Chapter 19: Chapter 19: A New Challenge

Unsure of how much progress she'd actually be able to do, she decided to stalk the hillside, and check out the various mobs instead. The two major targets were the goats, and the bears. The bears weren't that numerous, and kept to themselves as if they had distinct territories. From what little she'd seen, they seemed to spend their time raiding berry bushes, or chasing hares through the grass. How they found the hares was a different puzzle. Did they track them by scent? Or Sense Presence? If the former she'd have to be careful about approaching, since she suspected that Stealth didn't hide her scent.

The goats just wandered around, munching on grass, berries, herbs, anything they thought was suitable for consumption. Mobs didn't need to eat anything yet, but goats were gonna goat. They didn't appear to bother anyone, though she did sometimes see them stomp the ground in the grass, as if they were trying to step on something.

The ferrets were rarely seen, but presumably they were just doing whatever the fuck they wanted, the devious little troublemakers. Maybe Sara was projecting her biases too much.

With a combination of Stealth, Sense Presence, and Thermal Vision she was able to track down one of the furry tubes. She might not have direct line of sight due to all the grass, but that meant she got to use her bonus ability already.

[ Grass Weasel (Rogue Lvl 21) HP: 67/67 ]

They could call it a weasel all they wanted, she would continue to think of them as ferrets. It was basically the same thing, really.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl Max | Rake Lvl 8 | Feint Lvl 8 | Jump Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl Max | Dig Lvl 8 | Climb Lvl 8 | Stealth Lvl 5 |
Sense Presence Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 12 | Keen Ears Lvl 12 | Camouflage Lvl 5 | Air Control Lvl 2 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 |
Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

That seemed about right. It had some maxed skills, but no evolved ones. She hadn't seen them use any of these skills, besides Sprint. Then again, she hadn't seen them much at all, and not seeing someone use Stealth was kind of the point. There was only one skill she hadn't seen before.

[ Feint (Active): Perform a quick attack that serves as a distraction. If successful, it leaves the target open so the user's next attack gains +50% Critical Hit chance. Damage value: (0.2+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Success rate increases with skill level. Alternately the user can deliberately miss, reducing their aggro level, and giving them the chance to disengage. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

Sara felt like she had a better idea of how these things fought now. She imagined they mainly harassed and annoyed the other creatures, or just used their skills to stay away. They could defend themselves if Adventurers came after them, but it sounded like they would mostly try to run away.

She was able to find one of the goats close by. They had put enough detail into them that the female ones had udders, though she wasn't sure whether they worked. Not that she had any way (or particular desire) to find out.

[ Hill Goat (Fighter Lvl 23) HP: 89/89 ]

All these names were pretty straightforward, as if the writer didn't have very good naming sense, or the desire to put the effort in.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Kick Lvl Max | Ram Lvl 5 | Charge Lvl 8 | Stomp Lvl 8 | Jump Lvl Max | Climb Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Ears Lvl 13 | Insulation Lvl 6 | Cat's Feet Lvl 6 | Firm Grip Lvl 6 | Balance Up Lvl 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 |
Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

It had limited attack capability, which might be common for herbivore mobs that weren't evil. It just needed to defend itself, and be able to get away. It had a lot of climbing related skills. On a hunch she glanced towards the cliffs that seemed to stretch across the entire northern border of the kingdom, and sure enough she saw some movement up there. Goats were definitely the same wherever you went. Maybe they were after some rare, tasty herbs or something.

She did wonder what the difference between Ram and Charge were, since at first glance they sounded similar.

[ Ram (Active): User strikes with their head, or something equivalent. Weak knockback force. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. If enhanced by a blunt object like a helmet, horns, or something equivalent; Damage value: (1.2+(0.05*skill level))*attack power. 50+(1*skill level)% chance to inflict Stun(?) status for 5 seconds. Cost: 4 SP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 8 seconds. ]

Ah, so it's like a headbutt.

"Correct. It is the evolved version of the Headbutt skill."

Somehow Sara didn't feel very surprised.

There didn't seem to be any particular need to attack the goat. She wasn't interested in headbutting her enemies, and it probably wasn't worth a ton of experience. Besides, she liked goats.

Instead she had a look at all the things the goat had been munching on. Most of it was grass that Identify didn't react to, but there were also some herbs. Something called Sweet Grass, a common herb of low quality marked as an ingredient, and one of the berry bushes the bears also seemed fond of full (well, half-full after the goat was done) of Wild Raspberries. Raspberries didn't grow on bushes like that, at least not on Earth, but she put a bunch of them in her inventory anyway. They varied between low, and medium quality. Thinking back she had seen stuff of lesser quality back in the forest.

