The Primal Hunter

Jake opened his eyes as the projection appeared a few hours later. He had fully regenerated himself once more and felt ready for whatever was to come.

The projection observed him as the explanation of the next test began.

“The seventh and final test related to alchemy is designed to evaluate your mentality and your ability to successfully perform certain kinds of tasks. You will be put under an array that will warp time, and three hours will appear as thirty days to you. During these thirty days, you will perform a constant ritual. But do not worry if you can actually do it. This ritual is based on skills you have already shown in prior tests and, in your case, will be to create an unspecified item using a cauldron. This test is not made to be a challenge to your skills or knowledge, but simply how you act during these thirty days. Questions?”

“Seems relatively simple,” Jake said. “So… I just have to sit and craft something for thirty days?”

“Without any interruptions or outside stimuli. Just you, the cauldron, and the ongoing ritual. Minor things will change throughout the craft to force you to stay actively engaged and constantly monitor and infuse small amounts of mana in at all times,” the scalekin explained.

“Alright,” Jake nodded again. “I am as ready as I can get.”

“Very well,” the projection said as the room shifted again, and a magic circle appeared to cover the entire dome-shaped chamber, as a large cauldron even taller than Jake himself appeared in the center. “Remember, thirty days. Ah, and don’t worry about the aftereffects of time-dilation. This dilation is directly system-made.”

Jake nodded again.

“Time starts when you infuse mana into the cauldron. Good luck and stay focused. Do not underestimate this test… out of all of the tests during the initial trial period of these dungeon tests, it had the lowest overall grade,” the scalekin said,

“I won’t,” Jake agreed. Of course, he wouldn’t. He had his ass handed to him more times than he wanted that day already. The concern and warnings from the scalekin were also genuine, so he was in for the hardest test yet.

With that mentality, he went over and placed his hand on the cauldron as time also warped around him. Jake sat himself down as he placed both hands on the cauldron, the scripts coming to life within it as the energy began moving.

It was like a magical puzzle that would continue for thirty entire days without pause as if Jake was crafting a mana potion that just took a month to complete. Jake closed his eyes as he entered Serene Soul Meditation as a mental projection of the cauldron appeared in the Soulrealm with him. Calm as could be, he began the simulated crafting session.

“Entering meditation is a highly risky strategy,” one projection said.

“Perhaps good for the first day to try and stay focussed, but not sure he will last much longer,” a second one chimed in.

“If that,” the scalekin projection agreed. The testee had shown himself to be highly volatile, and even for a test lasting little more than half an hour, he had grown impatient and lost his head. Imagining him doing thirty days of just constantly crafting something quite frankly boring?

There would be no true challenge to the craft. It was like a job where one had to constantly draw a line on a piece of paper following a pattern, with minor changes coming in here and there where you maybe had to switch the marker to another color or maybe even use two markers for a bit.

The only challenging thing was not losing focus and letting your mind wander - not getting mind-numbingly bored and deciding the test was a waste of time. Even if the testee messed up for a bit, they could just jump back in and continue.

Before the dungeon became a dungeon during the trial period, they even had D-grades fall asleep. Some, in fact, many, had tried to speed up the process, which would make the entire craft unstable and force them to calm it down. Even the most novice alchemist knew speeding it up was a bad thing, and all the judges were happy at least the human didn’t try that right away.

“A day does seem like a lot,” a female judge said. “Want to place bets?”

“We are projections. We have nothing to bet and will only exist as these incarnations for a few days more at most,” another one said.

“Pride is eternal,” the female said. “Or are you just scared?”

“Fine… I bet on him lasting three days,” the killjoy projection said.

“Two days.

“Twelve hours.”

“Two and a half days.”

“Thirty days, perfect score,” one of them suddenly said, getting all attention on him. It was a bulky-looking beastkin who had been mostly silent throughout the tests so far. He was there primarily to be a judge of the upcoming combat section, so for him to chime in with such a preposterous opinion in the seventh alchemist test was odd.

Others began to make slight jeers, but the scalekin asked. “Why?”

The beastkin looked at the human sitting down there doing alchemy as he just shrugged. “He had the eyes of a predator when he looked upon the cauldron. I feel a fellow hunter in him. As long as the prey is worth hunting down, then no matter how boring the process, no matter how long it takes, the hunter will get his prey.”

“That is a bit of a stretch. He is an alchemist first and foremost, with his combat likely being magic-based just going from his arcane affinity and level of mana control displayed,” the scalekin said, shaking his head.

