The Primal Hunter 3: A LitRPG Adventure, page 1
THE PRIMAL HUNTER 3
©2022 ZOGARTH
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.
Aethon Books supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact editor@aethonbooks.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Aethon Books
www.aethonbooks.com
Print and eBook formatting by Steve Beaulieu. Artwork provided by Antti Hakasori.
Published by Aethon Books LLC.
Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.
All rights reserved.
Also by Zogarth
Also in series:
The Primal Hunter 1
The Primal Hunter 2
The Primal Hunter 3
The Primal Hunter 4
Contents
Previously on the Primal Hunter…
1. Viewing Party
2. Going Up
3. A Cloudy Forecast
4. Mana Bolt
5. Look at Me; I’m the Mage Now!
6. City Lord
7. Not Again
8. Visitors
9. Familial Conflict
10. Unbalanced
11. Incoming
12. Anger
13. Barely a Fight
14. A Bit of Self-Reflection
15. Killing Monsters = Loot 4.0
16. An Agreement with the Incompetents (?)
17. Clouds & Brimstone
18. One-sided
19. Skills & Pylons
20. Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter
21. Why?
22. Under Pressure
23. Can I?
24. Toward the Horizon
25. Pecking Order
Intermission - Meira
26. Helping Friends
27. Rituals
28. Taking Charge
29. Jake & Mystie Airlines
30. One-Sided Negotiation
31. Phillip
32. The Fort
33. The Battle of Fort’s Deep
34. Perhaps Too Easy
35. A Monster To Hunt
36. Mental Magic
37. Minotaur Mindchief
38. A Journey of the Mind
39. From the Myst They Came
40. To Pursue Perfection
41. Names
42. Baby Hawk
43. Fists of Fury
44. Methods of Improvement
45. Just Getting a Few Samples
46. Important Jobs
47. Divine Influence
48. Progress For Everyone!
49. One Step Closer
50. Sylphian
51. A Plan Brought to Fruition
52. Press F for Fungus
53. Sensing the Arcane
54. Cloudy with A Chance of Powershots
55. Hierarchy & Doubt
56. A Cursed Touch
57. Grades & Impatience
58. D-grade
59. Expanding in Scope
60. Keep Things Simple
61. D-grade Class Selection
62. Avaricious Arcane Hunter
63. A Sculptor of Haven
64. A Brave New World
65. An Even More Professional Evolution
66. A Heretical Chosen
67. The Wyvern of the Desolates
68. An Improved Palate
Thank you for reading The Primal Hunter 2
Groups
LitRPG
Previously on the Primal Hunter…
Wait, we were still in the Tutorial at the start of book 2? Damn.
Anyway, let’s get into where we last left off with Jake. After a disastrous meeting with his old work colleagues, Jake finds himself alone in the Tutorial’s inner area, where he was chosen to stay clear of everyone else and just do his own thing. His own thing, in this instance, was to kill four Beast Lords in dungeons before finally facing the final boss known as the King of the Forest.
Meanwhile, William (the most beloved character of the series) wakes up after having taken significant damage in the previous book. Now more delusional than ever, he seeks out Jacob only to discover that everyone besides Jacob himself and his bodyguard is already dead. He, of course, proceeds to kill Jacob and Bertram, but Jacob has one of those nice legendary skills (that is totally not named as a song reference) that allows him to survive and leave the Tutorial.
Jacob then goes on to stay in a special area prepared by the Holy Church – his chosen faction – as he trains together with his immortal bodyguard, Bertram. Oh, and he also remembers to send the souls of those who followed him in the Tutorial to a place called the Holyland, as per his agreement with the Holy Mother.
Back in the Tutorial, Jake and William are both doing dungeons, with Jake clearing three of them and gaining special items for the final boss battle, with William only doing the first one. In all his hubris, William chooses to confront Jake, and they have a long and epic battle that- wait, never mind, no, he just got unceremoniusly smashed into the ground as Jake was far stronger.
Villy, our resident snake god that may or may not be evil, then pops in just as William’s Patron, Eversmile, also does. Eversmile proceeds to resurrect William before dragging him away and out of the Tutorial, while the Malefic Viper stays and talks to Jake for a while, giving him some nice in-depth meta-knowledge about the Tutorial and whatnot. He told him a long story about how Jake was fated to die, got his Bloodline, so fate doesn’t matter, how William was the true main character, and most essentially about how gods can steal beer from other people’s fridges. Just the essentials.
