The Primal Hunter

Somewhere, a long time ago, a group of game developers sat in a room together. They knew they needed more content in their game to expand the playtime, but they had no idea what to add. Technology was limited, and there were only so many mechanics to add when all the controllable characters could do was to move up, down, and to the sides.

Then suddenly, one of them got an idea. ”What if we make our character able to fly?”

But no, that was quickly shot down. The movements would be too fast, and it would be too hard to control. Once more, they were stumped until someone else spoke up.

”What if instead of flying, we make it swimming…”

And thus, one of the worst ideas ever was conceived.

At least that is how Jake imagined the absolute moron who thought up water levels did it. No one liked water levels. They always sucked. Jake believed this was inherently down to how water affected movement and limited how one could usually control the game.

Water had to slow down movement, and while it allowed lateral movement, this was often slow and frustrating and incredibly ‘floaty’ due to it being in the water. It also meant enemies could attack from more directions, and overall just caused a lot of issues. However, perhaps the biggest obstacle was how one often lost their usual means of combat.

Suppose you killed stuff by jumping on it, then becoming unable to jump made that difficult. If you shoot a gun, the chances are that it doesn’t work underwater. Swinging a melee weapon was also often limited. In conclusion? You didn’t only have severely inhibited movement underwater, you also can’t fight properly.

Now, how does this relate back to Jake? Quite obviously so, actually. Because Jake currently found himself submerged in water, having no idea what the fuck he was supposed to do. He was just floating there, in the middle of nothing. Yet, for the first time, he also experienced something he hadn’t in a long time…

Blindness.

Jake couldn’t see anything in his surroundings. It wasn’t limited to his eyes either. His Sphere of Perception was being overloaded with information, the mana inherent in the water so powerful. It filled the sphere, making it seem almost solid to his senses.

To his eyes, it was also utter darkness, which was new to him. Usually, he could see even without any light. Entirely sealed off caves weren’t any issues due to his high perception, but he truly was blinded under this water.

For a brief moment, he panicked and began moving around, trying to find something to hold onto. However, he quickly found there was nothing and no one. He was utterly alone, trapped in nothingness.

Constant pressure was upon him from the water too. It didn’t deal any damage to him, but he felt it. Also, while he didn’t have to breathe, being unable to do so was incredibly uncomfortable for him. Jake had never had any issues with water and could swim with no problems… but this wasn’t okay with him.

Calm down,he told himself as he tried to stop himself from moving sporadically. His instincts told him to get out of the water and find solid ground. He felt exposed. Jake closed his eyes as he entered meditation and attempted to do what he had done in the Forgotten Sewers dungeon with all the dark mana and acclimate himself to the environment, filtering out the mana in the water.

Yet shortly after he closed his eyes, he was thrown out of meditation by his danger sense activating. His eyes shot open, and he moved to try and defend. The blade appeared in his hand but moved incredibly slowly through the water as he wanted to raise it and block the incoming blow.

He failed.

A warm feeling and a sting of pain were felt from his one arm as something had hit him. He had been cut, Jake knew that, but he didn’t know by what or who. Jake felt more and more unsettled as he felt something come by him again, not attacking this time.

The water made him feel like he was moving in slow motion. Taking out his bow was also utterly out of the question, as how the hell was he supposed to shoot an arrow while submerged? It would be an utter waste of time to try to.

By now, he also noticed something else with his wound. It kept stinging, and soon he noticed some foreign energy invade his body. It was venom. Jake frowned as he thought of what to do and summoned his wings to try and use them to move around.

couldn’t properly see it, only notice the mana be subtly displaced at times as something fast moved by him. Jake once more tried to filter out what he assumed was water-affinity mana, but the moment

he was partly successful. He released a blast of mana from his body, hitting the creature attacking him just as it came close. It was repelled for a brief moment as it began circling him again. Believing he had found a temporary coping mechanism, Jake felt relief until he suddenly felt a sense

more

infused it with mana to try and get a better understanding of the situation. When he did so, he suddenly became able to see a bit more of his surroundings as some of the mana was displaced. However, he also felt a severe drain on his resources. The water pressed down on not only him

felt forced to choose the former, but not before one final push. He channeled more mana into Pride of the Malefic Viper and also summoned a net of arcane mana. When the next creature came to attack him, Jake

the final moment, Jake manipulated the net of mana to be positioned in front of him. At the same time, he angled his body, allowing his foe to penetrate his stomach with its attack. He felt like he was pierced with a sword as he was

net. The wound on his stomach got worse as it moved back and forth. Jake raised his blade and stabbed it through the creature to make it stop,

it into a position where he could place his hands on it without slipping. He began channeling Touch of the Malefic Viper as the creature struggled. Yet he just kept going, the wound in his stomach growing and more and more venom being injected into

final push using Touch, he felt the creature that

slain [Deepgorge Terror

a while. Only level 127. A being several levels below himself had caused him quite a bad wound and left him reeling from its simple attacks. It wasn’t even some powerful variant. Heck, it just felt like a creature that was some weird mix between a swordfish and an eel. He knew he needed some way of fight back, and quick

creature was repelled, but soon after, it activated

that he

of the Vault proved to have certain competitive elements. The Vault had opened up a large maze all around itself as the geography changed, and everyone had

together and done well, even clearing a few Vaults together. She had heard that Jake had an incident with details still unclear of what had gone down. All she knew was that it involved killing many people, and many of the smaller independent

now was the

she had only ever seen once before but heard of many times. His

“Eron,” she said.

I believe?” the man

the one where Jake met him, she was now faced with a conflict she

could claim. These marks allowed the challenger to open

her estimates, in excess of a thousand now found themselves within. Miranda had already used a device given by Arnold to send out a distress signal,

Eron spoke. “I hope

a feeling her time in the Treasure Hunt was about to be over. Sadly one couldn’t simply hand over the mark from the Vault. It was only

she knew Eron wouldn’t simply let her go.

that is a course of action worthy of

in white

also used her own skills as she began retreating, having been warned by Jake of the odd affinity Eron possessed. She considered what to do as a voice suddenly entered her

woman had erected a wall of stone to block his way. He burned through it within a minute,

least waste your time,” the woman said as Eron walked forth. He waved his hand as white flames blanketed the barrier of mana. Miranda kept up the shield as he slowly burned it down, waiting for her to run out of resources. Because he knew she would run out before

the other way. That put his mind at ease as she would serve as a distraction if anyone else came down the same way. As they were at a dead-end,

minutes where she at

here,” she answered as sweat pooled beneath her. Eron looked on, knowing she

attempt indeed if the purpose is only to waste my

minute or so

aware this is in no way personal,” Eron told the woman. He saw blood come out of her mouth and her one leg wobble as

suddenly heard a female voice say. His eyes opened wide as he looked to the side and saw the City Lord