The Primal Hunter

The last time Jake slept, it was because he had utterly over-exhausted himself and was all out of mental energy. However, this time, it was a far more normal sleep. He even got in a good seven hours before he woke up – more than he had initially planned. Not having an alarm clock made it hard to plan out how much you wanted to sleep.

Oh yeah, that reminds me… the Sword Saint’s timer.

To use a special painting infused with time magic was a nice idea, but who could have known that the very first dungeon Jake entered would take away all his items? But hey, at least the Sword Saint shouldn’t yell at him if he was late, as the old man was also doing the Colosseum of Mortals along with Jake.

Wait, he probably has some overpowered internal clock skill… Jake realized. Sure, Jake also had an internal clock, but that honestly didn’t work very well in circumstances like this. In combat, he could count time passing down to less than a millisecond, but when things were calm, his clock broke.

Getting out of bed, Jake stretched, feeling refreshed. He was in a small room with nothing but a pretty bad bed and a wooden table with a lantern that had what looked like red fireflies within. Jake didn’t really need the lamp, but it was nice of the Colosseum to provide them for those with lesser Perception.

Jake opened the door to his room as dozens more doors stretched out to either side of him. He was in a large dormitory of sorts that seemed to operate more like an inn than an actual dormitory. The building itself was placed in a decently-sized city just down the road from the Colosseum.

He had seen it with his Pulse of Perception before but hadn’t really paid it much mind. Now he realized he was probably going to spend quite some time there. Though, hopefully, with better accommodations in the future. The small room sucked, but at least it was better than where Owen was stuck.

The poor guy was sleeping in a large communal room with bunk beds. Three-layered bunk beds, even. When Jake came to get him, he didn’t look like he had gotten nearly enough sleep, but he pepped up pretty quickly.

“Hey, Jake! Slept well?” he asked cheerfully.

“Could be better, but I’ll manage,” Jake said, wanting to at least sound a bit empathetic toward the poor guy. “You mentioned yesterday that you know about a great place to get breakfast?”

“Yeah! My old man kept talking about how great the food is,” Owen said enthusiastically. “Just follow me!”

And follow him, he did. Owen led Jake to a dining hall elsewhere in the city, not far from the dorms. There, Jake had a meal he could only describe as scrumptious. Having to eat was an obvious downside to his reduced stats, but getting to eat was pretty damn sweet, and Jake had nearly begun to forget how good food was.

A diet of toxic ingredients was good for his Malefic Palate but not his regular palate.

After eating, the two of them naturally headed to the Colosseum again. It was about seven in the morning at this point, with the fights beginning an hour later. Could Jake be more efficient with his time, optimizing his time spent? Sure, but why would he do Challenge Dungeons at all if he didn’t enjoy them? Plus, it wasn’t like he would actually be delayed, as far as he could tell.

Walking to the Colosseum, he looked over his menu related to the floor.

Current objective: Be promoted from Initiate Fighter to Fledgling Fighter

Current rank: Initiate Fighter (0/5)

Colosseum Points: 20

Lives remaining: 10

Firstly, was a Fledgling Fighter considered better than an Initiate? Both sounded like new fighters who sucked, but alas, if that is what the Wyrmgod decided was a good rank-up name, so be it. It was dumb, but sure.

Looking at the points, Jake had gained 2 for every win and then 10 for the promotion match, virtue of clearing the quest. Exactly how the math worked with giving points, he naturally didn’t know, but he was planning on gathering a bigger data set as fast as possible.

He just had to keep kicking.

And kicking, he would.

At higher ranks, getting a match could take time, but it was normal to do several a day in low ranks. After signing up for a match, Jake took a seat as he saw it would take forty minutes before it began, as he was still a bit early for the eight-o-clock opening time.

Owen had run off to the training area to discuss with some of the other fighters while gathering information on them. Something Jake didn’t see a big need for. Apparently, there were other training areas for higher-ranked combatants, and everyone in this training area was all below Fighter rank.

lonesome, Jake tried to meditate a bit, but it proved

of her face as she walked over, her appearance making her look very out of place. Jake hoped for

the fan open and only revealing her eyes and the top of

my fellow combatant. It is surely a fortunate happenstance that

area at the gates not far from the Battlemaster… it would be weird not to see me,”

she wanted to talk to him,

have sought you out intentionally,” she said, hiding more of her face with the fan. “I saw your other fights yesterday after you bested me. It

said, not sure what she was getting at. “You are kind of getting me curious… why did

those nobles in old TV dramas. “I was hoping to perhaps build proper rapport and potentially foster a healthy long-term relationship with my fellow combatant. Your talents shown already make it clear you will go far, and I am certain I can

“What are you peddling, eh Pollaystaia- you know what, I

“It is Pollaystra-“

“Polly.”

“Sir, I

Jake waved her

“Sir Jake, I-“

you even the same person I

she said, really looking like she was trying to save the situation. A situation Jake had no idea why was even

forgiven and forgotten. Now, Polly, what

it is not Polly. It

are talking in circles now, Polly,” Jake cut her off, adding in a teasing tone. “Now talking

realize that I may need more studying to truly excel at magic before I rejoin the arena, but I have researched the Colosseum for a long time and believe I could be of

sure if he needed someone to give him information. At least not the

you never heard of proper etiquette? To remain sitting down when talking to a noblewoman? To make up a name – nay – daring to use her first name without proper respect! Let’s not mention how you just left me

she had just done, but before she could say

partly to calm her

she asked in a

nodded. “Also, I am impressed you only talked about how you were a noblewoman and not about this glorious

a simple wizard! I have been taught magic by a true expert wizard who once also competed in

nearly,” Jake raised

close he got, but definitely really close!” Polly

you got good information? Let’s start

wanted to know how many people he needed to

You won’t get me that easily. Everyone knows

as if he totally knew that already, silently cursing at Owen for not sharing something that was obviously considered common knowledge. Why did he have to talk about herding cows for half an hour during breakfast instead

the ranks between

confused until she smiled. “Surely, you jest? It is right in

waved her off. Hurridly, he took out the unread and crumbled-up pamphlet that had been in his pants since yesterday. Quickly uncrumbling it, he opened it and saw that on the first page, it showed the different combatant

New Blood

Initiate Fighter

Fledgling Fighter

Upcoming Fighter

Fighter

Experienced Fighter

Journeyman Fighter

Veteran Fighter