The Primal Hunter

Chapter 1388 - Sharpened Fangs

Jake easily stepped to the side, avoiding the sluggish swing from his opponent as he had most of his focus on the katar in his hand, carefully watching it and the energy surrounding the blade. The metal knight tried to do a follow-up attack, but its movements had significantly slowed down compared to the start of the fight.

This was another way to defeat an opponent with overwhelming defenses: tire them out. Sure, it would still be annoying to finish a tired tank off, but they were definitely less durable when their resources were depleted, and several passive skills that worked off stamina would slowly stop functioning.

To Jake, the metal knight getting tired wasn’t a good thing, though, but more of an annoyance, as he wanted at least a little bit of pressure to help him focus. Alas, his opponent couldn’t really put up much resistance anymore, and looking at it, he also doubted it would survive much longer.

Cracks covered the Silver Knight of Abundance from head to toe, with several semi-deep stab wounds here and there from Jake testing out his in-progress skill upgrade. In retrospect, it was good that this was essentially a mindless golem, as he would have felt bad for treating a sentient being like a test dummy like this. Then again, if his opponent had been sentient, they would have tried to run away or given up a long time ago.

Still, Jake believed in his opponent and its ability to survive long enough for Jake to finish what he’d started. Despite the many cracks covering the knight’s body, it remained incredibly sturdy, still making it worthy of being his test subject. He had gotten close to piercing all the way to the handle several times already, but not once had he gotten all the way, as he incrementally improved his application of arcane energy.

Watching his katar, arcane energy constantly moved on the edge, revolving at incredibly high speeds, almost akin to that of a drill. He’d taken some inspiration from others, such as Sylphie and even the Sword Saint, with how they performed their piercing blows. Adding a spinning movement to something in order to make it pierce through things wasn’t anything new, especially now with magic involved.

Of course, Jake hadn’t done anything as simple as just making mana spin quickly around his katar’s edge. Instead, he made the arcane energy spin down the edge, almost like a spiral, without adding anything on top of the blade. The energy clung to the blade itself, almost making it seem as if the physical blade was the one spinning at incredibly high speeds, even when it remained unmoving.

The result was that whenever Jake stabbed, rather than leaving knife-like wounds, it left circular ruptures... almost akin to those left by an actual fang from a monster. He found that this not only made the skill resonate better with Fangs of Man but also enhanced its penetrative power.

After refining the movements of the arcane mana a little more, Jake moved in for another stab. He dodged under a sword swing and punched the large Silver Knight of Abundance in its abdomen, closely feeling the impact as he did so. The arcane energy broke apart as he hit his opponent, and his blade barely left a scratch, but Jake nodded as he understood something.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

He pulled back his weapon and retreated, preparing yet another attack. Ten seconds later, he moved in once more, landing another stab which failed but still made him progress. He continued doing this a few more times before suddenly everything seemed to fall into place.

Looking at his katar, he saw that the arcane energy made the blade itself shimmer in a circular pattern, the energy very unassuming. He could feel its potential, though, as he moved in for what he already felt would be his final strike before it landed. The notification also came just before he struck the knight in the chest.

[Rupturing Arcane Fang (Epic)]”>Skill upgraded: [Piercing Cursed Arcane Fang (Rare)] --> [Rupturing Arcane Fang (Epic)]

His katar penetrated all the way to the base, the weapon leaving a circular hole the width of the blade where he’d struck. Smiling, Jake didn’t hesitate as he activated the Venom Burst function of Fangs of the Malefic Viper, making his katar explode with toxic energy that instantly flooded the knight from within.

Despite not having any flesh and blood, the Silver Knight of Abundance did still have a Soulshape and was considered “alive,” and as long as that was the case, his toxins would find something to latch onto.

The many cracks on the knight started turning dark green; the poison overwhelming the already significantly weakened creature quickly. It tried to swing one last time, but mid-swing, its arm fell off, after which the rest of its body crumbled into metal that quickly turned dark, losing its silver luster from the toxins.

You have slain [Silver Knight of Abundance: lvl 400]: Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level

Smiling, Jake was very satisfied as he prepared to check out his new skill, but he noticed that he’d gotten another notification after the one confirming the kill… one he hadn’t expected to see at all

’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of the Boundless Horizon] has reached level 353 - Stat points allocated, +125 Free Points

Levels in B-grade felt so few and far between, which was probably why Jake had not at all expected to see one. Especially not with this being a simulation and all, meaning true danger didn’t even exist.

