The Way Ahead

Bushes tore at Edwin’s arms as he sprinted through the underbrush. Behind him, he could hear his pursuer crashing through the fallen log he had vaulted over just moments before. He winced as the bear just charged through a tree, and the noise as it splintered resounded through the forest. He was running as fast as he could, and that meant he couldn’t be too close to the riverbank, or he’d risk falling in, or tripping on some of the loose rocks lining it, or something similarly catastrophic. Yes, the proper response to encountering a bear was supposed to be making yourself look big and scary and avoid provoking it, but he was pretty sure that didn’t apply to bears the size of a car that were already mad at you.

He wasn’t sure if he should count himself lucky or unlucky that none of the rocks he had thrown which missed the tree hadn’t hit the bear. On the plus side, he had eaten enough of the fruit that he had energy to run. On the down side, he would have gotten more of a head start from the massive predator and wouldn’t have to deal with the cramp in his side from running before the fruit was fully digested. Give and take, really.

Another tree fell and Edwin flinched at the sound, just long enough to miss a thin twig at head height, and he winced as it whipped him painfully. That would probably draw blood, but he didn’t have time to stop and check.

On the bright side, it was doing wonders for his skills. From the moment he took off running, he had been praying his Walking boost also applied to running and that his Athletics would help out there as well. He seemed to be right, at least.

Level Up! Walking

Level Up! Athletics

They were leveling once every couple of minutes, and with each level he could maybe feel a bit more sure-footed, each step that much easier. Then again, it might be adrenaline and the placebo effect. Not like he had any way to really check.

Edwin dodged a fallen log, bringing him closer to the riverbank. For this stretch of the river, it was fairly muddy, which proved to be his downfall as a slightly exposed root caught his foot, making him stumble just enough for his other foot to get stuck in the mud, sending him sprawling.

With the literal jaws of death bearing down upon him, Edwin turned to face the beast and threw a ball of mud as best as he could at the bear’s snarling mouth. He was hoping to blind it, and was half successful, most of the mud splattering on its snout. Enough did bounce off or hit true to cover its eyes with the almost clay-like dirt, though, and a fair amount went into the beast’s open mouth and covered its nostrils to make it pause as Edwin got to his feet and took off again.

Level Up! Throwing Weapons

On an impulse, he picked up another handful of mud in the hopes he could repeat the stunt. It took up a hand, but he could probably make do with only one for the time being, especially if he started sticking closer to the riverbank. Though that would have to wait, as there was no way he’d be able to run through this mud. Hopefully he could make his way back to the riverbank in time. From up ahead, he could hear the roar of the waterfall growing steadily louder.

Level Up! Walking

Level Up! Athletics

He was almost there, a half-formed plan in mind as his only vague hope for survival. Then all other thoughts were once again chased out of his mind as he heard the bear resuming its pursuit, slowly closing the gap between them. Risking a momentary glance backwards, Edwin could swear he could feel anger in its unblinded, glowing orange eye.

A twinge on his mana sense was all the warning he got, and he dropped to the ground into a slide as a nigh-invisible spiderweb was strung up right where his head would have passed through had he not reacted.

Level Up! Flexibility

Level Up! Flexibility

Level Up! Athletics

Level Up! Basic Mana Sense

Level Up! Basic Mana Sense

Two levels in two skills? Was it the stress? It had to be the stress. That, or legitimately life and death situations somehow improved his ability leveling speed in an unknowable manner. Stress would do as a temporary hypothesis. Was there any way to exercise his skills without distracting himself, maybe? Something to consider for the next time- he didn’t doubt there would be a next time- he was in mortal peril. He got back to his feet, his pants at this point barely visible beneath the sheer amount of dirt on them, and continued his mad dash forwards.

Behind him, the bear muscled between the two trees he had just passed through, the cracking and snapping giving no indication the supernaturally tough spiderweb had even been noticed by the rampaging carnivore. He could almost imagine its claws, currently tearing into the forest floor, ripping through flesh and bone, carving up tendons and fracturing his spine… No time to dwell on that, though! Avoid the prickly bush, duck under the branch, avoid the loose stone, grab- oh shoot, that was going to need two hands- blindly toss the handful of mud at the bear, hear the additional roar of annoyance that meant it had to have at least hit it, no time to check where- grab the vine and hope it holds… Yes! Use it to swing over the tiny creek, hit the ground running, avoid tripping over that root, duck left around a tree trunk, dodge right around a stump, bob and weave through the bushes… it was a breakneck pace, and he was certain he was running on pure adrenaline. His side no longer hurt in the slightest, and his attention was as narrow as it had ever been. There were more notifications in the corner of his eye, but he wasn’t paying attention to them. If he lived, he’d check then. It was do or die, and he wasn’t a quitter.

