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.

feel the poison all around him. The entire lake had been well and truly contaminated as all the toxins had had time to rise to the surface. Now, for the most

unmoving as he crossed his fingers. Like the last time he saw them, they all spread out in

and anticipation as he saw it lower its snout. It briefly froze before it began drinking, the snout moving up and down as it sniffed

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

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

lake. Jake reveled as he started feeling the poison enter them

ability to sense mana so far, besides from earth mana. And even then, he wasn’t sure if they could really ‘feel’ it or how exactly they manipulated it. All he knew was

the Contaminated Soilwater. The Horde Leader appeared to be the sharpest of the bunch, but even it hadn’t noticed anything yet, perhaps because it

the lake didn’t

of the boars that had now stopped drinking. It backed away

knocked only swayed a little, but it did raise its head and made an angry squeal at its companion. It, however, seemed to notice something was off as it had now stopped drinking too. It shook its

the other beasts, as they all

drunk, hitting each other, with some of

this. The effects of the poison hadn’t been what he expected… he had hoped for it to deal significant damage, maybe even slowly kill them. From what he could feel, they didn’t appear to

Instead, they were… blind?

of dark mana was to limit perception, and now it appeared these boars were infected by just that. Their already absolutely terrible perception hampered even more, directly to the point

to the shore on the opposite side of where the boars had entered. There was a bit of an area now clear of beasts, one he quickly reached as he

around in the water, the others running around hitting each other in confusion, with the Horde Leader being unmoving, eyes

and his quiver. He mentally smacked himself for not applying poison to his arrows, but then again, it would likely have been washed off down in

a bit of his poisoned blood into the bottom of the quiver, making do with what he had and what he could apply most quickly. As he did so, he used Mark of the Ambitious Hunter on

he aimed at one of the boars smack in the middle of the mayhem.

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

a substantial barrel-sized hole in the side of the boar, blasting it away. It smashed into

boars’ response was… more chaos. Not a single one of them seemed to notice him at all but instead

the second from where he stood. The problem for the creatures was that they had consumed too damn much of the water. Even if their body slowly cleansed it, Jake reckoned he would have hours

that was currently curing itself far faster than the others. The Horde Leader. But even so, while it healed

the boars finally seemed to catch on. Even with their reduced senses, the

In fact, it helped

even hitting the side of the Horde Leader, bringing it out of its state of concentration. It appeared to think it was under attack as it erected

smart enough to do that, though. They just attacked everything around them.

of the time as efficiently as he could. Most boars died in a single shot through the heart or head, but some he

weakened state. Their vital energies were entangled in a struggle against the poison in their bodies, weakening them all significantly. An unexpected