Callum stalked through the forest, looking for a fight. He hadn’t been eager for a fight before, but now he wanted to see how much he had improved with his class advancement. His combat magic was most likely still useless as it hadn’t done much damage to the tree, but his Dexterity was getting very high.

In no time, he found his quarry. He heard a howl off in the distance and broke out into a run. He didn’t want to be late to the fight again.

A moment later he had found another group of wolves. There was no group of people this time, so he had the time to Identify what he had been fighting finally.

[Wolf Level 7]

That was rather underwhelming. No modifiers, or any more information that he could gleam. They weren’t even dire wolves, a term he had recalled from his RPG days. When he thought about it, it did make some sense. The world had suddenly been flooded with mana, and the changes weren’t affecting just the humans.

It did make him curious if the wolves he had fought before entering the dungeon were from a leak, or if he had gotten unlucky, and some evolved wolves had wandered near the town. These thoughts were fleeting, as he was already charging after Identifying the wolves.

He was a blur as he covered the ground separating him and the wolves. The first one died with his first strike and he activated Blade Dance right after. The wolves pounced on him in seconds, but he flowed through them, untouched.

With the enhanced focus and reflexes of Blade Dance, he felt a bit like a passenger as he observed his actions. He could dictate what happened, but if he did not, instinct would take over.

As he weaved through the wolves, he found the opportunity to test his new magic. He let off a few blasts, but it did not affect the wolves. Unsurprising, but his sword was doing plenty of work, piercing flesh and vital points as the opportunities arose.

The combat was over quickly. Callum hadn’t even lost a point of health. The first time he had fought one of these wolves it had been very close, leaving him injured. Now, they were hardly counted as opponents. It was a testament to his rapid growth.

[Combat Magic Novice 3 → Novice 4]

[Rapier Apprentice 1 → Apprentice 2]

He dismissed the notifications without a second glance. The levels were an expected part of life now. He waited around for the chest to spawn. It didn’t take long and he rushed over to it and threw it open.

Inside was a simple leather chest piece. He Identified it and grinned as he saw what it was.

[Minor Repairing Leather Armor] If left alone, this leather armor will slowly repair all damage. Time to repair increases based on damage. If in multiple pieces, will regenerate from the largest piece.

The self-repair was nice, as now he wouldn’t run out of shirts within the week, but he was a bit curious as to how resistant it was. For his test, he picked a spot out of the way that wouldn’t compromise the strength of the armor, and stabbed at it with his rapier.

He found it very resistant. He pushed a little harder and finally got the tip of his rapier through. He quickly withdrew it and stared at the hole. He examined it closer, trying to get it into the light, and thought he could see new leather being generated at the edge.

It was a bit disappointing, but it had been described as slow, so he wasn’t that surprised. He compared it to the only armor he had any experience with, that of the hobgoblins he had fought. It was much sturdier than theirs, especially accounting for his increased strength.

He moved on from the wolves, new armor equipped, and continued further into the forest. At first, he had to walk for thirty minutes or more to encounter another group of wolves. That time had been shrinking the further he went into the forest. A new sound then filled his ears.

It was a low roar, bordering on a growl. It felt like it shook the ground, and it was the first thing in this new world that gave Callum pause. He started going through the possibilities of what it could be. It wasn’t a lion, he had heard that before at zoos and in nature documentaries. It hadn’t sounded like a big cat at all, anyway.

Stolen novel; please report.

As someone who had lived in a city for most of his life, Callum was out of place in the wilderness. His thoughts went somewhat wild, but in the end, he figured it could be a bear. The thought of a bear increasing in size as the wolves made him shudder, but he pressed on anyway.

A second roar allowed him to more accurately place where it was coming from. He thankfully hadn’t heard any human cries, so at least he didn’t have another sight like that coming. He hoped that, at least.

He soon located the source of the roar. In between the trees, he spotted the largest beast he had ever seen. This bear, if it could even be called that anymore, was easily twice his height on all fours. A solid black coat, broken only in a few places by white. Standing in front of it was a lone man wielding a bearded axe in one hand, and a shield in the other. Callum quickly Identified both.

