Ander returned to camp an hour later tired, sweaty, but most of all, hungry. He dived into his stores of food, finding that they were getting alarmingly low. He realized that he got this boar just in time. As he ate he pondered his newest acquisition. He had gone hunting as a kid with his grandfather. And although he had never really developed a taste for it, he had learned how to tan hides in basic primitive ways. He had also learned how to cook and preserve the meat, and even fashion the bones into this or that useful thing. The thing was that he had none of the proper tools. He was lucky to have a bag that could hold water, for a limited time at least. But it wouldn’t be able to boil the water that he would need.

Ander was in a difficult situation. He had intended to make his way back to the city he came from, but he had gotten trapped in the chasm instead. And while he had good weapons, he had no armor as the gash in his hip attested to. Ander set to work treating the wound as soon as he remembered. And what happened when one of his weapons broke? They had all been banged up pretty bad in his fall, and could easily contain a fatal defect.

Ander finished his meal and went out to the boar. He figured that he could smoke the meat, which would allow it to keep long enough with his appetite. For the skin, well, he could figure something out. Maybe he could find some clay. A clay lined pit wouldn’t be the best for holding water, but with that he might just be able to turn the skin into rawhide. Then he could repair his shield. Not as good as a fully wooden shield, but it would have to do.

Ander worked for hours butchering the Boar, but by the time he was done, he was left with what looked to be a pile of rocks with sticks jutting out at odd angles. Of course, anyone who saw it would know that it was more than just a pile of rocks due to the smoke that seeped out through every crack. The entire construction was more of a dome, with branches stuck criss cross through the center, holding slabs of meat. A fire smoked at the bottom, with the smoke filtering through the branches, meat and eventually the rocks.

Of course a pile of bones, and another of the skin still had to be taken care of. He could try to make stuff out of the bones, but unless he decided he needed needles to sew himself back up, he couldn’t think of anything else he needed to make out of bones at this juncture. He would turn the skin into rawhide later if he could find some clay.

And so Ander started to haul away the bones. It was nearly dark by the time he got back to camp, and so he fed more wood to the fire beneath the smoker and went to his little cave to sleep

It was the next morning that he knew he had made a mistake.

Gazing out between two rocks, Ander stared at the absolute mountain of fur that rose and fell slowly outside his hideout. The bear was massive. Far beyond anything that should be possible. The boar was already huge beyond belief, but this bear. From its size laying down Ander had to guess it would likely be fourteen feet tall on its hind legs. The worst part was that it had all the hallmarks of a black bear. Ander didn’t know if bear coloration worked the same here as it did on earth, but if a black bear was fourteen feet tall, how big would polar bears be? 20 feet? 25? Ander could see the remains of the smoker lying around, every piece of meat gone. Even the skin he had been planning to turn into rawhide was torn to bits.

So much for trying to be a survivalist.

Ander sat back against the wall of his cave. He had no clue what to do. The monster was sleeping right outside, and if Ander had his guess, it had now gotten a free meal at this location twice. That meant it would never stop coming back. Ander either had to kill it, or he had to take his stuff and run. Of course, he had no idea where this thing had its den, and so he had no idea how far would be far enough. Ander thought back to the battle with the boar, and realized he had neglected to check his notifications. With a thought he brought them up.

Congratulations! Skill: Way of the Wind has leveled up!

Skill: Way of the Wind is level 3.

Congratulations! Skill: Way of the Wind has leveled up!

Skill: Way of the Wind is level 4.

Ander felt his perception expand and flow out between the rocks of his shelter before barely sensing the bear’s fur. He felt a small breeze curl around his limbs, reminding him again of his fight. It was exciting. Ander gripped the hilt of his longsword and could feel his heart begin to pound in preparation. Ander realized he was about to make a very stupid decision. He didn’t care. This was like the missions back on earth. He had never been the one to hold a gun. Every time the experience had been horrible, terrible, but so very exciting. So terribly exciting. He could no longer hear the bear’s breathing over the pounding of his own heart.

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Slowly, Ander pulled his longsword, careful to be sure it wouldn’t make a sound. He then creeped to the piece of wood he used as a door and carefully dislodged it from the rocks around it. Ander crawled out and got to his feet, before lifting his sword to point at the neck of the prone bear.

