The Primal Hunter

While Jake was working on his elixirs in a trance-like state, everyone else around the globe also progressed. Parties dove in dungeons, hunted down more and more powerful beasts and crafted items more potent than anything they had ever created before.

Every single day more D-grade appeared, and in these last two weeks, it was easily in the triple digits every single day. At this point, Neil and his party had also all managed to reach D-grade and begun hunting as a group to get in a few more levels.

Sultan had spent fewer days within Haven but gone hunting himself with the one remaining slave who remained under his charge to get some more levels in too. Miranda had taken charge of the other, and she would also join the Treasure Hunt.

There was some bad news, though.

Miranda was in her office in Haven, Phillip in front of her, sitting slumped over on a chair.

“I guess I’m just not really that up to it anymore,” Phillip said as he sighed.

Miranda also sighed as she sat together with the man. He looked a bit thinner than last, and his eyes were a bit sunken. He had gone hunting many times but always returned faster than anyone else. His entire demeanor was just that of a tired man who looked to have stretched himself thin. He was still high level… but his progress had stopped.

[Human - lvl 99]

He was level 99 but had not gotten any chance to evolve. His class was not maxed out yet, but it too had only gotten slower. Miranda was fully aware of what it was all about.

Phillip had lost his purpose after she and Jake had come to take over the Fort. Phillip wasn’t someone who had risen to the occasion out of desire but out of responsibility. He was a career-man in the military, and the soldiers at the Fort were his to lead, so he led them. He sought power not because he wanted to but because of the constant pressure from the bovine hordes. In the tutorial, it had been the same, as he only progressed because he had to, not because he wanted to.

But now? Now, he didn’t really need to do anything. He still led the soldiers in day-to-day operations, handled personnel, and acted as head of what was essentially the police, but that was it. The man had little to no desires outside of this and only really worked due to obligations.

To say it in the nicest way possible, then he was burned out and halfway to retirement. In a less nice way? He had gotten lazy and complacent when his own personal power stopped mattering as much. The meeting with Sultan seemed to have fully pushed him over the edge. Phillip didn’t believe such an event would never repeat itself. One where a single individual could just show up, and he and the soldiers under his employ would be powerless to do anything.

Miranda did have some sympathy towards him. She herself only had a purpose now because she was given one. Without Jake, she knew she would have also been directionless, only trying to survive. She would likely have settled down somewhere and maybe worked with the local smithy or a group of craftsmen. Maybe she would have tried to start a company or something. She sure as hell wouldn’t be the leader of one of the premier cities of Earth, have a Divine Blessing, and work directly under the Chosen of a Primordial.

“Have you considered a replacement yet?” she asked him.

The conclusion was clear. Phillip was planning on stepping down within not that long. He would still work, but he would not be the one in charge, more a supporter who helped where needed while otherwise enjoying the retired life.

a few in mind, and I swear they’ll do good. It will still be a while before everything is finalized, but I’m working on it,”

for yourself sometimes,” Miranda just said, returning his smile. “I’m sure we will be able to find a way to manage without you, and I’m sure your successor will do wonders. Just… no rush, and if you

this could just… happen. Unless Phillip experienced some massive change in

everyone had to accept. It was the truly driven and often a bit ‘off’ people who truly did well. Sultan, Jake, Arnold, the fanatics of the Holy Church, heck, even herself were examples of this. All of them weren’t exactly normal by old-world standards anymore. They were now all driven with strong internal motivation. Miranda wanted to do her best, not because she had to, but because she wanted to. She would dream of the ways Haven could expand, of where she could stand in a decade or a century, and how far she could

it was reliant on Jake, of course. She had resigned herself to that, and while he could be a bit… challenging

anyone were driven by internal motivation, it was

This was his ninth successful batch of the uncommon-rarity Sensus Elixirs, and he was feeling quite good about himself. Lillian had even come by with a shitload of cores and ingredients for his perception-elixirs earlier, making him

had consumed eighteen uncommon-rarity perception elixirs total. Along with that, he had also downed another fifty-one of the common-rarity version for a total of +243

a D-grade Beastcore of a Sunshade Eagle. Allows any who drink this elixir to receive some of the innate power of the materials, enhancing one’s

Requirements: D-rank or higher.

so many elixirs consumed. Well, he could just bite the bullet and consume some of his many agility or even the vitality-increasing ones,

level during these past ten days. It turned out that churning out elixirs was a damn efficient way of leveling, even if it wasn’t as fast as his last trance-like state. That one had been quite intense, and as his familiarity with making elixirs increased, so did the diminishing return of crafting similar things kick in. Still, three levels

Malefic Viper] has reached level 129 -

129 - Stat points

level 129, and now his class, profession, and race were all the exact same level again.

It was time.

and instead summoned the token he had been

Awakening (Epic)] – Infuse into a piece of equipment to attempt to awaken or amplify the Records within, upgrading the item to a maximum of Epic-rarity. If the item is already Epic-rarity, it will try to amplify existing effects through awakened Records. Overall effects may be unpredictable. WARNING: Touching directly upon the Records of an item may make others

User must be

remain untouched as he would despise losing that. They were the snuggliest boots

again, he did note that their stat

simple leather, the Records of the alchemist have left a deep mark on this item, allowing it to transcend many ranks. Enchantments: +20 Endurance, +15 Agility. Reduces stamina expenditure from all movement-related skills by

25+ in

of his oldest items, gained from an ancient Challenge Dungeon that the Malefic Viper, one of only twelve gods at the time, had made. Jake wasn’t sure if the boots were from all the way back then, but to him, they had always felt old. If they truly had relations to the first universe, the

boots and held up the token. He

encapsulated the boots, and with his sphere, he saw them within. Visually, not a single thing was changing, and it actually made Jake fear something was wrong. The token

become stronger, and as the item was already bound