The Primal Hunter

Jake had long gotten used to not really having to eat or drink anything. Whatever he chugged down here and there appeared to be enough to keep him going. He could barely remember the feeling of hunger or thirst anymore.

However, what he had kept doing was breathing. It just felt far too natural to do. All living beings he had seen did it. Yet, he had now been submerged underwater for nearly an entire day, and he hadn’t even thought about having to breathe before mere moments ago.

Breathing still had to have some kind of benefit. Why else would anyone and everything do it? He doubted all the beasts had the same lingering instinct as he and other humans from before the system did.

Well… not having to breathe is nice, I guess, he thought as he decided to pop his head up above the surface of the lake.

As his head got above the water, he saw the sunlight hit the shimmering water of the lake, as he peeked towards the shores. He saw nothing.

It appeared the boars weren’t having a drinking-session right now. Jake had kind of hoped for them to be there as the poison made its way to the upper echelons of the lake to observe its effect. He would have to wait a bit for that, though.

Jake decided to spend the time productively as he kept an eye on the entrance to the gorge. He had gotten many still lingering inspirations concerning the use of mana, and he decided to test out a bit of it now.

Earth mana had a weirdly solid feel to it, and it had inspired him to try if he could use it to enhance his own use of mana.

His first test was to place both his palms on the water’s surface as he began channeling mana to them and tried to push them downwards. He felt himself getting lifted a little as his hands sunk into the water.

Despite the failure, he was elated as his theory had been proven immediately right. Placing his palms on the water once more, he continued as he tried lifting himself out of the water once more, using the water as support.

With zeal, he continued his practice for half an hour until he finally managed to stretch out his arms, lifting his entire upper body out of the water, with the only support being his hands on the water.

The next step was to extend the same concept to other parts of his body. It took him only another hour or so until he stood triumphant on top of the water. Finally, he had realized a long-held dream since childhood. Following in the footsteps of a certain orange-dressed ninja, he could now channel his energy to stand on water.

He tried taking a few steps back and forth and found great success. Even going into a light jog, he managed to keep himself from falling through. His next test was to take out his bow as he tried firing an arrow - great success once more as he pulled back the string.

Next, he tried the ultimate test. Taking an arrow this time, he began channeling Infused Powershot, and… he plopped straight down into the lake. He would have to work a bit more on that one.

An opportunity he didn’t get quite yet as he heard the sound of trotters hitting the ground in the distance.

Stopping his antics, he pulled up his hood and activated the camouflage feature. He kept himself submerged with only the top of his head sticking out.

He had already established that the eyesight of the boars sucked. By blending in with the colors of the lake, he had a feeling that he could remain undetected, especially with the mana-rich water around him shrouding him further.

lake had been well and truly contaminated as all the toxins had had time to rise

they all

of anxiety and anticipation as he saw it lower

as the damn thing hesitated. However, its neighbor boar didn’t have the same caution as it just slumped its head into the water and began

boss looked over at its comrade and seemed to do what Jake interpreted as

all began draining the lake. Jake reveled as he started feeling the poison enter them through his Sense of the Malefic

then, he wasn’t sure if they could really ‘feel’ it or how exactly they manipulated it. All he knew was that the poison was currently entering

the bunch, but even it hadn’t noticed anything yet, perhaps because it

amazing how the lake didn’t appear to shrink at all. Jake hadn’t seen any signs of

by one of the boars that had now stopped drinking. It backed away from the pool and… stumbled over and bumped into

an angry squeal at its companion. It, however, seemed to notice something was off

of all the other beasts, as they all abruptly stopped drinking. They all raised their heads and

as if drunk, hitting each other,

The effects of the poison hadn’t been what he expected… he had hoped for it to deal significant damage,

Instead, they were… blind?

and now it appeared these boars were infected by just that. Their already absolutely terrible perception hampered even more, directly to

an area now clear of beasts, one he quickly reached as he climbed up

were squealing and splashing around in the

for not applying poison to his arrows, but then again,

had and what he could apply most quickly. As he did so, he used Mark of the Ambitious Hunter on

one of the boars smack in the middle of the mayhem. He channeled his Infused Powershot as he waited till

arrow to the usual explosion of might. It didn’t even take the arrow a few milliseconds to reach its target more than 150 meters away, easily breaking the sound barrier. Not that the expected sonic boom was heard. Another part of physics

Jake expected. It blew a substantial barrel-sized hole in the side of the boar, blasting it away. It smashed into several others, mainly on account

the lake after his shot, but the boars’ response was… more chaos. Not a single one of them

reducing by the second from where he stood. The problem for the creatures was that they had consumed

even so, while it healed

finally seemed to catch on. Even with their reduced senses, the smell of blood had begun

it helped them. In fact, it

up, one of them even hitting the side of the Horde Leader, bringing it out of its state of concentration. It appeared to

of the other boars were smart enough to do that, though. They just attacked everything around them.

continued shooting. He had to make use of the time as efficiently as he could. Most boars died

boars were durable, they were all currently in a weakened state. Their vital energies were entangled in a struggle against the poison