Chapter 4

I still felt shame and guilt from eating my fellow bear, but I couldn't deny that my latest evolutions tempted me.

[Savage Bear (tier 3)

A large, incredibly aggressive creature with overwhelming bloodlust. Usually found alone due to its inability to tame its aggression. Gifted with great strength and speed, making it a dangerous foe.

+20 Strength, +20 Agility, +10 Constitution, +5 Endurance]

Not so much this one as it sounded too bloodthirsty for my liking, although it did have impressive attribute bonuses. I wondered whether I would lose my current race attribute bonuses when evolving, or whether they cumulated together? I guess I would have to find out.

[Demonic Bear (tier 3)

A bear corrupted by darkness and governed by its vice. Usually found at the top of a group due to its calculating nature. Incredibly dangerous and not to be trifled with.

+15 Strength, +10 Endurance, +5 Constitution, +5 Perception, +5 Agility, Introduces Arcana, +10 Arcana, Introduces Demonic Magic.]

This one was far more alluring and not just because its description called it incredibly dangerous. Besides its balanced attribute bonuses, it let me do magic! Although I knew little about magic, I found myself drawn to it, or more specifically, my human memories seemed drawn to it.

[Giant Bear (tier 3)

A massive creature boasting incredible strength and toughness. Usually found alone in forested regions, hunting or resting. Incredibly dangerous but easily shaken off.

+30 Strength, +30 Constitution, -5 Agility, Upgrades Bear's regeneration to Giant Bear's regeneration.]

There were two curious things about this evolution. Firstly, this was the first time I had seen an evolution decrease an attribute - I assumed this meant the bonuses were accumulative. Secondly, it upgraded my perk, which I hadn't known to be possible. Besides that, I got the feeling these descriptions weren't written for me to read - it almost felt like it was written for monster hunters or such. Strange.

Going through my possible brown bear evolutions, I found they all gave mediocre attribute bonuses as they instead focused on perks. The Ravenous type gave me a perk to do with eating, the Vampiric type a perk that let me regain health by drinking blood, and Shadow type a stealth perk.

Golden type was a divergence from this pattern as it came with no perks, instead only giving a small bonus to my luck. Also, it was the only evolution so far to affect luck. Arcane type was also a divergence as it introduced arcana (whatever that was) and added some points to it - overall it seemed like a weaker Demonic Bear.

All in all, looking through the evolutions gave me a wealth of information to work with, the foremost being which conditions to work towards. And currently, I wanted Demonic Bear the most, even if it meant killing and eating nine more bears.

****

It had been two weeks since I had found out about my evolutions, and in the time I had hunted down four more bears, increasing my weight drastically.

[Level 13 (1784/2500)

Race: Brown Bear (tier 2) - 292 kg

Class: unlocks at level 20

Strength: 23

Agility: 19

Constitution: 31

Endurance: 15

Perception: 10

Luck: 6

Perks: Great sense of smell, Bear's regeneration]

Whenever I passed water, my reflection looked like the first brown bear I had killed, fierce and large. At the moment, I was spying on a peculiar bear: it had pointed ears, short claws, and a black coat with a midnight sheen. What was catching about it, though, was that its dark claws had slivers of bright blue in them, almost like veins. And although the bear was only 150kg at most, it gave me a strong sense of danger. Very peculiar.

The black bear was suspiciously sniffing at the air, and I knew my game was up. I came out of the bushes roaring, trying my best to look bigger and more daunting than usual. The black bear showed no signs of fear as it bound towards me, the blue across its nails glowing like neon. Oh well, it was too late to back out.

I lifted off the ground and swung for its face, hoping to blind it; this was my favourite strategy. The black bear deftly ducked my paw and launched itself at me. Even though I was clearly heavier, much heavier, it almost sent me sprawling to the ground. Still, I managed to hold my own and scuffled with it, only to feel needles digging through my fur, ripping through flesh.

I felt like a small bear braving the thorns again, only these needles were far more than thorns, more like blades. I threw the black bear off in a frenzy and glanced towards my forelegs, noticing the blood-matted fur. How had those small claws done this much damage in such a short time? But I already knew the answer: it was the blue veins.

I didn't have much time for rest as the black bear was back on me. This time it wasn't so lucky as I managed to bite its snout. Falling back, it cried in pain and I bound on, biting and kicking and tussling, holding on through the burning wounds. Eventually, it lay below me and I nibbled on its flesh hatefully - this was the most damage I had taken in a fight, and the pain was dreadful.

Once I had enough energy to move again, I sniffed around and searched through the black bear's most used trails, soon finding one that took me into a cave. Although it should have been dark inside, it was well-lit by a small pool of glowing blue water. My human memories told me to advance and I did, jumping into the pool and drinking the water.

[Sufficient mana absorbed. You have gained 3 points in Arcana and the Arcane Being perk. Override - Arcane Being perk transformed to Exceptional Arcane talent.]

What?