The Primal Hunter

Honestly, if there was one convenience the system had brought that Jake could not see ever living without again, it was the Self-Repair enchantment. That, and other enchantments allowing armor to repair itself, like the Shadow Mend on his chest armor, just made life so much easier when you were someone like Jake who was prone to having whatever he was wearing destroyed.

Still hidden deep underground and surrounded by not-so-friendly termites, Jake took nearly two full days to get back in his best condition again. It was a lot longer than expected, considering his potion usage, proving that he had truly taken a lot of damage. What is more, was how hard the wounds felt to heal… like the Hive King had infused some energy into every attack to make it harder.

The problem was that he felt no such energy, just that healing was more problematic. That is until Jake really looked and found what he at first had thought was just small pieces of stone or dust mixed into the wound. He was wrong, as it turned out to be minuscule black splinters. In the end, Jake had to focus a lot of energy to push them out and even used his dagger to pry a bit to speed up the process.

Jake felt how much easier the healing got after, and he soon recovered fully. With his armor also mostly repaired, he prepared to leave. Jake kept up his stealth technique without being discovered throughout this entire period, making him feel quite good about that part. The fact the termites had chosen to just outright bury him had also helped, though he did feel the occasional scan of a worker pass through where he was. Probably just maintenance work or something.

Mobilizing mana, Jake released a small explosion of arcane energy around him to destroy the soil, instantly getting some attention from nearby workers. He did not give them time to do anything as he fired a beam upwards through the soil to create a path up to the main tunnel network above.

Jake climbed up and began running through the maze of tunnels as he went upwards and out of the hive. A few termites chased him, but Jake just avoided them as he kept getting the fuck out of there. He didn’t know if the Hive Queen would call for the King again or something like that, and he had no desire to find out.

It took him hours as he made his way up. He was amazed at how many termites had already appeared again, as Jake began to realize how little of an effect his attack had made. Jake had killed tens of thousands of termites in E-grade, thousands in D-grade, and yet he had barely made a dent in their population.

How large is this hive? Jake questioned.

Moreover… how deep was it? The King dug downwards after it believed Jake had gotten away, almost as if it was in a hurry. Was there something going on down there that needed its attention? Also, if he was right, it was 220 or so; didn’t that mean it had likely killed a lot of enemies that gave experience? AKA other C-grades?

What if there are more Hive Queens… more Kings… he suddenly thought. What if the area Jake had invaded and wreaked havoc in was only the upper layers of their hive. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed possible and the scarier the thought became. He could only hope that other powerful creatures in the subterranean world would keep the Isoptera hive occupied or that whatever restrictions were on C-grades would remain active long enough for Jake to become powerful enough to kill them.

Because for a hive such as the Isoptera to take over an entire planet was not something new to the multiverse: far from it. And Jake had no desire to allow Earth to turn into a termite colony. Not that he truly thought it was a possibility. He was there; other powerful factions existed, as well as many other scary things on their planet.

Soon enough, Jake only saw a few E-grade termites within the tunnels, and within a couple of hours, he found himself able to spot the surface through his Sphere of Perception. Picking up the pace, he zig-zagged through the maze of tunnels before finally spotting a hole with sunlight shining through.

Jake jumped and summoned his wings as he finally felt the warmth of the sun upon his skin. He had emerged a good distance away from where he had entered, by at least a hundred kilometers. He knew this due to still seeing the destruction left by him and the King of the Forest before he dove underground.

the most aware after he made the cursed weapon and had spent weeks in a haze as he got the curse and his

enjoying being out of the stuffed underground – especially being trapped inside his own cloak for two days - he set course back to Haven once

the plains at a respectable pace. The entire vessel was as simple as it came in design and nearly thirty-five

The only thing nearly all of them had in common was that all of them were alchemists, with the only exception being seven D-grade guards who were there in case they

city under their control closest to Haven, and using a spatial compass, had taken off. Reika would have left earlier, but her great-grandfather’s weakness after the Transcendent skill made her stay until he had stabilized and begun reclaiming his power. A part of her had feared the political ramifications of this weakness, but luckily none had dared make a move. This had been partly due to ignorance of

was better now and maybe even fully recovered. It had already been many weeks since they set

Such a talent was invaluable for a journey like this, as without him, they risked ending up in the middle of the territory of powerful D-grades or, worse, a C-grade. Though the chances for that were incredibly low as one more or less had to go look for

they had avoided dangerous situations, but they had been lucky so far. They had even met some interesting people on their journey and had some people travel with them between settlements. A few merchants, missionaries from the Holy Church, a party associated with Valhal, and even a solitary mage wearing a full-body suit of armor. Reika had not spent much time exploring the new world and had very much enjoyed this period and spoken to many of these travelers. A few of them had also given them things to bring to Haven. Mainly letters or

to the place known as the Fort according to the map,” one of the guards said. He had likely been told by the captain of the

“ETA?”

the place known as the Fort at this pace, and from there, it should only be a swift teleportation using their internal magic circle,” the guard explained. The

all working in different ways. Some used cauldrons, others used more scientific tools, and a few didn’t really use anything as they mainly worked on transmutations. A few

is fully rested and put on their best performance. This is not a play-trip but as much a diplomatic excursion as it is anything else. The way we present ourselves may as well be the basis of

to hear her, and

she had to admit that the last truly thrilling and enlightening discussion related to the field of Alchemy had been months ago during the Treasure Hunt. That conversation had only made her problem of finding worthwhile peers worse, so her desire to discuss with the one other person on the planet she recognized as more skilled than her – at

would hold many learning opportunities for ambitious alchemists, and she and everyone else there were more than willing to

was always fucking awesome. Jake didn’t usually notice it as everything was relative, if that made sense. You didn’t feel a lot faster when you fought foes who also got a lot faster. So to truly get a feel for growth was difficult even if you knew you got

ground and began flying, he felt the difference. He felt how he got further with every One Step Mile and how every beat

the return trip to Haven was several hours faster than the way to the Insect Plains. He soon spotted the outskirts of the forest far in the distance and knew he would soon be home. He flew up a bit higher than usual and, making full use

was for sure. It was likely larger than any forest had ever been and most certainly larger than the majority of countries had been. It spanned into the horizon, where Jake saw trees reaching up further than he could even see, like

questioned. It wouldn’t surprise him… the forest was just ridiculously massive. It was a lot like the underground of Earth and the entire world that existed down there. Jake knew that while he had gone a few thousand kilometers deep, he had barely

it was time to return home to his cozy little cottage. Jake already felt Sylphie was there, so that was a lucky

closer, he felt the presences within the valley. He felt Hawkie and Mystie were there as well

you sure it is a female?” Jake heard Miranda ask as he

the young, that