Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Efforts Bear Fruit

After reviewing the fight in her mind, she realised a couple of things. First off she had forgotten to use Howl at all, and she had forgotten to keep track of when Growth was off cooldown. Maybe the bear detecting her had thrown her off. And it was possible the fight hadn't lasted 30 seconds anyway. It was hard to tell when you were right in the middle of it, and she didn't have any sort of watch, or clock. The game UI probably had one, but she only had limited access to that.

She Sprinted all the way back, in search of her rematch, startling several ferrets, hares, and one goat along the way. This time she'd pay attention to Environmental Sense to check the wind's direction before she snuck close. But what if it was able to see through her Stealth if she approached within line of sight? If only it let her also change the direction of the wind, but she hadn't come across any wind magic at all yet.

The bear was back in its sunny position, and as far as she could tell all its injuries were gone. It had maybe shifted a little to keep the sun on its back. The wind direction was... yeah, it was unfortunately blowing at an angle where if she tried to go right behind it again, her scent would probably be detected.

Something Aina had said came to mind. That you could use Life Magic for stuff like creating a small breeze, or simulating a hair dryer... could she possibly make enough wind to keep her scent away from the bear? She still hadn't practised Life Magic at all, but she had gained a sense for how mana was supposed to flow. Of course the skills helped her out a lot. If she'd had to cast a Frost Bolt from scratch, so to speak, she'd probably not be able to. Though if that was possible, it would be quite interesting.

So she had a sense for her inner mana flow from using spells, and having Mana Manipulation, and she had a sense for the flow of wind thanks to Environmental Sense. Saying she had a good sense for it was stretching the truth, but she had a sense.

She tried imagining getting that wind to move for herself. The straws of grass she was practising on were able to move back and forth a little after trying for a few minutes, but she didn't think it was enough to mask her entire scent.

[ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ]

Oh! So it can happen that way too. I guess... it's a little bit easier now? I'll try approaching from the back side as much as I can while staying out of direct line of wind, and try to move the wind enough to cover me even further. If I get close enough, I can hurry behind its back before it can react.

Approaching seemed to go fine. Even though she was within the bear's peripheral vision, it seemed like nearly maxed Stealth and one level of Chameleon were enough to keep her hidden. She moved very cautiously just to be sure. While she felt a faint breeze on her cheek, she had her doubts whether this wind manipulation scheme was actually doing anything. It couldn't hurt to practice, though.

Regardless she was able to get within 2 metres before the bear slowly began to move. When she sped up to get behind it, it turned its head, clearly noticing her, but it was too late. Her Ambush landed, and this time it took roughly a third of the health bar away. Maybe a little less.

Quickly sneaking in a quick Strong Poison Strike, she attempted to follow up with a Body Slam, but she was the one who ended up bouncing off. Considering their size difference, that unfortunately made sense. She got a little damage in, but she took a recoil hit, and was knocked on her ass, giving the bear time to spin around, and lunge at her. A mighty Leap sent her into the grass where she wanted to lure the bear, and conveniently got her out of the range of the Roar the bear unleashed. She got ready to cast Thorn Bind for when it charged off the rock. But...

Shit, I'm still in Cat Form.

She shifted back to normal, but that brief delay was enough for the bear to barrel into her again. The Body Slam didn't send her flying as far this time, her balance hanging on better, but that wasn't all good since it just meant that she was closer to the bear's next attack. She tried to throw herself to the side, but the claws still caught her flank, and applied the nasty Bleed+ icon.

A quick Arcane Blast shoved the bear a little bit away, enough for her to finally get off a Thorn Bind, follow up with a Frost Bolt, and a Poison Bolt before the bear broke loose. She cast Rejuvenate on herself to slow the bleeding a little, but she had to watch for the bear's incoming attack, so couldn't afford to Regrowth. Maybe she could try Leaping over it, and... Chomping down on its ass!

Unfortunately the Slow wore off, and Desperation had started kicking in, so the bear spun around a little too quickly, and lashed out with a Rend, which then comboed into a Savage Blow, before it pounced on her while she was still Stunned.

