The Primal Hunter Chapter 1272 - The Good (Mostly Good) And Bad Parts of Evolution

Having dealt with that incredibly dominant skill, Jake continued his evolution process while reviewing the other system messages he had overlooked. The excitement from the Spirit of Man abilities had completely sidetracked him, and it was only at this point that he noticed the huge surge in strength and attributes wasn't solely from his fresh race skill, but also from a title that was entirely anticipated.

[Perfect Evolution (B)]: You have achieved a flawless evolution into a B-grade human. +1980 to all stats.

Although the quests for Perfect Evolution had vanished, the title itself persisted. It seemed that by the time anyone reached B-grade, they would already understand the concept of a Perfect Evolution. That was Jake's theory, at least.

Next up, Jake spotted another upgrade to his Bloodline that he had foreseen. He couldn't help but acknowledge how absurd that idea sounded. Expecting something that would shock everyone else highlighted a lot about his ongoing Path and mindset. Or perhaps, following the Primal Hunter’s Spirit of Man, he had simply run out of capacity for astonishment.

Your Bloodline has been awakened by the evolution, enabling it to advance alongside you.

: [Bloodline of the Primal Hunter (Bloodline Ability - Unique)]: A latent power resides deep within your core. This distinctive, inherent power emerged in Jake Thayne's Bloodline. It provides the Sphere of Perception. It boosts danger awareness. It unlocks and permits the use of Primeval Origin Energy (Jake Juice). It strengthens all instincts and gut feelings. +30% to Perception.

Jake's Bloodline progressed precisely as anticipated, boosting Perception by an additional 5%. Yet, it also included a new line in the description regarding access and utilization of Primeval Origin Energy. That said, Jake wasn't sure if this update was recent or had been present for some time already.

To recall, descriptions for Bloodline abilities varied greatly from those of standard skills. Instead of explaining the Bloodline's capabilities directly, they merely mirrored Jake's personal insights and perceptions about it... a point hilariously underscored by the random inclusion of Jake Juice.

Objectively, did Jake think it was amusing to see the system use that phrase? Absolutely. Did he accept that its appearance was due to his habit of mentally dubbing his special energy as Jake Juice? Definitely. Any regrets on his part?

Not at all. He viewed it as more entertaining than irritating, and the label he used had no impact on its function. After all, the formal term remained Primeval Origin Energy, known to others beyond just Jake, and while he considered himself impressive, he doubted he could alter the Records of that enigmatic energy to officially rename it Jake Juice.

Perhaps someday, though by then, Jake hoped he'd grown more serious and stopped inventing silly names for his abilities. He intended to wish for such maturity without actually trying to achieve it, so the odds were zero, but still, if it ever became official Jake Juice, it would remain ridiculously funny.

While Jake amused himself with these childish musings, a truly significant detail caught his eye: the exact moment of his Bloodline's evolution. The events hadn't unfolded in strict sequence, but now he realized his Bloodline had advanced precisely when he chose his initial Spirit of Man skill, which caused the system to glitch briefly before adjusting and presenting him with Primal Hunter’s Spirit of Man.

This explained the sequence of events perfectly. It wasn't crucial knowledge, but it felt satisfying to understand.

Having cleared these messages, Jake faced just one remaining. Possibly the most vital of them all.

Reaching this level signaled to Jake that his stay in the strange system void was nearing its close. He understood the implications, mentally steeling himself as he started to deliberately control his senses to prevent an overwhelming rush upon returning to his lodge.

Letting out a deep breath, Jake felt as prepared as possible when the system transported him back to reality. Even with all his preparations... he remained unprepared.

The instant he rematerialized on his bed, his heightened senses bombarded him with an torrent of sensations too intense to manage. Luckily, though the sensory flood was worse than any prior evolution, Jake possessed better ways to cope, instantly channeling his focus into activating the Meditate skill.

Upon doing so, a wave of tranquility washed over him as his mind elevated to unprecedented heights, his soul seemingly broadening. Moreover, it severed most sensory inputs, creating space for him to process and tackle one issue sequentially. One overload source after another.

Typically, during evolutions, only Jake's Sphere of Perception posed the main challenge, but this occasion brought everything crashing in simultaneously. Unfamiliar noises assaulted his ears, blinding light overwhelmed his vision, a barrage of scents induced queasiness, and even the bed's texture felt bizarrely incomprehensible. It was simply excessive.

Through meditation, Jake isolated nearly all senses, sparing just a handful, with the Sphere of Perception prioritized for attention. He extended it outward, revealing the landscape for kilometers in every direction without holding it back.