[Warrior Level 8]

[Ursa Furiosa Level 13]

Callum worried for a second over the level of the bear or Ursa Furiosa, but his attention was quickly brought back to the sight in front of him. The man had been on the receiving end of several exchanges, evident from the blood dripping from wounds in a few places. He had returned damage on a few points, as Callum noticed the spots of white where places where the axe had struck and cut hair, but not flesh.

Callum made his observations as he approached the fight. He slowed a little, debating a course of action. Should he grab the attention of the bear and let the man do the damage, or should it be the other way around?

As he approached, he realized that Discerning Intent was not a passive skill, as with most of the others he had. He had to make a concentrated effort to guess what the bear would do. A flood of information entered his brain.

The bear was slow but prone to bursts of movement. It had the stamina to prolong fights and would look to wear an opponent down. Its attacks were slow but carried a lot of force. With this knowledge in hand, he joined the fight.

Callum sprinted towards the pair, yelling so he could be heard, “I’ll distract it, you circle around and try it hit it.” His point is further emphasized by burying his sword into the shoulder of the beast.

At least, that was what he tried to do. A couple inches in and he met heavy resistance, unable to pierce any further. He yanked out his sword and jumped backward, narrowly avoiding the massive paw that swung for him. The fight was on.

He activated Blade Dance and began weaving in attacks. Nothing that was dealing much damage due to the thick hide, but enough to get the attention of the bear. Through his attacks, he was able to see the man circling the bear, as he had told him to.

The bear was much slower than most other opponents he had fought. Each swipe of a paw was painfully slow, and Callum was dodging with ease. The real trouble lay in doing damage to the beast. He was doing his best to aim for weak points. Eyes, throat, snout, anything he could get his sword into.

With how slow the creature was, Callum ended Blade Dance, wanting to preserve his stamina. He found that he was still able to easily dodge all of his attacks, and put a little more effort into trying to do some damage.

The combat dragged on, and Callum could see that the Warrior was starting to flag. They had succeeded in managing to wear through the massive health pool of the beast, but it was hard finding a way through the fat of the bear to damage any internal organs. For the first time, Callum was worried that he might not even be able to bleed the thing to death.

He continued to dodge attacks, and with each bear paw he dodged, he was able to return with four or five stabs of his own. With the health gone, he was able to eventually blind the creature, allowing a lot more breathing room.

Once blinded, the creature started lashing out in fast, unpredictable strikes. At least they would have been unpredictable, had Callum not had Discerning intent. Even with the skill, it forced him to focus more on not getting hit, limiting the damage he could deal.

Something shifted in the air, and Callum hopped backward, just out of reach of the paws. Discerning intent did not provide him an idea of what was coming, just that he didn’t want to be near the bear. “Back–,” his words were cut off by a massive roar.

WHOOM!

Callum found himself flying through the air and collided with a tree. His head swam for a moment, and his vision refocused. The bear was charging straight for him.

He dove to the side, narrowly dodging as the bear took a chunk out of the tree where Callum had just been. He managed to get into a fighting stance when he realized that his sword was gone, and the bear was charging him again.

Diving to the side, he narrowly avoided what felt like a certain death again. He cast his eyes around, searching for the sword. There! He had dropped it when he collided with the tree. His hand closed around the hilt as a paw knocked him through the forest again.

This time, he had the presence of mind to grip the sword as hard as he could, and curled into a ball. Luckily, his flight didn’t intersect with a tree, but the ground didn’t feel much better.

He scrambled to his feet and felt at the point where the bear had struck him. He wasn’t bleeding, thankfully, but his leather armor had four deep gashes in it. The bear seemed to have lost interest in him and was lumbering back over to the man Callum had been fighting with.

Callum had no clue what state the Warrior was in but figured it couldn’t be good, especially if the bear got there before him. He sprinted to put himself in between the bear and the man.

He made it in time, as the bear had not been moving fast. When Callum turned to the bear, he saw that its eyes were back, and all but the most serious wounds had closed. Callum gritted his teeth and prepared for phase two.