The Primal Hunter

The first thing that struck him was the smell - an all-encompassing stench that seemed to mask any other scent. Jake was happy that perception didn’t just straight-up make his sense of smell more potent, or he may have just fallen over and died there and then. At least he would have wished that he was dead.

The second thing he noticed was that the unnatural darkness persisted even within the dungeon. Jake couldn’t see a single thing, no matter what he tried or did. It was clearly magical, though he couldn’t find any immediate explanation.

The notification upon entering did help inform him why the smell was there, at least.

You have entered the dungeon: The Forgotten Sewers

Objective: Defeat the Nest Watcher

He didn’t even bother questioning how he had gone from a mountain to a sewer. Dungeons obviously didn’t exist physically in the world outside but were some kind of alternate space. A bit like his spatial storage, just on a far grander scale.

He had already gone to an old temple during the challenge dungeon, so a sewer wasn’t that far off. What did surprise him, however, was how modern the notion of a sewer like this was. It also didn’t seem to have much to do with beasts at all.

There wasn’t any noticeable movement in this sphere either. The only thing of note was the dripping water from the ceiling and small water streams running across the floor in places.

While Jake couldn’t see anything with his eyes, he could still see plenty through his Sphere of Perception. It was, however, affected. When it was at its max range at nearly 30 meters, everything felt murky. The air itself looked almost liquid, obscuring everything.

It was mana - extremely dense mana. And the mana wasn’t the pure kind Jake was used to, but altered in some way. If he had to make an educated guess, he would say that it was dark-affinity mana, or maybe shadow-affinity mana or something like that.

What mattered was the effect of it. It obscured sight completely, making anyone in it blind.

Jake decided to try creating some light as he took out some wood from his spatial storage. His Alchemical Flame didn’t produce much light but heat it made plenty of, allowing him to set fire to the wooden stick quickly.

The wood caught fire as a flame sprung forth. But that was where the expected stopped.

It clearly burned, and he could see the flame. The light, however, was as if contained within the flame itself. Like a dark barrier blocked any light from reaching beyond the flickering fire.

He tried putting his hand into the fire, and it only got eerier. It was like a vacuum of light appeared wherever his hand was. He didn’t see his hand, but merely a black hand-shaped object enter. It was as if the concept of light itself wasn’t allowed to exist.

Was that the gimmick of this dungeon? That one had to do it in absolute blindness?

While it wasn’t optimal, Jake would be able to manage with his sphere. But he had to do something about the murkiness. He closed his eyes, more out of habit than function, focusing on the sphere. He had done so many times before, either extending the range slightly or, as he did currently, limiting the range.

around 10 meters, Jake stopped as everything was now far clearer. Like putting on on prescription glasses, everything had turned

became aware that it wasn’t because his sphere couldn’t see through the darkness, but because it could see too much of it. The mana was so dense it started flowing together, but with his sphere reduced in size, he could far

bricks, the floor beneath him made up of cracked and dirty tiles, while the ceiling above was arched.

got more used to the new environment. Weirdly enough, he actually liked the darkness. It felt comfortable, like a warm summer breeze. He didn’t like

up something ahead - a crossroad. There was a hallway leading to both the right and to the left. He could also just continue

is this a damn maze? Jake cursed internally as he stood in the middle of the crossroad. Why the hell did it have to

what any reasonable person would do

until he found the exit.

he had to slowly walk all the time. Picking up the pace, he started running through the sewer as he stuck to the left wall. It

was rather large, easily big enough for Jake to walk through if he lowered his head a bit, that is. The thing

a meter from the entrance. It was unfurred with two big front teeth sticking out of its mouth.

in his sphere, he got the thought to try and Identify it. The skill didn’t specify that one needed to use one’s eyes to Identify something. It was just the most natural thing, and he had

didn’t work at first, but it was like a switch flipped,

– lvl

taken aback by was the level. It was as high as the White Does and nearly as high as

wasn’t everything to consider when determining

annoyingly, though, was the layout of the maze. Jake had no conceivable way to attack the beast from range - in front of the pipe was a wall only

nose rose up and down slightly. It had likely already detected Jake long before he noticed it and was

could see, but maybe it could still hear somehow. He raised his bow and, as silently as possible, nocked an arrow. He carefully pulled back the string as

very audible *clink* echo through the entire tunnel. Jake gritted

perceiving anything was through smell. Of course, it

as if he hadn’t noticed the rat. He walked at the

the beast lunged forward. Of course, Jake was ready as he instantly stepped backward, making it smash into the wall. It

dagger and sword. It didn’t even manage to collect itself before it got several deep cuts. It jumped backward, losing half of its snout in the

it was Jake’s time to be surprised as the beast was attacking him again. What surprised him was the precision of its attack and how it aimed straight for his neck. It clearly couldn’t see anything, and yet it managed

the hell did it see him? Was it magic? It hadn’t used any magical skills yet, making Jake doubt

it off as he was more interested in learning how it located him. He tried jumping back and

his hand but found it quite challenging to do for some reason. He eventually managed to do it anyway, but the mana consumption was

his mana at all; it just continued its frenzied assault. He tried a few other things

time with the wounded beast. A solid stab to the heart later, and the rat stopped moving,

see his body heat despite the dark-affinity mana. It was an evident strength, but also a

until he came across yet another pipe. This one had two Creeper’s within it, though. It didn’t matter much to him, as the things weren’t all that strong. Weaker than the White Does by far despite