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.

by what had happened as Jake retreated a bit, waiting for the skill to be

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

Vilastromoz smirked. “Just enjoy the

got in position before charging straight at the beast. Right as he got in front 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 to the right and his other version to the left. Both stabbed the side of the neck at the exact same time, both wielding Eternal Hunger, both using Fangs of the Malefic Viper to deliver poison, both absorbing energy through

went for the one on the right – the real Jake. He saw the attack descend… and realized that neither choice of

left with his weapon in the neck of

world… but I only need to be

the cooldown had gotten slightly longer, and the mental strain was detectable. Nodding to himself, he kept up the fight. A bit later, he tried to use the skill again. One version jumped back and shot an arrow while the other stayed in melee once more, but this time Jake chose to stay as the melee combatant. The arrows fired from his second version had still hit the hydra and dealt damage too. The arrows themselves were gone with the

Jake was also beginning to feel the cost of the skill.

much nothing

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

cost was, of course, 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

Arrow? 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

active skill, one

Descending Dark Arcane Fang.

instant, dealt good damage, and worked tremendously well with his shadow. The shadow also used Eternal Hunger, making it even better as the 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 for the weapon to change shape. Then again… the shadow was tied to Eternal Hunger, so it made sense. He estimated that “version” simply always had the bow and never transformed it, as

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

body was flooded with power. 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 blows

work with a crafted poison. That would delve into the concept of creation as it isn’t tied to his soul. If it does somehow apply, the effect would simply stop working the moment the second version disperses, resulting in-“

I? Just enjoy the damn show,”

the effect would simply stop once the copy

Hunger was the only possible one? He also tried some other consumables, like using the shadow while holding a

for testing to be over, and even if he 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

after fighting so long, Jake had a thorough read on everything it did. It

the poison, it was also in serious pain and struggling to keep up. Without its berserker skill, it would

line: Crossing the actual finish 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

something accumulated and built up. For hours it pooled and,