The Primal Hunter

Jake quickly took out the token to begin the sixth combat test. The fifth one had honestly been too easy, but then again, the huge thing was incredibly ill-matched against Jake. It just relied on being big and unapproachable, which just made a massive target for Jake.

When he activated the token, the environment shifted again. He once more found solid ground beneath him as he saw structures form all around. Within a moment, he stood within a huge colosseum of some kind more than five hundred meters across and with a magical barrier sealing him in.

A gate at the far end opened as five figures appeared. Jake frowned when he saw them.

It was five humanoids also wearing differing equipment. From what he could tell, it was two women and three men with a scalekin at the lead with a sword in hand. The ones behind were a female elf in a robe holding a staff, a human also wearing a robe, a demon in full plate armor, and a female beastkin with what looked like a rifle. Jake used Identify as he instantly understood.

[Human – lvl 156]

[Elf – lvl 160]

[Scalekin – lvl 162]

[Demon – lvl 159]

[Beastkin – lvl 160]

It was a battle to pit the testee against a full party of fighters - a healer, a tank, and three damage dealers able to strike at both melee and range. As Jake looked at them, they didn’t speak or emote at all, but their movements were clearly that of sapient people as the healer began casting some magic that coated them all in a green aura.

Jake decided for once to not take this too casually. He had little to no experience fighting teams despite being a mid-tier D-grade, and this group was clearly one made to test his ability to handle such a group.

Arcane Awakening activated at 30% as he took out his bow right off the bat and released a barrage of explosive arrows, jumping backward. Just as he did so, the demon warrior stepped in the front and took out a shield that summoned a barrier around its edges that expanded and totally blocked the explosions in tandem with the healer’s defenses.

While jumping back, Jake began charging Arcane Powershot as he took aim for the healer of the group. The logic of always killing the healer first was a tried and true logic that he would naturally follow. The enemy gunner also returned fire as the scalekin raised his blade and exploded with some aura that left a faint sheen on the body of everyone present.

The human mage seemed to begin some ritual as a large magic seal was formed right behind him, and Jake heard some kind of chanting. There was a lot to keep track of at once, and Jake wanted to quickly seize the momentum.

He released the Arcane Powershot just before a bullet arrived from the enemy gunner. Jake quickly made a shield with his hand as the bullet impacted it and exploded in a frosty white mist, creating ice on the stable arcane barrier.

His Arcane Powershot shot forward with incredible momentum as the demon warrior once more stepped forward to block. Jake used Gaze on him as the demon froze. Annoyingly so, the scalekin warrior stepped in, and just straight-up took the arrow with his own body as he was blasted back.

It seemed like a good thing for Jake, but the healer quickly reacted as the scalekin began visibly healing. He also noticed something else… the scales on the scalekin weren’t the usual kind. They had a dark green color, as Jake instantly recognized Scales of the Malefic Viper.

This was further confirmed when two black draconic wings appeared behind the scalekin as the swordsman flew towards Jake with great speed, even while injured. The demon warrior stayed with the healer, gunner, and mage as Jake only faced the swordsman scalekin in direct melee.

The healer did apply some magic first, and Jake saw the gunner begin charging some attack as the human mage continued his ritual. The demon slammed his shield into the ground as it expanded and created a physical wall between Jake and the ranged fighters. The healer could still cast through the shield, it appeared as Jake dodged away from the scalekin and bombarded the demon’s protection.

It quickly became clear breaking down the barrier wouldn’t be easy, forcing Jake to engage the scalekin a bit as he took out Eternal Hunger and the Bloodfeast Dagger. Green energy swirled around his opponent’s blade as toxic energy bellowed out of it as the scalekin attacked.

Jake blocked with Eternal Hunger as they found themselves equally matched in strength. The poison from the blade did seep a bit into Jake, but he didn’t care. The swordsman moved his blade as he tried to do a feint, but Jake blocked as he moved in and cut with his dagger. The scalekin tried to counter, but Jake dodged under the blade as he himself attacked the swordsman’s stomach, sending scales and blood flying.

