Careful Observation

It took Mike a few seconds to calm his racing heart.

'Huu~. Okay. Let's look at this properly.' He told himself. With such a potent new skill, he simply had to look into it properly to ensure he didn't miss anything.

[Primal Authority – A skill born from the will of the apex and the evolution of the predator's instinct into dominion itself.

No longer does the Host merely evoke fear, he enforces it.

By channeling his aura as an extension of his will, the Host asserts absolute supremacy over the surrounding world. Within this field, all energy, will, and emotion are bent beneath his presence. Weaker wills collapse instantly, and even those who resist find their power distorted and subdued as their bodies remember what it means to kneel.

When activated, Primal Authority assaults the psyche directly, forcing the target to perceive the Host as an undeniable truth, an apex before which resistance is meaningless. Those with fragile minds may fall into instinctive despair, their souls surrendering before their bodies do.

At its peak, words spoken under Primal Authority carry weight. They become laws that imprint upon the target's spirit, capable of compelling obedience or death itself, provided the disparity in will and power is sufficient.

The field of suppression now transcends aura alone, extending its influence to all forms of energy, devouring and silencing hostile flows that dare oppose the Host's will.

The world does not move unless the predator allows it to.

Scales with: Willpower, Ferocity, and Aura Output.

Secondary Effects: Dramatic suppression of hostile energy within the field. Mental debilitation (Fear, Despair, Obedience) based on difference in Willpower. Words spoken under the skill may manifest as Commands of Instinct.]

Mike read everything carefully. There was a lot of flavor text in this one, which wasn't overly surprising, but Mike still took the time to analyze everything carefully.

[A skill born from the will of the apex and the evolution of the predator's instinct into dominion itself.

No longer does the Host merely evoke fear, he enforces it.]

Primal Dread had worked by Mike spreading out his presence as a predator and using it to oppress everything within a certain range.

Usually, it would instill fear both in loving beings and the surroundings itself, making everything more subdued in his presence. Attacks hurt less, enemies moved slower, the air didn't impede him as much, etc.

Alone, that was pretty good, but there was the glaring issue of Willpower. If his opponent had sufficient Willpower, they could shake off the effects of Primal Dread, or if the environment he used it in was too... let's say grounded, and was not easily affected by external forces, the effect of subjugation wasn't as potent.

We could see this when Mike faced off against the Alpha. The creature didn't immediately cower in the face of his aura. Instead, it actually matched it for a bit, resisting it until Mike doubled-down and made it submit.

In short, even though Primal Dread had a tangible effect on the surroundings, it was more of a mental attack than anything else.

However, that changed when Mike did... whatever he did against the Rat King.

Thinking about it now, his thought process back then was... strange. He knew he was a predator, yes, but at that moment, it felt more than that.

It was like he demanded fear.

Recalling it now, he could vividly remember it. The way his will pressed down on that of the Rat King before burying itself into it. Grabbing hold of everything. Its will, its emotions, its very being. Everything was held in a tight grip until it was within the palm of Mike's hand, free for him to do with it as he pleased.

And that's exactly what happened.

Mike's presence didn't just evoke fear from his opponent, he forced it to surface and consume everything.

'... Terrifying.' Mike sighed as he moved onto the next line.

[By channeling his aura as an extension of his will, the Host asserts absolute supremacy over the surrounding world. Within this field, all energy, will, and emotion are bent beneath his presence. Weaker wills collapse instantly, and even those who resist find their power distorted and subdued as their bodies remember what it means to kneel.]

Again, quite a bit of flavor text, but there was an explanation for what the skill actually did now.

It seemed like now, there was a proper range of influence when using the skill. Not that Primal Dread didn't have such a thing, but it appeared to be much more... solid, with the Authority.

It also seemed like the previous effects had been amped by quite a bit. Primal Dread simply oppressed the surrounding energy and made his opponents want to submit instinctively. However, this said that energy, will, and emotion are downright bent in his presence, so the effect of suppression was far more extreme. Moreover, the fact it could affect will and emotion meant that his opponents would not be in for a good time mentally.

Those with weaker wills collapse instantly. Mike wasn't sure if that meant they just died or they simply submitted. But those who can resist will find their powers distorted and suppressed. In short, being within the range of his Primal Authority acted as a powerful debuff to whoever he was fighting.

To what extent? Mike wasn't sure. But he would get the chance to test it soon enough.

[When activated, Primal Authority assaults the psyche directly, forcing the target to perceive the Host as an undeniable truth, an apex before which resistance is meaningless. Those with fragile minds may fall into instinctive despair, their souls surrendering before their bodies do.

At its peak, words spoken under Primal Authority carry weight. They become laws that imprint upon the target's spirit, capable of compelling obedience or death itself, provided the disparity in will and power is sufficient.]

The first paragraph seemed to link with the previous effects where those with weak wills collapse instantly, but it explained things in a bit more detail. If one had a weak mind/mentality, being caught by the skill was pretty much an instant loss for them, as even if they didn't want to, their bodies would just give up.

Mike remembered something similar happened when he fought the Verdant Boa, as the moment he activated Primal Dread, the previously ferocious creature recoiled and coiled up into a trembling mass of fear, unable to resist even as Mike raised his hand to kill it.

Then there was the part he'd been looking for.

At its peak, words spoken under Primal Authority carry weight.

Once more, he thought back to the Rat King.

After such a climactic battle, he simply told the thing to die, and it died.

His will had entrenched itself into its psyche so thoroughly that it could do nothing but obey his orders absolutely. So when he told it to die, its lifeforce was snuffed out instantly.

A terrifying reality.

[The field of suppression now transcends aura alone, extending its influence to all forms of energy, devouring and silencing hostile flows that dare oppose the Host's will.]

Mike hesitated a bit at this part. He somewhat understood the first part about its influence extending to all forms of energy, but he wasn't sure what devouring hostile flows meant.

Did that mean his Authority would eat opposing flows of energy to make itself stronger? It seemed like the most logical conclusion, but Mike didn't know how that would work.

'I guess I can only check it out when I've fully recovered.' He shook his head.

[The world does not move unless the predator allows it to.]

Again, Mike wasn't completely certain about this. Was this effect literal? If so, how did it work? What was the cost? What were the downsides?

'Ugh, I just had to get injured.' He sighed. Then again, he didn't have much right to complain. The gains he got from all of this made the pain worth it.

Anyway, Primal Authority was a very tantalizing skill, but there also seemed to be a lot of nuance to it, especially in the part of attacking the psyche, as it seemed like most of its stronger effects only worked when Mike made his target truly and utterly helpless in front of him.

He sighed. He really wanted to test it, but oh well.

He looked through his skill column again, then he paused when he saw something else that was surprising under his passive skills.

[Hunter's Resurgence – A predator does not falter before stronger prey, it adapts. Hunter's Resurgence is an instinctive survival mechanism born from the Host's endless pursuit of greater challenges. When facing an opponent stronger than himself, the Host's body responds by forcibly optimizing its performance to bridge the gap.

The greater the difference in strength between predator and prey, the stronger the adaptation. Grants percentage-based boosts to Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Perception up to a fixed limit.

Effectiveness and growth scale with the Host's fighting spirit, resilience, and the ferocity of the prey being faced. The ability fades gradually once the threat subsides.]

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