The Primal Hunter

Jake had to question if it all was just one cruel joke that everyone but himself was in on. Had Villy put them up to his? Was he the one who had tipped off Draskil to choose this dungeon? Maybe influenced Irin? There had to be more to this than pure randomness. Because what Jake saw was just a hellscape.

The expansive cavern Jake stood before contained a large forest, but it had massive mushrooms rather than trees. The underbrush was just moss and mushrooms, mushroom spores covered the sky and floated in the air, and there were even mushrooms growing on the mushrooms.

And if that wasn’t enough, then the first movement Jake saw was of a large mushroom with mushroom arms and mushroom legs, holding a mushroom shield and wielding a mushroom stalk as a club. The figure was about three meters tall and on the bulkier end, but was overall clearly a low-tier creature, even if its level was decent.

[Mushroom Man Warrior – lvl 171]

“I hate this place,” Jake said as the first person to speak after entering the dungeon.

“Smells like shit,” Draskil snorted, clearly not enjoying the mushrooms either.

Irin looked a bit confused while Reika understood Jake’s hatred. Not because she carried it herself, but because Jake had ranted plenty of times to her about the evil shrooms. Bastilla was even more confused than Irin and just asked.

“Why? Aren’t mushrooms great for poisons?” she spoke in her infinite ignorance.

“Great for poisoning people who don’t know better too,” Draskil muttered before looking at Jake. “We kill everything?”

“Wait!” Irin cut in. “Please do not destroy the corpses too badly as we may need them for materials or to get their life cores. Do we have anyone here with scavaging or dismantling abilities, by the way?”

Bastilla raised her hand. Jake was a bit surprised but didn’t show it. Irin looked at Jake momentarily with approval before nodding. “Very well, then you take care of dismantling all the corpses.”

“I will begin to collect materials and search for them then,” Reika said, but Jake decided to cut in as he looked at Draskil.

“Will killing any of these mushrooms even give you any experience worth mentioning?”

“No, but I would enjoy it,” Draskil answered bluntly.

“Totally fair. I was just thinking that we should have Reika and Bastilla kill those here on the earlier floors while we collect stuff and pass the test. Besides, we have four whole weeks total, and we both know we won’t need that time, and if we do need the time, it is due to the far more time-consuming alchemy aspect and not due to killing things slowly, so better you help me out,” Jake said.

Draskil clearly didn’t like the idea but grunted in approval anyway. “Fine… but if any of those damn mushrooms get in my way, I kill them.”

“Again, totally fair,” Jake nodded with a smile before turning to Bastilla and Reika. “Time for you two to put on your hunting boots and get killing.”

“Alright,” Reika agreed without arguing.

“I… I’m not really the fighting type of gal?” Bastilla said, seeming a bit shy for the first time since they met. She was obviously not a fan.

“Too bad, but sometimes you gotta fight to survive. You are a beastfolk. You are innately a fighter. Just tap into some of that primal instinct and go rip those damn shrooms to pieces,” Jake said encouragingly.

like it would be dangerous either way. Jake had a very good feel for the mushroom warrior, and it was clear it was damn weak, just as one

agreed after a comforting

shall help guard them while they

Jake shut the sentiment down. “Unless some hidden boss or a horde of those shroomy fucks pops out of the ground, it is their fights, and no one

someone constantly guarding us. I have not fought for a while, and it is about time I get in some proper practice. Without a true element of danger,

through. Irin looked a bit concerned, but Jake wasn’t. One had to remember that while Reika was not considered a peak fighter on Earth, then she was considered a single tier

out a sword. Jake felt the immense cold emanate from

aura had changed and was now both colder and sharper than before. Irin looked surprised, while Draskil seemed far more approving than before. Bastilla was the most surprised as she just stared

forward and charged. It looked like a simple charge, but Jake saw how the concept

displaying a respectable amount of Strength and speed. Reika didn’t even flinch as she dodged the attack and swept her blade upwards, leaving a cold trail. The mushroom man was cut deep into his mushy flesh and made an odd roaring sound as he just kept swinging

and Jake saw noticeable improvements in her movements with every exchange. Having seen her fight before, Jake knew she was just getting into the swing of it. The mushroom man was nothing more than a training dummy for

done with her opponent. She took a single step back from her opponent and fanned the sword in a circular pattern as it left afterimages behind. These afterimages froze in the air and turned into blades of ice that Reika sent barraging towards the

as she walked back to them, not a single trace

are skilled,” Draskil

“But I still have long to go before I would call myself

the old man,”

if

be shared, it was up to her. She nodded and chose to

a true swordsman,” Reika answered with

he strong?” Draskil

taught me just a little bit

ask more, but Jake cut in. “Anyway, how about we actually do the dungeon now? As you can see, then Reika knows how to handle herself, so let’s leave the two roomies and go find out how

nodded in agreement, even if she did throw a few more curious glances at Reika. “Let us. We should look for the passageway to

dungeon was mushrooms, and he wanted to pass this floor fast. The

Nine Floors

at least four floors of the Indigo

better rewards. The time limit of four weeks was likely there to ensure that people couldn’t just enter, find out what they needed to do, and then leave the dungeon to make detailed plans or spend insane amounts of time testing and experimenting until a solution was found. Sure, one could leave the dungeon, but Jake knew that time kept passing inside even after one left. At least it did so for a period of time, making it unfeasible. There was also one more thing… Jake couldn’t find any exit. Not that he planned on

into the dungeon floor. The first floor wasn’t actually as big as Jake had initially thought, but only

didn’t take them long to find the passage to the next floor. It was a gate like the one they had entered the dungeon through, and in front of the door was

inscription with pretty easy

all in the cauldron. In order to open the lid of the

3/100. Poisons placed in the cauldron:

already killing three, it would get done pretty quickly by

Just get some different ingredients, and I will toss them

skills to search for valuable items. Amidst the many

weren’t just for ambiance and released from the mushrooms – it was a unique feature of the dungeon and something all the ingredients there relied on. Nothing could be taken out of the dungeon without wilting, and Jake noticed how these spores even seemed to “enter” his spatial storage whenever he put