Zogarth
patreon
Chapter 1121 - Archery Upgrade Successfully Failed
🕑 Added 2025-04-23 11:23:17 +0000 UTCJake slowly woke up as he felt something pressing down on his chest. At first, he thought that maybe the little Warpsnatcher had decided to use him as a pillow, but as he observed through his sphere, he realized that definitely wasn’t the case.
Opening his eyes, Jake saw a lot of different colors as he found himself covered in fruits of different shapes and sizes. A particularly big, coconut-looking fruit rested on his chest, carefully balanced and propped up by other fruit all around to make sure it didn’t fall down.
Moving a little, Jake shook off the many fruits as he forced himself to sit. The mere act of sitting up sent spikes of pain running through Jake’s body as he coughed loudly, blood coming out in the process.
After his coughing fit, Jake breathed heavily as he was tempted to just lie back down again. The blanket he had been lying on was a magical treasure like most other things the teleporting C-grade Warpsnatcher had gathered, and it even increased recovery by a little when resting on it. Jake did not know if it helped shorten his duration of weakness, but even if it could, he reckoned the effect would be negligible at best.
Looking around the cavern, he didn’t see the Warpsnatcher anywhere, but the fact he had been covered in fresh fruit indicated it had been. Inspecting the fruit in question, Jake felt a bit of hunger as he shrugged and picked a peach-looking thing up. He didn’t reckon eating it would be dangerous and Identify told him it was just an uncommon rarity fruit that did nothing when those of the enlightened races consumed it raw. Not outside of alleviating hunger a bit. Instead, it was the kind of item that monsters could eat to absorb the energy within, or those with cooking skills could create something actually useful from.
Biting into the fruit, Jake found the taste incredibly sweet, and while it indeed didn’t help his horrid state to consume it, the thing had at least been tasty. Inspecting his body more thoroughly, Jake confirmed what he already knew.
Bloody miracle I can even live with a body this broken...
His internal organs were, to put it in the nicest terms, still mush. With his evolutions, Jake had lost most of his organs, but some, like the heart, lungs and kidney, remained. Now, he only had one lung left, which helped explain why breathing was hard, his kidney was just straight-up gone, and his heart was full of holes and lacerations. The only thing his internals were still filled with was a lot of unrecognizable mush that, while Jake couldn’t outright see it, he assumed probably looked a bit like strawberry jam.
Those sound attacks had really done a number on him, but it wasn’t as if the rest of his body was any better. His muscles had been destroyed by his own destructive arcane energies, and when he observed his legs, Jake knew he wouldn’t be able to stand up yet, even if he wanted to.
His vital energies were hard at work repairing his body, but such a thing took time. It wasn’t even as if consuming a healing potion would work, as this wasn’t the kind of damage that could be fixed using that. Checking out his Soulshape, he also confirmed a slight bit of damage there, once more caused by Arcane Awakening’s overuse.
Overall, Jake concluded that during this fight, he had pushed himself beyond his limits and then a bit further. He had kept Arcane Awakening going for longer than ever before, and without Arcane Supremacy and his upgrade to Anomalous Soul, Jake would have lost and had to flee far earlier.
Using his internal clock, Jake estimated he had been knocked out cold for around two days. Which is to say that his current state was after already healing the worst of it for two days, really hammering home just how far beyond his limits Jake had pushed himself.
Closing his eyes, Jake entered meditation to hopefully expedite his recovery. Luckily, even if his body was a complete mess, his Soulspace remained undamaged and a great refuge. Meditation’s ability to cut off all other senses also came very in handy when this injured, as the constant pain wouldn’t distract him.
Inside the Soulspace, Jake finally also took the time to check out his notifications. Because of the sudden entrance of the Rainbowfeather Sovereign, Jake could not really revel in the kill, but now he could.
You have slain [Grand Simivita Warlord – lvl 354] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level
It couldn’t be forgotten that this was Jake’s first B-grade kill. In all honesty, it felt anticlimactic as the Warlord hadn’t even been that powerful, and with all that had happened right afterwards, his fight with the Warlord seemed almost insignificant.
Which was also why Jake found it surprising, but also reaffirming when he checked the two next notifications.
’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 308 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points
’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 311 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points
’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 309 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points
He had hunted so many damn apes and barely made any progress, but one relatively easy fight against a B-grade had resulted in two levels. Sure, there was a bonus in Records from it being Jake’s first B-grade kill, but the experience increase from jumping grades couldn’t be denied. Especially not for someone like Jake.
If he had also killed the Sovereign, the experience would have been way more insane. Speaking of the Sovereign.
