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.

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

power he released from his Infused Powershot was more than just the sum of its parts. The system amplified it, but whatever the Great White Stag did was on an entirely different level. There was something more behind it, but

of power was noticeable, yes, but it wasn’t above and beyond what he could face. It was more the concept behind the attack

store for him. For him to overcome it. But first, he still had a lot of other deer to kill. He could likely wait at the pond for another group to appear but decided to head

eliminate the groups one by one. Then finally, he would strike at the Great White Stag. Based on the number of enemies, he should easily reach level 50 in his

dove into the tall grass, already looking forward to

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

parents, and all those he had hurt through his actions. The nurse who got fired and sued, the people he had

could be considered a weakness. In certain scenarios, they could lead you astray or to make the

other was during the final battle. Where he had, for the first time ever, felt hatred and killing someone not for pragmatic reasons, but because he truly

strength above and beyond what he should be able to. But it was chaotic. Uncontrolled. Too close to the weakness that

to claim, his foundation to build his power upon. He felt the whispers in the back of his mind, guiding

Through this, he could reach beyond perfection because that was his

the other survivors of their camp.

middle-aged office workers who never had any desire to fight. They were understandably distraught after the

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 met one. He spoke of a way out of this

being a real thing, it led many to the natural conclusion of an afterlife existing. At first, he had met resistance, but as he got better, so did he

called himself a guide of sorts. To

and in only a few hours, one of them got a level - a class level. The survivor was only at level 14 before he leveled, but it did prove the possibility of leveling a

well, his progress

has reached level

he had gained 11 levels. From merely talking and teaching. He was ecstatic at the new possibilities opened up before him, and

is far better than a bored one. And Jacob was at

also earned another skill

what to teach. Grants knowledge of the teachings of the Holy Church

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

Teachings of compassion and working together. Of the importance of cohesion and in guiding others towards a greater path.