[ Respawn Timer: 04:59 ]

Well... I think that lasted shorter than the first time... even though I got it down to about the same remaining HP. I should probably try to keep my distance more, rather than trying to get cheeky. At least I have more popups.

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ] [ Chameleon Skill Level Up! ] [ Chomp Skill Level Up! ] [ Leap Skill Level Up! ]
[ Arcane Blast Skill Level Up! ] [ Cat Form Skill Level Up! ] [ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ]

She hadn't gotten to use a lot of skills that time, so it was impressive she had even gotten that much. Like with the Forest Deer, she suspected the Grizzly gave bonus skill experience.

While she waited she might as well reconsider her strategy, and whether there was anything she could do differently. Honestly it was more that she had to do it better. She'd see how well she did just trying to keep her distance. She was faster than the bear, after all. So far both times had gone wrong when she attempted to get in close for some added damage.

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

The bear had shifted a little further. It seemed pretty content keeping the sun at its back. She wondered how clever it was. Had it learned from their two previous tussles? Was it going to be an arms race of who could adapt their strategy fastest?

[ Environmental Sense Skill Level Up! ]

That was probably her cue to get going. This time it was easier to approach from the other side, so she snuck around, trying to keep well clear of the open rock. At one point she thought she saw the bear react, but it only twitched its ear.

Same opening as last time! The bear roared in pain, and this time Sara remembered to disengage Cat Form after the Poison Strike, while she was jumping away. She launched a Frost Bolt just as the bear turned to face her, and then she ran into the grass again. Maybe it was just her imagination, but it looked angrier this time.

She remembered to Howl as she ran, then fired off another Frost Bolt after getting into position, and then immediately a Thorn Bind because the bear was already closing in, in spite of being chilled. The bear was now below 50%, and its eyes had gotten a faint red glow to them. After she hit it with a Poison Bolt, that glow was a little stronger. That was probably the indicator for how far into Desperation it was. Another Thorn Bind, but the bear broke out of it surprisingly quickly at the same time as Slow wore off, so she hit an Arcane Blast to stagger it, which gave her enough time to launch a Frost Bolt. It was down to nearly 10% HP now, but before she was able to move away again the bear used Roar, and Sara found herself frozen in Fear again.

Dammit!

The bear caught her, and Crushed her leg. She struggled to take down the last bit of the bear's HP, but even with the help of Growth it was able to drain all of hers much faster.

[ Respawn Timer: 04:59 ]

Dammit dammit dammit! So close! And that still really hurt! Ugh... please cheer me up, popups.

[ 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! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]
[ Firm Grip Skill Level Up! ] [ Balance Up Skill Level Up! ]

She was getting stronger each time, so third- no wait, fourth time was the charm? Something like that. Honestly it felt like it was partly down to luck as well. If only she could resist the Roar's effects... it was a 50/50 chance. No, with her Endurance it should be even less. Maybe a quick prayer to Norax would help?

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

Soon enough she was back in position. The bear still seemed quite relaxed. Did it not care, or was it just so confident it would beat her regardless? Considering she had already tried three times, it had to be aware she wasn't likely to give up. It was almost like it was mocking her.

She hopped back to it, same procedure as last... life, and this time the bear opened with a Roar first thing after she had landed her attack. But this time she resisted! Strong Poison Strike, Leap out of range, disengage Cat Form, Howl, and try to control it with her spells. Which worked fine until she got to about the 30% mark again, at which point it was getting harder to find the time to cast before it caught up to her.

She was able to dodge its jaws, and use an Arcane Blast to try to give herself a little breathing room. The increased force was showing a bit, and she had Howl up again, so she managed to score a crit with the next Frost Bolt, putting the bear below 20%. Probably close to 15%. And now it was absolutely furious at her, more than she had seen so far. She was not given the chance to get any more spells off, nor did she have an opening to land a physical strike. All her effort went into dodging, and evading, and she couldn't even do that perfectly. Even when she tried to Leap as far away as possible, it caught up with her too quickly. A Shred finally caught her, causing a big chunk of damage, and bringing up the dreaded Bleed+ icon.