Aina? How many tiers of quality are there? I've seen lesser, low, and medium, so I assume there's also high?

"Correct. There is also greater, and superior, though the latter is difficult to find outside of hard to reach areas."

She had a look at a plant with a yellow tint that was identified as a paralysis herb of medium quality. She had no idea whether it caused, or cured paralysis. You probably needed some sort of botany or crafting skill to get more information. Alchemy perhaps?

[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

She was always a little surprised when that happened, as she didn't really know whether different things gave different amounts of experience towards Identify, so it was hard to predict when it would level up. She had used it on a lot of things back in the forest, and had tried to remember to check things out along the way here as well. The goat had wandered out of range while she was distracted, so she checked the skill description instead.

[ Identify (General): Lets you see information about targets and items you focus on. Higher skill levels increase range, and unlock more information.
...
Level 8: Names of targets who are not allies. ]

She understood the words, but not really what they meant.

You're gonna have to explain this one, Aina.

"Right, this has not been a factor in your experience so far. Normally when you use Identify on someone, you can only see their name if they fall within the Ally category. Friends, party members, and members of factions you are part of, or have reached Allied status with. Everyone gets to pick at least one faction to belong to when they create their character. Otherwise the only way to know someone's name is to have them introduce themselves, or overhear them using their own name. That will unlock getting to see their name with Identify, even if you are not allies. Having someone else tell you does not count. Reaching Identify level 8 lets you bypass this restriction, and see their name regardless.
This is a separate thing from named mobs. You have a name, but in terms of the system rules you are not a 'Named Mob'. Your name is the same as a Wanderer's, or Resident's, though I have hidden it from possible view. A named mob's name shows up in place of their species name when Identified. The only restriction is that if it is more than 20 levels above the person using Identify, it will only show up as '???'."

That sounded like something that wouldn't be useful to Sara for a while. Even if she could see the names of the Adventurers, that wouldn't really help her out until she could interact with them.

Moving on, she crept towards the closest bear. It seemed to be taking a break, as it had planted its butt down on the sun-warmed rock. That looked like a nice idea, actually. It also hit her just how big bears were. Or maybe videogame bears were exceptionally so. Even with how much she had grown, this thing looked to have at least twice her bulk.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 25) HP:176/176 ]

Really bulky indeed.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 5 | Rend Lvl 5 | Body Slam Lvl 8 | Savage Blow Lvl 4 | Crush Lvl 4 | Shred Lvl 4 | Roar Lvl Max ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 12 | Keen Ears Lvl 12 | Keen Nose Lvl 12 | Insulation Lvl 8 | Solid Coat Lvl 6 | Desperation Lvl 6 |
Pursuit Lvl 8 | Balance Up Lvl 6 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

What the...

She had to stare at it for a minute. A glimpse at the Status screen showed that its stats were no joke either. It was some sort of power tank. Her own Bear Form skill had given her some hints about it being made for tanking, but she had to wonder what they were thinking when they designed this thing. Unless there was some sort of boss bear wandering around, this had to be the toughest thing in the area. No wonder there weren't a lot of them. And what was all this stuff?

[ Savage Blow (Active): A heavy blow from a hand, paw, or some sort of blunt implement. Knocks target back, and inflicts Stun(?) status for 6 seconds. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Extra aggro generated. Cost: 8 SP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

[ Crush (Active): Attack with strong jaws, or something equivalent. Damage value: (1.2+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Reduce target's Defence by 10+(1*skill level)% for 10 seconds. Extra durability damage. Effect increases with skill level. Capable of breaking bones(?). Cost: 7 SP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

[ Shred (Active): Attack with a slashing weapon, claws, or something equivalent. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Damages armour, inflicting extra durability damage, though less effective the heavier the armour is. Cloth shreds easily, metal does not. Effect increases with skill level. Inflicts Heavy Bleed(?) status if it strikes an unarmoured part of a body. Cost: 7 SP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

Sara was tempted to swear. That sounded so brutal, but at least it seemed like it was possible to see these attacks coming. Cast time usually included a wind-up animation, though 3 seconds was not a lot of time to react. And there were some new tooltips.

