The Primal Hunter

Jake practically flew through the terrain as he ran across the valley, scanning it with his sphere wherever he went. He didn’t really encounter any enemies on the way, something he very much appreciated.

William had done an outstanding job of clearing out a lot of beasts in the inner area. Not that it particularly mattered as all the beasts he came across avoided him like the plague - all except for a single buffalo that had chosen to stand up to him, which netted it a quick Infused Powershot to the face.

He was currently scanning the valleys for those sweet lockboxes. It was clean-up time.

His rationale was that he still required a few critical pieces of loot, and if he were stronger, he would be able to clear the final dungeon more easily. Likely even take some more risks to do it faster, or compromise on how he liked to fight.

The Malefic Viper had told him about equipment, and he had done the math on how much more he could get. As he could have a maximum of 20% in any given stat, but only 15% of his total stats could be from gear, he saw that he had ample space to grow.

Currently, he had a total of 353 stats from equipment. It felt like a lot, but the total amount he could get was 603, meaning he was only a little over half of what he could at maximum have. A quick calculation of his stats showed how much he could get in each:

Strength: 18/71

Agility: 60/90

Endurance: 45/67

Vitality: 75/94

Toughness: 50/68

Wisdom: 35/101

Intelligence: 45/45

Perception: 20/202

Willpower: 5/64

Total: 353/603

The only stat he had maxed out on was intelligence, and it appeared that it had been maxed out the moment he got his gloves. The ring he had taken off the Ice Witch what felt like ages ago together with the gloves did indeed provide precisely 45.

None of the other stats were capped at all. Where Jake really wanted to find some equipment was to get some more strength and agility. He felt like those two would have the most immediate value. Not that he would complain about getting some more perception either…

His perception was already at a ridiculous level, having reached over 1000 with all his titles and his bloodline. 1033 to be exact. Yet he had kept investing all his free points into it as it just seemed efficient. He had to admit that he was starting to feel the lack of value in it, besides the raw number just going up.

While it did increase his reaction speed and his senses, his body could no longer keep up. For a while, it had been like that, actually. His agility and strength were simply not able to follow the commands he issued it.

Having gotten the Mark of the Ambitious Hunter was quite fortunate. The damage increase it was meant to provide was likely meant to be far less than what his version of the Mark provided. But as it scaled with perception, Jake’s increased the damage done by quite a bit, especially coupled with his primary damage source being through poisons.

two physical stats, but it wasn’t like they were at a terrible level. And he often made up for his lack of raw power in stats through his Infused Powershot and newly gained Dark

course, he also got the bonus from Big Game Hunter, an often forgotten skill that raised his strength and agility against higher-leveled foes, meaning it was pretty much always

available space to improve just by being a bit lucky and finding some lovely baubles, he wasn’t going to ignore it. Getting only 100 stats more would be the same as several levels. If he got lucky, he could even find some more unique items and, if he

to run through the valleys with his speed as he scanned it - the wind blowing through his hair, the feeling of freedom and ease of movement as he jumped

spent nearly three hours doing this, going through most of the valleys in the inner area that he hadn’t been to earlier. He had pushed himself both physically and mentally with his sphere, and it felt great when he looked

all the useless stuff. He had a bunch of gear clearly suitable for heavier classes, such as breastplates, greaves,

had collected more than 50 things in total, of which only five held any value or were interesting enough to note. The first of which was

common rarity

was pretty self-evident, and he had been very tempted to use it on his bow right away the moment he found it but had held off

something he found interesting

in hand, he fought for his family and fell for his home. The axe is made of simple wood with an iron head. Grants the wielder a small part

50+ in

see what the skill was but found himself unable to bind it. It was weird because he didn’t feel like it was related to mana-affinities. It was

loot was one he would actually use, an upgrade to an item

(Uncommon)] – A ring created by embedding the crystalized eye of a Ruby-eye Tiger into a band. The Records of the tiger powers

in

10 intelligence, 10 wisdom, and 5 willpower, but it would be more than a worthy trade-off. He also found it interesting to compare it to the other ring he already

eye of a Jade-eye Tiger into a band. The Records of the tiger powers the enchant, granting some of the beast's might

in any humanoid

was just the kind of ring he had wanted. He did get two other rings too, but neither of those were of any interest

could fit on his fingers, but he would only get the benefits of two of them. Whenever he tried to bind the third ring, it wouldn’t work before he ‘let

get in the way by making them effectively intangible also only worked on two rings at once. It was weird that he had to put his rings on before the gloves, but he could

had hoped to find, one that could hopefully prove useful against the

Roots (Uncommon)] – A seed filled with the dense power of life and nature. Infuse with mana and throw it to

first, he had feared he would be unable to use it due to lack

alchemy skills to infuse some poison into it through Touch of the Malefic Viper and then used Cultivate Poison to make it fester and work its way through the item, he could perhaps make it do a bit more than just entangle foes. But

a weapon rumored and foretold of for ages, one he had only dreamed of yet never truly imagined he

from the sinew of the beast that dared destroy their home. Now restored to a form made for hunting down the beasts hated by the young elementals. The elementals’ spirit and mana have left their mark upon the wood, making it light

in any humanoid

was very, VERY pleased when he found the bow, but he did have one sneaking fear in the back of his mind. Could he use it? He still remembered the nature affinity-blade

a mana-affinity and a history attached to it. Jake knew he had dark-affinity,

than a little internal fear, he had grabbed the bow in his hand and injected mana into it after sending a little prayer the

Viper, for he felt the mana slip into the bow with no resistance and instantly felt the connection with it - a major

got used to the weight as he noted how light it was. Unnaturally so, as it felt practically weightless. Luckily it didn’t affect the bow itself as he nocked an arrow and pulled the

the pull strength was magically altered somehow, making him

difference from his old bow, however. While the arrow’s power had only increased by a

the wind gave way to it. Like it gently moved

aimed at the arrow went straight through and out the other side. If he had to estimate, then he would say his standard shot was around 10-15% stronger with the new bow. It wasn’t as much as a melee weapon provided, but it

he pushed more mana into it than he currently did at his