The Primal Hunter

No set time for the duel had been decided, so for now, they all just sat and relaxed as they healed. Jake shared his potions liberally, and no one tried to start anything. Silas and two other healers even joined in to help set up a ritual to help everyone regenerate faster.

Maria, as Jake learned she was named, also came over after her body was done being healed by her flames. That is also when Jake became fully aware she was the maker of his current bow and seemed very interested in how he had quote-unquote “fucked it up” with his transmutation.

All-in-all it was all a very good time, with many of the strongest people on Earth just sitting together and chilling. Jake learned that everyone was pretty cool, and it helped a lot that he had his brother sitting beside him to make him feel more comfortable with the entire situation.

He had always been a good brother when it came to social situations with Jake. The kind of guy to deflect topics Jake wanted to not talk about and keep a conversation going, so it didn’t get awkward. Heck, Jake had a long-standing theory that his brother became so good at dealing with people and a teacher from learning to deal with having Jake as a brother.

The humans talked about a wide variety of topics, most prominently the battle with the Monarch and the general state of Earth. It was a bit odd with the Holy Church not present, but perhaps it was for the best. Because a lot of them had some doubts about the large religion’s intentions.

The undead were also all gone besides two random Risen hanging around for a bit before they left to try and find a few more treasures. Even Priscilla had left at some point without Jake even noticing. The same was true for the guy called Sven and all of those people. Honestly, for many factions, this final phase of the Treasure Hunt had just been a complete disaster, and they likely praised themselves for at least getting all their treasures out beforehand.

They also began sharing some things the nominal leaders would perhaps not be happy to see shared during this time. Well, some were just sharing stuff without a care, like Eron, who was excitedly talking with Silas and two other healers about how to better heal people and how everyone should focus more on pure healing and less on all that supportive magic stuff.

Jake didn’t have much to share himself besides some tips on alchemy, but it wasn’t something that could really be taught effectively with their limited time. The Sword Saint didn’t have much either besides a few words of wisdom. Again, one couldn’t really teach others swordsmanship in a few hours. At least not without sparring, and sparring would make the entire restoration process wasted. All of them were dealing with backlash from boosting skills, after all. Well, they were. Jake, right now, was just focusing on restoring his resources.

Speaking of boosting skills. Carmen, who had been blessed by the presence of Sylphie in her lap, turned to Jake as she was allowed to scratch the small hawk.

“You got Limit Break, right? What rarity?” she asked curtly. She, Jake, and the Sword Saint had ended up being left alone as other people spread out and went away from them. Some had left to get more treasure themselves or were just sitting a good distance away.

Jake looked at her, wondering what she was getting it. He had a feeling she already had a good idea as he answered truthfully. “It is, and It’s at rare rarity.”

“I figured,” Carmen said with a smile. “Honestly, that a skill like Limit Break even has a rare rarity is a damn tragedy. It’s basic as fuck. When’d you get it?”

“During the tutorial, so quite a while ago,” Jake once more answered truthfully.

Carmen turned her attention to the Sword Saint. “Hey, your boosting skill is an upgraded version of Limit Break, right? It seems quite a lot better and far more controlled. Really playing into that entire water theme, you got going.”

The Sword Saint simply nodded in acknowledgment.

“What I am trying to say is that you should seriously consider getting that shit upgraded,” Carmen said, turning back to Jake. “I am sure you’ve noticed by now how you can easily handle it even at the “unsafe” level. That unsafe level is where your body is not taking any damage, but with a high enough Toughness, you can push it even beyond the twenty percent. Of course, it would be better to improve and not use stamina so crudely.”

Jake looked at her for a bit, having not expected the unsolicited advice… but he appreciated it anyway.

“What would you recommend I do? I honestly haven’t experimented as much with stamina as I should,” he asked while explaining himself. However, it did feel a bit embarrassing to be called out like that.

“Well, first of all, do you have any other boosting skills interacting within the same archetype?” she asked.

Yeah, he didn’t really get exactly what she meant by that but made a guess. “No, my only real boosting skill is Limit Break. Outside of weapon skills, of course.”

He considered if he should mention his Big Game Arcane Hunter but decided not to as he didn’t think it was the same as Limit Break in any way. Sure, both gave stats, but he still found them very different. Primarily that the Big Game skill didn’t use stamina or any resources for that matter.

“Then you really need it upgraded,” Carmen said with a nod. “Boosting skills like Limit Break are the most fundamental kind there is, which means you can’t get something to fit in the same place. Like… you can’t have two skills that summon wings at the same time, or at least you need some special stuff to make that happen, and stuff like Limit Break is the same. So yeah, if you don’t upgrade it yourself, you need to either waste a skill selection on it to get it upgraded or be stuck with shit.”