Ander took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. He drew his sword back and with a shout activated Way of the Wind. Ander felt power rush into his body as he plunged the sword down, driving it hilt deep into the back of the bear’s neck. Wild triumph coursed through Ander’s veins as he screamed to the heavens, before a deep basso roar obliterated every other sound. Ander stopped dead, watching in horror as the bear sat up and turned toward him. Ander jumped back as a paw whistled past his head. The bear roared louder, and clawed at the sword for a moment before staring at Ander in red eyed rage.

Ander realized now, he had missed. While he had hit the neck, the bear’s neck was so large that it was easy to hit non vital areas. The sword had gone straight through the muscle. Unpleasant to be sure, but not fatal, not like the spine blow he had been going for. Ander dove to the side as another swipe nearly decapitated him. He scrambled back to his feet ready to run, but felt the wind curl around his limbs, and his confidence returned. Ander dashed toward the wall of the chasm before leaping up and planting his right foot on a small stone outcropping six feet above the ground. He lept again as the bear smashed a paw into the wall where he had just been, and he settled momentarily on a large boulder ten feet above where he had just been. The bear started to turn, but Ander lept again, the wind guiding his body as he flipped over the bear. Ander grabbed his longsword and yanked it free before settling lightly to the ground.

Ander grinned as the bear roared in pain. The bear was no match for him. Ander jumped again as the bear turned, planting a foot on the bear’s belly before driving his sword up into the meat just below the jaw of the bear, and into its brain. Ander twisted his sword before pulling it out and jumping free from the toppling bear.

Ander didn’t bother trying to save the meat this time. Instead he built a big old fire and cooked large hunks. He feasted all morning, eating an ungodly amount of the bear’s meat. He was halfway through his meal before he remembered hearing that bear meat was supposedly disgusting. That was all the proof that he needed to declare that bears in this world were entirely different from bears back home. They were delicious. The one thing he did want however, was to find some way to keep the bear’s fur. It was a waste to kill the thing and leave its luxurious coat to rot. That fur had to be a foot thick. With difficulty he removed the fur from the carcass before dragging the remainder of the carcass away from his camp. He could tan the fur using the bear’s brains to make the whole thing nice and soft. As long as he could find clay to improvise a pond, he could heat rocks to boil the water and use that to make the brain mixture.

It took twenty minutes for Ander to find a deposit of clay inside the cave large enough for him to make a pond that wouldn’t leak, and another hour to dig and line his pond. Ander built a fire, piling all the rocks that had been used to make his smoker the previous day on top to heat while he carried water to his new brain pond. Several hours passed and eventually the pond was filled. Ander took his sword and went to the carcass of the bear, scaring away hundreds of crows who were fighting over the carcass. With a few swings, Ander cracked the bear’s skull, and he carefully removed the gelatinous mass of gray matter. Ander returned to camp and mashed the brain against a rock before mixing it into the water with a branch. He then added a pile of heated rocks until the water started to boil. He stirred until his mixture cooled down, before lifting some out with his hands and starting to work it into the leathery underside of the skin.

He worked the rest of the day like this, massaging the brain mixture into the hide. It was well past dark before he finished, but he was left with what felt like a suede cushion. He was glad the entire ground was covered with moss, as the fur would have gotten badly dirty as he crawled around on it. Ander collapsed onto his creation, the whole fur the size of his living room in the house he grew up in.

“I am never doing that again.” Ander said, but he couldn’t help but be glad that he had. Even on the wrong side, it was so soft he could barely keep his eyes open. Still, he forced himself awake enough to roll up the pelt with the fur on the inside. When he was done, he was left with a roll that was five feet thick and easily ten feet wide. There was no way he would fit this in his shelter. That was when it occurred to Ander that he hadn’t really thought this through. He needed to find a new shelter. The fur would last the night, but he needed to find a new place and move it out of the elements tomorrow. Ander crawled back into his shelter, and looked at his notifications again.

Congratulations! You have killed a Giant Black Bear, level 7.

XP earned.

You have leveled up! You are now level 3.

+2 Conductivity

+2 Wisdom

+2 Regeneration

+1 Beauty

+2 Presence

+20 free stats.

Congratulations! You have gained Skill: Tanning

Skill: Tanning is level 6.

Skill: Tanning

Common

You can now tan hides and furs into useful products! Chance of success while tanning increased! Chance of success increases with skill level.

Ander was surprised to find that Way of the Wind had not leveled up. However, he had leveled it a number of times, so he supposed it wasn’t a problem. With that, he closed his notifications, and went to sleep.