The Primal Hunter's
Enjoying Life

Jake was never a big salad fan. He could make cucumbers, tomatoes, and a little lettuce in a burger here and there, but just the thought of living off a salad alone was already terrible for him. One must understand why he did not find his current food the most pleasant with that thought.

He was currently sitting in the library, with the bowl in front of him filled with water and moss. He had tried to eat the moss, but to be honest it was disgusting. Not the taste, it's fine, but the texture and the rest of the flavor from the dirt.

Instead, he plucked it, rinsed it with water, and used a cleaned mixing bowl to eat. It was a soup that looked rather disgusting. He didn't even have a spoon, so he had to use his hands to eat it.

However, the torturous food was acceptable by the feeling of knowledge and improvement from eating it. It was the same as the Flyeater Mushroom, although he made sure to control himself and not overeat.

After his incredible meal, he returned to making potions. He began to alternate between health potions and mana to break the monotony. Not that it means so much. He also considered whether he should try to make a stamina potion, but according to the book, it was much more difficult than health and mana. And not a little bit either.

Stamina potions are basically a mixture of health and mana from a methodological point of view. To be honest, the explanation of the book was quite gruesome, and Jake had no desire to try it at this moment.

One good thing about his increased wisdom is that he no longer needs to take notes. Now, he could easily remember everything. It was a bit strange and a little scary when he thought about it more deeply. He did not feel anything immediately, even when gaining a lot of wisdom at once, but it changed him without a doubt.

He already knew that the system could directly impart knowledge, and it could obviously also improve memory. Jake has always had a relatively good memory, but now he can remember the page numbers where everything is in his alchemy book.

And if that system can impart knowledge and make its memory much better, what it can say cannot change something more fundamental. His intelligence stat had also increased quite a lot, but he did not feel anything directly from it. Something he was still unsure of whether it was convincing or worrying.

What could be said was that his improved mental stats did not make some fundamental changes to his already existing self. Would you even realize if it happened?

For some reason, he found his bloodline to be much less frightening, although it was clearly the thing introduced by the system that affected him the most. But he realized he did. He had allowed his bloodline to affect him; he had allowed his heightened instincts to take over during times of danger. In essence, he felt his lineage did not change him, but merely gave rise to who he was in a more basic form and instinct.

But in the end, are such existential concerns important in the grand scheme of things? If he had been changed, he wouldn't have known. He remembers Descartes saying: “Cogito, ergo sum; I thought, then I was,” and he no doubt thought too much, so he must have been in his own mind. Also, damn the extra wisdom that makes him remember random quotes.

Forget the tangent, go back to the potion. Jake needs to fill the barrels of clean water a few times, but after eating, he has to do it again. Somewhat crazy he could carry a barrel full of water. It was with some difficulty, but it still clearly showed that his strength had reached the superhuman level. Especially considering the difficulty mainly comes from how heavy the barrel is.

After filling the barrels and cleaning the bowl after the mossy meal, he immediately jumped back into it - the entire day of mixing in front of him.

William walked through the forest, alone as he always had. Richard's been a little annoying these past few days, but it's not time yet. The man still has time to develop. William also still needed it, or rather, what his grave could offer.

The teenager smiled as he looked at the group of big bullies. He knew these things had some annoying sound attacks that were painful, but they were weak enough to survive.

He took out his wand, an item he found within the first few hours after he arrived here. He had been with a group of nine others, just like everyone else seemed to have.

He doesn't know who any of them are. But then again, he also did not know too many people before the tutorial. His parents and psychiatrist were mainly. Oh, and the workers in the middle, but they're all big assholes.

Although let's be fair, almost everyone is wasting space. Everyone is either obnoxious, pretentious, or just plain old obnoxious. So, William always prefers activities where nothing bothers him.

Looking at the persecutors, he knew that he had to wait for the right time to attack. And he will attack hard. Admiring the stick that made all this possible once again, she grew even happier.

[Ferroras Extraordinary Wand (Rarely)] – A stick made by followers of Ferroras, the God of Iron. The stick was made of a special type of iron, found only in rich areas of mana. Deliver ability: [Metal Manipulation (Rarely)].

Requirements: Level 5 in any class or race. Metal affinity.

This wand had been his bread and his mane ever since he arrived here, due to the skill attached to it. He found a box while he was bathing in the lake after seeing something glittering at its base. Diving down, he had found this stick. He was a bit sad because he couldn't use it right away. He needed several levels, first using the monstrous mana bolts. When he finally reached level 5, he could use a stick and see his abilities.

