The Primal Hunter

Jake was nearly floored at just the first notification. He had assumed that the beast was just above level 100, but it appeared he had been dearly wrong. Level 136 wasn’t a small difference; it was more than twice his own level. And yet, he had won.

Of course, he was fully aware it hadn’t been entirely due to his own efforts. All of the dungeon bosses had helped him immensely during the fight. The Great White Stag, Nest Watcher, and Horde Leader had all significantly contributed with the epic rarity special items they had given him upon defeating them, with the Den Mother providing moral support and a bit of poison.

It was a fight he was fully aware he had no right to win. By every metric, he should have lost. But the many factors played together and ultimately led to his victory. If the King had been a more experienced fighter, been less arrogant, been less playful, his bloodline not coming to the rescue at the end, or one of many other things, he would now be a corpse, dead on the cold ground.

It was a victory that was, of course, richly rewarded by the system. One part was the 300 million tutorial points, his reward for clearing the quest he had been given. And then there was a massive amount of experience… and oh boy.

*’DING!’ Class: [Ambitious Hunter] has reached level 75 - Stat points allocated, +4 free points*

…

*’DING!’ Class: [Ambitious Hunter] has reached level 83 - Stat points allocated, +4 free points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 65 - Stat points allocated, +5 free points*

…

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (E)] has reached level 69 - Stat points allocated, +5 free points*

9 fucking levels, he inwardly cursed happily. It was completely and utterly insane and once more displayed the massive disparity between him and the King of the Forest. He couldn’t help but imagine how much experience he would have gained if he had somehow won without using any special items… though it would likely just have been impossible.

Experience wasn’t the only thing he had earned from the kill, though.

He had gotten not just one but two titles from his efforts and luck. The first one was a bit weird.

[Kingslayer] – A crown does not make one immune to death. Slay a system-recognized King. Increases resistance to all nobility-based abilities used by those of the King rank and below.

It was yet another example of something he didn’t know what to do with. But resistance to pretty much anything seemed like a good thing, so he wasn’t going to complain. Besides, the second title removed all his rights to complain.

[Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty] – A prodigious slayer who stands at the pinnacle of skill in his generation – possessing both the might and talent to slay those far superior. Due to your immense accomplishment of defeating the King of the Forest, a unique lifeform twice your level, you have proven yourself a Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty, even if you got assistance from auxiliary items. +10 all stats, +10% all stats.

The title’s rewards were identical to his Legendary Prodigy title, and even the word ‘prodigy’ appeared once more. Jake felt like he was being conditioned to believing himself to be a prodigy. But on the other hand, he didn’t want to fall into the same trap as the King and become complacent and careless.

Remind yourself; overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer, he thought. Words to live by if a little hypocritical coming from someone who just barely survived fighting something he really shouldn\'t have.

Moving down the list, the first one was about a quest he had quite honestly wholly forgotten he had.

Tutorial Quest: A Leader is born

Objective: Become the sole leader of at least 90% of the other humans during the tutorial.

Current progress: 100%

Eliminate other leaders: 0/0

Quest Complete!

Reward: [Nobility: Lord] title

It was a reward he hadn’t thought of, and reading the title description, he was unsure if it was even a reward, to begin with.

[Nobility: Lord] – The first step upon your path to dominance has begun. You have usurped the path of leadership from another who qualified, and now you hold the privilege and bear the burden of lordship. You have unlocked the nobility system and become a Lord. Allows the hunter to control up to one city-level Pylon of Civilization.

The title description did answer some questions he had. Apparently, the system had some kind of nobility system that wasn’t just someone proclaiming themselves to be king. The Kingslayer title did mention ‘system-recognized’ kings, after all.

As to what a ‘city-level Pylon of Civilization’ was, he naturally had no idea. Whatever it was, it gave him a bad omen. Jake had no intentions of being some kind of lord that ruled over some land, much less a city. Heck, he had chosen to live in an apartment because he didn’t want a garden as he knew he would suck at managing it and keeping it. He didn’t even want to imagine what to do if he had to take care of a city.

