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.”

and let’s have a good one, eh!” Valdemar laughed incredibly loudly before looking directly at Jake, his massive

it easy to read when he was about to attack or not. Actually responding to the attack was a whole

as the Primordial was turning. The second one was swept away, and Jake knew that releasing a third

looked easy to dodge was avoided by only a hair’s

make distance before Valdemar 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

now, he wanted to set 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

did. A dozen arrows were expended as Jake and Valdemar both took several minor wounds to their bodies as they exchanged blows. A single mistake from Jake would spell his doom, while Valdemar had plenty of leeway in every clash, the man even taking 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 in power meant still thoroughly overpowering them. The point was he could overpower Jake more than he currently was if Jake powered himself up too early. Once he did go all-out, Jake knew he would have less than

forcing him to skirt across the sand for a few meters before coming

he met the Primordial’s eyes. “And you say I am only dodging… but the arrows sticking out of you

more meeting his tempo. He had done this exact fight several times before and knew that soon Valdemar would change things up as he got

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moment would be

up the pace as usual. Jake used a few more arrows during this time and tried to keep his distance and be in melee range as little as possible,

Valdemar’s 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

mood shift. Valdemar was done evaluating Jake as he charged once more, giving off an even more ferocious aura than usual. Jake dodged the first swing as the Primordial grinned to himself right as his body 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

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

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

by surprise, yet he still reacted well. Jake had wanted to strike the heart or neck of Valdemar, but his free left arm moved into a defensive position instantly, forcing Jake to make the executive decision to strike lower where he couldn’t defend. Due to the lunging blow, Valdemar could not

into his thigh. The arcane energy coursing through his body empowered the blows further as a sound reminiscent of static electricity sounded

beat, Jake twisted his body around Valdemar, who tried to catch him in a bear hug, using the momentum of his

to dodge an elbow descending toward his skull, the attack moving far faster than anything Valdemar had done 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 the occasion as the golden aura around his body was more

and slightly shifted his weight away from the injured leg. Despite calling Jake

tongue at seeing his attack not doing as much as he wanted, but

not be held back by having most of his thigh muscles torn apart

what he could with his axe. He was down to less than a dozen only twenty or so seconds later, but in turn, Valdemar had a few more bleeding holes across his body, primarily on his forearms and even one

“fixed” with his fighting aura. The huge wound was almost shining now, and

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

this opportunity to make some distance and shoot two more arrows. Taking a hit had slightly lowered the time his body would

dodging swings, landing stabs, and shooting arrows while Valdemar just did as usual, though with far more ferocity and power than before,