The Primal Hunter

From all the things Jake had seen so far, his simulacrum wasn’t that much better at fighting in melee than him. He was better for sure, but it was more from experience than pure fighting technique. One could say that to beat other humans, sim-Jake didn’t need to learn anything advanced. He just needed to attack with one quick blow and end their lives.

With the system, enemies did not go down as easily. Especially not foes above himself in level. Even a blow to the brain didn’t necessarily mean instant death, so Jake finally got to see his simulacrum in extended combat against several foes. From this, Jake truly understood: this version of himself was far superior to the current Jake in melee combat. Far, far superior.

Jake followed sim-Jake for days as his other version went through the dark caverns, ascended a set of stairs and entered a grand hall, fought there, and then ended up within a decrepit old village after going up another set of stairs. Jake was a bit confused as sim-Jake explained the Tutorial a bit.

“I am in what is called the Shadow Trials, which is the combat grounds. It is split into several floors, and I am currently on the twenty-fifth floor. I have killed two bosses of sorts so far, but neither have been that hard. As you know, I was blessed by the god known as Umbra and offered the Legacy of some god known as Tenlucis who died or something like that. Quite potent if I say so myself, even if I do find it questionable to accept the Legacy of a god weak enough to have died, but oh well. I will take what I can get, and I do get the feeling Umbra is worth working with. For now,” sim-Jake explained rather casually.

These were words that most other mortals would scoff at, if not scream at him for blasphemy. Not only did he offend a dead god, but he also put himself on the same level as Umbra by insinuating they worked together and that he was no follower. Naturally, Jake expected nothing else, and from the looks of it, Umbra was also fine with it. Jake was not told what level of Blessing his simulacrum had gotten, but he knew he was not a Chosen. Potentially a Divine Blessing.

Dark lightning began revolving around sim-Jake as he recognized some of the abilities Caleb had. It was a bit odd seeing a version of himself be surrounded by that same black lightning. Sim-Jake dove forward toward a zombie-like creature. It lunged towards sim-Jake, but he hit it through the head with a dagger before it had time to do anything. It struggled and tried to strike sim-Jake, but every attempt was foiled as it soon died.

He then stepped back and seemed to sink into the shadows. Jake still saw him with his sphere, but it was like sim-Jake melted into the shadows to anyone else. He ran over to the next zombie that didn’t notice him before getting stabbed through the head. Flailing around, the zombie used its claws to tear at the ground and collapse the building it had been hiding in, but sim-Jake was already out of it and proceeded to throw a bolt of black lightning at the collapsing house, making it explode.

Everything shown so far had been simple and easy like this. Sim-Jake dominated everything he came against so far. This made Jake initially think these foes were just low-level monsters… but no, they were all several levels above sim-Jake himself. In fact, sim-Jake was many levels ahead of where Jake had been about a month into the Tutorial. In Jake’s defense, he had focused on Alchemy for nearly all that time, but Jake also soon noticed something else.

Through the days Jake observed his simulacrum, he didn’t see him do anything that was not fighting or meditating to prepare for another fight. Jake frowned at his and began moving a bit and forth to get his simulacrum’s attention.

“Hm? What?” sim-Jake asked. “I must say, this the longest you have been around so far, so I guess this entire combat thing is quite important. Is that why you are moving around? Do you want me to explain more of why I fight like I do and such? Sure I guess.”

“Well, no, that wasn’t what I meant,” Jake said out loud but still stood still. What? He still wanted him to explain more. Sometimes telling was just better at delivering information than showing, especially if one wanted to learn the intent behind something.

“Not right, huh? Or only partly?” sim-Jake asked as he proceeded to take out a potion. Jake saw it and rapidly moved back and forth, making sim-Jake stop just before drinking it.

“What?”

Jake tried to move a bit more as he wanted his simulacrum to just give him some damn information on his profession. He was really curious by now what this version of himself would do. Jake himself had no idea, honestly. He had ended up becoming an alchemist to not die and had come to like it only after getting the profession. What would this version have chosen? Any kind of social profession was out of the question, so it had to be crafting-related, right? What interests did sim-Jake even have besides fighting and killing? Maybe something to make things that made that easier?

Something to do

his movement, Jake stood still to confirm that

wrong with drinking them?” sim-Jake asked. “Hm, I have theorized that they are too good

was almost offended at his super-distrusting simulacrum talking shit

Then does it have something to

Jake stood still.

“Is it the effects?”

Nope.

“Where it comes from?”

Yep!

it with an alchemist

quickly again the moment he said

this alchemist?” sim-Jake asked,

a few more questions before sim-Jake finally asked a question Jake could work

if

that question would lead to a natural follow-up,

are here to learn about me and my Path, so it is relevant. You want

Yes! Finally!

and shook his head. “Why the hell would I have one? Sure, the stats would be nice, but

at that.

get one, but I ask again, why the hell should I? They want me to sit on my ass making swords, or what, pick up painting? Make magic formation and spend hours on making something that is still fucking useless to me as I am currently? Become an alchemist and sit with a stupid pot

forgave sim-Jake far, as he knew it came from ignorance. He had a hard time imagining himself doing any

the beginning – after using it to not die, that is - was because he saw its usefulness. He saw how it made him stronger. The skills related to the Malefic Viper were skills that did have alchemical effects

this early also wasn’t an end-all, be-all. Sim-Jake was only a month into the system. Sure, it would make him lack some easy race levels early on, but he could always get

there was some disagreement, you, of all people, should know that those like us can be stubborn. What I plan to do is evolve. To evolve out of this pathetic human form and become more than I am now. I need the class still, but there are enlightened races that only have either-or of class and profession. I want one such race. Till then, I shall walk a Path of purity. One of pure combat and dominance. Also… while I said I may sacrifice instant power, it isn’t like I have encountered anyone worth fighting amongst

possibility of evolving into a vampire or a Malefic Dragonkin, which would allow him to only have a class or profession, so who was he to say sim-Jake would not get similar options down the line? Even if he did not get any of these extraordinary evolution chances, there was a good chance he would get one for his

one thing clear, Jake still thought his simulacrum was being stupid. Clearly, he had some inborn hatred of being human, one Jake did not have at all. In fact, he thought being human was pretty darn awesome. Also, after seeing Valdemar tear Villy a new