The Primal Hunter 7: A LitRPG Adventure, page 43
Their battle quickly moved across the sky, wayward blows tearing up the jungle below. Jake even got a kill notification at one point as an Arcane Powershot missed and struck something else. Naturally, he had no time to check it as he pressed his momentary advantage.
The Panther knew it would lose a ranged battle, so it picked up the pace. Jake felt its body suddenly burn with energy as mana impacted his body. He suddenly felt like his sphere was full of stuff… Mana. It brought him back to the first time in the Forgotten Sewers rat dungeon. He reacted a bit slow when his danger sense warned him, resulting in him getting blasted back by a space bolt of sorts.
Adapting quickly, Jake analyzed the domain unleashed by the Panther. Shortly, he saw a cat-like figure charge him from the side, and he reacted promptly. Believing the Panther did not expect him to adapt so quickly, Jake swiftly dodged under the claw and stabbed Eternal Hunger upwards, penetrating the head of the Panther.
Which proceeded to explode in his face.
Jake was tossed back, his right arm filled with wounds, and his chest burned with black spatial energy. Five more figures then appeared in his sphere as the beast reverted to using exploding illusions. All of them were shrouded by the domain of black mana, making Jake unable to distinguish between them.
Five charged, and Jake sent out stable arcane bolts towards each after failing to summon a barrier like before. Four dodged, while one was hit and exploded. The remaining ones closed in, and Jake tried to release more attacks, only getting one before the last three were upon him.
One of them is real, Jake thought. His intuition was clear: All three of them attacked from different directions, and it was a pure matter of chance… he would usually think. Because he also felt something else that conflicted with that thought. No matter which he chose, he felt like he would be wrong.
Jake gritted his teeth and stepped down to teleport away. A Panther managed to follow him, and Jake blocked, sent tumbling back by what had to be the real one. Another of the three illusions then came, but Jake once more blocked, as that too was real. He realized this when he tracked not only Mark of the Avaricious Hunter, but also his poison. It was moving.
It can swap between them, Jake instantly realized. Likely another benefit of the domain.
An incredibly annoying ability that put Jake on the backfoot as more wounds covered his already-mangled body. The Panther was not doing that well itself, poison ravaging its body and the many blows Jake had landed during some of their scuffles doing work. Jake was certain he had been right about it lacking energy. It’d had low health points, stamina, and mana from the get-go. Contrary to Jake, it also had no potions to swiftly regenerate a bit.
Illusions closed in once again, but this time Jake was ready. He had gotten some distance, so he instantly drew his bow and nocked a special arrow. He had plenty of time to condense an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter by now, even if the stamina and mana consumption to summon it was intense.
Jake knew he had to hit as he drew his bow and charged Arcane Powershot. He had only one shot, as his resources were dangerously low.
His perception of time slowed as three figures closed in, now with a cautious approach. The Panther knew this attack would be powerful, and Jake constantly felt it shift, with the beast not just charging in but keeping its distance to dodge. One in three… No, lower. It would no doubt be dodged in the final moment. So he would just have to stop that.
Gaze was out of commission, but he had one more method to lock down an opponent for a moment’s time. His presence flared as it blanketed the sky. For a moment, he pushed back some of the domain, and Jake focused everything on the illusion the Panther was currently in. Pride of the Malefic Viper was on full display as Jake attacked the psyche of the beast. He had begun to feel its desperation as it repeatedly failed to kill him, and now he capitalized on it. Jake made it feel the full brunt of his unshakeable confidence that he would win.
It hesitated for less than half a second.
His string was released, and the arrow flew forward. The Panther reacted only a moment too late. The attack sank into its body and sent it blasting back. It had done good damage, but not enough. Rather than retreat or do anything else, the Panther unhesitantly used Jake’s elation to strike.
It swapped places with a copy close to Jake and warped space as it charged, the other two illusions disappearing as the Panther dedicated all its energy to killing him. Jake was indeed taken by surprise and tried to block with his left arm. Bloodfeast Dagger was caught between two claws, and with a tug, it was ripped out of his hand and sent falling to the jungle below.
Striking again, Jake felt the claws sink into his newly regenerated arm. It cut to the bone, but he didn’t wait to strike back. Eternal Hunger swept in from the right and cut the leg of the Panther before it could fully separate the arm from the rest of his body.
He swung again but found his blade blocked. He retreated a few steps in the air, trying to get more distance. The Panther once more struck, and Jake swung Eternal Hunger down. Rather than dodge, the Panther angled its head and did something unexpected: It caught his sword in its mouth and bit down tight, trapping it. It then yanked its head to disarm Jake.
Jake didn’t hesitate. He simply let go of his blade and moved in closer. He jumped forward with both arms spread out and wrapped his arms around the neck of the Panther. Jake got to the top of the beast and held it tight in a neck hold as Touch of the Malefic Viper activated.
