The Primal Hunter

This is bad, Jake thought as the school of fish around him grew. He quickly chugged down another healing potion as he considered his approach. However, one thing was certain, he couldn’t abandon his focus on how to better move.

The poisoned fish around him became his stepping stone to understanding this. He felt the toxins circulate through their bodies, slowly being battled against. It was a struggle between the vitality of the fish in question and the poisons Jake had infused, and he saw this battle clearly.

Yet, he also noticed something else. Not in the clash of vital energy and poison, but more what was around it. Everything just felt so odd inside the bodies of the fish. The toxins constantly moved about, and he detected large amounts of water-affinity mana inside them too at all times.

It was a constant stream… but the amount of mana they had to consume at all times to circulate that amount of energy was just utterly insane. Again, one could compare to Jake’s Limit Break, where he naturally expended more stamina by circulating more stamina. In the same way, these fish constantly circulated large amounts of water-affinity mana.

One would think this was tiring, but they all did it in the same way. If it was Jake doing the same thing, circulating mana inside or around him, he would be out of resources within an hour. Yet these damn fish didn’t give a fuck, but just pumped mana through themselves like it was nothing.

He felt like none of this helped him. On the contrary, it only made him more uncertain of exactly how they managed to cope.

Firstly, how did they even deal with the sheer load of mana running through them? Or was the water-affinity just suited for it? Water was naturally able to flow and seemed like a gentle force. From what Jake knew, then water-affinity mana liked to be together and condensed. It also liked to conform to whatever shape it was in, being a liquid and all.

Was this why the fish could handle it? The water allowed them to handle it? Was it perhaps because it was in constant motion? So many questions, so little time with the fish becoming bolder and bolder as they came closer with every swim-by.

He wasn’t sure what to do as he prepared himself. Right in front of him then passed a smidge of red that seemed completely out of place. The blood of the fish wasn’t red but transparent and water-like. Which meant it was human blood from his own wounds.

Jake watched his own blood effortlessly flow through the water. Unaffected by the pressure or the concepts Jake had observed before. It seemed to almost meld into and become one with the water. In fact, when he observed it with his sphere, he saw it appeared almost to be the same as the water around him. His Sense of the Malefic Viper also told him that the blood had simply integrated the water - allowed itself to be integrated. It was mixed with the water, yet it still remained separate, with the poison still within it. Integrated but not assimilated.

That is when Jake remembered a certain quote that honestly didn’t really fit that well in his current scenario:

Be like water.

Because that is exactly what the fish did… they became one with the water around them. They, like his blood, integrated themselves without being assimilated. With this realization, another one also came… he asked himself why he fought his environment so much.

The mana didn’t hold any intent. It simply was. The only reason it damaged Jake was due to the sheer density and that concept, and while he wasn’t sure that could be eliminated entirely, he should be able to alleviate it, right?

absorbing as much mana from his environment as he could. His

was that he had to not fight the water or find a way to cope with it; he had to allow himself to acclimate by taking it in. This was only possible because it was neutral mana and not something summoned by anyone. If this Vault

actually felt his own weight increase. However, what he also felt was familiarity. His surroundings became clearer, and he began feeling like he could move. His

wasn’t out of the woods yet, though. Because while he had found a way to adapt, this method wasn’t instant. He had to absorb the mana into his body and release it again to do this process, but if he did it too fast, he damaged himself and risked losing control. Too slow,

managed to swing far faster than before, taking his opponent by surprise. A long nasty cut was left across its side. The second one found itself suddenly confronted with the edge of a blade that skewered it through the mouth as Jake angled it to avoid being hit

had led to him recognizing that it was insane not to use his arcane magic too, using the environment and not fighting it. Before, Jake tried to use

Because Jake had learned that water very much wanted to conform once directed. Did this mean he could turn this entire shithole of water into arcane energy? Sadly not, as Jake couldn’t cast magic that

could do was easily summon plenty of

as he fired one into the crowd of fish. More than an explosion of arcane energy, it was more an implosion where the moment the bolt lost its form, it was just compressed and consumed by the water,

pure arcane mana to pierce his foes. He focused on this while also trying to absorb more and more water mana… which led to

single moment; they just didn’t give a shit because they regenerated even more. Not that it helped these to have near-limitless mana, for they were utterly

magic sped up too, and soon all that surrounded him was the blood and bodies of

internally as the enemies stopped coming, naturally continuing to absorb the water mana and adapting. He checked his notification which instantly put a damper on it

slain [Deepgorge Terror – lvl

...

have slain [Deepgorge

sad. Yeah, sad had to be the right word. These fish were weak, as in, among the weakest any D-grade of their level could be. They had no skills or abilities. All they

were just fucking fish. Barely

most danger he had been in since fighting the Altmar Census Golem, a level 150 foe created by an ancient faction to test talents. And he had gotten significantly stronger

fucking Joke, he told himself, shaking his

healing himself and getting used to the water for the time being. The entire acclimation thing was fast in the beginning, but he soon noticed it slow down significantly. Finally, after an hour or so, with him having also consumed another health potion, he noticed nothing more was happening,

more? In the end, he wasn’t an aquatic animal but a human. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and reentered meditation, not reemerging until all of his resource pools

circulation from the environment. The moment he stopped, he felt the pressure on him begin to accumulate, making him

hours and two potions before he was back in top condition. He also had to wait out the Limit Break weakness, as he had

little more than ten meters from where the teleportation had originally taken him, and he

have stayed put to try and think up more methods for fighting in water, but he had to remember he was already on a timer.

sphere, he had chosen to keep it at thirty meters, as anything more and the headache from information overload would resume. While he now understood the mana and could see through it, he still had