The Primal Hunter's
Preparation for Evolution

Jake coughed as another blob turned pitch-black, and the stench of tar-like remains invaded his nostrils. But this one wasn't even that bad, as it was just one of many attempts to make the first rare poison, and the first experiment became much worse. He had not managed to make anything over the past two days, even though he had gained one level at a point. It turns out you don't have to successfully make something to gain a bit of experience.

He had eaten and acquired knowledge about rare mosses and blue mushrooms. The poison he was trying to make was relatively simple, requiring only those two ingredients along with water. Yet it was still far more complicated than anything he had made with low scarcity so far.

After his evolution, he became better at controlling mana. A skill that only became increasingly important went further with alchemy.

Doing alchemy is like being a surgeon doing an organ transplant mixed with a chemist trying to mix in a lot of acid, hoping it doesn't explode on his face. Mana being the only real tool to help you achieve this. The mixing bowl only serves as a medium to channel your mana. On it were engraved thousands of very small runes that Jake did not understand at all, he only knew it allowed him to form and control mana.

With mana, one had to extract the valuable parts of the ingredients, integrate them into the mixture, and create a kind of balance. Jake finds it hard to explain it because of the many things he has to feel. There is actually no comparable action on earth, except maybe some very complicated puzzle games.

Another problem except the increased difficulty is the consumption of mana. Jake's plan to throw his free points into perception becomes unrealistic as his craft abilities increase. As he got better, his mana expenditure increased tremendously, and even with many levels in his profession, adding a lot of wisdom, he still began to run into trouble.

The general scarcity poison and its mana requirements were even crazier. Over a thousand mana spent every effort. This means that without a full collection of mana, Jake doesn't even have a way to try it.

The reason why he was so eager to make poison out of general scarcity was because of all the readings he had on the Records and the evolution of classes, races, and professions. Difficult achievements or performance above what is expected from your current level results in more experience, but also strengthens your Record.

Having a record deficiency has many negative consequences. High Records, first of all, results in a better evolution of your class, profession, and even race. Having insufficient Records could even result in one being unable to evolve or level up at all.

In fact, inexperience is often not a barrier to most powerhouses in the multiverse. That's the lack of records. One can technically level up almost indefinitely by simply taking a very low risk or even getting carried away by others. For example, if someone is hunting a wild beast with a protector that eliminates the danger of hunting, while you will still gain a lot of experience, no Note of value will be obtained.

The same concept is naturally found with the profession. Jake can technically keep churning out lesser and rare potions and poisons throughout the day, only accumulating experience and levels with little or no challenge. However, this would not give him a Record Value.

Jake doesn't know about the record. A universe that is just beginning is not something that is covered in any book. That speaks volumes about relying on your legacy Records for the first evolution. Higher evolved beings will pass down a portion of their Notes, giving their children easy progress at the beginning, removing any obstacles.

Something he doubted. After all, everyone is a G-rank, a rank lower than even the one in the multiverse. Of course, it was possible that the act before the initiation had allowed a certain number of Notes to be obtained, but he doubted it was anything meaningful.

He did have some things going for him. Challenge Dungeons is not something exclusive to tutorials, but something found throughout the multiverse. The same goes for ordinary dungeons. This cleaning will often help to gain Records and is a goal for many races and factions.

Another thing is his lineage. According to what he read, the bloodline abilities were strange, and there was no consensus on how they appeared or why some had them, and others did not. However, it has been well documented that bloodlines do affect one's Records. This is not surprising, because according to what he read literally everything affects one's Records.

Lineages are also of interest to their genetic aspect because they can be inherited directly. The only element that appears on the status screen, at least. Ordinary things like personality traits, talents, and other genetic details like eye color, height work a lot like before the system. It also states that the stronger the parent, the stronger the child will naturally grow. He interpreted that as an S-rank dragon that did not have an F-rank baby, which made sense.

All the readings on genetics and lineage naturally made Jake wonder how he could have the bloodline ability. It is known that lineages can be obtained through some very, almost impossible events, created by the system, but other than that, it is entirely random. A child of a commoner could be born with a bloodline out of nowhere.

It was not like a rare bloodline ability. They are very varied and come in different types. Most lineages were even completely useless and sometimes even destructive. One useless example is a lineage that only gives a strange hair color. The negatives are also very variable. Some cause premature death, such as causing a growth like cancer just killing the holder, while others are just a nuisance, such as passively giving off a terrible foul smell.

