The Primal Hunter's
Exercise & Rest

Ow hell! For God's sake, it hurts!” Jake growled after being hit by an arrow again.

"Jake, are you sure about this?" Casper asks, really wondering if Jake is really a masochist. He has been firing layered arrows, with blunt, cloth-wrapped arrowheads, at Jake for nearly three hours. The cloth came from Jakes' own jacket, which he had been wearing under his cloak.

"Yes, just give me a minute" said Jake, getting ready once more. He had wrapped the sleeves of his torn jacket around his eyes, acting as a blindfold.

“Are you really sure this is going to do something? Well, I guess that's good target practice for me, but..” said Casper, muttering the last part. Jake's plan is pretty simple. He would have Casper shoot arrows at him while closing his eyes while trying to react to them without relying on sight.

While Jake of course doubts the truth of his own plans, at first, he has made progress during their training sessions. At first, he only jerked a few milliseconds before the arrow hit him, while now he could react at least to try to dodge the arrow before hitting it.

"Just keep the arrow, I can feel it!" Jake said he was still injured, although very positive.

He has been wondering about his strange senses since coming to this tutorial. He somehow 'knew' the huge boar swarmed through the bushes before he saw or even heard the beast. Actually, to say that he knew was too strong a word. He only had a faint feeling that great danger was coming.

In battle, he did not think too much but simply went with the flow. He was still in full control of his body, of course, but sometimes it felt like his brain could not keep up with his body. His instincts. He just did what felt most natural at the time. And the results speak for themselves.

And that's how Jake got the idea for this kind of practice. He wanted to train his senses and allow him to understand exactly what was happening to him and why it felt like he had a new sixth sense. He suspected it had something to do with being an archer or it might be related to the status of perception, but Casper did not have the same experience with him at all.

With the big boar he felt that the boar was coming for him because he had just started climbing a tree. His logical mind then took over, concluding it would crash into a tree, allowing him to strengthen his grip and avoid falling.

At the start of their impromptu training session, Casper simply threw a small stick and a cloth-wrapped rock at him. Jake barely felt anything before the objects hit him. He could sense something was coming towards him, but not how fast or where it was going to hit. It also came too late for him to react.

After a bit of frustration and thought, he asked if Casper could throw stones that were not wrapped in cloth. This time, he felt it very clearly before it hit him, and even more so when it really hit him. Got a nice blue sign from that one. Round Casper apologizes profusely later, Jake has calmed him down and convinced him to turn to the cloth-wrapped arrow. They were still severely injured, but at least they were unable to cause any real damage. Well, he had lost some health points, but it was barely noticeable, and they regenerated quite quickly.

Throughout the session, Jake increasingly felt an improvement, and he felt as if he was just a little away from grasping something. He had a much clearer feeling that something was going to happen to him than when he started. There are still not enough feelings to react adequately.

Back in the present, the next arrow came, and Jake once again felt that something was about to hit him, so he tried to avoid it. He ended up still getting hit again and even ended up tripping up while trying to avoid it. He got up again, not desperate at all. He's felt it there. Not only was the concept of danger approaching, he even sensed what was about to strike him.

They continued to train a little longer, with Jake even managing to avoid a dart or two here and there. Casper eventually begins to believe in whatever Jake does, and even asks questions about how to do it. Jake tries to explain the feeling he gets, but Jake sucks it, expresses that feeling with words, and to begin with, it's like trying to explain color to a blind person.

An hour passed before someone came from the emergency camp. The food has been prepared, and while neither Jake nor Casper are hungry, they know the importance of the food. No one knows when they will get their next meal.

The dinner that will be ready will be the two weasels that were killed earlier. Bake carelessly on a small fire after being skinned and destroyed. Bertram knows how to do that, surprisingly. They don't have the right spices or tools, so to be honest, it looks pretty simple.

Even its cook, Lina, had to admit that it did not look appetizing at all. Caroline was the one who came to the two archers to make them eat. Jake almost felt that all the pain was not in vain as he sat beside him as they ate to heal his wounds. His recovery felt good like a cold stream was flowing down his veins, and he saw the blue mark slowly disappearing for the next twenty minutes as he sat there, enjoying the sensation.

They chatted while Caroline primarily asked questions about why she let Casper use it for target practice for more than four hours, and about other small things, she said, like how he was so good at using bows and what not.

Jake is happy to talk to him and explain his training with Casper and what he wants to achieve by doing so. He also explained to her how he practiced archery while growing up and how he did it over time, thus explaining his proficiency with bows.

He even expressed how sad he was to have to give up being a professional player due to an injury, which caught Caroline's eye. He always saw it as a quiet, nerdy type, and not at all sporty. This also makes Jake realize how little he interacts with her outside of work. The same goes for everyone in their group, actually.

He was never the social type in any setting, really. Although he was not really desperate in social interaction, he tried to minimize it. Heck, he ended up doing archery, to begin with, because his father insisted he do some kind of sport, so he chose one where he had no team or direct opponent to interact with. Archery was a sport he could enjoy in solitude, just him and his bow.

