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?

breath, letting the water enter his lungs and body. He felt like choking but resisted. Instead, he also focused on absorbing as much mana from his environment as he could. His

he only needed the mana, but in his moment of desperation, he wasn’t thinking very clearly. All he knew at that moment 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

and he 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 headache also lessened

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

reappeared. He 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

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 his own mana far too much to summon his magic. This

a spark of arcane energy and then simply transform the surrounding energy with that as the base. 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,

was easily summon plenty of

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, not

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

near limitless mana. In fact, the fish were expending copious amounts of mana every 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

soon all that surrounded him was the blood and bodies of fifteen newly

the water mana and adapting. He checked

slain [Deepgorge Terror –

...

have slain [Deepgorge Terror – lvl

their level could be. They had no skills or abilities. All they could

just fucking

this had been the 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 since then

Joke, he told himself, shaking his

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, to

in water. But, then again, could he expect anything more? In the end, he wasn’t an aquatic animal but a human. Shaking his head, he closed his

pressure on him begin to accumulate, making him

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

time to actually begin exploring the shitty Vault he found himself in. He had moved little more than ten meters from where the teleportation had originally taken him, and he

to try and think up more methods for fighting in water, but he had to remember he was already

he saw a ceiling. On the subject of his sphere, he had chosen to keep it at thirty meters, as anything more and the headache