The Primal Hunter

The soft fabric of the bed was replaced with the feeling of weightlessness as Jake was whisked away.

Oh, dear void, we meet again, Jake thought as he opened his eyes and found himself floating within the same space as all previous evolutions. The intense energy, unlike anything else, was all around him, ready to nourish him at any moment. It was truly energy unlike anything else, only found in this space and seemingly only operable by the system itself.

He moved his limbs a bit, just enjoying the sensation of floating there as he waited for the system to do its thing. It didn’t take long before something happened. The energy all around him began to move towards him as a message appeared in front of him.

Congratulations! You have successfully managed to evolve into C-grade as a variant evolution.

All future potential variant evolutions will be blocked due to Origin.

Congratulations! You have successfully evolved to C-grade!

This message made it clear that he, indeed, was now set on his Path when it came to his race. When he would reach his intended grade, no one knew, but Jake looked forward to that day. Jake did not have time to ponder more on his race as the evolution finally began for real.

His body became a vacuum of energy as it sucked in everything it could. His soul and body were both nourished and grew with every passing second as Jake felt himself change on a fundamental level. A portion of the energy also seemed to enter his Soulspace, and he felt Eternal Hunger be fed some of the energy. Even a mythical weapon could not forcefully claim any of this evolutionary energy, but it seemed like the system saw it fit to feed it nonetheless. The reason Eternal Hunger was fed was naturally due to the Eternal Shadow.

The mask did not absorb anything this time around, making Jake assume it was because he was now separate from the King. Even then, the amount of energy being funneled into Jake was intense.

As Jake felt all this, ripples went through him as he finally became able to see what he had evolved into.

Human (C) – You have reached a step on the evolutionary ladder few can ever stand on, and for that accomplishment alone, you should be proud. The human race is known as the most balanced and numerous races in the multiverse, being able to walk many different roads on their Path to power. With this evolution, you shall pick a small part of that future Path as you specialize further. Stat bonuses: +18 to all stats, +45 Free points per level.

It was the expected outcome, and Jake truly had no complaints. As expected, then all the stats gained had tripled – the same as when he reached D-grade.

The evolution was far from over, though, as the process of energy absorption only picked up until suddenly… it stopped. For a fraction of a second, Jake was confused until he remembered. He had read about evolutions for humans before but had kind of forgotten this aspect.

As you walk on the road pathed by your predecessors, you learn from the experiences of old. You view the Paths of those before you, and in turn, they bless you with their power. In return, they can only hope you will continue the tradition of passing down knowledge.

Ten Paths appear before you, all paved and proven. Take inspiration, and choose one that fits you to embrace the Records within.

No two evolutions were entirely alike, and this was the special feature of the one that humans got. Other races had their own varying special things. The gap between C-grade was far larger than the one between E and D-grade, and this was one of the reasons.

Within the void, the energy was frozen as ten roads began to condense. Some had paved stone reminding him of an old city street, others dirt roads, some the undergrowth of a forest, and others lonely and desolate stone.

each Path stood a version of Jake himself, but all wearing different outfits and all doing something different. Jake stared down the first of the Paths and saw a version of himself in what looked like old fur armor, surrounded by monsters, yet none of them seemed to see him as he was picking up a

walks the Path of a gatherer, forever searching for all there is to find and claim. As a gatherer, you do not only seek to acquire material goods, but all that can help humanity grow. Having far evolved past the need for food and sustenance, you search for the one true thing that matters: Knowledge. Permanently increases Wisdom, Perception, and Agility by 10%. Grants the [Wisdom of the Gatherer (Unique)] skill. Upon selecting this Path, you will instantly gain a one-time bonus to the Wisdom, Perception,

himself but shook his head. Looking to another road. There, he saw a version of himself wielding two swords in the midst of a battle with a wyvern of all things. He was

- Permanently increases Strength,

next depicted Jake doing alchemy in a lab, wearing a robe. Jake once more shook his

increases Wisdom, Perception, and Willpower

in the middle of what looked

the Ruler - Permanently increases

Jake silently sitting in a cave, meditating

the Hermit – Permanently enhances Willpower, Agility, and

a burned-down city, corpses all around him, with a

the Outcast - Permanently increases Vitality, Agility, and Intelligence

version that nearly made the real Jake puke as he saw himself wearing black robes on his knees in front of

Permanently increases Wisdom, Vitality, and Intelligence by

shred of fear was on his face as he remained stoic, his arcane magic revolving around him to form

– Permanently increases Vitality, Willpower, and Toughness by

version, it was Jake standing bloody upon a massive corpse of a manticore, his bow in hand, and this version wearing nearly

– Permanently increases Strength,

It was not actually the tenth going by order of appearance but had been the second Path of the ten displayed. Jake had saved it for last for a reason. Because he already knew this was the one from

the gatherers collected all they could, this other group was in charge of obtaining a far riskier source of food and willingly risked their lives to

a nearly spitting image of himself, wearing the same armor and holding a bow with his back turned to

naturally the Path

next prey. Any community needs those willing to face dangerous foes to sustain the group, be it through gaining food or scavaging valuable materials of the slain prey in a dangerous situation. You have walked a Path where you do neither. You hunt not for material

that all Paths are Paths to the

all these Paths were equal in principle, only one of them truly fit who Jake was. He was the Primal Hunter, for Villy’s

was usually considered huge. It was still big for Jake, but this was an instance where diminishing returns on additive titles really came into play. The relative stat increase Jake would get

and the influx of energy resumed. All other paths ceased to be as the Path of the Hunter turned into pure energy. A rush

will experience a one-time increase to all stats associated with the aforementioned Path. Perfect Evolution Stat increase applied. +550

much of anything that was not his own

few who dare forage into hostile territory to hunt. Rather than stay and improve the safe settlements of humanity, you seek more power through the act of killing your foes and claiming all the bounty that comes with it. A potent yet risky Path.

gained in C-grade, it seemed. Perhaps a bit underwhelming, but such were the race skills of the human race in general. Not that the skill itself was underwhelming. Sure, Jake didn’t really need the part about teaching others his Path as a hunter or whatever, but everything else was great. More experience from kills and more “alignment” – whatever that meant – had to be good. Oh, and of course, the nice stat bonuses, but he already