The Primal Hunter

Jake felt like he had to make a confession after hearing the Viper explain all that stuff about arcane-mana and arcane-affinity.

He… didn’t really get it. Not really. More so, he didn’t really get how he had somehow created this arcane-affinity. Was it just because he wanted his pure mana to be better without compromising on purity? That he kept condensing his mana bolts instead of mixing in other affinities?

Jake voiced his confusion, with the Viper trying to explain how it all worked a bit more in detail, but Jake just got more confused. He summoned some more of the pink-purple mana and played a bit with it, finding out that it was pretty much just like his pure mana, just more potent and more condensed.

The Viper said that was because Jake’s version of arcane mana was based on his intent of creating mana with “stable destruction,” or something like that. Jake got that part as he had tried to make his pure mana better at destroying and breaking down things while at the same time making it less likely to blow up in his face, but he wasn’t sure how that constituted a mana affinity.

Jake kept talking a bit with the Viper until he made it clear that he was running out of “divine message juice” and finished with a real nugget of wisdom:

“Jake arcane mana better pure mana. Mana bolt go bigger boom boom, but not boom boom in Jake face.”

An absolutely condescending explanation that Jake could only nod at as it finally made at least some sense to him. Sure, the entire concept appeared simple enough... but that is why it was so confusing. Why would the system recognize something so "simple" as so extraordinary?

Anyway, with that settled, Jake returned to the critical matter of calming down the sulking Sylphie that was sad he had locked himself away for three days. She kept angrily pecking his hand whenever he tried petting her but got equally angry when he stopped trying.

“Still a bit too young to go through your teenage phase, aren’t you?” he joked, as she had finally forgiven him and was nesting on his lap as he petted her. She was a real lap-bird. He couldn’t help but Identify her and see that she was actually just about to exit her teenage levels.

[Sylphian Eyas – lvl 19]

All jokes aside, he wasn’t actually sure how levels related to growth. Sylphie still couldn’t even fly yet, despite having a relatively high level. Her physical specs were up there, though, with her pecks able to easily break rock and her wind magic quite impressive.

The thought of her killing the big level 10 Irontusk Boar back in the tutorial with a few pecks and by blowing a bit of wind was both absolutely hilarious and plausible. The little bird looked harmless, but he could see her even kill a level 25 human if he or she wasn’t careful.

But at least she was aware of it. While Jake wasn’t sure she could break his skin with her pecks, she clearly didn’t try to either. It was all playful, like how a cat didn’t try to actually inflict any injury when it just nipped at someone.

“Ree!” the small bird yelled, making a noise that Jake wasn’t entirely sure fit with being a hawk. She was just annoyed that Jake didn’t give her as much attention as she thought she deserved. He was still too stuck in his head as he couldn’t help but think of ways to possibly apply this whole new arcane mana business to Touch of the Malefic Viper.

The Viper had called it “controlled destruction” or something like that, but Jake was focusing on the “controlled” part. His current issue with trying to transmute objects with Touch of the Malefic Viper wasn’t in the power department, but actually making his Touch not destroy the item.

ways: either as incredibly stable states: to strengthen items or create almost tangible objects such as his strings, or he used his pure mana

least, that is what he used his pure mana control for. He hadn’t tried to make mental magic, summon things that mimic the living,

Powershot was a perfect example of this. Thinking back… wasn’t that the first skill he truly upgraded on his own? Not counting the basic weapon skill upgrade for knowing how to use a bow, that is. He had done so by combining power and stability… making the bow more stable and able to contain the power

I am going to have to go practice a bit on my own,” he told the small hawk nestled up next to him as he stroked her still-growing feathers that was slowly replacing all the down. He reckoned she would be able to fly

outside with a small magic-circle-looking thing. Yeah, he had kinda given up on learning advanced magic like that. Why make mana complicated? Just make it go big boom or make yourself not be hurt by

and headed up to the clouds

above. He even saw the small island where

bit of practice… and the last time he practiced archery, he ended up destroying quite a few cloud islands along with his long-range

He felt the mana within it, the majority of it inherent to the weapon, but a portion was his own. It

weapon to the person using it, but it also helped strengthen the item. Much like how a living being’s body would weaken significantly after dying, so would a weapon be less durable when not bound. Not to the same degree, but to at least to

flooded the bow’s surroundings and the arrow he was about to fire. Mana and stamina would swirl around his entire body as he channeled, making him fire his most

improve the skill besides just pushing more energy into it. He was afraid of breaking the equilibrium that the skill required. Now, he was actively looking to break that equilibrium and

his stamina more potent or suddenly make his body more durable, but he

few simple experiments, he quickly noticed that he was, in some ways, already halfway through this practice. His many days spent refining his mana

he nocked it and focused on every action as he began using Infused Powershot. But he kept the energy output to a minimum, not caring

let go of the arrow a bit later before nocking another and starting over. Each arrow released was

began to change. Faint wisps of pink-purple energy began being mixed into the otherwise colorless mana, and he instantly felt like something shifted. It was like the axis determining the equilibrium moved as his stamina was immediately overwhelmed, and his

the bow and arrow. A bit reminiscent of when he used

began to turn a purple color as it too experienced a faint influx of mana. It wasn’t even

the energy. It was practically glowing with mana as

explosion of mana and stamina from Infused Powershot sounded out but was far more powerful than ever before. It wasn’t colorless either but had a faint pink-purple hue as the poor

notification appearing at the

- mana as a guide. Unlike a normal Powershot, the Infused Powershot does not require a long charging time but can be charged in a brief moment. The higher

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mana expenditure. Arcane Powershot’s power is dependent on the charging duration, but due to your Arcane Mana’s

for a moment as he skimmed the notification before the pain hit. He only now noticed that while he thought he had avoided most of the damage caused by the arcane mana… he hadn’t succeeded -

It was only now he noticed several bleeding wounds on his chest, and especially his shoulders had been hit hard. There were places where the arcane mana had gathered for a fraction of a second too long before being led to the bow or at least away from his skin,

he kept smiling because, goddamn, was the arrow he had just

chugged it before finding a new small cloud island to sit on. He wanted to consider what he had just gone through a bit before heading back. Many ideas bounced around in his head as he considered how this new affinity could be used to make