The Primal Hunter's
PowerShot

Jake cursed softly as he walked through the narrow cave. He had completely forgotten the location of the dungeon of such an annoying challenge. At least he was able to get out faster than when he came in.

He was also happy to finally get his gun back. He had missed his bow. It would be a great stress reliever in the basement to do some target exercises. The arrow naturally also returned with its bow.

One of the two daggers he had now became redundant after obtaining the Bloodbath Dagger. It was rare, and although it was made of bone, it was much sharper and much more durable than its steel blade. And it ignores the charm to make things more bloody.

Another absolute positive is how comfortable his new boots are. It really doesn't make sense how old leather boots can feel like walking on clouds while massaging your feet simultaneously. He was afraid that he would never be able to return to ordinary footwear.

The meandering tunnel only took him half an hour to pass through this time, although he deliberately ignored all the blue mushrooms in his path. He was fed up with it, for now, and with the bow in his hand, he felt himself becoming a little uneasy. He had not fought anything for thirty days after feeling it.

He considered finding his colleagues. But he was afraid he wasn't strong enough. He had little information and had no idea what kind of growth all the survivors had experienced.

The profession is inherently not focused on combat, while classes are focused. Jake's class at only level 9 means he has fewer fighting skills. His strength, agility, and endurance were also his three lowest stats. Statistics that happen to be also most important, along with perception, for archers.

Reaching the end of the cave, he once again found himself at the foot of the hill. He could not help but take a deep breath as he looked around and took everything within his Perception Scope. He had been locked up for a month, either in a small hall or cave and garden. While the park was vast, it was nothing compared to the vast forest.

His ball instantly picked up something that made his face smile. A small group of deer was on top of the hill above it. They were slightly larger than he remembered but based on one male deer evolving between them, it seemed like the same group he had chosen to avoid before entering the basement. It must be fate, she chanted to herself.

There were five of them: one stag and four deer.

While climbing the hill, he could only describe his feelings as childish anticipation. He had grown stronger in many ways, his stats had increased manifold, yet he had no outlets in the basement. He had nothing to test himself with.

He was stronger than before, and he had more methods than before. At the top of the hill, he finally saw a ferocious beast. The horns of male deer emit a dim white light, while deer and male deer have rune-like motifs that cover their skin. They did not even try to hide that the beasts were magical in some way.

Using Identification on the stag, he was pleased that the now improved skill showed the beast's name and level.

[Lucenti Stag – lvl 24]

Identifying the others, he found them all under 20s, the weakest being only 19.

[Lucenti Deer – lvl 19]

Although their levels were literally double that of his class, he did not feel the slightest threat from them. This meant that he, without hesitation, took out his bow while at the same time taking out the low quality hemotoxin he had stored in the necklace.

He dipped five arrows into the potion, one for each beast. He had absolute confidence to win, but did not kill them quickly without using poison. He still remembered the quite terrible damage output before he entered, and even with the growth of the stat as a whole, it was likely still sucked in.

But poison will make up for it. The hemotoxin will increase the bleeding from any wound Jake makes and, of course, deliver general damage. Toxins are most often cured by simply having your vital energy defeat and wash it.

These naturally consumed health points. Some intelligent beings will only allow toxins like hemotoxins to remain in their systems until they disappear naturally because the effects are relatively harmless as long as you do not receive any attacks.

The savage beasts, however, had proven themselves to be completely unintelligent. They seem to function from aggression and pure instincts. And trying to eliminate the toxins in your system seems like a rather instinctive thing to Jake. He would know; his instincts were pretty good if his bloodline abilities could be trusted.

The only minor annoyance with using poison was the fact that the poison had to remain in his bottle or he would lose his potency quickly. Unlike normal pre-system poisons, the mana within the poison made would become ineffective within ten minutes or so after leaving the bottle. His Malefic Viper's Poison did extend that duration, keeping it poisonous for up to half an hour, so it was quite helpful.

He also could not simply soak the arrow in poison and then store it in its storage. When the arrows are conjured, they cannot be saved, or they will simply switch to where each time he tries. Not that it would help, as the 'duration' of the poison was still reduced even though the necklace was temporarily suspended. He tried it with a dagger by coating it with poison, but when he took it out an hour later, all the potential in the poison was gone.

After his arrow was prepared, he took the first poisonous one and aimed at the stag. The arrow was released with incredible speed and power while flying properly and hit the neck of the stag, only piercing with the head of the arrow - more than enough to remove the poison.

A moment tripped, the stag, and the rest of the group, in this case, were clearly shocked. None of the deer had a chance to react before another arrow hit one of them, followed by the other and then the other.

