow that splits into several copies while in flight. Each arrow strikes with the power of the original. Adds a small bonus to the effect of agility and strength

would give him a more practical approach to handle crowds of enemies and provide an additional attack he

Nature Affinity just didn’t appeal to him that much. His intuition told him the same, and as he

instantly wanted to try out the skill. Remembering his current lack of limbs, however, he sadly had

sphere didn’t pick up anything within it - nothing of importance

faster. While his mana was pretty much full, his stamina was reduced to less than 30%

drawback of completely cutting off all senses in the body. Except for touch, that is, which meant that he could still

any way. Perhaps he could have tried to speed up the healing process, but he decided just to let it do its work. He had

didn’t move through any set

energy-concentration in other parts of his body started gathering towards the two limbs as they slowly regenerated. Rapidly being