Jake allowed some of his senses to seep into the outer world as he felt for something. After a few seconds of struggle, Jake could subtly detect the Hunter’s Mark he’d left on the B-grade, confirming the Sovereign was still alive. Incredibly far away, but still alive.
With this knowledge, Jake breathed out a sigh of relief and sank his consciousness back into his Soulspace. Knowing the Sovereign still lived meant Jake had a chance for a proper fight. However, before the Sovereign, Jake now had nine other B-grades to also hunt down. They had ruined his fight with the powerful B-grade, and even now, as Jake reflected on the battle, he did not know who would have won if the two had kept going. All he knew was that he still wanted to find out next time they met.
One of the reasons Jake had any confidence in his victory was naturally the epiphany he had shortly before he had to flee. Even if he hadn’t managed to get the kill and the experience points from his fight with the Sovereign, he had definitely not come out of it empty-handed.
Though he hadn’t gotten what he’d expected and aimed for, either.
Sadly for Jake, when it came to upgrading his Archery skill, he had completely failed. Perhaps his failure wasn’t entirely Jake’s fault, though. Neither was it Artemis’. He had a skill she wasn’t aware of and that Jake barely even thought about, but if he had just taken some more time and truly considered matters, perhaps he would have realized he had the perfect skill to make his “time arrows” all along.
Because, while Jake had failed to gain a skill upgrade to his archery skill, he had succeeded in gaining an upgrade to the passive skill Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon... now with an added Arcane in there.
[Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon (Ancient)] – To allow your arrows to reach the horizon unblemished and unobstructed is nothing but a given for a hunter of the Horizon’s Edge. Allows your arrows to gain significant resistance to all environmental factors and far more easily destroy any environmental energy or material. Grants a slight increase in penetrative power against energy-based defensive barriers and magical interference that may obstruct the arrow. The potency of the Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon skill is determined by the inherent power of the arrow. The maximum and minimum potency of Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon is determined by Perception.
-->
[Unblemished Arcane Arrows of the Horizon (Legendary)] – To allow your arrows to reach the horizon unblemished and unobstructed is nothing but a given for a hunter of the Horizon’s Edge. Allows your arrows to gain significant resistance to all environmental factors and far more easily destroy any environmental energy or material. Arcane energies allow this effect to expand and affect certain concepts, eroding and altering conceptual influence on the arrows. This aspect of the skill requires active control and input by the Hunter. Grants a slight increase in penetrative power against energy-based defensive barriers and magical interference that may obstruct the arrow. The potency of the Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon skill is determined by the inherent power of the arrow. The maximum and minimum potency of Unblemished Arrows of the Horizon is determined by Perception.
Not much of the skill description had changed. In fact, it was mostly the same one as before, except for one added sentence in the middle about concepts. The more Jake thought about it, the more this upgrade also made sense.
From the very beginning, Jake had viewed the best aspect of Unblemished Arrows to be the fact that it removed wind resistance from the equation. It meant that Jake’s arrows could shoot faster and further without being affected by the environment as much. Before, he had always considered the environment the medium in which his arrow traveled, so if it flew through water, Unblemished Arrows would make it not slow down as much.
However, why did the skill have to be restrained to only resisting the most obvious things? Well, it turns out it didn’t. Resisting the more complex was just significantly more difficult, and Jake was fairly confident he couldn’t have done it without “cheating” using his arcane affinity.
The additional effect also wasn’t passive, as per the new description:
“This aspect of the skill requires active control and input by the Hunter.”
Unblemished Arrows had always just been a background skill Jake could comfortably forget, but now he had to actively use it if he wanted his arrows to resist the concept of time. Or any other concept, for that matter. The key was that Jake had to actually comprehend the concept to actively control its resistance, and Jake was fully aware that if his new skill could passively make his arrows resist the concept of time itself, he wouldn’t have gotten just a mere legendary skill.
Jake had a lot of things he wanted to test, including the upgraded skill’s interaction with Penetrating Arrow, which increased the effectiveness of Unblemished Arrows, but all of that would have to wait for when Jake was able to physically move. For now, he had to focus on recovery... and figuring out how he was supposed to upgrade his archery skill now.
He also realized that he had to think more for himself when it came to forming his archery skill. From what Artemis had said, her archery skill had the ability to manipulate concept’s effect on her arrows, but evidently, Jake didn’t need that as he had an entirely separate skill to do so. There was also a chance that Jake could merge Unblemished Arrows and his Archery skill one day, but such considerations were for the far future, and he doubted he even wanted to do that.
