The Primal Hunter

The newly gained Infused Powershot shot the arrow at an unprecedented speed as it hit the Alpha Venomfang Badger right in its midsection. The powerful attack tore straight through the beast's body as it exited out the other way, piercing any vital organ in the way.

Jake was overjoyed at his method working and wanted to read through the notification with the upgraded skill, but was quickly brought back to reality by the Alpha's mad roar, as it charged towards him with reckless abandon.

He quickly realized the gravity of the situation as he was forced to jump to the side to avoid its mad charge.

His bow had broken upon releasing the arrow, his sword was still hanging from the beast's chin, as it seemed to have gotten stuck on something, and his other bow had been thrown who-knows-where after the mad rampage of the creature.

But he did have one big thing going for him in the big hole torn straight through the creature, coupled with the wounds left behind by a few arrows and the piece of flesh it had torn off itself. Instead of the bleeding stopping from these wounds, it had now started again, the hemotoxin doing its work.

The beast was also no longer as bright as before. The Infused Powershot seemed to have thoroughly enraged it, making it thrash around uncontrollably. However, the large movements only served to worsen its wounds.

A problem for Jake, though, was his inability to capitalize on the situation further. He didn't have a bow nor a sword, and trying to stab it with arrows or his dagger in melee didn't seem like a good idea either. So, he went with perhaps the most boring approach and kited it around, letting blood-loss do the job for him.

After running around for a few minutes, he finally found his bow as it appeared in his sphere. With it in hand, he could continue to land potshots on the beast whenever an opportunity presented itself. These arrows were the ones soaked with Necrotic Poison, making them all the more deadly.

In an attempt to take less damage, the beast ended up taking more as it ripped out all the poisoned arrows shortly after they hit it. Huge chunks of flesh were torn out, but the Alpha could not regenerate as every last shred of vitality was spent trying not to succumb to blood loss.

The badger started getting slower as pools of blood soaked into the already moist soil. Its screeches got less intense as it got weaker and weaker.

This naturally only made it easier for Jake to do more and more damage to the beast, making the conclusion of their fight inevitable.

Finally, the beast fell on the ground after Jake landed an arrow on one of its legs. It still tried to crawl forward, but with it barely moving, he safely finished it off by finally landing an arrow in its eyes, penetrating into the skull.

With a breath of relief, he looked at the dead beast. It had been the strongest enemy he had ever faced by far. The fight had given him a feeling he had missed for a long time. Everything had been too easy after he exited the challenge dungeon.

He didn't count the ambush by Richard as that wasn't a fight but a one-sided attack. A battle he didn't even want to have, based on false pretenses. That time had only been about escaping… he hadn't been in the right headspace, but if it ever happened again… no, he would never allow himself to be so stupid as to land in such a situation a second time. And if he was, he wanted just to be strong enough to dominate the opposition.

To do that, Jake needed to challenge himself and improve, but every other fight had just been too simple. Jake had barely taken damage in most of them, and both his stamina and mana rarely took a hit.

A few good fights had been here and there, but nothing to really stroke his desire for a real challenge. But now, he had finally gotten one. It was a satisfying feeling, to be sure.

Looking at his notifications, he got a level, but what he instead focused on was his surprise at the badger level.

*You have slain [Alpha Venomfang Badger – lvl 71] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 102000 TP earned*

Class: [Ambitious Hunter] has reached level 40 - Stat

Several badgers had been in their 60's and were so much weaker. He trusted the instincts that told

or profession, so could one perhaps get worse races. Or maybe only

had transformed to become a dragon, and even now, he had the form of a scaled, very human-looking man. Several considerable changes to his race appeared through that line of evolution, though always keeping the reptilian theme. For him to

the same. Variants appeared among them, providing better stats and skills. It would certainly explain why a level-gap of only a

he was sure to get in the future. For

beast. It took quite a bit of work to get it free, as it had been stuck between two teeth,

that it would be damaged, and as it didn't possess the repair enchantment, he would have no way of fixing

notifications list and saw

require a long charging time but can be charged in a brief moment. The higher the

that the system had recognized his attempt and given him a new skill. He could feel the system helping him there towards the end, though it was only slightly. Honestly, he did most of it on a

intelligence, making Jake happy to finally use the stat. Well, he did have Touch of the Malefic Viper, but that skill required him to

per level, while he also got 2 for every race level-up, giving him a total of 150 intelligence currently. It was his lowest stat

do something. Willpower, as an example, increased his mana regeneration, while his wisdom, of course, increased his maximum mana. If he had to guess, then intelligence maybe had

have the stat mentioned as providing bonuses to

the old Powershot. Or, the potential for it to be powerful was higher. Powershot relied solely on his stamina along with his physical body's ability to withstand the pent-up energy until he released

and stamina. Now, the weapon was covered alongside Jake's body, making that also matter far more. The limiter on

use a corresponding amount of mana as stamina. The damage inflicted by overcharging the

and stamina combined, naturally making the skill far stronger. Though it wasn't a simple addition, making the power double. A fast shot without

feel that it wasn't like he couldn't do a Powershot like before, relying purely on stamina. He couldn't imagine many scenarios where he would

the skill was entirely the system's doing, while Jake had only willed the way it was supposed to happen. How it managed to release the energy into the attack so perfectly was way, way above

according to the user's actions, but

very relevant currently as he had just

Hunter class

prompt to unlock a new skill, as

suspects were still there, with all the weapon skills still clogging up the beginning, followed by all the skills he had passed

considered Hunter's Tracking and Hunter's Trapping Expertise quite a bit but had ultimately

situations where they would be useful, but he just didn't really feel like they appealed to him yet. Perhaps next time, he told himself, knowing full well

the newcomers, after all. Of which there were a few - the first one not really that

is strength in simplicity. Charge a melee weapon with mana, striking for additional damage. Adds a minor bonus to the effect of intelligence and strength

could be useful, but Jake doubted it would be anywhere close as useful as many

begin with. While he saw himself as somewhat competent at it, the