The Primal Hunter

For over three weeks, a crisis had shaken the planet. It quickly became known as the Great Famine, where suddenly all living things on Earth felt unbearable hunger. The first few days were the worst by far before many became more used to the feeling and found ways to cope.

The predominant opinion was that it was some part of the system. A trial or a hidden event or something to test humanity. The only problem with this theory was that it had affected every living being and not just humans. When it then suddenly just stopped one day, people were just left more confused.

Only a select few people on the planet actually knew what had happened. Casper knew but didn’t share with anyone, and Miranda had an inkling as Jake had informed her of his plans before leaving. As for everyone else? Well, it was difficult to figure it out. All kinds of divination into the issue were met with a wall, and no gods gave any information to their believers, only strengthening the belief it was system-imposed. Some did figure out it was related to a curse, but the only high level curse mage anyone knew of was Casper, and all their probing found him busy with the dungeon.

In the end, with it disappearing, it just became another oddity of the new world. As these weeks passed, the many factions had begun to find ways to deal with the curse with time. However, the economic and reputational damage to many of the larger factions or those who had mismanaged the crisis was unquestionable. The hardest hit had been the Holy Church by far.

Any strategist would agree that if this entire scenario dubbed the Great Famine had been an attack on the Church, it was one excellently done.

As for the true culprit? Well, he had been busy playing with his new weapon.

Jake sat leaning back against the cave wall as he breathed heavily. He looked down at his legs – or what was left of them – as he groaned a bit while waiting for them to heal. Asshole termites had drilled up from below and attacked him while he was already fighting two massive termites, one of them level 181 and the other 183.

He had no idea how far down he was by now. Probably a few hundred kilometers? It was hard to say, and the tunnel network only kept expanding. Each tunnel was more than twenty meters in diameter, the walls magically reinforced by the termites.

Entire biodomes found below the ground had been consumed by the termites, leaving nothing behind. Jake went through them as he left death in his wake, and by now, he was beginning to feel a bit more like himself. The constant hunger subsided both because Jake had learned to cope and due to the weapon beginning to be sated.

The curse’s influence was still there, and Jake had a feeling it wasn’t going to go away. Eternal Hunger was never going to be fully sated no matter how much he killed. However, it would become sated enough for Jake to ignore its constant nagging for more sustenance.

Jake also learned that after it had been fully created, it had become a lot easier to feed. It ate borderline anything. It consumed his own mana, health, and stamina, it absorbed mana from the environment passively, and any natural treasure or useless item he found was also happily eaten.

But… the best way to feed it was still killing. After the upgrade, it now didn’t only absorb vital energy, but all kinds of energy. Stamina, mana, health, probably even unique resources that something like the Risen had. But the absorption rate did not only increase because of the energy it absorbed during the killing but also because of what happened once a foe was slain: the Souldrinker effect.

Jake had wondered how someone like that man Donald had managed to bring the Scimitar to epic-rarity and made it as powerful as it was. He was pretty strong for his level, but only due to his weapon, and clearly, he had made it a lot stronger since the day he got it.

The explanation had been the souls all along. Jake had happily seen that effect gone when he transmuted it the first time, but he could see the worth in it now. Souls contained a type of energy that Jake couldn’t quite identify, but he knew it was good for the weapon.

Now, this led Jake to another discovery. To absorb energy, Jake had to use the weapon. But to absorb a soul? Nothing specified he had to actually use Eternal Hunger to do that. As long as Jake slew a foe, the soul would be absorbed, and Jake had only learned that just now as he had been forced to pull out his bow when the situation got tricky.

It was an awesome discovery and greatly increased the viability of Eternal Hunger. Another thing that improved the viability was the fact that he could “get rid of it” entirely by storing it not within his storage space but his own Soulspace.

Maybe it was because the mythical weapon was intricately tied to his soul, but he could put it in there with no problem. Jake also discovered he could do the same with the mask, though that didn’t have any practical applications as he could already make it invisible. Well, maybe it could be a defensive measure against the King in the future if the Unique Lifeform could influence him through it, but that didn’t seem like a danger at the current time.

When Eternal Hunger was in his Soulspace, he didn’t feel anything from it as it was utterly suppressed. It merged with the large Chimera thing in there, which was nicely sealed up in arcane strings. He was fully aware that the Eternal Hunger Jake used now could barely display a fraction of its true power, partly because he kept the Chimera suppressed, and that was just fine.

That just meant he had a worthy weapon for a long time to come as it could grow with him.

Jake shook his head as he felt the potion cooldown expire, and he downed a health potion before closing his eyes to relax, entering meditation. Just the usual kind of meditation, not Soul Meditation. As with other skill upgrades, he could still use prior versions, including the Serene Meditation he had gained and briefly skipped over. That one just allowed him to be far more relaxed while in meditation and even regenerated more resources than Thoughtful Meditation.

He checked the time and saw it had now been around two weeks since Jake made Eternal Hunger. The thought of returning to Haven soon was still there, and Miranda had even contacted him using her special skill only to confirm he was fine. She had apparently tried to do so a few times earlier, but that had been during Jake’s crafting, so he had not even noticed. Jake had told her that he would return soon as long as he felt like he wasn’t a danger to the city.

Even now, he still felt a sudden compulsion to consume at random times when he wielded Eternal Hunger, and if that happened while in the middle of Haven with humans around? Jake didn’t know if he would lose concentration and casually kill someone. This was why he stayed… to hone his control. It got better for every day that passed, so soon he would return.

