The Primal Hunter

There are a few rules one must remember when invading an ancient temple and the surrounding area run by supernatural many-tailed monkeys that can use weird weight magic. Forgetting these rules may lead to being covered in unnaturally heavy feces or just be smashed or cut up by a monkey tail.

The first rule was to stay high and avoid the ground. Being able to move in three dimensions against enemies unable to fly was an incredible advantage and made it far easier to deal with issues arising from breaking the second rule.

Lighttail Monkeys aren’t the strongest individually, but fighting a crowd of them is what in the hunting industry is called a very bad time. They buffed each other up while slowing you down, allowing their strikers in the form of Crushers or Dervishes to finish you off. So the second rule was to always only engage small groups at a time, and if possible, isolated prey.

The third rule was to always make sure the Prima wasn’t around because the Prima was clearly the big boss. One should always save the big boss for last – this is just basic hunting protocol and best practice. Always remember: kill from weakest to strongest. It was a bit like how you don’t eat your dessert before the main dish, no matter how tasty it looks. He would have to make do with all the Beastcores he collected from their corpses after the fight so far.

Then we have the fourth rule, one quite unique to Jake. It was a rule that invalidated the prior three if followed adequately every time, even if it often was a bit difficult to follow. The rule was actually quite straightforward: always kill with a single shot.

A rule Jake was actually doing incredibly well not breaking currently.

An arrow tore through the terrain as it narrowly passed in between trees in its flight. Its target was just relaxing on a branch, keeping an eye out for any potential invaders to swiftly strike down. It was a Dervish, a creature that rarely found worthy challenges this far into their domain. It was too relaxed, too unaware… though it was doubtful if its preparedness would have made a difference.

It noticed too late as it tried to move. Tried because it suddenly felt like it had been thrown into an icy pit with a predator – nay, hunter - staring down at it, penetrating into its soul. The nearly one-meter-long arrow arrived as it penetrated deep into the creature without any issues, releasing intense amounts of destructive energy. If that wasn’t enough, the arrow was even coated with incredibly potent poison and fired with the ridiculously powerful Arcane Powershot.

To strike down a beast nearly 30 levels above yourself in a single strike was a rarity, especially in D-grade, where every level mattered even more. But coupled with the low resilience of the agility-focused Dervish and the power of the attack, it was made possible.

*You have slain [Tri-Lighttail Dervish – lvl 131] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

The arrow he had used was naturally his Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter, and it had been quite easily summoned the moment he tried. He had hoped the summoning time would reduce after reaching D-grade, but it had stayed the same… but that couldn’t be said about the power.

Without noticing, the already overpowered arrow had gotten better. A large element of the arrow was the destructive energy it contained, and through Jake’s arcane-affinity, Jake had come to understand that type of energy quite a bit better. While it wasn’t exactly the same type of concept, it was close enough so that the arrow simply accepted when he poured in a bit of arcane mana.

Not too much, or it would destabilize the arrow, but just a little - a far cry from ever being enough to upgrade the skill, but more than enough to make it just a little better.

of hunting Lighttail Monkeys, one very important to remember in conjunction with rules four and two. This rule

in the distance. His way of killing wasn’t the most subtle as Arcane Powershot was quite flashy by nature, so he had to quickly get

they arrived, Jake

they kept searching, the monkeys naturally splitting up as they looked for the intruder that had killed one of their brethren, perhaps too dumb or too confident to believe they would meet the same fate. Either way, that belief was clearly not well-founded as less than ten minutes after the first Dervish died, a Crusher found an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter striking it

already way ahead of them.

the Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter. Before going up the tree, he would place a Mark of the Ambitious Hunter on his next chosen target, using that to summon the arrow,

safe. The Prima spent nearly all its time in the temple itself and didn’t appear to care at all what

the monkeys got quite close to Jake, but he had a few more tricks up his sleeve

was, the top of one of the smaller trees exploded with arcane mana, and the monkey that had come to investigate the source of mana it detected was sent flying. Not long after, another explosion shook the ground even

were created by conjuring Arcane Bolts and stabbing them into trees, knowing they would explode within a few minutes with their unstable mana, while the last explosion was caused by three exploding Arcane Hunter’s Arrows, fired

bodies occasionally freezing when they tried to dodge as they were pierced.

atop the trees continued for over a day. He consumed a potion every single hour nearly on the second as he tried to keep his resources stable. Jake quickly found that the extra regeneration from his mask was even more effective than back in his city, boosting his combat endurance to a ridiculous

made a move. The four Matriarchs always had at least a dozen Dervishes, Crushers, and Suppressors around them to ensure their safety, making Jake choose to ignore them for

his strength and making even more rapid progress with his archery and mana control, but also just in pure tangible levels. His notification menu easy proof

level 104

reached level 103 - Stat

Hunter] has reached level 105

stat became his second-highest, naturally still far behind perception. Jake felt

old Earth either; it was something

at least assumed it was so, as, for some reason, it

by its entourage of guards, it made its way into the forest, away from the safety of the main temple and the one foe Jake was truly wary of. Jake did a careful count and saw 7 Dervishes, 4 Crushers, and 3 Suppressors with it at

small

began carefully preparing himself as the Matriarch moved further and further away from the temple, moving slower than even the bulky

he proved itself not really to actually be an issue at all. Jake

put them back in his quiver… which made him wonder why he couldn’t just keep doing that. While it didn’t work with his explosive arrows as they would explode within a few minutes of summoning no matter what, his stable arrows could stay