After their nice talk, Jake moves on to hunt more stuff, clears another dungeon, and finally finds himself face to face with the King of the Forest, a creature far stronger than anything he has ever faced before. He proceeds to get his ass kicked for a while before using unique items gained from the dungeon bosses to weaken the King. The two fight for a while until the King decides not to kill Jake but knock him out, which turns out to be a very bad idea, as a knocked-out Jake means only instincts remain. Jake barely manages to squeeze out a victory as the Tutorial ends.
Proceed to loot fiesta, new skills, titles, and all the great stuff, before it is back to Earth… oh, Jake cleared the Tutorial before time, and Earth is still locked down. Not to worry, the Viper has a great idea and invites Jake to visit him for a few days before it is time to return.
During this visit, Jake does some good old time-chamber training by practicing some alchemy and getting tossed into a mixture known as the Trial of Myriad Poisons, which only kills a slight majority of those who do it, so totally safe. Seriously, of course, it is safe, Jake is the main character, and while It could be incredibly funny to kill him halfway through a book and then switch MC, I doubt it would go over well.
Oh, Book 2 also included some intermissions for characters that WILL be important in the future. No, they are not just filler. One of them is about Carmen, a woman who used to be a boxer and comes from a very fucked up family, one of which maliciously cripples her one hand, forcing her to quit her one passion: boxing. After punching her cousin – the one who injured her - a bit too many times in the face for being a bitch, she finds herself locked up in Jail as the Tutorial begins. Not to worry. Like Jake, she thrives as her hands are fixed by the system, and she proceeds to punch her way to power and gains a title only two stages below what Jake got for the Tutorial.
Then we have Miyamoto, an old man who entered the system while on his deathbed. Now revitalized, he picks up his sword and, leading his old and powerful clan, rises to power and lays the foundations for a powerful faction moving forward. He gets the second-best title from the Tutorial and is known as the Sword Saint.
Third, we have Eron. Like Jake, this man possesses a Bloodline, but unlike Jake, he always embraced it. He was a surgeon in life, and his Bloodline Ability is to see the sparks of life within people. Before the system, he used this ability in his job, and after the system, he uses it to become a healer of incredible strength. But his dedication to preserving and healing life is more than a passion: it is an obsession.
Finally, we have Matteo, a former assassin. This entire intermission was actually just to give insight into the Court of Shadows factions and some of the characters in it, with it all being a bait-and-switch and having Matteo, who everyone believes is the strongest, lose to a relatively unknown person known as Caleb.
Anyway, back to Jake. After his training arc, Jake returns to Earth and meets some of his old colleagues, including Jacob. He gives a nod of recognition to Casper – now undead friend – before they all take off in different directions. Jake’s target is something called a Pylon of Civilization, and it does not take him long to find it.
Claiming the Pylon is easy enough as Jake becomes the first person to own a “city” on Earth. His city being a valley with a nice pond and a waterfall, with the roof of his house being the hood of his cloak. Jake is all fine with this, and time passes as he does alchemy and relaxes, no longer feeling the Tutorial’s constant stress and time pressure.
That is until a group of humans stumble across his humble abode. Jake saves them without thinking much and gets the first citizens of his “city.” With this city also comes a nobility title, making Jake an Earl, though he has no idea what good that will do.
One of the people in this new city is known as Miranda, and Jake heroically offloads the title of City Lord to her and makes her a noble, too, after thoroughly evaluating her as a candidate (read: he had a gut feeling it would be fine).
Having successfully outsourced his responsibilities, Jake can finally continue doing what is most important: Alchemy, leveling, upgrading skills, getting into good fights, and exploring this new world. Customary actions taken by Jake include: Figuring out how to kill the huge mushroom monster right under his city. Finding out what kind of beasts reside in the forest his city is placed on the outskirts of. And, of course, literally growing wings and having a hawk teach him how to fly as they both take to the sky to explore.
Surely the world will leave Jake alone to just chill with his hawk and hunt down monsters on sky islands.
Yes, this book will contain sky islands. Yes, it is a spoiler. Sue me. (for legal reasons: please don’t sue me).
