The Primal Hunter

Jake remembered the very first day he had been introduced to the system. He remembered his class selection, where he was represented with a number of choices for a starting class. Six choices, to be exact. Of those six, one was the archer class.

So, if one of six starting classes was archer… then why the fuck wasn’t there any god damn bows for sale? There were over a hundred damn legendary items, so why not a bow!?

To rub salt in the wound, there actually was a fucking crossbow. Jake refused to even look at the description when it popped up as he seethed by himself. He didn’t even want to justify why he couldn’t use one due to how his skills worked or anything like that because it honestly didn’t matter. Jake just didn’t want to use a damn crossbow.

He would rather just throw his arrows than embarrass them by putting them in a crossbow. Roman pointing out the crossbow could automatically conjure bolts did not help that sentiment, as the man ruthlessly teased Jake and only shut up when Jake threatened to steal his staff and use that as an arrow.

But… one must also look at the positives because Jake did see some peculiar items. One of which came just after the cuirass had been sold off.

[Blood Spear Replica (Legendary)] – This spear is a replica of the legendary Blood Spear used by Sanguine himself while he still lived. The spear’s body is made of unknown wood, while the tip of speartip is created from the crystallized blood of a slain A-grade vampire. Any attack made using the Blood Spear directly damages vital energy, and if a foe is slain with the Blood Spear, they will resurrect as thralls of the user. Despite being a mere replica, it still holds a morsel of the Records of the true Blood Spear, making it indestructible for all who do not wield the power of a god. Enchantments: Blood Spear

Requirements: Soulbound

Now, it did not need to be said that Jake had no interest in actually buying it, but that did not make its existence any less interesting. This was the first time Jake learned that Sanguine had used a spear when he was alive, and also his first time seeing a replica of a weapon used by a god. The concept that one could borrow Records from a far more potent tool opened up quite a few possibilities.

Others clearly thought this too, as the spear was bought for three hundred and twenty million Credits. The one who bought it was someone Jake had never even heard of and was, according to Miranda, the leader of a small group of settlements quite a bit away from any of the major factions.

Naturally, Jake also sold off some things during this time. The Sword Saint bought the Paint Brush of Ephemeral Power for a hundred and thirty-eight million Credits – the least of anything he sold – while the Forgestone of Eternal Embers went for a whopping four hundred and three million. The brush had been a bit of a disappointment, but the Forgestone was a big win and ended up being sold to the Holy Church.

The last of his legendary items was the Supreme Escape Token. Well, technically, it was Sylphie’s item, but Jake was acting as her guardian, so legally, it was his. She wasn’t even a year old, so she still couldn’t have her own bank account, even if Jake came to learn that she did actually have Credits. She just hadn’t gotten any yet and seemed to have little concept of trade, so it was probably for the best Jake handled it. Jake was pretty confident she would have sold a legendary item for a bag of tasty snacks if possible.

He had to admit, he did not expect much of the Token. It was just a coward’s tool to escape from a bad situation, and even if the mechanic to teleport to an anchor was cool, the limited uses made it not that useful, in Jakes’s opinion.

So when the Token ended up being the most valuable item he sold during the entire Auction, he felt a bit miffed. Not that he complained when he got an insane nine hundred million and sixty-seven Credits straight from the Holy Church’s coffers. Based on Sultan’s comments, he was certain the Token would go to the Augur himself to keep him safe. Jake didn’t really care; he wouldn’t tell others how to spend their money even if he thought it was a stupidly high amount to spend.

Anyway, with the Token, Sylphie turned out to be a real winner when it came to finding expensive stuff! Which is a good segue into what Jake did buy. Because it was for the little ball of feathers.

[Omniweave Armor (Legendary)] – Armor created with an extremely rare and highly adaptable type of cloth that can take the shape of nearly any piece of clothing. This was originally created as an experimental attempt to allow tamed monsters of an A-grade King of Blood to wear armor but ultimately failed due to the lack of material. This prototype, while powerful, can only fit on a creature with a small form. As the armor was made to be all-purpose, it includes internal spatial storage as well as powerful environmental adaption features. Enchantments: Omniweave Adaption. Spatial Storage.

Requirements: Soulbound

Jake had seen it and gotten an idea. He had heard Sultan talk about how it could create a great pair of bracers, or maybe even a scarf or something from it. Others also seemed to be lacking ideas as the price only went to around thirty million – likely just to get the materials it was made from – which is when Jake swept in with his genius idea.

