The Primal Hunter

Jake sat back in his lodge, happy as a clam with how the last day had gone. He had killed the accursed D-grade mega-mushroom, gotten a bunch of valuable alchemy ingredients, and to top it all off, even discovered a hidden dungeon!

Eliminating the fungus was not only a good idea for his own mental health, but based on a bit of surveying he did afterward, it was also a good thing for the city. The damn thing kept growing by the day, and it was only a matter of time before it would make its way to the surface with some of its feelers.

At that point, it would begin assimilating plants and trees aboveground and grow even faster, becoming a massive threat to the entire settlement. Jake could only imagine giant Lifevines one day bursting through the ground and begin tearing apart buildings and draining the citizens with its needle-like vines. That would be a very bad time.

But now that threat was dealt with, so that was nice.

The dungeon was just the cherry on top. Sure, he couldn’t enter it, but he already felt the butterflies in his stomach as he anticipated diving in there when he reached D-grade. This is why he dove into leveling his profession the rest of the way with great vigor.

During the fight with the fungus, he felt like he was close to passing some kind of threshold with Sense of the Malefic Viper.

Based on its description, the skill only allowed him to sense what his poison had infected and nothing more. He had been clever and used Mark of the Ambitious Hunter as a way of measuring how much damage he did, but his senses didn’t tell him anything on their own.

Against the fungus, that had changed. Jake had focused so deeply on sensing the effects of the toxin that he began also getting a grasp for its effects. Perhaps it was because it touched the soul of his enemy, or maybe he had just gotten better at sensing things.

However, it wasn’t enough to get a skill upgrade. No, Jake needed to practice and experiment more. The issue is… he needed something to test on.

He had thought a long time about what to test his poisons on as he didn’t have any giant funguses conveniently waiting around anymore. The first enemy he considered was the Cloud Elementals due to how unintelligent they were.

Jake felt bad about effectively torturing something to improve himself. But at the same time, he really wanted to upgrade his Sense of the Malefic Viper. Cloud Elementals thus seemed like the most merciful foe he could try it on; there was just one minor issue with that.

He didn’t have any poisons that worked on the elementals. Well, his blood did work a tiny bit, but far from enough.

Something of flesh and blood would, without a doubt, be best. Jake wasn’t stupid and knew that many alchemists tested their toxins on live subjects, often dissecting the corpses afterward and/or using tools to measure how the poison was rampaging the test subject.

But… doing that just didn’t sit well with him. Could he go out and kidnap a few beasts to inflict with poison? Or even worse, have Miranda bring him a few citizens she didn’t like? From a practical standpoint, he could; it just wouldn’t feel right to him. He liked to fight enemies, not needlessly torture them. The more intelligent his prey, the more shitty he would feel.

So… he settled on the one flesh and blood lifeform he knew that would consent to willingly be put through torture for him to study the effects poison had on the body: himself.

His way of testing was pretty simple. He would take some of his own poison, coat an arrow, and stick it into his own stomach or chest. He would then focus on suppressing his Palate of the Malefic Viper and feel the effects of the poison as it moved uninhibited through his body.

the method. It allowed him to not only practice Sense of the Malefic Viper but also his Palate. Granted, it would likely be more effective to experiment

bit bad about telling Sylphie that he couldn’t play with her for a while, and he would have to move a dinner session with Miranda. She seemed oddly okay with that, so that had gone over easy. Jake felt like he needed to hammer

gone through the Trial of Myriad Poisons, he had never truly pondered the effects poison had on his body and how exactly it worked on a deeper

on fighting the poison, not actually understanding it. Breaking something apart was far more simple than learning how it worked, and

there observing its effects, almost like an out-of-body experience. He filtered out all feedback that was not from Sense of the Malefic Viper as he

blood thin and the wounds left by the arrows bleed like never before. But more than that, he saw the toxic energies mix with the energies in his body and how the poison slowly eroded that

felt it had from his Sense of the Malefic Viper to how he actually felt in his body. That is when

clear. However, there was an invisible barrier that stopped the poison from going deeper and doing more damage. Like the

couldn’t understand why the poison didn’t work as it should. It didn’t work like it did when he used it on

him: why could he even

feel something was poisoned… the skill did that, but not why he could better feel the poison he himself had inflicted? Why was it just what he inflicted and

separated poison he was the

to be the cause of why his own poison didn’t hurt him as much as it should. To do this, he activated a part of his Palate

went effortlessly, as a big part of the poison was, of course, his

really just a fucking

own poison… it included his own mana. It included a part of him. Every single point of mana, health, or stamina Jake ever used contained a part of himself in the sense that it reflected his own Records. Even poison he didn’t concoct still held some of his Records just on account of him

intent. Pride of the Malefic Viper had made Jake aware that his own intentions held power and could affect the world, so it only made sense that

mind as suddenly everything became clearer. He felt the poison within his own body more vividly than ever as he got

Viper (Epic)] – The Malefic Viper sought out many natural treasures on its path to power; it is only natural to learn to sense them. Having walked further on your path as an Alchemist of the Malefic Viper, your senses for poisons and herbs only sharpen. Gives a passive ability to detect herbs and poisons in different forms and

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of the Malefic Viper (Ancient)] – The Malefic Viper’s greed for natural treasures is neverending. You are following his path for your senses to see all that which you desire. Your desire for knowing the suffering you bring upon your foes has brought you even further down this path. Gives a passive ability to detect herbs and poisons in different forms and a strong feeling of their properties and affinities. Allows the Alchemist to far more easily detect affinities in the environment and detect areas optimal for cultivating herbs. Massively improves your ability to sense the poison you have inflicted and its effects on any inflicted entities. Adds

[Prodigious Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 94 - Stat points allocated,

reached level 95 - Stat

wasn’t enough. He felt like he had just touched upon something vital as he kept

upgrade, but he felt like he needed more. He didn’t hesitate as he instantly threw all his free points into the stat as his senses sharpened even more, and he could see the mana even better. He raised his hand as a mana bolt

pushing more into it. Not just mana, but his will, all the while observing it as

had named “destructive” mana. He knew it had something to do with how you shaped it, how you packaged the bolt, and perhaps more importantly… what

today, for the first time, he had passed