The Primal Hunter

The vision quickly materialized as Jake found himself in a large cave. Extremely dense mana dominated the area, with the source being a humanoid figure sitting in the center. It was naturally the Malefic Viper as he looked to be doing alchemy. The black cauldron in front of him was giving off a faint mist, and the would-be Primordial looked to be focusing deeply.

Yet after a dozen seconds, Jake noticed the mist change color, and he instantly knew: the creation was ruined.

”Pathetic!” the Viper cursed as he slapped the cauldron away, making the rancid failed brew spill all over the cavern. ”Absolutely pathetic.”

His anger was palpable, though the only one he was angry at was himself. Thinking back, Jake had never seen the Viper actually do alchemy normally, making him more than interested in seeing his methodology. With it being part of a vision, the insight Jake got would also be far more substantial.

After a few moments, the Viper sighed and, with a wave of his hand, had the cauldron float over again. A bit of cleaning later, he tried once more, Jake feeling the entire process from the beginning this time around. As he did this, Jake also got a far better feel for the Viper’s level.

Barely C-grade.

Jake did not know if it was a pattern, but he felt like the visions got closer and closer to Jake’s own level with every passing one. While it could be argued that seeing a vision from Villy’s later years would be more beneficial as he would experience higher-level concepts and more advanced skills, the opposite was also true. Seeing lower-leveled skills made it easier for Jake to pick up insights and comprehend what the Viper did.

In this case, Jake could actually understand what the Viper did quite easily. Primarily because of how pathetically simple his work was… because what the Viper was trying to make wasn’t anything complicated but just a normal health potion. So, yeah, Villy talking about how his failure was pathetic was kind of on-point.

He also noticed how the cauldron wasn’t anything special. Jake could not Identify it but guessed that it was common or uncommon rarity at most. Seeing these things, Jake became more and more sure exactly when in the timeline this was.

This was just after the Viper learned to take human form and wanted to learn more regular alchemy. As a snake or even winged snake, the Viper did not do alchemy the conventional way as far as Jake had gathered. Rather than crafting using mana, it was more like using internal energy to hone and store toxins. In humanoid form, the Viper had to switch it up and learn to do alchemy the same way humans did, which was an entirely different approach. An approach he clearly struggled with.

The Viper kept cursing as he failed another crafting attempt, time now being sped up in Jake’s vision. Having experienced these visions so many times before, Jake knew what he was waiting for: the moment of the Viper’s epiphany. Jake didn’t believe the skill would show him the Viper just failing over and over again… though that would be quite funny.

A few more failures happened, all with sped-up time. The level of frustration of the Viper grew with every second, and he even began to take out different booklets to skim through. Basic crafting books about potions.

Jake’s sense of schadenfreude from the Viper sucking so much at potions eventually turned to confusion. Even if the Viper failed a few times, it didn’t make sense he kept failing. He was C-grade, and Jake could see Villy’s level of mana control was far beyond the required level to craft a simple healing potion.

Clearly, Villy also realized this problem as he scanned the books one by one. Sometimes he took out the cauldron and tried again, but the process just kept failing. Jake watched on as his frown deepened and noticed something. There were small flaws… small oversights in the Viper’s base brew that Jake had never encountered before when he made potions. As time passed, the Viper also noticed this issue and was as stumped as Jake was.

However, another disparity became clear between Jake and the Viper… a disparity Jake had never imagined. He failed to hold back a smile at the realization.

had more Perception than

Jake’s Bloodline or his basic crafting skills, much less a proper cauldron, making it even harder for him to discover whatever stumped him. He truly was like

what Villy lacked, Jake also discovered it

Potion was the applicable skill in this instance. However, as a beast, Villy did not have such a crafting skill and was trying to one-hundred

have the required skills. Those skills helped one with so many different things, including automation of certain minor aspects

as Jake felt time pass. Days turned to weeks as weeks turned to months. The Viper kept trying to craft basic potions, sometimes getting closer

poison, he added a bit of his own blood or venom, and

Villy simply sat there and stared at the cauldron for the longest time, sometimes glancing

just not meant to do alchemy?

make. He knelt down and scooped up some of it to drink, sneering at the horrible taste. Jake himself also faintly tasted it in his mouth, though he wasn’t sure if it was due to shared senses or if he just remembered the time he tried to taste

the Viper mulled to himself after a few moments, Jake knowing

the cave’s ceiling. After a few moments, he sat up and, to Jake’s surprise, spat some liquid into the palm of his hand. Jake saw the liquid and felt its toxic properties. Yet he also felt the vitality-based properties and the similarity to the failed health potions. The Viper had consumed some of it and

away. A few more moments passed as slowly a frown formed on his brows. The frown soon changed

as he

intently. His intuition told him what he had been waiting

then did something unexpected. His hands began to faintly glow with energy as mana was infused into the cauldron, far more than usual. Sharp fingernails

and the best part of the vision began. He merged with Villy as the senses of the Viper fully became his own. On top of his usual ones, of course. The moment the merge happened, Jake felt

was forcefully

a bad idea in nearly all cases, but Jake soon came to understand. Because as he Soulbound it, he also slowly emerged a small part of his soul into the cauldron, something he could only do if a proper connection

did not take long for Jake to feel a difference. He could detect what was going on inside

in the very

moment. During all crafts, some vapor would be released while the desired energies got extracted, and some minor parts would always go to waste. This just always happened, and there was no way around it. The

unwanted parts of the brew while it was still ongoing. He then did something else unexpected – he directly absorbed parts of the brew through the cauldron walls like it was

it looked different. The cauldron had become a part of his Soulspace in a similar fashion to a phantasmal

the Malefic Viper he did not possess. Not because it was a potent application, but because it simply wasn’t one Jake needed: it allowed the Viper to far

pretty normal skill for most beasts to have. Sandy clearly had a skill similar to it so they could absorb natural treasures eaten, and Jake guessed many other monsters did too. How else would

honing his poison. Scarlett already mentioned how she effectively cultivated to improve her own venom internally, and Jake also knew the Viper could do something similar. In other words, the best kind of alchemy the Viper was capable of in this vision was essentially a form of internal