The Primal Hunter Chapter 1278 - A Way (B)etter Jake

Jake basked in the thrilling rush of his sudden power surge, his grin widening as the rushing winds brushed against his face while he soared higher into the sky.

In the far-off distance, the moon came into view, its craters and surface details sharpening without effort in his gaze. Concentrating harder, he even picked out tiny rocks and wisps of dust stirred up by Arnold's activities deep within the lunar body. Clear indicators of new life there included the protective barrier enveloping the moon.

Based on Jake's understanding, this wasn't some elite-tier setup, merely a shield strong enough to deflect stray meteors while feeding Arnold – or likely his automated surveillance network – full awareness of every event inside its bounds.

Once Jake breached the atmosphere and ventured fully into the void, he unleashed his abilities and ran a few quick experiments. He extended his senses completely and even stretched his Sphere of Perception further, discovering it less chaotic than down on the surface due to fewer distractions, yet space still buzzed with overwhelming input.

The cosmos seemed barren at first glance, but nothing could be further from the truth. No solid matter cluttered it, yet Jake's Sphere captured swirling energies everywhere. As he attuned to his environment, that recognizable pull resurfaced, the one tied to employing One Step.

Activating One Step amplified this feeling, and Jake instantly recognized its source.

He struggled to put it into words, sensing an omnipresent essence he could faintly perceive but not grasp. He'd sensed affinities in the past, and with abundant mana surrounding him, detecting space-affinity mana and similar flows was straightforward, but concepts evaded such easy touch before. Their existence was intellectual knowledge, yet actual sensation marked a profound shift, particularly for Jake.

Unclear if his B-grade evolution alone sharpened his concept detection or if the huge Perception boost played a role, Jake leaned toward the evolution as the key. It echoed his early days sensing mana during the Tutorial, then differentiating affinities. This represented just another depth layer, and B-grade likely marked the point where natural concept awareness dawned for all.

He recalled S-grades mastering teleportation effortlessly, with basic time manipulation as standard. Jake figured this stemmed not just from raw power but from innate gains in sensing and grasping concepts.

Plenty to discuss with Villy later. Right now, one skill demanded his primary attention.

Easing his ascent briefly, Jake halted and hovered, fixing his eyes on the moon. Drawing a steady breath, he invoked his fresh class skill. At once, his vision sharpened dramatically, his Perception surging in intensity. Lunar stones revealed intricate fissures up close, but Sight of the Boundless Horizon extended far beyond enhanced sight.

His grasp on nearby concepts exploded, even influencing his Sense of the Malefic Viper as a strong pull emanated from... Venus, the planet nearest Earth toward the sun, wasn't it? Jake often confused Mercury and Venus, but he believed Venus orbited closer to home.

Regardless, a rich, poisonous natural wonder awaited there, one he'd investigate eventually.

Probing how it affected other senses, Jake confirmed boosts to hearing, smell, and more, though space made verification tricky. Vision and esoteric perceptions showed the starkest gains.

As time passed, Jake carefully assessed the skill's toll on his form. True to its description, Sight slashed his defensive capabilities severely, no exaggeration. Post-evolution, he'd anticipated greater resilience, but with Sight active, he embodied a true glass cannon. The defense drop exceeded half, though he couldn't quantify it precisely.

Logically, this suggested shunning Sight in active battles due to vulnerability... yet Jake viewed it otherwise. Defenses aside, his bodily strength held steady, mobility unchanged or even slightly enhanced during use.

A solid hit under Sight would wreck him, absolutely, but evasion solved that. Jake trusted his dodging prowess immensely, envisioning seamless integration even in close-quarters combat.

Duration limited by mounting soul strain, though. For a closing trial, Jake eyed the moon anew, experimenting. Squinting intently, he stared at the rugged terrain until motion flickered. Zeroing in, he tracked shadows shifting under the surface.

Recognition hit swiftly: drones burrowed some thirty meters deep, laying cable conduits apparently. Details blurred, but their activity was unmistakable, drawing a satisfied smile from Jake.

He pondered if the skill's boundary-transcending perception enabled this, or if sky-high Perception alone sufficed.

Tests complete for the moment, Jake disengaged Sight of the Boundless Horizon, bracing for potential backlash. Perception normalized instantly, and within about five seconds, his physique and soul regained firmness, restoring full equilibrium.

No lingering debuffs appeared, nor any soul fatigue. Pairing with Arcane Awakening might alter dynamics, but solo, Sight's defense penalty seemed offset by absence of overexertion downsides.

Further trials awaited, like synergies with Primal Gaze and especially Event Horizon, but sparring partners were scarce.

Satisfied thus far, Jake resumed his lunar trajectory, soon opting for One Step bursts while seeking space-concept insights.

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Concurrently, Jake swiftly reviewed his post-evolution stat progression.

