The Primal Hunter

There were many things one could do after suffering a setback. One could wallow and feel sorry for themselves, blame someone else and act like it wasn’t their fault, ignore it entirely and move on like nothing, or a slew of other things. Jake ended up going with a far more productive approach as he reflected on it all.

First of all, he had undoubtedly gained a lot from the fight. Skill upgrades and all that, but also some realizations that could only come with losing. Sure, one could argue if Jake truly lost, but in his mind, he had. Even if he had killed his opponent, too, he wouldn’t exactly call it a win if he also had to die himself.

The first thing he realized was that he actually cared more about losing than the prospect of death. It was odd… his survival instincts were through the roof, and he naturally had no desire or intentions to die, and yet the thought of it didn’t really bring up any innate fear. Just a feeling that death was a natural consequence if you fucked up too bad, and that was okay. Jake killed people, and he fully understood that death was always around the corner when fighting powerful foes.

It did take some mental gymnastics to both be fine with death but not fine with dying or getting killed. Or perhaps it was just a natural adaption he had made, potentially due to his Bloodline? If he walked around with fear, it would impede him and make failures far more likely. Or maybe Jake was just weird and had an odd mindset.

Either way, he moved on as he continued reflecting on what had happened towards the end of the Treasure Hunt and the Hunt as a whole.

When you succeed, all you really learn is what works, even if the victory is achieved through struggle. It is often said that failure is far more valuable to long-term success as you find out what doesn’t work and what is lacking to succeed. Additionally, Jake hadn’t magically forgotten his many years of formal education on business strategy and operations. There, failures were often viewed merely as learning experiences, and as long as the losses were not too significant, they could even be a good thing.

Hence, Jake tried to go with a logical approach as he analyzed the battle to figure out where he fucked up the most and how to improve. He knew he had fought a challenging opponent, and even if he made mistakes, it didn’t take anything away from the Sword Saint. So he thought long and hard about both the fight with the Monarch of Blood and the Sword Saint as a conclusion appeared swiftly.

“I kinda suck at fighting?” he asked himself half-rhetorically.

No, that isn’t entirely right. In his own opinion, Jake wasn’t bad with his bow, though he surely had room to improve. But melee combat? He had to admit… he didn’t really know what he was doing.

The only reason Jake was managing was due to his instincts allowing him to dodge most blows and instinctively strike back. However, these counters weren’t really thought about. Instead, he just reacted and attacked with straightforward slashes and stabs while coating his weapon in arcane energy and poison.

This was one of the reasons why Jake preferred duel-wielding; because his arms kind of just moved, and two weapons were just superior in his mind. At least a part of him thought that. Jake had always been ambidextrous and good with both hands, and that had naturally only improved after the system arrived. He had a strong feeling everyone could be considered ambidextrous now, which raised the question: why did someone like the Sword Saint only use one sword?

Because one thing was absolutely clear and had been from their first clash. The Sword Saint was far better at using his weapon than Jake, and so had the Monarch been. This was one of the reasons he could only dodge, while the Sword Saint managed to not only block but also counter and land attacks despite his far lower stats than Jake during the boss fight.

Jake realized he had in many ways been ignorant and naïve as he had begun to believe that he didn’t really need to learn how to use a sword or melee fighting in general. If he could predict the other party’s moves and instinctively counter, why would he need to learn how to actually fight like some martial artist?

develop. He had seen himself hit by blows he did not understand properly, seen the Sword Saint block blows far

sighed. Sylphie had been silent throughout it all, just sitting on his lap and resting, not giving any input besides just cuddling up to him. Jake scratched her as he considered her, and one of the reasons he had not really learned how

a sword be effective versus a beast? Swordsmanship was inherently rooted in learning how to battle other human beings – blocks, techniques, attacks, methods, et cetera - all focused around beating your fellow man. Knowledge of lethal

Jake could far more easily see how a bow and learning how to use that made better sense against beasts. Same for even things like spears or

the line of communication and spoke to his Patron god: “Hey Villy… do I

moment for the connection to fully form as the Viper answered: “Fighting? No. Knowing how

didn’t need to ask as the Viper

and others less so. I think you have a very disconnected style that certainly does need working on, but everyone has room to improve. Anyhow, what brought this on? Heard you muttering

happened during the final parts of the Treasure Hunt, having to backtrack a bit to tell him general stuff about the Treasure Hunt meanwhile. It quickly became clear Jake had a

distant. A few moments later, he returned his attention to Jake. “Well, I’ll be damned. I

he only had one question: “What

of things exist outside of the system and can break its rules? One of them is Bloodline-holders, as you know, and the other is known as Transcendents.

the hell it

Bloodline. A Transcendence is essentially a self-created skill that breaks some fundamental rules and does stuff otherwise not allowed within the system’s current parameters and limitations. Transcendence is not something you can aim for but something you just gain, and like Bloodlines, it is hard to say if Transcendence is even a good or a bad thing for the recipient in many cases,” the Viper

good thing for the Sword Saint. Also, how many of them are out

reality. This power does not come for free, the same as any kind of boosting skill that makes you stronger temporarily. You still need to consume something to make things possible, and what he consumed was a resource he should otherwise not be able to use if my

feel others with Bloodlines, then one Transcendant can recognize another. Also, while a Transcendant is essentially just

you have a Transcendent skill?” Jake asked curiously.

thing clear, that while having a Transcendent skill is good, it doesn’t mean using it is or that having one is in any way required to be powerful. Again… they all have cost outside of merely using a bit of stamina, mana, or even rare catalysts. Cost anyone with one

Holy Mother goes after death, no exceptions. It directly messes with the Truesoul of those affected, transforming them into new beings known as Holy Spirits and making them reside in her realm. This entire skill is the basis

him to completely annihilate someone through karma, severing all connections they have to the world and even erasing their Records, making them cease to exist, and all information related to them disappear. Their

not pretty either. There is more, but I made a promise not to share such details a long time ago, and while I am a snake,

with Jake just slowly nodding. There was a lot in there, and he did feel like he had a far better understanding