The Primal Hunter

It had all started four days prior.

The house's construction was pretty much done, and Hank was considering making some simple pieces of furniture. They also had a sit-down to talk about plans to make a few more buildings elsewhere for themselves.

That is when Miranda got pinged by her skill that others had entered the Pylon of Civilization’s area of influence. Other humans. She was immediately filled with a paradoxical feeling of both concern and anticipation.

Concern about how many they were, their intentions, and their strength, and anticipation at the potential of having more citizens join the city. Maybe begin to actually to make it worthy of being called a city.

She notified Hank and the kids as they talked over what to do.

“Louise and Mark should go hide in the cellar of the house,” Hank started out with. At Miranda’s request, the cellar was rather well hidden, and you wouldn’t find its entrance without looking around for it. Which is to say they had put the pelt of an animal over the hatch.

“Not going to happen,” Louise said adamantly. “We both evolved too. If they want a fight, let’s give them one!”

“We should avoid fighting if we can. No matter how strong or how many there are,” Miranda sighed as she tried to calm down the fired-up Louise. The system clearly hadn't fixed the illogical mind of the young woman.

“I don’t want to hide either,” Mark said a bit meekly.

Hank chose to concede as they quite frankly didn’t have time for the discussion right now. “Fine, but no fighting unless absolutely necessary. And keep quiet.”

They spoke a bit more, all gathered around the house still, as they waited for the arrival of whoever was to come. The skill Miranda had that made her aware they were here did nothing more than that. It just gave her a vague feeling that someone had entered.

Not how many, not how strong, or where they were now. Miranda wasn’t even sure if she could feel it if they left the area again. So all they could do was to wait in trepidation.

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, they didn’t have to wait long before someone arrived.

A hooded figure was hiding at the entrance to the valley and peeked out from behind a rock.

She saw the four people there, in front of a wooden lodge. The large bearded man with an axe over his shoulder, a woman, a young man, and a young woman all wearing robes. Two casters and a healer from what she could tell.

A quick Identify of all four showed that none of them were overly high leveled while they were all E-grade. The woman and the man being the highest leveled individuals at 33 and 34 respectively.

She quickly retreated to her group, waiting a few hundred meters away at a small clearing within the forest. As she walked out from behind a tree, exiting stealth, the group turned towards her, a young man in the lead.

“That was fast. Did you find anything?” he asked with a slight smile.

His face was pale, and his eyes seemed a bit listless despite his smile. He was wearing a robe with golden runes and a small chain around his neck, with the necklace itself hidden beneath his robes. But even with his weak appearance, she knew that he was by far the strongest in their party.

They were a group of five that had met and survived the tutorial together - from level 0 to where they were today without losing a single member.

The party consisted of herself, Eleanor, the archer of the group. Next was their defender, Christen, the only other woman on the team. She was currently sitting in a chainmail set resting against a log with their healer Silas tending to a large wound on her stomach - a particularly nasty one that was resisting his healing quite effectively.

didn’t quite fit into a role. He was initially a medium warrior but began picking up more magic

accurately recently, space magic. Displacement, teleportation, whatever the hell struck his fancy, he somehow figured

I didn’t detect or see anyone else. They have constructed a lodge in the valley, and from the looks of it, know that we are here. At least

there any clue as to their classes or

wielding an axe, and the other wore the standard caster robe from the tutorial. The last two looked like teenagers, one of them a healer and the other a caster. Both also E-grade,”

at the answer. “This doesn’t make any sense.

has something to do with the area? Have you noticed how we haven’t encountered a single monster or beast since coming here?”

four? With their levels, they aren’t a threat,” the defender Christen

is truly nothing here,

thousands of kilometers. This wasn’t the first teleport either, but one of many they had been forced to perform

Eleanor said. She had her bow draped over her shoulder and her quiver on her back. If Jake were here, he would recognize the quiver as identical to

Not a single one of them was wearing their starting gear, and those that were had upgraded versions. More surprising

both at 47, and herself lowest at only 45. She said ‘only,’ but that was only in comparison to the

get moving, guys and gals,” Christen smiled as she stood up. Silas just shook his head as he wasn’t entirely done healing the wound yet.

the idyllic lodge positioned right next to the pond with a waterfall - and

in front and seen her level at 48 - fourteen entire levels above his own. And a quick glance at the other members of the group of five made

two groups stared at each other for a while before Neil stepped forth and

light smile. “We come in peace. So no reason to be that tense, I would just like

we would be more than happy to,” Miranda

The absence of monsters is quite something. And

the builder,” Miranda said, nudging at Hank. “As for the particularities of this place, while we have noticed them, I

“Lie,” Silas interrupted.

in the second sentence,” Neil chuckled. “For transparency, my friend here happens to have a

run down her spine. If that was true, it threw off 90% of her plans for this interaction. That is already calculating in the fact

land. The lodge behind me is

you say. Who might

forgotten to ask his name time and time again. “What I

What makes

is human, but since Identify does not work on him, I couldn’t confirm. His level of power also making me doubtful of his humanity, to begin with,” she said, expanding

asked, a bit confused. “As in,

at all. It just returned a

once. It was the entity that had rewarded him the object leading to their current precarious situation - the same entity that was the namesake

to the bottom of this.

believe he will return within the next three to four days due to it being the deadline

fulfilling to avoid too many follow-up questions. She wanted to, at all cost, avoid any mention of

strong would you reckon this individual is?” Neil asked as he looked

will retaliate when he returns,”