The Primal Hunter

The once-great city that Jake had called home for the last few years was nearly unrecognizable. The grand buildings were broken and in tatters, the streets dominated by the reclamation of mother nature.

Jake simply walked down the street at an average pace. Not asphalt but grass and weeds beneath his feet. On the way, he saw several other groups of humans. Some tried to approach him, some observed him warily, while some hid and believed their gazes undetected.

For those who tried to talk, a quick glance was usually enough for them to leave him be. Their inability to Identify him without a doubt also playing a role in their decision to avoid him, which was exactly what Jake wanted right now. To be alone.

He was actually quite overwhelmed by the number of people he saw. One often forgets precisely how many people lived in big cities. In the end, it got so bad that Jake had to get off the streets. A quick leap using Badger Jump took him up to the roof of a still-standing four-story apartment building. That also earned him quite a few glances.

Jake needed time to think. His mind was a mess, only exacerbated by getting into a conflict first thing upon returning to Earth. He couldn’t even blame Mike. He, too, hurt just as much as Jake, and lashing out was to be expected. They were both assholes. Himself appropriately more so as he had hurt the man for no good reason.

Looking towards the pretty blue sky, he thought of his next steps. What he usually did whenever he felt overwhelmed by something was to drown himself in work or studying. An approach he decided to replicate once again.

He wanted to find somewhere to settle down for a while. To do alchemy and practice and familiarize himself with all his upgraded and new skills. Without any clear direction, he, in the end, settled on just following the advice of the Malefic Viper. To find the territory that the King of the Forest was supposed to occupy.

Glancing about, he located the tallest building still standing. It even still had the radio tower on top.

A quick climb later, mainly consisting of him just penetrating stone with his fingers while climbing, he found himself on top of the tower. From there, he had quite the vantage point and could see the city in all of its decrepit glory.

But more importantly, he could see beyond it. And what he saw wasn’t what he expected. The city itself was as he remembered it, save for the destruction, but what lay beyond certainly wasn’t.

On one side, he saw a giant lake. Or maybe even an entire ocean. It had to be noted that there wasn’t even a beach within a hundred miles before. Besides the lake, on all other sides, there were now only vast plains. Looking about, he could actually see where the roads just suddenly cut off. It was like someone had just plopped down landmasses all around.

Only one side looked somewhat normal. Jake could see the highway still continue outwards, and he could see it all looking relatively normal. There were quite a few things that stumped him, though.

He didn’t see a single car anywhere. The radio tower he was on didn’t have any of the electronic components either. He still saw plenty of bicycles scattered about but no cars, scooters, busses, or anything like that.

Another thing he noticed was the vast distance he could see - his insanely high perception, coupled with the lack of air pollution, giving him quite the view. However, there was one more thing contributing… the curvature of the Earth. Or more accurately, the lack thereof.

Oh, it was still there. Somewhere. But from where Jake was, it was barely noticeable, if at all. He had to guess that he was a bit more than a hundred meters up currently. And he could easily see hundreds up to perhaps a thousand kilometers away.

In the distance, he even saw a huge mountain range. One that certainly hadn’t been there before. It all did begin to get a bit blurry at that distance, but the fact that he could see them was crazy enough.

Of course, he was looking for something rather specific…

Quest: Claim the Pylon of Civilization

of Civilization. As long

Claim Pylon of

Duration: 71:02:21

- a huge forest. Naturally, due to the trees, he couldn’t grasp its size, but it appeared huge at first glance. It

bother with the frightened glances as he landed on the ground and began sprinting forward. Right now, he just wanted out of the city and

to take control of it. Jake didn’t have the faintest interest in creating a city, but chances are there would be some kind of reward associated with taking control of it

him more than ten minutes to reach the outskirts of the city. On the journey, he was only attacked once. By humans even. A stupid accident where a bunch of arguing idiots

clearly enough to deter them and make them run away. The conflict

No way he was going to begin playing judge, jury, and executioner towards random people. Oh, but there were three men ganging up on

been scarce within the city. If you ignored all the humans, that is. Only a few roamed about, most of them weak. On these plains, however, he saw far more action. The first thing he encountered was a group of… cows. Yep,

that they were all only

– lvl

the silliness of cows being the first true challengers he would meet upon

him any experience worth noting, and from his kill on the lizard, he also saw no replacement

front of him with the rare creature here and there. It was the perfect opportunity to try something he had

It was like his vision zoomed in, the ground between where he wanted his foot to land and where he was shrunk. The moment his foot landed,

a single step, he had traveled more than fifty meters. Not quite the distance promised by the name One Step Mile, but to Jake, it

skill worked at all behind the scenes. He could

to be him somehow manipulating

time with Moment of the Primal Hunter or directly attack the soul with Gaze of the Apex Hunter. He knew how to do it, but not how he did it. In other words, system-stuff. Despite him not currently getting shit, he was nevertheless confident. He had time

use. Not a single point of mana either. Of course, he needed more

out in combat. Which was an excellent thing as it was hard as hell to use.

was that it did work in combat. If a bit iffy

for it to activate. Raise his leg, focus on where to go, and then put

Jake often jumped and dodged a lot, resulting in him being airborne a lot of the time. The second problem was that he had to make the stepping motion, which he couldn’t do while crouching. The third being the fact that the step

where he was going. And, well, as he could ‘see’ 360 degrees around himself with his sphere, he could

sum it up, the skill was fantastic but hard to use at maximum efficiency. It would take a long time to practice to use it well in

travel through the plains. Far slower than if he just ran normally, but the

25 yet, and those that were often led their flock of fellow beasts. He had kind of expected them all to

it did make sense in some ways. The other humans he met were all pathetically weak. Only Jacob and Bertram

had one comfort. A bit weird to think of it as a comfort, he confessed internally. He

in a barrel waiting for him to grow in power and strike. Of course, he didn’t have infinite time… but unless the system planned for all

would exist, too, with many D-grades. Jake couldn’t help but imagine what could be