The Primal Hunter

During the first era, humans had been viewed as a weak race. Even weaker than the other enlightened races. They lived for a short time, especially at lower grades, and the only real thing anyone agreed they had going for them was their higher reproductive speeds. They didn’t have any good racial skills, and their stat distribution was spread out to create jacks of all trades but masters of none. Moreover, as enlightened, they leveled slower than beasts or monsters and had to adopt a far more diverse path by focusing on both a profession and a class. Compared to other races, they just didn’t have much going for them.

As an example, the elven Altmar Empire began to rise during the first era, and other powerful factions were slowly rising and gaining recognition, with elves, dwarves, scalekin, and beastkin all finding their niches and fighting back against the monsters. Humans were just viewed as among the weakest of the enlightened races and an inferior variant… until Valdemar appeared.

With a single axe in hand, Valdemar showed the power of humanity as he exemplified the notion of a one-man army. He conquered empires, slaughtered armies, and became an unstoppable force none could stand against, with even monsters fearing him. Eventually, after there were already few, if any, that could face him, he rose to godhood as the first enlightened.

Without Valdemar, humanity would be far weaker than they were today. Jake would be far weaker than he was, and not just because of the Fang of Man skill he had gained, but due to the sharing of Records. Every single human was affected by the Records Valdemar sent echoing out into the multiverse through his rise to power, the same as how every snake was affected by the Malefic Viper.

In some ways, one could even call Valdemar the Forefather of humanity. The strongest and most influential human in existence… a human who stood at the peak of existence. It was something Jake recognized as fact, simply due to knowing history, yet, as stupid as it sounded, it wasn’t something he could fully accept.

Because to accept that Valdemar was the peak of humanity would be to acknowledge him as his superior. Even if he was stronger right now… Jake couldn’t accept losing when the playing ground was at least somewhat evened by the Colosseum of Mortals.

Walking up the steps to the arena with steady steps, everything felt the same as every other fight. The clamoring crowd, the announcer, Owen and Polly in the stands… everything was the same. The only true difference was Jake.

When he saw the large arena he had laid his eyes on so many times before, he only felt a sense of calmness. Yet, at the very same time, he faintly felt his own heart beat with excitement as it wanted him to let loose. But Jake knew patience. When he went all-out, he would be on a pretty short timer, and for this final confrontation, he would do everything in his power to pull out a victory.

For the ninth time, the announcer did his thing, and the gates lowered as Jake’s final battle against Valdemar began. He casually walked toward the center of the arena as he waited for his opponent to arrive. A few seconds later, he heard footsteps as the Primordial appeared, looking a little surprised at Jake just standing there, waiting.

“Definitely not ya first attempt, eh?” Valdemar said with a big grin as he also walked toward the middle of the arena. “But the look in those eyes is still good. How many times have we stood here before?”

“This is the ninth… and I am on my final life,” Jake answered truthfully.

“Got here with nine lives, eh? Impressive. Gotta make the last one count, then,” Valdemar said with a shrug as he slightly shifted his weight, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

Jake smiled as he pulled out his bow. “I plan on doing just that. So let’s make this fight into an ultimate legend unlike any the Colosseum of Mortals has ever seen before.”

His words made Valdemar pause briefly as he laughed. “You’re no slouch, eh? A proper challenge! Good! Good! I asked you to say that, right?”

Golden energy began to shimmer around his body as he asked, Jake nodding in response. “It’s my last attempt, after all… so I might as well make it legendary.”

incredibly loudly before looking directly at

was many things, and predictable was definitely one of them, making it easy to read when he was about to attack or not. Actually responding to the attack was a whole other

arm as the Primordial was turning. The second one was swept away, and Jake knew that releasing a third one wouldn’t be worth

was soon upon Jake again. The straightforward slash that looked easy to dodge was avoided by only a hair’s margin as Jake weaved in between the man’s hits as he still took some light damage from the remnant golden aura

could land a too-dangerous blow. He still wasn’t using his boosting skill and was thus still heavily outclassed in power and attack speed. His only real advantage was his higher movement

a tempo for the fight. A status quo of him running away and avoiding blows until he would unleash his boosting skill to land a hopefully impactful blow to gain him an advantage for the

fight pretty calmly. Jake knew his opponent could unleash more power than he currently was, but he equally knew that the Primordial had a tendency to rise to a challenge and match his opponent in power. Well, if matching them

and tricky one, eh!?” Valdemar laughed as he pushed Jake back, forcing him to skirt across the sand for a few meters before coming to a stop. “Imma give it to ya, ya either fought me a lot more than the ten times allowed, or you’re a damn

said, I have spent nine lives fighting you already,” Jake smiled as he met the Primordial’s eyes. “And you say I am only dodging… but the arrows

flesh wounds!” Valdemar shrugged unbothered as he stopped talking and continued his assault, Jake once more meeting his tempo. He had done this exact fight several times before and knew

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would be

the pace as usual. Jake used a few more arrows during this time and tried to keep his distance and be

energy. In fact, the Primordial was clearly more injured than Jake, even if his movements didn’t show at all. This wasn’t anything special, and far from the first life it had happened,

exploded with his fighting aura. With a roar, he stomped, releasing a shockwave of pure force, pushing Jake back through the sand as Valdemar used the momentum of his

the expectation that Jake would avoid as he had done with every other major attack. However, rather than

Jake stepped down hard as his foot exploded with arcane energy. This energy then spread throughout his entire body within moments, making him even faster as he propelled himself toward the surprised Valdemar at a speed the Primordial couldn’t have predicted. Jake went under the head of the axe before it managed to strike down and

but his free left arm moved into a defensive position instantly, forcing Jake to make the executive decision to

arcane energy coursing through his body empowered the blows further as a sound reminiscent of static electricity sounded out from the clashing arcane energy and Valdemar’s transcendent fighting

hug, using the momentum of his movement to twist the katar in the Primordial’s thigh

prior. However, even as Jake dodged, he was forced to block a wave of golden aura as it clashed with his own arcane energy, Valdemar having truly risen to

Valdemar said as he held a hand to his stomach and slightly shifted his weight away from the injured leg. Despite calling Jake out, the man had a huge grin on his face,

not doing as much as he wanted, but he was still kind of on track for the

while pulling out his bow, trying to take advantage of Valdemar’s limited mobility. He knew that the Primordial would not be held back by

a dozen only twenty or so seconds

his thigh had been temporarily “fixed” with his fighting aura. The huge wound was almost

far, far faster than before. He easily dodged a simple combo before landing a light cut on Valdemar’s wrist, sadly not hitting any veins. Jake tried to do more, but Valdemar exploded in golden light, pushing Jake back a single step. Barely avoiding a punch, Jake landed a solid stab but was too slow to dodge a fist that rammed into his side, sending him

distance and shoot two more arrows. Taking a hit had slightly lowered the time his body would last while boosting, but he should still have enough time.

Valdemar just did as usual, though with far more ferocity and power than before, as both he and Valdemar truly pushed