Jake nodded along. He got that part. Getting two skills that did the same thing rarely worked. It was like wearing two hats at once or, as Carmen said, trying to summon two wings out of the same place on the body. It just didn’t work, and the system wouldn’t offer a skill to do that by default.

He brought up his current version of the skill and read it over.

[Limit Break (Rare)] - Sometimes, one needs to go above and beyond. Break your limits, temporarily increasing the effect of all stats at the cost of increased stamina consumption. Increase by up to 10% for double stamina consumption. Increase by up to 20% for quadruple stamina consumption, with the hunter afterward entering a state of weakness based on Limit Break duration and magnitude. Increasing by more than 20% will lead to severe consequences.

Jake hadn’t thought much about the skill as it was still good. A 20% boost in all stats was just awesome, and it naturally scaled with him. It was super tiring to use when he first got it, and he sometimes took a bit of damage from overstraining himself. That strain was completely gone by the end of E-grade, and after D-grade, he could use it at both 10% and 20% without any issues. Even the period of weakness was often a short one. This time he had used for well over an hour, and here less than an hour later, all the weakness had left his body.

“Tips for upgrading it or just general tips for stamina usage overall?” Jake asked her. He had seen her fight, and she was clearly quite good at it.

“I am interested too. Also, young lady, if I may ask, you do not possess any mana anymore, do you?” the Sword Saint asked.

“No, I don’t. I made it all into stamina after I reached D-grade,” she shared openly. “Does have some drawbacks, but it also makes all of my stamina more potent and gives me a way bigger pool in return, so totally worth it as I didn’t really do anything with my mana anyway.”

Jake nodded along. That actually made sense in retrospect. He hadn’t detected any mana from her, but he guessed that could just be because she didn’t really use it during combat. That she didn’t have the resource at all hadn’t crossed his mind. He did wonder if it didn’t lead to a lot of problems, but he assumed there were ways around everything. Maybe her stamina worked a bit like mana now when infusing it into items to bind it? Or did she transform it into mana? He knew one could do that.

“Anyway, for stamina use,” Carmen began, as she regarded Jake and the Sword Saint, “have you two done any proper martial arts before the system? Well, you have old man, but how about you?”

“I did archery,” he answered.

“Alright, then those Powershots of yours make way more sense. You know how to properly use your upper-body muscles for shooting a bow, but you are utterly useless how to use your entire body,” she stated. “Limit Break just circulates stamina at a faster pace where it is already going anyway. So it is just brute-forcing a boost, and it is damn ineffective and wasteful.”

Jake once more felt attacked but didn’t really disagree with anything. The way he controlled his stamina during both Infused Powershot and Arcane Powershot was far more effective and controlled than during Limit Break. Limit Break was just him speeding it up and having it go real fast without giving it a second thought. It was a switch he flipped.

“On the other hand, the old man has infused clear intent into his stamina. It is more gentle, probably with some form of water affinity merged into it or at least something mimicking the effects, making it not cause the same toll as it passes and making it flow faster and more naturally. Been told about such an approach before, and it’s a real good one,” Carmen kept explaining.

“Your body is stronger than his, so I would advise you to first refine the basics. Optimize the flow, direct it more, compress it, avoid unnecessary flow, and maybe speed it up a bit; you can then work on more complicated improvements afterward. Find a balance where maybe you lose a bit of health and be fine with it. Just push it to the limits of what you can handle for now. Should get you the Limit Shatter skill, which is just a better version.”

Nodding along, Jake took her words in. The Sword Saint also seemed to be in agreement with what she said as he added: “Recall how your body moves as you battle. The places where the stamina passes are the most important parts and should be focused on. Control the ebb and flow as you master your inner self.”

Mentally taking notes, Jake took it all in. He tried to focus a bit on his internal energy and moved it around his body. He hadn’t really done it much himself outside of using Limit Break, as he quite frankly had some bad memories with doing it still. The first time he tried to freestyle it, he ended up blowing off an arm after all, and full-body stamina control seemed like a good way to make himself pop like a blood balloon. Perhaps that fear was unneeded and mattered more back when his body was far more fragile.

A few hours had passed since the Monarch had ‘died,’ and Jake was more or less fine now besides his still low resources. Hence he was fine doing a bit of experimenting. He activated Limit Break, and the energy began moving. He entered a half-meditative state as Carmen spoke:

“Now focus less on speed and more on control. Make it denser and lead it where you need it most. Focusing on where your muscles and bones are located tends to be the most effective. It may take a while, and moving around while doing it tend to be-

*Skill Upgraded*: [Limit Break (Rare)] --> [Limit Shatter (Epic)]

Jake’s entire body exploded with stamina as the dust around him parted. It felt like his body was faintly tingling, and he noticed how he lost a health point after a few seconds, proving he had struck a balance of sorts.

