The Primal Hunter

Jake instantly knew. He felt the awareness of sim-Jake slowly slip away as the bone katar began to show even more cracks. At the same time, Eternal Hunger hummed with power as if it was growing by the second, actively consuming something incredibly valuable – sim-Jake himself.

Despite knowing this had always been the plan, Jake still felt a sense of sadness. It was a weird sentiment, but he felt like he had become good friends with his other self. To have him disappear like this wasn’t something Jake wanted to see, but it was inevitable from the beginning.

All Jake could do was help make sure the Legacy he left behind would be worth remembering for eternity.

The hydra kept attacking Jake as he picked up the pace. He dealt more damage, made the beast faster and stronger due to the berserk effect, and truly pushed himself. He was in the zone as sim- Jake did what he had to do. After a few seconds, Jake felt the full change. A humming of sorts went through his body, and the bone weapon let out an audible crack. The very next second, it began falling apart, forcing Jake to temporarily retreat.

Pieces of the broken weapon fell towards the marsh water below but never reached it. It turned to dust that rapidly began moving towards Eternal Hunger. The black bone dust swirled and entered the cursed weapon as Jake felt it grow more powerful with every whisp of energy absorbed. Its aura underwent subtle changes, and Jake felt a connection to it unlike anything he had before. Like it had become more than a simple weapon and truly a part of him.

Then, it truly hit as an audible heartbeat sounded out from the core of his Bloodline… No… two heartbeats at the exact same time.

*THUMP!* *THUMP!*

Knowledge, Records, Emotions. It all slammed into him like a truck. For a moment, Jake became unable to properly think and simply let his instincts take over. His body dodged through pure instincts, the hydra unable to hit him while Jake digested all that was streaming into his mind. His eyes were closed as he tried to focus, relying only on his sphere.

It was only now that Jake understood. Truly understood. Sim-Jake and Jake himself had wanted to keep parts separate for a reason. They were the same person but didn’t have the same personalities. They shared one body but could make different choices - both see possibilities in combat and read an opponent through their instinct. Yet, at the same time, they perfectly understood what the other would do in any given situation.

The hydra was upon Jake again at that moment. His eyes opened as he saw the head descend… and he made a choice. A reaction. At the same time, a second choice was made. Two possibilities were valid, and two reactions were effective. Hence both were chosen.

And both manifested.

Jake dodged backward at an incredible speed as his body took on a shadowy hue, accelerating him further. He drew his bow and released Splitting Arrow towards his foe. Simultaneously, a second shadowy Jake dodged to the side in melee range of the hydra and stabbed his katar into the leg of the beast.

Two figures spawned from one. Two possible realities manifested at once. One simulated, one true, yet both made real. At least for a moment.

The hydra responded quickly and ignored the arrows, clearly not having expected that attack. It instead focused on the one attacking its leg and promptly attacked. Both heads came for it, but this version of Jake didn’t even try to dodge. One of the heads chomped down on Jake, but his body simply turned to black curse energy and disappeared – still leaving behind a deep and nasty wound.

Jake – the real one – landed on the ground shortly after as he still tried to digest the skill properly. He had felt like he had been both, yet only one. Both had been real, yet not. Frowning, he kept going. There is more. He wanted to test it again immediately; however, he also noticed what felt like an internal cooldown. No matter; he had time.

still confused by what had happened as Jake retreated a bit, waiting for

with a frown. “Their auras felt exactly the same; it took me nearly a second to properly

disciple,” Vilastromoz smirked. “Just enjoy the

of the hydra, it tried to bite down. Once more, there were two responses. Dodging to both sides was correct. Hence both choices were made as the “real” Jake dodged

the hydra had to choose. It went for the one on the right – the real Jake. He saw the attack descend… and realized that neither choice of the beast

on shadows as the real Jake stood on the left with his weapon in the neck of the beast. That is

are real to the rest of the world… but I only need to be

shot an arrow while the other stayed in melee once more, but this time Jake chose to stay as the melee combatant. The arrows

Jake was also beginning to feel the cost of

much nothing besides mental

skill that had a cost. Not that Jake didn’t know what the other version of himself consumed: it ran on pure curse energy. It used the massive pool of curse energy within Eternal Hunger to spawn his second shadowy version

the mental energy, and in this aspect, it was a bit taxing. Especially when switching places with his other version, it took a bit out of Jake. Not that Jake complained… because he

Worked. Gaze? Didn’t work. Powershot? Not really; it didn’t have enough time to charge, though it did look possible. Passive skills? All seemed to work as the shadow copied Jake himself. Could he summon scales on it? Yeah, it copied those, but it didn’t do anything, as the shadow could always be destroyed in one blow. Touch of the Malefic Viper? Not enough time to channel, sadly. Things like Mark of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter also worked, though with few practical applications. Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter also worked just fine… too bad it had no time to ever summon the arrow. Ah, and of course, Arrows of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter

active skill, one

Descending Dark Arcane Fang.

weapon also benefitted from Fangs of the Malefic Viper. Oh, on that note, the shadow could cheat. It could instantly transform Eternal Hunger into a bow when it became ranged, something Jake sure as hell couldn’t, as it took a long time

mere fight to transforming the peak D-grade into a test subject. The fight kept dragging on, and soon it had been nearly five hours since they began. Jake repeatedly retreated and even flew into the air a few times to reset, deactivating all his boosting skills and consuming a potion to recover. The hydra naturally also recovered before their bout continued. When he had no more to tests… Jake decided to

He took out a vial of his best hemotoxin and put it on his one remaining katar. Hemotoxin was naturally chosen to impede the hydra’s regeneration at least a little and increase the damage done with the many

creation as it isn’t tied to his soul. If it does somehow apply,

I? Just enjoy the damn show,” the Viper

and Jake had feared the effect would simply stop once the copy disappeared, but no, it remained.

made him try to summon Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter and use a shadow with it already in hand, only to feel sad afterward. That didn’t work, maybe because it counted as another weapon, and Eternal Hunger was the only possible one? He also tried some other consumables, like

kept doing a few, that didn’t mean he hadn’t also upped the pressure to a new level. He had even hit with Arrow of the Ambitious

result of the fight was already clear. The hydra was struggling, and after fighting so long, Jake had a thorough read on everything it did.

after activating the second fully-charged Arcane Charge from Mark, coupled with all the poison, it was also in serious pain and struggling to keep up. Without its berserker skill, it would already have

line. He knew the hydra was close to death; he knew it was hurt all over… but it was also more dangerous than ever. Moreover, it regenerated at an insane speed, making its wounds heal in seconds. The only way to victory was to do a large burst of damage to finish the beast… and Jake had

something accumulated and built up. For hours it pooled and, with his massive Perception,