I was too big, that was my problem. I was too easy to see to sneak up on my prey. Even those waddling penguins got away from me because they saw me too soon, and I couldn’t run fast enough. Fortunately, that is now about the change.

My parents were going to train me to be an Arctic Hunter, a class long held in esteem by our race. We are the apex hunters in this region. The class I just received is the lowest I could have gotten, but it has enabled me to increase my attributes. I am now a level 1 Scavenger. It only provides three attributes, all assigned to the Physical attributes—one for each Strength, Agility and Perception. It is not much, but it is a start to getting stronger and faster.

The low levels of a skill or class are the easiest to level. That means Fishing should level quickly. The trouble is the low level of a skill is also where you are least skilled. Fishing would level if I could catch anything. Grrrrrrr. And that was not just my stomach.

My underlying anger fuels my frustration at fishing and hunting. The Ice Cats attacked us, and, as my mother had not found me yet, I knew she was dead. I wanted to go and get revenge so bad, but they would just kill me. That frustrated me. I need to get stronger.

I know I was not in control a lot. It shows in the basic mistakes I am making. My reaction to fishing is off. I am making too much noise when trying to sneak up on my prey and I startle them. I am frustrated. I am angry, and I am powerless. I can’t even feed myself. Hunger is adding to it all. I growl low and long.

The tree was mutilated. I felt a little better after taking my frustrations out on it. My claws were sharp. Fighting in bear form is very different from fighting in humanoid form. In bear form, it is all strength and claws. Humanoid form is more versatile, but I am not changing to humanoid, as my fur is much less thick.

Once the tree dampened my frustration, I moved to the bear fighting form my mum had taught me. The discipline of the moves helped me get my mind back into focus. The anger was there, simmering in the background.

Strike, strike, move. I need to be faster. I mutilate another tree and then force myself to do sprints. I need to move this big lumbering body faster, and I need to be faster with my claws and teeth. Now that I have the basic Scavaging Class, my physical agility and strength will rise, but skills are also needed.

Scavaging gives me attributes in the physical area, where we bear-kin excel, but I need more to take on the Ice Cats. I need Mental and Spiritual strength as well. If I had Arctic Hunter, I would have two free attributes to assign to get my lesser stats up for the more spiritual skills. Scavaging has no free attributes.

I chose Nightsight as it helps enhance low light, and it needed Physical Perception at 15. I can get another sensory skill at 20, but if I want Clearsight, I am going to also need Spiritual Perception at 15. Clearsight will help me see through blizzards and whiteouts and use the spiritual to enhance the physical. Olfactory and Hearing Aid are two other skills I need, and with Scavaging giving me a point in Physical Perception, I can pick one of them in five levels. It is Spiritual attributes I need as they enhance the physical beyond what is normally possible, and that is in more than just perception.

My Spiritual Perception is only at 10, and I have no easy way to raise it with class points. That means doing it the hard way. The Hard way is by using it, and the less you have, the harder it is to use.

I start by getting used to the physical. Every time the anger, frustration and despair hit me, I would launch myself into the physical exercises. This surprised me and earned me a point in Mental Strength, and I found my anger slightly easier to control.

I hunted, scavenged, fished, and meandered my way along the icy coast. I was thinking and testing ways to exercise my Spiritual Attributes. I tried and tried, and nothing was happening. Anger and frustration were growing. Day and night are not clearly defined this far north, and time doesn’t really matter here.

I was practising my Dashes and trying to use my Spiritual Agility alongside my Physical Agility. This was hard as I didn’t have a lot of spiritual agility, and my frustration was growing. Why can’t I learn this? This is the easiest skill to enhance with spiritual power.

I needed more physical release and slammed everything I could into the next sprint. Suddenly, it felt like my muscles smoothed and powered for a couple of seconds before it went away again, and I stumbled.

I stopped and stood panting for a moment. I checked my Skills. I didn’t have the skill Dash. I had the Skill Sprint. I checked it, and it needed 15 in Physical Agility and 15 in Spiritual Strength. Wait, why Spiritual Strength? Isn’t agility all about speed?

This puzzled me. I am sure Mum had Dash, and she said it needed 15 in Physical Agility and 10 in Spiritual Agility. I know I didn’t have 10 in Spiritual Agility, but I needed to push for what I knew.

Agility is all about speed or nimbleness. Strength is about power. Maybe I was using my Spiritual Strength to power my Physical Agility. That must be it. This opens a lot of possibilities. I need to keep in mind the difference between Spiritual Strength and Spiritual Agility. Like the physical, spiritual strength empowers, and Spiritual Agility is about Spiritual Speed. I don’t think I am ever going to be Spiritually fast, but I can be Spiritually strong and use that strength. Bear-kin are strong, and I can be as well.

Sprint uses my Spiritual Strength to make my muscles work better and faster. Stronger. I need to level the skill so I can sprint for longer. Maybe now I can catch something more than fish.

I dug a cave and settled down for a rest. I gained a point in Mental Agility from this, and that surprised me. It must have been my understanding of the difference between Spiritual Strength and Spiritual Agility. I am not necessarily the fastest thinker, but I can get there. Eventually.

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I also earned a point in Physical Agility, which is good. We bear-kin are not the most agile, and everything helps.

I kept hunting and scavaging, and my class levelled up, giving me more physical attributes. The sun was getting lower in the sky, and the long dark was coming. My bear nature was urging me to eat more and find somewhere for a long sleep. I could fight that nature as I am a bear-kin, not a full polar bear. The temperature would drop further. The ice shelf will expand. Sleeping sounded really, really good. The trouble is I don’t think I have enough fat on me to last.