Then again, he had killed a lot of things since his last level, including his hunting with Sandy and Jasper, where he killed a lot of “bosses” to steal loot, and who knows, maybe he’d even gotten some experience from all the thievery. He didn’t think he had, but who knows?

Anyway, Jake wasn’t going to say no to a good thing, and after feeling happy about his skill upgrade for a couple of seconds, he checked out the skill upgrade he’d actually wanted to study.

[Rupturing Arcane Fang (Epic)]: A fang of arcane energy, designed with the sole purpose of tearing through the defenses of one’s foe and biting into their body. Allows you to unleash a thrusting strike of rupturing arcane energy, significantly increasing penetrative power and damage done. Damage and penetrative effect are enormously increased if the weapon is benefiting from Fang of Man. Adds a bonus to the effect of Agility, Strength, and Intelligence when using Rupturing Arcane Fang.

Very rarely did one get a skill upgrade that made the description shorter, but in this case, Jake had accomplished it by “cleaning” up his Arcane Fang skill. He’d gotten rid of all the lingering attachments to dark energy, the curse aspect, and pretty much everything else that didn’t need to be there for the skill to fulfill the very basic function of being a strong, straightforward stab.

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He was also happy to see that the skill was working even better with Fangs of Man now, just as he’d hoped and expected it to. It also didn’t have any special synergy with Eternal Hunger anymore and had, in nearly all aspects, become a simpler skill. The only place it had increased in complexity was in the domain of concepts.

The nomological nature of concepts made it difficult for Jake to even fully understand how they worked himself, but all he knew was that he felt the conceptual power had significantly increased, especially in regard to enhancing its penetrative effect.

There were some downsides to its simplicity, though. One of them was that the skill remained somewhat difficult to use. It only worked with straightforward thrusting strikes and was a very predictable skill. Also, when it hit, frankly, Jake didn’t see it do much damage. Sure, he could leave a nasty wound, but even if he stabbed a B-grade through the skull, if the only reason he made it through the bone was due to the skill being hyper-specialized in piercing, it wouldn’t actually do that much damage. Okay, it would do a lot of damage, but compared to an attack that penetrated because of the raw power behind it, not as much.

This downside didn’t matter to Jake, though, as all he cared about was making his way through his opponent’s defenses. Once inside, the poison would do the rest of the work, and whatever damage Rupturing Arcane Fang couldn’t do on its own, a follow-up Venom Burst would surely make up for.

Very satisfied with his little skill upgrade, Jake turned his attention back to the hallway outside once more, honestly a little surprised that no one had made their way to him and disturbed his experimentation. Then again, the elementals he’d spotted did seem busy, and no one else had arrived yet despite more than an hour passing since Jake had intuited his way through an archway portal.

The Specters of Abundance still filled the air, but after he’d destroyed the Silver Knight of Abundance, none of them had made any moves to possess any of the other many objects in the room that could totally serve as a vessel. He guessed killing the knight had made the room “safe,” though he wasn’t sure the same would be true for the hallway outside.

Ten seconds later, he confirmed it indeed wasn’t.

On the wall was a mural of some lion-like animal, and just as Jake entered the hallway, a bunch of ghosts flooded towards it, possessing it. The two-dimensional creature somehow crawled out of the wall, appearing as a fully three-dimensional monster as Jake just stood there, watching it emerge with interest. Using Identify, Jake wasn’t very impressed, though.

[Beast of Abundance: lvl 372]

The nearly fifteen-meter-tall massive beast charged towards him, but Jake easily stepped to the side and didn’t even bother engaging it. He hadn’t gotten any rewards from killing the Silver Knight of Abundance, so he doubted this thing would drop anything, making him decide dismantling it was a waste of time.

Thus, after he dodged and blasted it into the room he’d just come from, Jake took off down the hallway, having clearly agitated the many Specters of Abundance quite a bit. The golden ghosts that floated everywhere regarded him with malice and began flying down to possess the floor and walls ahead of him, making the entire hallway warp as if it were trying to close around him.

