The Primal Hunter 3: A LitRPG Adventure, page 38
Jake walked to the bookshelves and used mana to pull out book after book, looking for one to help with making some kind of nutrient for the bird. The way he did it, however, was quite a bit more advanced than usual.
With the practice of flying people around and air-walking, as well as reflecting further on Mystie’s mana control, Jake had improved even more. The strings he extended were entirely invisible, and he didn’t need them to do anything but touch an object for him to manipulate it in its entirety.
That meant he could stand perfectly still as books floated all around him, opening and flipping through pages, done purely with mana manipulation. If he gained another skill selection at this time, he was quite sure he could get a better version of telekinesis than what he’d seen before.
He couldn’t stop focusing on constantly improving his ability to manipulate mana, as he still had a few objectives to get done before reaching level 99 in his profession. He needed to make poison and kill the mushroom below, and hopefully, he could do it entirely by using his alchemy skills.
Jake also needed to improve his Touch of the Malefic Viper and Sense of the Malefic Viper to ancient rarity. He wanted all nine of the stat-giving skills before reaching D-grade to see if that would lead to anything. Even if it didn’t, the benefits of upgrading the skills would be worth it.
Pride of the Malefic Viper and Fangs of the Malefic Viper would be gained simply through leveling up, so he just needed those two upgraded… The issue was that he wasn’t sure how to.
Sense of the Malefic Viper would likely be the easiest, as he felt like it synergized so well with Sagacity and his extremely high Perception. The upgrade to epic rarity had been exceedingly easy, and while he doubted he could do it that easily again, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be that hard.
As for Touch of the Malefic Viper… Jake had no idea where even to start. The upgrade to epic rarity had come when he semi-fused the skill with affinities, allowing a poison’s effect to mimic an affinity’s… but that upgrade had been gained through an epiphany of sorts.
It was quite a few things to get done, and he was su—
His train of thought was interrupted as the little hawk on his head woke up and greeted the world with its small chirps.
Jake just smiled as he extended a finger up and rubbed the soft down of the little bugger. But before all that… let’s find a delicious recipe for Sylphie.
Chapter 43
Fists of Fury
Carmen dodged the attack as she vaulted backward, a few strands of her long hair still caught by the sharp claws of the beast. With her back bent like she was trying to win the world championship of limbo, her stance was a bit awkward as another claw descended toward her body.
In an impossible move, her entire body swayed to the side as if she didn’t have any bones. Simultaneously, she pushed off the ground with her hand and landed a solid kick on the three-meter-tall, bear-like beast in front of her.
The beast barely reacted to the attack, but it allowed her to create some distance between them. She was breathing heavily, with several wounds already covering her body. All of them were healing at a near-visible rate, but she was still far from in optimal condition.
Her opponent was a bear-like creature that, in retrospect, looked more like a werebear. In actuality, though, it was a sloth.
[Slothful Warden – lvl ???]
It was the final boss of her tutorial, a being she had failed to reach even back then… But now, more than two months later, she would face it and win.
This wasn’t the first time Carmen had fought the beast… but it would be the last.
She charged again, not giving the beast time to relax. She knew it would recover as fast as herself, so hit-and-run tactics wouldn’t work. The beast had two modes: slow and fast.
It moved incredibly slowly in slow-mode, but its defenses were ridiculous, and it healed its wounds incredibly fast. It was far more vulnerable in fast-mode and didn’t recover at all, but it made the beast super fast, as the name suggested. This knowledge had taken the loss of several limbs to learn.
The beast moved again, staying in fast-mode. She dodged back, not daring to try and fight it straight up but instead looking for an opening. She leaned and weaved away from the claws until she finally saw her chance. She landed a right hook on the beast’s face, making it stumble back.
While her hit was far weaker than the D-grade’s, she had managed to hit the chin and rattle the brain a little. With it disorientated, she moved in quickly and managed to land ten or so more blows before it used a skill to get her off.
Its long hair suddenly grew in length as the long strands, like tendrils, tried to catch her. She jumped back with all her strength, barely avoiding them. Her fists were both encompassed in an orange glow that was already spreading throughout her body, healing her wounds.
With every hit, she stole life-energy from the opponent, healing herself. At the same time, the lower her health, the stronger she got. She was a berserker, but without the berserking part. Her mind was calm as she swiftly moved forward again, seeing the Slothful Warden about to enter its slow-mode. Won’t help you this time.
She wouldn’t allow it to regenerate.
Her fists came down like hail, every one of them leaving a small imprint of energy behind. The beast tried to defend but was far slower than before. Carmen’s attacks didn’t do any noticeable damage, but they did send energy into the beast’s body with one purpose: stopping its healing.
Forced to move fast again, it exited its slow-mode and returned to fast-mode, and they returned to their slugfest. Carmen calculatingly dodged the beast’s every hit as it swung with increasing desperation.
After nearly half an hour, it was time to enter the second phase. Carmen had gotten here before and had almost lost her life… but now she would be ready.
