The Primal Hunter

The otherwise peaceful pond was now disturbed by blood and dead beasts - a situation that seemed to not sit well with the Great White Stag as it slowly walked in.

Jake was a bit more than a hundred meters away at this point, as he observed from a small hill. His head barely popped up to the top of the grass, leaving it still partly covered. He was unsure if this distance was safe, but he guessed it was. If it weren’t… well, he would handle that problem if it presented itself.

The Great White Stag slowly walked around the clearing for a bit, sniffing the ground here and there and inspecting every single one of the corpses. The three does following it did so silently, though Jake could clearly feel that they were very alert and ready to spring into action at any moment.

He couldn’t help considering attacking now. The stag was alone with only its three usual followers with it. In the center, it was always surrounded by close to a hundred other beasts… but he didn’t attack.

His mind told him ‘yes’, but his instincts and intuition gave him a resounding ‘no’. Something felt off about the entire situation. Why would the big boss come here only with three followers? It seemed far too convenient.

So he waited.

The clearing’s perimeter was scoured carefully by both the Great White Stag and its followers, forcing Jake to duck down a little lower. At one point, he felt his danger sense vaguely warn him that they got close. Too close.

The white stag kept sniffing around the area for a few minutes before it suddenly seemed to get bored. It bellowed at the does around it, as they all sprung into action. Jake momentarily thought he was discovered, but quickly calmed down when he saw what they were doing.

They bit into the dead deer that he had killed and started dragging them across the soil. The stag merely watched them work as they gathered up the corpses and put them all in a big pile. When they were all gathered up, the stag finally made its intentions clear as its antlers started giving off light.

Jake instantly felt it in the air. The very atmosphere seemed to change as the fake sun above darkened. The sky turned black as a bright white orb appeared - a moon.

Or, more accurately, a representation of a moon. It wasn’t the moon from earth, but an entirely unblemished marble. There were no craters on it, nothing at all. It looked like a perfectly round pearl floating above. What happened next, however, made him aware that this was not merely an illusion.

The antlers of the Great White Stag pulsed with mana and light as the moon above came alive. A beam descended on the pile of corpses less than a second later, enveloping it entirely. It had to have a radius of at least 3 or 4 meters, with a mana intensity far above anything Jake had ever seen before. Discounting whatever the Malefic Viper had done, of course.

A few seconds later, the light stopped just as abruptly as it came. What was left was… nothing. Not a single piece of the beasts remained, not even a single drop of blood on the grass. Which lead to the second point… the grass was completely untouched. In fact, it seemed to have more vitality than before the light descended.

With its work done, the stag’s antlers stopped glowing as the sky returned to normal. With its does in tow, it sauntered back towards the center pond once more.

Jake was left astonished by the display. The power behind it was above what he had imagined. But what was even more incredible was how the hell the beast had done it. He had a pretty good sense for mana by now, but whatever the hell it did, it didn’t do entirely with its own power. It was like it had pulled pure unadulterated power out of nothing.

somehow amplified whatever mana it did use to create a bigger phenomenon. Like how a single spark could lead to a house burning down, it too had merely released a

more than just the sum of its parts. The system amplified it, but whatever the Great White Stag

astonishment, he wasn’t deterred at all. Its display of power was noticeable, yes, but it wasn’t above and beyond what he could face. It was more the concept behind

made him more excited to face it eventually. To discover what more it would have in store for him. For him to overcome it. But first, he still had a lot of other deer

move swiftly from pond to pond and eliminate the groups one by one. Then finally, he would strike at the Great White Stag. Based on

and tremendous motivation, he dove into the

memory after memory. Of the things he had done in the past and how he had dealt with it. Countless visions of his behavior and rationalization superimposed on each other, forcing him to reflect on his path,

brother, the pain he had inflicted upon his parents, and all those he had hurt through his actions. The

or to make the wrong decision at the

Where he had, for the first time ever, felt hatred and killing someone not for pragmatic reasons, but because he truly

be able to. But it was chaotic. Uncontrolled. Too close to the weakness that led to the escalated war. The suicidal actions of Hayden and even

the dreams made something absolutely clear to him. This tutorial was his to claim, his foundation to build his power upon. He felt

reach beyond perfection

their camp. He was speaking of hope

office workers who never had any desire to fight. They were understandably distraught after the death of every single combatant except for Bertram. And it wasn’t like he had ever been

class, all of that had changed. The hopeless had turned to an optimistic view of the future. Jacob spoke of the wonders of the system, the existence of gods, and how he had even

that perhaps death was not the final end. Everyone knew of religious messages, and with gods being a real thing, it led

by function. He had called himself a guide of sorts.

a class level. The survivor was only at level 14 before he leveled,

his progress was on another

of Hope] has reached level 36 - Stat points allocated, +8

days, he had gained 11 levels. From merely talking and teaching. He was ecstatic at the new possibilities opened up before him, and his enthusiasm for the system and his new class only seemed to

one knows, an engaged and interested teacher is far better than a bored

had also earned

what to teach. Grants knowledge of the teachings of the Holy Church directly from the Holy Pantheon itself. Increase the

of the Holy Mother herself. It was only surface-information about the specific members, but he did discover that the

was the knowledge of their teachings. Teachings of compassion and working together. Of the importance of cohesion and in guiding others towards a greater path. Teachings against