The Primal Hunter Series by Zogarth (1 – 3)

Wait, we were still in the Tutorial at the start of book 2? Damn.

Anyway, let’s get into where we last left off with Jake. After a disastrous meeting with his old work colleagues, Jake finds himself alone in the Tutorial’s inner area, where he was chosen to stay clear of everyone else and just do his own thing. His own thing, in this instance, was to kill four Beast Lords in dungeons before finally facing the final boss known as the King of the Forest.

Meanwhile, William (the most beloved character of the series) wakes up after having taken significant damage in the previous book. Now more delusional than ever, he seeks out Jacob only to discover that everyone besides Jacob himself and his bodyguard is already dead. He, of course, proceeds to kill Jacob and Bertram, but Jacob has one of those nice legendary skills (that is totally not named as a song reference) that allows him to survive and leave the Tutorial.

Jacob then goes on to stay in a special area prepared by the Holy Church – his chosen faction – as he trains together with his immortal bodyguard, Bertram. Oh, and he also remembers to send the souls of those who followed him in the Tutorial to a place called the Holyland, as per his agreement with the Holy Mother.

Back in the Tutorial, Jake and William are both doing dungeons, with Jake clearing three of them and gaining special items for the final boss battle, with William only doing the first one. In all his hubris, William chooses to confront Jake, and they have a long and epic battle that- wait, never mind, no, he just got unceremoniusly smashed into the ground as Jake was far stronger.

Villy, our resident snake god that may or may not be evil, then pops in just as William’s Patron, Eversmile, also does. Eversmile proceeds to resurrect William before dragging him away and out of the Tutorial, while the Malefic Viper stays and talks to Jake for a while, giving him some nice in-depth meta-knowledge about the Tutorial and whatnot. He told him a long story about how Jake was fated to die, got his Bloodline, so fate doesn’t matter, how William was the true main character, and most essentially about how gods can steal beer from other people’s fridges. Just the essentials.

After their nice talk, Jake moves on to hunt more stuff, clears another dungeon, and finally finds himself face to face with the King of the Forest, a creature far stronger than anything he has ever faced before. He proceeds to get his ass kicked for a while before using unique items gained from the dungeon bosses to weaken the King. The two fight for a while until the King decides not to kill Jake but knock him out, which turns out to be a very bad idea, as a knocked-out Jake means only instincts remain. Jake barely manages to squeeze out a victory as the Tutorial ends.

Proceed to loot fiesta, new skills, titles, and all the great stuff, before it is back to Earth… oh, Jake cleared the Tutorial before time, and Earth is still locked down. Not to worry, the Viper has a great idea and invites Jake to visit him for a few days before it is time to return.

During this visit, Jake does some good old time-chamber training by practicing some alchemy and getting tossed into a mixture known as the Trial of Myriad Poisons, which only kills a slight majority of those who do it, so totally safe. Seriously, of course, it is safe, Jake is the main character, and while It could be incredibly funny to kill him halfway through a book and then switch MC, I doubt it would go over well.

Oh, Book 2 also included some intermissions for characters that WILL be important in the future. No, they are not just filler. One of them is about Carmen, a woman who used to be a boxer and comes from a very fucked up family, one of which maliciously cripples her one hand, forcing her to quit her one passion: boxing. After punching her cousin – the one who injured her – a bit too many times in the face for being a bitch, she finds herself locked up in Jail as the Tutorial begins. Not to worry. Like Jake, she thrives as her hands are fixed by the system, and she proceeds to punch her way to power and gains a title only two stages below what Jake got for the Tutorial.

Then we have Miyamoto, an old man who entered the system while on his deathbed. Now revitalized, he picks up his sword and, leading his old and powerful clan, rises to power and lays the foundations for a powerful faction moving forward. He gets the second-best title from the Tutorial and is known as the Sword Saint.

Third, we have Eron. Like Jake, this man possesses a Bloodline, but unlike Jake, he always embraced it. He was a surgeon in life, and his Bloodline Ability is to see the sparks of life within people. Before the system, he used this ability in his job, and after the system, he uses it to become a healer of incredible strength. But his dedication to preserving and healing life is more than a passion: it is an obsession.

Finally, we have Matteo, a former assassin. This entire intermission was actually just to give insight into the Court of Shadows factions and some of the characters in it, with it all being a bait-and-switch and having Matteo, who everyone believes is the strongest, lose to a relatively unknown person known as Caleb. Caleb Thayne – Jake’s little brother.

Anyway, back to Jake. After his training arc, Jake returns to Earth and meets some of his old colleagues, including Jacob. He gives a nod of recognition to Casper – now undead friend – before they all take off in different directions. Jake’s target is something called a Pylon of Civilization, and it does not take him long to find it.

Claiming the Pylon is easy enough as Jake becomes the first person to own a “city” on Earth. His city being a valley with a nice pond and a waterfall, with the roof of his house being the hood of his cloak. Jake is all fine with this, and time passes as he does alchemy and relaxes, no longer feeling the Tutorial’s constant stress and time pressure.

That is until a group of humans stumble across his humble abode. Jake saves them without thinking much and gets the first citizens of his “city.” With this city also comes a nobility title, making Jake an Earl, though he has no idea what good that will do.

One of the people in this new city is known as Miranda, and Jake heroically offloads the title of City Lord to her and makes her a noble, too, after thoroughly evaluating her as a candidate (read: he had a gut feeling it would be fine).

Having successfully outsourced his responsibilities, Jake can finally continue doing what is most important: Alchemy, leveling, upgrading skills, getting into good fights, and exploring this new world. Customary actions taken by Jake include: Figuring out how to kill the huge mushroom monster right under his city. Finding out what kind of beasts reside in the forest his city is placed on the outskirts of. And, of course, literally growing wings and having a hawk teach him how to fly as they both take to the sky to explore.

Surely the world will leave Jake alone to just chill with his hawk and hunt down monsters on sky islands.

Yes, this book will contain sky islands. Yes, it is a spoiler. Sue me. (for legal reasons: please don’t sue me).

Anywho, I hope you enjoy book three as much as I enjoyed writing it!