The Primal Hunter

Power crackled in the air as three blue bolts appeared - all of them looking like small crystals as they floated above his head. He fired them towards the Cloud Elemental with a thought as it was still struggling to reform the parts of its body that were already missing.

But his bolts weren't its only problem. Just as its arm reformed and tried to counterattack, a blade of wind cut it off, and a gust dispersed the cut off arm. And right in time for another three bolts to hit it square in its chest, forcing it back even more.

Jake could only cackle at the ease of the fight. It had been going on for nearly ten minutes now, but it had been entirely one-sided. The hawk and himself worked in concert to keep the elemental suppressed and in a constant state of recovery.

Less than two minutes later, it failed to heal itself, likely having run out of mana or whatever resource it used to keep itself alive.

*You have slain [Cloud Elemental – lvl 91] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*’DING!’ Class: [Ambitious Hunter] has reached level 85 - Stat points allocated, +4 free points*

Jake smiled at the level, happy to feel the sense of progression not just in his skill level but stats too. He was looking forward to his next skill selection for his class very much - his recent progress as a mage sure to be reflected.

He wasn’t the only one that leveled up. Hawkie had also been blessed with a level at some point since their meeting a couple of days ago.

[Galesong Hawk – lvl 91]

“You good to keep hunting?” he asked, taking out a mana potion to chug down. The hawk glanced at him before motioning with its wing towards the now empty potion in his hand.

Not sure which one it wanted; he just took out both a stamina and a mana potion. It selected the mana potion by blowing it out of his hand and into its talons like it did every time he fed it.

“I am beginning to suspect you just keep me around as a free potion-dispenser,” he laughed as he put the two now empty bottles away in his spatial storage - Hawkie neither confirming nor denying his heinous accusation.

The two of them quickly found their next target, this time not going for an elemental but a group of birds hunting one. While it wasn’t very honorable to interfere in a fight in progress, Jake had come to accept it as commonplace in a place like this.

He and Hawkie had been attacked plenty of times already in the middle of their fighting. And they were even considered pretty lucky with their high levels scaring off most potential attackers - their ability to deter opportunistic beasts growing with Jake’s proficiency in magic.

It hadn’t even been half a day since he killed his first elemental solo with his bolts. A few hours in, he questioned himself why he even formed them in his hands. With the help of his ever-present Sphere of Perception, he could easily see all around him and better observe the mana in the air.

This also meant that he could easier form mana wherever he could ‘see.’ So he began forming singular bolts of mana in the air while at the same time making them in his hands. Over the course of the day, it became him only making free-flying bolts that he kept suspended above his head.

It meant that he could keep his hands free. His initial genius plan being to fire off bolts of mana while also using his bow. A plan that looked fine on paper, but in reality, proved more than a little challenging to pull off. No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t focus on doing both things at once, so whenever he attempted to fire an arrow, the mana bolts would fizzle out.

He could still fire an arrow, summon and shoot bolts of mana, and then fire an arrow once more without any issue. The problem was that gathering a mana bolt still took a few seconds. And while that doesn’t sound like long, he could quickly fire off several arrows in the same period. It also wouldn’t exactly serve as any type of surprise attack when the enemy could clearly see the bolts form.

Which is why for now, he stuck to going full mage. Besides, he hadn’t stopped working to improve his attack method even after summoning three bolts at once. He wanted to do more and do them faster. As well as a plethora of other improvements, all at the same time.

a basic skill. An excellent starting point for sure, but it

the bolts, for now, was because of their simplicity. It allowed him to focus on substance over form. Focus on the nature of the mana within each bolt instead

wasn’t sure exactly how the bolt’s power was determined, but he was confident that the mana’s quality mattered. Other than that, the quantity of mana used clearly played a part too. The intelligence stat also had to play a part somewhere if his guesses were correct.

amount of mana spent for each bolt. It was due to how well he used the skill, the methodology behind the bolt. Like how he

was entirely focused from start to end. The only breaks being his one-sided banter with Hawkie while

bow for the first time since his failed attempt to use it in concert with mana bolts dozens of fights ago - their

were fighting an elemental at a level

Elemental –

looked like crows except for one minor detail: they were all on

–

– lvl

Crow – lvl

began channeling his Infused Powershot. Mark of the Ambitious Hunter already applied to the target in his

to think of a way to improve it but found that whatever the

It served more to ‘buff’ the bow during the attack than the attack itself. The arrow would

Alpha Badger was still a mystery to him. A confluence of enlightenment, luck, and talent had formed the skill that became the cornerstone

Crow was about to become very familiar with. Now

- chosen as it was the strongest - picked up on the incoming Galesong Hawk but didn’t appear very fazed by it. That was when it suddenly felt itself freeze. It felt the gaze

was already taking it. But it barely managed

crow. Its small size was only serving to worsen the damage. It pierced straight through its body, leaving a hole the

danger that had just set upon them. They had been aware of the hawk but hadn’t realized

of the Apex Hunter. The attempt to dodge by the weakest crow thwarted as it too found an arrow embedded in its neck. The shot’s power significantly weaker as Jake hadn’t had time to charge it

it was lethal. What happened next forced him to reconsider that assessment, however. The first crow that he had believed dead for sure exploded in an inferno of golden flames - the flames

at a safe distance, or the Hawk that had yet to make it into its range, but instead the Cloud Elemental. The other crows

second crow that he had shot also exploded in flames. He had thought it was some kind of suicide skill for a moment,

Its wings were blazing like a phoenix reborn as it soared into the sky. Swiftly followed by the

them but was instead attacked by the third crow's

with two giant flaming behemoths flying towards him, leaving everything in their wake scorched. The clouds below being burned by the golden flames

fearful as he covered his entire body in dark green scales. His sense of safety immediately increasing as he raised his bow

of pure flames, it was still flesh and blood below the inferno. The arrow penetrated into its body and went out the other side, leaving a wound behind that closed itself as quickly as it had come - the damage caused by his

that caused their transformation did, it included healing their body at an incredible pace. Their size and flames both buffed to a

reached him – this arrow also penetrating through the

The air shimmering around him as Limit Break activated at 10%, all of his stats instantly experiencing the boost. He was

heat before the impact. The licks of the golden flames upon his body moments before the massive beast smashed into him beak-first, trying to impale him as he burned up. But it

flames seared his clothes but failed to burn them entirely.

dismembering one of its wings. This was also