The Primal Hunter's
Loot

Jake considers taking a short trip to clear all the blood, but decides not to. Chances are, he will get dirty again from all the battles one way or another. He instead took out his bow, which he dropped during a fight with a horde of badgers.

He started looking for more prey to hunt. While walking, he also conjured more arrows to fill his tube. He didn't know what he would do if he didn't have this magic tube. He imagined having to make each arrow manually and shivered thinking about it.

While walking, he got an idea that might help ease his problem in finding prey. To find something to hunt and get a good view of his surroundings, he found the largest tree he could. The object easily exceeded 80 meters and towered above the nearby trees.

The climb itself was easy. The statistics have made Jake's grip strength strong enough that he can grab small imperfections in the rough skin and easily climb. It took him a few minutes as he finally reached the top of the tree line around the tree and activated his Archer's Eye.

His vision became sharper, and he looked around him. He could see the place where they had originally entered the tutorial, and in the distance, he still saw a vast wall. His suspicion that this entire place was a sphere was only strengthened because his now even better vision allowed him to see details that he could not see before.

The curvature of the wall in the distance is slight but noticeable. That's a bow for sure. Jake could not see the base or the top of the wall properly, but if his guesses about the ball's design were correct, they would naturally extend into the sky.

After looking further, he saw something glittering on a tree several hundred meters away from him. It was slightly above the level of his eyes and was on one of the other super tall trees, which was even larger than the one he was sitting on at the moment. He was almost 70 meters above at the moment, and this glittering object was probably 100 meters above.

Regardless of the effectiveness of his Archer Eyes, he could not see what it was, only increasing his curiosity. He decided to descend from the tree and head to an even higher tree with that sparkling thing. Who doesn't like shiny things, right?

On the way, he met a small group of deer, all level 7, which he easily killed. Again, not getting a level. The only thing he got was a little TP and even more blood in his body so he couldn't even bother washing it.

He quickly reached the tree, and once again, began to climb. It went quite easy as before, as he got further and further up. He kept looking at the bark as he got up, looking for what had reflected the light.

Finally, he saw what looked like a hole in the tree trunk above him. When he got there, he saw that the hole was more than enough for him to climb up. After all, the tree was extremely large, having a diameter above five meters. When he got into the hole, he finally saw what was returning the light.

A shining box of bronze or brass with a beautiful jewel decoration was sitting on a small wooden stage. The hole was far from large enough for Jake to stand, but he could still crawl. Before he crawled into the box, he focused on his Perception Scope and looked for possible traps.

You might call it too paranoid, but Jake feels a bit suspicious about the jewel boxes found in giant trees. But his suspicions were unfounded as he saw nothing that showed traps or fraudulent games. It was just a very normal jewel box inside a very normal tree hole. He was unable to see what was inside the box even with his ball, and quickly discovered the reason as he used Identification on it:

[Magic Gem Key Box (Rarely)] – Magic key box created by a bewitched system with the ability to block all kinds of attempts to peek inside before opening.

He almost sensed that the part about blocking the spy was aimed directly at him. Sorry for having perception skills that are everywhere, I guess?

The box was able to block it and it seemed to be created by the system. It was also the first rare item he had encountered since entering the tutorial. It was the highest level of scarcity he had seen so far everywhere; everything else was the most common - scarcity. Well, it ignored his bloodline abilities and translation skills, which had no rarity rating other than just being unique.

His suspicion of the box was reduced, but he was still somewhat unsure if the box was safe to open. Then again, unless that system just becomes the complete *****, he sees no reason for a very powerful entity to leave the killer box in the tutorial. Even though it could be a copycat? Everyone likes to imitate, right? I hope it's not a copy.

While the tutorial is not good in any way, it seems to have a sense of justice. Like animals that do not hunt at night, abundant water, and animals that can be eaten. Ferocious beasts were also all relatively passive, only really attacking if you attacked them first.

