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.

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

could now finally begin to inspect the details around him. While he couldn’t see them, he could easily guess from their shapes what everything was. He also 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 more easily distinguish

the floor beneath him made up of cracked and dirty tiles,

forward as he 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 the whole not-seeing part and the horrible stench, but otherwise, it could

There was a hallway leading to both the right and to the

damn maze? Jake cursed internally as he stood in the middle of the

identical, with not a single sign of enemies or any markings anywhere. So, Jake did what any reasonable person would do when in a maze and went left.

turning left and following the left wall until he found the exit. If the

sewer as he stuck to the left wall. It didn’t even take him a minute and a few hundred meters before he

sorts. It was rather large, easily big enough for Jake to walk through if he lowered his head a bit, that is. The thing about it that made him stop, however, was what lay

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

his sphere, he got the thought to try and Identify it. The skill didn’t specify that one needed to use

on the beast as he mentally tried using the skill. It didn’t work at first, but it

– lvl

the level. It was as high as the White

was alone, and the level wasn’t everything to consider when determining how strong a beast is. It was still pretty

no conceivable way to attack the beast from range - in front of the pipe was a wall only a few meters away, and there was

molerat posture that it was sitting in ambush as the nose rose up and down slightly. It had likely already detected Jake long before he noticed it and was now

his bow. The beast didn’t have any ears from what he could see, but maybe it could still hear somehow. He raised his bow and, as silently as possible, nocked an arrow.

out and hit the stone, making a very audible *clink* echo through the entire tunnel. Jake gritted his teeth at the noise while the molerat only seemed to slightly

of perceiving anything was through

as if he hadn’t noticed the rat. He walked at the wall opposite of the pipe as

was ready as he instantly stepped backward, making it smash into the wall. It clearly hadn’t expected him to do that as it seemed to hurt

sword. It didn’t even manage to collect itself before it

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

anything. So how the hell did it see him? Was it magic?

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

a few different things. His first thought was that it somehow detected mana. He tried to summon a ball of strings in his hand but found it quite challenging to do for some reason. He eventually managed to do it anyway, but the mana consumption was way above average. Something for

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

self-satisfaction, Jake rushed forward, no longer wasting his time with the wounded beast. A solid stab to the heart later,

the heat - the beast could see his body heat despite the dark-affinity mana. It was an evident strength, but also a massive weakness if exploited. Something he was happy

though. It didn’t