Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

Seth skimmed through the attributes without taking his eyes off the undead wolf circling him.

Rank 15. Not a real threat. But it shouldn't be taken lightly either.

Shifting his full attention back to the beast, he tracked and analyzed each of its movements, no matter how subtle they were. He had faced countless amounts of undeads over what had felt like a week—hard to tell without any daylight—and merging his core's instinct with conscious thoughts had become almost a second nature. He still couldn't tap into that power whenever he wanted, but his control had greatly improved. Most of the time, surrendering himself to his inner beast was enough to ignite it.

Like now.

Seth's grip tightened on his dagger's handle as he stared at the Undead Boreal Wolf. Like all the others he'd encountered, its exposed bones and the sinewy muscles of its legs gave it a haunting, skeletal appearance. The matted patches of fur somehow still clinging to its body only highlighted the gruesome sight of the decaying flesh. Despite its frail look, Seth knew he couldn't afford to let his guard down. The green saliva dripping from its sharp black teeth was a terrifying venom that provoked searing pain once in the bloodstream—something he had learned the hard way days ago.

The wolf bared its fangs and dug its back paws into the thin layer of dirt on the cave's floor.

Finally, Seth thought, raising his dagger and pouring a fifth of his aether into Haste's grooves. Let's end this quickly.

The undead beast lunged forward, crossing the distance in an instant. Seth smirked and spun to the side without hesitation, dodging the attack before thrusting his dagger deep into the beast's flank, slicing its side open in a clean motion. The wolf yelped in pain, but quickly turned around and pounced again.

Seth dropped to the ground, avoiding the dark fangs just in time, then sprang back up. Infusing a third of his remaining aether into his arm, he let go of his dagger and snatched his bow.

In a blink, he then nocked an arrow and pulled the string. As the Undead Wolf pivoted toward him, jaws agape and ready to bite, Seth's grin widened, and he released the arrow. The projectile plunged straight into the beast's open maw, pierced through the back of its throat, and skewered his skull, ending its life before it even understood what had happened.

"You all fight the same way," Seth muttered with a sigh as he picked up his dagger.

Kneeling down, he wasted no time and cut the beast's chest, exposing its decaying innards. A pungent stench of rot wafted out, but Seth barely flinched—he was used to the smell by now.

At first, he'd thought of coating his arrows with the creature's toxic saliva. But just like with the hide, the aether that gave the poison its effect vanished after about an hour. So he'd ultimately decided the messy, dangerous process just wasn't worth the trouble.

With ease, his fingers located the teal crystal inside and extracted it from the carcass. He stood up, rubbing it clean before slipping it into one of his three inner pockets. Since all his food was long gone, he had turned all of those pockets into storage for the stones after filling his potion pouch.

If only you were edible, he thought, glancing at the wolf's corpse. When he'd first run out of food, he had tried cooking some Ghoul meat, but that had turned out to be inedible. Even with his nose pinched, he couldn't get it close to his mouth without perpetually gagging.

Wrenching the arrow out of the beast's skull, Seth put it back in his quiver and left through the nearest tunnel with a relaxed stride—he had already cleaned every chamber between him and his camp.

As he walked, his eyes fell onto his hand.

Regeneration again, Seth sighed, going through all his attributes. With all the dodging, it was only natural for his Agility to have increased the most, but now Regeneration was sharing the podium. The aether density of the cave was definitely contributing—like in Haste's rapid upgrade from Decent to Standard.

Even though he had used the spell countless times in battle, the speed at which its quality had improved felt unnaturally fast—far beyond what he had read in Warsis' 'Introduction to the Adventurer's Life.' Something like this was supposed to take months, or even years.

Seth entered a massive hall, where the sound of rushing water filled his ears while he followed the same rocky path yet again toward the noise's source: a wide, underground rapid. The crystal-clear river ran in from a large opening in the left wall and flowed out through the opposite side. As he walked along its bank, cool and refreshing mist sprayed his face.

Back when he had seen the river for the first time, one detail had immediately caught his eye—the rocks along its edges. Like the few visible ones at the bottom, they were all unusually coarse despite the lashing water, as if the river was new.

The powerful current made bathing impossible, but Seth had still set up a campsite on the side to access the fresh water… well, campsite was perhaps a strong word. It consisted of nothing more than a wall of rocks to hide himself from the tunnels' entrance and a pile of combustible materials he had gathered such as dried fur, Ghoul earwax, and some branches. Thankfully, lighting small fires hadn't attracted any beasts so far.

'Nightmare, do you hear me?'

Still nothing.

With a sigh, Seth bent down by the river to wash his dagger and hands, then filled his water flask. Several times a day he'd attempted to contact the direwolf, but so far, there had been no response. The only way he could gauge how things were going was through the bonus attributes granted by Link. Since Seth was currently receiving sixteen additional stats in total—and knowing the spell followed a ten-for-one ratio—he estimated that Nightmare had likely reached Rank 16 or 17.

"I'll find you," Seth murmured, staring at the only tunnel he hadn't explored on the other side of the hall. All the grim howls and loud cackles emerging from there made it obvious that more than one Ghoul lurked in the following chamber. And even though he was technically Rank 15 with Nightmare's bonus attributes, taking multiple Ghouls on at once would still be extremely dangerous.

But he had no choice. There was nowhere else left to explore, and while his stomach had somehow stopped aching, he couldn't go many more days without food. Delaying entering that tunnel would accomplish nothing, except maybe making him physically weaker.

Seth pushed himself up and tightened his dagger's sheath. Alright, let's go.