The people around him just looked at him. Carmen looked weird, the Sword Saint began chuckling, and Sylphie looked like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“That was easier than expected,” Jake commented as he got used to the feeling. It really had been easy. He just activated Limit Break, directed it a bit himself, and then pushed it over 20%. It quickly climbed to 25% and then around 30% before his danger sense tossed him the slightest warnings, making him instantly stop the increase and search for a new equilibrium. He compressed it a bit here and there and took some inspiration from Powershot, and then it just clicked in place. Then again, reaching an equilibrium was something he had gotten quite good at, considering his entire arcane-affinity was created by combining destruction and stability and balancing that.

With that done, he had gotten the notification, and he quickly checked it and saw the expected.

[Limit Shatter (Epic)] – Go above and beyond as you shatter your limits. Elevate yourself, temporarily increasing the effect of all stats at the cost of increased stamina consumption and straining your body. Increase by up to 15% for triple stamina consumption. Increase by up to 30% for six times stamina consumption, with the hunter beginning to take damage that worsens with prolonged use and makes you enter a state of weakness based on Limit Shatter duration and magnitude afterward. Increasing by more than 30% will lead to severe consequences.

Carmen kept looking at him for a moment. “Honestly? Fuck you.”

“What?” Jake asked, confused.

“Just…” Carmen looked more grumpy than usual. “It normally takes just a tiny bit longer, but fine, I guess it’s to be expected of the oh-my-god-he-is-so-cool Chosen one.”

“Sorry?” Jake awkwardly apologized.

“No need to apologize, the vice of others is no fault of yours,” the Sword Saint said, getting a glare from Carmen. “I do not doubt your body had already acclimated to the state of Limit Break long ago, making you prime for an upgrade. Often merely bringing attention to a blind spot is all it takes to get the final push when one is already at the precipice of enlightenment - only a slight nudge all that is needed for a major breakthrough. It is like this everywhere.”

That last one saved it a bit, as Carmen nodded as she agreed. “Yeah, I guess you were pretty much on the crux of the upgrade anyway.”

“Still, I owe you one,” Jake promised.

“I may just hold you to that. I do have a certain something I could use a hunter for,” Carmen said, not willing to share more there and then.

They kept talking a bit more, sharing things that could potentially help the others. Jake even came with a few pieces of advice on things like mana control and even the application of Willpower through most of one’s actions. Sadly, he really didn’t have much to teach about his combat-related skills as all of it was just a bit too unique and suited to him specifically. It was all so heavily rooted in his bloodline, and it was hard to tell someone that the best way to dodge an incoming weapon was to just not think about dodging it and just let your body react instinctively.

Especially Carmen wanted some tips, as while she was happy tanking blows from most opponents, then in cases like when she was fighting against Monarch, she really had to dodge them. Jake just said that it wasn’t something he could really share as it was an ability he couldn’t teach anyone. Both she and the Sword Saint took his word for it.

As they got talking, the Sword Saint asked Jake about his weapon that had broken during the fight. Jake took out the remaining pieces of the Nanoblade, the handle and most of it still intact, but the blade itself broken. It sucked for sure, and he hoped Arnold could help him fix it. He really liked it.

“Do you not need a second weapon?” the Sword Saint asked. “You could simply use one of the Count weapons, could you not?”

“I guess I could,” Jake agreed. It didn’t feel as good as the Nanoblade, and it wasn’t like Jake needed to dual-wield as having a hand free for magic and other uses was quite handy, but he did also like two weapons.

He took out the Count weapon he had fused from three of the rare weapons to get a feeling for it in his hand. The Sword Saint and Carmen both looked at it before Carmen commented:

“Why haven’t you fused all nine of them yet?”

Jake was about to answer that he could always do that later until he Identified it out of habit and saw that last clause.

[Count’s Vampiric Transforming Blade (Epic)] – A weapon created fusing three weapons wielded by Counts of Blood, all of which have been soaked in the blood of countless enemies throughout the ages. Crafted using a special type of steel, the blade can absorb the lifeforce of vitality-based lifeforms to repair itself. The combined Records of the three weapons have allowed the blade to evolve and transform even further, allowing it to steal a portion of the lifeforce of anyone injured as well as change form between a sword, a dagger, and a rapier. This blade was originally crafted in a set of nine using the unique environment of the hidden world and can absorb the weapons of other Counts of Blood to enhance itself. Three have now been fused, and six remain. Note this functionality is only available within the Treasure Hunt area and will disappear once the event concludes. Enchantments: Hemoabsorbant Self-Repair. Vampiric Weapon. Transformation.

Requirements: lvl 130+ in any humanoid race.

It could only be done within the Treasure Hunt area.

Jake looked at the Sword Saint and saw the old man look away, showing the faintest level of embarrassment.

“Well, because we wanted to fuse it after regenerating a bit, and-“

“You forgot?” she asked, looking between Jake and the old man who still stayed silent.

“Yeah…”

“…”

Anyway, weapon fusion time!