The Primal Hunter

Jake momentarily basked in the feeling of his new class, even if it was only a few stats gained. But as with the last class upgrade, it came with a bit more than a few stats and a fancy new notification for every new level.

It came with skills. Well, the first of which wasn’t really a skill but an upgrade to an existing one.

[Big Game Hunter (Rare)] – A true hunter seeks not the easy prey but a true challenge. Having hunted bigger and stronger prey than most, the Ambitious Hunter has become more accustomed to facing higher-level enemies. Increases the user’s resistance to auras and gives a small increase to Strength and Agility while facing enemies above your highest level class or race. The bonus is based on the disparity between the level of your prey and you. Limit of 1.25x your level or 50 levels, whichever is highest. May your hunt be fruitful and your ambitions reached.

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[Big Game Arcane Hunter (Epic)] – A true hunter seeks not the easy prey but a true challenge. Your hunt has taken you further than ever before as your methods improve, and you have embraced the Arcane. The Avaricious Arcane Hunter has, through his many hunts, become more accustomed to facing higher-level enemies. Increases the user’s resistance to auras and gives a small increase to Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Willpower while facing enemies above your class or race level. The bonus is based on the disparity between the level of your prey and you. Limit of 1.25x your level or 50 levels, whichever is highest. May your hunt be fruitful and your Avarice sated.

Big Game Hunter was one of those oft-forgotten skills that just did awesome things behind the scenes. It was a noticeable buff that he experienced nearly constantly, making him faster and stronger when fighting enemies of a higher level, aka always.

He hadn’t really ever noticed the resistance to auras part of the skill. Still, any increase in stats was always welcome, and now that increase had been extended to also include his intelligence and willpower. In summary: it’s free stats. Free stats rule.

With the gained skill first at epic-rarity, he was already quite pleased with himself, and it only got better when he saw that the second skill was epic-rarity too.

[Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Epic)] - A mage and a hunter both, you combine your talents as you conjure your tools of destruction. Allows the Avaricious Arcane Hunter to conjure arrows made of highly-condensed arcane mana, focusing on either destruction or stability. A stable arrow will be sharp and durable, while a destructive arrow will explode upon impact. Conjuring arrows consume mana, and the conjuration is instant. Adds a bonus to the effectiveness of Intelligence and Wisdom when using destructive Arcane Hunter’s Arrows. Adds a bonus to the effectiveness of Wisdom and Perception when using stable Arcane Hunter’s Arrows.

If Jake had to mention one big weakness he had currently, it would without a doubt be his shitty equipment. Sure, compared to the rest of humanity, he was doing quite well for himself, but as a D-grade powerhouse Progenitor, he was a poor sap.

His new scimitar did help a bit, but the rest of his equipment was still far behind. He was even afraid that his bow would soon become lackluster, and he would become unable to make full use of his Arcane Powershot.

Most of that gear was even rare-rarity, but some were still uncommon-rarity. The worst offender of them all was, of course, his shitty cloak – because it sucked – but a close second was his quiver. It had served him well for a long time, but all his arrows had broken on impact for a long-ass time, and he could already imagine how fragile they would feel in D-grade.

Arcane Hunter’s Arrows was pretty much just a new quiver boiled into a skill, except it now scaled with him way more. He was incredibly excited to see the ability to make two different kinds of arrows. Explosive ones would surely be great at handling crowds of enemies or larger foes, while the stable ones would just be great overall.

The stable arrows even scaled with his perception, a stat he could never get enough of. His intelligence for the destructive arrows was a bit low, but it wasn’t terrible, and with his new stat-gains from the class, it would surely only improve.

Jake couldn’t help but hold out his hand as a pink-purple crystal-like arrow instantly appeared in it. There was barely any visual aspect at all to the skill; the arrow just appeared in his hand almost instantly, just like the description promised.

This arrow was of the stable variety, and it looked and felt entirely solid. It had simple fletching on it and a single-edged arrowhead, making it very suitable for cutting and penetrating. Perfect to deliver poisons with, just like Jake’s current arrows. The mana within was entirely sealed, too, making it not affect any poison coated on the arrow at all. It was perfect.

Summoning it had consumed a bit of mana, but outside of doing alchemy, Jake had never ever been close to running out, so it wasn’t an issue. Well, there was that time he bombarded that Storm Elemental, but that was a bit of an outlier.

He did a few tests and tried to break the arrow but found it incredibly resilient. To prove his point further, he took out one of the arrows from his quiver, and with only a bit of pressure, easily snapped it in half.

looked much the same, except for small purple light-bolts crackling within the crystal, and the mana it gave off was also quite a bit more than the stable version. It had also consumed more mana to summon, but it was only

Mainly because he had just seen Mystie and Hawkie entering the valley from above - 200 meters above - due to

system menus. The class had only given two new skills, which were the same as his Ambitious Hunter one, so it wasn’t exactly disappointing. Besides, he had many other skills to upgrade now that he had

observe him closely. This was the first time they saw him after his evolution, after all, and both

Hawk –

as he had evolved not long ago. The fact that he had even gained two levels was respectable considering his lack of proper opponents in the area and how much he stayed back at the

his journeys to the big tree on the cloud continent above. The hawk liked spending time up

Hawk – lvl

levels higher, but she had also been D-grade for quite a bit longer. She also clearly gained experience from just practicing her magic, and even when she was

of them also looked at him, and both seemed partly confused and partly

a flew colored

in appearance when evolving. It’s what’s inside that matters, you know?” Jake said a bit jokingly. “But if you have any concerns about the effects… how about a quick test? I would love to stretch a bit and get a feel for my body

felt the power in his every move. He really wanted to go practice a bit, and he had two true-blue D-grades right in front of him to have

minute before agreeing. They were also curious

looked at the level 27 bird and shook their heads, Jake deciding to be the one to

it isn’t your time yet,” Jake

that made her a bit happy, it clearly didn’t dispel her disappointment. The two hawks jumped over and also made some

magic around herself, and began practicing right there and then. While Jake surely appreciated the sentiment, he wasn’t so

should be fine, he thought as he shook his head. He threw a glance at the two D-grade hawks who both took to the air with him as they flew towards

he flew faster than ever before. He was outpacing Mystie, who was even using magic to make herself fly faster, with Hawkie still a

scurried away when they saw them, not daring to get near. One D-grade was enough to scare them off, with three being enough to make them consider just

landed opposite him as he dispelled his

move. Jake smiled a bit, seeing how the two hawks were clearly used to fighting together. Mystie being a grade ahead had hampered their ability to fight as a party, but now that they were both D-grade, they could do it again. It also answered some of his questions about what they had been doing

a giant blade of wind crackling with lightning headed straight towards his head. Jake smiled, happy to see the two birds not taking him lightly, but it was far from enough – he

While his Sphere of Perception had given him quite the headache – literally – now that he had adapted to it far more,

he took out his bow and fired an arrow. He was actually a bit taken aback as he did it because he hadn’t really thought but just moved. As he reached for the string, an arrow had

but it encountered a barrier of magic. If it had been Jake’s old arrows, it would have broken on impact… but these weren't his normal arrows. The crystalline arrow pierced into the barrier, and after only a bit of resistance, shattered

was enough to make her open her eyes with fright as she became aware of their power. Jake had already

appeared in his hand as he cut apart the blade, parting the clouds below. Simultaneously, the second arrow arrived

BOOM!

eyes even wider than before. Hawkie tried to come to her assistance as he summoned a tornado of wind and lightning, tearing

and exploding thunderbolts meanwhile. Mystie had now managed to stabilize herself, and a giant