And genius it was. Jake would dare anyone to disagree upon seeing the majesty that was the current Sylphie.

Because she now stood on top of his head, proudly wearing a small vest!

Jake had barely believed it possible when he had given it to her, and with the excitement and egging on from both Miranda, Felicia, Eleanor, and Christen, Sylphie had finally made her little swagger vest.

Jake had ended up buying it for fifty-two million Credits, and it was no doubt the greatest purchase of the entire Auction event so far. Even if Jake didn’t get anything more, he could walk away proud.

At the current time, there were only a total of two items left of this phase, and when the second-to-last appeared, Jake groaned as it was a damn sword. Naturally, the price jumped, people went wild, and it was sold for a high price.

All of this is to say that Jake had not gotten anything outside of buying the greatest piece of clothing ever seen with mortal eyes.

“Is it just me, or was this entire legendary auction not as good as expected?” Jake asked those around him. “I had hoped for some catalysts, or maybe a legendary tree or something like that. At least one good alchemy ingredient would have made me happy. Oh, or like one of those items to upgrade another item… that would have been awesome.”

Sultan shook his head in response. “The issue with those items is that everyone can use them, and even if there is no need for them here and now, many would probably prefer to save them for the future. Same as how you did not sell the Nalkar heart or the Carbonic Focusing Catalyst. In some ways… one can say they are too valuable to sell.”

Jake couldn’t disagree with his words, but that didn’t make it sting any less. He also had a suspicion that much of this Auction was just people trading wealth as they could only afford to buy anything due to they themselves selling off another legendary.

He had already given up hope when the last item appeared. Jake instantly saw it was not a bow and prepared to move on… until he noticed what it actually was.

Now… now he really wanted to punch someone in the teeth.

[Quiver of Perriniality (Legendary)] – A quiver created from the leather of a powerful B-grade beast with the ability to create minor subdimensions within its skin where it stores different natural treasures to use as weapons. Made into a quiver, it now retains those same effects. Allows the wearer to infuse mana into the quiver to conjure arrows. Allows the wearer to store conjured creations classified as arrows within the quiver without experiencing any energy decay for an extended period of time. The inside of the quiver is spatially expanded, allowing the wearer to store arrows of varying sizes. The wearer will have innate control of the inside of the quiver when bound. Enchantments: Perrinial Quiver.

Requirements: lvl 135+ in any humanoid race.

Jake did not know if he should be happy or sad as the final item appeared. It was made even worse when he saw the minimum bidding price was set at three hundred million fucking Credits. To make matters worse, he had no bloody clue who the seller was, even if there was a name attached.

“Who is that fucker who set the minimum bidding price to three hundred million?” Jake asked Sultan and Miranda.

Miranda stayed quiet as she frowned, and even Sultan shook his head. “Never heard it before.”

“Well, whoever he is, fuck him,” Jake said as he placed a bid of three hundred million. Because, of course, he would.

Would he have preferred a bow? One hundred thousand percent, but he also had to admit he kind of, sort of, needed a new quiver. He was still using the uncommon quiver all the way back from the tutorial, and while he had long moved on from the arrows it conjured, he still used it to store summoned arcane arrows. Mainly poisoned ones.

This new quiver looked like it could do the same, just better. However, Jake also saw some more potential from the description, especially concerning his Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter. Even if he couldn’t do what he planned on doing, the quiver should serve well just as a normal quiver to store pre-prepared poisoned arrows.

After he placed the bid… ten seconds just passed, and he got it. No one else had even tried to contest him, and Jake didn’t even think for a second it was because they were being nice. Who the hell even needed it besides him? Maria maybe? Well, okay, a lot could use it, but who would be able to spend hundreds of millions on it…

Besides a sucker like him, who had just gotten fucking scammed.

Jake instantly received the quiver and immediately bound it to himself and put it on his back. Next-up he summoned an arrow and cut his own hand on it, activating Blood of the Malefic Viper. Once it was coated in poison, he put it into the quiver and felt it sink into it like the top was a black hole.

Once it was fully inserted, he felt it within. He even felt that while the poison was decaying in potency, it was significantly slower than in the outside world. It was to the level where he could probably poison an arrow and store it for up to a day without a noticeable decay in poison potency. Waving his hand just vaguely above the quiver, the same arrow appeared. Better than the old quiver for sure, Jake thought.