At university, he deliberately worked to improve his social skills and actively aimed to take part in meetings and such. Although he was never really comfortable doing it, it increased his confidence during those years. Getting a girlfriend and a few close friends makes that confidence grow. All until it's taken down the day she walks over her boyfriend and his supposed best friend. Apparently, it was already an open secret in their small group. Open to everyone except Jake.

All the work and development he had gone through was in vain and his confidence and self-esteem in the gutter. Her boyfriend claims it's just 'happy' and nothing serious, while his so-called best friend seems to think it's no big deal at all, and that he just has to 'stop being the one who sucks about it'. A sentiment seems to be shared by everyone in their small university group. Or maybe they are just afraid of social communication from the group if they speak up.

This incident causes Jake to return to his old, closed ways. He studied, shot, played games, watched TV, and went to class. A good day is one where he doesn't speak a word to anyone but his parents when they call, asking how he is doing.

It improved after he graduated, got a good job, and through it was forced to engage in the social system that is the workplace. Jacob was the one who made it out of his shell at first and made it more open to his comrades. Enough to be friends with everyone, at least. Jacob always seems to be trying to get Jake to do something explicitly. Thinking back, the reason why they did this tutorial together might be because Jacob asked him to go to lunch together.

In a professional environment, she has no problem speaking or expressing herself normally now. The same reason why he had no problem arguing for his decision-making with Jacob earlier and talking to Casper during their training. But what he's doing now. Talking casually with Caroline was more stressful than facing a large boar.

During the conversation, Dennis yelled at them, clearly confused.

“Carolina! Joana's awake. Can you come to check it out?” Everyone said while nervously glancing at Jake. Caroline did not hesitate and excused herself as she followed Dennis to Joanna. It was not that they were very far away, less than five meters away from where they were sitting and eating.

Jake can easily peek or listen, but decides not to. She wouldn't blame Joanna if she was mad at him. In his eyes, he was the indirect cause of his injury. However, he was somewhat afraid that he would put those thoughts into words or actions.

How would he react if he started yelling at her? Blame her? Can he stand there and argue that he supports his decision? Or will it heat up and turn into another big fight? He is afraid to find out and return to his old habits to avoid a potential confrontation.

So Jake instead chooses to close his eyes, and once again focuses on trying to understand and re-experience his strange sixth sense ability. As he shut himself up mentally, he forgot the time until he was woken up by Casper, who was about to poke him aside.

Jake opened his eyes before the finger even touched him, much to Casper's surprise. Jake was about to ask what he wanted when he saw Jacob was also awake. It will obviously launch another speech.

“Alright, everyone, we made it through our first day,” he said as he stared sadly at Joanna. “Casper has already checked and confirmed that the beast at least has a fear of fire; however, we are not sure if that is a sure thing. I think we should have someone on guard while everyone is sleeping. We have to do rotation.”

No one objected to the idea of having someone watch over them while they slept. It was agreed that two people would stand guard together, while the other slept. Doing the rotation, they have an odd number of potential spies, Joanna is removed from the rotation. Without much fuss, Jake volunteered to watch alone, again meeting no objections.

The first watch will be Lina and Dennis, and the second watch will be given to Jake and the third will be Jacob and Caroline. Jake is not too happy to imagine Caroline and Jacob alone, sitting in front of a bonfire in the moonlight. Not that the murder forest is so romantic.

When they finished cleaning up after dinner, no one wasted any time closing their eyes. While the stamina of most of them was still more than half full, they remained exhausted. While Jake doesn't feel too tired, he knows it would be foolish not to take the opportunity to sleep. It is not really comfortable, just lying on the grass—rough robes that offer a little comfort.

Jake closed his eyes and fell asleep. Enough achievement considering the circumstances. He didn't know exactly how long he had been sleeping, he imagined the three hours they had agreed on, but he woke up when he sensed someone approaching him. Opening her eyes, instantly on guard, she heard Lina's little scream as she leapt back, frightened by Jake who suddenly woke up as he was about to wake her up.

"Gosh, you're scaring me. Are you awake?” Lina whispered as Jake got up and made sure that his bow, arrow tube, and knife were still on his body.

“No, I just woke up. How long have I been sleeping? And did something happen while I was sleeping?” Jake asked, looking around. It was now late at night, though not as dark as he thought. The moonlight plays a lot to illuminate the surroundings, making it fairly easy to see everything in the open. Or maybe because his improved vision made things seem brighter. He honestly had no way of knowing.

“We have been on guard for more than three hours. We used a tutorial countdown to track," he said, "and nothing happened, really. Some of the smaller animals and those more like ferrets were on the fringes of the open, but they didn't even come out of the bushes or get close to us. Fear of fire, I think. That or my magic is amazing!”

Jake chuckles at his attempts to make jokes, mainly out of courtesy rather than downright funny. He could see how tense he was and knew he was just trying to lighten the atmosphere. He smiles, and they go to Dennis, who is more than happy to be released from his service.

The two soon go to the other to sleep, hoping Jake watches peacefully. Jake sits on the same wood that Dennis sits on as he looks into the dark forest. Let's hope the rest of the night will also calm down.