The Primal Hunter

Smiling in satisfaction, Jake got out two empty bottles. Usually, a batch such as this would quickly fill four or five bottles, but the first creation’s output wasn’t exactly good. He had taken a long time doing the crafting and had thus evaporated a lot of the concoction. But it was kind of expected, so Jake didn’t think that much of it. It was a success, and that was the most crucial part.

Bottling it up, he identified the poison.

[Hemotoxic Poison (Common)] – Greatly increases bleeding on infected entities and makes any injuries harder to heal. The poison must be introduced directly into the bloodstream to have any effect.

It was literally the same description of the inferior-rarity version, save for it adding “greatly” at the beginning. But Jake could feel that it was quite a lot more powerful. The energy it gave off was palpable, as one should expect after expending more than 2500 mana during the concoction.

Not because the crafting process required that much typically, but because, once more, Jake had done it super slowly and inefficiently. Something that would surely improve as he got more practice.

By now, his armor that could be restored by their enchants had been repaired. His mana was low, and his stamina also wasn’t full. He had even lost a few health points due to the toxic fumes released during the crafting process - a hazard of the trade.

Cleaning everything up, he gave one look at the Den Mother as it still sat unmovingly.

Soon, he thought as he smiled to himself.

Entering meditation, time passed as he slowly restored his resources. During meditation, all senses except for touch were cut off completely. He could still feel his and the energy moving within his body, but nothing outside of it. With his normal senses, that is. His Sphere of Perception was as always unaffected, and he had made it a habit to try and train it during meditation.

In the beginning, he could only see material things through it, but after the first evolution at level 10, he had started to also faintly feel the mana in the air.

It was only a slight nudge in the wind. When Jake focused, it was as if he could ‘see’ a faint mist covering everything. As he practiced using his mana, and as his alchemy improved with his mana control, so did his ability to sense it.

At all times, he could feel it around him. He could pull on it and attempt to bend it. He had tried a myriad of things, but so far, the only one he had ever really succeeded in was to weave his strings. It was one of the first-ever accomplishments he had with mana, and it had stayed that way. But his limitation was that these strings had to be attached to his body. Something that shouldn’t be necessary… in theory.

So he spent his meditation trying to do just that. Manipulate mana without touching it directly. His largest obstacle was to have the mana not simply scatter. If he made a string connected to his body, the moment he made it dislodge from himself, it would just get swept up. It was like it had no substance, so it just integrated back into the atmospheric mana.

As he meditated, the hours ticked by, and soon he started to feel a different kind of tired. His stamina was restoring, but he still felt more and more tired. No, exhausted had to be the word. An exhaustion one feels after being up for far too long, and the body finally putting its foot down.

Thinking about it… he had been awake for a long time. He didn’t need as much sleep as before; that much was obvious… but didn’t he need ANY sleep?

Meditation and stamina potions had kept him going for a long time. Likely too long. The problem was though… he didn’t want to sleep.

Doing alchemy, practicing mana control, fighting, all of these were something to do. These things kept Jake’s mind active. Occupied. It kept stray thoughts and worries away.

But if he slept, the floodgates would open. The last time he slept, he dreamt. Dreams that to him were nightmares. He saw his family, his friends, the ones in his life he cared about. The dreams only served as reminders of what he may have lost and what he didn’t even know if he still had.

It has to be remembered that upon entering the tutorial, Jake’s lowest stat was willpower. He had never been the strong-willed type. He was the type to focus on one thing and then become utterly devastated for a long time if it didn’t work out.

When he had his accident that stopped him from doing archery, he was depressed for a long time. He never picked up any new hobbies but just wallowed in despair. It was only because he was set on the path of going to university by his parents that he recovered. He had a new goal. But he still never got seriously into any new hobbies again.

The experience had scarred him, and he now hid away from it. And now he

to confront whatever it was. He preferred just to hide away and do his own thing. Fighting to the death was simple. He knew how to do it because the result of the fight relied on

his family still lived… if his friends were in the only now dozens of people outside who still lived… he didn’t know. It was not up to

He had learned throughout his life to do that wonderfully so. To focus excessively on

avoid dreams during the challenge dungeon somehow. He had

beast was foolish in his current

the bed, he just threw himself on his stomach as his eyelids got heavier. The moment his body hit the sheets, his eyes closed, and

his mind started resting, so did the chains he had shackled down his thoughts with. And once more, memories spiraled forth from his subconscious. A dream that instantly

One that was depicting a period of Jake’s life that was

from before and had signed up for university at the same time. To save money, they had decided to get a place together

Despite a few hurdles at the beginning about who did the dishes and finally deciding to just get a dishwasher, their relationship only grew closer. Jake trusted his roommate with everything and believed that his

had even managed to land a girlfriend. She was in the same faculty, and they had meshed well together.

things were also going great there. To sum it up, he had a close friend, a girlfriend, and things were just… great. At least Jake interpreted it that way… because he

them for a few more days between Christmas and new year. But his mom convinced him to go back and spend some of the break together with his peers. Her thoughts had come from the right place, but the

he had said that he would be at

a small convenience store on the way to get some milk and other essentials on the way. He wanted to have it stocked up for when Andy returned. To

waddled up the stairs like a duck. A big goofy smile on his face as he had bought things to surprise the two people he cared the most about from his university life. His plans for a nice dinner the next day were set, and he

the sun was already down. He had expected the apartment to be dark but found the light was already turned on at the entrance. Weird, he

when he heard some muffled sounds.

groceries away. He was halfway when he noticed something off out of the corner of his eye. A blouse was on the couch. The one he had given Madeline for her birthday last spring. Not the

was wrong, but he once more chose not to think about it too much as he finished emptying the

than necessary. As he went to

it down, as he kept

still couldn’t kill the feeling. Looking at the door to Andrew’s room, he decided not to postpone. The muffled sound continued as he slowly got closer. Putting his ear

was not what he had feared - a movie. He admonished himself for his stupidity and paranoia with a sigh of relief, as he no longer hesitated

woman. Both butt-naked. And both turning their head

spoke, as the silence was finally broken by Jake turning around and

and got his coat and shoes on once more and left the apartment without a word. He got on the bus

change. The thoughts kept spinning. How could he be so stupid? Ignored all the signs for so long? He would lie to himself if he didn’t hold any

several missed calls from both Madeline and Andy, but he ignored all of them. When he made it

the first month of

arranged movers to do everything for him. He acted as if

middling student. Afterward, he soared to the top of nearly all his courses. Jake ignored anything and everything as he dived into his studies. He thought nothing of friends or love. That part of him was

But dreams had a way of not being entirely accurate.

instead of a jacket and shoes, he took on his gear -

this