The Primal Hunter

Meditating on the small island of clouds sat Jake with the hawk lying beside him, wings out to its side. It hadn’t even bothered to perch itself on the crystal tree behind them, too exhausted to care about its dignity.

Jake had used Identify on it on their way to their little island and seen that their struggles had paid off for the bird. It had gained yet another level in only one fight.

[Galesong Hawk – lvl 92]

He, too, had gotten plenty of gains. Not counting the sheer satisfaction he earned from the first excellent fight after exiting the tutorial, of course. By looking through the notifications, he had also managed to land himself another level.

*You have slain [Flare Crow – lvl 92] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*You have slain [Flare Crow – lvl 95] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*You have slain [Flare Crow – lvl 94] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*You have slain [Cloud Elemental – lvl 99] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*’DING!’ Class: [Ambitious Hunter] has reached level 86 - Stat points allocated, +4 free points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 78 - Stat points allocated, +5 free points*

The level was unexpected as he had just gotten one in the fight before it. Then again, he was still quite a few levels lower than the ones he fought. Even if his experience was lessened due to fighting with the hawk and the damage the crows had already done to the elemental before they interfered.

He also had to remember his Mark of the Ambitious Hunter, increasing his experience when fighting enemies above his own level. As always, he used the skill almost instinctually on any target he faced. He felt a bit bad to admit it, but upon meeting Hawkie for the first time, he had marked it.

Closing the menus, he chose to focus on recovery for now. The flames were extinguished with the death of the crows, but his body was still a mess. He'd lost more health than he had thought, and his stamina and mana reserves were also severely drained.

After waiting a while longer, he opened his eyes and drank a healing potion. He also placed a healing, stamina, and mana potion by his side for Hawkie to take. He wasn’t afraid of it drinking all three at once as even beasts innately knew not to.

Meditating once more, he felt the hawk open its eyes a few minutes in and take the healing potion, as it had also clearly lost quite a few health points during the fight.

The brief respite continued for a few hours as he downed a few more potions, and Hawkie finished off all three of its brews meanwhile. Both back in near top form, he turned to the hawk with a questioning gaze.

“Ready to go again?”

It looked at him for a moment before shaking its head. Jake was confused but saw its look turn towards the ground far below them. That is when he remembered the hawk’s tendency to leave every day for a few hours.

What it did, he could only speculate on. He wanted to follow, but every time it had denied him. And he wasn’t curious enough to ruin their partnership to discover its secret.

Today too, it motioned for him not to follow. He just nodded in acknowledgment and said:

here then. I assume you can find me

he got a brief nod and an annoyed gust of wind,

jump off the cloud and soar downwards. As it disappeared from sight, he too got up and summoned his wings. Hunting with the hawk was safer

also immensely enjoyed the fact that each of them turned into a small orb of condensed cloud-mana when they died. It felt like he was getting loot from his hunts. Loot that was useless to him currently, but which he was sure to find

he could just give them to his feathered friend. He still had many random things in his spatial storage that he didn’t have any use for. Two different kinds of water with a magical affinity, just to mention some things he questioned himself for collecting more than

on the continent of clouds, he quickly located his target and began charging up three bolts. The poor Cloud Elemental didn’t even

staring into empty air, looking lost to any outsider. In reality, she was reading a system panel that was part of her profession as Principal City Lord. Before the profession, the system had been minimal

be given upon getting it. This profession, however, was different. The knowledge it came with directly was minimal, and instead, it opened up an entirely new part of the system to

specific new skills related to. Other panels she felt were there but currently inaccessible for her. Likely because

the new city-system, the young man showing much vigor, to begin with. However, that vigor quickly deteriorated when he came to understand precisely how

The reality, however, was far more disappointing. While she could give

to create the city. If not, what would be the meaning of having builder

the many panels of information, however - conclusions she could reach from the

had never heard of that before. Then again, trading and bartering wasn’t exactly a practice she saw anyone engage in. It was viewed as shameful to try

System Credits being one such thing. A currency used by the system, given to everyone in the tutorial, with

points, everyone had to have at least some credits. The thing is… the credits were indeed just a currency. They weren’t like tutorial points

from being bound to the value of gold and was before the system more digital than ever. As some economists have said, the faith in money is the most prominent religion on Earth. The dollar or euro only having value because people believed

had that illusion of money collapsed. Paper money now worth nothing more than the paper it was printed on. All the money

kind of trading. It was a guarantor far more reliable than any

a part of the system itself, it couldn’t as easily be stolen. There was no bank account to hack or financial system to exploit. However, she was

- told her of how insignificant Earth was in the vast multiverse. How they were just fledglings before a

to try for fear of retaliation from the system itself. She still wasn’t quite sure if it held any kind of ego or not, especially after meeting the humanoid entity

menu before her. It was describing the possibility of taxation in a city. Several types of taxation, none of which she had unlocked the ability to deploy yet. Not that she had

tax a ‘city’ consisting of one in-progress lodge, a bunch of trees, and two chairs. Oh, and a waterfall and pond that she naturally would have to charge a

used any of her new skills quite yet. Only to try and better shape the area affected by the Pylon of Civilization and to

settlements on Earth. Possibly their entire universe. They

gone through the current menus she could see, and most of them were barebones so far. The first

City Overview

City name: N/A

Population: 4

City Owner: [?]

City Lord: Miranda Wells

City Tier: Earl

The population only showed 4 as, for some reason, the system didn’t count the masked man. She knew he was the

so far, but she was sure it would expand. However, the part about City Tier was at least a bit informative. From the owner, she received the title of Nobility: Viscount. So her guess was that his current title had to be Nobility:

was rather bare, too, just showing the area affected by the Pylon. It was a handful of kilometers in each direction from

that was a panel, she was really