[Metal Manipulation (Rare)] – Allows to control metal objects by spending mana. These skills are under elemental manipulation, a brand of magic prevalent throughout the multiverse. Added a small bonus to the Metal Manipulation effect based on intelligence.

Along with the many daggers he carried in his robe, this skill allowed him to dominate almost everything he encountered. His only drawback was the lack of healing beyond health potions, which was why he even bothered Richard and his group. Oh, and his mana consumption is high in battle, but he is sure it will get better with time.

His thought process was interrupted as he saw an opportunity to attack. The persecutors had jumped over a group of badgers, allowing William to also move.

Focusing, he raised his staff as seven daggers flew out of his robe, towards the nearest rat. Their speed and strength were much stronger than if he threw them away just like that. The dagger hit the rat on his head, cutting it into pieces.

Before the other mice could figure out what had happened, the daggers spread out, hitting three other people in their throats before they had a chance to squeal.

The rats let out a gurgling sound as they charged towards him. Lifting his staff, he cast a spell on the ground as a metal board appeared before him, blocking the rat's attack and blurring their view. At the same time, he lifted himself up from the ground as he shot backwards.

After killing a medium soldier, he started wearing the breastplate he had snatched from the man. Hidden behind his cloak. Although it was very expensive to lift his entire body off the ground, it gave him excellent mobility. As he dodged, blocking the rat with the metal barrier, and the dagger pierced through the rat repeatedly, he felt extremely overwhelming.

The moment his mana began to become very low, the last molerate fell to the ground, never moving again. Checking his notifications, he was happy to get another level.

*You have killed [Molerate Screecher – lvl 14] – Experience bonuses gained for killing enemies above your level. 1500 TP obtained*

*You have killed [Molerate Screecher – lvl 16] – Experience bonuses gained for killing enemies above your level. 2000 TP obtained*

*You have killed [Molerate Screecher – lvl 16] – Experience bonuses gained for killing enemies above your level. 2000 TP obtained*

*You have killed [Molerate Screecher – lvl 15] – Experience bonuses gained for killing enemies above your level. 1750 TP obtained*

*'DING!' Class: [Caster] has reached level 17 - Allotted stat points, +1 free points*

Finding a high-level beast was still somewhat complicated, in his opinion. He had killed 20+ good beasts above level 14 to rise from level 16 to 17. Richard continued to refuse to go any further into the forest, which made William crave some sort of healing skill at level 20.

At level 5, he obtained [Basic Stealth(Inferior)], at 10 [Conjure Iron Wall (Common)], and at 15 [Metallic Sight (Rarely)]. Iron Wall was a skill he had used in his previous battles, and the metal scene was a passive skill that allowed his entire style. It allowed William to 'see' through the metal he was manipulating, letting his flying dagger act as a completely annoying, yet still usable eye.

It wasn't that it made the skill monstrous by any means; it was just annoying that he couldn't get a soldier to cut off his own head with his sword. Oh, or make an archer's arrow hit itself 180 degrees. However, the saddest thing was his inability to lift medium or heavy warriors and destroy them again, or perhaps use them as life-destroying balls.

The skill was also quite mentally exhausting. When he first got it at level 5, he could only control two daggers at once, and lifting even a set of armor was challenging. Now, he could do the seven daggers comfortably but could push him to 8 in an emergency, although that would hurt his versatility in using the iron walls and his own movements.

His skill was amazingly good in open combat, but he felt it worked better at killing silently. Taking Basic Stealth was a lucky coincidence.

The group of 10 people who came with him were filled with ordinary nonsense - pretentious idiots who kept talking about nonsense. None of them understood that things had changed. No, they are just background characters - food that is not important to a true player in this new world.

This new reality is definitely a game made real. William has enjoyed games and books all his life. He understands the genre. One should embrace the system, play it if possible, but instead, follow its rules and abuse it to its maximum potential. It's all about min-maxing.

Yet those fools keep talking about working together, staying safe, finding other humans, and finding a place to crouch down for the entire tutorial. Don't they understand that this is a golden opportunity? This tutorial is an easy starting area that will give someone a kickstart before entering the actual game.

William is not a delusional idiot who believes the world is fake. It's obviously real. Real, but still a game. That is why he decided to think of it as an ultra-realistic virtual reality MMORPG with permadeath. So far, he has never been proven wrong in that assumption.

His initial group of ten quickly outlived their usefulness because the only useful person, a healer, eventually died of their own stupidity. A light warrior had also died, so William graciously offered to bring his dagger if anyone needed it later. The first fight after he reached level 5, one of the other casters died suspiciously, stabbed in the back of the neck by a dagger.