After deciding to take the plunge, he crawled into the box and found that it had no keys, even though it was called a lockbox. Only a small mechanism you can turn to open it. He opened the box, once again being careful of what was found inside.

And what he found inside was a pair of leather bracelets. They seemed to be made of extremely high quality leather, and he quickly identified it.

[Skin Braceer of Novice Rogue (Rare)] – Pair of bracer made of fine leather, originally designed for new initiation in the Umbra Order. Charm: Self Improvement. +5 agility, +3 strength. Increase the effectiveness of all stealth skills, further strengthened while remaining hidden behind shadows.

Requirements: Lvl 5+ in all classes or humanoid races. Demon based skills.

Well, if it's not something, Jake thought happily reading the item description. Although he did not know what the Order of Umbra was or anything else, the bonuses for his stats and silhouettes were more than welcome. Also, the fact that they seem to be able to improve themselves is very cool.

But the fact that such equipment exists hidden in this forest is a great discovery. So far, Jake hasn't looked for things like a lockbox with its perception scope, which despite being passively active at all times, does, it didn't really make him notice anything that didn't move unless he was purposely looking for it.

He could have gone through some lockbox like that. Or maybe not. None of the other humans he had encountered so far had equipment not provided during the introduction, so such a lockbox was likely not just lying around.

Jake retrieves the bracelet from the lockbox, and as soon as he holds it, it slowly sinks into the wooden platform. He could see that the box was not really fused with the tree with his ball; it just disappeared. When the last part of the box sank into the wood, all the former containers that once existed vanished with it. Very similar to what happened with the giant pillar at the beginning of the tutorial.

He wears a bracelet, finding it relatively easy. His skin was strong, much sturdier than any other material he had ever seen with such flexibility. He might even be able to block swords and daggers with them, as their cutting resistance looked incredible.

After fully equipping them, he didn't really feel any different. He tried to tamper with them a little, making sure they were tied up properly and everything. As he began to wonder if they were broken or he did not meet the requirements to equip them, he got the idea to inject mana into the braces like he did with his arrow tube.

The response came instantly. Jake felt his mana flow into the bracelet completely unimpeded and immediately felt a warm stream all over his body, similar to the time he leveled up. He felt strength and especially agility as the 5 additional stats were no small matter at this stage. That's more statistics than the level in his class.

Taking his dagger, he tried to cut his bracelet, finding a slight looseness. What he found, however, was a small mark he made on the bracelet that quickly disappeared in just a few seconds. That repair function seemed to be useful, as he had absolutely no experience in taking care of his equipment.

This could also be seen as his dagger was a little blunt compared to the start, but the dagger remained sharp enough to kill a savage beast. He's got a feeling they'll soon start to get boring, though.

He could have spent more time experimenting with how exactly the equipment worked with the system, but he was much more interested in testing its effects in combat. He could do things like that later. Right now, he was looking for a fight.

After a short walk that was faster than his pre-tutorial peak sprint speed, he arrived at the hill where he saw a savage beast. This is a different. They look like hairless rodents or rats or something. Molerate maybe? After all, they were as ugly as sin.

Their frightening appearance was only exacerbated by their size. The beast is big. Not as big as a dog, but as big as a pony. Although they have four legs, they are almost as high as Jake's eyes. Checking them, he was not too surprised.

[??? – lvl 10]

[??? – lvl 10]

There were only two of them, but both were level 10. Same level as the big boar. But he's different from the one he used to be. He had levelled up a lot, and he even had a new bracer that increased his offensive power significantly.

These rats had a weak defense at their initial assessment, which made them confident in facing them. Even if he could not kill the two, killing one and then escaping would also be a waste.

But more than any logical justification, he just wanted to fight them. Hunting doesn't have to be completely unbalanced to be interesting.

He decided to be a little more tactical as he climbed a tree nearby. The two rats were both on the hill, just lazing. He could attack them on the hill, but if he decided to run, they would chase him down the slope, which seemed like a bad idea for some reason.

