Tooth Hunt

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Tooth Hunt (牙狩)
Affiliation	Northern Highlands Barbarian tradition
Occupation/Role	Movement- and charge-oriented Combat Skill
Status	Level 5 (MAX); Mastery
First Appearance	90

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Level 1 — Beginner	106	Fully initiated and added to Xia Nan’s Attribute Panel at 1/100.
Level 2 — Beginner	110	Reached 89/100 after roughly sixty to seventy days of repeated goblin-clearing commissions and training.
Level 3 — Skilled	128	The transition from beginner to skilled granted an Agility Attribute Point. Its speed and explosive force improved, and the movement itself began to carry damaging force.
Level 4 — Skilled	233 249	Confirmed at nearly half progress, then recorded at 52/100. As a transitional level, it improved mastery, power, and efficiency without granting an Attribute Point.
Level 5 — Mastery	256	Reached MAX through the Dreamweaver Corridor’s inherited memory. Granted Strength +1, Agility +2, and the Feat Night Mother’s Gaze.
Beyond MAX — Deeper practical understanding	567 572 624	Fighting through five evolutions in a wolf’s body deepened Xia Nan’s familiarity with Tooth Hunt despite its panel level remaining capped. He came to use it differently from the version Fugan had taught him.
Battle Momentum — Hunting Arc	591 592	Xia Nan’s combination of Tooth Hunt and Whirlwind Slash qualified for a Battle Momentum path. He chose Hunting Arc, improving their connection and granting greater control over the combination’s speed and rhythm.

Background / History

Tooth Hunt originated with the Barbarian warrior Grom Wind-Eater, who studied the hunting movements of the Black Wolf Kalosh. After observing Kalosh’s ambushes, movement rhythm, and final revenge hunt against the Centipede Magical Beast, Grom developed the technique and named it Tooth Hunt. 255 256

The skill was later passed down among Barbarian tribes of the Northern Highlands. Fugan, a Frost Moss Highlands Barbarian and Frost Mourning Oathbinder, used it to annihilate a Bear Goblin and its colony without drawing his hatchet, then offered to teach it to Xia Nan. 90

Fugan initially trained Xia Nan by letting his cold aura penetrate Xia Nan’s muscles and meridians. The cold regulated Xia Nan’s body temperature and helped him perceive the correct movement of his bones and muscles; Fugan stated that this assistance would no longer be needed once Xia Nan had entered the skill. 91 92

Xia Nan later experienced Grom’s memories through the Dreamweaver Corridor, witnessing Tooth Hunt’s complete creation and gaining enough insight to raise the skill from Level 4 to Level 5 instantly. 256

When Xia Nan reunited with Fugan, the Barbarian expected the skill to have reached perfection and initially intended to offer guidance only if it had not. After watching Xia Nan fight, Fugan questioned whether the Tooth Hunt he had just seen was still the technique he had taught him. 624 627

Characteristics

Tooth Hunt is fundamentally a concise charging and displacement technique rather than an inherently destructive attack. Its offensive effect depends on the user’s physical strength, momentum, weapon use, and follow-up actions. Fugan’s devastating demonstration was amplified by his exceptional physical ability and class power, not solely by the skill itself. 91

• Allows rapid advancement, retreat, evasion, gap-closing, and repositioning. 92 128
• Converts movement inertia into striking force, making it especially effective when paired with a sword, shield, or other Combat Skills. 92 127
• Possesses exceptional straight-line speed. Dense forest terrain and poor visibility made sustained rapid travel difficult for Xia Nan earlier in his development, though he later judged that his improved Tooth Hunt would let him escape effortlessly through uneven, wooded terrain. 219 446 630
• Is most effective in open terrain, where Xia Nan can circle enemies, disengage from stronger opponents, and support allies quickly. 370
• Can be countered by enemies with sufficient instantaneous speed and reaction ability. 374
• Remains useful in a wolf’s body: Xia Nan found its execution and exertion of force exceptionally natural in that form, without needing to adapt the technique. 547
• Can be used for bursts of movement in water; Xia Nan repeatedly charged forward with it while swimming across the sea. 614

