The Primal Hunter

Affinities, mana, magic as a whole, actually, was still a new concept to Jake and everyone else going through the tutorials. Books in the Challenge Dungeon had all been very unspecific about how mana and magic worked and only described possible methods of using it.

Jake’s most significant source of information had been the Viper himself, and even that had been broad and nonspecific. Jake had no concept of what he could do with his mana, nor what he couldn’t do.

Alchemy had given him a headstart, and his early practice with mana had only boosted him further. He had started making the strings of mana, and he had learned to transform his mana’s affinity quite quickly. The thought of him being unable to somehow use the dark affinity elements in the mana in his Touch of the Malefic Viper didn’t even enter his mind.

If there was one thing the system had proven so far, it was that nothing was as simple and as rigid as it seemed before. Jake would just have to find the trick. Whatever made it all click into place.

Currently, that epiphany still eluded him. But the thought of quitting didn’t occur to him for a single moment. He just kept going, as he cut out all else, immersed in the skill. In his world, there only existed the flow of mana and the Crystalized Essence.

In the weird state of meditation, he focused more than he had perhaps ever done before. He felt his control of energy improve and his focus only increasing. He didn’t even take notice of the system notification.

But he did quickly begin to notice an issue. It was indeed with the skill Touch of the Malefic Viper, it allowed him to inject a poison he had made prior, and in his repertoire… not a single poison compatible with dark mana existed - not even the toxin from his Blood of the Malefic Viper.

Him trying to inject it together with dark mana was like mixing in dark mana in the middle of concocting. In other words, he was trying to introduce an incompatible ingredient, thus ruining the entire concoction every time he tried.

He instead needed a type of poison that was compatible, hopefully even based on dark mana. The descriptions of some of the items mentioned alchemical creations built around mana affinities, making it a logical conclusion that poisons based on the dark-affinity also existed.

Without any prior concoctions of it, his Touch couldn’t manifest it… so he had to find a way to make it do it anyway.

What would a poison that is based on dark mana look like? It would be something that spread by itself, something aiming to consume every other source of energy it came into contact with. Hopefully, something akin to a virus that can infect different types of mana.

But that idea was nearly instantly dispelled. For such a poison to exist, it would be impossible to stop. It would be a poison of the highest order. One, if applied correctly, could wipe out worlds.

No, he needed only something similar. Something that could infect, but it didn’t need to do so very well. It only needed to be able to spread to other types of mana, and it didn’t need to be automatic either. It needing constant input and guidance to continue spreading would be fine too.

He needed it to be a poison… that simply was dark mana. Dark mana consumed other kinds of mana, but it couldn’t consume “active” mana in any way. Passive dark mana would only deplete different passive types of mana and only do so to a certain extent. If not, the entire world would be covered by only dark mana, after all.

Of course, merely pumping dark mana into the Essence was an option. If Jake did it enough, then the essence would likely either break or turn into a dark essence of some kind. But that wouldn’t help him with anything. Besides, he seriously doubted he had the mana pool to do it.

In conclusion, he needed toxic mana that spread like dark mana but wasn’t dark mana. Toxic mana he could do, as that was kind of what Touch of the Malefic Viper was. Dark mana he also had. The combination was the issue.

In his mind, he began a concoction. He thought back to his experience with corrupting the moon in the Lucenti Plains, the many types of toxins he had concocted. He thought of the feeling of the poison from the end of the Challenge Dungeon ravaging through his system.

Every bit of poison he had experienced was still within him - in his Records. Palate of the Malefic Viper had at least partially absorbed it. And anything in his Records would be manifested through Blood of the Malefic Viper. And anything from Blood of the Malefic Viper could be injected with Touch of the Malefic Viper.

It was a constant cycle of skills working in synergy. Unsurprising, considering they all came from the same source – the Malefic Viper himself.

Jake’s hands were glowing a black color as he had channeled dark mana into them long ago. It simply lingered as Jake was submerged in his meditation. Hours passed as the mana within him moved in erratic patterns, the dark mana sometimes disappearing from his hands, only to reappear moments later.

changing color. At first, it was subtle, but soon a small speck of green became two, and then four. The

Essence once more. He activated his Touch

entered the Essence, it reacted. It started eating into it, consuming it. The consumed mana became the same toxic mana that

had turned into a full-on pandemic for the earth mana. But Jake

It was only with his constant injection with Touch of the

issue - because the surrounding Soilwater was changing just as fast as

him with his Sense of the Malefic Viper.

the entire Essence had changed color from the yellowish-brown to a yellowish black. Still of the earth affinity, but clearly now something

mana, now contaminated with potent toxins. Limited use as an ingredient in alchemical recipes. Will restore a minor amount of mana if ingested by those with the earth-affinity but will also

sense poison as he had, or identifying the water itself,

point of mana he had spent had led to

slowly spreading throughout the rest of the pool. The essence was as corrupted as he could make it, and it would now

state of meditation. He had been more focused than ever before during it. When he looked through

[Meditate (Common)] -->[Thoughtful

off the outside world. While in meditation, regenerate stamina and mana significantly faster. While in meditation, perception is reduced immensely. Increases concentration

times meditated deeply, like when he was practicing dark mana in the

random burst of concentration and focus had clearly been rewarded. Of course, this wasn’t the only thing he

had evolved

has slain 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 he has concocted or created prior. Can be used with all compatible types of mana affinities, further altering the effects. Some toxins cannot be used. Adds a small increase to the effectiveness of Touch of the Malefic Viper based on intelligence and

again, it was also the first skill directly related to the Malefic

all along. He didn’t know, but he did feel like the ease of the upgrade had been, well… too easy. It was like the skill would gladly do what he wanted; he just needed to give it

a poison through the synergy of skills, his efforts, and ingenuity. Sure, likely many other factors also

a lot that the system appeared to agree that he

the Malefic Viper] has reached level 52 - Stat points allocated, +5

…

has reached level 55 -

level 59 - Stat points allocated, +5

(E)] has reached level 60 - Stat

insane. Four levels in his profession awarded for only a bit of work, a

the fuck, Jake thought fittingly, as he rechecked the tutorial panel. Maybe the new Thoughtful Meditation was a bit

was still clearly a huge gain for him; he just felt a bit salty over not even noticing the time ticking

He didn’t quite yet close his status menu, however. He had gotten a total of 30 free points from the combined 6 levels in

bit into wisdom during his days in the challenge dungeon. He focused on the free points and willed up a

Status

Free Point Distribution:

Strength: 57