The Primal Hunter

To be stealthy.

An ancient art learned by many teenagers with wary parents and creaky floorboards to remain undetected as they were up to no good. That, or because they just needed to go to the bathroom really late in the night and didn’t want to wake anyone up.

However, this was but one part of the stealth: the art of avoiding sound. Others were stealthy by melding into the environment through camouflage or even found ways to hide their heat signatures or other traces of their existence.

There were countless methods in the multiverse to remain undetected, with Jake’s current method akin to being able to summon a fake boulder he could hide within, which also helped mask his presence and energy. It was far from perfect, and moving around while using it wasn’t advised, but so far, it had kind of gotten the job done.

However, now, it was high time to improve it, and he may as well learn from the best while doing so.

In the multiverse, Jake knew of two beings who had reached the ultimate peak of stealthiness. One of them was naturally Umbra, the leader of the Court of Shadows. Her ability to remain undetected until the moment she decided to strike was unparalleled as she could hide within the shadows themselves only to emerge when she so desired. Her form of stealth was the most classical sort, but there was one person in the multiverse who surpassed her when it came to remaining undetected.

Because another branch of stealth was one where you could be seen, but no one truly noticed you. Where you could stand next to your target on the street without them looking twice your way. The being who had reached the apex of this was, needless to say, Eversmile, the ultimate shapeshifter. He could take any form and become anyone or anything he wanted. His form wasn’t just limited to people, as far as Jake had been told, but he could even mimic objects or non-humanoid races.

So, if one apex emerged out of nowhere, the other emerged from right next to you unexpectedly. These two methods were often recognized as the main branches: obscuration and blending in. Jake was currently doing a bit of both – which most stealth methods did – but he did both kind of poorly.

Jake wanted to still do a bit of both with his improved method, primarily because he wanted to try and learn what Artemis had talked about. At least he wanted to integrate concepts of what she explained, even if it was pretty damn complicated. He did have their entire discussion committed to memory, though, as he recalled what she said during what Jake would call a great discussion on progression methods, while others would probably define it as pillow talk.

“My method of stealth is a lot more simple than what you described,” Artemis had explained. “The Path of the Hunter is naturally intertwined with the world around us. It is one of the most natural Paths to anyone in the system, and anyone who fights and kills partly steps into the Path of the Hunter at least a few times in their lives. Hunters are merely the name we use instead of predators for those of the enlightened races, and many civilizations even call those who fight monsters hunters by default, no matter what weapon or form of combat they use.”

The basis for the entire stealth method Artemis used was to be a natural hunter. A part of an ecosystem. At least, that is the mentality Artemis had when she first learned and improved the skill.

“My form of stealth leans into becoming one with the environment in a more literal sense. Feel the natural mana around you, feel the presence of the world itself, and breathe it in. Let it fill you and become one with everything. Perceive the world as you let it perceive you, and through that, you will know how to hide at the end of Perception. Seek the very edge of where you recognize your own form within the world and obscure what little remains of you that remain as you blend in. If you do this, you will be able to move without hesitation and act entirely normal, as you will simply disappear from everyone’s spectrum of what they perceive. You will never be perfect in this; no one is, but if they cannot perceive the world as well as you do, finding you will prove difficult. Well, unless they have a cheat-like Bloodline,” Artemis had further elaborated.

Jake had probed further and had kind of formed his own interpretation using more pre-system terms. Jake would liken this kind of method to changing how you appear on the color spectrum. The human eye, before the system, was unable to see things like ultraviolet light but had a limited spectrum. The same was true for what one could hear, and Jake wouldn’t be surprised if the same had been true for smells and pretty much everything else.

spectrum had expanded. Magical elements were introduced; one could see and feel mana, and Jake could see things he never would have been able to before. With his Perception alone, he could easily peer through things like naturally-formed mist or clouds despite it being completely impossible to see through before the system, and with time, he knew he would even be able to see through

was one of the reasons why someone like Arnold also had Perception as his highest stat, as it allowed him to perceive things others couldn’t.

the only criterion to “see” concepts and become able to understand them, it was definitely an essential factor. Not to say everyone needed it to reach the peak, as someone like the Sword Saint was so in tune with the concepts that mattered to him, it wasn’t as much about perceiving them as it was simply “living” them, if that made

without any end. Jake’s Bloodline allowed him to see everything within the physical spectrum with his Sphere, and as it existed outside of the system, it wasn’t limited. Of course, it wasn’t entirely accurate to say that he saw everything as if he actually could; his brain would explode from perceiving concepts even Primordials couldn’t comprehend. It was more right to say he saw everything he already knew could exist, with perhaps a bit more shown here

could usually handle, which was also why

then become one with it. To move yourself on the spectrum from where even a level 0 could see you to somewhere no one would know you were there, even if you stood right next to and breathed them down the neck. Simply because they wouldn’t be capable of registering you even existed. Jake would liken it to himself from the visual spectrum of light into the ultraviolet in pre-system terms and move every sound he made into the ultrasonic, with the same

be aware

Artemis’ method, and Jake had the feeling he wouldn’t be able to replicate something like this perfectly. In fact, he was pretty damn sure he wouldn’t

her stealth skill even worked in combat to help keep her hidden, even if the effect was lessened while fighting due to how much energy one had to give off that inadvertently disrupted and warped the natural world around her. Not that it mattered, as this was definitely

in the physical realm of Perception. He had plenty of experience observing that, after all, and could even make use of some of what he learned from his Bloodline. As for the rest of

where all his ideas for using arcane energy came from. Artemis

a skill that could serve as a foundation for more upgrades. One that he could potentially even train on together with Artemis if they ever got the chance to further improve

began. He would spend his time working on the stealth skill at the House or doing practical testing while also completing some Merit Point Missions, which would fund his Grimoire experimentation once

two weeks, Jake already had his first little bit of progress as he implemented some improvements to the stealth skill he had long been

Upgraded*: [Arcane Stealth (Rare)] -->

The skill stayed within the same rarity, which indicated it had been a pretty low-level C-grade rare skill after Jake evolved. Which made sense, considering the skill had avoided getting downgraded a rank after he evolved. This upgrade had brought it back to be considered a

later, Jake had failed another two Grimoire crafts – primarily because he wanted a good one and felt both wouldn’t turn out well – but had also made

camouflaged the mana around him, and even if he moved and used energy within this construct, it couldn’t be detected on the outside. It became as if he had placed a dome around himself, hiding him away from the world. The concept of Jake’s original Arcane Stealth skill had been taken

[Improved Arcane Stealth (Rare)] --> [Supreme Arcane

a good skill in its own right, but it had severe drawbacks. First of all, he couldn’t really move when it was fully activated.

other things to mimic. He could use it on an open field and try to just make it entirely transparent, but it wouldn’t work nearly as well as, say, within a forest. Plus, he would still have the problem of being unable to move around, as even if it was transparent, it would still affect the world around him

for Jake to sit still and wait for his moment

this extremely well, but its limitations did mean getting it above epic rarity wasn’t likely. This is where the concepts Artemis spoke of

purely to the visual realm. He kind of already did something similar when he made