The Panther tossed his sword away as it roared. Jake refused to let go, and the Panther responded by sending itself flying downward while trying to get him off.
They both smashed into the ground, Jake taking most of the impact as the beast landed on top of him. Rather than let go, he wrapped his legs around the Panther’s body and held it tight, poison pumping into the C-grade.
Its body began burning with dark mana as Jake’s scales and passive barrier fought against it. The two wrestled on the ground, the energy invading his body and ravaging him from within, but he refused to let go.
He was smashed into several trees as the beast roared and scrambled. The fur around his hands fell off, and the flesh began rotting. Yet no matter what the beast did, it only made Jake hold on tighter. It was a death grip that would end when either he or the beast ran out of breath.
It would have, at least, but Jake had one more option. He used his head as he bit down on the neck of the Panther, pumping in his venom using his canines. At that moment, it would be difficult for an outside observer to tell who the real beast of the fight was.
Jake felt his own body losing strength as it began giving up. He knew he was soon out of time, but he had one final thing. He activated Mark of the Avaricious Hunter, and the arcane charge triggered. The Panther roared in pain, and Jake let go with his hands and his mouth as the beast froze. He held up both hands, and Eternal Hunger—which had been tossed away earlier—appeared, Jake sitting on top of the Panther holding it in both hands.
Roaring in tandem with the Panther, he stabbed down through the neck of the beast, driving Eternal Hunger into the ground below. The beast struggled a bit but finally fell limp to the ground, Jake collapsing on top of it as he got the notification.
Arcane Awakening finally deactivated as Jake’s broken and battered body stopped burning with energy. An insane wave of weakness invaded his mind, and for a moment, he feared his body would give in, but the tenacity of his physique was not that easily overcome.
Jake managed to form a faint smile as he was still lying on top of the Panther. He didn’t even have the energy to push himself off the corpse as he lay there, covered in blood with a happy expression. He’d won.
Tired as fuck, Jake closed his eyes and took a well-deserved nap.
Chapter 49
A Step Forward for the Universe
An annoying ringing sound reminiscent of his old alarm woke Jake up from his nap. With a start, he sat up, only to groan in pain. His body still hurt like hell. He wondered what was going on as the alarm kept blaring in his head until he finally found the cause.
"Villy… are you cosplaying as an alarm clock?"
"I was going more for a phone alarm with the most annoying option selected, actually," the god answered.
Jake was about to ask why the god was doing that, but he instantly realized the reason, and Villy also gladly reminded him.
"Let us just ignore the fact that you effectively just demoted your own Patron—a Primordial—to a damn alarm to remind you of your own damn scheduled system events," Villy said in a half-joking, half-scolding way. "Not that I am surprised. In fact, I am beginning to see a pattern here. Do you just like hunting dangerous prey while under time pressure? Either way, you got ten minutes till it begins, so get going with all the stuff."
"If it is worth anything, then you are the best alarm clock I have ever had," Jake said with a smile as he stood up.
He had been using the now rapidly decaying corpse of the Panther as a bed, and he was a little bit dirty. Not to mention how his armor was shredded, his body filled with holes that were still healing.
"It is not," Villy said. "Now go on with what you have to do. We will talk more after the system event. If my guess is correct, this one will be like the others and not necessarily only concern Earth. Good luck with it all… and good fight, mate."
Jake nodded in appreciation, a smile still on his lips. He hurt all over, but he felt elated. Killing a C-grade was not easy, and the Phantomshade Panther was not a weak C-grade either. Checking his notifications, he saw that while the beast had been C-grade, it was only barely. Also, the clone level had been right.
*You have slain [Phantomshade Panther – lvl 204]–Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*
*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 165 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*
…
*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 169 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*
*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 168 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*
*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 169 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*
Jake had gained five levels from that one fight. Killing a level 199 didn’t even give him a full level anymore unless it was a particularly strong specimen, so seeing how much he got truly demonstrated the difference between D- and C-grades.
Jake turned his attention to the beast in question and began using Alchemist’s Purification to remove the last of the remnant poison lingering behind. Once done, he checked for loot and found a C-grade Beastcore attuned to dark and space affinities… and something even more interesting.
It was a black fang that hummed with intense energy. Jake frowned as he looked at it, but he quickly realized what type of item it was.
[Partly Digested Phantomshade Fang (Unique)] – A Phantomshade Fang granted by the system to the newly integrated 93rd Universe. Contains a vast amount of energy and Records that will allow any compatible beast that consumes it to grow far faster and gain magical skills and abilities related to dark and space magic. This fang is already partly digested, having only a bit of the original energy left.
It was something like the Mystbone that Mystie had absorbed to quickly reach D-grade, but a far more potent version… perhaps one good enough to push a beast to C-grade. It had clearly helped and forged the Path of the Panther.
Jake picked it up and put it in his inventory along with the corpse of the fallen beast. The pelt was not worth much, but he still wanted to take it with him and not leave it rotting on the ground. A C-grade corpse had to have some innate value, and this one had even been strong.