But the dear William had been standing right beside the archer leading their group, so there was no way it was him. With the seeds of discord planted, he managed to easily break up the group. A little talk here and there about how the third caster asked for one of the daggers he had brought before, and then found it in the caster's bag just sealed the deal.

It was like playing around with stupid NPCs in a well-made game. It took him only a few hours to kill them all; no one suspected the little teenager and was terrified of it. Well, except for the archer at the end, who in his last moments seemed to finally be able to see right through him. Not surprisingly, considering they were the last two people still alive.

The idiot shouted some vulgar foul words before he too died.

Looking back, that first day was, without a doubt, the best in William's 19 years of life. Everyone has always treated him like trash all his life, no one has ever gotten it . The worst part was that some of them even thought something was wrong with him.

Oh, how he wished he could get rid of the stupid teacher who kept bothering him at school. But he knows he can't. At least not without getting caught. The rules of society have held him back for so long, limiting him in many ways.

But here? No police, no law enforcement, no psychiatrists or therapists, no drugs pumped into your system day after day to try and make you 'normal'. The system had repaired all the damage the medicines had done, restored his body and soul, freeing him.

Entering that tutorial feels like waking up from a long hazy dream. But now William was awake, and he was conscious. He understands his new reality far more than he ever had the old one.

Right now, he was a bit away from Richard's camp. He still needed them for now, as they had healers and all, and the few professions that people started to acquire turned out to be very useful, allowing him to refine and clean his clothes.

After walking a little, after recovering most of the mana, he noticed the movement from the corner of his eyes. Crouching down, he slipped closer, lifting up one of his daggers with a metal manipulation using it to see what was going on. Three silhouettes were in a small pond, two were in the water, and it seemed that one person was standing guard.

Metallic Vision Skills were not good enough to see any details. But no one seemed to be looking at William. Looking from behind the tree, he saw two women who were wearing nothing in the water, with a third woman standing outside the water in heavy warrior clothes.

Looking around further, he saw cloaks and robes folded over the water - one castor robe and one archer robe.

There is no cure, yes, he thought disappointed. He did not recognize any of them, and looked around with a metallic look and the dagger did not see anyone else in the area.

Oh well, there is no reason to hold them back, he thought. The system does say that the final reward of the tutorial is based on the number of survivors. He had read that the fewer survivors, the better. Also, humans are much easier to kill than animals, to be honest. Because they have one fatal weakness…

As he prepared to attack, the heavy warrior, inexplicably, turned around and looked straight at him.

"Who are you!" The woman shouted with a loud, disturbing tone.

William knows he's been found out, so he's not trying to hide. No, he can do much better than that. “I'm so sorry, miss! I got lost after my team was attacked, and I think I heard someone, ” he said with deliberate embarrassment in his voice. This 'shy vulnerable child' action works well in older women. And succeed.

The soldier's gaze seemed to soften as he looked at the young man before him - a shy handsome young man who looked extremely frightened. "Oh, so," he said in a calming tone, when William saw the two naked women now dressed, both of them looked very confused. He estimated they were his age and likely related to warriors based on their appearance. Their mother? Aunty? That doesn't matter.

He started walking towards them carefully, bit by bit, as the woman spoke again. Be sure to shiver a little at each step. It took a long time to bring it down.

“Do you know where your team is going? What attacked you?” the soldier asked as he approached.

William acts afraid of her coming towards him and retreats with big strides, staying in character.

"It's okay, we're not going to do anything" he said, stopping close.

"O...Okay" William stuttered as he stopped retreating. The woman continued to walk up to him until he arrived at the place where he had retreated.

From beneath the leaves, four daggers flew up, shocking the woman. They all found purchases in the gaps of his armor before he even had time to react. The fifth dagger simultaneously flew out from William's robe, hitting the woman's face, killing her instantly.

The other two women were still only half-dressed, as more daggers flew for them, and they only managed to let out a brief shout when the dagger struck them. They tried to survive, but none of them prepared weapons. It didn't take long for the two of them to fall to the ground, their half-naked bodies were covered in wounds.

After making sure they were all dead, William checked his notifications, disappointed. The warrior was only level 10, with two younger ones at 9.

"Just a waste of time," he murmured to himself as he looted the rest of their potions and the archer's dagger.

"Oh well, hopefully next time luckier," he said, smiling at the three mutilated bodies, as he turned around for a trip back to Richard's camp. His mana started to diminish a bit, so he had to rest. Unfortunately the casters did not have any mana potions left.

He could not help but whistle in an excited tone as he walked. Right, killing the three of them didn't give much in return, but it was fun. Oh, how much he loves this beautiful new world.