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?

died. But don’t worry, you will still get a 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,”

are now. Just a small spot I picked, and I hope you like the surroundings. I

was his damn house. His parent’s house. He saw the familiar globe on his desk, his bookcase, dresser, and he

he asked, his eyes darting around

transforming. I just assumed

you get my house to wherever here is?” William yelled out as he

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

fuck, you are weird as fuck, and

do not wish you any harm at all. I understand your frustration, but please, ask of me anything, and I shall try to

out of this creepy ass house and tell me who the fuck you

the old man said,

entire house turned to small wisps of lights little by little as William lost 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

who I am?” he said, his smile growing a 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,

felt genuine fear. He felt that with a single thought the being in front of him could make him cease to exist or condemn him to live out the rest of his

you want?” William stammered

follower. I wish to teach you and see you prosper from that knowledge,” Eversmile answered, unconcerned with the mortal’s apparent fear. His aura was bearing down on

you want me to learn?” the teenager got

we form willingly or

from the lies. A concept none can escape from, that affects us all. The favors owed, the promises made, and, perhaps, the one most

looked at him, unable to comprehend what was going on, but a single figure appeared in his mind when

mind rattled come forth like a tidal wave. The final word he heard a cold “die,” the last thing he saw

“I…I don’t-“ he muttered.

he saw the

was ruined. Oh no, far from it. This was good too. But he did plan on making sure that the subject didn’t

for the

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

and

and all that crap were really far above his paygrade. Jake just wanted to

think back on something he had asked just after the Viper had summoned the

it mess up the tutorial that you have

didn’t do anything, did I? The system can be pretty lax when the interference is non-existent like this. But if I went and actually did something to help you… well, I don’t

gods could actually do in the tutorial. He assumed there were some limitations. Why

had happened. The entire fight, if you can even call it that, had been over in

extreme. He hadn’t been even five meters

was smashed into the ground before he could react, the dark mana,

for a caster. Jake had far higher agility, as one would expect from an archer. Coupled

finally saw the messages he had received

- lvl 60 / Novice Smith – lvl 24] Experience earned.

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 have asked

Jake had more than William, even before he had just gotten half of his, but that still meant William had gathered nearly 150 million tutorial