After reading all that, Jake is happy with his lineage. At least it doesn't seem to have any bad qualities. In fact, it looked like an excellent bloodline. As for how good, he did not know. The examples of the book are just bad, useless, or classified as just meaningless benefits. Those with strong bloodlines often do not share details of their abilities, which is somewhat logical, as it openly advertises your strengths, and possible weaknesses do seem like a bad idea.

Regardless of his lineage, Jake was still a little worried about the entire matter of Records. Their importance is so obvious in all the books that talk about levels and evolution. The uncertainty of potential flaws in the most important aspects of the system makes Jake try and surpass and create a rare toxin before his first professional upgrade. One thing he believes one hundred percent is that his appearance will now greatly affect that increase.

Even if it didn't pay off right away, at least it also helped her practice her pillaging skills more than just sending out weak poison. After all, he still had to survive this dungeon.

Looking at the basement window, he noted that almost half of his time in the basement had ended.

Leftover time: 15 Days – 6:21:57

Currently, he had made significant progress. His profession had reached level 22, and he had almost made a rare poison. He just needs the last part. At that time, the evolution of his profession would be imminent.

Regarding evolution, it would likely be very uninteresting. A variant profession like Jake is something called inheritance-profession and has a rather set-in-stone progression some of the first evolutions. That didn't mean he couldn't be offered another type of profession or even an alchemist variant, but it meant that he would lose some things if he did. The Alchemist of the Malefic Viper was a line of inheritance passed down in the Cult of the Malefic Viper to their young alchemists.

From what he collected, the cult was a kind of ancient religion that followed snakes turning into dragons that he saw in murals after the second challenge. They mainly specialized in alchemy, more precisely, poison.

The books he had read were naturally left behind by them as well. This entire place was like part of one of their academies or temples, torn apart directly by the system and put into its own little dungeon.

Jake first thought that the system had created everything found in the basement, but he no longer did. Most books have authors, there are scribbles and drawings in many of them, and handwritten notes are found almost everywhere. Which led him to believe that the place was taken from somewhere or maybe just copied. Naturally, he had no way of knowing.

However, he knew that today would be the day he managed to concoct the poison. He was in that zone, and all he needed was the mana to regenerate completely. He was already using mana potions and was currently eating some blue mushrooms.

After all, the Bluebright Mushroom was the main ingredient of his choice poison. They are also very dense with mana, greatly aiding its recovery speed.

About an hour later, he was full again. The bowl is cleaned, the ingredients are ready. He had even used the Refining Alchemist he had chosen at level 20. He wasn't sure if it had a beneficial effect, but he did anyway.

Looking at his skill, he at least did not see any negativity in using it.

[Alchemist Purification (General)] – Trying to purify any alchemy material. Purification can help remove unwanted properties from a component, making the mixture purer. Must have appropriate materials. Must have appropriate materials. Purification does not require additional tools or equipment, but the effect of skill can be amplified using a particular catalyst. Adding a slight increase to the effectiveness of Alchemist Refining based on wisdom.

There is no book that mentions negative side effects either when using it on lichens or mushrooms. Over the past two weeks, Jake has read many books. He must have gone through over thirty so far, and there were still hundreds left.

Speaking of the skill he had obtained, at level 15, he took out the Poison Sense as no new exciting options appeared. He was also a little afraid of losing access after his profession developed, so he decided not to take any risks.

[Sense Poison (Rare)] – Provides passive ability to detect toxic substances and their toxicity levels. After all, an alchemist should be able to find ingredients to make his product. Adding a slight increase to the effectiveness of the Poison Sense based on perception.

Even now, Jake can taste the poison in the park despite being in the lab. His skill was not exactly showing directions unless he was really close to him. However, when he was close to her, he could sense exactly where it was. When it was that close, he could even sense its general level of toxicity.

This became useful even in dungeons. Not all plants have the same power by default although both are identified as the same item, which means the skill allows Jake to choose a more suitable material. For example, mixing moss that is too strong with a less powerful fungus will cause inevitable disaster when mixing. In the same vein, the fungus cannot defeat the toxins in the moss too much.

Using this skill to select the ingredients for his first general scarcity poison was naturally done. It took some trial and error to bring him down, but he was sure he had the best ingredients chosen for this endeavor.

The mixing process is like with creations with a lower level of scarcity. Pure water fills the bowl when moss is inserted. Mana is injected through carving on it, the moment it enters the moss and begins to extract the valuable liquid found in it, giving the water its green color.

