A gate blocked vehicular travel, so his dad reluctantly dropped him off at the main forest road. He gathered the supplies, waved goodbye and jogged up the road to the top of the small mountain. The lookout tower stood over thirty feet into the air. It was fully enclosed with glass windows on each side, and could only be accessed by climbing the steps to the trap door in the floor.

The tower was surrounded by a six-foot tall chain link fence with spun barbed wire above it. A chain with lock threaded through the gate to ensure no one was allowed to trespass. Attached to the wooden surface on the fence was a notice. The printed paper had a picture of a woman who manned the tower that had gone missing. It asked people to call if they found her.

Blake shook his head.

He wondered how many people were killed when they accidentally entered the portals. Not all the spatial distortions were in remote locations, like the one near the airport. Some were easy to slip inside, and were in somewhat populated areas.

He was sure there were numerous people who had already gone missing, like the woman presented before him. Most likely, there were plenty of conspiracy theories created to explain what happened. He was still surprised none of it made the National news. Montgomery insisted the government covered it up, and even his friend Jeff agreed.

He broke the lock, freed the gate from the chain, and then reattached it all, so the security measure appeared unbroken. Afterward, he started up the open metal staircase. Luckily, the hatch to access the room above was open, and he did not have to force his way inside.

He paused in the door to examine his new home. The room was ten feet by ten feet and contained a bed, chair, desk, and radio equipment. It was out of the wind, and while it was not exactly warm, it was far better than his tent had been.

This is perfect.

He messaged his father through the interface.

Blake Summers - Hey dad, I don’t need a tent or anything, but I could use some more bottles of water, a camp stove, and some more food, of course.

Peter Summers - Okay. How long do you plan on staying there?

Blake Summers - Probably until I create the faction. So, a couple of months?

Peter Summers - That’s a lot of supplies.

Blake Summers - Don’t worry about getting that much, I just need a few days worth for now.

Peter Summers - Okay.

He waited an hour for his father to return. After he finished carrying everything up the stairs, he said goodbye, ate a snack, and then approached the invisible portal.

The spatial distortion was above the desk in the corner of the room. He dragged the wooden furniture out of the way, so he did not crush it when he returned. Blake then reached out with his hand, and was immediately sucked into the void.

Defeat the Ursa to complete the scenario.

Since this was the first time he entered this portal, there was no option to increase the difficulty. The scenario type he had received was by far the most common for this portal. Ursa, while intelligent, were not able to talk and were not social creatures. Occasionally, the Architect would assign a group to protect an Ursa cub, but for the most part the missions were simple.

Simple, however, did not imply easy.

As he traveled through the void, he pictured his enemy in his mind. The Ursa were the size of a grizzly, had long, sharp claws, and a bite that could pierce through three inches of solid steel. Like himself, they were enhanced by nanomachines, which increased their strength and speed dramatically. Even now, with his many achievements, they would be more powerful.

However, over the years, his faction had developed many strategies to eliminate the ferocious beasts. Although, those tactics would need to be adapted to work for a single person.

Well, a single person and his wraith distraction.

For the millionth time, he wished his group mates were with him.

Blake dropped to the leaf covered ground and felt his joints creak at the strain. The gravity of this planet was at least thirty percent higher than Earth, which was reflected in the flora and fauna. Trees stood only ten feet high, while their trunks were over two feet in diameter. The branches the thin leafs connected to were equally thick, yet, bowed down by their own weight.

He had seen many different types of animals on this planet, yet none of them were larger than the Ursa. There were no thin or tall creatures, instead, they were squat, heavily armored, and often contained corrosive substances which could eat through his jerkin within seconds.

None of them, however, were as difficult to kill as the mighty Ursa.

Blake summoned Metal, and then scanned the surrounding area. When he was sure he was safe, at least temporarily, he ordered his companion to scout the woods for any enemies or treasure.

A few minutes later, the wraith found its first Ursa.

I am surprised. It seems you have given up slaughtering weak goblins and have gone after more dangerous opponents.

Yeah, well, it’s not like I had much choice…

Blake extracted his longsword and dagger from their sheaths and began to stalk in the enemy’s direction. Unlike his companion, who could phase through physical matter, he had to follow a winding path through the dense woods. Bushes and dead trees impeded his progress and ensured his journey took over twice as long as it should. When he finally neared the marked location on his map, he searched the area but found no sign of his quarry.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Damn it! Metal, come back.

Blake ducked down and then remained still in case the Ursa was nearby, yet hidden. He did not want to give away his position, and without knowing where the creature was, would likely alert it if he tried to hide. A few minutes later, his companion rejoined him.

Go find that Ursa that was here before.

The wraith traveled through the nearby tree trunk and became invisible once it reached the other side. Blake waited nervously, yet there was no response from Metal. He checked his map again, just to be sure, yet no updates had been made.

Where the hell did that Ursa go?

A sudden roar from behind jolted him. Momentarily, he froze, before his battle instincts kicked in, and he dove to the side. He was thankful he did, as the bush behind him exploded outward and a large monster emerged.

The Ursa reared back on its hind legs and stretched to its full height of ten feet. It landed heavily on its front limbs and shook the ground.

He quickly rose to his feet. The two gazed into each other’s eyes, frozen. The Ursa’s orbs were four times the size of his own, yet looked oddly human. As he stared deeply into his enemy’s eyes, he did not detect any anger, only a fierce determination to protect its territory. Blake shook off a feeling of kinship.

Sorry, it’s you or me.

Either the Ursa sensed his thought or its timing was impeccable, as it chose that moment to rush forward. The ground shook beneath him as the monster gained momentum. Blake found himself in a poor tactical location and chose to retreat rather than stand his ground. The amount of undergrowth in this area would impede his ability to dodge.