Slower than me… and compared to the Sword Saint, his swordplay seems simple, Jake thought as he knew there had to be more.

And more there was. The scalekin suddenly exploded in power as he bulked up and grew nearly a meter in height. His muscles bulged as spikes erupted from his back, all pulsing with energy. Jake was still close and attacked his opponent but found himself blocked and slightly repelled by the post-transformation scalekin.

The two of them fought a bit more as Jake still came out on top. His opponent had gotten stronger, but not faster. However, he had also clearly gotten way bulkier and resistant as Jake’s weapons didn’t cut as deep as before, and the healer was also still constantly helping with healing and who-knows-what.

Ultimately though, the reason things were going as they were was that Jake allowed them to. He wanted to see what his opponents were cooking up. He had no experience fighting fights like this and wanted to take this test as a learning opportunity, as he had been told by the projection to do.

Well, this probably wasn’t what the projection had meant, but hey, what can you do? Jake kept brawling with this scalekin for a while longer, occasionally throwing an arcane spell in the direction of the demon’s shield until finally, the gunner and mage were ready.

The demon’s shield retracted as Jake felt a surge of magic coming from the human mage. The magic seal expanded as Jake suddenly felt invisible attacks coming for him from everywhere. Like invisible chains bound his limbs, he suddenly felt himself be weighed down as he also began taking damage as it was clearly not simply a binding attack. Just then, the gunner was also ready as a giant explosion sounded out and a bullet flew towards him.

At the same time, the scalekin also closed in for an attack, with the demon even charging towards him to follow up. It was all a masterfully planned attack that would no doubt be able to kill most people in mid-tier D-grade.

Most people.

Jake opened his eyes wide as his body exploded with energy, activating Arcane Awakening fully as his stats climbed and he was flooded with power. The first attack to arrive was the scalekin, as Jake dove forward into the blow. He allowed the large swordsman to hit him in the shoulder as Jake, in turn, grasped the scalekin’s arm and twisted his body – all of it happening in a moment, not giving the mage with his chains time to respond.

The huge swordsman failed to resist as Jake used the scalekin as a shield against the gunner’s powerful attack. It rivaled Jake’s own Arcane Powershot, which showed as the scalekin was blasted away. Jake narrowly dodged the large figure as it flew over him and smashed into the wall of the colosseum, barely making a few cracks.

As he ducked, Jake partly lost his footing as the chains dragged him down, the mage able to control them slightly. They dug in deeper as Jake felt his resources be drained, and he gritted his teeth as he was now certain it was a soul attack of some sort. It was binding his soul, not his actual physical body.

Powerful for sure, and it would make most of his level utterly unable to move. Jake, on the other hand, was a bad target. He flooded certain parts of his own Soulshape with destructive arcane energy as he weakened the chains and finally activated Scales, breaking several of the chains altogether.

He then went on the offensive. Pride of the Malefic Viper bellowed out as he used Gaze on the group. The mental attack from Pride made them all falter slightly longer, giving Jake time to draw his bow and fire an Arcane Powershot towards the healer of the group.

Jake followed up with a barrage of explosive bolts just to create chaos as he used One Step Mile forward. The healer was struck by the Arcane Powershot but managed to protect herself with a barrier in the final moment as she was sent flying back.

With two steps, Jake caught up. He had gotten an idea from seeing the scalekin hit the colosseum wall that he would now put into motion. His hand was glowing green as he summoned his wings and flew forward, catching the healer by her face after briefly breaking through her barrier with Touch.

He smashed her head into the wall with Touch of the Malefic Viper going as he dragged her across the wall in a clockwise direction, grinding her skull up against the fortified rock. The mage tried to stop him with the remaining chains, but Jake threw him another glance with Gaze as he kept flying.

The other three tried to come and help too, but Jake was too fast as he made four full revolutions around the arena within a few seconds, leaving a red line of blood around the perimeter wall. Finally, he pushed hard enough to feel the head of the healer squash.

First down,he thought as the notification came. Disappointingly, the notification didn’t include class and profession, but what can you do?

