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.

poisoned,” Silas said

them out,” Levi said with a big laugh. “Don’t worry, if you die, I promise to take revenge for

joked as he took

mana spread throughout. Far more mana than those shitty mana potions provided during the

while after

“Holy shit.”

Levi asked, concerned about his earlier jokes becoming a

than 2200 mana,”

like my entire mana

but if the mana potions were that good, chances are

there are no side-effects?”

tell there is the same one-hour

a partnership with those four is pretty much settled now. Especially if they got more of these potions,” Neil laughed. Perhaps they would be able to put up a defense by

returned to the lodge, where Miranda and the others still sat. They agreed to work together as

tutorial had been more like Jake’s than Miranda’s. A smaller number of people put in an archipelago of islands with bridges

knew each other before the integration. Christen and Silas were childhood friends, while Neil and Levi went to the same class

their early to mid-twenties, and Neil was

entered. She 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

encountered a particular island. This one contained no monsters 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.

win it, but something unexpected happened. Two people managed to, against all odds, beat the challenge dungeon. After

more potent version at 25 too. From that point onward, they came to

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

Within, 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

D-grade. More potent than they could possibly handle. Luckily, he wasn’t there to fight

people. An entire army she had at her command. Of course, she protested at the limitation of only five people, but the disciple insisted, and even the headstrong Abby didn't dare cross

Abby and Neil had competed. Which was when the disparity between the two became apparent.

fate that they had decided on that from the start, which meant that he had an immense advantage throughout the

In personal power, she was above Neil. Her father was also slightly stronger than any of

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

(Legendary)] – An orb made by the space mage Kallox 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

Class of

and 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 the Disciple of Kallox was no longer there to interfere. That is

as

naturally refused and even offered that we could both study and use the orb together. This wasn’t good enough for her. So she, along

escape when surrounded by

bad formation and break out even without my space magic. After that, we ran for half a day, being pursued all the time. We managed to shake them off for the better part of a day, just enough time for me to set up a teleportation circle and take