The Primal Hunter

Jake sat cursing to himself near the cave entrance he had exited just a bit over a day ago. He wasn’t here for a rematch with the Indigo Mushroom, but instead just to do his alchemy. The reason for his sour mood was because he, in his stupidity, forgot the book he was right in the middle of reading back at the pond.

Could he go back and get it? In theory, yes. Would he? Hell no. They had already begun constructing his new house, and Miranda, together with Louise, seemed very adamant about him staying away until it was done - something that should take less than a week.

While they hadn’t explicitly stated he couldn’t go there, he very much got that feeling from them. He had helped a bit by leaving behind a few dozen potions of all three kinds. They were some of the mid-tier iterations he made in his two weeks of mass-production, but they were still peak-inferior or common.

He had explained to Miranda about his plan of making the cellar. They had decided to simply build around the pillar while making the cellar. To make the basement a square with a hole in the middle holding the Pylon, it merely looking like a supporting beam for the entire house.

It wasn’t strictly necessary due to the builder profession’s skills and the far improved raw materials compared to pre-system construction, but aesthetically it would look relatively normal.

The reason why he wanted to do it like that was relatively simple. He wanted to make that cellar into his secret alchemy lab to truly keep anyone out, which meant that he would make it a place where no one could easily enter.

He had learned from both Duskleaf and the Viper that alchemists of the Malefic Viper often designed their labs with affinities in mind. They often flooded a room with a certain kind of poison gas, creating a field of deadly miasma where anyone without strong poison resistance would quickly find themselves poisoned and dying.

If he could do that in the cellar, it would function as both an improved lab, and at the same time, keep anyone too nosy out. Quite a win-win if he said so himself. And from how Hank spoke during their final stages of planning, the man seemed like he knew how to do his job. The fact that he had been working in construction before the system was showing.

Though it was a bit surprising that the quiet kid Mark had followed in his father’s footsteps and chosen the builder profession. In retrospect, this was quite a nice thing, as it would speed up the construction by quite a bit.

Louise served as the architect, and Miranda was apparently still messing around with her new skills. She had been above level 40 before her profession change but surprisingly hadn’t lost a single skill. She had only gained new ones. A part of Jake couldn’t help but wonder if this could somehow be meta-gamed by switching between professions, but then again, it more likely just had something to do with the City Lord profession being unique.

He was sure that he would have lost any skills related to the Malefic Viper if he changed. And speaking of skills associated with the Malefic Viper… he felt level 70 creep closer than ever before. So with nothing else to do, he began making the final push.

As his book was left behind, he just began experimenting instead. He already had gotten a few ideas, so he started by testing those. He still had many ingredients from the challenge dungeon left, and he reckoned some of those had to be useful.

Only a few hours later, he got his level.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Prodigious Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 70 - Stat points allocated, +5 free points*

And with it the expected message.

*Prodigious Alchemist of the Malefic Viper profession skills available*

The last time he got a skill at level 60, he got offered quite a few useful skills, with Sagacity of the Malefic Viper being the clear standout. It was a no-brainer.

saw five options as always. He ignored two of them right away, both of them being rare skills related to being some fanatical prophet for the Viper or whatever.

summon two phantasmal wings and take flight. While active, you can burn the blood within the wings and release potent toxic fumes. The toxicity and effect of the poison are based on Blood of the Malefic Viper. Toughness

yet it prevailed only with its fangs. Its bites the deliverer of death. As a human, you have taken inspiration and learned to apply the same concept. Allows the Alchemist to coat his teeth in deadly venom, sharing all the same effects as Blood of the Malefic Viper in an empowered state. Additionally, all poisons you have crafted or created are significantly more effective when injected directly into the body of your foes. Passively provides 1 Strength per level in

Now, you have learned to take after him, your own pride now a tangible weapon. Allows the Alchemist to force their will upon the world far more easily. Significantly increases the effect of all Words of

each one ominous in its own way. He wanted all of them, but he could only pick one. This was by far the most challenging skill choice he had ever had. Truly the definition

returned to his true and tested method of going through them

of the Malefic Viper. The biggest pro of this skill was in the name alone. Wings. Flight. What human didn’t desire to sprout wings and take to the air like a bird? It was enough for him to nearly make

One of his most significant weaknesses currently was his inability to move properly when airborne. He had to fire off blasts of mana to push him in different directions, and that was both ineffective and wasted

the blood within the wings was also impressive. It even burned the blood from Jake’s Blood of the Malefic Viper, once more proving the synergy between all the

this blood would give him an area of effect ability. It could even be effective against the Indigo Mushroom that he was having trouble dealing with. If he could release toxic gas into the chamber, he could potentially kill it. Though he seriously doubted

given. Outside of perception, agility was the stat Jake desired the most, and, if he had to be honest with himself, needed most for direct combat. Perception was a weird stat, that while helping his damage quite a lot, didn’t have much effect outside of boosting his skills and bloodline. At least not as far as he

class-related abilities. It was a stat he very much wanted, and picking the skill would instantly get him 70 in it. Factoring in his title

stats. Another stat Jake felt

It didn’t even appear

for combat it gave was quite massive for his current fighting style. He chose to completely ignore the part about coating his teeth in poison, as there was no way he would go around biting people. He wasn’t some kind of vampire. Wait, do vampires exist

to upgrade it to ancient-rarity, as it would hamper many other skills

hit 60 despite the skill being upgraded then.

provide him the most significant boost in overall fighting power here and now. Making all toxins he injected directly into his

he didn’t know. He just did. If he had to guess, it was likely related to Sagacity giving him knowledge of things. But the knowledge still felt locked away for the most

he purely wanted to be stronger in combat, he would go

relatively straightforward, but the last

didn’t get than he actually understood. Sagacity was not helping at all here for some reason. Honestly,

Words of Power? He didn’t get any of those. Like, could he just think

kind of mind-affecting skill? One part of the skill he did get was the fact that it improved his mental defenses. That

say that the stat was his most useless by far. Aside from

consumed energy drinks

like he could overcome his social anxiety by dumping more stats into it. If that worked, he wouldn’t find talking to anyone besides

the next one at 80 and the final at 90. If he also managed to get his Sense and Touch

he needed to make a choice. He liked pretty much all of them, the last one the least, of course. Now he

…

unable to decide on anything, he took out a