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?

some sort. But you have lost half of your points and the qualifications to receive any extra bonus awards based on what happens

from the tutorial to where we are now. Just a small spot

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, and he had

Earth?” he asked, his eyes darting around the

I just assumed that familiar surroundings would

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

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

you are weird as fuck, and this entire fucking

do not wish you any harm at

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

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

disintegrated in a matter of moments, leaving the two floating in the vastness of nothing, the only source of light left a single

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 I wish to

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 days

you want?” William stammered

to teach you and see you prosper from that knowledge,” Eversmile answered, unconcerned with

do you want me to learn?” the

“The bonds that bind us all together, the connections we form willingly or unwillingly. The

power that judges the truth from the lies. A concept none can escape from, that affects us all. The favors owed, the promises

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

word he heard a cold “die,” the last thing he saw

“I…I don’t-“ he muttered.

the young

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

It was amazing how something so normal for him less than two months ago felt so

a lot from the conversation… and it had helped him

things about 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

something he had asked just after the Viper had

mess up the tutorial

non-existent like this. But if I went and actually did

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

finally able to think a bit more clearly about what had

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

been ready, perhaps it would have been a fight. But instead, he was smashed into the ground before he could react, the dark mana, as well as

would expect from an

saw the messages he had received - the first one of the

lvl 60 / Novice Smith –

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

Jake had more than William, even before he had