Jake turned his attention to the four others, who were all preparing to attack him again.

“Have you guys never played any MMOs? It’s a wipe when the healer dies.”

The projections looked on as the slaughter of the four remaining members proceeded. It was one-sided from the start, and they had actually been a bit surprised he appeared to struggle in the beginning until it became clear he was just testing them.

“They didn’t even have time to deploy more than that one tactic,” one of the projections commented.

“In the end, power always wins out,” another echoed.

“How many Legacy skills does he possess?” a third one asked.

“Potentially all nine,” a fourth one said.

The scalekin listened on as he observed. He didn’t have many comments anymore. He didn’t truly question if he could beat the seventh test either. No… his question was related to what came after. “What are the chances he can do the elective level?” he asked out loud.

Glances landed on him as the beastskin spoke up. “I am voting for allowing it… I want to see him fight that monster.”

Jake sat in meditation after the fight was over, taking in whatever insights he had gained. Not that there was much… in his first real attack, he had killed the healer, so yeah, that was boring. Oh, and speaking of gains: he leveled up.

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 153 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 151 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

He had not expected it, but it was nice. For now, he was just waiting out the brief period of weakness from using Arcane Awakening. He had only used for a few minutes, but even that would take fifteen minutes or so to get back on top form. It was a nasty skill in that way.

Did he need to use it in the fight before? No, but it sure had sped things up.

An hour or so later, Jake opened his eyes as he took out the token. His resources were all replenished as he decided to move onto the seventh and final level.

The environment changed as soon he found himself standing within a mountainous area not unlike one from Earth. He looked around until he saw a creature in the distance. It was a large winged form with red fur all over it. It had the body of what looked like a lion, bat-like wings, a scorpion stinger in its hind, and a face that looked uncannily like a humanoid. Jake did remember a creature like this from somewhere, but he couldn’t remember what it was called.

Luckily, he had Identify for that.

[Manticore – lvl 186]

“Oh yeah… Manticore,” he muttered as he took out his bow and did something he rarely did. He retreated away from where he was as he dove into a cave not far away, but not before placing a Mark on the beast. The Manticore had clearly not seen him yet with how it flew and him not feeling its eyes upon him.

He went through the cave and out the other side as he kept track of the beast through his Mark. Jake didn’t usually do this, but he wanted to get the best result possible in the test, so he didn’t play around with the strongest opponent. He knew the best way to start a fight was a good opening shot from an advantageous position, so he would go for just that.

The Manticore landed on the cliff Jake had appeared at originally as it stood still for a good while, allowing Jake to move through a few caves and several kilometers away. The beast began moving again soon after but luckily went in the opposite direction.

He stalked around as he kept track of his prey, his upgraded stealth fully active. The fact that the Manticore had not spotted him already meant that it had low Perception, which was the only reason he was confident doing this.

Soon enough, he was at a good spot as he assumed the Manticore would return to where it had been. If not, he could perhaps bait it with a bit of magic or something to get its attention. He set up shop as he prepared some arrows in his quiver. Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter was not a possibility as this was his first time encountering a Manticore, but perhaps a mid-fight arrow could be deployed?

Jake patiently waited for the Manticore to return, and soon enough, it did. It landed on the same cliff once more, just overlooking the area. Jake had no idea what it was thinking or if it was even fully capable of thought being a weird dungeon boss and all.

With his prey in position, he took a deep breath as he expanded the stealth field made by Arcane Stealth slightly to try and cover up what he was about to do. He nocked a poisoned arrow as he began channeling Arcane Powershot, also using Arcane Awakening with the destructive part embraced as his offensive stats were boosted by 50%.

He was still unnoticed when he ten seconds later released his shot.

Returning to tested tactics, Jake froze the Manticore with Gaze the moment it noticed his arrow, making it unable to respond in time as it was hit in the back. The truck-sized beast was sent flying back as blood spewed all over, but it soon began stabilizing itself.

Just in time for another Arcane Powershot to hit it and blast it back again before it had time to fully get its bearings as Jake didn’t hold anything back.