Looking at this current archery skill, it stuck out being only epic rarity, however, its effects remained extraordinary. It allowed him to bend arrows by infusing Willpower into his arrows, but more importantly than anything else was its increase to all the damage Jake did with a bow based on the distance of his shots and his Perception. Especially the Perception part.
Jake did not know how much stronger it made his arrows, but Jake had a feeling it was meaningful. The increased effect of Strength and Agility while wielding a bow was naturally also nice, but all archery skills had that by default, though Artemis said hers only increased her Wisdom, likely because she heavily relied on her special plant arrows. In many ways, Artemis was halfway a summoner that used archery to deliver her summons, while Jake was an archer who used magic to enhance the damage done of his arrows.
Looking over his skills a bit more, Jake continued considering matters for the next few hours as he meditated and recovered. After he had done all the thinking he possibly could without losing his mind from being unable to actually experiment, Jake turned to a certain tome left by the First Sage to get his mind off things.
Nearly half a day passed with Jake studying before something moved in the cavern. He opened his eyes to find the Warpsnatcher back, and a second later, a picnic table was summoned into the air before falling down onto a pile of loot. The critter didn’t even look at Jake as it dismantled the table and took out a few metal plates that had been hidden within before waving its small parts, destroying the useless wood.
Several more items were summoned over the next half a minute, each of them sorted into different piles using a system only known to the Warpsnatcher. With business handled, the beast finally turned to Jake as it jumped over and looked up at him with big eyes.
“Better?”
Jake couldn’t help but smile as he gave a painful nod. “A little better.”
The Warpsnatcher tilted its head back and forth a few times before jumping closer and placing a palm on Jake’s leg. It tabbed his leg two times before jumping back again.
“Be better?”
“I’m working on it,” Jake smiled as he resisted reaching out to pat the creature. He did not know if doing so would be considered rude, and he really didn’t want to make the otherwise friendly near-peak C-grade mad.
The little thing seemed happy enough with Jake’s answer as it picked up a small fruit and offered it. Jake fought through the pain as he took the fruit and put it into his mouth, finding it quite tasty. It reminded him of a more flavorful avocado.
Satisfied at seeing Jake eat something – almost as if the Warpsnatcher viewed Jake as some poor hurt baby bird – it clapped its little hands and tabbed his leg yet again.
“Home safe. You rest,” the Warpsnatcher said before it promptly jumped away again. With its fourth jump, its entire body shimmered and disappeared, no longer even within Jake’s Pulse range.
Would give Sandy a run for their money when it comes to running away... though I guess Sandy is a lot tougher in case they get hit, Jake thought, shaking his head a bit. Or at least he tried to before stopping himself halfway through turning his neck as a sharp pain shot through his body, reminding him not to move.
Alone once more, Jake closed his eyes and reentered meditation. It would take a while before Jake was back in fighting condition once more, and during this time, he would have little else to do but read the tome left by the First Sage and ponder existence.
Outside of reading the tome, which could get mentally exhausting, Jake kept himself motivated by summoning statues of nine creatures within his Soulspace. Each was a B-grade on his shit-list, and he had plenty of time to decide which of them he was going to hunt down first once he recovered. He hadn’t been able to get a good read on their individual auras, and thus didn’t know which of them were stronger or weaker, but going just by appearance alone from the snapshot he’d taken with Pulse, he was already starting to hone in on one of the B-grades.
It was the bipedal crocodile-like creature, and the reason Jake focused on that one was because of its facial expression when Jake had used his Pulse. It had a smile that made its face very punchable, and while, sure, perhaps attributing human expression to inhuman creatures wasn’t the fairest thing to do, Jake had to start deciding which one he disliked the most somehow.
Not like it overly mattered, as he had no intentions of leaving any of them alive.
Comments
Chloe
Tyftc
Nexas Aurelias
said either earlier in chapter or last chapter that a health potion wouldn't work because of how damaged he is
Parker Bond
Jake drink a health potion: challenge impossible?
DrDankness
Awww cute little thing keeps feeding him. Who knows maybe Jake will infuse a natural treasure and gift it to it to help it evolve to B grade and become a perma friendo
Trumangolorian
Needs to be his new friend that he makes and gives some Jake juice in kindness for helping heal. Thus making it a new variant when it evolves to b grades. Tyftc
Greg Alverson
He probably could try combining it with his own escape skill. How his wings burn away and basicly erode the worlds hold on him tiblet him shootnaway through any object or barrier at incredible speeds. In a way his arrow skill does that already with arcane mana just not as extreme.
