The Primal Hunter

Jake stood on top of a large purple mushroom as he inhaled deeply, taking in the atmosphere. This cavern, which he had decided to now call a biodome, was truly interesting.

On the ground beneath him lay tens of dead insectoids. None had been a threat, but all of them insanely aggressive, nevertheless. The beasts above had either scurried off upon seeing him or at least been hesitant. These insects didn’t give a damn.

Which naturally resulted in their untimely demise. One charging mantis quickly attracted others to come out of the woodwork - or shroomwork in this case - and joined the charge. One charging mantis had quickly resulted in many dead mantises.

The strongest had been level 48, with the weakest at 26 - quite the disparity. Far more so than a dungeon would have, but then again, this area wasn’t as ‘designed’ as those were. Besides, Jake could feel that he hadn’t met the big boss of this biodome yet.

For the first time, he felt a bit of excitement. Maybe he could even find something worth fighting down here.

With those thoughts, he moved onwards. Slaughtering everything in his path as he went towards the center of the biodome.

On the way, he didn’t care for herbs as before. He only focused on the aura he felt. It was faint… but it was there.

A sword in one hand, a dagger in the other, he cleaved down mantis after mantis. Occasionally a centipede-like monster would appear, but they didn’t seem to be on friendly terms with the mantises either. Most of them were either injured or in the middle of being devoured.

The same was true for every other species than the mantises. This was clearly their territory. Their domain. A domain that had now been invaded by an enemy predator in the form of a human.

Soon he couldn’t strike the mantises down in a single blow anymore. Their levels were growing. From the early 50s to now being in the early 60s. Even the occasional one in the early 70s. Any of these mantises would be the apex predator only a few hundred meters above them.

But down here, they could only play second fiddle to the true lord of the biodome.

Jake jumped to one of the tallest mushrooms and stared down at the huge insect beneath him.

Its body was bright green, its eyes even shining slightly. Its two blades were more than three meters long, strong mandibles that looked like they could easily crush steel, and a level making it worthy of being the ruler here.

[Alpha Mantis Scyther – lvl 89]

Smiling, Jake looked down at it, making eye-contact. He had hoped to see a trace of intelligence as he had seen in all of the dungeon bosses. Yet, he found only disappointment. Not a single spark of intelligence was present; it was clearly nothing more than just a giant stupid insect.

A shame, he thought. Hopefully, it can make up for it in power.

Taking out his bow, a quiver appeared on his back simultaneously. At the same time, the mantis had now clearly noticed him also. And like all the others, it merely attacked.

Jake didn’t use Infused Powershot but instead opened with a Splitting Arrow.

In-flight, one arrow split into two dozen, the most considerable amount Jake had created so far with a single shot. Jake could see the arrows about to hit the mantis when he got his first pleasant surprise. Its back opened up, and out came two transparent sets of wings.

With a swift motion, it dodged all of the arrows as it continued its attack. Even faster than Jake had anticipated. Less than a second after he had fired the arrow, the alpha mantis was before him, its scythe cleaving down.

Jake took a step forward as he saw the mushroom be split in two behind him through his sphere. His step had naturally been the skill One Step Mile and had taken him down to the ground, close to where the mantis had been initially.

the clearly confused insect managed to locate him. He hit it right in its midsection and saw the arrow sink in deeply as it shrieked in pain. He

attack had done little more than alert it to his position. With its more than six-meter tall body, it flew towards him once

he hit it another time before it reached him.

own. He didn’t doubt that if he got hit

and the mantis frantically trying to cut him to pieces. Eventually, Jake began to get bored, as the insect hadn’t done jack shit to adapt. The only change being its

some kind of new skill or hidden ability. But… nothing. It was just slowly fighting a battle it clearly couldn’t win, with no thought

Jake decided to end

One Step Mile

he turned around, an arrow already nocked. The mantis was once more confused, having clearly learned nothing from

of the Apex

freeze for a moment, not moving when it wanted to. And

Infused Powershot

to an arrow that soared through the

at the serene pond. She saw the small eels swimming without a care

vast difference between her and the young formerly-masked man. Not just in power, but mentality and

of the system. Like he had lived in it far longer than Miranda or

The most significant difference, however, was the disparity

and worked with many different types of employees. Over time she had begun to classify them mentally. Put them into boxes - one

the incompetent, etc. - yet she found the most volatile of them all of

monthly paycheck. They work to live. Get the job done and go home. But the driven want more than that. They want to advance. They want to improve. They become restless if

her job before the tutorial, but in the tutorial itself. Like a worker merely working to live, she had done the

survivors. But… she couldn’t honestly say that she hadn’t done it for the sake of survival. To make herself useful and gain levels to not

they ended, Miranda returned to the rest area as quickly as possible. Yet… what if she had remained

the first type of person. The type that was just walking forward

bad. They would be the employee that could take the company to the next level. Have a new innovative idea or strategic insight that could lead to practical change.

any means necessary. Willing to stomp on anyone in their way on their path of advancement. Every other person merely a

If he had been in their tutorial, he wouldn’t have stayed in the trial area. He would have gone beyond it. She heard how he spoke. As if it was natural to hunt down whatever monsters

and beyond and come out of the tutorial more powerful than she thought possible. And what did he do then? He kept working; he kept grinding. Somehow, he had managed to find the

at the same time, she was terrified of how

But was he the archetype that would bring himself up, and by doing so, uplift

talking about. It wasn’t just a lost bonus or

live and outright killing them. The difference between the ones killing the people they entered the

had been incredibly sure that the masked man was the good kind for the majority of their conversation. She had been so sure… until the end. Now she wasn’t so confident. Was he

her face easily reflected by the calm water. Her slightly haggard look was making her a bit embarrassed. Her long

now she could easily be confused for being homeless. At least her skin was still as healthy as

faults, the system would better them. It couldn’t do significant changes,

the edge of the pond and began clearing her face and hair. The water was cold and pleasant, and it was refreshing

heard a voice she recognized, turning around to see Hank standing a few meters away. Not

masked man go?” he asked, appearing slightly worried.