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?

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

stalking some rodent, seemingly unbothered by what he had just revealed to

Jake would get a race with a slightly different name and ultimately be unable to reproduce other variants like himself. Or, it could be a multiverse-changing discovery that would affect every major force in existence and

he had

more and shutting down the topic did indicate that this was way out of the ordinary and something far more impactful and important than Jake perhaps realized. But Villy also did point out that none of

there wasn’t one, it meant Jake was still not yet at his ”intended” grade. In fact,

Arcane Awakening had fully passed by now, and Jake was back in near-top condition. Still a bit low on stamina and mana, but nothing major. Nothing that would impact what

time by still needing another race level to evolve. A part of 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

was naturally to one-shot a

to the center of the forest, Jake had run by many

across two pretty quickly, one of them a large 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, meaning they had high vitality and toughness. Bad targets, so he

creature with wings and small antlers that he saw jump through the forest down below. It was incredibly fast and seemed to be hunting peak D-grades for itself. It struck with insane speed and slammed its oversized feet into its prey, releasing a shockwave that sent them blasting back. Based on his estimates, there was some sound-based concept in there, turning the inside of its target

was strong enough. The peak D-grade it had targeted was a large wolf that managed to get up and fight back for a good while before finally succumbing to repeated attacks from a far faster foe. It

[Sonic-Springfoot Wolpertinger - ???]

also 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 it killed them. The one time it did encounter another C-grade, it ran away, easily escaping with its

he observed, Hunting Momentum slowly built up, and Jake learned more and more about the beast. He didn’t really have to learn much, as mammals like this were very familiar to him. An Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter condensed within his quiver as he continued

had either eaten something really good to reach its grade or that it had been good enough at hiding and surviving while running away until it managed to evolve while staying in the

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,

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.

focus and spot it, but it took some effort. He was certain that the rabbit indeed had some kind 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

did have some 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 being the

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 at a long

of course,

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 rabbit was even if the

gathered. Jake had flown nearly a hundred kilometers up in the air at his point, but he

string. Slowly, he drew back the string as he slowly breathed, relying on old exercises that truly no longer mattered with the system now a thing.

the bow and arrow. 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 the

energy grew as Jake kept steadily breathing in and out. The air around him began to shudder, faint

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