The Primal Hunter

”It’s hard to believe,” Levi said as he stared at the blue bottle in his hand. “How do you even make something like this?”

“How do you shoot magical blades at people, and how does Neil teleport us thousands of kilometers at a time?” Christen scoffed before continuing. “And how does Silas heal wounds in seconds, or Eleanor’s arrows appear from thin air or-“

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. No need to be a bitch,” Levi said, handing the potion back to Silas, who was keeping them for now.

“Sorry I hurt your feelings, me being a bitch has totally nothing to do with my stomach being constantly on fire,” she said sarcastically.

“Sorry…” Silas apologized meekly. He was still trying to heal it, but all he could do was to keep it in check as the power of the curse slowly ran itself out.

“It isn’t your fault,” Neil cut in. “We didn’t know they had made an alliance and got overconfident. Hopefully, this mysterious ‘owner’ can help us.”

“I still don’t like trusting some unknown person we don’t even know is human,” Christen sighed.

“We can’t keep running either,” Levi said. “And there is no way in hell we hand the orb to them. Not like they are going to let us live either way.”

“Won’t this ‘owner’ want the orb, though?” Eleanor asked. “I doubt we can keep it hidden if we actually need his assistance.”

“Let’s just hope he isn’t interested then,” Neil smiled. “In the meantime, we shouldn’t idle. They are for sure on our trail, so not preparing would be foolish.”

“So we are staying here?” Silas asked as he was channeling what little mana he had recovered into Christen’s wound.

Neil looked at the two and saw the wound that still appeared to have small embers burning in it. “Christen is not in any shape to travel like she is now, and I used the last remaining ingredients I had on the last teleportation circle. We may be able to outrun them still, but is that really a way to live? So, yes, we are staying. For better or worse.”

At the current time, they had created some distance from the lodge and the four other survivors. A discussion was in order on how to move forward. But in the end, decisions nearly always fell on Neil to make.

“Should we involve those four?” Eleanor inquired.

Neil nodded once more. “I think it would be wise. They must have some rapport with this ‘owner,’ so having a working relationship at the minimum would be preferable. They may also be able to provide further assistance and help with preparing for the inevitable arrival of my cousin’s group.”

“Speaking of assistance, why don’t you take a swig of one of these little wonder-bottles?” Levi asked Silas, who was clearly out of mana again.

They already used Identify on the potions, and it had returned the same message as back in the tutorial.

[Mana Potion (Inferior)] – Restores mana when consumed

[Mana Potion (Common)] – Restores mana when consumed

It didn’t show the values, and in their eyes looked identical to the ones they consumed back then. The only difference was the common-tag on some of them, so these were likely of higher quality.

be poisoned,” Silas said a

assassination attempt. Even if it worked, we would just wipe them out,” Levi said with a big laugh. “Don’t worry, if you die, I promise to

you,” Silas joked as he took

the liquid enter his body as a flood of mana spread throughout. Far

a while

“Holy shit.”

concerned

more than 2200

entire mana pool,” Levi exclaimed in

the mana potions were that good,

are no side-effects?”

Works just like the tutorial ones. I can tell there is the same one-hour cooldown too.

Especially if they got more of these potions,” Neil laughed. Perhaps they would be able to put up a

and the others still sat. They agreed to work together as Neil also

A smaller number of people put in an archipelago of islands with bridges connecting each one. Each island

while Neil and Levi went to the same class in university. Eleanor was a friend of Christen as

them were only in their early to mid-twenties, and Neil was

named Abby, had also entered. She had joined

the beginning, they had teamed up with this group. Their teamwork turned out to be immaculate as Christen took the front and tanked, Eleanor scouted and made ranged attacks, while Neil and Levi provided most of the damage, with Neil also learning supporting skills later on. Silas was the

of any kind, but instead a large crypt, which they had entered with a large group of nearly two hundred people. There they found a unique challenge dungeon. All casters below 25, which was all of them as it was still only the first week, got the

to win it, but something unexpected happened. Two people managed to, against all odds, beat the challenge dungeon. After a month, Abby and Neil both walked out of the door,

class. Both had upgraded it to an even more potent version at 25 too. From that point onward, they came to dominate the tutorial. Both were higher level and more powerful than anyone else. Their parties benefitting from this too, as their levels soared

was going their own way to find and hunt more beasts. By some miracle, or perhaps by design, they reached the final island simultaneously, when only a

Abby and Neil, as well as their respective companions, encountered the ‘final boss.’ The disciple of the one who had given them the legacy in the challenge dungeon. The one who had given them their class was long dead, with only this one disciple remaining

he wasn’t there to fight them. He offered them yet another trial. One they

with a group of several hundred people. An entire army she had at her command. Of course, she protested at

competed. Which was when the disparity between the two became apparent. Not in

decided on that from the start, which meant that he had

father was

the end. Abby was walking out with only her and her father surviving. As a reward, Neil was granted the Orb of Kallox. Named after the one they had inherited their class from. The item that would come to be the

in his final days. Left to his disciple to grant to any worthy inheritor of his path. The orb was made by condensing a microcosm to physical form in the shape of an orb. It is nigh-indestructible by any being below B-tier. Due to the very life

Class

excited at having gotten it and believed she would share in my excitement as we would move forward into this new world together,” Neil said with regret. “Outwardly, she did appear to do so. Until we returned from the tutorial, and

you were family…” Louise said as she

did I. I naturally refused and even offered that we could both study and use the orb together. This wasn’t

escape when surrounded

all the time. We managed to shake