The Primal Hunter

It took another day to once more reconfigure the magic circle for Jake’s new addition. Both hawks were more than happy with doing the extra work required to use the Beastorb.

Their egg had been slowly fed mana for the last one and a half months as it slowly grew, but here towards the end, they had slowed it down to do a final push. A final infusion of energy and Records to kickstart the growth and boost their chick’s future potential.

Jake had inadvertently become a part of it all as he spent most of his time observing the birds redraw the formation while trying to understand how it worked. Quite honestly, he wasn’t doing well, but he did get a few ideas.

He also helped speed the entire thing up a bit by liberally giving out mana potions, allowing Mystie to work even faster.

After the entire thing was done, they all went to their positions. Three focal points were created inside the formation, each corresponding to an item. Of course, Jake was aware of the Beastorb and the Storm Elemental Orb, but he wasn’t aware of the final item before now.

[Mystbone (Unique)] – A Mystbone granted by the system to the newly integrated 93rd Universe. Contains a vast amount of energy and Records that will allow any beast that consumes it to grow far faster and gain magical skills and abilities related to the path of mysticism.

That… actually answers a lot.

Jake had wondered how there even were so many D-grade beasts on Earth, especially in an area like the Cloud Continent with only two of them. They clearly didn’t have anything to hunt, so they must have evolved by consuming special items like this or through some kind of natural talent.

He knew that beasts could grow in level without fighting in several ways. Consuming special items, simply through time, or being in select areas and absorbing the energy in their surroundings. But it appears that the system – quite literally – threw them a bone.

From the looks of it, the bone had clearly already been partly consumed. It was doubtlessly what had allowed the Mystsong Hawk to evolve, and now it wanted to use the remaining energy within for its chick.

In his position in the magic circle, Jake was at the Beastorb, Hawkie was at the Storm Elemental Orb, and Mystie was at the bone. While the hawks couldn’t talk to him, he understood what he had to do. He just had to feed mana into the circle and help power it. Mystie would be in charge of everything else.

At this point, he was just taking this all as a learning experience. He got insights into the birth and evolution of beasts, magic circles of a mystical nature, and all while helping out a friend.

Slowly, the formation hummed to life as Mystie began the ritual. All of the Cloud Elemental Orbs began shining as the mana within them were drained. In moments the interior was entirely covered with extremely dense wind-affinity mana.

Jake felt as if small blades were continually trying to cut his skin. It didn’t cause him any harm, but he could imagine an average human would be cut into little pieces in seconds. All of this incredibly dense energy was slowly being poured into the small egg in the center.

He saw it being filtered before entering the egg, allowing only the densest and most profound energy to affect it.

Around ten minutes later, the second part began. Hawkie lifted its wings as it began channeling mana into the circle, instantly awakening the Storm Elemental Orb.

It erupted with energy as the dense wind-affinity mana was soaked in the potent storm-affinity mana. Small bolts of lightning began jumping back and forth but were quickly eliminated by the formation. Hawkie fell tired to the ground after fifteen minutes or so as the last bit of lightning disappeared, and now only pure mana and wind-affinity mana remained.

Hawkie quickly downed a mana potion – naturally provided by their resident alchemist – as it prepared to help support the circle.

Next up was the Mystsong Hawk, Mystie. It activated the formation with the Mystbone in it. This part was, without a doubt, the simplest for a variety of reasons.

all, Mystie was far more accustomed to manipulating the energy found within the bone than any other. The

been to infuse the egg with the Mystbone and mana from as many Cloud Elementals as possible, meaning the formation was primarily designed to accommodate the use of those two. While it had been significantly

the air, lightly coloring all the wind-affinity mana a teal color. It slowly began being filtered into the egg as Mystie also consumed its own

ground as he began channeling in mana. It didn’t feel that

just like opening the faucet; the only thing he

part of the circle cracked and spread its energy just like the Storm Elemental had before. Dense lightning ascended, looking very similar to what the Storm Elemental gave off too. It was pretty clear that their

these bolts of lightning were eliminated, too, as the mana density only grew. But the mana from the Beastorb was not mainly that of wind or lightning, but pure mana. He had managed to transform all the vital energies within it to his own pure mana,

make one notice it was the mana density increasing. Yet despite it all being pure mana... a small

only wind-affinity and pure mana - albeit some of it with a green sheen - should remain… a third element persisted. Tiny purple sparks that refused to be culled. None of them noticed this, not even Jake with his immense perception or Mystie controlling the formation.

into the egg together with the wind-affinity and pure mana. They were flawlessly integrated with the pure

ritual continued for hours as the three channeled mana into it and consumed a mana potion whenever possible. The small egg in the middle of it all looking

exactly know what he was doing but just followed along. He just went with the flow as he fed his mana

one day peck a dragon to death, Jake thought, going all-in with the positive vibes. Or

the barrier surrounding the magic circle dispersed, revealing Jake, two hawks, and a

as he slowly carved the intricate Magiscript. Each rune was smaller than a fingernail, but it went smoothly with the small pen in this hand. It was quiet work that he enjoyed a

The entire area was already slowly getting soaked in it as the first pillar was erected not

lot slower than anticipated. To slay a D-grade this shortly after the integration was nearly unheard of, especially for a relatively small planet like theirs. Sure, there were still billions of survivors, but the vast majority didn’t amount to much, to put it

consensus was that the Holy Church had managed to claim the first and associated rewards. They mainly reached that conclusion because Casper hadn’t

Jake. It had

and hence he had managed to slay the D-grade during the tutorial and thus had first dibs on the associated Pylon.

for their measly planet. Heck, Casper even knew they weren’t the only

more resources poured in than usual for a world their size. All of it started by

human turned undead through a ritual and challenge dungeon - Lyra, his ghostly girlfriend, even more

Identified her and noticed she had once

[Blightwraith – lvl 73]

high, but the main reason was that… a monster like her tended to level up quickly. In this case, the word monster was not used in any derogatory way but simply as

deal to preserve her soul, and that promise had been fulfilled. Her soul had been sealed in a necklace, and Casper would have

training with such an entity

of the enlightened undead race and one of the twelve Primordials, offered him a blessing and even, with a casual gesture, created a legendary item

outstanding that the Primordial even bothered with him. Casper was thankful for that, even if it had placed a lot of undue stress on

it sure as hell got worse when the Blightfather blessed him. Amplified further when they saw the name of the race

highest echelon. Blessed with human intelligence from their inception, they would often lead

select few could use as it was a concept created by the Blightfather himself, hence his name. And as he had transformed Lyra’s soul directly… he had made a monster

give Lyra respect… but it all went to him. Because she was bound to Casper through his locket, she was by most just considered