The Primal Hunter

At the edge of a crater in the middle of the forest, two figures sat drinking. The crater’s epicenter still carried the outline of what had once been a person with small smidgens of blood here and there.

Around the two people drinking were several empty bottles. They chatted as they drank down the familiar liquid that Jake hadn’t tasted for over two months. It was oddly nostalgic despite it not even being that long. It took him back to simpler days with way less fighting and death.

Of course, he was still thoroughly grounded in his new reality by the scaled man he was drinking with.

They had chatted about useless stuff for the most part. Jake had asked a few questions about the system, though, and gotten some useful pieces of information.

Halfway through the conversation, Jake took out a small notebook he had kept with many questions he had built up surrounding the system. It took a bit of convincing, but he managed to get the Viper to spill the beans on some details. They both knew that it was just Jake’s attempt to keep his mind occupied, but the god relented.

One of the questions were related to the dungeon titles:

“Nah, the dungeons titles are as normal as they come - 5 levels to the title at E-rank, increasing with every race evolution. Don’t worry too much about it; you will get those done quite naturally more often than not. The stat bonuses increase as well. It is pretty normal for most everyone at the higher ranks to cap out at least the Dungeoneer title before every evolution.”

Jake did try to get some info on actual dungeons but got shut down on that one. The Viper seemed quite adamant that for Jake to find out himself would be way more fun. The only thing he said was that dungeons came in many different forms, some of them not even recognized as real dungeons. They were also apparently temporal abnormalities that could “remember” who entered it and generated a new subspace for every new party or individual.

He also managed to get some precious info on the loot he had received:

“Gear? Eh, it has pretty set rules, actually. One can only get so much in a specific stat before equipment no longer gives anything - 20% per individual stat. But you can only get a maximum increase of 15% to your total stats, so you can’t get the full 20% in all of them. And yes, that’s after all other bonuses such as titles, skills, consumables, and so on. Making the number of stats you can get from gear increases even further. Strong gets stronger and all that. Though the stats from gear, as you have no doubt noticed, don’t receive any percentage bonuses.”

He even managed to get some excellent info on affinities.

“Affinities are just what kind of mana your body is naturally aligned with. Most of it is innate and cannot be changed unless you do some really wacky shit. Classes can also offer a skill that grants you affinity towards a type of mana - even one you usually would never be able to achieve.

“That isn’t to say that affinities are set. They get more locked in the stronger you get, but it is possible to influence them somewhat at a low level. Environmental factors often do play a role. In other words, if you are born on a planet filled with water, chances are you are going to have water-affinity.

“And if you wanted to, for example, get the water-affinity, it may be possible if you decided to reside within a space with only mana of that affinity for a long enough period. But your level of affinity likely won’t ever reach a high level, so most just stick with whatever they have.

“As for how many different affinities there are? Not telling!”

Jake had to be honest that he felt a lot better after only a few hours of chatting. He still felt like a piece of shit, but it was better. But the Viper did have one question.

“How did you know about Eversmile? Pretty sure time was stopped, and you looked like you were very much affected,” the Viper asked.

“I don’t really know. At one moment, I am just sitting there, and the next, I feel an influx of information in my mind, just a bunch of impressions bundled together. It showed the guy appear, make the corpse disappear, you coming, some talking or something, and then he was gone again,” Jake answered honestly, trying to describe the weird feeling.

It clearly came from his sphere. It was as if his sphere had kept observing even after his mind was stopped, and upon resuming, it threw everything that had happened at him. It wasn’t painful or anything, and the knowledge was way more comfortably digested and understood than even what he got through a skill by the system.

it is related to your bloodline,

already be a goner either way. And

that, act stupid or something. Bloodlines aren’t to be spoken of liberally,” the Viper

share the details of your skills,” Jake

your closest guarded secret. The fact that you have one cannot be hidden, but what it does most certainly can. And while even

confused. Yes, his was most certainly extremely powerful…

them apart from everything else, one of them being…” the Viper

before

even are?”

innate abilities of

much more than that… and yet so much less. Bloodlines are innate, as you say, but to call them abilities would be wrong. Bloodlines simply are. The system has granted all the skills you possess; they are given. Controlled by a

is the one thing that truly belongs to you. That has always belonged to you, always been a part of you. Which isn’t to say bloodlines and the system don’t affect each other. They most certainly do. Just as much as any other

fold. It represents a vast advantage above others. A bloodline doesn’t take up a skill slot; it isn’t capped or controlled. If it gives anything

blessing, it can also be a curse. Not just because others want it, but because the bloodline itself can be more a burden than a

create connections with your bloodline as a bargaining chip. All I am saying is to do it with caution. And if anyone ever tries to force you… well,

long speech contained

that much on Bloodlines. Everything he knew about them was from the system or some vague mentions during the challenge dungeon. He did ask Casper after he unlocked it back then, and he didn’t know a thing. He had a lot of questions, but especially one burned

did I get a bloodline?

talk about the two of them as if separate is nonsensical. You have always had

I would remember having supernatural powers

gives me, I doubt it. Think about what it does very carefully. Can you truly say that you haven’t felt even a tinge of its effects in your life? It wouldn’t be much, just small occurrences or areas where you

fell into thought at the question. Maybe he had? Thinking about it, his bloodline just made him better at ordinary things. It gave him great intuition, enhanced instincts, and great awareness

about things, which is also why he did so well at his job. Of course, his personal

been good at archery. His bloodline also increased the perception stat, and the only stat he had entered the tutorial with at 10 was perception. Which meant it was already as good as

he said after a bit of thinking. It was honestly hard to say. It was as the Viper said. His bloodline just made him more… him. It increased innate things that all humans had. Everyone had gut feelings; everyone had instincts and that

saying. It is quite possibly your

common is it to have a bloodline?” Jake

rank you get. They are a lot more common for new initiates like you, but new bloodlines appearing in older universes are quite rare. Especially the useful ones,” the god said, fishing out

Didn’t you say that

it isn’t always how they are

a higher rank? Is it possible to steal a bloodline?” the hunter asked, considering the horrible implications

told you already, you are the bloodline, and the bloodline is you. Absolutely inseparable,” the Viper said with a

exist in your body but within your soul -

to interact with the world. It holds your senses, your thoughts. If it is broken, you lose consciousness. That layer will just regenerate with time. Heck, yours has already been broken a time or two. A lot of skills and magics interact