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.

when he opened it this time… he 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

Malefic Viper (Ancient)] – Refusing to remain earthbound, the Malefic Viper sprung wings to devour the skies. You too refuse to be earthbound. Allows the Alchemist to 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 Viper had little weapons to fight with, 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

easily. Significantly increases the effect of all Words of Power spoken. Your pride increases all resistance to any kind of mind-affecting effects but be warned that it wanes in

of them was quite something. Each one powerful, each one ominous in its own way. He wanted all of them, but he could

and tested method of going through them one by

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 the

him incredibly well in combat. One of his most significant weaknesses currently was his inability

part about burning the blood within the wings was also impressive. It even burned the blood

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 it for several reasons. Likely

part was the stats 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

move faster, improved his reaction speed, and of course, also helped boost pretty much all of his 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 bonuses, it would be closer

skills gave stats. Another stat Jake felt like he could never have

just directly combat-related. It didn’t even appear to have a single application while doing alchemy.

poison, as there was no way he would go around biting people. He wasn’t some kind

to ancient-rarity, as it would hamper many other skills if he hadn’t. Then again… maybe he wouldn’t

he hit 60 despite the skill being

him the most significant boost in overall fighting power here and

his arrows. Why he knew, he didn’t know. He just did. If he had to guess, it was likely related to Sagacity giving him knowledge of

wanted to be stronger in combat, he would go

straightforward, but

the Malefic Viper was the kind of skill that had more things in the description he didn’t get than he

Words of Power? He didn’t get any of those. Like, could he just think stuff, and then it happened? Was that

improved his mental defenses. That part he very much desired. However, he did find

useless by far. Aside from the passive effects of improving mental defenses and

a teenager consumed energy drinks during

affected by skills, so it wasn’t like he could overcome his social anxiety by dumping

he wouldn’t go with Pride. He knew that he would pick up all three skills, the next one at 80 and the final at 90. If he also managed to get his Sense and Touch of the Malefic Viper to ancient-rarity, and his theory proved true, he

much all of them, the last one the least, of

…

sitting for a while, unable to decide on anything, he took out a piece of paper and wrote down each skill’s pros and