Not again! I refuse!

In desperation she could only think of one thing: Leap into the air, but instead of trying to get away as the bear would expect, she used Air Control to land on its back, and dug her claws in to hold on for dear life, really testing the limits of her Firm Grip, and whatever other skills helped out.

The bear tried to shake her off, but Growth was ready to go, so she popped that, bit in with a Poison Strike, and then just spammed Chomp and regular bites as much as she could. She didn't dare move her paws at all.

The bear Roared, which did inflict Intimidate, but she didn't care. This rodeo wasn't stopping that easily. Rejuvenate was helping keep her alive, but she couldn't afford casting any other spells. Assuming she even could. Presumably she could still use cast time skills from this position, but she wasn't about to experiment. Her opponent attempted to roll onto its back to crush her, or knock her off, or both, but she held on, and responded with an Arcane Blast to try to knock it over the other side.

With a final Chomp the bear growled, and stopped moving. Still on its side. Still partially trapping Sara. Popups started queueing up, and she realised she had won.

Aha... hahaha...

She was also still dying as the Heavy Bleeding was eating away at her, so she spammed Regrowth until it vanished, and then some. She felt too weak to push the bear off, but it disappeared about five seconds after she looted it, so she was free.

Hahahaha...

She pushed herself up, and sat her butt down on the warm rock. It actually felt really nice. She gained an understanding for why both the bear, and the drakes did it.

I did it...

"Congratulations, Sara."

Thank... thank you...

After gazing up at the sky for a minute, she shook her head, and looked at the popups.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 25) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 21 Reached! ]

[ Skill Gained: Savage Blow. ]

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[ Ambush Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ] [ Chomp Skill Level Up! ]
[ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ]
[ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Arcane Blast Skill Level Up! ] [ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! ] [ Leap Skill Level Up! ]
[ Air Control Skill Level Up! ] [ Cat's Feet Skill Level Up! ] [ Firm Grip Skill Level Up! ]
[ Stealth Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skill Unlocked: Vanish. 2 skill points gained. ] [ Regrowth Skill Level Up! ] [ Cat Form Skill Level Up! ] [ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ]

Savage Blow wasn't really the skill she had wanted most. Solid Coat or Desperation would have probably been better. But the important thing was that she had won. Now she had to move on before the bear respawned. She didn't know if it had the same 5 minutes as her, or longer because it was an elite.

All the skill up notifications were too much to deal with, so she just hit the Dismiss All button, making every popup go away. She'd look at her Skill List after she had gotten some sleep, because she was really damn tired. Might as well head back to the respawn cave rather than trying to find anything closer. She could push herself that one little bit more to Sprint back there.

* * *

When she woke up it was dark again. She slowly stood up, and stretched. And stretched some more. She felt so sore, as if she truly had been exercising for hours earlier, even though death was supposed to reset your physical condition. Maybe it didn't quite work that way.

She yawned, and looked outside. It seemed a lot more peaceful at night. Then she noticed one more popup notification hovered in the corner of her vision. When had that gotten there? On the way back? While she slept? Or just now while she was distracted?

[ Keen Ears Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]

Oh great, another one, she thought wearily.

She vaguely remembered she had maxed out something else after killing that bear, but she had been too tired to commit it to memory. And she had gotten a level up. Elites continued being worth a lot of experience points. Might as well go through it all.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 20 -> 21 (25) ]

[ HP: 135/135 -> 143/143 (135/135) | SP: 138/138 -> 146/146 (125/125) |
MP: 105/105 -> 116/116 (112/112) ]

[ VIT: 51 -> 55 (52) | END: 59 -> 63 (55) ]

[ STR: 52 -> 56 (51) | DEF: 41 -> 44 (29) ]

[ AGI: 74 -> 79 (67) | DEX: 48 -> 52 (38) ]