Manifestation

When activated, Tooth Hunt is commonly accompanied by a wolf-like howl and an illusory wolf head or wolf shadow formed from disturbed air, leaves, mist, grass clippings, or debris. 219 249

At Mastery, Xia Nan’s use of the skill can manifest as the phantom of a massive Black Wolf, emphasizing its connection to Kalosh and the Winter Wolf-inspired origins of the technique. 370 547 During Fugan’s later test, Xia Nan opened with a deep, prolonged howl distinct from an ordinary Tooth Hunt activation, and a huge pitch-black wolf shadow appeared above the Goblin camp. Fugan subsequently watched that shadow move through the camp amid a gale. 625 627

Abilities & Skills

Mobility and Charge

Tooth Hunt explosively accelerates the user, allowing them to evade attacks, cross short distances, or turn movement directly into an attack.

• Xia Nan used the skill to evade a Bear Goblin’s strike and immediately drive an arm shield into the monster with his residual momentum. 92
• He routinely combines its acceleration with sword strikes to kill weaker monsters before they can react. 127 170
• Its high mobility became the foundation of his speed-focused combat style. 374

Offensive Momentum

Although classified primarily as a movement technique, Tooth Hunt’s acceleration and inertia can enhance the user’s physical attacks.

• At Level 3, the skill gained enough force to inflict damage even without an added attack. 128
• Xia Nan often follows the charge with Whirlwind Slash, turning the technique into a high-speed slashing assault. 374
• Against groups, he can use its mobility to enter, cut through, and escape encirclements. 219
• Improvements to Xia Nan’s physical attributes further increased the speed and explosive power he could draw from the already-maxed skill. 409 529

Night Mother’s Gaze

Night Mother’s Gaze is a Feat unlocked when Xia Nan’s Tooth Hunt reached Mastery. It reflects his inherited understanding of Kalosh, the “ill-omened shadow” whose hunting style inspired the skill. 256

• Enemies targeted while Tooth Hunt is activated must make a Perception-leaning Will check. 256
• Failure inflicts Fear; a successful check grants temporary immunity until Xia Nan uses Tooth Hunt again. 256
• The Feat can rout weak-willed groups, allowing Xia Nan to turn a battle into a one-sided pursuit. 265
• Its effect varies against stronger-willed opponents: some Professionals resisted the terror or recovered quickly, while one Wanderer lost his ability to fight. 409
• It has limited value against enemies whose minds are already muddled or out of control. 370
• In Xia Nan’s evolved wolf form, its dreadful gaze manifested alongside Gaze into the Abyss, spreading fear wherever the wolf looked. 571

Tooth Hunt–Whirlwind Slash Combination

Xia Nan’s repeated use of Tooth Hunt with Whirlwind Slash eventually produced the Battle Momentum Hunting Arc. 592

• Hunting Arc improves the smoothness and flow between Tooth Hunt and Whirlwind Slash. 592
• It allows Xia Nan to adjust the combination’s casting speed and rhythm. 592
• When he fully controls the rhythm of battle, both Combat Skills receive a power increase. 592
• The combination may incorporate an additional suitable Combat Skill as a link. 592
• Prolonged combat in a wolf’s body helped Xia Nan develop the combination before the Battle Momentum path appeared on his Attribute Panel. 567 572 591

Notable Users

• Grom Wind-Eater — Original creator; developed Tooth Hunt after studying Kalosh’s hunting style. 255 256
• Fugan — Northern Highlands Barbarian who taught the skill to Xia Nan and demonstrated its use against a Bear Goblin colony. 90 91
• Xia Nan — Learned the technique from Fugan, raised it to Mastery, and developed it into the core of his mobile combat style. His later use surprised Fugan, who questioned whether it was still the same technique he had taught. 106 256 374 627

Trivia

• Tooth Hunt is unusually compatible with wolf bodies; when Xia Nan was placed in a Woodland Coyote body, the skill felt more natural than in his human form. 547
• The skill’s central inspiration is Kalosh, a Black Wolf whose hunting movements, patience, and revenge hunt shaped Grom’s creation. 255 256
• Xia Nan considers Tooth Hunt to be of unusually high quality compared with ordinary low-level Combat Skills. 128