The Primal Hunter

As with any concoction, one first needed ingredients, but of course, Jake had no ingredient-list to go by with this one. So he decided to just go for whatever he felt like would do the most damage. The first of which was a little gift from the Den Mother herself.

[Den Mother’s Poison Gland (Rare)] – A gland containing a highly concentrated toxic liquid, condensed by the Den Mother over a long period.

The gland was a big sack of liquid venom. While it most certainly would be considered an atrocity by many well-renowned alchemists to use such a precious ingredient so wastefully, Jake quite frankly didn’t give a damn.

As for other ingredients, what could be better than a lot of blood infused with Blood of the Malefic Viper? If there was something he still had plenty of left, it was health after all. His entire body was a highly toxic ingredient in itself.

Jake took out a mana potion and quickly drank it, feeling his pool fill quite a bit. The last part of this brilliant creation would require quite a bit of mana, after all.

Standing in front of the pond, he couldn’t delay any longer. He summoned the Gland from his spatial storage, tossing the thing right into the pond. As it entered the pillar of light, it started getting burned up, but it was too late as the gland’s contents entered the water.

Without waiting, Jake took out his dagger as he cut both of his wrists while at the same time suppressing his natural healing. Finally, he covered both of his arms in Scales of the Malefic Viper as he plunged them into the pillar and the water.

Instantly he heard the sizzling sound of the water burning into his scales. The water was already starting to turn darker from the Gland’s contents, and the addition of his blood only made the situation all the more volatile. His last move proved to be the nail in the coffin.

Touch of the Malefic Viper

Not a single thing was held back as he poured his mana into the skill. Both his hands took on a dark green glow as all the water around them began changing color.

At the same time, Jake started manipulating the water with Concoct Poison. His influence was minor as it was clearly not a controlled concoction and without help from the enchanted mixing bowl. But it was enough. Jake didn’t need to make a controlled creation; he just needed to infuse his will into the pond.

It took only a few seconds for the pond to go through drastic changes. The water started bubbling as if it was boiling. At the same time, the otherwise bright white beam also started changing. At first, a faint green gleam could be seen within the light. A gleam that soon turned darker into a dominating dark green color.

Jake felt himself connect to the concoction. He felt his connection to the moon above and to the entire formation that controlled it all. He felt the mind of another being wrestling him for control of it - the Great White Stag.

But Jake wasn’t fighting for control. It was a losing battle from the beginning, as his connection was far too weak. Besides, he didn’t need it. He just needed to break it from within. Corrupt it. Something he was more than capable of.

The dark beam continued to feed energy into the moon as it started darkening. Festering. Cracks formed on the moon above as it got more and more unstable. He felt the madness and anger from the Great White Stag. He felt its struggle.

From the other six ponds, the light grew more assertive - the power increasing. Simultaneously, the moon started to repair itself, with only the small area where Jake’s beam hit it still remaining corrupted.

He felt himself lose the battle as his mana kept draining while the Great White Stag seemed to have an endless supply of energy. He needed more.

Jake leaned forward, allowing himself to tumble into the water. The burning sensation wasn’t gone, but different. It was no longer the power of light but the overpowering toxicity of the pond that now burned into him. But Jake could use that.

He opened his mouth and started drinking the poison. He hadn’t used that part of the skill for a long time to avoid burning through his supply of ingredients, but Jake had never forgotten the usefulness of Palate of the Malefic Viper when it came to regenerating mana from consuming toxic materials. And now he needed mana, and he had plenty of toxicity.

He felt his mana instantly surge as he drank the concoction, but at the same time, his health dropped. His skill could only negate a part of the poison and use it to regenerate mana, while a big part of it did what any poison does, as it started to drain his vital energies.

With the increased mana, so did he raise his output. Touch of the Malefic Viper allowed him to inject poison into anything he was in physical contact with. And currently, his entire body was in physical contact with the water.

In a burst of poison from the skill, his mana pool drained faster than ever before. But at the same time, the toxicity around him helped regenerate it. He reached a slight equilibrium. However, his problem was the third part of the equation.

His health points were draining rapidly. He had taken little actual damage from any of the does, but he still couldn’t keep up the current status quo for too long. Yet he pushed it further, as he released a whole batch of toxic ingredients from his storage as well as nearly a hundred bottles of his weaker poisons - the ones he didn’t need to begin with.

The toxicity of the pond exploded upwards, becoming more and more deadly by the second. The beam of light had lost all semblance of white at this point, as it ate into the moon above.

Corruption spread through the moon faster than before. The ground gained by the other ponds was quickly retaken as the celestial object cracked and turned darker. Like veins of black blood, the cracks expanded and pulsed with power.

