The Primal Hunter

Complicated.

That was the word Vilastromoz would describe the situation.

He had an odd relationship with the unknown. On the one hand, the unknown was a nuisance. It represented an obstacle one potentially had to understand to continue moving forward. Yet, on the other hand, it represented a chance to learn something new. Something truly new.

After ninety-two full eras, there wasn’t much new to learn about the system besides whatever new things it decided to introduce at every initiation. However, the core mechanics never change. The rules of skill rarities, the level at which you evolved, the races and the stats they gave, the stat limits… all of these things were set. Unchangeable. Not even Transcendents or Bloodlines could touch these.

While it was never quite on the same level, the rules of evolution for the popular enlightened races were also set in stone. Not because some inherent concept meant these were theoretically unchangeable, but because they simply hadn’t ever changed. Ninety-two full Eras. Throughout the history of the multiverse, they had remained stagnant. Not due to a lack of trying either.

Sanguine and the creation of the vampires was an attempt to make a better version of humans, but it ended up just creating an entirely new race. The Holy Church had tried, Valhal had tried, and every single other major faction of the multiverse had tried to create a better version of the base races at one point or another. None had ever succeeded.

The existence of High Elves had long been a point of pride for the elven race, as they were capable of being born at C-grade, a grade above all the other regular enlightened races. However, this was not a given, as it was mostly up to chance if two B-grade High Elves or above would have a regular elven child born at D-grade or a C-grade High Elf. Humans did not have any ”high human” version and would always get a D-grade, no matter what.

This low base Origin of humans was also what allowed them to multiply so quickly. The higher the grade of your race – and thus the children you could produce – the harder it was to have a child. But this was all based on the grade that the child could potentially be. Two A-Grade True Dragons trying to have a child would be incredibly difficult, while two humans at S-grade could pump them out one after another as the kid would always be D-grade. It was a quantity-over-quality kind of thing. This did mean that elves had a lower rate of reproduction compared to humans, partly due to their ability to sometimes have High Elf variants and partly their longer lifespan.

Everyone knew these things. It was public knowledge, and even E-grade forces on desolate planets could manage to get this kind of information.

But…

Then there was Jake.

High Elves were born with the name of Elf, but it could be determined if they were High Elves due to some special features the kid sometimes had and magical measurements. These measurements were developed by the Altmar empire by the Autarch and the council, and relying on magic was very much unique to the elves. The point was that only an elf would know if there was a High Elf, and that was only through these means.

On the other hand, Jake was a human. Vilastromoz did not have a shadow of doubt in his mind about this… at least he didn’t. Now he began to wonder. An unknown had been introduced, one of many related to his young Chosen.

This was nothing new when it came to him. From the very first moment that Vilastromoz saw Jake, he had felt the Bloodline. One thing he was confident of back then was that Jake’s race had not yet changed into what it was now. It had slowly morphed, and the Viper now believed it was at the D-grade evolution he set his Path as a human in stone.

Variant humans were seen at times, but one could not pass down this variance to children. There were already so many differences between two humans due to professions and classes, so it wasn’t necessary to change the race. As long as one wanted to remain human, that is.

Jake was different. He was just a higher variant of humans. Not a different human, just… more of a human. A straight-up more powerful version. A High Elf that reached maturity at a higher level than C-grade. An impossible outlier, now made possible.

Ultimately this left the question… what would this mean?

it impact his ability to get classes and professions? Would all his human evolutions be identical to the expected? How would his ability to reproduce be affected? Humans were already the race in the multiverse the best at passing down Records due to their unique racial skills, so how would this affect the evolutions? On that note… with

unbothered by what he had just revealed to the Primordial. Jake

unable to reproduce other variants

didn’t know, and if he had to be honest, that

and shutting down the topic did indicate that this was way out of the ordinary and something far more impactful

was confident... no, he hoped there would be no evolutions for this race this time around. Because if there wasn’t one, it meant Jake was still not yet at his ”intended” grade. In fact, he would prefer to just stay a ”normal” human until S-grade, if possible, as dodging those race evolution quests seemed like a

Arcane Awakening had fully passed by now, and Jake was back in near-top condition. Still a bit low on stamina and mana, but

him had hoped the Ethgleam Mothertree and treants would have just given him two levels total so he could evolve right away, but on the other hand, this was fine too as it allowed Jake to attempt another of his vain goals of D-grade. One he assumed wouldn’t actually mean anything when it came to evolutions of his Path, but that he

naturally to one-shot a

the center of the forest, Jake had run by many C-grades, a lot of

beetle with a resilient exoskeleton, and the other a beast Jake did not quite recognize, but it had a shell of some kind covering its back. Both of them were big and lumbering monsters,

was incredibly fast and seemed to be hunting peak D-grades for itself. It struck with insane speed and slammed its oversized feet into

back for a good while before finally succumbing to repeated attacks from a far faster foe. It did manage to land one good swipe, drawing blood. Jake was certain

[Sonic-Springfoot Wolpertinger - ???]

didn’t have good Perception as it failed to notice Jake setting up on it. He observed the rabbit for nearly an hour as he stalked it around, waiting for it to calm down and rest. It hunted a few peak D-grades, consuming their beast cores once

much, as

guessed the rabbit had either eaten something really good to reach its grade or

good at hiding was proven half an hour later as the rabbit rapidly climbed up a tree, going far up, forcing Jake to also reposition to make sure he was not spotted while still having a line of sight. Even then, Mark was on it,

up for several thick-leafed branches to appear. The rabbit made its way onto one of these branches and hunkered down. Jake did not feel any magic move, but he clearly saw something happen as the rabbit

Camouflage.

of high-level camouflage skill, a bit reminiscent of Jake’s own Arcane Stealth. The rabbit’s version was way better, though, and without Jake’s high Perception, he would not have seen through it. With its high speed and ability to hide, Jake could understand how it managed to stay alive this far. It was a tricky bastard. Based on how it was sitting, Jake also got the feeling it was ready to strike at any point if anything got too close, and he could

things going for it. However, it was still a weak C-grade that was a prime subject for Jake’s desire to prove he still had it - it

from Big Game Hunter, and extra damage added by his archery skill. To truly make sure Jake would succeed, he even tried to optimize the extra damage from attacking

and of course,

into the air, as far as he could possibly go, while still allowing him a clear line of sight. Mark allowed him to know where the

all the cores it had gathered. Jake had flown nearly a hundred kilometers up in the air at his point, but he sadly couldn’t go any further. He would have to shoot at a small angle due to the tree the rabbit was on, meaning he couldn’t shoot straight down like

it in his poison, and nocked it on the string. Slowly, he drew back the string as he slowly breathed, relying on

His muscles were infused with energy, and Arcane Awakening activated at full power to empower him further. Slowly, he began to charge the shot. From practice, he learned that starting slowly allowed him to reach a higher peak as his body and weapon could slowly acclimate to

air around him began to shudder, faint cracking sounds were heard from who-knows-where, and the entire environment around him changed as it was bathed in the purple glow of his

to shoot through his shoulders as the pressure mounted. Then the weapon itself struggled, but luckily the legendary bow held up. It would be his body that broke down before