The Primal Hunter

To use his own life and death as a mere resource in his preparations did feel odd to Jake, but in truth, he had no other choice. Valdemar was simply too overwhelmingly powerful for Jake to possibly defeat him in a single attempt, and Jake also suspected he was just a straight-up cheat, as while he didn’t use any skills… well, it wasn’t like the S-grade Valdemar fighting the Malefic Viper in the vision had used many either. The only real thing Jake remembered him using was that Fang of Man skill, along with what Jake assumed to be a self-made brew to help cleanse the toxins.

So, all Jake could do was keep dying as he accumulated knowledge through several deaths.

When he only had five lives remaining, Jake fully confirmed that Valdemar had indeed entirely transcended the limitations of a G-grade human body. For Jake, in his current state, having a kneecap broken or his tendons severed would make him unable to move properly, even if he could force some movement using his internal energy. The action would be stilted and far slower than usual, though.

Valdemar did not have these same limitations. During this life, Jake had managed to fully destroy his one kneecap during a borderline suicidal attack, only to see Valdemar continue running toward him, the entirely crushed knee somehow just holding up due to the golden aura. Ultimately, he concluded the only way to limit Valdemar’s range of movement was to cut off a limb entirely… or some-fucking-how kill him outright.

As for how Jake could accomplish that one? Well, he had hoped that his big arrow could be a solution… so when he had four lives remaining, Jake stayed at his own entrance area as he took out his quasi-Protean Arrow and began charging his skilless Arcane Powershot before Valdemar even entered the arena.

It was a bit scummy, but he had to at least give it a go. Valdemar had walked up to the arena as Jake finished charging the attack. Without hesitation, he had let it go, only for Valdemar to laugh loudly as he took it head-on. Axe met arrow as a massive explosion rocked the arena, sending destructive shards of arcane mana flying everywhere as the large arrow fragmented like a grenade.

When the dust settled, Valdemar still walked out of the cloud of dust, small wounds covering his chest, but otherwise completely unharmed, his body burning with golden aura. So, in conclusion, Valdemar swinging his axe really hard was roughly equivalent to Jake’s strongest attack…

That life had ended pretty quickly after that, as Jake had caused some self-damage with his quasi-Powershot, making him a tiny bit slower than before, which naturally resulted in a rapid demise. Jake did get a bit more experimentation in during that life, though… because he had noticed one thing already several lives ago.

While Valdemar’s stats were through the roof, he was lacking in Perception. The arrow Jake had shot up that hit him in the collarbone hadn’t been a one-off… so that was where Jake could focus. He would exploit the one weakness he had found to land meaningful blows and hopefully pull out a victory that way, if possible.

When he had three lives remaining, Jake began to implement some level of proper strategy as he also finally did something he should have done far earlier. While Jake wanted to figure out how the hell Valdemar’s Transcendence worked and had done many things to test it, there was one thing he had neglected to try:

Just asking the guy.

After a few clashes, Jake found himself on the backfoot but also managed to land some hits. So far, the fight hadn’t gone terribly, and Jake finally questioned the Primordial.

”How does that golden aura of yours even work? It’s a Transcendence, right?” Jake asked, in all honesty, not really expecting any answer. It was actually pretty dumb of him to even ask. Why would someone like a Primordial just tell some random mortal something like tha-

”System does sure call it a Transcendence,” Valdemar nodded as he looked to really rack his brain for a moment. ”As for how it works… well, it just does.”

”It.. just works?” Jake questioned the pretty empty statement with a deadpan expression.

”Oh, look at you judging! Then tell me, how does that weird mana of yours work!” Valdemar asked, crossing his arms.

”Well, it’s an arcane affinity, so it’s pretty normal that I don’t know exactly how it works,” Jake answered promptly.

”So you don’t know how it works,” Valdemar stated with confidence.

mumbled. ”I can make it stable and destructive, making it either incredibly durable and

scratched his beard. ”Ya sure ya didn’t just accidentally color your mana purple or

”And it’s inspired by normal mana, it’s just…

expression full of satisfaction as if he had just won some major argument. ”As I

guy who didn’t rely on logic, as he countered. ”Well, I answered you, so at least tell me what your odd golden aura does. To me, it just looks

fighting aura! It’s from my fighting spirit!” Valdemar

– a lot of it – but

the Primordial laughed as he raised his axe high. ”The spirit

again as he was firing himself up as he

but just looked at Jake for a moment, almost waiting for him to do something. When he didn’t, Valdemar just shook his

still waiting for the right time, aren’t ya?” he asked. ”Still got some lives

In the end, Jake only subtly nodded as Valdemar nodded in turn, recognizing the situation. He seemed almost saddened as he looked

you can’t really die. It’s all so damn fake,” Valdemar shook his head as he looked Jake straight in the eye. ”Without putting our lives on the line, how can we feel truly

he said this, though it didn’t seem to

can see ya got something in here,” Valdemar said as he pounded the left side of his chest. ”But why pull it out when your life isn’t even on the line? Why fight with desperation when you are

has been illicitly taken; should you find

the passionate words of the Primordial, who seemed almost angry at the very existence of the dungeon. But… he could also only agree. Jake had just died several times without really caring. Instinctually, he understood that death in the Challenge Dungeon was not true death. It didn’t trigger

would not have fought as he did in the Colosseum. He would have fought with true desperation and pulled out everything he had… he would have fought with his life on the line, as

understand,” Valdemar said in an elated voice. “Ya still got some lives… but when ya have only one attempt left, properly challenge me. Challenge me to a duel of the ages! Challenge me to create the ultimate Legend of the Colosseum! If ya do that, I shall face ya with the respect such a challenge requires. Ah, but be careful… I may get a little excited

will keep that in mind,” Jake nodded solemnly. “Now, let’s

Valdemar laughed. “Should make the true duel far

faced him for nearly

Two lives remained.

Valdemar, he realized that during their final duel, he would have to not hesitate in the slightest but do all he could. While it was possible for Jake to just go back to the save point before he issued

Boosting skills.

the Lightning Monarch, but for a level 0, having a consistently active boosting skill just wasn’t viable. Instead, Jake had switched to using short, controllable bursts of arcane energy while fighting to help himself, but the increase was

good reason. They were borderline required to be skills, as consciously controlling the extreme flow of energy through your

Monarch had an arcane affinity extremely well-fitted to boosting yourself, which also meant that in a situation

that but just accepted the downside of an uncontrollable boosting skill. Accept that death would be the inevitable

making sure he didn’t kill

the burning sensation of pure destructive energy coursing through his veins, slowly destroying him from within with the promise of power in return. A power that it delivered as Jake got more powerful in every

could truly fight equally with the Primordial - a while being a good fifty seconds, in this case, before he reached his limits. His resources began to run out, and his body could no longer take the forceful circulation of destructive energy as it began to fall apart. He didn’t even have the time to die to his own skill, though, as Valdemar’s axe finished the job before nature had

One life remaining.

time getting in the best mental state