Jake shoots faster and more accurately than before, as he crashes into the last deer just as they find him and starts attacking. Traces of deep blood were left behind after every savage beast, and Jake happily continued to season them with wounds as they approached.

Only three animals manage to reach it because Jake has managed to hit a stag on one of his legs, almost severing it. The second deer got stuck in his eye and is now lying and convulsing on the ground, likely just waiting to bleed out. Jake only has three wild animals to deal with at close range because the stag is very likely not to bounce back.

The other three beasts finally managed to reach close range, all dropping buckets of blood from their wounds. Jake pulled out two daggers, one from the bone and one from the steel. As they get closer, they all explode with light, burning Jake's skin and blinding him. It's not that it's too important, because he doesn't really need his eyesight.

Avoiding the initial attack, he swiped the blood-letting dagger onto one of the deer, leaving a long wound that spilled blood like a waterfall. The second deer was no luckier as it was given several punctures with other daggers. The third one, he let it hit him, as he wrestled with the ground.

His danger perception barely reacted, making him willing to take risks against him in close combat. With the other four people in the count, he did not see much of the threat from a logical point of view. Something that was a mistake, as he failed to dodge the rays fired as a last resort by the stag in his dying moments.

The beam left a severe burn, almost like a high-powered laser. Yet even though Jake rates his wound as 'evil', it doesn't have much effect and has started healing itself just moments after being exposed.

As for the ferocious beast clamping down on him, he raised his hand and placed it on the creature's neck, digging his fingers into its skin, as he used the Malefic Viper Touch in full force, discarding all subtleties allowed by that skill. Immediately the effect becomes clear. The flesh that his hands touched began to rot, showing obvious signs of necrosis, as the deer whimpered before fainting.

Jake gets back up and sees the rest of the animals dead or in their last moments. Taking the dagger, he made a quick turn and finished off the rest.

He had sensed the level more than once throughout the battle and knew it was a fruitful hunt. To be honest, he being level 9 at first was just pathetic. His stats were definitely not a level 9 archer at all.

Opening his status window, he saw a murder notice for the first time in a month. It feels amazingly satisfying. One could argue that it was rather sad that the first living thing he encountered had been killed. Discounting the Malefic Viper itself, of course. The serpent god does not count.

*You have killed [Lucenti Stag – lvl 24] – Experience obtained. 4000 TP obtained*

*You have killed [Lucenti Deer – lvl 20] – Experience obtained. 3000 TP obtained*

*You have killed [Lucenti Deer – lvl 19] – Experience obtained. 2750 TP obtained*

*You have killed [Lucenti Deer – lvl 21] – Experience obtained. 3250 TP obtained*

And for the level, he also got a little in that department.

*'DING!' Class: [Archer] has reached level 10 - Allotted stat points, +1 free points*

…

*'DING!' Class: [Harmer] has reached level 13 - Allotted stat points, +1 free points*

*'DING!' Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 27 - Allotted stat points, +5 free points*

*'DING!' Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 28 - Allotted stat points, +5 free points*

Four levels of one fight lasting only a few minutes. The bonus experience of killing higher level enemies definitely worked. Although the murder notice did not explicitly state that he had bonus experience, he did. If he had to guess, then classes and professions had separate experience gauges?

However, the race level is where the real value is. Every time Jake leveled up in his class, he only got 5 stats and 1 free point. On the other hand, his race level gives 2 in all stats, or a total of 18, and 5 free points. So, the total difference is 6 and 23 stats per level. Almost four times.

Of course, the profession is also quite ridiculous, by giving 15 statistics, 5 free points, aka 20 in total. But one must remember that it is evolution and variant. Plus, it takes two levels in either profession or class to get one level of racing. At least so far it has been consistent.

Passing level 10 in his class naturally also meant something else.

*Archer grade skills available*

Jake knew he had to prepare mentally after gaining skills from his profession. After all, he could not expect a rare skill or even a random epic from a basic starting class. So, with a hint of hope, he read through the list, the first one was roughly as simple as he expected.

[Twin Arrow (Common)] – Archer Arrows never end; one arrow becomes two. Allows the Archer to fire an arrow that splits in half during its flight. Added minor bonuses on the effects of agility and strength when using Twin Arrow.

This one is very fantasy-esque. It has some useful applications; the sneak attack component alone would be good. Oh, you think one arrow's pointing at you? Sorry, that's two. But the thing he was most worried about was how exactly the splitting arrow would work with its poison. Will they both have it? None of them have it? Or just the 'original'. Or was that skill just juggling a new arrow completely? He just felt there were so many unknown things. If it doesn't work out with the poison, he doesn't care.