The Great White Stag tried to fight back, but the corruption was too strong. It wasn’t because it was weaker or because it had fewer resources available. It was just a simple fact that corrupting something was far easier than purifying it.

For but a moment, Jake felt the control of the stag slip. He capitalized as he made a final push, his mana control on full display. A pulse of power hit the moon as a crack spread from top to bottom. The crack seemed to mark the end of the conflict as the entire moon shattered like a broken mirror.

All the power that had built up slammed downwards towards each of the ponds. Jake felt it coming but was unable to do anything as it hit the pond.

The water flew everywhere as Jake got tossed out of the pond, flying nearly fifteen meters through the air and landing in the grass.

for breath as he finally became aware of the state of his body. He looked like he had been submerged in acid,

the scales on his body had disappeared already as he had stopped supplying them with mana. But they had lasted long enough for his arms to be in a less horrible state than most parts of

quite a

before the initiation would have been dead ten times over – but Jake was more than alive as he started scrambling

wasn’t over

others. The moon was shattered, and now only dim stars remained above. It was black as night as he saw the creature stumble through

beautiful white color. It had dimmed and grayed, its crown of antlers now broken on

say. Burning hatred directed

liked. But his eyes didn’t show the slightest hint of weakness as he stared into the bloodshot eye of the stag – unable to suppress a smile from how

up. Everything had been expended. The stag had the slight advantage of being in a better state physically. In contrast, Jake had

by the human’s smile. A dim flash of light enveloped its broken antlers as

stag struggled to stop its charge. It staggered as Jake wobbled to

to land a cut with his dagger, evening out the trade. This continued for

Jake managed to recover mana faster than the stag, he also had to use more. Several Shadow Vaults had to be used to avoid getting impaled. Simultaneously, the stag was relying solely on

accumulated on both of them, the poison seeping into the stag, making it weaker, while Jake’s blood-loss and still falling health made him

catching the stag by surprise when he tossed it in its face. He managed to use the

he had finally gotten his victory, the beast

was quickly snuffed out at the very next moment. With a bellow, the stag raised its head towards the sky. Mana, more than he believed it could possibly have left, shimmered over it as it’s fur returned to the brilliant white it had originally

destroyed earlier. It was far smaller, but its power was still unlike anything the both of them should be able

the new moon with their ghostly apparitions. Giving their last vestige

the makeshift moon descended on the stag as its antlers shattered completely. However, they didn’t fall to the ground but turned to mist as they rearranged themselves in a pattern in front of the stag - a

A beam of pure light energy flew towards Jake’s battered body as his sense of danger warned him of the

Instead, he began running towards the attack

And then… it slowed.

a crawl. The beam of light continued onwards, no faster than walking

Except for Jake.

the

ran forward, right towards the stag. He sidestepped the beam of light heading his way, and the millisecond

half a second had passed. But to Jake, it had easily been five full seconds. More than enough

human was about to get obliterated by the beam, and the next, he was nearly in front of it. It couldn’t see, but could

gone once more, the stag returning to its dull gray color. It was exhausted. Exhausted and

its front leg as he lifted the stag off the ground with a spinning motion. He spun around as he tossed it through the air, right towards the still half-full pond that now resembled a toxic

middle of the concoction of death. It could only bellow towards the silent dimming stars above as it tried to get out of

It tried, but when it finally thought it could get out, an arrow hit it right in its midsection, sending it tumbling back into the

it was no longer able to hold on as Jake got

White Stag – lvl 93] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level.

seeing that he had completed the dungeon, Jake, tired and

truly rest quite yet,

the Great White

clearing the

shutting down in:

be able to move about just a bit. No rest for the wicked, I

countless others. They may be able to annihilate civilizations. But can they bring life to a new generation? Educate them? Grow in the soil what we need to grow as

our own limits, our own destinies. We cannot all be the protagonists of fate. But we can nurture those who are. None of us here are fighters or those who shall stand against our enemies. We are instead the ones

of the greater whole, servants of destiny. A wolf with a pack to support his every move will go further than one who stumbles through the darkness alone. And even if the pack leader of this generation fails, who

way for the heroes of tomorrow. The ones to illuminate the path ahead for our children. We will build the foundation for a better future. We will sacrifice ourselves. But we can do so with pride and with the

of a greater destiny. A greater whole. The unsung heroes of

have already fallen - we are but a scattered pack. Our warriors have fallen, but we still have hope. So hold no fear

flock in front of him. They were the scared and traumatized

happened several times every day. He would talk about different topics each day, but they all held the same message. The

reassuring them once more, he excused himself to his cabin, only followed by Bertram and Joanna. The one man

honestly believe all that stuff?” Bertram

Jacob answered with a relaxed smile. “Hope is good. Even in a