TwoMoreYears
Love Jake’s tendency to make friends like the warpsnatcher. I had been hoping it would come back later and am happy to see his return.
Alexander C Hyde
Satisfied at seeing Jake eat something – almost as if the Warpsnatcher viewed Jake as some poor hurt baby bird – it clapped its little hands and (tapped)tabbed his leg yet again.
Alexander C Hyde
It (tapped)tabbed his leg two times before jumping back again.
Alexander C Hyde
Which was also why Jake found it surprising, but also reaffirming when he checked the (three)two next notifications.
GuyManGuy
It's not a matter of lack of HP it's a matter that over time healing gets less efficient, it's a matter unrelated to stat points
Mattias
I don’t understand why a healing potion suddenly doesn’t work on a broken body… they can heal a lost limb in seconds, so sure it would help now as well.
Alexander C Hyde
With his evolutions, Jake had lost most of his organs, but some, like the heart, lungs and (kidneys)kidney, remained.
Phil Ritter
I mean that’s exactly what happened here. He wanted to create something and didn’t manage to do that while achieving something completely different
Phil Ritter
Tbf they wouldn’t have been safe even if they didn’t interrupt the duel. Jake would have probably hunted all of them down anyway
Xien
What we will call this is … #fckaroundnfindout 😈
Walter Kimberly
I really love Sonic he is a cute little warp-hedge
patrick__starz
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!
Rocotrap
I think Tweedy would actually go hunting for other B grades to prepare for Jake
Beef Wrench
I know the pamphlet mentioned not knowing a lot about the warpsnatcher so it would be cool if outside all the b grade hunting Jake was able to contribute some new info for the pamphlets about the lil guy
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Trugath
They are a good pairing. If the snatcher lived in sandy then it's home could be a stomach. Sandy would have a food delivery system
Hayden Leech
I feel like successfully failing is just failing… Failing successfully I think means you screwed up but it worked out anyway
kingofshibainu
Maybe the Warpsnatcher can help Jake learn to teleport his arrows through making then "escape" the concept of space?
Rewdan
Thanks Zogarth great read
Spencer Miller
Timesnatcher
C0bra$
Thank u for the story
Alex
12oh hear if sandy met mousy...
Eammon_Wright
you think this is bad, just wait. each grade is going to take longer and longer.
Johnny
The fate weasels different this is the warpsnatcher
ABTelford
I’m loving this hoarder creature! It’s kind and cute! I hope Jake helps it somehow. Or repays it so such a ridiculous degree it becomes a lord or something 😇
David
9 B grades... 18 levels? Maybe I'll get to see Jake go up a grade in my lifetime. He's spent so long at C grade it feels like it's been like that since the start.
Xander
TFTC :) Honestly didn't expect much of a Jake PoV today. I'm glad to see the Fate Weasel thriving, though :) Suggested edits: More of a clarification than an edit but, one kidney? 2 or none I could see but one? You use kindey in the singular twice so doesnt seem to be a mistake. "or those with cooking skills could ** create something actually useful" missing "use to" maybe? "All he knew was that he still wanted to *fight out* next time they met." perhaps this should be "fight it out" or "find out"?
Alec Petherbridge
Tyftc
John Durrett
Would be funny introducing Sandy to the warpsnacher. As Sandy would want to eat all the prize possessions
One Winged Angel
*Jake drops all the heads of the B-Grades at Tweedy Birds feet* Jake: "No more interruptions, square up." Tweedy: "Respect. Start dodging."
Andyr98
I want the warpsnatcher to be upgraded by jake for b grade for helping him
David Storey
The Warpsnatcher NEEDS to come home with Jake! Too cute! Sandy needs a space buddy!
austin kutz
The soul shape is damaged, not the soul space. They're different things, both anchored to his soul. The soul shape relates to the outermost layer of the soul while the soul space is a layer or two inward The soul shape being damaged just means that healing his body is harder and that passive health regen isn't enough
Corvid
Arcane Archery of Primeval Origins
Staudi
Tyftc! Also guys, since i don't think someone mentioned it, Book 1 in German is out since a few days!
PWeygandt
Space that they move through, though I'm not sure how that will effect his distance based damage boost from his archery skill
Arieh Sochaczevski
Thanks for the chapter!
Austin Barton
Time for some b grade culling with his new skill.
Avery Howell
Jake's soul was described as damaged and then two paragraphs later it was described as pristine.
Michael Ferguson
Please don't hit me.🙏 I'll be good.
Michael Ferguson
TFTC!
Michael Ferguson
It's Wednesday my dudes.
