The Primal Hunter

The smiling white-haired man stepped through the void, into what appeared to be an ordinary western suburban house. But outside the windows was not the streets of the suburb, but a vast void of nothingness.

He waved his hand and summoned a broken, nearly body-shaped mess of metal, blood, and gore. With another wave, time itself reversed, and the armor returned to pristine condition once more. Everything returned to normal, except for the life of the person inside the armor.

Death, even with the system, was not that easily circumvented. To restore a broken body was simple. But to truly revive someone who has died… difficult. Difficult and costly. Even to the gods of the highest order.

Even if one managed to revive the dead, it often came with several drawbacks - mental issues, inability to utilize their stats, missing skills, etc. But perhaps most crippling was the loss of a future. The inability for the revived to progress properly further on their own path.

There were ways to truly revive the dead. Ways for it to have not a single drawback… but that required several conditions to be met, and often special items or skills with a considerable cost. Luckily, Eversmile had all of those.

Flicking his wrist, he took out a small golden leaf. [Golden Leaf of Yggdrasil]. An item far from easily obtained, and one that couldn’t be bought no matter how much money one spent. To Eversmile, it had cost him a favor to the old tree herself. A hefty price, but he had believed it to be worth it.

Yet, it had cost him another favor for something as simple as retrieving the body of an E-grade mortal. A cost he had not expected. Eversmile did feel an ounce of annoyance towards his fellow Primordial for exploiting his desires, but it was par for the course for the Malefic One.

Eversmile moved the body of William to a bed in the room and lay the leaf on the young teenager’s forehead. Moments later, it started shining and sunk into his brain, disappearing.

Moments later, the teenager’s eyes opened wide as he screamed towards the ceiling.

William’s last memories flickered in his mind. The sudden pain, the shaking, the disorientation, and the feeling of powerlessness. And then… nothing.

He had died. William felt it. He remembered dying; he remembered how it all turned to nothing. Everything he had been, everything he could be snuffed out in mere moments.

“Good, you seem awake and aware,” William heard a voice say as he sat up with shock. He saw a weird-looking man with a creepy smile on his face.

“What the fuck happened, and why am I here?” the teenager asked as he jumped up from the bed.

“You died, of course,” the old man said, “and I revived you.”

William looked with wide eyes at the creepy old man as he kept smiling. He had really died…

“Why would you do that?”

“Because, little one,” he said as he ran his hand through his beard, “I find you worth studying.”

“So, what, you revived me to be some fucking guinea pig or something?”

“No, no, not at all. I revived you for you to continue being you. Of course, your death changed things a little, but perhaps I can turn this to my advantage,” Eversmile said, smiling as always.

“What would you say to becoming my disciple, little one? To become my student, and on your path to power, so shall I learn from you. I believe this would be very mutually beneficial.”

“Disciple? What are you on about? Where the hell am I, and what happened to the damn tutorial? What the fuck is going on!?” William asked, distraught at the situation.

In a few minutes, he had gone through dying, being revived, finding himself transported to who knows where, and now asked by a creepy old smiling man to become his disciple. What the hell was this?

reward of some sort. But you have lost half of your points and the qualifications to receive any extra bonus awards based on what happens in the tutorial moving forward,” Eversmile answered

tutorial to where we are now. Just a small spot I picked, and I hope you like

him for the first time and noticed… this was his damn house. His parent’s house. He saw the familiar globe on his desk, his bookcase, dresser,

we on Earth?” he asked,

it is still transforming. I just

the fuck are we then? And how did you get my house to wherever here is?” William yelled out as he tried looking down a window. A window that only

it, if you will. Why, do you not find it suitable?” Eversmile

you are weird as fuck, and this entire fucking thing is

harm at all. I understand your frustration, but please, ask of me anything, and I

creepy ass house and tell me who the fuck you are already!” William yelled, veins showing on his

one is easy,” the old

his footing but kept floating where he had been. The whole house disintegrated in a matter of moments, leaving the two floating in the vastness of nothing, the only source of light

bit larger. “I am known as Eversmile of the Twelve Primordials. I am a god, but more than that, I am a scholar. I hold many other titles, little that hold any meaning to you; just know that

around at the void surrounding him, as he felt genuine fear. He felt that with a single thought the being in

you want?” William

knowledge,” Eversmile answered, unconcerned with

me to learn?” the

The old man said. “The bonds that bind us all together, the connections we form willingly or unwillingly. The feeble strings of fate that bind us together, the unbreakable chains that make two

and actions together, the power that judges the truth from the lies. A concept none can escape from, that affects us

what was going on, but a single

thing he saw was those two eyes staring at him… William was afraid… he didn’t want to meet those eyes

“I…I don’t-“ he muttered.

just kept smiling as he saw the young

his Chosen had sidetracked his experiment, it didn’t mean it was ruined. Oh no, far from it. This was good too. But he did plan on making sure that the subject didn’t encounter the Viper’s Chosen any time soon. He had a

not for

the forest once more, still savoring the taste of beer in his mouth. It was amazing

lot from the conversation… and it had helped him get

fate and destiny and all that crap were really far above his paygrade. Jake just wanted to hunt and challenge himself right now… he didn’t want to or feel like he had the time or desire to think about such needlessly

back on something he had asked just after the Viper

up the tutorial that

pretty lax when the interference is non-existent like this. But if I went and actually did something to help you… well,

could actually do in the tutorial. He assumed there were some limitations. Why wouldn’t Eversmile have just saved William

to think a bit more clearly about what had happened. The entire fight, if

and had underestimated Jake to the extreme. He hadn’t been even five meters away at the end, hadn’t been on guard at

he could react, the dark mana, as

far higher agility, as one would expect from an archer. Coupled with a powerful weapon, a rare quality skill, and the element of surprise, it wasn’t that surprising

the messages he had received

- lvl 60 / Novice Smith –

60 in his class, especially considering how easily he had died. Also… what was better, prodigy or savant? Maybe similar? Damn, he should have checked the notifications before the Viper left so that he could

tutorial points. That was actually a lot. Jake had more than William,