In his C-grade days, Jake deliberately limited his sphere to roughly a few hundred meters up to about a kilometer surrounding him constantly, relying on Pulse of Perception for greater distances. That Pulse extended to several hundred kilometers, peaking at around five hundred.

Now, as he permitted the Sphere of Perception to grow unchecked, it swiftly hit a hundred kilometers with minimal mental fatigue. It accelerated further, soon encompassing two hundred kilometers. Geometry dictated that each added kilometer vastly expanded the covered area, yet Jake managed without strain.

It was only at three hundred kilometers that pressure mounted, prompting Jake to halt the growth and stabilize the skill at that extent. He paused to recuperate mentally, acclimating to the expanded Sphere of Perception as data streamed into his consciousness, filtered automatically.

This created a peculiar condition where Jake "perceived" all activity within the enormous Sphere of Perception, though he ignored most of it passively. Directing his focus toward a particular search made him instantly alert to matches, like wondering if any battles raged inside his sphere.

He observed backyard sparring sessions, explorations in the forest bordering Haven, and even an arrest of a resisting individual. Jake tracked them sharply in those moments, but once his attention shifted, their actions faded from active notice.

Undeniably strange and tough to articulate, the essence was that Jake maintained constant awareness of everything within three hundred kilometers across all directions. His Sphere of Perception had expanded dramatically from its previous state, reminding him of the First Sage's words during their encounter.

The First Sage had mentioned that Jake could fully harness his Bloodline's potential upon hitting B-grade, and the prediction held mostly true. Naturally, overlooking the Bloodline's own evolution.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Once adjusted to his new normal, Jake conducted another test. Bracing his mind, he released a full-powered Pulse of Perception. A brief pain flared, but it delivered an immediate overview of his surroundings for... impressive.

Though exact measurement eluded him, he gauged the new Pulse reach at over two thousand kilometers. Not as explosive as the Sphere's growth, but still staggeringly vast, and he suspected further increases as he advanced in B-grade.

Jake paused again to ease his thoughts before gradually deactivating Meditate, reintroducing senses incrementally. Initially challenging, he suppressed them actively to adapt swiftly.

As he methodically restored each sense, it emerged that meditation had already facilitated substantial automatic adjustment. He allocated ample time to fully orient himself before finally opening his eyes and exhaling heavily.

He recognized that full recovery from the overload wouldn't happen instantly, but fortunately, a solid distraction awaited. Well, labeling it solid seemed off, given its unpleasant nature, but evolution demanded it anyway.

Skill Rarity Adjustment Initiated.

As your power grows, so do your Records. What may have been an achievement before is now only to be expected, and what may have seemed rare before may now merely be uncommon. Thus, an adjustment is needed to reflect your progress.

All skills will be adjusted to your current grade, resulting in potential downgrades in rarity. All functionality of the skills will remain unchanged. Some skills may be adjusted without affecting their rarities. This may or may not result in increased difficulty of further rarity upgrades.

Few enjoyed seeing skills drop in rarity, even if no real loss occurred beyond a less impressive status display. Some might claim downgrades helped, as they could simplify future upgrades.

Jake disliked it regardless, but it was unavoidable, so reluctantly, he continued reading, wishing for minimal impact.

Profession Skills:

Note that some skills that did not experience a downgrade in rarity did have their relative rarity lowered.

Rarity Adjusted:

[Arcane Curse Manifestation (Ancient)] --> [Arcane Curse Manifestation (Epic)]

--

It proved rather mild. Jake double-checked to verify just one skill had downgraded. He'd half-expected the Malefic Viper Legacy skills to suffer, but they remained intact.

Regarding the downgraded skill... yes, it made sense. He'd rarely employed it, so the drop aligned with expectations. He found it curious that no others changed, knowing multiple shifts were typical, but reviewing his list clarified the stability.

Rarity Unchanged: [Path of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Grimoire of the Heretic-Chosen (Unique)], [Alchemist’s Purification (Inferior)], [Brew Potion (Uncommon)], [Craft Elixir (Rare)], [Concoct Poison (Epic)], [Soul Ritualism of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Ancient)], [Malefic Viper’s Poison (Ancient)], [Blood of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Sense of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Wings of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Touch of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Legacy Teachings of the Heretic-Chosen Alchemist (Legendary)], [Pride of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Scales of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Fangs of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)], [Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter (Legendary)], [Divine Bargain of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)], [Sagacity of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)], [Heretic-Chosen’s Invocation of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)], [Palate of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)], [Alchemical Flame (Mythical)]

--

Apart from the Malefic Viper Legacy skills, roughly half couldn't downgrade structurally, like Concoct Poison and Brew Potion, or the unique ones immune to change, while the rest were recent acquisitions or heavily utilized in C-grade. True downgrade prospects included Soul Ritualism, Legacy Teachings, Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter, Divine Bargain, Invocation of the Malefic Viper, and the fresh Alchemical Flame.

