The Primal Hunter

Why the hell would he leave a dungeon when he had spent so much time gathering those goddamn mushrooms? He had yet to use more than a handful of them, and he still had more than a dozen of the Infused variant.

When Jake chose to remain in the dungeon, the entire door lit up as the runes sprang to life. He felt some energy enter his body, and he tried to remove his hand but failed. It was like a pulse went through his entire being before entering the door again.

Finally, he could let go, and he retracted his hand as the door began opening.

Jake was shocked at what had happened… it felt like the damn door had scanned him or something. Whatever it did, it appeared wholly unrelated to the Deepdwellers. He looked through the opening of the gate and saw it led into a new chamber. He also saw it in his sphere, but so far, nothing was visible in that either, so Jake decided to just venture further in.

His danger sense was entirely silent still. He frowned as he was confused about what the hell all of this was leading towards.

When he exited the tunnel and reached the other side of the hall, he found himself in an absolutely massive chamber. Before he had even fought the Heartwarden, he had noticed how there were vines in the chamber and that they were all gathering towards one point… and he finally saw what that point was.

In the center of the chamber was what looked like an inert metal sphere with several metal rings around it, all held up by vines that had overgrown on it. The metal itself was completely unscathed, even if it did look like the vines had tried to break through the exterior of the sphere.

Jake could instantly see why… because the inside of that sphere was completely solid. Not with metal but pure fucking energy. He could only see inside with his sphere, and even his Sense of the Malefic Viper didn’t react at all, meaning the sphere completely isolated whatever energy was within.

He inspected the rest of the chamber, and he spotted quite a few things, the first of which was a wooden door in a small cave off to the side of the chamber, not leading to anywhere. It didn’t take a genius to know it was an exit to the dungeon, and Jake stepped over to investigate. Putting his hand on it, he confirmed it was indeed a way to exit.

Did that mean if he left and re-entered, he would be put back in this chamber? If nothing else, that would confirm dungeons could have different “checkpoints” of sorts. Then again, maybe it truly was just an exit like so many other dungeons, as this chamber would be the last thing to explore.

He at least hadn’t seen any other exits or entrances to the chamber than the gate he had entered through.

Another thing he noticed in his sphere was a slew of stone slabs with magic circles on them like those outside. All of them were covered in vines, making Jake believe the Deepdwellers had cleared the ones outside.

I guess this is what the mushrooms are for, he thought as he began clearing out the vines. He summoned his bow and fired a few exploding arcane arrows to make all the slabs visible. He could have gone and placed the mushrooms then and there to see what would happen, but instead, he chugged a potion and sat down on his ass, and meditated.

Why would he face whatever was about to come on low resources? The Heartwarden hadn’t been that dangerous, but it had still taken plenty of resources. Hence he meditated.

…

Jake got up, fully refueled and ready to face whatever was to come! He was a few potion bottles poorer but in excellent health and in good spirit as he began going around the chamber, placing mushrooms.

He hummed as he did so, excited to see what would happen. As the magic circles lit up, Jake began to see a pattern. All of them had a single line leading into the middle of the chamber, directly below the metal sphere floating above.

It turned out that there was exactly one mushroom for every circle in the dungeon. The last two were sadly not Infused, but Jake still hoped it would be good enough for whatever was to come.

As he placed the last mushroom… everything hummed to life.

their destination being that the sphere itself. It greedily absorbed the energy for a while until all the magic circles ran out of power and became inert once more – all the mushrooms now

just silent for a moment as Jake feared that the two last mushrooms not being infused had made everything fail. He was about to admonish himself as he heard a sound above.

did so because

breaking the vines holding onto them. The rings spun faster and faster until not even Jake could keep up with how fast they went. Somehow

confused about what the fuck was happening, his entire body tense. The amount of energy that dynamo was giving off was not something that should be in a goddamn D-grade dungeon. The amount of energy was way above that… perhaps even

Finally, something happened.

screen into mid-air with text

Welcome, Human of the

welcomes you to this assessment. This assessment is an official part of the dungeon and will count towards final system rewards. The assessment

groups based on their levels. If all challengers belong to the same group, they may enter

Group 1: 100-125

Group 2: 126-135

Group 3: 136-145

Group 4: 146-155

Group 5: 156-200

Challengers detected: 1

to Group 1. Solo challenger detected. The

will follow upon successful completion

out one of its rings, and it landed right below the floating sphere. It formed a magic circle in less than a fraction

but frowned instead, as he just had a lot

him it was still a part of the dungeon and how doing this assessment of theirs would count towards system rewards. What was all this grouping nonsense? This was the first time Jake had seen a dungeon that had challenge dungeon-like mechanics within. Well, he hadn’t done that

frown even more. How did they know his level? Did

had so many

big elven faction? How the hell were they in a dungeon? Moreover, why the hell did this thing recognize such? Was this dungeon not a natural one like Villy had said it would be? Who else could have made it… how the hell had an elven empire managed to make a dungeon in a new

always up to something, I tell ya. Just do it normally; you are still in a natural dungeon. Act like all of it is the flavor text

the Altmar Empire? Were they just suppliers of cauldrons and dungeons to the system or what? It really didn’t make any

and went

up. Screens lining the walls began showing images of the

appeared. It was that of a humanoid elven figure. It instantly made a motion, and a small

to summon the recording device. It looked confused. The projection observed the room until it finally shook its head before it began its work as it

dungeon is located in is… hm, an error. Unknown newly

Talent Assessment Program has been initiated. It appears we have a good seed here. Potential divine or factional relations yet to be confirmed. Challenger does not wear any discernable equipment that

it watched the screen and quickly moved

assessment. May indicate a type 7