Next, he tossed a bottle into the quiver but found it just bounced off the top like it hit an invisible barrier. Only arrows I see, Jake thought, as the system popped up again.

System Announcement:

The second part of the fourth phase of the Auction will soon begin, where all unique rarity items will be sold off. All items will be listed with a set minimum bidding price by the seller, as well as a potential buyout price, allowing anyone to instantly buy the item.

These items will be posted one at a time in five-minute intervals.

All items will be auctioned off immediately once active bidding ends. If any item does not receive any new bid for at least ten seconds, it will be sold to the highest bidder.

The first item will be posted in five minutes.

The damn system interrupted his experimenting, and quickly skimming it, he saw there wasn’t an intermission. The entire legendary auction had taken less than three and a half hours due to them not needing the extra hour as all items got sold within a few minutes of posting, and now it was time for the second part to begin.

Jake had begun to wonder when unique items would be sold off… and it turns out it was here towards the end. He did also note that the system did not say how many items there were in total. Besides that, everything seemed to be as usual.

He spoke with the others a bit, but there really wasn’t much to say. Sultan had little clue as to how many unique items would appear and only knew of Jake’s own Tome. So they all sat in anticipation and discussed as the five minutes swiftly elapsed.

When the first item appeared, Jake learned that he wasn’t the only one who had obtained an Akashic Tome during this Treasure Hunt.

[Akashic Tome of the Blood Warden (Unique)] - Allows the user to acquire the class Blood Warden if compatible.

Requirements: Lvl 99-199 in any class. Compatible user.

[Storage Orb of the Blood Warden (Epic)] – A storage orb containing items to assist a Blood Warden, including equipment and guidance. This orb is near-indestructible by anyone below B-grade, and any item within will be destroyed if the orb is.

Requirements: Blood Warden

It was a bundle of sorts, displaying how one got both items. It also included some other books with information, just like Jake’s own Fulgarian Depthcaller Tome. This class was a tank-type one and revolved around blood magic and shields… honestly, it looked a bit basic. Then again, Jake was a bit biased.

One thing was clear, though. Jake’s Tome was better. Even Sultan agreed.

“This appears to be a B-tier, maybe only C-tier, Legacy,” Sultan commented. “Not the best, but has potential, I guess. The set of equipment is also valuable.”

“My storage orb is Ancient,” Jake stated.

“Yours is better in every way, yes,” Sultan agreed. “But Akashic Tomes are rarely cheap. Let us see how it develops.”

And develop it did.

Jake sat shocked as he saw the price climb one bid at a time, and he nearly didn’t believe his eyes when the final selling price was reached… at one point two billion Credits.

“How the fuck…” Jake muttered.

“If you ended up with a less than an ideal class at D-grade… this might be your only real way to improve before getting an evolution,” Sultan said, shaking his head. “As for the buyer… I do not know of them. Likely simply someone who got lucky with a sale in a prior round to afford it. Or a powerful independent party coming together… it may even be a proxy by a large faction made to buy it as things are no longer anonymous.”

Jake nodded, even if he thought it a waste of money. If you got a downright shitty class at D-grade, was it really worth it to try and get a better one and not just push yourself and evolve to C-grade? Or were people just that desperate?

Either way, it looked like these Akashic Tomes had insane value. So when Jake saw the next item was another Tome, he was certain it would rake in cash.

[Akashic Tome of the Blood Wine Brewer (Unique)] - Allows the user to acquire the profession Blood Wine Brewer if compatible.

Requirements: Lvl 99-199 in any profession. Compatible user.

[Storage Orb of the Blood Wine Brewer (Epic)] – A storage orb containing items to assist a Blood Wine Brewer, including equipment and guidance. This orb is near-indestructible by anyone below B-grade, and any item within will be destroyed if the orb is.

Requirements: Blood Wine Brewer

Jake was wrong. As it turns out, no one wants to learn how to brew fine wine using blood. It even had an accompanying book and a description written by the seller, really trying to play it up. Yet the interest was so low it was kind of comical, and it ended up being bought for forty-two million to someone from the Noboru clan.

Were they planning on becoming vampires? Jake considered. Maybe some of them were…

Vampire samurai… yeah, that actually sounded kind of dope.

As it had been sold rather quickly, there was another waiting period. Jake looked at the ceiling of the booth he was in as he really hoped something good would show up. If not now, then during that special phase rewarded due to their performance in the Treasure Hunt.

What he didn’t know was that the final phase would have items he would surely classify as ghost pepper level spicy.