The Primal Hunter

Jake waited outside the building for a few moments as he looked through the Fort using his sphere. Hank and the four others went to another meeting room while Arnold looked busy with Jake’s Nanoblade. Arnold had it suspended in some device and was firing a laser or something on it. Jake wasn’t a craftsman, so he just shook his head and went on his way.

It had been close to a full day since Jake had been back in Haven, and it was approaching evening time. He had a meeting with Miranda planned, and while he could get engrossed in his practice, he hadn’t forgotten it. He would have to come back to the Fort again in a few days, but it was time to head home for now.

The return trip was swift as Jake didn’t have any other side objectives on the way. He was back in Haven before anyone even knew he had left the Fort – assuming they were aware he had been there to begin with.

When he got close to his valley, he noticed there was activity within. Jake frowned for a moment until he felt the auras of who it was.

The hawks were back.

He had barely managed to get into the valley before a large green projectile hit him in the chest. The projectile turned out to be a squishy bird that nuzzled itself against his shirt as Jake held the bird and rubbed her head.

“Hey there Sylphie, how have you been?” Jake asked while hugging her as she playfully squirmed in his grasp.

“Ree!” she replied, telling him it had been all good. While Jake was grinding alchemy and the dungeon, Sylphie had really entered her growth phase. She had been hunting actively, and coupled with her still naturally growing, she had gained quite a few levels.

[Sylphian Eyas – lvl 83]

It had been around one and a half months since Jake last saw Sylphie, and in that time, she had managed to go from 41 to 83. She had more than doubled it. One had to remember she was only a few months old, and she was nearly already a fully-fledged D-grade.

Jake wondered if she would reach D-grade by the time it was time for the Treasure Hunt. Sadly she wouldn’t be able to enter on account of being a beast and not a part of the enlightened species. Still, it made Jake happy.

While he hugged and nuzzled the young hawk, he also checked out Hawkie and Mystie. Neither had been slacking either during this period. Hawkie had been 109 and Mystie 116 back then, and now they had both gained a good amount of experience.

[Stormsong Hawk – lvl 120]

[Mystsong Hawk – lvl 126]

While they were slow compared to someone like Jake or Sylphie, the speed was still respectable. Especially considered that they protected Sylphie during all this time and focused more on her progress than their own. He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit when he imagined the little featherball reach the same level as her parents.

“You guys doing well too?” Jake asked his bird buddies. Both of them gave affirming sounds as they also assessed Jake. He saw a small trace of defeat in their eyes as they saw that he had grown as much, if not more than them.

It was quite natural, of course, with her leveling so much, but she felt too strong. In fact… she reminded him a bit of himself back then. Jake imagined that if the level 83 Sylphie were put against the level 99 Horde Leader…

the bananas like he had told Hank, but quickly noticed why. He saw a banana ripen, and at that exact moment, a small magic circle activated as a tendril of myst fired up, wrapped around it, and

looked over at Mystie, gaping. “You made an automatic

he came back from the dungeon. It was so subtle. It just pulled in the banana and somehow stabilized it until

free from Jake’s hug and, with impressive speed, zoomed over and scooped up the

“Hey, that’s mi-“

it down, peel

defeat. Now he at least knew where all his bananas

of shame, Sylphie flew back and landed on Jake’s shoulder, happy as a clam. She even had the audacity to nuzzle up to him. He could smell the bananas on her. If it were anyone else, Jake would be mad, but who the hell could be mad at

I can

She seemed to enjoy bananas a lot, and he didn’t

she is here, Jake chuckled internally. The birds seemed to want to hang around since Jake was back, and he

ended up playing with magic until Miranda came back. Jake fired small arcane attacks, and the birds blocked or deflected them. Jake also blocked their blows as he practiced, and he even had a few games of tag. Hawkie was still damn fast, and Jake needed to predict his movements to have a chance to catch him. In a

mainly to make him feel better because he didn’t understand what the little hawk was doing. He was

How exactly that was, he couldn’t pinpoint. All he was certain of was that it

bolts were sheared away by her green winds, and those she didn’t just blow away failed to have any effect as she made a green bubble of sorts

that was all Sylphie had – green wind and a green bubble, she pulled out another attack. One

expected it. Maybe it was because of Hawkie and Mystie and how they fought. The small frame of the hawks. Their usual use of magic. All of it had made Jake not expect the hawk to do the most

a swift turn in the air, she came back with another attack, this time using her talons. Jake was curious and raised his arm to block.

them, it

nearly ripped his forearm off. Her talons begun shining as she struck and had penetrated straight through the armor on his arms. It had then gone through his skin with only a tiny bit more resistance, drawing plenty of blood. Finally, the talons had

Sylphie still felt incredibly bad about it. She kept making apologetic screeches and nuzzling up to him, throwing glances at his already healed arm. The skin still looked a bit tender there, and his armor was

just sat on the side, looking

and his praises of how strong she was. He had to admit he had underestimated her. Those close combat attacks were powerful. He couldn’t

the same attacks

after, Mystie and Hawkie wanted to take Sylphie along, likely to continue hunting, but the small hawk refused to leave. She kept nuzzling up to Jake, and when

Jake said with a smile. He could be the babysitter of the little murder bird while the husband and wife hawks could go enjoy

– no fighting this time –

dinner. She was afraid she had brought too much, but it should be fine. Even if there were