My Sprint Skill is levelling, and the seals have the fat I need. I am still more scavenging than hunting, although I am more effective against other scavengers. Finding a settlement would be best, but the wilderness is vast.

I need a plan, and I don’t have a plan. I might be slow mentally, but if I have time, I can get there. There is no rush, as I am living in the rhythm of the seasons, which are months long.

I decided I needed a base for the long dark. A cave would be best, but near the sea and the ice shelf, as fishing is still my best food source. I need shelter from the storms. I started looking.

My food intake has increased. I replicated my actions with Sprint, and now I also have Quick Claws and Crushing Bite. Quick Claws has helped my fishing a lot.

Several sleeps later, I found a narrow and steep gully not far from the ice shelf. There was a layer of ice in the bottom, which might have been water for a couple of weeks in summer. There were pines scattered around and a rock shelf, which I started excavating under. I didn't need to excavate the rocky soil far. I went to the ice, cut out slabs with my claws, and lugged them back for walls. The rock would be the roof, and it would soon be covered in snow.

I got frustrated at positioning the ice as a bear, so I transformed into a humanoid form to fine-tune the position. I had no clothes, but I was thankful Mum had made me practice this to level it to apprentice. This meant I could leave some aspects of the bear active, and I left the fur and claws. The fur cut down on the cold, but it was nowhere near as warm as my bear fur. I looked down, and I didn’t have nearly enough fat. I would have to make regular trips to find food during the long night.

My claws helped me grab the ice. I piled some snow to hide the shelter and cleaned up a bit. The first storm would complete the cave, and nobody would see it if they were not right in front of it. The door was large enough for my bear form, although my humanoid form was not small. I was almost 2m tall and broad-shouldered. I needed more fat, though. My facial fur was slightly longer around the head and chin. If I stayed in this form, I would grow white hair and a beard. I was only six winters old, but from a human age, I would be a teenager. Our animal-kin races mature a lot faster than the idiot humans.

The door to my cosy cave was just a gap, but I extended the outer wall past the inner wall so the wind would not blow straight in, and the opening was to the uphill side of the gully. There would be plenty of snow for me to block the gap later. I grabbed some branches and pine and fur needles to make a softer bed.

I sat bare-assed on the needles for a while and thought. My humanoid form is more flexible, and my hands can carry things more easily. I should spend some time as a humanoid getting used to my new skills before it really gets cold.

I shivered. Being a human will also level my Cold Resistance faster. I went out onto the ice shelf, and my foot claws gave me traction. I practised my sprints, and I soon started warming up. After a while, I moved to the edge of the ice shelf and waited. A fish darted past, and my Quick Claws was even better with human arms.

I sliced it open with my claws and ate it fresh. Eating is better with a bear’s jaw and teeth. I spied another fish and, this time, dove into the cold, dark water. That was a wake-up call. I got the fish and climbed out, noting that Fishing had levelled to 5, which is the Apprentice level, and that Cold Resistance had gone up.

Crushing Bite didn’t work so well with human teeth. I will work out what suits me as a human in due course, so there is no rush. I am thinking of fur, teeth, and claws at the moment, but that might change when I get some tools. Clothes might also interfere with the fur. Humans wear clothes because they don’t have fur. I probably don’t need clothes.

I spent the time exploring a day’s travel in every direction to see what was around. I saw some deer signs, but more worryingly, there was also wolf sign. A day inland, the land turned into mountains, and I saw the marking of an Ice Troll. Ice Trolls are highly territorial, and Mum might attempt one solo, but I would not. She wouldn’t either, as it would not be worth the risk. If you stay out of their territory, they will leave you alone.

I spent time as a humanoid practising and trying to develop some familiarity. If I had to run from the wolves, my human form was good at climbing trees, especially with my claws.

My Scavaging Class was steadily levelling, and my Physical Perception was nearing 20, but I had not worked out how to level Spiritual Perception yet. Spiritual Strength went up as I was using it in my skills, but how do I level Spiritual Perception?

I looked at my skill list. I had Identify that I mostly haven't used. Identify used Mental Perception. Mum taught it to me when my MP got to 10. Mental Perception is something else we bear-kin are not good at, being loners and all.

What we can do with Identify is use it on yourself to assess where you were at with some skills and attributes. I used it on myself and felt through my attributes and skills. That is interesting. I am pretty close to getting the Tracking Skill. Tracking needed a 20 in Physical Perception and 10 in Spiritual Perception, and all I needed to do was level Scavenger again, and I would meet those minimums.

Then I had to actually track something, but my scouting and identifying deer, wolf, and troll signs are a really good start. My Arctic Lore also helps here, although I do believe it is not required. Many skills interact with others to improve them, but it is all a bit beyond me.

I also felt I more than met the attribute requirements for the Stealth Skill, but I was not getting it. I know bears are not really the stealthy type, but it would help if I could sneak closer before my Sprint attack. Then, I hit myself on the side of the head for being particularly slow. Bears are not really the stealthy type, but humans are. I bet if I practised in my humanoid form, I would get it. Then I could use my large, clumsy bear form to level it like I use my skinny humanoid form to level my Cold Resistance.

I stay away from the Ice for the next few days and spend time in the sparse forest, tracking and scavenging. My Humanoid form is more agile and stealthy. Stealth 1 soon appeared on my status. Skills grow quickly through the Novice levels as long as you use them. The skills often need a bump to get them over to the next level, as Apprentice starts at level 5 and Journeyman at level 10. A master begins at level 15. It all gets slower and more challenging to level the higher you get.