“No… he is not,” the beastkin said again with a toothy smile. “I know a fellow hunter when I see one… and that one down there makes my hair stand on end.”

The others didn’t necessarily agree, but neither did they want to argue. In fact, some were slightly swayed, including the scalekin. Out of everyone there, the beastkin was the strongest by far… already towards the peak of S-grade when he placed a projection within.

And as the days passed and the ritual continued perfectly, opinions were shifted one by one.

“Khanac had some sharp senses even back then, huh,” Duskleaf commented.

“Always had,” Vilastromoz agreed.

“How is he doing these days, by the way?”

“Probably catching up with Snappy after returning to the Order,” the Viper shrugged.

“Ah… last I heard, he got in trouble for killing a Seventh Layer Highgod from the Altmar Empire?” Duskleaf asked.

“He did.”

“It’s good now?”

“Maybe? Didn’t bother asking, but the Autarch hasn’t turned up yet, so maybe?” Vilastromoz shrugged. He did kinda want to see the old pointy-eared bastard again.

“Oh, okay.”

“Yep.”

With that, the two gods stayed to observe Jake a bit longer until Duskleaf left to do something more productive with his time than watch Jake do something incredibly mundane for a month.

Honestly, thirty days wasn’t even that long. Time just slowly passed as Jake did as the cauldron wanted. He quickly picked up that trying to alter the process in any way would only create problems, so he naturally avoided that and just did as he was supposed to.

Compared to upgrading Shroud, this was honestly easy. So when the projection appeared and the cauldron disappeared, Jake hadn’t even noticed thirty days had already passed, and honestly, he felt like he could have kept going a good while longer without any issues.

The scalekin looked at Jake a bit weirdly before talking. “Needless to say, you get full marks on the seventh alchemy test.”

“Really?” Jake asked. He was sure he had missed some hidden secret or something… why the hell had they called this the hardest?

“Naturally… you got a hundred percent completion with not a single slip-up,” the projection said, frowning. “That is something we only really see done by those of the automaton race.”

“I mean… it wasn’t hard? Sure this is the hardest one?” Jake asked again. The guy was pulling his leg, right?

“No. Let me ask you, why was this test easy for you?”

“I just had to follow the scrips and the movement of the energy for thirty days? As I said, it was easy. Probably something most alchemists can easily do,” Jake said.

“That is the truth. The task itself is easy, but wasn’t it also boring? Unstimulating? Why did you, or could you, stay focused on the test throughout without losing attention for a single moment?” the projection asked, and he looked genuinely confused.

About as confused as Jake was. “Wasn’t that the test?”

“It was… but that doesn’t mean you can just do it.”

“Well, not doing it would mean I failed the test wouldn’t it?” Jake asked, trying to understand the situation.

“Naturally.”

“So I did it? I mean, not doing it would mean failing, so I had to do it, right? So, sure, it was boring, but I had to beat the test, so what can you do?”

Jake honestly didn’t get the big deal as he stared at the projection. The projection stared back for a few moments before just shaking his head. “Alright… good job either way. Now, are you ready to move on right away, or do you need a break?”

“No… I don’t see much to reflect on from that last test, is there?” Jake answered. Also, all of his resources were topped up as he had just been meditating, and his natural regeneration vastly outstripped the expenditure. He wasn’t even mentally tired as it had all been rather relaxing.

Making Eternal Hunger had been way more fun.

“There is indeed not,” the projection agreed. “So, let us move on. With the seventh test, the alchemy portion of the D-grade entrance test is over, so let us move on to the combat portion. Follow me.”

Jake did as asked as he got up and stretched a bit. He didn’t need to physically, but it felt good to do anyway after sitting down for so long. Following the projection down the hall of the dungeon, he got a look into some of the other chambers. The scalekin clearly noticed him looking and volunteered to explain.

“The chambers are based on specializations. Some alchemists have very odd special skills or hyper-focused specializations. Some are only able to craft deep underwater. Others require a large forge and flames of a certain degree, or some just craft with unusual materials. An example would be those who directly manipulate the flesh and bodies of living beings, even to the level of affecting the Soulshape.”

“Manipulate the Soulshape? Like… actually change the real body forcefully?” Jake asked.

The Soulshape was just a fancy way of saying the body’s actual shape – AKA what natural regeneration would return the body to. There were many ways to affect it. Heck, Jake had affected his with the scar on his neck from his duel with the Sword Saint. It was a reminder.

