The Primal Hunter

Jake felt an itch on his right side that he just couldn’t scratch. The kind that felt like it was just below the skin. It woke him up as he tried to rub it anyway. But… his arm didn’t move. He finally opened his eyes but found the sight in his right one blurry.

Oh… yeah… Jake thought as he remembered what had happened. A quarter of a second. No, even less than that. That was the difference between Jake perfectly avoiding the attack… and losing half his body. He moved his left hand and summoned a healing potion.

He rolled onto his back and drank the potion down, finally getting a good look at himself through his sphere.

The entire right side of his body was gone. In fact… if the human heart weren’t slightly to the left, his heart would have been sheared away. He hadn’t been as lucky when it came to his head, however. While his head had regenerated already, his hair hadn’t, making him aware of how extensive the damage was.

A large part of his head had been gone… a good part of his brain too. Needless to say, if it had happened before the system, Jake would have died instantly. He could perfectly remember what had happened after he was hit, even if he couldn’t recognize the thoughts he had at the time. He had just moved on instinct to run and had managed to tumble away.

The mask had helped a lot… resulting in only parts of his head being fried. The mana had still entered where his eye-holes were and had clearly exploded through that tiny hole in a cone, taking out a large part of his head. He had a completely bald spot at the back of his skull, several centimeters across… showing the energy had burned straight through his skull. The mask itself was undamaged, besides looking a bit burnt. Nothing a quick rinse couldn’t fix.

As he lay there, his arm and leg still hadn’t regenerated, as clearly his vitality prioritized getting organs and other more vital things fixed first. The health potion he had just consumed helped speed up the process drastically, but it was still taking its time.

Jake knew that to heal an injury like this would require more than his full health pool. Without his potions or a healer, it would take weeks for him to return to his peak condition. But with potions, he should be up and about within the day…

“I fucked up,” he spoke out loud as he stared up at the ceiling of the cave.

It was the second time he found himself lying there, his body broken. The second time he had faced the damn mushroom and gotten his ass handed to him. Was the damn mushroom really his bane? Also, what the hell happened back there?

The last time he came, he handled it pretty well, and he even had thoughts of just killing it… but it had been hiding so much power. Those blue vines were just so damn strong it was insane. Was it perhaps the actual body of the fungus?

As a Mycorrhiza, it mainly lived inside other plants, using them to fuel itself. Did this mean it had an entire body hidden deep beneath, just like all those vines? And why hadn’t it used the vines, to begin with? Did it perhaps take too much energy?

Next time… I will come prepared… and I’ll take it down, Jake thought, as he closed his eyes, replaying the fight.

The fungicide had worked quite well, and he could feel it doing damage… but what had worked even better was his Gaze of the Apex Hunter. He had theorized that it should be pretty weak to it, and that had been confirmed today.

He could freeze it even longer than the Thunder Roc by quite a bit, and even when he came last, the Gaze worked wonders too. To him, that indicated its soul wasn’t very resilient… which boded well for the poison he was planning on concocting.

Looking at his resources, he was actually quite fine in that department. Well, besides health points. His stamina and mana were both looking healthy, so he didn’t really need to meditate. Instead, he summoned the book he was currently reading from his spatial storage and began reading.

An hour later, the human lying in the middle of a damp cavern with a book consumed another potion before he resumed reading. The more he read on fungi, the more confident he became in using a poison that partially attacked the soul. In fact, fungi or plant-based lifeforms tended to have relatively weaker souls as theirs are awakened and typically not something they are born with.

The hours passed as Jake slowly felt his entire right side regenerate. The vision on his right eye was back to normal again too, and his hair was growing out at a near-visible pace.

With enough strength to get up, he managed to shakily stand on his feet. He once more gave himself a good look-over and even checked his status menu. Nothing had changed, but he had expected it to. He had assumed he would have lost a few stats because during it all… he had lost one of his boots.

His Boots of the Wandering Alchemist was the only piece of equipment he had that didn’t either sink into his body and thus couldn’t be destroyed or had the overpowered self-repair enchant. Yet… he hadn’t lost the stats provided by it even when one was gone.

feel a bit for his mana and noticed something in the direction of the biodome. He walked over there,

nothing living remaining. The walls were still faintly sizzling with energy even after such a long time, and the wall

that newly-created cave he felt the boot. Jake walked in there and saw nothing but sizzling dirt

that didn’t look any different from the day he got it… except for the half-destroyed bloody foot still within it. Jake didn’t hesitate to pick it up and rip his own foot out

or what? Should I make a shield out of it? Jake thought as he

outside. Despite being made of simple leather, the Records of the alchemist has left a deep mark on this item, allowing it to transcend many ranks. Enchantments: +20 Endurance, +15 Agility. Reduces stamina expenditure from all movement-related skills

25+ in any

so his only conclusion was that the alchemist that once owned these boots was awesome. He would need to see if he could find

thing lying on the ground… one he recognized instantly. It was the blue vine had that reinforced the exit barrier to the biodome. It had apparently been caught up in the blast. Maybe on purpose or because Jake had frozen the entire plant with Gaze shortly before firing… he didn’t know, and

Fungus Mycorrhiza. The Lifevine is a part of the main body of the fungus. Contains intense amounts of vital-energy

blue vine was nearly four meters long and a few centimeters thick. Jake could feel the intense energy still contained within

gave the damn mushroom within the finger. He had promised not to badmouth mushrooms… but he could still hate them internally -

back at the valley, not a single person noticing him on his way back. It would ruin his whole mysterious owner-look a bit if he walked through

the valley, he saw the family of

“Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!”

way. Jake squatted down as he allowed her to run onto his arm as she headed straight for the top of his head. He just chuckled as Sylphie sat down on top

him a glance, and he nodded as they took off. He knew their plan already, as he had seen Hawkie reach

entered the lodge, continuing his job as an alchemist,

a meeting any time soon, if ever,” Miranda said with a steadfast voice to

discuss the future of this settlement. We have many points of improvement and offers that

said I would ask. Now stop pestering me,” Miranda said, annoyed, shooing

office. Or the City Lord’s office. They hadn’t really settled on any official name, but most knew what

back in her chair as the annoying

few days ago with a group of around 400, led to Haven by their leader, who was also a Lord. He had decided to find a Pylon after the notification about ten

and not the actual owner, he had insisted on meeting Jake, but she had refused him every time. The man had then had the gall to try and go to the valley on his own, but

it, but the

just travel-companions but truly did follow him as a spiritual leader. He had apparently been blessed by a god or something, and Miranda

It didn’t sound like he was after ritual sacrifices or the like but just looking for more people to pray to the god. The god was related to metal and

issues… she didn’t allow him to construct a giant temple to some god that was most likely imaginary. To use religion as a way

the weekly visit; maybe he has some insight into

all of this. Phillip hadn’t been of any help with this particular case as he

taken hostage by the Minotaur Mindchief. All of them were scarred in different ways, and especially their view of Jake varied. Some saw him as

some of them kill each other. While it wasn’t the best way to handle it… Miranda felt like she couldn’t blame him either. She wasn’t there, and could they really ask him to

a lot rougher. Heck, she heard from Phillip that there had already been two assassination attempts on him during the fort’s early days.

my damn class evolved at least…she thought as she shook her head. Her profession was getting high, and while the next evolution was still a fair bit away, it was now within sight. To have a level 23 class with that was

her own fault due to them sending out a few parties to

the recruitment-effort had paid