Anywho, I hope you enjoy book three as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Chapter 1
Viewing Party
Archery had, for many years, been a vital part of Jake’s life. It’d been his escape from work, stress, and intrusive thoughts before the system. After the system, it had been the tool that allowed him to fight and survive, especially in the beginning.
So not getting the skill upgraded to anything higher than common rarity after so long had been a real thorn in his side—an annoyance every time he opened his status menu. It was only made worse by his intuition telling him he was oh so close to the upgrade all the damn time. He just needed that one final push—a final round of truly contemplating his bowmanship.
The thing that pushed the skill further turned out to not be a life-and-death battle, but instead an awkward struggle in mid-air as he tried to figure out how the hell to hit the damn birds flying all around him.
[Advanced Archery (Common)] --> [Expert Archery (Uncommon)]
It came the moment he hit his first bird. He felt an odd sense of pride that he quite honestly shouldn’t have, considering he had fired over a dozen arrows already.
Meanwhile, his bird-buddy had ripped apart more than twenty of the attacking flock while still somehow finding time to send him condescending glances. Blades of wind revolved around the hawk at all times, cutting into anything that came even close.
On the other hand, Jake spent more time being badgered by the birds that kept pecking and slapping him with their wings in flybys. After the first few only managed to harm themselves as they chipped their beaks on his scales, they stopped attacking him in melee and instead fired blasts of mana at him.
Not that those blasts did any damage either. It only served to annoy Jake further as he fought to stabilize himself mid-air while at the same time trying to nock yet another arrow. He failed miserably, as he could barely stop himself from falling to the ground.
But the experience had still somehow pushed his archery skill to the next level. Perhaps it was the ridiculous level of focus he was forced to apply, as he had to not only focus on his archery and hitting a flying enemy, but also control his own wings.
He didn’t feel much difference from the upgrade, likely due to his lack of ability to focus on the simple act of drawing a string and firing an arrow in his current predicament. In the end, he had enough. He opened his eyes wide at the flock of birds.
Gaze of the Apex Hunter
His eyes shone an intense yellow sheen as the flock of birds all just… stopped. Stopped and fell to the ground one by one. Bloody tears ran down his cheeks as he was forced to shut them, but it had done the job.
*You have slain [Starling Flock Bird – lvl 14] – Experience earned.
*You have slain [Starling Flock Bird – lvl 18] – Experience earned.
…
*You have slain [Starling Flock Bird – lvl 34] – Experience earned.
Nearly all of them died instantly. Only a few survived due to their higher level but found themselves frozen and quickly cut apart by the hawk’s blades of wind.
The entire sky now basked in eerie silence as Jake said, “Villy, are you having a viewing party or what? I got used to your staring, but please don’t invite friends over, or I’ll have to charge you for it. It’s distracting as hell.”
Inside the Order of the Malefic Viper, in the most prestigious of chambers where only the Malefic Viper could enter—just a few moments before Jake began considering charging for a media license—a man lay with his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Three women, barely covered by the thin sheets on the bed, lay around him, trying sheepishly to entice him into another round. Each of them had beautiful long green hair, emerald eyes, and bodies that anyone would call photoshopped if they saw a picture.
The man was not human either but covered in a thin layer of scales, with long black hair and dark green eyes that pierced the soul. The Malefic Viper hadn’t had a round of nightly activity for eras, and from the ladies’ reactions, he hadn’t lost his touch quite yet—his non-deadly kind of touch.
“You said that you met one of our descendants not long ago?” one of the women asked as she twirled her finger on his chest. The scales didn’t bother her in the slightest—quite the opposite, in fact.
“Yeah, Viridia,” he answered. “Current Hall Master of the only Hall left, so the leader of the mortal part of the Order.”
“So, whose is she?” one of the other women asked.
“She can’t be mine; I have never been with anyone but my lord,” the third one stated proudly.
“Oh, what about that gallant guy we met back in Elwood?” The first woman smiled. “You spent a few millennia in his little treehouse, if I recall?”
“That was so long ago! And the kids I had then weren’t any good, to begin with.”
“Ladies, please,” the Viper interrupted. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? Besides, she is quite the fine young lass, so there is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“She could be mine, then,” the third one said, making a complete one-eighty. One that earned only a sigh from her two sisters.