Still not interested, Jake used One Step and teleported ahead of the rapidly closing hallway, passing through right before the entire space snapped shut. Through his sphere, he saw the Beast of Abundance beneath him turn to dust as it disappeared, unleashing the Specters of Abundance, which simply started floating in the air, having seemingly forgotten all about Jake’s existence.

The hallway also returned to normal within a few seconds, all aggression towards Jake gone after the Beast of Abundance had been dispelled. Jake was surprised that getting away had been that easy, and he was totally ready for a smooth ride until he reached the throne room. Yeah, not that easy. Not even five seconds later, another set of specters gave him an angry look as they all flew down into a large tile that began warping, forming the faintly humanoid shape of an elemental. A creature Jake naturally used Identify on.

[Elemental of Abundance: lvl 377]

Would it surprise anyone that a creature born from a massive floor tile wasn’t very fast? Because it wasn’t, and Jake easily slipped by it, not even finding it worthy of him potentially considering pushing that Penetrating Arrow skill up a rarity. Or just a same-rarity upgrade. Either way, he doubted the mutated floor tile could even survive some surface-level experimentation, so he quickly left it in the dust.

This happened several more times as Jake didn’t care to stop for any of the Specters of Abundance’s shenanigans, allowing him to quickly progress down the long hallways within the Palace of Abundance. As could only be expected, he soon spotted someone moving ahead, currently busy fighting a Beast of Abundance in the middle of the hallway.

Could Jake stop to help? Sure, but he could also just keep running instead of wasting his time for no reason. The elementals that had been with Sylphie and Wintermaul were all okay-ish, but none of them had caught his eye, and quite frankly, he saw no reason to help them progress through this event faster. They were still competitors, even though he had helped Wintermaul out once.

It seemed that the elemental, which currently fought in the form of a deer made of light and lightning, hadn’t considered Jake a potential helper either, as he practically felt the fear from the monster when he approached, as well as the utter relief when he passed by without engaging. Evidently, the elemental’s first thought hadn’t been that Jake could be a great help, but that it hoped he wouldn’t decide to dispose of a potential competitor.

Over the next twenty minutes, Jake passed by another two elementals before finally encountering someone he hadn’t helped enter this stage of the event. It was a single beast that was using some kind of stealth skill to sneak through the hallway, making good progress as none of the Specters of Abundance seemed to notice him or her, which genuinely baffled Jake.

His Unseen Hunter didn’t work against the Specters of Abundance, as they always detected him when he got too close, and once one noticed him, all of them seemed to. Which also meant reactivating the skill was borderline impossible, ultimately leading Jake to forgo it.

This meant that whatever skill this beast used surpassed Jake’s Unseen Hunter, which was pretty damn impressive. It looked like a panther, leopard, or something, sneaking along the ground at a quick pace. As Jake approached, not trying to hide, the cat naturally detected him and froze in place. While Jake couldn’t be entirely certain, he was pretty sure the beast used something to make themselves extra stealthy, hoping that Jake would pass by without noticing.

Jake didn’t acknowledge the existence of the monster as he passed by, making no indication that the cat had been detected. Everyone he passed that day seemed relieved by that fact, and he couldn’t resist spinning around mid-air as he sent a quick telepathic message back to the frozen cat.

“Nice stealth skills,” Jake sent before quickly facing forwards again, unable to hold back a grin as he saw the large cat shiver upon realizing Jake had definitely seen through their stealth skill immediately.

He did wonder how the cat had even made its way through the portal archways, though he wasn’t curious enough to stop and ask. He wasn’t even sure there was only one of those rooms with archways, or if there were other entrances to the Palace of Abundance he simply hadn’t known about. Sure, it said one had to enter through the Gate of Abundance, but it wasn’t impossible for there to be alternate paths still.

Jake still didn’t believe there were many: if any: people ahead of him or the others he’d helped enter the Palace of Abundance, but chances were he’d find out soon, as it didn’t take long before he spotted a large golden gate in the distance that had another empty void behind it, indicating yet another portal.

Hopefully, one that would lead to the throne room, though at this point, the floor plan of the palace was already a bloody mess, so it was truly a mystery where he’d end up as he reached the gate and placed his hand on it.

No matter what stage was next, he was ready to face it with his newly sharpened fangs and a strong desire to finally encounter a proper opponent, as he seriously hoped the system event would soon encourage some proper Administrator versus Administrator combat.