The Primal Hunter

Jake awoke and felt well-rested and relieved. He had feared a nightmare when he closed his eyes, but instead, he got a pleasant dream. Like the last one, this one was also weirdly lucid throughout. Of course, this one didn’t have some bastard god but was of his own making.

From the very beginning, some part of him knew it was a dream. Yet, he went through the motions as if he wasn’t even in charge of his own body. He was just a ride-along, experiencing the memory as it had been. Everything up to the final conversation with his brother had been precisely the same.

The dream only served to cement his conviction to seek out his family after the tutorial. But to do so, he needed power. Or maybe that was just yet another excuse he made to himself to justify his obsession with slaying the King of the Forest.

Feeling out his body, he noticed that the soreness was mostly gone. He still felt a bit stiff. His stamina had regenerated to about 75%, with his health having regenerated a few hundred points too. Health didn’t regenerate very fast by default, which is why he took out a healing potion and chugged it down.

It was good that he spent such a long time just hoarding all the potions he made while grinding levels. He was starting to get low, but the time remaining was also starting to get low.

[Tutorial Panel]

Duration: 5 days & 7:31:01

He had slept for longer than he hoped. Exactly how long he wasn’t sure, but it appeared to be on the other side of 10 hours. It was time he honestly didn’t feel like he could afford to waste currently. Though, of course, it was arguable if he had truly wasted his time.

The experiment he had made was partly successful. He had managed to temporarily boost himself with stamina without blowing himself up like a popped balloon of blood.

However, it was only partly. The weakness after the incredibly long winddown time made it useless in combat outside of the most desperate of situations. It had gotten Jake out of a bind once, but it wasn’t a stunt he had any intention of repeating any time soon.

Getting up from the hard ground, he stretched a bit to get some flexibility back. He felt his body crack here and there, and he instantly felt refreshed. The healing potion was surely also doing its work.

He didn’t delay any longer as he walked up to the wooden door and entered the dungeon once more. He was ready to repeat it from the beginning once more but found that the wall that had been broken down was still broken, confirming to Jake that the dungeon didn’t reset.

Clear signs of the chase from the many beasts were also present. Jake decided to walk towards where the boars had come from, to see what the hell they were doing back there.

What he found was a large lake of murky water. It exuded clear indications of strong mana within it, and walking up to it and using Identify only confirmed that it did.

[Soilwater (Common)] – Water infused with strong earth-affinity mana, making it purer and hold certain magical properties. Can be used as an ingredient in many alchemical recipes or simply consumed in its raw form to restore mana for those possessing the earth-affinity.

This water was a lot like the Lucenti Water he had found in the Lucenti Plains dungeon. The description was pretty much the same, except this one mentioned earth-affinity mana instead.

The last time he had come into contact with this type of water, it burned him like acid. But he still cautiously placing his hand into this Soilwater, mentally preparing himself for the stinging sensation. However, to his surprise, it didn’t even sting. It felt somewhat normal, actually, aside from the unmistakable feeling of mana within it.

I guess I do have some kind of earth-affinity? he thought to himself as he took out an empty barrel from his storage. It would be stupid not to collect some of the wonderful water while he was here. He was in a rush, sure, but who knows when he would stumble across earth-affinity water again.

As he collected it, he got an idea. He assumed that the boars drank this water and ran to eat the rocks afterward. That it was their “pattern,” so to speak. But he would have to confirm it before he could turn his idea into action.

He finished up collecting water, and afterward, he jumped straight into the water. The lake wasn’t very wide, perhaps only 50 meters in diameter, but it was quite deep. His Sphere of Perception extended effortlessly through the water as he dove downwards.

of the earth-affinity mana increased the further down he got. Fifty meters

the pressure was starting to get to him, but he kept going. His constitution meant

120 meters

140 meters

160 meters.

sphere picked up the bottom of the lake. His eyesight was

the lake was deeper towards the center. Like a small

towards the center, he soon found the epicenter of it all. And his sphere also picked up the source of the mana. No larger than a finger, a small shard was embedded in the soil, giving off incredibly strong fluctuations of

in a variety of rare earth-affinity alchemical creations. Passively transforms atmospheric mana into the earth affinity. Has become intrinsically linked to the mana

ought to do it, he thought, as he dove closer. At this point, he was around 200 meters underwater, with the earth mana coupled with the natural pressure from being down there pressing unto him.

appear just like a small crystal. Rather unassuming if he didn’t know

fact, the thought hadn’t even occurred to him during the

as he dove further and

he could get it up to a level where it was lethal or able to deal meaningful damage before

connection to the rest of the lake and how every single strand of mana felt like it originated from it. Likely because it did. It also said that

not the water itself… perhaps that would make it possible to transform this entire lake into one big concoction of death. He

“being,” making him unsure if objects also fit that description. He didn’t know if water counted as partly living for some reason,

see if anything

countless foes. Attempt to inject poison into a being through physical contact. The nature of the poison is determined by the user. The alchemist can only use toxic effects

entirely accurate. Besides the limitations - such as being unable to inject the Amalgamation he made to clear the Challenge Dungeon and whatever he made in the pond in the Lucenti Plains - he could create necrotic poison and hemotoxic poison with his Touch. But he could do one

Viper created a poison that Jake honestly couldn’t quite identify. It clearly held signs of necrotic poison, but it also just straight up corroded and corrupted everything

pretty much always used with Touch of the Malefic Viper because

it in his blood

would confirm that the beasts indeed did

his sphere picked up something at the edge of the lake, but he had too much momentum and ended up emerging. What he saw quickly made him rethink his

the instant his head popped up. He could see the beasts drink the water, with not a single one of them even throwing a glance

he slowly ducked his

also sucked in the hearing department. What they did have was some weird sense related to the ground. If he had to guess, then he would say they could feel vibrations -

he checked, he assumed it would help

more, he headed straight for the crystal. Being so deep in the dense mana, he didn’t fear the boars detecting anything

was stuck to the ground. He could likely cut it out along with the

barrier blocking the toxic

was like trying to make an entire bathtub acidic by pouring in a few drops

a minute or so longer but felt like he didn’t even make a dent. However, what did take a hit was his mana pool, which was rapidly drained from the

He could feel the toxins within

All of it now carried a faint tinge of poison. His theory that the essence was