Others would maybe choose to not heal a finger for some reason. The best example Jake knew was Lillian. Her face was still scarred, and Jake was certain she could have it regenerated in a day if she so wished. That she hadn’t done so was none of Jake’s business, but it was proof of how people had minor control over their Soulshape.

“It is some nasty alchemy for sure,” the scalekin answered. “But also powerful. Especially those who create their own abominations and chimeras by combining different living beings to form entirely new creatures. They are rare, though, and it isn’t the most popular branch primarily due to the many limitations and high barrier of entry.”

Jake nodded along as he made one thing clear: “I know you said to expand my scope, but no fucking way I am doing that.”

“Wouldn’t expect you to. You could become a god by only focusing on poisons if you wanted. In fact, I would say adopting too many branches of alchemy may also hurt you as there are vast differences. Ah, but I would recommend picking up some aspects of ritual magic, primarily to learn about magic circles and runes, as the general knowledge required in the branch of ritualism is useful near-anywhere.”

“Got it,” Jake said. He had already picked up a skill for ritualism, so getting told it was a good thing gave Jake a great dose of confirmation bias.

“But let us address the topic at hand,” the projection said as they reached the end of the hall. The gate before them opened as it led into a huge dome of sorts. When he said huge, he did mean huge. It was at least five kilometers in diameter, with a completely bare floor.

“The final part of this test is the combat portion. As actual battle power can be hugely varied based on a plethora of factors, you may find this test unfair, but such is life sometimes. Like the alchemy test, the combat test will consist of seven tests maximum. Maximum as you may do fewer based on your own abilities. Each test will merely be a fight between you and a number of opponents, and if you clear a test, you can elect to move on to the next. Quite simple, really,” the scalekin projection explained.

“Does sound simple,” Jake said. “What was the average number of combat tests passed in this trial period you talked about?”

“The median, four. That is what the trial period was for, to evaluate things like this. Also, during each test, the arena will change to different environments, often some beneficial to the enemies you fight.”

“Will there be ones deep underwater?” Jake asked with a deep frown, already remembering the shitty water level. Would the Order really be so-

“No, the feedback of underwater tests was horrible, and it frankly favored some lifeforms too much and utterly handicapped others. Ifrits and other types of fire demons, as an example, just got screwed. Besides, most can avoid battling deep underwater by just staying away, and if they do find themselves in such an environment, they can just escape,” the projection shook his head.

“Thank Villy,” Jake sighed in relief.

“Pardon?”

“Nothing!” Jake said, having spoken without thinking. “Now, let’s do the test, yeah?”

“Very well. The first test will begin. Ah, one thing, you may hide your level and try to appear to be level 181, but due to how the dungeon works, you will face challenges according to your own level,” the projection said as he tossed Jake a small token.

“Use the token to begin the test and then simply use it to activate subsequent tests too. I wish you luck.”

“Alright,” Jake said as the projection disappeared, and he didn’t hesitate the activate the token.

The environment around him began changing as trees shot up from the ground, the underbrush was formed, and within a second, he found himself within a forest. He also instantly heard the noises of beasts. Jake stood still as he waited, feeling no danger.

Soon enough, the beasts tracked him down as six of them entered the small clearing he was standing in.

[Flamefang Wolf – lvl 141]

[Flamefang Wolf – lvl 143]

[Flamefang Wolf – lvl 144]

[Flamefang Wolf – lvl 141]

[Flamefang Wolf – lvl 140]

[Flamefang Wolf Alpha – lvl 149]

Jake looked at all six of them as he frowned.

“Is this some kind of joke?”

The six wolves just stood there, staring at him. None of them dared to attack him. Jake stared at the Alpha in the front, as finally, whatever compulsion to fight imposed by the dungeon won out over their fear.

They all charged at the same time as Jake didn’t even bother. The first wolf to arrive, Jake let bite down on his hand with gloves he had already infused with arcane mana to strengthen. As it did so, he blew out an explosion of arcane mana as the entire wolf turned into a shower of blood and gore.

The second one he grasped at the jaws and ripped it open. They all kept coming as Jake tore them apart one by one with his bare hands as he felt even more bored than during the seventh alchemy test.

Finally, the Alpha died as Jake bashed its skull in. He didn’t wait as he took out the token and activated it again, hoping for the next one to not be a huge disappointment.