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?

the moment you died. But don’t worry, you will still get a reward of some sort. But you have lost half of your

a small spot I picked, and

his damn house. His parent’s house. He saw the familiar globe on his desk, his

on Earth?” he asked, his

still transforming. I just assumed that

wherever here is?” William

remade it to look like it. Copied it, if you will. Why, do

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

now, calm down, little one,” Eversmile said, still smiling amicably. “I do not wish you any harm at all. I understand your frustration, but please, ask

me who the fuck you

old man said, as he waved

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 only source of light left a single lamp from the

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

He felt that with a single thought the being

do you

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

learn?”

one,” The old man said. “The bonds that bind us all together, the connections we form willingly or unwillingly.

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

on, but a single figure appeared in his mind when he

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…

“I…I don’t-“ he muttered.

just kept smiling as he saw the young

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

not for

his mouth. It was amazing how something so normal for him less than two months ago felt so damn good

a lot from the conversation… and it had

that apparently, his bloodline was pretty damn good. The things about fate and destiny and all that crap were really far above his paygrade. Jake just wanted to hunt

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

up the tutorial

But if I went and actually did something to help you… well, I don’t even

much or how little the gods could actually do in the tutorial. He assumed there were some

to think a bit more clearly about what had happened.

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

a fight. But instead, he was smashed into the ground before he could react, the dark mana,

far higher agility, as one would expect from

notification, he finally saw the messages he had received -

lvl 60 / Novice Smith – lvl 24]

reached level 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

points. That was actually a lot. Jake had more than William, even before he had just gotten half of