He also needed to return because he had a major issue… his Altmar Cauldron of Supreme Simplicity was damaged. It was still useable, but it had cracks in it and leaked mana, making it dangerous and wasteful to use. He was amazed at somehow having broken the item that seemed completely unbreakable, but that was mythical items for ya. He wasn’t sure how to fix it, but he would have to look around if it was possible once he got back, and if it wasn’t fixable, Jake would have to switch to the epic rarity cauldron he had also bought. The one with the ability to transform into other affinities. It wasn’t as good, and Jake hadn’t really used it much because of that, but it was still a viable option.

Focusing on more positive things, he opened up his many notifications gained during this long period. He saw tens of thousands of kill messages, the majority of them done on insects that did not give any experience, but the further he got down into the hive and on the notification list, the more he began to gain something.

Most termites gave shit experience, but he did encounter some variants who put up a good fight, primarily through some gimmick.

Swallowers did as it said on the can and were giant versions of the termites like the one that had eaten him before. Jake had a feeling the primary objective of that termite was to bring food deeper into the hive.

Next up, he had the soldiers and workers. Both basic termites and what he killed primarily. Then there were ones that shot acid called Spitters and finally the type he had just killed two of called Queen’s Guards.

*You have slain [Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 181] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*You have slain [Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 183] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

Both were larger versions of the normal termites with wings on their backs. Killing them, Jake knew he was closer to the true heart of the hive, and once he was recuperated, he would head in and explore. The C-grade he felt somewhere below was still a good distance away, so he wouldn’t risk running into that one. But one could still take a peek, right?

With all of these kills came a plethora of cores. The cores these insects gave were not Beastcores, but were instead called Ectognacores.

[Isoptera Queen’s Guard Ectognacore (D-grade)] - An Ectognacore left behind by a D-grade Isoptera Queen’s Guard, containing remnants of its Records within. Can be used as an alchemical ingredient for many types of creations but is most often found in Elixirs.

While the name was different, it was the same shit. Of these cores, Jake now had well over a thousand from slain d-grades. One also had to consider many D-grades didn’t even drop a core, proving just how much of a rampage Jake had gone on.

And such killing had naturally also resulted in levels for Jake’s class.

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 144 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

…

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 149 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

Jake had gained six levels, and while that didn’t seem like a lot, one had to consider how little time total Jake had actually spent killing as well as the relative weakness of his foes. Jake had spent less than three weeks actually slaying things, which was still more than a level every few days. That was good considering how “low risk” this entire thing had been. Shit, the only reason Jake had ever been in trouble was due to his reckless approach due to the hunger and nearly only sticking to melee. That sentiment had begun to change recently as he got lower, and he had a feeling things would be more interesting from here on out.

Now, one could argue the gains in his class were disappointing. Jake wouldn’t even necessarily disagree as a good fight less than an hour long could reward a few levels against a worthy foe. Truthfully, the fights against the termites were not fun either. No, the only true fighting Jake had done was the internal one with the curse, and maybe the most recent one.

But… it wasn’t progress for his class that had been the true gain from this adventure. It was inarguable that what Jake had done was ultimately a transmutation. He had made Eternal Hunger… and the system recognized that with the title and experience.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 139 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

…

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 148 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

Ten levels were gained from transmuting the mythical item. Well, eight of them came from the mythical item, and two of them had come when Jake made it legendary rarity. The many levels in his class and profession naturally resulted in plenty of race levels too.

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 141 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

…

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 148 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

Eight race levels total. Jake had progressed through nearly a tenth of D-grade incredibly swiftly. This was the kind of thing Villy had warned him about doing: grinding out fast levels and making an unstable path. The thing is, that was not what Jake had done at all; in fact, he had probably gained more Records for future growth than experience points and levels.

As mentioned, all of his Free Points had already gone into Agility. All in all, this investment had resulted in Jake getting a lot stronger in every way, and all the levels also naturally meant one other thing… he could now use his cool new pants from the Treasure Hunt.

[Trousers of Second Wind (Ancient)] – A pair of trousers created for a noble son of a King of Blood once upon a time to keep his child alive. The trousers themselves are made of powerful leather of an unknown origin but are incredibly resilient to all kinds of attacks. The enchantments placed upon them only serve to protect the wearer. In a time of emergency, the trousers can trigger a Second Wind, infusing the body with extremely active vital energy to heal wounds. If damaged, the trousers can self-repair by absorbing blood. Enchantments: +300 Toughness, +300 Vitality. Second Wind. Blood Absorption.

Requirements: lvl 145+ in any humanoid race

Jake had put them on already a good while ago and had even used the enchantment once. It was still recharging now, which was fine with him. As for the effect? It was a bit like just consuming an extra health potion except worse in every way. Still, a worse extra health potion was better than no extra health potion.

This meant Jake could now use all the equipment he had gained from the Treasure Hunt, which felt nice. He could also now fully use all the Agility he got from his equipment as his old pants had Agility on them while his new ones didn’t.

He still got 800 Agility from his gear, the second-highest after the 975 in Perception.

Finally, as he sat there and regenerated, he chose to address another elephant in the room he had held off doing anything about.

*Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper profession skills available*

He had waited with it till now through sheer willpower. He could have picked it earlier, but he had waited very purposefully as he wanted to pick it while in a more stable condition. Also… it was honestly hard for him to just sit down and go through the options for long enough to not feel like he was rushing it and just hurried to pick a skill in frustration. After initiation of the process, he had to pick a skill after all.

So, without further ado, it was skill selection time.