The Primal Hunter

Manticores were sure interesting creatures. Clearly pretty powerful for their levels based on how well the one Jake fought handled things. They even had mouth magic that impressed Jake as it could both breathe fire and shoot a beam of pure energy.

However, the most impressive was the stinger by far. Anything it hit was instantly petrified and turned to stone, and it could even shoot a weaker version of this effect out as bullets of petrifying poison. Physically it was also monstrously strong, and even if it was a bit slow, it made up for it with its bulky build and ranged attacks.

Overall it was pretty strong. Jake at least looked back at the fight as a good time as he sat in meditation with the half-decayed corpse of the Manticore right behind him. It had taken him a while, but ultimately, it didn’t even stand a chance. Jake had dominated from start to end and just kept a distance throughout as he slowly poisoned it to death before finally finishing it off with an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter.

While it had an okay poison resistance, it only seemed to work against its own petrifying poison, so it wasn’t really that great. Ultimately Jake could have won even without poisons… even if poison did account for far more than half of his overall damage – with it only increasing the longer a fight goes on.

As Jake sat there in meditation, the projection popped up in front of him.

“Congratulations on passing the combat test with flying colors,” the scalekin said with a genuine tone of respect. “I can’t remember seeing such a dominant performance for a long time.”

“Does that mean I get a good grade?” Jake asked, hopefully. He didn’t know what the criteria were, and he did actually feel a bit cheated as he had been unable to truly show what he was capable of. Combined with his alchemy performance, this should result in an okay overall grade. At least he hoped so.

“Naturally,” the projection confirmed.

“Good,” Jake said with a smile. “Because I feel like it wasn’t that hard, you know?”

The scalekin returned his smile. “That brings us to the next topic… with this combat encounter done, the test is technically over. However, due to your performance in the combat portion, there is an eighth elective test you can choose to partake in.”

Jake instantly became alert. “Something even stronger? Wait, does this mean the alchemy portion also had an extra test if I performed well enough there?”

“Yes, but needless to say, your performance in alchemy was not good enough for that. This extra test will be a large step-up from those prior, and as always, you will risk true death if you fail. Are you interested?” the projection asked.

Jake found the question almost insulting. “Of course.”

“Very well. This test will be combat like those prior but last at most a total of one hour. This means that if you are on the losing end, it merely becomes a game of survival, yet at the same time also a test of your ability to deal damage and kill your foe within the allotted time. Trust me, it may seem easy with an hour, but what you will fight is not a simple creature,” the projection said gravely before continuing.

“What you will face will be the incarnation of the Lord Protector himself back when he was only a mid-tier D-grade. A beast of relatively low intelligence back then, but incredible might that swept across his planet as he devoured everything in his path. I am certain you know of the Lord Protector, correct?”

“A little bit, but a refresher would be nice? Been a few eras, and our understandings may vary,” Jake said honestly. Being ignorant was not being a heretic, was it?

Protector was – and still is – a Hydra. I

confirmation, assuming it was the same kind of Hydra he knew

base health pool and regeneration that amplifies further with every head. As for the Lord Protector? At D-grade, he was merely a two-headed Hydra – the one you will face - but as he grew, so did his power and

was even possible, but that would certainly be heretic-territory, right? Like… was the main body just a big ball of flesh with heads coming out like hair? Just a big squid thing? Or… was the body just so massive it

face will be level 160. The saved copies of the Lord Protector come in ten-level intervals, and as the test does not allow you to face those lower-level… you will have a steep hill to climb. Let me say this now, if you find yourself on the losing end, just buy time and wait it out,” the projection warned with sincere advice. Advice Jake

problem he would handle if it ever

it in mind,” Jake

it summoned a new token. “Use this when you

entered meditation as he thought to himself: Time to see what Villy’s mate Snappy was like

to be sent to the Humanoid Resources department. Under an alias, of course. They couldn’t know it was from

fight Snoarix’s Legacy Incarnation within the trial,” Duskleaf said, a bit

Viper answered. “Gonna be

“Thoughts?”

the sharpest tool in the shed back then despite having multiple

stage before, and it nearly always ends with the testee forced to flee to survive or dead. Knowing Jake… he won’t flee, no matter how easy doing

I guess he will just have to win then,”

monster even back then. But then again… so was Jake. Snappy did also have some glaring weaknesses, at least

just one

is

and activated it. He had fully regenerated and was in the best shape possible, so if there was a time to fight a Hydra, it was now. The environment changed again, just like every other time. The ground beneath him turned mushy as he felt it soften, with the moisture

A swamp.

a bit of water covered the ground everywhere. Jake even saw in his Sphere that the shallow water hid pits here and there. His senses spread, and instantly

more entered stealth, not fucking around. He was fighting a D-grade nine levels above himself that had become a god, after all. Moreover, it was a Hydra… Hydras were not to be fucked with if mythology had anything to say, even if this one only had

up from the trees, the trees themselves lifted and raised so one could hide underneath. He kept low as he followed

A head.

the creature easily fifteen to twenty meters tall. Jake got closer and finally found a spot where he could get an okay-ish look at the Hydra. It had dark gray scales and spiky scales covering its body, feet like a dragon, and two necks far larger than its bulky body. A long tail was behind it, and the heads themselves looked like snakes, except their

earth and water to create a large pit, opening its maws like an excavator. Jake finally used

of Perennial

quite the mouthful, Jake thought, not just speaking of how the Hydra had just chugged down a few tons of soil. Then again, he had a profession with an equally long name, and it wasn’t like his class name was