The Primal Hunter

Jake hated to admit it… but Eron was a genius. And no, not the hyperbole version of a genius, but an actual genius. Even before the system, he had been a damn monster in human skin. Jake even had suspicions he was doing things that could be considered magical before mana and magic was even a thing.

He was awfully open about his bloodline too, not hiding many details. He explained how he saw sparks and how he believed these sparks were the representation of life and existence itself. He told Jake about how he had forged his path entirely around these sparks… entirely around his bloodline.

In some ways, it wasn’t that much different from Jake. The main difference was that while Jake had grown up and lived in the old world suppressing his bloodline, Eron has explored and embraced his. This was also why Jake reckoned the guy had a far higher understanding of his bloodline than Jake did. Or maybe they were just vastly different bloodlines?

Another interesting point of discussion was arcane-affinities. Eron’s affinity was interesting if a bit odd. Jake was pretty damn sure his own was better. Eron’s was far more limited, and the man confessed he didn’t acquire his arcane-affinity before he was already D-grade. Another point for Jake.

There was one thing that still bothered him, though. An ultimate question of sorts.

“So, if it gets down to it… could I kill you based on what you’ve seen?” Jake asked Eron. He thought, hey, the guy had been truthful so far, so no harm in asking.

Eron looked at Jake a bit before nodding. “Yes. As I said, I am not invincible, at least not quite yet. If we continued our battle, I do believe I would eventually be withered down. To regenerate my body takes mental energy and concentration. Differently from yours or most other’s vital energies, mine does not simply reform my body passively… it requires active input.”

“So if you get knocked out and then your body is destroyed, you die for good?” Jake asked.

“Astute observation. This was the first weakness I worked to alleviate, so no, not quite. I do have fail-safes in place for most scenarios I have come up with, but not all work as well as others, and some I cannot test out as doing so means risking true death,” Eron kept explaining.

Jake nodded, a few plans already forming in his head. Eron easily took damage, so what if he made a poison specifically engineered to make it harder to regenerate? He already had experience with poison working not only on the body but in the metaphysical plane of existence. Some type of hemotoxin, perhaps, considering that poison already made healing harder.

“So… what’s the drawback?” Jake finally asked.

Such power had to come with significant drawbacks. Jake did not believe a D-grade could achieve immortality or near-invincibility without it having severe consequences. He was already aware that Eron’s physical abilities were pretty damn bad, and his offensive prowess with his magic was also bottom-tier. The only reason he held some fear towards the magic was due to his lack of understanding of it. But if they were to fight? Jake would just summon an arcane barrier around his body to block the white flame as it sucked against mana-based shields.

“Hm… that I believe would be unwise to disclose. But I guess I can share the simplest one. I have no mana or stamina, and any task requiring either forces me to manually convert my health points to either. This includes a constant conversion of health to stamina for me to simply be walking and talking right now,” Eron divulged, making Jake stare at him for a bit.

“That just sounds fucking exhausting,” Jake noted, shaking his head.

He was aware that the transformation of energy from one type to another was possible. He did this in part when making potions. But it was not one-to-one, and if he tried to make his health into stamina as an example, it would take concentration and time, and he would spend way more health than he would get stamina. In other words? It was practically never worth it.

Yet apparently, that was how Eron now lived. What the fuck?

hey, what does your endurance and wisdom

instead of

put all free points in

willpower. As I said, abilities that take away my autonomy in any way, or any attacks that hamper my mental faculties could prove potentially deadly,” Eron reiterated. “In fact, the soul attack you used earlier was a great example. While incapacitated, I was unable to heal myself even if I wanted to, allowing

it; I’ll have a special vat of toxins ready to

man gladly explained his insights, with Jake listening and learning. He even did some basic testing as the two of them casually strolled down the tower and into

taught him in kind. He talked about how mana shaping and manipulation worked and how Eron could possibly try and better stabilize some of his magic or possibly even

them. Jake learned that the reason Eron helped the Holy Church was because they offered him a certain treasure, as well as the ability to study those who had died and

even just a baptism died. While regular folk would just die when they were killed, the Holy Church somehow saved people in their ranks. At least partly. Their souls would be extracted and taken to an artifact in the closest Holy City, and from there, be sent to the Holy Land, the realm of the Holy

god had assured him it truly did work like that. This was probably why the Holy Church was the most

Jake. Jake didn’t like

also tried to get Eron to spill the name of his Patron

was well and truly a narcissist who believed himself superior to everyone else around him. Well, nearly everyone else, as he didn’t seem that obnoxious when he talked with Jake, even if there was a hint of superiority. Eron liked to be the one teaching Jake and was standoffish when Jake gave him tips in return, even if he did ultimately acknowledge them. Perhaps because Jake was the only other person with a bloodline and at least publicly

even enthusiastically placed a hand on Jake’s shoulder and showed him how he could direct his vital energy to heal a wound faster.

arcane-affinity and vital energy, but nothing worth testing quite yet. It also became more and more evident that Eron truly didn’t have any bad intentions towards Jake or Haven or

as they walked through the plains and Jake saw that they were closing in on the Mistless Plains – Eron didn’t as his perception sucked – the healer asked Jake

it be possible for me to see

he looked suspiciously at Eron.

believe you know why,” Eron said, giving Jake a knowing smile. “The spark is faint, but most certainly there. It burns in a way

rebutted. He did know there was something about the King slumbering, but he didn’t truly believe it was the

a vision of the King or some fragment of it, but the Unique Lifeform itself? Villy had told him that one doesn’t simply circumvent true death. It wasn’t like Jacob and his skill to avoid it… the King had truly died, just like William. William had only returned to life

are only making me more curious when you say that… and you killed this being at least before the

unabashed curiosity. “Got anything to trade? Also, you can only look at it with me right

could always feel its location, and no one else could bind it. So letting Eron see it wouldn’t even be a risk as Jake knew the guy couldn’t put the mask in his inventory or anything like that either. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to get something in return. Sure, they were friendly, but this entire interaction

but the man held tightly onto it. “This notebook contains some insights I have into the metaphysical existence of the living. It may seem

Eron had been since they met, as he looked Jake dead in the eye. Jake was confused for a moment before he took the notebook and began reading through it. He saw odd diagrams and runes, drawings with lines that messed with his head as they seemed

soon after… Eron was a researcher. Did he fear that what he had learned and discovered would disappear if he died and chose to pass it onto someone he believed could keep it safe? Was that maybe why he wanted to become unkillable in the first place? Was Jake just

definitely yes