The Primal Hunter

As he accepted the evolution, he was instantly greeted by five options – the maximum. This was, of course, expected as he had done plenty of things to warrant them. He had hunted down powerful foes and even slain the King of the Forest… even if his mask now carried an ominous message.

His confidence was growing, as he did the same as always and began going through the options one by one. The first of which was a direct upgrade to his Ambitious Hunter class.

Avaricious Hunter – A direct upgrade to the Ambitious Hunter class. Your ambition to always face a stronger foe has turned to avarice as you seek stronger and stronger challenges, your desire for danger on your journey only growing. A class focused on ranged combat, mainly using bow and arrow, coupled with light options for melee such as shortswords and daggers. The class is fast and flexible, focusing on agility over strength. You persist on this precarious path, yet your resolve is strong, and your hunger for challenges persists. Just beware that your avarice does not consume you. Stat Bonuses per level: +18 Per, +16 Agi, +12 End, +12 Str, +10 Free Points

After Jake was done reading it – especially the stat gains – he was taken aback. As he had read, stats given for D-grade classes and professions would more-or-less triple, so why did the direct upgrade to Ambitious Hunter give way more than triple stats? It gave him 18 total, while this one gave 68 total… if the math of tripling was true, shouldn’t it only give 54?

It wasn’t that he thought the class sounded bad; in fact, he thought it was awesome. Sure, the whole thing about being consumed by your own avarice and all that was a bit on the darker side, but it did kind of fit him. Deciding to fight the King was nothing more than avarice, and his impatience to face bigger challenges was bordering – if not already – pretty damn sinful.

This made him think… he knew classes that had drawbacks offered more stats due to their drawbacks but didn’t this one also have flaws? He had theorized from reading Jacob’s booklet and a bit of independent research that his Ambitious Hunter had likely suffered from an innate experience-penality from fighting equal or lower-leveled foes. This seemed even more likely to have drawbacks like that.

Well, he called it drawbacks, but ultimately, it wasn’t anything that would affect him. Who would want to battle enemies weaker than yourself all the time? What was the point of that even? That just sounded boring as hell, even if it was a lot safer, which made sense as being safe automatically made it boring in his mind.

In conclusion: Great class… but only the first on the list of five, each option being higher “tiered” than the last. So with great expectations, Jake moved on to the second option – one directly rewarding his mana practice.

Prestigious Arcane Mage – A prodigy at magic, you have now begun forging your own path as you delve into the arcane. You are a prestigious figure in any circle of mages – a true caster worthy of respect. The Prestigious Arcane Mage is a class focused on magical combat, more accurately your own arcane mana built around the concepts of power, purity, and raw simplicity. The class is powerful and highly focused on magical combat, offering no physical stats. Your one-sided focus on magic shall be as pure as your arcane mana. May your path stay pure, your foundation stable, and your enemies destroyed as the power of your arcane descends. Stat Bonuses per level: +18 Int, +15 Per +14 Wis, 14+ Will, +12 Free Points WARNING: Skills pertaining to the Ambitious Hunter class may be lost or changed upon becoming a Prestigious Arcane Mage

If Avaricious Hunter were purely a physical combat class, this would be a purely magical combat class. Extra emphasis on the pure as that was what his arcane mana was all about. The stats were great and truly emphasized that having an arcane-affinity at E-grade was extraordinary, providing 73 per level total – 5 more than the Avaricious Hunter one.

While Jake would normally spend a lot of time going over pros and cons… Jake knew he wasn’t a mage. Okay, maybe a part-time mage, but before a mage, he was a hunter. Heck, it was in his bloodline. Does being an arcane-slinging badass sound cool, and did he enjoy his time summoning bolts and obliterating Cloud Elementals? Sure, but he still liked bows more.

only one that would result in

on to the next one… which was instantly quite a bump from

enlightened ones but are more than happy to rely on your instincts. A class focused primarily on melee combat, you prefer to use basic weaponry such as bows and the occasional dagger, if any weapon at all, relying on your high perception and reaction times to dominate the battle. Yet your desire does not end at simple dominating your peers; you want to stand at the apex. Your power shall grow as you stand before

and if his bloodline had a dedicated class, this would be it without a doubt – short of having one just called The Primal Hunter, of course. The name was also fantastic and most certainly appealed to a more childish part of him. Who doesn’t like to be

the absolute upper echelon of classes available. This was a top-tier

in physical ones. This wasn’t surprising, as the classes kind of called Jake stupid in the nicest way possible. It more or less told him that he had thrown away being smart and using proper tactics and weapons, relying

last time he picked a skill with “bestial” in it, it had upgraded straight from rare to legendary-rarity. He had a feeling that feat could possibly repeat with quite a few skills offered

didn’t make use of his newly gained arcane-affinity at all. Even worse, he was pretty damn sure it was a melee-class, considering it mentioned how he didn’t even need to use a weapon. Jake

something that

all that in mind, he

you to slay your foes, even embracing the arcane along your journey. Your perennial desire for progress has turned to avarice as you single-mindedly hunt down all those you wish to see dead. This class combines the pure path of the hunter with the pure path of arcane magic, driven by the endless avarice inherent to your being. The bow is your chosen weapon, amplified with arcane magic, but you also retain your abilities to face enemies in close combat, making all foes despair at your powerful – yet diverse - methods of attack. You will find yourself more powerful than ever as you stand before those stronger than yourself, and by decree of your path, you shall come out victorious. Stay true to yourself, strive for the top, and you shall reach the apex or face death, consumed by your own avarice. Stat Bonuses per level: +20 Per, +12 Agi, +12 Int, +10 Wis,

in total. It was only 3 more, and they were far more spread out, but that was okay to

side, which he was totally fine with. It retained the whole theme about avarice; one could even argue it had been turned up a bit, but that also wasn’t an issue. In fact, he welcomed it. While he didn’t like the low stats from his E-grade class, he liked the

and even gave extra experience. Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter was just

offered skills in the same vein as Ambitious Hunter, it would be great, so he was happy to retain that aspect of the class. The aspect of constantly wanting to fight stronger foes, even if it came with the possible penalty of receiving less or possibly no experience from equal or lower-leveled foes. Again, Jake didn’t really see

have the class make use of his arcane-affinity just made it all better. It would allow him to make better use of all his stats, especially the mental ones. Jake didn’t carry any delusions towards what kind of profession he would get, and as he wanted to remain an alchemist, it was certain he

one option left. It was a class Jake had kind of expected but was still a bit surprised at seeing it be the bottom-most one offered, indicating it was the one with the

You do not care for your equipment as long as it allows you to deliver death upon your foes, and you find yourself adept in most combat styles, even if you prefer the bow to be the harbinger of the Malefic One’s foes. Your will and wisdom shall become the cornerstone of your path as you slaughter all who dare stand before you or your desire to carry out the will of your Patron. His will is yours. For as his champion, your path is as much the Malefic One’s to define as it is your’s to travel. May the will of the Malefic Viper be done. Stat Bonuses per level: +18 Will, +18 Wis, +10 Vit, +10 End, +12 Free Points, +20 Contingent Points distributed through communion with your

was a lot to unpackage with this one, but before he even began his usual analysis, his answer to it was already clear: a