The apparently intelligent beast was not very happy that I had decided to wake it up with a loud popper and multiple smoke bombs. It stood at the entrance to the cave and roared again, as soon as I heard it I dropped my bow and ran in the opposite direction. 50 feet later I stopped running and tried to think, what is wrong with me? Why do I keep running? The beast must have a skill that is playing with my mind.

I turned back for the third time and final time, I was determined to see this through. Walking back to the cave to try to get my bow back and ready I hear the explosion trigger from the trip wire. The beast must have tried to leave the cave and triggered the trap. I slowly crept up to the bush line and surveyed the damage. The dual explosions had triggered but the blast radius looked small, nothing like the campsite from weeks prior.

I could see the beast laying back against the cave wall, it was bleeding from multiple places. I crept forward with my bow drawn and an arrow knocked. I had my last remaining sharp throwing knife on my waist ready to be used. I could hear the beast groaning in an all-too-human way. I got close enough to see its face and it turned to face me and roared weakly. This time the urge to run was not present and I had a strange feeling of pity come over me again. I knew I had to do this to get stronger but it was not getting any easier. The bear was struggling to get up, clearly internally damaged from the explosions. I lined up my arrow and shot it in the chest multiple times until it stopped moving. Notifications pinged across my vision. I brought the first one up.

Congratulations! You have reached level 11!

Congratulations! You have earned a new title!

Punching above your weight class! For killing a beast 2x your level - grants +1 to all primary stats, gold item box!

Gold item box? That was new, I looked around but didn’t see anything like a gold box. More notifications popped up, the notifications brought a sense of euphoria. It felt like being rewarded for doing a job or task. I wasn’t sure who was controlling this framework or what its purpose was but I was beginning to enjoy this part of the experience.

Enhanced explosion has reached level 4! Calculation change. Explosive base damage*(4-14)*Luck

I had learned through studying the screens that my enhanced explosion calculation changed when it leveled, the lowest level of explosion power multiplier matched the level of the skill and the maximum increased by the same amount. My agility and wisdom stats were getting high, I wasn’t sure exactly what wisdom controlled but I could feel the changes in the agility. My bow accuracy was almost flawless now, I hadn’t tripped in weeks. I hoped that when I reached one of these so-called guides I would find out more information about these numbers. I pulled up my character interface.

Sylar Till

Age

17

Race

Human

Class

Wildcard

Level

11

Strength

11

Stamina

24

Agility

16

Intelligence

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

15

Wisdom

29

Charisma

0

Luck

3

Armor

14

Health

50

Still not understanding the full significance of the numbers I felt pretty good about my progress. Maybe in a few more levels I would make another attempt to find Etes and the rest of the army, my mother. I looked down at the dead beast and started to mentally catalog what I could make out of it. It had wicked sharp claws that I could probably affix to spears, its pelt would be valuable for the roof of my treefort. When it started getting colder at night the pelt would be a great blanket as well. The beast would have more meat on it than I could eat in months but I would be able to dry it and be well prepared for the future.

I was so focused on watching the dead bear for movement and reading notifications that I had dropped my guard for my surroundings. A loud crash behind me sent me spinning around to see an even larger bear rear up on its hind legs and let out the loudest roar I had ever heard.

Intelligent Beast - Cave bear - Level 22

Staring dumbly as the bear finished roaring, I found I couldn’t move, I felt transfixed in the moment. The feeling of temporary paralysis faded and I bolted from the spot, running as fast as I could in the opposite direction of the bear. The bear chased behind me, I could hear the crashing sounds of the bear rushing through the forest. I knew that bears were extremely fast but my new stamina and agility were allowing me to stay ahead of it. I needed to come up with a plan and fast, I was out of supplies except my throwing knife and a mostly empty pack left behind at the cave.

Making the decision to pivot back towards my treefort, I knew I had two manglers buried there and one banger. I needed to circle around to get back to the area I had spent the last few weeks in. I was able to keep pace ahead of the bear but couldn’t gain any ground, any mistake and it was over. I knew without a doubt that if that bear caught me I was dead. Notifications were flashing in my vision as I ran for my life. A small part of me dared hope the bear would lose interest. I had a sinking feeling that it was its mate's corpse back at that cave.

It took an hour to make it back to the stream. It was only a few hundred feet more back to the treefort. I pumped my legs as fast as I could and tried to jump the stream entirely, my left foot got stuck in the muddy banks and it snagged me for a few seconds. That was all it took for the bear to catch up to me, I felt its claws rip into my back and my world set on fire.

I managed to get my leg free and ran again on pure adrenaline, my health bar was already down to half. The bear let out a roar, it knew its prey was injured. This time the roar didn't paralyze me and I made it back to the clearing at the base of the treefort. The bear was right behind me and I leaped out of its reach and avoided the mangler hidden in the brush. The bear stepped directly into the middle of the trap and it activated immediately. The massive cave bear let out a pained roar and fell to its side before springing back up.

It shook its leg in an attempt to free itself, it turned to face me and I could see the determination behind its eyes, this was a beast that had decided to kill me at any cost. I ran again and tried to lead the beast to the other mangled hidden in brush, it was smarter this time, and it didn’t chase immediately. It watched me with cold eyes, knowing I was injured, it was weighing its own injury to see who would last longer. I was losing blood quickly and my health bar was now down to 1/4. I was starting to feel faint and dizzy, the bright sunny afternoon fading to darkness.

I only had one more chance, I had a banger hidden attached to a trip wire strung to the platform. I wasn’t sure I could make that climb with my back gored the way it was but I didn’t have any other ideas. The bear was between me and the fort, I wouldn’t be able to detonate the explosion with the tripwire. I knew where it was buried and decided I would dig it out and throw it at the beast.

I limped to the tree as the beast continued to stare at me, I knew that it wouldn’t let me leave the area but it was content to watch me bleed out. Health bar now down to 1/5 I grabbed the small box that contained my only hope of surviving. I didn’t know if I could mentally affect the strength of the blast with my explosion enhancement skill but I hammered the mental thought in to a 10 multiplier. I threw the box at the beast as hard as I could and turned to sprint away. I only made it about 20 feet before the loud explosion knocked me off my feet. I turned my head to try to see the beast but everything was covered in smoke.

I slipped out of consciousness and woke to the sounds of a roaring fire. I was confused, face down on the forest floor. I turned my head and started to panic, the entire clearing was ablaze. The explosion from the banger must have started a fire, I couldn’t see the beast but I couldn’t risk staying here. My health was down to 5, I could barely stand. I stumbled away until I could hear the sound of running water.

Making it to the stream with 4 health left and laying down on the banks gave the small comfort of the cool water. I would heal with enough time but I would be completely defenseless against any beasts or the fire. I tasted metal, I must be bleeding from my mouth, something in the fall after the explosion. My last thought as I lost consciousness was at least I would see my friends and family again soon.