The beast exploded with power as its hair grew and it began glowing red. It grew another meter in size, power overflowing from its body.
Carmen took this time to make her own preparations as she prepared for the battle’s final stage.
Pressing both her fists against the ground, she spoke, “Sacred Battleground.”
An aura spread throughout the area, and for a split second, an echo of battles prior swept across the land: animals fighting and hunting before the system, and even echoes of a war that had happened in bygone eras, perhaps all the way back in the Stone Age.
The visions disappeared as quickly as they came, but the ground remained hallowed. It was now a blessed battlefield where Carmen would bring down her foe.
She felt the power of the land flow into her as she activated her boosting skill.
“Ruination Drive.”
Carmen’s entire body felt like it was burning as orange energy swirled out from every pore on her skin. She didn’t hesitate as she moved, facing the D-grade in a final battle where only one of them would walk out alive.
Her fist landed on the beast, but at the same time, it also attacked. Her entire right arm was ripped off with a swipe, but the moment her fist connected, it pushed in a flood of the orange energy while at the same time dragging out the beast’s health points.
The severed arm regenerated in less than a second as she dodged a blow from the Slothful Warden and landed a kick. Spikes of hair flew out, and she blocked with her newly regenerated arm, barely avoiding getting her head impaled.
Gritting her teeth, she grabbed hold of the hair and dragged the beast in closer. Its arms were longer than hers, making the shorter gap an advantage. It did mean the hair would impale her now and then… but that was what her regeneration was for.
The giant sloth began using a few more skills here and there, but she had encountered them all before. The corrosive breath that leveled an area hundreds of meters in front of it was avoided, as the attack was rather telegraphed, and the crescent beams it released from its claws were easy to dodge when you sidestepped or deflected its swings anyway.
Her body was ripped apart repeatedly, but she inflicted a heavy blow on the sloth for every limb she lost. Her regeneration was pushed to eleven, her power only growing as her massive health pool slowly depleted. If she’d fought outside her Sacred Battlefield or without her boosting skill, she would be dead already.
Carmen knew this entire fight was very tight. It was walking on a tightrope from start to finish, with no guarantee of victory even if she didn’t fuck up. She could have fought with others or tried to level more… but she wanted to win alone and do so before capping her class.
When the beast looked to be on the verge of death, it made its final stand. Energy poured out of it like never before. Carmen had kind of expected this… so she was ready.
She summoned six items while in mid-air, retreating from the beast: a sword, a spear, a set of claws, two skulls of beasts, and finally, a mirror. Her aura spiked as she said,
“Echoes of War.”
Golden ghostly apparitions were conjured and condensed around each item. This was what she had prepared for the last two weeks by fighting powerful foes. Combining her class and profession with the Sacred Battlefield, she summoned echoes of those she had slain.
The Slothful Warden saw these figures and didn’t hesitate to attack. The spearman fell nearly instantly, while the one with the sword managed to at least block a single attack before also dispersing. The two wolves summoned from the skulls managed to sink their teeth into one of the sloth’s arms, while the panther summoned from the set of claws cut a nasty gash across its side.
Carmen also charged with no regard for her own safety. She held both hands behind her as she ran, building up all the momentum she could. The summoned apparitions were also beginning to disperse, as they couldn’t remain active for more than a few seconds. The items that summoned them were crumbling to dust along with the ghosts.
Her right fist was burning with all her energy as she swung a right hook straight for the head of the beast in a reckless attack. The Slothful Warden saw her attack and brought its claw forward, ready to rip off her head.
The claw came down as she swung her first forward. The claw hit first due to the sloth’s long arms, but the second it made contact with her hair, it didn’t hit the human but instead sank into a mirror that had suddenly appeared.
Instead of finishing the human, its blow was reflected back on itself. Blood flew everywhere from its own claw as it ripped its other arm off. The mirror also shattered to pieces, its power only enough to block a single blow. It was the regalia from slaying a peak E-grade boss monster, a ghost that was bound to the mirror itself.
With its attack reflected and the sloth heavily damaged, it couldn’t react properly when Carmen swung her fist forward. It impacted the sloth’s head with everything she could muster, shattering the facial bones and skull. An explosion of power sounded out in the area as everything in a ten-meter radius was leveled from the blast.
All that remained was Carmen standing alone in the crater, her Ruinous Drive deactivated, her right arm gone, and her entire body covered in blood. Before her lay the headless corpse of the Slothful Warden, the final boss of what had once been her tutorial.
*You have slain [Slothful Warden – lvl 108] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*
*’DING!’ Class: [Savage Pugilist] has reached level 98 - Stat points allocated, +5 Free Points*
*’DING!’ Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 79 - Stat points allocated, +5 Free Points*
*’DING!’ Class: [Savage Pugilist] has reached level 99 - Stat points allocated, +5 Free Points*
She chuckled as she saw the messages, then began full-on laughing. “Fuck, I am awesome.” She kicked the Slothful Warden and gave it the finger. “Fuck you, and fuck everything you ever stood for!”
