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?

for you. You failed it the moment you 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

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

parent’s house. He saw the

he asked, his eyes darting around the

transforming. I just assumed that familiar surroundings would

then? And how did you get my house to wherever here is?” William yelled out as he tried looking

house; I just remade it to look like it. Copied it, if you will. Why, do you not find it suitable?” Eversmile asked, raising

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

do not wish you any harm at all. I understand

this creepy ass house and tell me who

is easy,” the old man said, as he waved

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

smile growing a bit larger. “I am known as Eversmile of the Twelve Primordials. I am a god, but more than that,

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

you want?”

prosper from that knowledge,” Eversmile answered, unconcerned with the mortal’s apparent fear. His

me to learn?” the teenager got out after

that bind us all together, the connections we form willingly or unwillingly. The feeble strings of fate that bind us together, the unbreakable

can escape from, that affects us all. The favors owed, the promises made, and, perhaps, the one most

at him, unable to comprehend what was going on, but

unwillingly as the memories just before he felt his mind rattled come forth like a tidal wave. The final word he heard a cold “die,” the last thing he saw was those two eyes staring at him… William was afraid… he didn’t want to meet those eyes again… ever… they

“I…I don’t-“ he muttered.

smiling as he saw the young man

and 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

for the

once more, still savoring the taste of beer in his mouth. It was amazing how something so normal for him less

the conversation… and it had helped him get his head

that crap were really far above his paygrade. Jake just wanted to hunt and challenge himself right

it made him think back on something he had asked just after the Viper had

up the tutorial that

the interference is non-existent like this. But if I went and actually did something to help you… well, I don’t even

how much or how little the gods could actually do in the tutorial. He assumed there were some limitations. Why wouldn’t Eversmile have just saved William before Jake killed him if

more clearly about what had happened. The entire fight, if you can even call it that, had

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

it would have been a fight. But instead, he was smashed into the ground before he could react, the dark mana, as well as the impact, disorientating him. He hadn’t managed to muster any retaliation as Jake

and toughness, something entirely normal for a caster. Jake had 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

he finally saw the messages he had received - the first

- lvl 42 / Metal Savant - lvl 60 / Novice

died. Also… what was better, prodigy or savant? Maybe similar? Damn, he should have checked the notifications before the Viper left so that he

other part that surprised him was the number of tutorial points. That was actually a lot. Jake had more than William, even before he had just gotten half of his, but that still