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.

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

had stopped supplying them with mana. But they had lasted long enough for his arms to be in a less

quite a few liters, considering how he currently looked. He had also taken a lot of damage

the initiation would have been dead ten times over – but Jake was more than

fight wasn’t over

now only dim

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

one eye, however, did clearly convey all it had to say. Burning hatred directed towards the accursed human that

broken bodies stood, staring at each other for a while. Jake swayed slightly from side to side as he stood, his legs not quite as stable as he would have liked. But his eyes

pools were utterly dried up. Everything had been expended. The stag had the slight advantage of being in a better state physically. In contrast, Jake had the remnant of poison still in his body, slowly being consumed by Palate of the Malefic Viper, regenerating

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

side, rolling on the ground as the stag struggled to stop its charge. It staggered as Jake wobbled to his feet – at the

left shoulder. At the same time, he managed to land a cut with his dagger, evening out the trade. This continued for a while, as

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 physical strength, slowly regenerating a bit

of struggle. Wounds accumulated on both of them, the poison seeping into the stag, making it weaker,

the stag by surprise when he tossed it in its face. He

his

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

It was far smaller, but its

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

the ground but turned to mist as they rearranged themselves in a pattern

pure light energy flew towards Jake’s battered

didn’t. Instead, he began running towards the attack that would,

And then… it slowed.

a crawl. The beam of light continued onwards, no faster than walking speed. The swaying grass around them now stood almost entirely still. Everything was moving in

Except for Jake.

of the

the beam of light heading his way, and the millisecond he was out of its path and right in front of the stag,

real-time, not even half a second had passed. But to Jake, it had easily been five full seconds. More than

was about to get obliterated by the beam, and the next, he was nearly in front of it. It couldn’t see, but could still feel that it had missed. To make things worse, the beam

moon was gone once more, the stag returning

lifted the stag off the ground with a spinning motion. He spun around as he tossed it

of death. It could only bellow towards the silent dimming stars above as it tried to get out of the pond. But it was already

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

no longer able to hold

Bonus experience earned for

had completed the dungeon,

truly rest quite yet,

the Great

clearing the dungeon

shutting down

to restore enough to be able to move about just a bit. No rest for

may be able to annihilate civilizations. But can they

or those who shall stand against our enemies. We

are all a part of the greater whole, servants of destiny. A wolf with a pack to support his every move will go

ahead for our children. We will build the foundation for a better future. We will sacrifice ourselves. But

heroes

pack. Our warriors have fallen, but we still have hope. So hold no fear for with hope, we shall

at the fervent flock in front of him. They were the scared and traumatized ones who couldn’t or wouldn’t

He would talk about different topics each day, but they all held the same message. The message that they were stronger together than apart and that there was no shame

excused himself to his cabin, only followed by Bertram and Joanna. The one man

that stuff?” Bertram asked when they

answered with a relaxed smile. “Hope is