If it were to just split the poison between two split arrows, it would be worse than not splitting at all. It is much better to give one strong dose to one area rather than two weaker doses in two regions. The former is much more difficult to cure and remove.

With him having more attention than excitement for the skill, he continued.

[Bow Bash (General)] – Who says bows can only be used at long distances? Allows the Archer to hit with his bow, dropping the target back. Increases the durability of the bow and provides a small bonus for strength effects when using the Bash Bow.

These skills are much easier. Only skills allow him to hit people with his bow better. The purpose of the skill seemed to be to keep a distance from his enemy. The skill would indeed come in handy, but Jake wasn't too eager to read it. Moving on, he was hoping for something better.

[Air Bouncing (General)] – Archers have many tricks hidden in their quivers. Allows the Archer to fire an arrow that bounces off the first object hit. Added a small bonus on the effects of agility and strength when using Bouncing Arrows.

This one just caught my attention. It seems fun and interesting, but he has some serious questions about its usefulness. He considered it to be the kind of trick that would work once against an enemy and then be completely ineffective from then onward. And if someone has seen his tricks before, you won't be easily fooled by him next time. Again, another disappointing skill in his honest opinion.

[Active Camouflage (Rare)] – Sometimes, stealth alone is not enough, but one must hide their existence. Focus on where you are and adjust your presence to your surroundings, allowing you to stay hidden much more effectively while standing still. Add a small bonus to the effect of wisdom when it manages to stay hidden.

These skills are a little more interesting. Jake assumes it will allow you to hide from detection methods other than the five senses. It even allowed him to avoid detection from magical perception skills. Will it work against my Scope of Perception? he couldn't help but wonder as well.

Another interesting point is that it uses mana and scales with wisdom. All of his other skills in the archery class are enhanced by strength, agility, and sometimes perception. The resource used when activating a skill, or skill, as he only had the Archer Eye so far, was stamina and not mana. This one also has a higher rarity, so it is certainly a competitor. As for the final skill, it was also rare.

[Powershot (Rarely)] – Archers with time to set the perfect shot can be the deadliest enemies. Allows the Archer to fill the shot, increasing the power based on the time filled. The longer the shot is held, the greater the stamina expenditure. Add small bonuses to the effects of agility and strength when using Powershot.

This skill is relatively simple - funneling and producing devastating shots. Jake thought of applying that skill, as he had done with all the others. It would definitely be useful as an opener as he would have plenty of time to fill the shot.

The one thing he thought about was also the possibility that the power behind his arrow was not high enough to pierce through the outer skin, or perhaps even the natural protector of the enemy. For example, large wild boars have rough skin that protects them, and Jake remembers barely being able to penetrate them.

Animals such as reptiles often have natural protectors as well. Heck, the Malefic Viper was a snake, and even his current form had scales covering his entire body. Jake would be very surprised if the scales did not offer much defense.

If he thought of other humans, it would also be useful. The previous skills seemed to revolve around trickery and hiding, two things that were beneficial to humans but not very useful at the moment against ferocious beasts. The current ferocious beasts had a terrifying perception of the enemies around them and were too easy to sneak in. Deception was also completely unnecessary as the savage beasts were nothing more than charging and using whatever innate abilities they had.

Powershot, on the other hand, would allow him to take down one beast much faster, thus making the fight easier.

On the downside, the skill is channeled and likely takes time to use properly. Chances are, Jake will only get one good shot in the fight, maybe two if he somehow manages to open up a lot of distance between him and his enemy.

Overall, he was a little disappointed with the skill offered. Then again, he was slightly spoiled by the Malefic Viper skill.

Jake had no intention of chasing after humans at that point. Never would, if he could avoid it. Jake doesn't like to fight with people, and the challenge he seeks can easily be found against wild animals. So he chose the skill that he considered most effective against it.

So, in the end, he chose Powershot. In the end, that skill would allow him to defeat powerful enemies more easily, and right now, he saw it as the most useful.

*New memberships acquired*:

[Powershot (Rarely)] – Archers with time to set the perfect shot can be the deadliest enemies. Allows the Archer to fill the shot, increasing the power based on the time filled. The longer the shot is held, the greater the stamina expenditure. Add small bonuses to the effects of agility and strength when using Powershot.

And with that resolved, it was time to get a few more levels under his belt.

As he prepared to make a move, he felt something not far from him. It was still several kilometers away, but the feeling was strong. He could not describe it, but it felt like a huge mass of energy had gathered there, drained from where he was and everywhere around him. Maybe..maybe even from the entire tutorial area.

No matter the case, he had to investigate. Hopefully ... he can find something worth fighting for there.