Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

Seth finally slumped down onto an outcrop of stone, the backlash of Beastmaster Rage settling into his bones. His muscles trembled as the surge of strength faded, replaced by a crushing fatigue.

The clearing around him reeked of blood.

Ahead of him, the mangled remains of three reptilian beasts lay strewn across a bed of flattened ferns. Their gray scales had been ripped apart, exposing shattered ribs, bleeding veins, and steaming entrails.

A short distance away, Colossus and Lumi waited in silence.

The giant scorpion rested on his large legs while the tiny otter hovered just above his armored shell, her radiant wisps drifting through the air.

Both watched Nightmare tear great chunks of flesh from one of the carcasses, his jaws closing onto thick muscles before he jerked his head to make a way to the beaststones inside.

Facing the three Low-Silver beasts simultaneously had offered practically zero challenge for Seth and his companions.

Between the passive enhancements granted by their Seeds, the boost to his stats from Link, and the overwhelming strength provided by Beastmaster Rage, the fight had ended in an absolute slaughter.

Under normal circumstances, Seth would have avoided using the draining spell to make it more difficult for them.

Today, time had simply forced his hand.

In only a few minutes, they would need to leave the Rift to meet with Marcus and Vorath. There had been no opportunity for a drawn-out battle.

They had spent nearly a month hunting inside this Rift, and Seth was already starving for a real challenge.

Marcus had decided that bringing Seth and Kaelen along while he prepared everything for their trip to Asethka would only slow him down. So, the old Alchemist had dumped them at the entrance of an Iron-tier Rift.

The entry restrictions of its gate guaranteed that no high-Tier soldiers from Draeria—or the Empire—could pursue them without suppressing their attributes.

Seth had insisted on picking an overgrown Rift, hoping the place would provide stronger prey and help his growth.

But the place had proven to be a major letdown.

It contained frustratingly few Silver-tier beasts, and to make it worse the Rift had seemingly been stripped of nearly every valuable resource long before their arrival. After an entire month of hunting, Seth and Kaelen had found almost nothing useful.

Seth had adapted by turning the disappointing Rift into a training ground.

With little else to gain, he had devoted the entire month to refining his control over aether: sharpening his senses, improving his manipulation, and pushing the structural integrity of every spell he had to its absolute limit.

He raised his right hand and cast Intermediate Identify on his own palm.