Taking a deep breath, he headed to the dark tunnel, every sense on alert. The moment he entered the narrow path, his core instantly began to throb on its own—something that hadn't occurred for days. With his increased attributes, exploring new chambers had stopped triggering it, so Seth had grown used to stirring it up himself.

The tunnel's eerie silence amplified every sound, causing Seth to crouch and raise his dagger every few steps, thinking something was about to attack him. The flickering runes on the walls were more spaced out than usual, casting only a sparse light, and as a result, the darkness was all-encompassing around him, limiting his sight to barely a few feet ahead.

No shit the Ghouls prefer to be here, Seth thought, slowly creeping forward.

The stench of rot and decay gradually thickened, making his eyes water. Just as he was about to reach the next chamber, he paused. His heart was furiously hammering his ribcage, every single hair on his neck now stood on end, and his palms were drenched with sweat—something was off. His body was tense. Way too tense.

Picking up a tiny rock, Seth tossed it into the dark mouth ahead. The instant the pebble hit the ground, a dozen Ghouls pounced from the sides of the entrance in perfect synchrony. Then, as if drawn by an unseen thread, all their heads snapped toward him, their bloodshot eyes glowing with hunger. Their meal had arrived.

Shit!

Without any hesitation, Seth spun around and broke into a sprint—this wasn't a fight he could win. He darted around boulders and jumped over fissures, channeling aether into Haste's grooves as the snarls and growls of the Ghouls echoed behind him. The moment he burst out from the tunnel, his gaze fell on the river ahead, then quickly moved back to the horde of undeads on his tail. The Ghouls were getting closer, their glowing-teal claws and red eyes piercing the darkness.

Let's hope they can't swim, Seth thought, throwing himself into the water.

The cold, powerful current immediately swept him away while forcing him to kick with all his strength to stay afloat. The moment he neared the wall's gap, Seth caught sight of the Ghouls leaping into the water.

"Oh, fuck off," he hissed, turning to swim with the current as the darkness engulfed him.

Crawling, Seth emerged in another large chamber full of glowing runes half a minute later. Quickly, he scrambled onto the nearby ledge and hauled himself out of the freezing water, then dropped on the cave's floor. After a few gasping breaths, he sprang to his feet, pulled out his bow, and nocked an arrow—they would soon arrive.

Preparing a welcome gift, Seth drew aether out of his Well and lightning arcs sparked to life around the head of his arrow. His heart began pounding in his chest, his grip tightened, and his knuckles whitened around the frame of his bow. The gurgles and howls coming from the wall's hole intensified as he steadied his aim and took a deep breath.

The first Ghoul popped out from the darkness, kicking its legs like a frog to propel itself toward the river's edge. In a swift motion, Seth pulled back his bowstring and let the electrified arrow loose. The projectile struck the Ghoul straight in the chest, causing it to convulse and shriek in pain before sinking beneath the water's surface.

Wasting no time, he quickly nocked another arrow and cast Shocking Strike once more. The exact moment the second and third Ghouls emerged, he fired again. The lightning arced from the arrowhead and spread across the water, surging through both undead creatures. Writhing and screaming, the hideous beasts thrashed wildly in a desperate attempt to swim toward him, but their bodies' involuntary jerks caused by the electricity made it nearly impossible for them to stay afloat.

Out of the corner of his eye, Seth spotted the first Ghoul getting swept away by the rapids and carried off into the opposite wall's hole. As more Ghouls continued to appear, he pulled more aether out of his Well and kept releasing lightning-clad arrows again and again, preventing any of them from escaping the powerful current. The undead beasts twisted and flailed their bony arms, struggling in vain against the river before being swallowed up, one by one, by the distant wall's gap.

The instant the last Ghoul disappeared into the dark breach, Seth dropped to his knees, his chest heaving with exertion. His fingers instinctively counted the arrows left in his quiver. Six, he thought, rubbing his forehead. Let's hope I don't need to—

His throat tightened as a low, rumbling growl reverberated from directly behind him. Seth whirled around, his hand reaching for his dagger's handle, and froze. Lurking out of the shadow, an Undead Boreal Wolf stepped into the dim glow of the runes, its black teeth gleaming into a sinister snarl. Thick strands of pearly saliva dripped from its maw and pooled on the ground.

Pushing himself up, Seth drew his dagger out, but his legs immediately began to shake. A shiver ran down his spine the moment he scanned his Well—it was barely at ten percent.

Seizing the opportunity, the undead beast lunged forward. Seth threw himself to the side, avoiding the beast's snapping jaws only by a few inches. Landing with a growl, the wolf turned and started to circle Seth while staring at him with its predator gaze.

Seth raised his dagger and tried to stir awake his core, but paused when a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

'Wow, what a surprise. Someone needs my help.'

Nightmare appeared behind the undead wolf and pounced, sinking his teeth deep into its neck. Black smoke billowed from the direwolf's maw and seeped into his prey's flesh. The creature's rotting skin turned even darker as it yelped in pain, kicking its back legs and twisting its neck in a desperate attempt to bite back. Nightmare jerked his head and slammed the wolf to the ground, his fangs tearing through its throat.

Dropping his dagger, Seth reached for his bow and drew an arrow. In a single heartbeat, he pulled on the string and released it, sending the projectile soaring. Just as the bleeding undead wolf broke free, the projectile struck true and buried itself deep in the beast's chest. The hideous creature let out a pitiful howl and collapsed, gasping one last time before lying still.

'The finishing blow doesn't mean anything,' Nightmare said, lifting his muzzle. 'That's my kill. Oh, and my stone.'

Seth rolled his eyes and smiled. 'Glad to see you too.'