[ Broken Bone (Status Condition): A broken bone impedes the movement and ability of the affected limb. Very painful. HP damage is taken if movement is excessive. Multiple breaks are possible. Can be made less severe with a splint, or something equivalent. A broken bone can only be mended with healing potions of medium quality or higher, or magic. HP Regen skills can slowly mend a broken bone if it is set correctly. ]

[ Heavy Bleed (Status Condition): Lose 3% of Max HP every 2 seconds. Heavy Bleeding does not go away on its own, but can be stemmed with bandaging. If bandaged it drops to 1% of Max HP every two seconds, and gains a duration timer based on the subject's Vitality score, and other relevant factors. Can be cured with healing items, or magic if healed up to full HP. HP Regen skills are not sufficient without bandaging. ]

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Very nasty. As she wasn't wearing any armour, she was at the very least guaranteed the Heavy Bleed condition if she was hit.

[ Roar (Active): Release a roar that has a 50% chance to inflict Fear(?) status and/or Intimidate(?) status in enemies within a 10 metre radius for 6 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds. ]

Similar to Howl, but without a buffing effect. It had something else instead.

[ Intimidate (Status Condition): Do 20% less damage against the source of the status condition. ]

Definitely seemed more tank focused.

[ Solid Coat (Passive): +5% Defence. +5% resistance to Fire, and Ice elements. +5+(0.5*skill level)% resistance to Slashing, and Piercing damage. ]

[ Desperation (Passive): Gain a boost to Strength and Agility when HP falls below 50%. Boost increases the lower HP gets. Buff value: Starts at +5%, rises to +20+(1*skill level)% at maximum. ]

Um... Aina? Didn't you go a little overboard with these bears?

"Blame the developers. The bears are the elites of this area, and Adventurers are not meant to fight them alone. Bear hunts are for parties of at least four people, but you likely need five-six unless you are in the late 20s or above. Though they are slated for a nerf in the next patch. Their attributes will be lowered a little, and they will lose Solid Coat, as it was deemed to be overkill."

I think it will be overkill even without it, but I think I see where they're coming from.

Should she fight it? No. Absolutely not. She was only mostly sure she could handle a Forest Deer at this point. This thing was at least 50% tougher. Her chances of winning were slim.

Did she want to fight it? Kinda. She had never been much of a 'in it for the challenge' kind of gamer, and she'd only been moderately sporty in real life. Her competition instinct wasn't particularly strong, but this was her life now. As she kept going up in levels, and moving to new areas, she was likely going to get exposed to more and more danger. This might be a good chance to test herself. If she realised she had no chance, she could just move on. She was only like 10-15 minutes away from the respawn point if she sprinted back.

She needed a plan. The obvious opener was Ambush, as usual. Considering how the drake fight had gone, and comparing it to what the bear had, she'd probably take at least 50 HP off. Or so she hoped. After that it was probably best to lure it off the rock, so she could use Thorn Bind when she needed to get some distance to heal or whatever. The bear didn't have any ranged attacks, or any sort of charge attack to close the distance either. She should be able to outmanoeuvre it. And then just try to keep her DoT (damage over time, for future reference) effects up. Strong Poison Strike was better for for that, but riskier. And she needed to get within tooth and claw range for Bleed. So that could be rough. While it had Insulation, it didn't have much Wisdom, so magic defence should still be low.

She did a small retreat to practice going in and out of Cat Form a few times, since she'd have to hop out of it real quick once the Ambush was done. And she needed to remember to re-cast Growth whenever the cooldown was refreshed. And use Howl, even if it might draw other attention, because she needed every buff she could get.

When she felt sufficiently less disoriented, she headed back towards the patch of rock. The bear was still sitting there, with its back to the sun. It seemed peaceful, and toasty, though she wasn't sure if anyone needed to feel toasty in this heat.

As soon as she set foot upon the rock, the bear raises its head. It started sniffing the air.

Oh shit.

Sara remembered the wolves back in the forest, and this thing also had Keen Nose. It seemed like her fear that they could still smell her was correct. She hurried forward as quickly as she could without breaking stealth. Meanwhile the bear got onto its feet, and had started to turn towards her when she finally got in Ambush range.

Shit!

She had no choice but to attack right away, even though it wasn't a back attack. It should still be +50% crit, and...

That was a disappointingly small chunk of the health bar gone. At most 20%. Probably more like 15%. And no Bleed icon.

Shit...

The bear roared at her as she swiped in a quick Poison Strike, and then she leapt out of the way as she spotted its left paw glowing. She had no idea if it was Savage Blow or Shred, and she didn't want to find out. After missing, the bear let loose with Roar just before Sara landed. A small Fear icon popped into view, and she was unable to move.