When about half of his juice ran out, he added a third of the Bluebright Mushroom. The excavation process begins once again, as Jake focuses as much as possible. He had done this exact process many times before, but he was still nervous.

Next, he added the mushrooms one by one as he slowly took out his liquid. It is possible to add all the ingredients at once, but it is easier, although much slower, to add them one by one. Jake does not want to take any risks, preferring to slightly increase his chances of success at the expense of time.

Reaching the final stage, he took a deep breath. This is where he failed the last four times. In the end, one had to put everything together and finish the potion. This is often described as the most challenging step, and therefore often the point of failure.

Even his Sphere of Perception focused on the small bowl in front of him. Slowly the contents of the bowl began to turn deep blue, emitting a faint glint of familiar blue light.

*You have successfully created [Necrotic Poison (Common)] – New types of creations have been created. Bonus experience gained*

*'DING!' Profession: [Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 23 - Allotted stat points, +2 free points*

*'DING!' Race: [Human (F)] has reached level 16 - Allotted stat points, +5 free points*

*'DING!' Profession: [Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 24 - Allotted stat points, +2 free points*

Jake cheers loudly when the message comes in, and he smells a scent that seeps into the lab. It smells like rotten beef. However, he did not care, as he quickly began to stuff the potion into one of his poison bottles.

Putting it all together, she uses Identifying on a bottle with the attitude of the child opening a Christmas gift.

[Necrotic Poison (Common)] – Toxins with necrotic properties, infecting and killing biological material in the affected area. Wounds caused by necrotic poisons are very difficult to heal. The toxin applies to any contact with any biological material.

All right, so it's all kind of unpleasant and it sounds nasty, but he's glad he made it. Both levels of the profession are also welcome. More importantly, he had made a rare potion before his first profession upgrade.

He decided to split the free stats between perception and wisdom, as he had done for the most part over the past many levels. That's not a 50-50 split, but it's relatively close.

Opening his status window, he was once again reminded of his progress.

Status

Name: Jake Thayne

Race: [Human (F) – lvl 16]

Grade: [Harmer – lvl 9]

Profession: [Alchemist of the Malefic Viper – lvl 24]

Health Points (HP): 1010/1010

Which Points (MP): 248/1250

Durability: 287/360

Statisticians

Power: 39

Agility: 42

Durability: 36

Vitality: 101

Toughness: 50

Wisdom: 125

Intelligence: 27

Perception: 103

Willingness: 59

Free points: 0

Title: [New World Predecessor], [Bloodline Patriarch]

Skill Class: [Basic One-handed Weapon (Inferior], [Basic Stealth (Inferior)], [Advanced Land (General)], [Archer's Eye (General)]

Professional Skills: [Herbology (General)], [Brew Potion (General)], [Toxic Poison (General)], [Alchemist Purification (General)], [Toxicology (Rare)], [Toxic Cultivation (Rare)], [Rarely) Poison, [Toxic Toxins (Rare)

Race Skills: [Identification (General)], [Undless Tongue of the Myriad Race (Unique)]

Bloodline: [Primal Hunter Bloodline (Blood Line Capability - Unique)]

The stats related to his fight started to lag behind quite a lot. Only perceptions are at a good enough level. Of course, this would likely change quickly once he got out of the dungeon. He had enough poison and potions for him to use every time he came out and said the supplies only increased by the day. He couldn't carry many things with his bag, but he could carry quite a lot.

Out of the lab, he decided to stop making poison. His mana was too low, and he was mentally tense even though he was happy with the potion that worked. Instead, he went to plant poison in the garden. He still had a lot of ingredients left, but he had already started making preparations to cure himself of the poison and left.

He had a few select plants that he chose with Poison Sense because they were the most powerful. Using Cultivate Toxin, he slowly increased it and made it grow while also increasing its toxicity.

He had decided to go with the concept of fighting poison with poison. He had found several recipes with potential, but he was still far from setting one. He's still looking for one that can include silver mushrooms.

Plans have been made, and if all else fails, he's got some recipes he'll try, but for now, Jake will use up all the time he has left. See the day timer of the dungeon challenge from 15 to 14. Half the time is over - half again.

Leaving the garden, he downed the mana potion and headed for the laboratory once more. He wants to get more work done before going to bed. A looming death was on the horizon, but right now, only the evolution of the profession would be imminent in his mind.