The Primal Hunter

By now, it was officially confirmed. The system loved long and annoying, pointless tunnels forcing you to walk for way longer than was reasonable.

He had been walking for thirty minutes by now. The light behind him was no longer visible, while he didn't see anything in front of him either. It was subtle, but the tunnel curved slightly, making it quite natural that he couldn't see either end.

The big cavern where he had fought the Alpha had been relatively well-lit by crystals covering the ceiling, but for some reason, the system hadn't bothered lighting the tunnels in any way.

Then again, the tunnels were made to look like the badgers had dug them out. Or maybe they had actually been dug out by them. Jake seriously doubted that with the rest of the dungeon being so obviously pre-designed, but who knows.

Luckily though, Jake had his own source of light. His Alchemical Flame, while a transparent flame, did give off quite a bit of light.

He didn't need the light for knowing where to go as he had his sphere, but because of what Jake was doing as he walked. A book was in one of his hands, illuminated by the flickering flame. The title read: Blood & Poison: Intermediate Hemotoxins I. Not exactly a bestseller, but Jake still found it incredibly interesting.

While the hemotoxic poisons had proved very useful against the Alpha, he still found it lacking, which was why he had decided to create a better version for his fight with the Den Mother.

The dungeon didn't have any time limit, so he saw no reason to rush through it recklessly. Then again, he wasn't going to dally around for no reason. Leveling his alchemy was, in Jake's opinion, just as important as his class, and crafting the hemotoxic poison was yet another worthwhile challenge. He was also getting close to his next skill from his profession, and he had a feeling the next one was going to be juicy.

Life and death battles weren't necessary to scratch his competitive itch and his instinct to challenge himself. The complex concoction-techniques and high requirements for precise mana control also did that.

So far, Jake had only ever created two poisons above inferior-grade. One was his necrotic poison, while the other was the rare amalgamation he had used to pass the challenge dungeon.

The necrotic poison he could make mainly due to his Palate of the Malefic Viper, combined with him eating far more blue mushrooms than he would ever admit to. As eating them gave him insight into their nature, he quickly got extremely familiar with them. And even with that, it still took him quite a while before he crafted his first one.

The amalgamation of poison couldn't really be considered a proper concoction. It had been unstable and would lose its effectiveness within a short time after being crafted, and even then, the effects were questionable at best. On top of that, Jake had used ten rare mushrooms for that one creation, not exactly being frugal with his ingredient-spending. Needless to say, it wasn't a feat he could easily replicate.

Which left him with his current challenge of making the hemotoxin he was currently aiming for. He had the ingredients for it already, still having them stored in his necklace.

He had gotten used to the spatial storage by now, but occasionally he was reminded of how impressive it actually was. The herbs stayed fresh within the necklace, just like they had in the garden found in the challenge dungeon. It was like walking around with a portable greenhouse frozen in temporal suspension.

Within that metaphorical greenhouse, he had also located the plant which he intended to use.

[Bloodthorn Stalk (Common)] – A relatively common herb found in areas with an abundance of vitality-based creatures. It has a sweet smell, often attracting unwitting animals. A significant amount of tainted vital energy is found within, agitating the blood of any living entity it touches.

This stalk was, as the description said, not very rare. It grew by absorbing the blood of living beings who touched it. This was mainly done to animals thinking it was a beneficial herb and then attempting to eat it, only for the stalk to stay firmly rooted in the ground, scratching the inside of the beast's mouth and absorbing its blood.

The ground below these plants was often red, making many believe that the herb grew in blood-soaked soil. However, it was later discovered that the earth became red due to the Bloodthorn Stalk concentrating the vital energy into it to attract even more prey.

It was quite the insidious plant that had killed and maimed countless living things. Jake had even noticed the stalks starting to turn a bit withered moments after taking them out, forcing him to make a quick run back and pick up a few badger-corpses to feed the poor murder-stalks.

When he was back there, he also considered if he could use anything from the beasts' corpses to make any poisons. Sadly, his Sense of the Malefic Viper made it clear that their venom stopped working after their deaths. If Jake had to guess, it was due to the lack of internal energy. So he had just to use their corpses to feed the stalks.

On an important side note, they actually tasted pretty good. The herb had a lovely smell, with a lot of liquid within. The thorns were peeled off before he started his feasting, of course.

ate plenty of them, as he familiarized himself with the herb before he would begin his practice. Interestingly enough, the

a very long time. It wasn't that he no longer needed substance, but that he managed to keep himself fed only through

the time… but hey, he didn't eat them. Though he really should. Honestly, one can only

end of the long tunnel with his sphere. Picking up

The problem was the kind of badgers, however. Four of them

Venomfang Badger

only thing that soothed him slightly was the fact that they were all spread out. They all seemed to be very territorial, only staying within their

with yet another badger lying upon it.

any spikes, but its hairs all seemed fine and smooth. It had white lines running across its sides in intricate patterns, looking quite beautiful, really. Its size was slightly larger than the Alphas. But more importantly,… it gave off

Mother – lvl

still not evolved yet. It was a great relief, as he had feared the creature

the one had already

thrown out of the main cavern or something? Jake wondered. It was imperative to figure out the intricate lore of the

down one Alpha, and he had confidence in doing so with these ones. Sure, they were slightly stronger, but he had also gained quite a

his current state. Ripped robe, punctured bracers, and

order, with the second being practicing his alchemy and killing the alphas. He knew it wasn't a 1-day project to finish the hemotoxin poison, so he decided to switch between alchemy and fighting, picking off the badgers one by one. If all went well, his poison should be ready for his

getting to work on restoring his equipment and finishing his preparations for his first crafting attempt. He read the recipes, ate the herbs, and fixed his

and common-rarity weren't huge, but they were far from insignificant. The complexity required in the control of mana and the handling of the

and he was

finishing that part without any issues. Next, he started applying the sweet nectar found within the Bloodthorn Stalks. You didn't need

The juices and the rest of the mix acted like magnets with the same poles,

Jake could even react. The entire concoction seemed to erupt as all the liquid flew into

anything into them, but his newly restored cloak wasn't so lucky. The acidic properties of his blood still lingered in the brew, making his

started restoring his cloak once more. He also had his skin hit, but his resistance

was far more dangerous than a regular potion, and even if the same thing had happened during the brewing of one, the eruption would only

was discounting that many alchemists who made poisons had to sometimes test and experiment with their toxins. And the best way to learn of the effect of poison was to experience it yourself. Jake hadn't done this yet, but then again, he hadn't

he made a few more attempts, finding little but steady progress. No level was awarded for his efforts, still putting him at 47, but he wasn't discouraged. He drank one final health potion, topping up his health as he entered meditation to restore his

slept. Health was another story. It did regenerate naturally, but at a rate far slower than the other two. He had lost quite a bit of health against

top it off. Without those, his progress would be far slower as he would be forced to take far too long breaks. This was also the

putting all his free points into perception. He had already done that with quite a lot of them before he had gotten Mark of the Ambitious Hunter, but now that he had that, it only

over the status, he was

Status

Name: Jake Thayne

(E) –

Hunter

[Prodigious Alchemist of the

Health Points (HP): 3540/3540

Mana Points (MP): 3427/4210

Stamina: 1501/1890