[ INT: 58 -> 64 (46) | WIS: 52 -> 58 (49) ]

[ LUK: 110 -> 118 (38) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 -> 4 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 1 -> 3 (5) | Rend Lvl 2 (5) | Howl Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) |
Thorn Bind Lvl 2 -> 4 (9) | Poison Bolt Lvl 2 -> 4 (9) | Growth Lvl 2 -> 4 (9) |
Regrowth Lvl 2 -> 3 (9) | Rejuvenate Lvl 2 -> 4 (8) | Leech Lvl 1 (8) | Sense Presence Max (9) | Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) |
Cat Form Lvl 2 -> 4 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

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

[ Passive: ]

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

[ Concealed Passive: ]

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

[ General: ]

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

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 1 -> 3 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

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

[ Skill points: 9 -> 15 ]

So many things. Bashing her head against that wall of a bear had caused a lot of skills to go up. And aside from the newly announced Keen Ears, she could see that Ambush, and Stealth were now at Max level.

[ Keen Ears (Passive): Improves the sense of hearing, letting the holder hear both clearer, and further away. Can hear things outside normal human audio range. Effect increases with skill level, and with training one can even be able to focus on, and isolate sounds.
Max Level Bonus: Telescopic hearing. By focusing on a point, the holder can hear clearly up to 20 metres beyond current hearing range. Warning: all surrounding sounds get almost muted. ]

[ Ambush (Active): Deal severe damage to a target. Can only be used while in Stealth. +50% critical hit chance when striking a target's flank. +100% critical hit change when striking a target's back. Damage value: (2+(0.1*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Bleed(?) status on target. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: +10% Defence piercing. ]

That would have been nice before she attacked the bear.

[ Stealth (Active): The ability to go unnoticed. Lightly cloaks the user, making them hard to see or hear, but be warned it is not the same as invisibility. Continuous effect. Works better when not moving, while in the shade, and/or in combination with terrain features like tall grass, bushes, etc. Effect increases with skill level. Cloaking automatically deactivates when performing an attack, if damage is taken, or if the user moves too quickly. Cannot be used in combat. Activation cost: 1 SP. No further cost while active. Deactivation cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Move up to 20% faster without breaking Stealth. ]

[ v Evolves Into v ]

[ Erase Presence (Active): The ability to go unnoticed. Cloaks the user, making them hard to sense, but be warned it is not the same as invisibility. Also masks their scent, body temperature, and mana presence. Continuous effect. Works better when not moving, while in the shade, and/or in combination with terrain features like tall grass, bushes, etc. Effect increases with skill level. Cloaking automatically deactivates when performing an attack, if damage is taken, or if the user moves too quickly. Cannot be used in combat. Activation cost: 2 SP. No further cost while active. Deactivation cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]

Masking her scent would have also been nice before the bear shenanigans. Otherwise some of the wording had changed a little, but it seemed like mostly the same. And while it scared her to put her stealth level back to 1, she felt like she needed this one for the future. She'd have to live with being easier to spot for a while. And hopefully not die too much over it.

She did not remember much of the skill up wall of text from earlier, but with three maxed skills she figured she should have a look at the skill store, and there was one new thing in there.

[ Vanish (Active): Requires Stealth or Erase Presence. The user disappears from sight, going invisible for 3 seconds before entering regular Stealth/Erase Presence mode. Duration increases with skill level. Loses all aggro. Can be used in combat. Cost: 20 SP. Refresh: 2 minutes. Price: 5 skill points. ]

Strong! But expensive!

Between the levelling and the skill maxing she had earned several skill points, but she was still only at 15. Which was maybe a lot, but did she want to burn a third of them right then and there? Skills in general seemed to just get more and more expensive. It might be a good time to acquire Sense Mana, though. She could leave it always on like with Sense Presence, and just get used to having it. Being in a deserted place like this was probably a good place to start.

[ Skill Purchased: Sense Mana. ]

She'd keep thinking about Vanish, and see if she encountered enough situations where it would make a significant difference.

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