Carmen, for the first time in so long, felt truly free. It felt like she only now had truly broken free of the prison she’d been in before the system, as not a single remnant of it now remained. Her entire body was hurting, but she felt elation like never before.
She took out a recovery potion from her spatial storage, quickly chugging it down. It would help with the aftereffects of the boosting skill while also helping her recover her resources faster. It was only inferior rarity, but it was damn impressive anyway.
Being able to at least move a little, she got on with the next area of business. She went up to the corpse of the beast, then knelt down and placed her hand on it.
“I tribute this victory to Valhal.”
The corpse instantly began turning to golden dust, leaving only a single set of long claws behind. She instantly put them in her storage and noted she had gained another level.
*’DING!’ Profession: [Apprentice Valkyrie of Gudrun] has reached level 61 - Stat points allocated, +4 Free Points*
*’DING!’ Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 80 - Stat points allocated, +5 Free Points*
Honestly, that profession was a scam. All Carmen had to do was tribute kills she made to Valhal, and she would gain levels in it. Okay, she also had to prepare the items dropped to summon echoes and do some other rituals and stuff, but it was way easier to level than those professions that felt more like full-time jobs of just creating shit.
No way she would have the patience for that.
This was also why she had already found someone else to deal with the damn Pylon she had just gotten a quest about. No way she was going to waste her time playing city-builder or whatever.
She had more stuff to punch and more levels to gain. She briefly looked at the other new quest she had gained about the Perfect Evolution title and shrugged. She could wait to evolve if it meant becoming more awesome.
It wasn’t like she was going to stop fighting… She needed more tributes anyway.
Miranda entered the valley to give her weekly report to Jake. It had become routine that she would come by with some good food, and they would talk over any new happenings of the city. Nothing seemed unusual at first, but she did notice one thing… the two hawks were not at the nest.
One of them being gone was pretty normal, but not both of them. While the birds hadn’t allowed Miranda to see it, Jake had mentioned they were caring for an egg. But no such egg was to be found.
She hesitated a bit as she went through the ever-active barrier and knocked on the door. It opened a second or so later, her mana sense skill telling her it was done with pure mana manipulation. He is getting a lot better every time I come by…
“I have brought this new dish; it reminds me a bit of kebab, bu—”
Miranda had barely entered and begun presenting today’s meal when she saw Jake sitting in a chair with a book, and she was instantly dumbfounded. Not by the man himself, as he looked the same as usual, a mask covering his face and everything.
No, what took her aback was the small, fluffy white ball of down sitting on his head. It looked to be sleeping, or at least half-asleep, and didn’t bother with her at all. She couldn’t help but Identify it out of pure curiosity.
[Sylphian Eyas – lvl 3]
“Kebab? That sounds great,” Jake said as he made his mask invisible and looked up with a smile.
“Is that…?”
“Yeah, this is Sylphie,” Jake answered nonchalantly. “Mystie and Hawkie’s kid. I am babysitting today as they both went out to hunt for a bit.”
“I… Well, at least that is a real name…” Miranda muttered as she walked over and placed the food on the dining table.
“Hatched a few days ago. She is usually an energetic little bugger, but I managed to tire her out.” Jake chuckled as he brought a finger up and tickled the bird a bit. The small hawk happily nuzzled up to the finger without even opening its eyes.
So damn cute, Miranda thought as she took out the plates and cutlery and placed them on the table.
Jake got up from his small reading corner and went over to the table to help her. He levitated the two plates and cutlery, placing them on each side of the table.
“We had the second restaurant open today; the food is from there. Well, it is more of a grill than anything,” Miranda said. “Two new caravans arrived this week, a few hundred people in each, so we are always behind in housing. Hank and Louise are raking in levels faster than ever with all the new construction projects.”
The two of them sat down at the table. Miranda continued explaining as they ate.
“The four with merchant professions from the fort have done well with trying to facilitate normalizing using Credits. A few people who recently got their profession upgrade have also become merchants or gained professions related to economics, helping with the cause.
“While most don’t care much about Credits or really have any to use, it is still the best we have. Producing our own currency would just be silly.”
“With the system as a guarantor of the Credits, it makes it a far superior currency,” Jake concurred. “The multiverse as a whole also uses Credits, so us doing anything else would indeed be moronic.”
“Exactly, so we have begun some initiatives to normalize using the Credits. The restaurants accept it, and most crafters do too, though it is hard to estimate how valuable something is or isn’t. We don’t really have any frames of reference besides what things cost in the Tutorial Store… and most of those things aren’t something we can make anyway.
“With that in mind, we began making some official quests to donate equipment and give wages to those working with the construction projects. It has helped a lot, but…”
“You lack funds,” Jake said as he ate the food, clearly enjoying it quite a lot.
“Yep, we are pretty much broke, but I talked with Phillip, and he had nearly 800,000 left over after the Tutorial Store. We can borrow that for now, and it should get us through at least the first month, and by then we should have some taxation system set up or some other income source.”