If only I could have run away instead, she thought as the bear bore down on her. Thankfully her high Endurance shortened the duration, so she was... not quite able to react in time to the bear slamming into her, probably with Body Slam considering the impact, and sending her flying into the grass. Well, she wasn't Stunned, just a little dazed as she got on her feet. On the upside the bear had sent her exactly where she wanted to go.

As it came her way again, she was able to cast Thorn Bind to lock it in place long enough to unleash a Frost Bolt, and a Poison bolt before it was freed. Her old poison had just worn off, so she got a new one in place. With the bear now slowed she moved closer, unleashing a Rend on the flank, and actually scoring a critical this time. Another decent chunk off, and a Bleed inflicted, so the bear was at nearly 50% HP.

But she had not been able to notice the paw that came swinging at her in time. Suddenly she was flung through the air again, and the Stun icon popped up. Even though she'd only been hit twice, she was close to 50% herself. Less once the bear caught her.

It bit into her, but it was probably just a regular Chomp. The next claw swipe nearly her yelp with pain though, and a Bleed icon with a + in the corner popped up.

Trying to create some distance she unleashed an Arcane Blast, which did push the bear away, but not as dramatically as she had hoped. It was still enough to let her get away, and cast another Thorn Bind. She needed to heal herself, so she popped Rejuvenate before casting Regrowth. By that time the bear had broken free again, so she cast another Frost Bolt to slow it down. The bear's eyes suddenly grew redder as it flung itself towards her. She managed to Leap out of the way, and get in another Poison Strike before the Slow wore off.

Then she was brutally reminded that the Slow from frost did not hinder physical attacks without cast time, and the bear grabbed her paw in its mouth before she could retreat. She could only watch in horror as the teeth started to glow, and-

*CRUNCH*

-she felt her leg break. Even with pain effects set to half, that hurt so bad she nearly blacked out, and the bear swiftly finished her off.

[ Respawn Timer: 04:59 ]

Up to 5 minutes now? That sucks... I felt so close too... I think I got it close to 30% HP, but why did it seem to get faster... oh, right, Desperation...

Thankfully the pain had faded with death, and there were many little popups waiting for her attention.

[ Rend Skill Level Up! ] [ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ]
[ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Growth Skill Level Up! ] [ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ]
[ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

She had gotten a bunch of skill level ups. She hadn't been able to get any bites of her own in, but the rest would give her better chances next time, and she had gotten to see its attack patterns now. Some of them, at least. Even if she didn't particularly want to feel her bones break again, it felt like a fight she had a chance at winning. She just needed to be more careful. And... maybe turn her pain sensitivity setting down a little further.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 1 (5) | Rend Lvl 1 -> 2 (5) | Howl Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) |
Thorn Bind Lvl 1 -> 2 (9) | Poison Bolt Lvl 1 -> 2 (9) | Growth Lvl 1 -> 2 (9) |
Regrowth Lvl 1 -> 2 (9) | Rejuvenate Lvl 1 -> 2 (8) | Leech Lvl 1 (8) |
Sense Presence Lvl 9 -> Max (9) | Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) | Cat Form Lvl 1 -> 2 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl Max | Ambush Lvl 8 -> 9 | Throw Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Strike Lvl 1 -> 2 | Death From Above Lvl 3 | Kick Lvl 2 | Back Attack Lvl 1 |
Leap Lvl 4 -> 6 | Frost Bolt Lvl 1 -> 3 | Arcane Blast Lvl 1 | Stealth Lvl 17 -> 19 |
Thermal Vision Lvl 5 -> 6 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 14 -> 16 (15) | Keen Eyes Lvl 19 -> Max (15) | Keen Ears Lvl 18 -> 19 (15) |
Keen Nose Lvl 16 -> 17 (15) | Insulation Lvl 4 -> 5 (8) | Nature Element Up Lvl 1 -> 2 (8) |
Mana Manipulation Lvl 1 -> 3 (8) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 7 -> 8 | Environmental Sense Lvl 2 -> 3 | Trap Sense Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 |
Climb Lvl Max | Cat's Feet Lvl 5 -> 6 | Firm Grip Lvl 3 -> 5 | Air Control Lvl 3 -> 4 |
Chameleon (New) Lvl 1 | Balance Up Lvl 1 -> 3 | All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 5 -> 6 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 5 | Fire Resistance (New) Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 7 -> 8 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 1 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Snare Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise |
Woodworking | Power Shot ]

[ Skill points: 7 -> 9 ]

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