After his looting, there was just one more thing. When he had escaped that spatial tunnel with Moment of the Primal Hunter active, Jake had managed to go above and beyond anything prior, thus upgrading One Step Mile. With great excitement, he saw the notification.
[One Step Mile (Ancient)] – A single step is sometimes enough to cross vast distances. It is said that the very space between the user and their foes shrinks with every footfall. By drawing on the concept of space, this skill allows the user to cross far longer distances with every step than otherwise. Note that there must be a clear path between you and your target. Grants a noticeable bonus to the effectiveness of Endurance and Agility when using One Step Mile.
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[One Step, Thousand Miles (Legendary)] – A single step is sometimes enough to cross vast distances. It is said that the very space between the user and their foes shrinks with every footfall. By drawing on the concept of space, this skill allows the user to cross far longer distances with every step than otherwise. Note that there must be a path between you and your target. Grants a noticeable bonus to the effectiveness of Endurance and Agility when using One Step, Thousand Miles.
Jake had to have a few takes as he looked at the descriptions… where nothing had changed. Okay, saying nothing was not accurate. One fucking word was gone. It had gone from "there must be a clear path" to "there must be a path," which was so damn minuscule it barely counted. Was that all his improved ability to pass through barriers and such boiled down to?
But… the rarity had upgraded along with the skill name. Jake wondered what was up with that and quickly pinged the Viper, knowing the god was still watching.
"Hey… One Step Mile, or, well, One Step, Thousand Miles, as it is called now… What is up with that skill?"
"What do you mean?" the god gladly asked in return.
"It just upgraded, but nothing really changed?"
"Isn’t it better now? What did you expect to change?" Villy wasn’t speaking in a teasing tone, but a very serious one.
"I am just used to skills kind of, you know, changing when upgrading. This one just got a bit better, and nothing else." Jake shrugged, but he began to understand what the Viper meant. What would he expect to change?
"I believe I have mentioned this before, but the One Step line of skills is far more powerful than you give it credit for. It is a skill known to pretty much anyone of power and influence, gained by far more individuals than you would expect. It is simple, elegant, and a core skill that has been around since… forever. It is a skill with a clear upgrade path all the way to a rank I have never heard of anyone reaching.”
"So, it is a bit like your ‘of the Malefic Viper’ skills?" Jake asked.
"Yes and no. Those are Legacy skills bound to me and my Records. One Step is a skill that originated from the system itself, as far as I know. It is not bound to any individual or any Path; it merely is. The skill is one that you can keep upgrading and using all the way to the pinnacle, going from simply stepping a bit through space for a few meters to, with a single step, appearing anywhere in existence you so desire. However, fundamentally it will never change, and will always be about the simplest of actions and concepts—to take a step, moving you towards your destination."
Jake nodded along at the explanation and began to appreciate the simple skill even more. Thinking about it, didn’t it fit him quite nicely? It was simple and easy to use and understand, just the way he liked it.
"Thanks for the exposition on the deep lore of my movement skill," Jake thanked the Viper, only half-joking.
"No problem. Goodbye again. For real this time. You got like five seconds."
"Yep," Jake said, having already seen the timer, and as it expired, the quest Jake already had updated.
Quest Updated: The Call of the Exalted Prima
As the world progresses, the Prima Watcher of Earth has been observing. Soon the Seat of the Exalted Prima shall appear on Earth and invite in all those who have managed to form keys to allow their entry. Anyone entering the Seat of the Exalted Prima can participate in the Path of Myriad Choices event, as well as gain access to the other benefits offered within the Seat of the Exalted Prima.
Beware, however, for the Seat holds dangers that the current warriors of Earth may not be ready to face yet. Should they unleash this danger and come out victorious, it shall reward the entire planet, while should they fail, it may fall to ruin.
Having obtained a key, you shall be allowed entrance into the Seat during its opening hours. May fortune be with you, and may your world come out stronger. The Seat of the Exalted Prima will remain open for one week.
Objective: Using the Key of the Exalted Prima, enter the Seat of the Exalted Prima that has appeared on Earth.
Jake took out the key from his inventory and used Identify on it once more. He had expected it and was proven correct when the description updated.
[Key of the Exalted Prima (Unique)] – A key to the Seat of the Exalted Prima. Allows entry to the Seat of the Exalted Prima. Use the key to open a portal only a Prima Key Holder can use, leading to the Seat of the Exalted Prima when it is available.
One thing was sure: This event was different. Jake was not just teleported to it after accepting a system prompt, but could now choose to teleport there. Nothing said he had to go right away either. Oh, but he would.
Jake deposited a healing potion into his mouth and, looking like someone who had just survived a fight to the death with an incredibly powerful opponent, used the key. A portal opened up in front of him, and feeling no sense of danger, he stepped through.
It was finally time to find out what all of that Prima stuff was all about.