For the final pair, Jake dismissed them as risks outright—one being his C-grade profession pinnacle, the other his new Supreme Soulflame. The Malefic Viper-linked skills seemed secure too. Soul Ritualism had dropped upon C-grade entry but was upgraded during that phase and held steady now, likely from frequent use. He'd nearly pushed it to legendary pre-evolution.

Legacy Teachings saw limited direct application beyond one Order session, yet it endured. Surprising somewhat, but not entirely, since Jake had accumulated Records in knowledge transmission, boosted by his latest evolution. That left mainly Core Manipulation of the Primal Hunter? No chance a Primal Hunter-named skill would falter.

Overall, his profession emerged from the B-grade adjustment almost untouched, and he anticipated similar fortune for his class.

Class Skills:

Note that some skills that did not experience a downgrade in rarity did have their relative rarity lowered.

Rarity Adjusted:

[Supreme Stealth Attack (Epic)] --> [Supreme Stealth Attack (Rare)]

[Splitting Arcane Arrow Rain (Epic)] --> [Splitting Arcane Arrow Rain (Rare)]

[Bestial Hunter’s Tracking (Epic)] --> [Bestial Hunter’s Tracking (Rare)]

[Piercing Cursed Arcane Fang (Epic)] --> [Piercing Cursed Arcane Fang (Rare)]

[Penetrating Arcane Arrow of Horizon’s Edge (Ancient)] --> [Penetrating Arcane Arrow of Horizon’s Edge (Epic)]

[Unblemished Arcane Arrows of the Horizon (Legendary)] --> [Unblemished Arcane Arrows of the Horizon (Ancient)]

[Relentless Hunt of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Legendary)] --> [Relentless Hunt of the Avaricious Arcane Hunter (Ancient)]

--

In contrast to his profession, Jake's class suffered a severe hit from the downgrades. Seven skills shifted, and worse, four dropped from epic, leaving him with four rare ones now.

Still, the outcome didn't shock him much. Among the four, only Supreme Stealth Attack raised a brow due to its recent evolution, but he comprehended the reason. For the other three, Jake admitted he'd overlooked their upgrades.

The remaining trio included two mostly passive effects, with Penetrating Arcane Arrow serving mainly as an enhancement to his Protean Arrows. For all three, he'd simply appreciated their utility without upgrade efforts.

Witnessing the downgrades stung, yet it served as a useful cue for prioritizing upgrades post-hunting return. He aimed to eliminate those rare skills promptly, though he knew his tendency to divert focus would likely leave some unattended.

Proceeding, Jake scanned the unchanged list, spotting no unexpected survivors.

Rarity Unchanged: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter’s Arrows (Epic)], [Archery of Expanding Horizons (Ancient)] [Arcane Powershot (Ancient)], [Arcane Awakening (Ancient)], [One Step, Thousand Miles (Ancient)], [Horizon-chasing Big Game Arcane Hunter (Ancient)], [Mark of the Horizon-Chasing Arcane Hunter (Ancient)], [Arcane Supremacy (Legendary)], [Unseen Hunter Arcane Hunter (Legendary)], [Lone Hunter of Horizon’s Edge (Legendary)], [Protean Arrow of Eternal Horizons (Legendary)], [Timeless Focus of the Apex Hunter (Legendary)], [Fangs of Man (Legendary)], [Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter (Mythical)], [Primal Gaze of the Apex Hunter (Mythical)], [Moment of the Primal Hunter (Mythical)], [Event Horizon (Mythical)]

--

The sole at-risk skill in Jake's mind was perhaps Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter, untouched since acquisition, but its Primal Hunter label protected it. Arcane Supremacy might have qualified too, yet it retained legendary status fittingly. One Step, Thousand Miles could've been vulnerable as well...

Dismissing those notions with a head shake, Jake appreciated the lack of further downgrades and the immunity of all mythical skills to this system overhaul. Race skills avoided such adjustments for humans, unlike monsters whose sole skills shifted, probably because human versions were too restricted for changes.

Sensory adjustment improved after the downgrade review provided diversion, when a sudden idea hit Jake: had Arnold reached B-grad