The Primal Hunter

The journey to Skyggen was one Jake had made before, but this time was far faster in every way. Jake’s One Step had upgraded, allowing him to go further than ever before, and he was fast approaching the city. It did help that he also ignored everything in the way… except one thing.

Curiosity had always been one of his strong traits, but the last time he had gone to Skyggen, he had listened to the logical part of his brain. A massive mountain appeared before Jake, one reaching far into the sky above the many layers of clouds. It was bonkers how big it was, and Jake faintly felt a powerful aura from the top. A C-grade aura. Jake had not wanted to go the last time he was there as he was not quite ready to face a C-grade, but this time it should be fine, right?

Right?

Jake rapidly approached the mountain, which only looked bigger the closer he got. It completely put any mountain on Earth to shame, and based on how massive the base was, Jake estimated its height should not be measured in tens but hundreds of kilometers.

Kind of makes sense, Jake thought. The C-grade – or C-grades if there were more than one – had to live far enough up on the mountain due to the system restrictions.

The climb wasn’t fast, but it wasn’t slow either. By climb, Jake meant running vertically with One Step as he teleported up in the air like he had just unlocked infinite teleporting double-jumps. Soon, he made it ten kilometers up. Then thirty. Fifty. A hundred.

For every step, the mountain narrowed a little. When he reached the hundred-kilometer mark, Jake guessed the mountain had to be around three hundred kilometers tall. He did spot many caves also while making his way up and many creatures living on the mountain. Thousands of birds made it their resting place before heading out into the merciless skies again, some of which found themselves hunted by predators lurking on the mountainsides.

None of them paid him any mind, and Jake didn’t bother them either. It did not take him long before Jake finally reached the layer of cloud that allowed C-grades, and he instantly felt the shift. The air suddenly turned chilly and white snow covered the mountain. He saw now that the rest of the mountain was covered in white, but more than that, he felt something else there. A presence that seemed to seep into the mana itself.

Curiosity still had hold of him as Jake went to investigate. He flew closer to the mountain and landed as he saw several tracks. Areas where the snow had been disturbed by what looked like a giant claw print.

He kept going forward until he saw a massive cave that seemed to burrow straight into the middle of the mountain. Icicles covered the sides of it, and Jake felt an intense chill coming from within. Enough for him to use a barrier of arcane mana to defend himself from it.

As he stood there, he also felt something from his boots. As he was earthbound, he could detect natural treasures, and from within that cave, a powerful sensation came. Sense of the Malefic Viper did not react, meaning it was not a toxin, but that did not mean it would be useless to him.

Not that Jake thought he could claim it… for he also felt a powerful aura.

Mid-tier C-grade? No… not quite… but still strong, Jake thought. Whatever creature dwelled within also seemed to become aware of him as its presence swept out from within. Jake was ready to retreat as two blue wisps of light lit up within the unnaturally dark cave.

A rumble sounded as he heard the sound of claws scraping stone. Soon, the creature became visible as it slowly walked out of the cavern, the chilly air cooling down as it got closer. Jake knew upon feelings its presence that It was a creature of pure mana. One of the natural masters of magic in the multiverse.

The blue scales covered its body as vapor exited its slightly open mouth. Two claws dragged it forward, each attached to large leathery wings, with two legs being the primary method of moving when not in the air. For some reason, Jake did not feel any fear but only had a stupid smile on his lips from finally meeting one in the wild.

Wyvern –

evolved wyvern. The reason was simple… the requirements for a reptile to evolve into a wyvern were incredibly strict, and they

a voice echoed out from

I am not. It is

“Then die.”

exploded as the wyvern opened its mouth. Jake reacted as fast as he could and activated Arcane Awakening and crossed his arms

backward. The arcane barriers froze and shattered one by one as he felt like he was in the middle of a

flew back rapidly as he summoned a healing potion into his mouth to fight the cold energy

breath dissipated. That just left Jake flying through the air like a comet down toward the ground. The entire front of his body was frozen, and Jake gritted his teeth as he managed to move his frostbitten limbs and brace for impact before he smashed into the

body, even freezing his surroundings. Feeling pretty damn chilly,

a rude

Skyggen, so could this count as a shortcut? Definitely not, but Jake

body was stiff, and his skin and scales cracked from the frostbite. It was damn annoying, and even with his vital energy working

Jake continued his journey. He complained a bit under his breath and swore: the next time Jake went to that peak, Jake would show that damn wyvern

he smiled. He and Maja had many discussions during the pregnancy on how to deal with a newborn, especially with Caleb working early hours and whatnot as a school teacher. At least that

up when you entered the room, almost as if he could detect you in the room…

his dad, Robert, say from behind. “Back in my day, we had to get up every two hours to a crying baby and soldier through

am not even

him with a huff as he looked at Adam sleeping. “I had feared how everything would be for a newborn… but he seems normal. Part of me had thought that maybe kids would grow up to adulthood within a few months or have superpowers, making toddlers even more menacing than

definitely concurred on that one. All of it. He had feared what kind of life a child could have in a

for children, but surprisingly enough, it was generally positive. How exactly the status menu of a toddler looked, he couldn’t know for good

Okay, he was still stronger than a normal kid, but it was not extreme, so even if he could crawl faster and had quite the grip, it was not at a level where

like that, but he also couldn’t ignore reality. Like with any kid, Adam liked to sometimes do less than intelligent things. Things that would usually make a kid cry, such as bumping his head or hitting himself with a toy, he ignored. The few times he managed to scratch himself, the wound would also heal within the hour. He had also not been sick once, and he needed less food

of anything and everything going wrong.

lucky,” Caleb just smiled

shortly after with his dad, going to the living room. It was only the two of them in the hourse, and Caleb would have to leave soon, leaving his dad behind to babysit. Yes, even

is Maja settling