He ducked under a low-hanging branch and brushed past the light vegetation. With a glance behind him, he saw the monstrous creature flatten every bush in its way as it gained speed.

Okay, not going to outrun it. Let’s see how it handles trees.

Blake weaved his much smaller frame between the large trunks, carefully to curve his path rather than run in a straight line. The Ursa, eager to close the distance, clipped its shoulder on a tree. He heard a crack as wood split from the trunk, but the stout timber held.

The monster roared in pain as it bounced off the hardwood. It growled, a deep bass rumble, before it shook off the minor injury and resumed the chase. Luckily, the event allowed Blake to gain distance from the large creature.

Metal, come to me, now.

Ahead, he saw a clearing in the woods. It was smaller than he would like, but was still large enough to allow him to maneuver. Even better, in the center of the clearing was a single tree, much larger than any he had observed so far.

The arbor stood over thirty feet tall, with a trunk four feet in diameter. He sprinted until he reached the lone tree and then placed himself behind it. Shortly after he reached cover, the Ursa entered the clearing. It charged directly at him, unrelenting.

Blake readied his long sword.

At the last second, right before it slammed into the tree, the monster curved around and slashed. It raked its claws across his chest, and he felt the armor press against his skin. Familiar with Ursa tactics, he stepped backward and swung his sword with all his strength.

The claws continued just inches before him, while his own blade bit into the muscular limb. The Ursa roared, yet continued past him unimpeded. Blood dripped from the gash, matting the tan fur as the Ursa slowed and turned.

When it saw him stand his ground, it too changed tactics. On its second pass, it approached slowly, wary of his sword's bite, as it tried to determine the best way to defeat him. The monster tried its best to hide its slight limp, but Blake noticed anyway.

Metal, where the hell are you?

I am right behind you.

Distract it so I can kill it!

His companion became visible and floated forward around the large tree. The Ursa focused on its new enemy as the wraith circled around it. It rushed forward and swiped at the wraith, but its paw failed to find purchase as Metal phased through it.

While his enemy was distracted, Blake bounded around the trunk and slashed with his sword from behind. There was no way the nano-enhanced blade could penetrate the thick hide of its back, so he aimed for its legs. His hope was to hobble the beast.

The blade thunked into the side of the leg, and the Ursa roared. It swung around to defend itself, but Blake was gone, hidden behind the tree once again.

For the next ten minutes, Blake used his companion to distract the beast and only left the protection of the sturdy tree trunk when it was preoccupied. Finally, his sword sliced through a tendon, and its rear leg collapsed. It was still incredibly dangerous, but could no longer react as quickly as before.

The injury allowed Blake to be bold, and he attacked twice as often. Soon, another leg was disabled and it could only crawl on the ground. Sanguine liquid pumped out of the deep wounds, and the creature visibly slowed as it became lethargic from blood loss.

Blake remained cautious as he repeatedly attacked from safety. The beast could do little to stave off his assaults, and chose instead to raise its limbs as a shield. Finally, due to excess blood loss, its head dropped to the ground and it lay still.

He quickly checked his log to ensure it had actually died. He had seen the wily beasts play dead before, and knew not to trust it.

“Holy shit…” he blurted.

The monster had indeed been killed, and he had received over two million nano for the feat. Killing a single Ursa had netted him the same amount as defeating ten goblins. Even so, he felt like the reward was justified, as the monster was extremely powerful. Without his enhanced physical power, and Metal’s help, he would have had no way to injure the Ursa.

High risk, high reward.

As he considered the size of its skull, he was not even sure a rifle could damage the beast. A bullet could possibly pierce through an open eye and into the brain, but with how quickly the Ursa moved, he would be unlikely to land the shot.

Without access to spells, these monsters were almost impossible to kill. Far too many of his friends had died in their attempts to clear the Ursa scenarios before they found a method that worked. Every faction death announced in the AI interface resounded in his memory. Against the thick hide, weapons had little effect.

Instead, the key was to disable the monster and weaken it with spells. Abilities which could debilitate were far less likely to be resisted and would allow chi users to destroy it safely with their enhanced strength.

Blake, of course, did not have access to spells, nor did he have his friends, but he did have vastly inflated attributes. His raw physical power gave him the same deadliness as a level one warrior with chi boosted strength.

And I can still enhance it six more times.

With almost nine and a half million nano reserved, he only needed to kill one more Ursa before he could enhance himself again. He already knew exactly what attribute to purchase. There was no way he could survive a direct attack from an Ursa, no matter how much he increased his physical resistance. He was also barely out of breath from the lengthy fight and would not benefit much from an increase to his physical stamina.

Instead, he planned to dump all of his nano directly into physical power. That would give him the speed he needed to avoid the deadly attacks, and the strength to pierce through their toughened hide.

Blake turned to face his companion, who had floated back towards him.

“Why didn’t you warn me about the Ursa?” he demanded.

You did not ask me to.

Blake ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He tried to remember the exact command he had given his companion, and then cursed when he realized it was right. Blake had ordered Metal to find the Ursa, but never said anything about reporting its position to him.

“Metal, from now on, every time you see another life form, you are to label it on the map. If the life form moves, you are to change the label’s location to reflect the change in position. If you believe I am in danger, you must instantly warn me. Do I make myself clear?”

Yes, master.

“Good, now go scout and label everything of interest you find.” Before he floated too far away, Blake shouted, “Just to clarify, if it can injure me, it's something of interest.”

With a huff of annoyance, he checked the scenario’s progress. The single kill accounted for twenty percent completion, which meant there were four more Ursa within the area.

Time to get to work.