I guess I could hire a gardener?

The final item on the list was something that happened every 10th level.

*Ambitious Hunter class skills available*

He didn’t know what to expect when he opened the menu as he wondered if that final battle would net him a lot of new skills. And yet, he was still disappointed. The only thing he hadn’t expected was to find… pretty much nothing. There was just one new Uncommon skill, called Superior Explosive Punch, which appeared just to be another type of suicide attack…

Well… it isn’t all bad, I guess. Jake had skipped a lot of useful skills during all his prior level-ups. The first skill that instantly popped into his mind was one he had cut for Mark of the Ambitious Hunter back at level 40. He didn’t regret that choice at all, but he couldn’t help but consider how useful it would have been in the final battle against the King.

[Determination of the Ambitious Hunter (Rare)] – The Ambitious Hunter is not one to back down even in front of the most frightening foe. The mind a fortress, the hunter determined. Increases resistance to all mental- and illusion-based attacks. Increases resistance to suppressive effects. Adds a small bonus to the effect of Determination of the Ambitious Hunter based on willpower.

With that skill, he would maybe have been able not to be knocked out by the King’s final attack. It was a resistance skill that would help him against certain opponents while being useless in many other scenarios.

It was a skill he had skipped over because he couldn’t see the value in it, but now his mind was beginning to change. Mental attacks aren’t a joke. To have your mind hammered directly was more than just a little uncomfortable.

But… he had a definite feeling the skill wouldn’t have done jack shit for him versus that last attack.

The second skill he had considered getting was Hunter\'s Tracking.

[Hunter’s Tracking (Uncommon)] – The hunter does not sit silently in his lodge but actively hunts for his prey. Unlocks proficiency in tracking down prey based on limited clues left behind. Also allows the hunter to more easily identify characteristics of the game, including mana signatures and aura. Adds a small bonus to the effect of perception while tracking.

He hadn’t needed the skill back when it was offered, but now he was about to enter the larger world once more. In the small tutorial, he didn’t need to track down anything, but on a large planet, tracking things would be far more useful.

Additionally… maybe it could help him track down his family. His general sense of direction had always been a significant shortcoming, something which the system could, without a doubt, help him with by giving him a skill. He had believed himself to be able to learn how to track on his own. He still thought that but he also realized that it would take him far too long, and he would rather spend his time hunting or doing alchemy.

In the end, he chose to get Hunter\'s Tracking. Losing his colleagues had been a wake-up call for him. If he planned to struggle so much to get all the strength he could, he might as well use it to protect those he cares about. He had failed to do that once, and he wasn’t going to do so again.

Closing the menu, he felt the knowledge being imprinted on his mind. Old memories of when he spent a few months in the scouts as a kid surfaced as he now knew a lot more about identifying tracks and even felt his understanding of auras and mana increase. The feeling of getting knowledge imprinted on your mind would always be weird, but Jake was beginning to at least get a bit used to it.

After the feeling subsided, just as he was thinking about what he was supposed to do, something, or rather someone, just popped into reality in the chair across the table.

“Oh… hello again,” Jake said with a nod as he looked at the creature in front of him. If it could even be called that. It was the same oddly human entity that appeared before him for the introduction. Seems like even the system doesn’t shy away from reusing assets.

“Congratulations for completing the tutorial,” It said, still being just as creepy as last time.

“Your performance has been deemed exemplary during the tutorial. You have managed to complete the tutorial and slay the King of the Forest and the four Beast Lords alone. For completing the tutorial in a solo-capacity, you have earned the title of Progenitor and bonus points during the final calculation.”

Jake just nodded along at the brief summary of his time in the tutorial as he got a notification.

You have gained the title: [Progenitor of the 93rd Universe]

He instantly felt the warm glow of his stats rising and his body improving. And not just by a little bit. He quickly checked the new title, one that indeed didn’t disappoint whatsoever.

