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

unmoving as he crossed his fingers. Like the last time he saw them, they all spread out in a huge semi-circle as they surrounded the

His heart pumped with a mix of anxiety and anticipation as he saw it lower its snout. It briefly froze before it began drinking, the

neighbor boar didn’t have the same caution as it just slumped its head

to do what Jake interpreted as a shrug as it

of the others hesitated either as they all began draining the lake. Jake reveled as

shown the slightest 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 that the

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

the lake didn’t appear to shrink at all. Jake hadn’t seen any signs of new water, so

thought was interrupted by one of the boars that had now stopped drinking. It

its companion. It, however, seemed

caught the attention of all the other beasts, as they all abruptly

about as if drunk, hitting each other, with some

a bit dumbfounded as he observed all 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,

Instead, they were… blind?

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 of

began swimming 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 climbed up on shore. He did so carefully, as he kept watch

had caused. Several pigs were squealing and splashing around in the water, the others running around hitting each

his bow 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 the

of the quiver, making do with what he had and what he

in the middle of the mayhem. He channeled his Infused Powershot as he

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 that was likely altered

the boar, blasting it away. It smashed into several others,

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

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 before

except for one boar that was currently curing itself far faster than the others. The Horde Leader. But even so, while it healed itself faster, it had also

seemed to catch on. Even with their reduced senses, the smell of

them. In fact,

of the Horde Leader, bringing it out of its state of concentration. It appeared to think it was

though. They just

of the time as efficiently as he could. Most boars died in

Their vital energies were entangled in a struggle against the poison in their bodies, weakening them