The Primal Hunter

Jake felt a lot better as he stared at the downed Goldsun Eagle Prima before him. The eagle’s one wing lay on the ground beside it, and its radiant feathers were now no longer glowing. He had called for the birds to come and finish it off, as quite frankly, Jake had no desire to.

He hadn’t enjoyed the fight at all, only the purpose behind it. The Eagle Prima hadn’t been powerful enough for him to feel challenged, and this was the kind of fight he would usually try to avoid or finish as fast as possible. However, he felt this wasn’t his decision to make. It wasn’t his kill to claim.

If Jake turned around and left now, the Eagle Prima would live. It was already slowly healing while under the sunlight, and he had purposefully not used a lot of poison. He wanted to leave the hawks an option – to kill the eagle or leave it alive. That’s what he would have wanted himself - a chance to come back at a later date for a rematch.

However, he knew this mindset wasn’t exactly considered normal, so he made it entirely possible for them to finish off the eagle if they so wished.

Hawkie and Mystie flew down from the cliff above, with Sylphie being a bit slower to react before she also dove down. They landed a bit behind Jake, still clearly a bit apprehensive towards the eagle. The eagle also threw a glance at them but just closed its eyes, resigned to its fate. It was not like it could do anything anymore.

“This isn’t my hunt and not really my enemy. It’s yours; you decide what to do. You can leave it here and come back later for a rematch, or you can finish it now. The choice is yours to make,” Jake told the three hawks.

He stayed close in case the eagle tried to pull out another move. Well, it did a few times by trying to summon forth a bit of magic, but Jake suppressed it with his presence and Gaze of the Apex Hunter every time – the two of them were quite an effective combo and seemed to have completely broken the Eagle Prima’s spirit.

The two hawks exchanged a look before swiftly pushing Sylphie forward. They gave her a stern look, almost as if telling her this was her job to do. She looked reluctant and looked up at Jake as if checking if it was okay. He gave her a nod, and she walked towards the Prima.

Jake could tell she wasn’t in a good mood. He wanted to cheer her up, but another part of him also knew it was important for her to learn from today. Jake didn’t need to be told Sylphie was the one who got them in trouble as he couldn’t see Hawkie and Mystie enter an area so clearly marked by a powerful creature, and her generally ashamed demeanor made it even more obvious. Shit, he could feel the natural treasure from where he stood, and he knew she could too.

Sylphie slowly flew over to the Prima, and the eagle tried to get up and retaliate, but Jake froze it again and pressed down with his presence. It failed to resist as glowing talons penetrated it through the eye. It struggled, but Sylphie at least knew how to finish it quickly and as painlessly as possible. The eagle was too weak anyway, and once the brain took damage, it died nearly instantly

*You have slain [Goldsun Eagle Prima – lvl 144] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

The moment the giant eagle died, its body began glowing before turning into wisps of light that soared up into the sky. Jake was momentarily surprised until he remembered what kind of creature he was dealing with. It was a bit like the Monkey Prima in that the body disappeared, and like the monkey, two items remained in its stead.

Jake had no qualms about taking those. He walked closer and squatted down beside Sylphie. She looked down on the ground, not at all happy with the kill. She shouldn’t be, as it wasn’t truly hers either. It was just her taking responsibility.

Reaching over, he picked up the small golden metal fragment he recognized.

[Key Fragment of the Exalted Prima (Unique)] – A key fragment to the Seat of the Exalted Prima. Collect three fragments to form the Key of the Exalted Prima to gain access.

Oh yeah, those were a thing, Jake thought as he picked it up and threw it in his inventory. He had two of them now, though he still didn’t know exactly what it was about. It did make him consider if he would have killed the Eagle Prima just for the fragment… probably not. Not before he knew what the fragments were truly for. He believed giving the choice between killing the eagle or a rematch was more important.

the second item, it

Prima, containing remnants of its Records within. Can be used as an alchemical ingredient for many types of creations but is most often found in

up as he actually needed it. None of the hawks complained either. He checked them all an extra time to make sure they were okay, and besides being battered and unable to do much besides light

to let them rest there as he went to check out the natural treasure the Goldsun Eagle Prima had been guarding. There were no more threats, with the other Goldsun Eagle also dead off to the side. As for the juvenile eagle? Jake was aware of it but didn’t do anything to it. If the

towards the treasure. It was still a bit away, and he noticed it was in a cave halfway up the side of a cliff. Jake flew up there and entered the cave. He felt the remnants of mana in the cave from what had likely

larger cavern. The space was only barely large enough for the massive eagle to fit in, and in the middle of it all

was a

sun-affinity mana. The fragment is incredibly durable and near-indestructible for anyone below C-grade and gives off large

rock with a lot of sun-affinity energy. The name surprised him a bit, though. Back in the dungeon, Jake had gotten a Mooncore

transport, right? It really wasn’t. Throwing it in his inventory was already out of the question due to its constant emanation of energy. Even if he could throw it in there, it would likely fuck up everything else within. Once again, that was assuming he could even put it in there, which he

to it. He was also pretty damn sure it would kill or severely hurt most of the people he knew to be close to it. Heck, even he was taking a bit of damage just

Jake still wanted it. So he did the only logical thing one

He ate it.

his Palate stomach and put it in his inventory. With space opened up, he activated the skill and inhaled. He felt the Suncore resist, and Jake had to do a serious push to make it move. The damn thing was

minutes of wearing down the natural treasure’s defenses, it relented and shrunk as it flew into

around. He felt the Suncore within, now no longer

them were chilling on the ground, and he did spot the juvenile eagle not far away, now cut in two by what looked like a blade of wind. Jake sighed. It wasn’t something he necessarily agreed with, but such was the philosophy of most beasts. Perhaps it was a mercy as

Break and felt the weakness invade his entire body. He slumped a bit and laid back on the ground, relaxing. Sylphie looked worried and jumped over to him with concern. He just gave her a smile as he patted his chest, telling

she sat

her head. “Do you know what

to hide her face, looking damn cute while doing it. But Jake wasn’t going to fall

powerful than yourself… it’s that you didn’t do it properly. Scout it out a bit first, find out if you can take it, and then lay down a plan. You are small but incredibly fast and can do a lot of

with a light smile as he relaxed his body. Sylphie stared for a

of her, just like he wouldn’t accept if others asked him to give up fighting. It was simply life,

Mystie off to the side seemed to be approving of his message. They, too, wanted their daughter to grow powerful. Jake guessed that when Sylphie went through her level 100 transformation of

get a nap. Napping was the best way to recover after

parent-hawks closed their eyes as they focused on recovery, and Sylphie was the only one still awake and aware. She kept staring down

dark, another chain broke. Another spike ceased to be, and

the second chain to break

996 remained.