The Primal Hunter

Jake was arrogant; no two ways about it. But his arrogance was also always backed with a certain level of well-earned confidence and a powerful intuition. He did not declare others weak or strong or claim himself superior based on pure narcissism, but his own reading on his opponent… and while the Lightning Monarch was powerful, Jake had full confidence in himself. Especially when he saw the man be momentarily surprised at Jake’s charge… oh, and the fact that he had a damn good plan.

Nevertheless, his opponent reacted fast, proving he was no slouch.

A rush of blue lightning covered his body in an instant as his blade moved down to block in the blink of an eye. Sword and katar clashed as Jake was pushed back, a small stream of lightning running across his body from the impact. It was important to note here that it ran across his body and not into it.

Below his clothes, Jake had covered himself entirely in a stable layer of arcane energy made specifically to block out the lightning. He didn’t need it to be incredibly durable, just resilient enough to handle the remnant lightning energy from when weapons clashed or whatever was left in the air after a swipe from the Lightning Monarch’s sword.

Giving pursuit, the Lightning Monarch attacked relentlessly, forcing Jake to retreat repeatedly. The man’s attacks were fast and deadly, and Jake could only defend himself as more than a dozen blows were exchanged.

After his combo, the lightning around the Monarch lessened visually, making Jake go on the offensive. The second he did, the lighting aura around the Lighting Monarch exploded once more, making Jake go back on the defensive instantly. A few dozen exchanges later, his opponent slowed down again, making Jake attack the very second he did, giving the Lightning Monarch no time to rest.

While the Lighting Monarch had entered the battle full of confidence, Jake had done the same because he was a man with a plan. His fighting method, where he retreated and attacked to keep the Lightning Monarch constantly engaged, was entirely intentional and his strategy from the very beginning.

When Owen had first explained how the lightning arcane affinity worked, Jake had quickly come to a realization. To make your arcane energy flow through your body in order to make yourself stronger, faster, and more durable while even coating your weapon in the energy…

Yeah, that was just a boosting skill, wasn’t it?

Mind you, Jake did boost himself using arcane energy even as a level 0, but he was not constantly boosting. Instead, he used the energy in small bursts, such as in the middle of a kick or while stabbing forward with his katar. Could he technically keep the arcane energy constantly running through his body and use a skill similar to Arcane Awakening? Yes, but only for a very short period of time. A level 0 simply didn’t have the resources to sustain a boosting still for any reasonable amount of time.

At least not normally.

The arcane affinity of the Lightning Monarch was explicitly suited for this kind of boosting, making the boost far more efficient than using any regular affinities. He could effectively reuse the same lightning energy over and over again, resulting in potentially the only viable level 0 boosting skill out there.

However… it was still a boosting skill.

Jake had naturally been curious how the Lightning Monarch lost when he attempted to become Grand Champion the first time around. Especially how he lost in such a devastating fashion that he was left crippled for around a year.

It turns out that the fight he had lost was a prolonged one. He had been fighting and winning for many minutes until suddenly, he slowed down significantly and was hit hard. The Lightning Monarch had then tried to get up, boosting himself once more before ultimately losing.

So… yeah, he had been so damn injured because he had pushed his boosting skill further than he should have, and no matter how much he had improved, the Lightning Monarch still had this one crucial weakness:

not

couldn’t be more simple. He wanted to exhaust the Lightning Monarch, making him dance to Jake’s tune from start to end without ever gaining any ground. Jake did learn that the Monarch had learned to turn his boosting skill on and off rapidly after his last attempt to become a Grand Champion to try and shore up this huge weakness and

percent defensive whenever the Lightning Monarch attacked. The Lightning Monarch would naturally notice this and attempt to pace

relied on the boosting skill, and when it was down, Jake had the advantage in speed, even if

power of his boosting skill, but sadly for him, if there was anyone who was good at dragging out fights, it was Jake. As long as he stayed on the defensive, it was doubtful anyone could take him down, not unless they had some huge area of

the winner of this fight was already a foregone conclusion. Of course, Jake wasn’t just there to win but to crush his

Jake asked as he dodged several

the man’s face, he

as slippery as a rat!” the Lightning Monarch cursed as

already stepped back to dodge and didn’t even need to

as he attacked, not giving the man any chance to rest. “That’s pretty

kick, making the man speed up more than usual as he tried to pull off

me!” the

mindless flailing of your sword a fighting style? Do you truly think that is all it takes to be a Grand Champion? You may be fast, you may

the Monarch intensified even more than before as he charged forward. Jake knew he was pushing himself, and without hesitation, he used Fear Gaze to make the man lose some of

the pillar – a tried and tested arena strategy – making the Lightning Monarch never able to truly close in. Due to the sand making the man constantly run in circles, he never got a chance to build up speed, meaning Jake

Without any hesitation, he ducked as a wave of pure lightning energy swept over his

for a level 0 to cut through a damn stone pillar with a sword? Hell yeah, but it was also a massive waste of energy. Jake did not hesitate as he jumped up, avoided the falling pillar, and attacked the temporarily weakened Lightning Monarch, who was suffering from

weak attempt from the man to defend himself easily before kicking the Monarch in the stomach,

Lightning Monarch said as he stood back up again with a groan, “shall not shake

shook his head. “Your willingness to acknowledge your own weakness is irrelevant to me… all it can do is extend

valiant attempts to

that; the true answer will be far more embarrassing than what I guess in my head,” Jake said, teasing the man who was really running out

even when his lightning began to visibly weaken. Jake saw the desperation in the Lightning Monarch’s eyes and

got the vibes from the Lightning Monarch that he

is nearly better with a spear than you are, and he has only used it for a year,” Jake shook his head after dodging another attack and landing a solid punch in the Lightning Monarch’s stomach after dismissing his katars, sending

spark of something in the Monarch’s eyes as he hurriedly began

Champion for years, seems to barely have made any progress since you became one,” Jake sighed. “And you are preparing to try the Gauntlet again? For how long will you prepare? Another few years? By that point, your son will have surpassed

time, the Monarch didn’t attack immediately after standing up, but instead, he looked at Jake directly. “Do