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.

item, it

within. Can be used as an alchemical ingredient for many types of creations

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 flying, they were fine. His healing potions weren’t

the juvenile eagle? Jake was aware of it but didn’t do anything to it. If the hawks wanted it dead, they could kill it. It at least seemed smart enough not to attack him but

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

itself was only about fifty meters deep and opened up to a slightly 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 large glowing rock-like thing. It looked like a fallen meteor, and Jake felt his still-summoned scales crackle as he

that while it was a natural

an immense power of sun-affinity mana. The fragment is incredibly durable and near-indestructible for anyone below C-grade and gives off large amounts of heat.

a lot of sun-affinity energy. The name surprised him a bit, though. Back in the dungeon, Jake had gotten a Mooncore Shard, while this was a Suncore Fragment. He couldn’t help but believe the

to 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.

it would kill or severely hurt most of the people he knew to be close to it. Heck, even

did the only logical thing one

He ate it.

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

natural treasure’s defenses, it relented and shrunk as it flew into

he turned around. He felt the Suncore within, now no longer able

as the young eagle would likely have been killed by another creature that came to claim the area. The young one had stayed in the

with the two hawks as he deactivated his Limit 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

obliged as she sat

Jake said as he rubbed her head. “Do you know what you did

top of him froze as she looked embarrassed down at his chest. She raised her wings to hide her face, looking damn cute while doing it. But Jake wasn’t going to fall for the cuteness today, even if she wasn’t doing it on purpose.

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 damage with your talons and wings with a sneak attack. What I am trying to say is to think more, okay?” Jake said to the small bird on top

Jake looked angry or not. He didn’t; he just looked back at her with a light

never be in trouble or fight again. He wouldn’t ask that of her, just like he wouldn’t accept if others asked him to give up fighting. It was simply life, and Sylphie had to do it. All

powerful. Jake guessed that when Sylphie went through her

for the next few hours as Jake decided to get a nap. Napping was the best way to recover after using Limit Break. He could ignore the weakness and relax. It was a pure

parent-hawks closed their eyes as they focused on recovery, and Sylphie was the only one still awake and aware. She kept staring down at Jake for a while and seemed to have decided on something. She also closed her eyes as she focused on

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

second chain

996 remained.