The Primal Hunter

The wait was short as he heard the sound of cloven hooves hitting the ground. Soon he saw a group of deer approach the pond, just like all the others had. But the fate of these beasts would not be just another peaceful drink.

He had already prepared his arrows with poison aplenty, and his resources were full, which meant it was killing time.

Jake saw no reason to delay his attack as he stood up from his hiding place and took out his bow. Nocking an arrow and drawing the string, he started charging an Infused Powershot, aiming for the stag in the middle.

The moment he started charging the mana, they all turned towards him in a startle to his slight surprise. He was a good sixty meters away, far further than he expected for them to notice him.

His reaction, however, was swift as he released the arrow. Despite them noticing him, it still hadn’t even been a second from them turning their heads to an arrow arriving, penetrating the skull of the stag before it had a chance to mount a defense.

Despite the damage, Jake had not actually managed to kill the beast. However, he had managed to temporarily disable it, as it staggered and fell down on its hind legs.

With their leader out of commission, the four remaining deer briefly showed confusion before they charged towards him in unison. An expected response, as they were met with a barrage of Splitting Arrows.

Without their leader and designated healer, the deer had a hard time putting up a proper fight. Two fell before they even reached him, and a third one died as Venomfang stabbed it in the abdomen, releasing deadly toxins.

Before he got the opportunity to finish off the last beast, a light fell over it, making its wounds heal at a visible rate - the damn stag had gotten up once more, and from the looks of it, it was completely unharmed.

Bloody healers, Jake complained as he kept fighting the deer.

The fight quickly got prolonged, as he time and time again failed to land fatal blows due to the stag erecting barriers, and whatever damage he did inflict got healed right away. The damn stag didn’t even try to attack Jake a single time, seemingly satisfied with just healing the deer.

The standstill continued for a good five minutes before the stag started running low on mana. Jake had been OK with just slowly draining the beast, as the deer had yet to do any damage to him. He knew the Necrotic Poison, and the toxin from Venomfang wasn’t that easily healed.

He had been honed against far more challenging opponents. While the deer was stronger than most beasts, it was still weak compared to an Alpha Badger. And Jake had only grown stronger since he faced off against those.

When the final barrier shattered under his dagger and penetrated the neck of the deer, it collapsed with a yelp as the venom took hold. A swift stab with his sword finished it off before turning his attention back towards the stag. He had expected it to be already charging his way but was taken aback by what it did instead.

It ran. It bloody ran. Ran back towards the center pond, aka back towards the location of the Great White Stag.

Shit. Jake pulled out his bow once more, simultaneously focusing his senses on the Mark of the Ambitious Hunter he had just placed on the stag. Nocking his arrow, he drew the string as the beast disappeared from his sight, hidden by the tall grass.

The paths created by the beasts were not straight lines, far from it. But luckily Jake knew precisely where the thing was even without a direct line of sight.

Red Sea as it tore through everything in its path. The stag didn’t even register

flowed back into its original place, obstructing his view once more. But the notification

– Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above

48 - Stat points

reached level 49 -

felt great. It was weird, considering he had leveled less than a day ago, but after his trip into the badger dungeon, he had gotten impatient with his leveling speed. He

far above his level, coupled with Mark of the Ambitious Hunter, undoubtedly helped him level far faster. He wasn’t sure of how big the bonus was, as it just said that it gave him bonus experience whenever he killed a marked target higher level than himself. It wasn’t like he got an

before he killed it. It barely had any cost

alchemy by just marking the highest leveled thing he could find and then just leave

was like he had first felt as he stood before an Alpha Badger. It

time to gain more levels from all the beasts running

deer seemed to patrol around. One still needed sustenance at E-grade, but it seemed like overkill to go about drinking it all the time. Jake himself barely needed to eat and drink anymore, making the fact that these deer drank all the time suspicious,

way to the pond. The water was as clear as it could get, but that wasn’t the important part. It gave off an aura and even a faint feeling from his Sense of the Malefic Viper.

– Water infused with strong light-affinity mana, making it purer and hold certain magical properties. Can be used as an ingredient in many alchemical recipes or simply consumed in its raw form to restore mana for those

the information, once more

from his Sense of the Malefic Viper. It was only a faint sensation, but it was

but

On the pond’s side, submerged half a meter or so, several small holes were hidden. They were nearly impossible to see with one’s eyes, but his Sphere

were leading. They were clearly extending towards the center pond. Which would mean that whatever was infusing this water

the water. While he couldn’t identify the stones, he could feel the mana in them. The water itself was at least a common-rarity alchemical reagent that he was sure to find a use for at some point. He

if it was even something one obtained. More specifically, he wondered how one unlocked the skills. Currently, he had

figure that out later, Jake thought to himself as he started collecting the water and stones. However, it didn’t go as planned as when he touched the water; it felt like his hand got

that it had turned red. He had even lost a few health points. Well, there goes my

it. The water would hurt his skin, but he would like to see it hurt his scales.

was utterly unable to harm the scales. This meant that he safely collected

the table, he sighed as he put the collected items

spotted something out the corner of his eye. A deer had come from the north path and was currently staring at him… and the four dead does around him. It was with a group of two other deer and a

path leading towards the center pond. Simultaneously, the two other does headed

out his bow and focused on the doe running towards the center. He didn’t need his intuition to tell him that letting it get away would result in a bad time

charged Infused Powershot. The shot flew true as it struck the doe in its hind