The Primal Hunter

Jake didn’t give the man any time to object as he charged forward. He only had a single scimitar and chose to use it here in the opening clash. Both of them had fully restored resources and ensured no potion cooldown or skills were unavailable. Besides Jake not having his second weapon, both of them were at peak condition, and him not having it frankly didn’t matter much.

His first attack was a simple swipe, and the old man easily blocked him… or, more accurately, made him miss. He hit the side of the katana wielded by the Sword Saint and saw his own scimitar be led away as Jake charged past, still making sure to not give the man time to counterattack.

Turning around, he attacked again, this time swinging from a direction where the swordsman couldn’t simply redirect it. Or so Jake thought. His own sword ended up tearing up the ground as he was once more thwarted, and he had to quickly dodge back to avoid getting himself slashed.

“Enjoyment of battle does not give one an excuse to shirk responsibilities,” the Sword Saint said as he took the offensive.

Droplets of water began condensing around Jake, and he responded by creating a blast of mana around his body to quickly dispel them while also swaying to avoid the sword trying to cut him in two. More water began condensing, and Jake finally began to realize why the vampire constantly kept his aura active… it was to deal with the old man’s water magic. However, the water magic was so weak that Jake easily made it useless just with a bit of mana here and there.

Jake jumped back as the old man cut upwards, sending forth a screen of water that tore up the space between the two of them. Sadly for the Saint, Jake had already seen the movements of mana and easily dodged to the side to avoid it.

Screens of water began appearing all around Jake as the old man sent out crescent waves with his sword, but not directly towards him. They entered the screens, and to Jake’s surprise, were reflected and redirected. He dodged the first few and saw them begin bouncing between the water screens. The old man was trying to set up a killing trap or something.

“Neat trick,” Jake recognized. Ultimately, not very effective, though. He reckoned that combination was more a relic of past skills, as it really didn’t work well against foes with his mobility. Jake simply ran forward as he dove under a sword wave before jumping over another one to get free of the trap.

Running straight for the old man, he attacked again as he swung his blade. The swordsman blocked and redirected his blows again and again. It was at this point one thing became utterly clear…

Jake was completely and utterly outmatched in skill. He was stronger and faster, yet he felt like a child swinging a stick in front of a swordmaster… because, in many ways, he was.

Yet, at the same time, he wouldn’t lose. Because while Jake was utterly unable to even get close to landing a wound, the same was true for the old man. Because while Jake sucked at using a sword compared to the Sword Saint, he sure as hell didn’t suck at not getting hit by one.

He knew when dangerous blows approached, and he reacted to those while he blocked weaker blows to not leave an opening. He could do this as he was ultimately still superior in stats and likely also overall skill rarity and methods. Superior in every way but pure skill. Not that any of them had really shown anything else yet.

“You have not wielded cold weapons for long, have you?” the Sword Saint asked.

“Not since the system came unless you count kitchen knives during cooking. And even then, I was a shitty chef,” Jake answered, snickering.

With a deadpan expression, the old man answered. “It shows.”

Ouch, Jake thought as he struck back, this time going a bit harder. Arcane energy revolved around his blade as he upped the power of his blows. This forced the Sword Saint to be even more defensive, and when Jake didn’t let up but kept pressuring him, he was finally forced to go a bit harder in turn.

used. A

a few blows as the Sword Saint let loose, his blade now faster and stronger. He pushed Jake away

“Thousand Droplets.”

Danger Sense exploded as he felt like hundreds of needles prickled his body. For the first time, Jake was forced to use One Step Mile, as the area he had just been was suddenly cut through by what he could

have to use Scales of the Malefic Viper to handle

old man got serious… well, then he would also kick it up a notch. Arcane mana began condensing around him as several

bolts existed two places at once, and just as he felt that, the old man cut across the water plane. Jake’s arcane bolts completely collapsed as the mana structures fell apart at that same moment, leaving only the arcane energy he

skill,” Jake said as he dodged yet another blow as his One

the durable mana constructs,” the old man recognized in an impressed voice as

answered as he spun his body and pointed his palm at the old man, releasing a massive blast of arcane energy that sent both of them flying back. In a swift reaction, the Sword Saint had managed to summon a protective layer of water, but Jake

exchanged blow after blow, sending rock and soil flying everywhere as they tore up the area even more. None of them landed any blows worth mentioning on the other as the minutes passed by, yet one

Jake only had to use half as many. A new tipping point came when Jake decided to give his new

as he bombarded the old man who couldn’t cut them down fast enough, not even with

the old man began also using more of his own magic. Large orbs of water that fired out pressurized blasts tried to block Jake’s blows, and several planes of water appeared to somewhat successfully block Jake’s magic. He even used reflecting planes to make

to take a few blasts of water, allowing him to close in and push the old man back, finally landing a

distance between them as he spoke. “I must admit… seeing you fight and facing you is very different.

also decided to try and become a water mage at some

one so far, and it would be foolish to abandon other types of

your sword and your water

my mental stats as I perhaps should,” the Sword Saint acknowledged. “We all have places to improve, like

it,” Jake shook his head again. “It just feels forced and boring. There is nothing in it. As I said… it’s just hollow. Completely

said, I am not a mage. Magic is merely secondary and a requirement

to toss bullets for some goddamn reason. If you don’t actually care for using water magic like this… just stop

to respond as he moved to attack again. The old man seemed to have taken his word to heart, though, as he didn’t use any of his water magic but instead only blocked with his sword. Sure, there were still some water-affinity

tied to what the Sword Saint was all about: his swordsmanship. Jake didn’t feel the slightest tinge of danger from those water orbs, but he didn’t care to take

supported his swordsmanship was another thing. The reflection of spells to dispel them with a sword cut, or him making his sword waves jump between planes of water? That shit was cool and inventive and

Saint wasn’t like Jake, that much he was sure about. It felt like he only used that water magic out of obligation, not desire. Was it wrong to learn how to use spells like that? No… not really, but if you didn’t really care about magic spells, why waste your time on it? Okay, maybe if it was to practice some concept and was a middle-step, but then you shouldn’t use it in combat. Same as how Jake didn’t try to summon weapons out of arcane mana. Maybe

bolts supported him as he battled, arcane explosions made space where possible, and the arcane

man got a bit faster as he pushed his boosting skill higher, allowing him to keep up and go even. However… Jake felt that his opponent couldn’t go much higher. That didn’t mean

to show his