The Primal Hunter

Truly disappointing, Jake thought as he looked at the now-dead Alpha Mantis Scyther. A level 89 beast that was the lord of this biodome reduced to a headless corpse in what couldn’t even be called a real fight.

If he had to compare it to something, it would be the Den Mother. And not in a favorable way for the mantis. Despite it being seven levels higher, the Den Mother had been stronger. More importantly, it had a much higher level of intelligence and many more skills in its toolbox.

Focusing on physical stats, the mantis likely had the Den Mother beaten. Without a doubt, himself too. It was also surprising that there even was such a high-level creature down in these caverns. This biodome in itself was a pleasant surprise.

With their leader dead, the mantises were no longer a threat either. Not that they ever had been. Jake made his way towards the center of this biodome. His Sense of the Malefic Viper telling him that something containing a lot of mana was there.

Little was in his way as he ran there, encountering only a few mantises that he quickly cut apart. Soon he found himself before the source of it all - a glowing blue crystal embedded in the ground, surrounded by wild plant life.

Using Identify on it, he got… nothing. No response at all. A phenomenon he had run into many times before. If he wanted to identify a piece of metal, wood, or crystal, it usually didn’t work. He didn’t have the required skill to do so from what he gathered.

Like how others couldn’t use Identify on plants and toxic things. It was why Jake had the skills Herbology and Toxicology from his profession that allowed him such knowledge; the only outliers he had encountered so far were things in dungeons and special items during the tutorial. Those he had been able to identify without a problem.

Now the question was… should, and could, he take the big shiny crystal with him? He could clearly feel it pumping out vast amounts of pure mana to the surrounding area, and it was likely the source of life in this entire biodome. Taking it would possibly result in the whole cavern no longer being the sprawling place of life it was now.

Of course, all of this was dependent on his ability to even move the crystal, to begin with. It was rather large, sticking out of the ground around three meters up, with another three meters under the ground. It reminded him a bit of the Pylon at first, but there were also clear differences.

The Pylon was clearly a creation of the system, while this in front of him was just a somewhat standard giant mana crystal. Also… he was pretty damn sure he had run into this kind of crystal before. He just couldn’t quite remember where.

Raising his hand, he lay it upon the crystal and felt that it felt just like a big piece of glass. Or a regular crystal. There was nothing incredible about it except for the mana it so clearly emanated into the biodome.

Activating his necklace, he tried to store the crystal, but he felt like there was some kind of resistance. He kept trying for a while but ended up admitting to himself that moving it wasn’t possible. At least not in his storage. His sphere of perception revealing the reason.

Beneath the ground, hundreds of small vines and roots extended into the crystal. Following them, he could see that they belonged to all the plants around him. Most surprising, however, was the fungi. Or perhaps fungus would be more accurate.

Every single one of the giant blue mushrooms was a part of this one plant - all just one entity that spread beneath the ground. From a mycology standpoint, this was very interesting; sadly, Jake didn’t care that much for mushrooms to begin with. In fact, he had quite the distaste for the damn things.

And for these to even dare to be blue… it was an offense he couldn’t let slide lightly. And he really wanted to bring the big shining mana crystal with him. If not, just to figure out exactly what it was and test things with it.

So he took out his Omnitool and once more turned it into a shovel. Plunging it into the ground, he hit the roots of the mushrooms, and-

OoOOoOOOOooO

A loud booming sound was heard throughout the entire biodome. The ground shook, and Jake was momentarily dumbstruck by what the hell was happening. All he had done was to sever a few roots of the damn fungus.

It had awakened something. An aura spread throughout the entire biodome, suppressing every living mantis still scouring about, making them freeze up in fear. It was the type of aura Jake had only felt once before - the one that came from the suppression of a higher grade.

ground in front of him exploded as he was pushed away from the crystal, stabilizing himself quickly. The crystal itself rose into the air as countless vines spun around it,

to life, his strength and agility both being empowered. Meaning whatever he now faced was a higher level than him, and not

Identify on a random

Fungus Mycorrhiza

error. The mantis had never been the lord of this area; the true

mushrooms had invaded every single plant here. Made them a part of it. It was all one giant living creature, connected through a network

and the plants moved in concert. But not towards Jake only. He saw the metal-like tubes he had found interesting earlier penetrate the corpse of a dead mantis he had left nearby. Like a needle, it pierced into it, and in mere moments the corpse turned into an empty husk. Drained

moment on his way here, he did

seen it coming in his sphere long ago. He considered his options as he jumped away from the four spike-like roots that exploded from where

before was an actual D-grade being. Above level 100, with unknown abilities. It wasn’t like the mantis before. Logically the best

smiling. Finally. He

intelligence rivaling that of a human. Stats far above one. His only

this… thing, was weaker than the King. But at the same time… he couldn’t

all sides. Often, he was forced to avoid being enclosed by vines with Shadow Vault

and now released all their fumes into the air. He heard the shrieks of all the still-living

Jake, on the other hand, it was almost pleasant. And it

of ten football fields, the first

how to get to whatever weak

third problem: how to outlast such a

Because

root was attacking him

same time, he knelt to avoid a blow as he began channeling Touch of the Malefic Viper. He saw his hands radiate a

he

OoOOoOOOOooOoOOOooOO!

felt his poison quickly being purified by the overwhelming vitality of the fungus. Another sharp tendril

anger the fungus. Anger which materialized in the

attention split between himself and all the other living creatures still roaming about the biodome. Now,

activate Limit Break straight up to 20% right away. The attacks were both stronger and more numerous than before. Even while boosted, he failed to dodge all the attacks as several cuts began emerging on his arms and

to admit that he had been too arrogant in his approach. While his analysis of the monster’s weakness was entirely

the only thing he achieved was to make the fungus more determined in killing the beast that had invaded it. He chucked poison bottles out and hit several mushrooms or plants, them withering fast as

enough. Jake felt a massive amount of mana in the air as it used a skill. He saw hundreds of giant mushrooms wither as light exited them only to gather midair floating

His near-precognizant senses activated as he quickly covered his entire

transformed into a special attack that blew him back hundreds of meters. The beam seared into his body as his armor was quickly burned through, leaving only his scales to take the

did not mean it could in any way negate it. The scales all chipped and cracked on his chest, while the ones on his back practically shattered the moment