[Progenitor of the 93rd Universe] – As the curtains fall, the standouts are clear. You have shown yourself to be among the most promising new initiates of your universe. But beware, for the road is long, and even the most talented can fall due to a single misstep. +25 all stats, +15% all stats.

Despite the slight downer that was the last sentence, Jake was more than elated. Truly a worthwhile reward for beating the tutorial. He had just gained a combined +25% in all stats and +35 all stats from the two titles. He was so much stronger than before.

This isn’t to say he now would have the slightest confidence against the King of the Forest if he had to fight again. The gap between E and D-tier was not that easily overcome.

Turning to the system-creature-thing, he wondered what the plan was. “So… what now? Back to Earth?”

“Negative. Earth is still undergoing metamorphosis. Till the allotted time of the tutorial’s original ending in three days, twelve hours, forty-four minutes, and fifty-one seconds, travel to Earth is not permitted. You must go elsewhere or wait here until then.”

“Where else can I go?”

“Anywhere you have the ability to.”

Thanks for nothing… so now I am just supposed to sit here and wait? he thought.

“If you do not manage to leave here, then yes, you will have to stay,” the system-thing answered. Answering Jake’s goddamn internal thoughts.

“What exactly are you?” Jake asked. A question he believed he had also asked the last time he was here.

“The entity in charge of your final tutorial rewards,” it said, answering much like last time.

“You said rewards, is there more than the title?” he asked a bit doubtfully. The title was already a great reward, but who would say no to more stuff?

“All who pass the tutorial have the opportunity to use the Tutorial Store by using their accumulated tutorial points.”

…right. Tutorial Points are a thing. Honestly, the points had just been flavoring so far. Useless padding on the kill notifications, and they were just mostly ignored. Even if Jake had just received a few hundred million from killing the King, he had already shoved the existence of points to the back of his mind once more.

Not that he had high thoughts for the use of the points. “What can I buy in this store?”

“First, we calculate your final score.”

With those words, a new panel appeared before him.

Tutorial Rewards Panel

The tutorial has come to an end, and the King has fallen to a single survivor.

Finding success even in failure, the tutorial’s purpose was unfulfilled as only a single survivor walks out alive.

Tutorial Points earned: 698.312.987

The first part of the message was as expected, but the second was a bit off. Success in failure… they were all so dumb.

Jake didn’t know why or when the thought that the tutorial’s purpose was to have the least number of survivors possible appeared, but he felt it sadly ironic how they had all been so wrong. Jake hadn’t exactly helped either…

He had managed to collect quite the number of points, though - a number that got amplified a lot by the next messages.

Achievements earned:

Level bonus: 690%

Challenge Dungeon bonus: 150%

Dungeon bonuses: 400% (4x dungeon solo clear)

Title (Legendary Prodigy) bonus: 400%

Title (Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty) bonus: 350%

Title (Holder of a True Primordial Blessing) bonus: 500%

Title (Nobility: Lord) bonus: 100%

Tutorial solo clear bonus: 500%

Survivor count bonus: 0,1%

Time Bonus: 44,9%

Total Amplifier: 3135%

Total Tutorial Points Earned: 21.892.112.142

…okay. That was a lot of points and many amplifiers to points for a store he was still quite unsure what could be used for. Still, big numbers tended to be good, and if he had to guess, then nearly 22 billion had to be a big number.

And once more, he could only find the 0,1% from the survivor count sad…

“Gotta ask, is my score low or high?” Jake asked.

“Your performance in the tutorial has earned you the Progenitor title, the highest possible reward for the tutorial.”

Positive affirmation yay, he joked internally. Jake wasn’t stupid. He had done what he doubted many others could do, and he had risked his life, time and time again, to pull out a narrow victory. While he would never rule out that someone else could have done what he did, he didn’t want to take away from his own sense of accomplishment.

“So, what can I use these points for?” he asked.

“The Tutorial Store is the final reward of the tutorial. Therein the initiate will find items and skills and a myriad of other rewards to choose from. However, do note that only five items can be bought, and all remaining points will be given in the form of Credits.”

Before Jake had time to ask anything more, a menu popped up in front of him.