Instead, he would bombard them from the tree and force them to come to him.

After finding a suitable tree, he climbed it and took a position. It was likely that they could climb a tree, so he decided on a place where he could also easily shoot down a tree trunk if they followed him.

He pulled out an arrow and pulled his bow. He directed his shot and waited for the person closest to him to stop moving. Finding his chance, he released an arrow and saw it flying properly, hitting the side of the rat's head, penetrating all the way to the brain as he hit his ear canal. He was quite proud of that one.

The beast screeched in a voice far louder than anything he had ever heard before. It was loud enough to make his ears ring, as he missed his second arrow from feeling a little dizzy. The molerat-things he had hit in the brain earlier somehow started rushing towards him with his friend but was unable to walk properly, as it continued to stumble and create seizures. It ended up falling by itself as it started to just scratch the ground.

However, Jake doesn't have much time to think because the unharmed mole is still approaching, leaving his writhing friend. He managed to control his dizziness as he shot another arrow, hitting the previously undamaged savage beast on his back.

The mole only hisses slightly as it reaches the tree, pulls its claws into the wood, and begins to climb with a small leap. Jake pointed his bow in that direction and shot clearly into the trunk. When the beast climbed with his head first, he managed to hit the side of his head.

What followed was another loud scream; this one, however much closer to him. The pain was overwhelming as he lost all his hearing, and he felt blood dripping from his ears. All of his senses were completely thrown off, and he almost tripped and fell down from the tree.

However, he managed to stabilize himself, as his sense of danger invaded. The beast was just about to bite his leg, as he managed to grab the branch above him, raising his leg. The beast was about to bite him once more as he turned around and kicked him into his ugly cup.

The rat made another scream as it lost its grip on the tree and fell down. Jake was somehow grateful that his eardrum had broken because he couldn't hear this scream. He could still feel the tremors in the air from it, though, showing just how ridiculous it was.

The beast landed quite hard on the ground, and the matter of those overly large rats grew worse as the arrow once again hit it. He tries to get up and climb the tree again, but Jake keeps shooting arrows at him every time he tries, making him fall back, many times.

After a while, the beast ran out of strength and fainted. It still made small movements but seemed unable to get back up.

He then turned his attention to the rat he first shot. He hasn't gotten a murder notification, so he knows it's still alive.

What he saw was a ferocious beast clawing at the ground around him, still trying to get close to him. It was walking like a drunken stunt. Jake suspects that he has managed to hit the animal's brain in a place of considerable importance, but not in a place important enough to kill it. He felt a hint of pity as he shot more arrows at him.

After he shoots the couple, he gets a notification from the others who end up bleeding under him. Less than half a minute later, the others also died.

*You have killed [Molerate Screecher – lvl 10] – Experience bonuses gained for killing enemies above your level. 500 TP obtained*

*You have killed [Molerate Screecher – lvl 10] – Experience bonuses gained for killing enemies above your level. 500 TP obtained*

*'DING!' grade: [Archer] has reached level 9 - Allotted stat points, +1 free points*

He let out a sigh of relief as he finally reached the level. The name of the rat was not surprising and also had more talent than the lower level mice. 500 TP was also not the 512 he expected if the double-TP-every-level hypothesis was correct, meaning that unfortunately there would be no level 30 monsters killing millions of TP.

He was now convinced that something was happening at level 10 to make a savage beast significantly stronger. These large wild boars and rats were much stronger than a level 9 ferocious beast. Their stats were at least higher by a considerable margin.

Jake sat on the ground to relax for now, as he let his ears heal. He at least hoped they would recover. His health points were barely dented, so drinking a healing potion would be useless. After just a few minutes of relaxing, he heard something erupt, and the voice once again returned to his world.

He smiled at the miracle of vitality as he descended from the tree. There is no time to waste sitting around doing nothing. Time is of the essence and all that. After all, there were more ferocious beasts to hunt, and from his recent discovery, there were also loot items to be found.