Status

Name: Jake Thayne

Race: [Human (B) – 349 --> 354]

Class: [Arcane Hunter of the Boundless Horizon – 349 --> 350]

Profession: [Primeval Alchemist of Malefic Origins – 349 --> 359]

Health Points (HP): 414,087/414,087 --> 591,900/591,900

Mana Points (MP): 687,111/699,718 --> 954,359/954,359

Stamina: 302,099/387,675 --> 534,337/534,337

Stats

Strength: 45477 --> 57736

Agility: 56146 --> 69709

Endurance: 31014 --> 42747

Vitality: 33127 --> 47352

Toughness: 26510 --> 39037

Wisdom: 44782 --> 61079

Intelligence: 36288 --> 48302

Perception: 80740 --> 100,779

Willpower: 40790 --> 56012

Free points: 0 --> 2050

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No need to revisit skills, having just reviewed updates, and these figures offered plenty to digest. Every stat had ballooned tremendously, surpassing ten thousand gains uniformly. Universal boosts from all-stat additions and Primal Spirit of Man's percentage uplift meant laggards like Toughness and Vitality surged ahead, bolstering Jake's survivability further. He wasn't built for tanking vanguards, but ditching excessive fragility felt reassuring... barring Sight activation.

Perception's leap dwarfed others, thanks to his Bloodline's evolution adding five extra percentage points. Breaching 100,000 thrilled Jake, and curiously, six-digit stats now featured commas, likely mirroring his mental expectation rather than system whim.

Next, unallocated Free Points and a void lollipop promised more gains, but Jake postponed distribution. No immediate combats or crafting loomed, and he preferred gauging stat needs post-testing.

His Intelligence drew a glance, sparking concern over potential shortfalls. The new class skimped on it, profession ignored it entirely, swapping for Perception emphasis, so perhaps Free Points could shore it up. Uncertainty lingered, as Jake questioned its relevance beyond freeform magic, with offensive skills increasingly favoring Perception scaling.

Much to ponder.

One oddity caught Jake's eye: several stats appeared absent. Verifying Primal Spirit of Man confirmed suspicions, deepening his frown.

Perplexed, Jake anticipated the skill's bonuses on his status display. Sensing its influence revealed true physical stats far exceeded listed values. For instance, Strength and Agility each swelled by roughly 7000 from Primal Spirit of Man compensating for gear voids. Overall, it infused over 50,000 stats, a solid 10% total uplift. Notably, it favored Strength, Agility, Endurance, Toughness, and Vitality, maxing equipment-equivalent 20% boosts across them.

True to description, physicals claimed priority, so full caps aligned with expectations. Mental stats shared remnants evenly via percentages among Willpower, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Perception, yielding Jake over 10,000 extra Perception still.

Delving deeper, Primal Spirit of Man struck Jake as absurdly overpowered. Gaining 50,000 stats via minor passive stamina drain bordered on ridiculous. Equipment gaps enabled it, sure, but liberating him from stat-chasing gear hunts was invaluable.

Admittedly, for archery purity, maxing Perception's 20% over Toughness and Vitality might optimize better, but with capping all equipment bonuses ever unrealistic, this surplus trumped voids. Who'd reject free power?

Status dismissed, Jake redirected focus to his voyage, hurtling toward the moon. Space transit outpaced planetary jaunts sans friction, letting sustained acceleration blend One Step sprints and flight-propelled dashes.

En route experiments persisted, and nearing the moon, Jake gauged his post-evolution might at double to two-and-a-half times prior levels. Evolutions delivered stat windfalls plus qualitative enhancements to existing attributes.

Upon lunar arrival, Jake glided through Arnold's formation unscathed, designed for ingress over exclusion. Not yet, anyway.

Crossing the threshold alerted dozens of entities to him, pinpointing his position, but identity verification dispersed most, sparing two.

Touching down, Jake's expanded sphere revealed subsurface tunnel networks. Surface accesses hid behind barriers, yet as he neared a broad shutter, it parted, admitting him within.

”At the core,” Arnold's voice resonated from all directions and none simultaneously.

Jake inclined his head, scanning the stark cavern bereft of Arnold save the entry shutter and trailing wires delving deeper. A quick survey preceded his advance inward.

Deeper progress unveiled escalating Arnold traces: drones patrolled sporadically, and nearing the core, his sphere unveiled a colossal factory in a metallically fortified rectangular cavern.

Such sights proliferated, underscoring Arnold's formidable efficiency. Mere weeks into lunar tenancy, construction boomed. Completion might yield a metallic moon shell encasing core-fueled factories.

Core chamber nears, Jake noted terraformed tunnel upgrades. Multiple paths once converged there, now funneled through a fortified hallway laced with gates and traps. These defenses screamed Arnold's B-grade ascent; C-grade Jake would falter against such ingenuity.

Tempted to probe the setups, Jake opted courtesy, drifting through the open corridor with dormant hazards.

The vast core chamber served as Arnold's prime lab, Jake's sphere beholding the elaborate array. The core nestled in a wired metallic orb, the space crammed with electronics and eerie experiments, veiled in containment cubes to quarantine internals, yet unsettling even remotely.

A thick mana surge hit Jake upon entry, core density lethal to D-grades. Curiosity guided his steps to Arnold, ensconced in a chair manipulating a bizarre pyramid.

Rounding the bend to behold the scientist, Jake's eyes widened in astonishment at his transformed appearance.