The Dregs
A PRIMAL THEORY!!
Cyranosaurus
Helping it hit B grade too! But I agree some “Jake juice” in a gift would be great here!
Ty Cooper
I am wondering if Jake will end up thanking the warpsnatcher by making it into his next superfriend. Would he be doing good or bad though. It is already endangered. So wouldn't he be hurting the population by removing them or making them take the next step in evolution. I am guessing the Pantheon would be delighted and look it as evolutionary improvements. Also I believe him removing the poison from the songbirdy made it respect him a proper opponent and will leave him alone while he takes out the other b-grades.
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
brjenness
what other concepts can arrows ignore. weight when launched?
brjenness
belt. he already has the best boots.
Ender419
I think Jake should name each B-Grade a specific armor piece like smiling croc will a good pair of boots when Jake is done with him.
EM
Also thank you for the chapter
EM
Occurred to me while reading this chapter: So obviously going on a rampage is going to be great for Jake’s experience but with his anomalous soul do we think Jake is going to fall behind a few other people on earth for B grade? Miranda is crushing her profession and I’m sure the sword saint isn’t taking it easy (and sylphie has consistently leveled faster than Jake) so as they seem the best candidates to “beat” Jake to the next grade (even if he may still be stronger/comparable to them)
Justin Moen
Aw shit. They done made Jake mad. Time to show them why the malefic viper is so feared and wipe out their entire planet. Fuck the pantheon of life. It’s their fault for letting such creatures go unchecked Jk. I’m just hype for maxim carnage
Kt-x
Thanks for the chapter
joel southard
Thank you for the chapter
One Winged Angel
That Warpsnatcher needs to recieve a gift, it is too nice and happy. Make it a Primal Warpsnatcher!
Fdrugc
He should talk with Artemis
TyranT-Rex
I've been thinking about that too. Wondering if they are going to pop up at some point.
IntenseSushi
Tftc
IntenseSushi
Heretic
Jan
Calling it now: Arcane Archery of the Primal Hunter
Shadowessence
Bet the croc's name is Skippy (bonus if anyone gets the reference)
Bladehawk256
Another banana thief is born!
TwistedVanity
I know sooooo many people that fit this description.... "It had a smile that made its face very punchable, " Thank for a great chapter
Phoenixdrop
Oh boy this will be fun also can’t wait to see the meditation upgrade he is absolutely going to have after he finishes healing because that is going to be a crazy skill
JSC
This question has absolutely nothing to do with this chapter, but I’ve been listening to the Audio Books and I started wondering… whatever happened to Jake’s ex and the guy she cheated on him with ?
JSC
Great chapter.
BumAssBumAss
with Jake's constant mention of his anomolous soul, and how he created it with the concept of heaven, earth, and man, do you think there will be an anomolous body skill in the future? And then an anomolous something else, all increasing his stats effectives by 25% for 3 stats for each skill. There's a pattern of 3, going on here. The reason I think this is because Jake always seems to be limited by his body not keeping up with his instincts and the fact that it's constantly hinted that Jake is something more than human. Just a theory though.
Cory Sauls
Jake’s got himself a hit list.
Hayley
This warpsnatcher now officially outranks sliphie on my “favorite animals” list of this verse
Cody Cahill
I think the sovereign will choose to abstain until jake fights him again one on one.
Eden
when you say tabbed, do you mean tapped?
T
Love the warpsnatcher kinda want Jake to give him some juice to see what he becomes but he is a great example of different paths to take
Rick Delallata
Will he have to dodge the Sovereign every time he fights one of these other B grades? Will they try to gang up on him?
denym123
Deciding a kill list based on who has the most punchable face is probably one of the most valid sorting solutions.
Jordan Rogers
Might be a good chapter title😂
Jordan Rogers
Hunt interrupters meet murder hobo…
dash w
Thanks for the chappy
Arrogant Savant
Cozy chapter
Unwillingmainer
Ah, nothing like getting some new targets for the shit list. After takin gout Ell Chicken, it was depressively short. Now he has 10 targets and nothing but time. Until Villy or Artemis interrupts his righteous vengeance.
Keegan Smith
That crocodile boy is about to get the dundee
Matthias
Tftc
Phasmatic7
Thankies
Tilen Praprotnik
Thanks for the chapter
Sylphie
REE!!
Unlisted Pokémon Hudson
Hunting arc!
Matthew Ruiz
Tyftc
Connor
Thanks for the chapter
Noname
Tyftc
SCHWING PAPI
Recovery SCHWING
I Solis
Wooo! Thanks!
Beemoss
Tftc