Finally, he managed to get to a section of forest that looked more familiar than the rest, and the roar of the nearby waterfall confirmed it. For whatever reason, the vines that were so thick on the trees here were less common elsewhere, and while he had no delusions that they could stop the bear, he could only hope that they would be strong enough to hold him. He was ninety percent sure they would be, especially given the one had supported him before, and he hadn’t managed to dislodge it when he had tried before, but still…

No. If this didn’t work, he was dead anyway. If the bear didn’t cooperate, he was dead, if the vine broke, he was dead. So many ways this could go wrong, but it was his only hope. With a glance behind him- yep, it was still there, not that he doubted that, though its other eye had gotten a bit of mud in it. All the better. The less it could see, the more likely this would work.

Edwin angled towards the riverbank as he approached the cliff, and just as he broke free of the tree line, grabbed the thickest vine he could see on the thickest tree in the area. Just like before, it detached easily from the trunk but stayed attached in the canopy far, far, far above. He’d have to time this just right. Hopefully the bear wasn’t so strong as to fell the massive tree Edwin had selected as his lifeline. It seemed his worries were unfounded, though, as it instead muscled its way through a smaller tree nearby, disintegrating the trunk. It was the first time he had actually seen the monster just… overpower a tree, and while it was ‘only’ about a foot across, it was still utterly terrifying to witness a 2-ton ball of furious muscle and fur just decide to run straight through something which should have stopped it dead in its tracks, and without leaving so much as a scratch on its mud-crusted muzzle or slowing it down in the slightest.

There was a moment of even further heart-stopping terror as it looked like the tree knocked over might hit the vine he was holding, something which would absolutely doom his hopes of surviving, but it came up short. Edwin breathed a sigh of relief as he started to put weight on the vine, using it as a support to keep his footing while running over the profoundly slippery rocks. He was very, very close to the waterfall and there were even a few shallow puddles here and there from the amount of mist in the air. He even slipped in one, and while it was sooner than he would have liked, he had no choice.

Edwin’s grip tightened around the vine and he pulled himself up, taking both feet off the ground like he was on a rope swing. He tried to pull himself up the vine, but after only a single hand-over-hand haul, he couldn’t overcome his death grip and the shaking in his muscles. Time seemed to slow down as he looked down, and saw that he had overtaken the cliffside, and was now swinging over the edge. Below him was just the narrow strip of stone, some sixty feet below, and then another cliff, the bottom of which he couldn’t see. His mind froze up in terror, but it was fortunately in agreement with the plan that the only thing to do was to hold tight and pray the vine doesn’t break. He traveled in a gentle arc over the yawning gap, and managed to wrest his eyes away from the drop in time to see the bear frantically try and backpedal on the oh-so-slippery rocks, digging its claws into the rock in a vain attempt to break all the momentum it had built up, realizing what he had done. Its roars were subsumed by the waterfall’s, and the anger on its face was replaced with fear, then terror, as it sailed over the cliff into the fathomless mists below.

It was an utterly drained Edwin that lay on the ground beneath his gently swaying vine, both emotionally and physically exhausted. He was hungry and thirsty again, though with a pre-established source of food and water, that was much less of a hazard than it might have once been. His arms trembled, and there was no way he’d be pulling a stunt like that again any time soon. Flicking his eyes through his notifications, though, it was hard to say it wouldn’t be at least a little tempting to try again.

Level Up! Improvisation

Level Up! Improvisation

Level Up! Improvisation

Improvisation

Don’t just think outside the box. Use the box as a weapon

Make creations with non-standard materials

Increased effectiveness of creations per level

Congratulations! For slaying a foe far stronger than you, you have unlocked the Titan Slayer Path!

Congratulations! For slaying a Mature Giant Stonehide Bear, you have unlocked the Stonehide Vanquisher Path!

Congratulations! For using your surroundings as a trap for your enemies, you have unlocked the Trapper Path!

You have unlocked the Improvisation skill!

Accept Skill? Y/N

Level Up! Athletics

Level Up! Flexibility

Congratulations! For reaching level 12 in Athletics, you have unlocked the Athlete Path!

Level Up! Athletics

Level Up! Visualization

Level Up! Walking

Level Up! Athletics

Level Up! Flexibility

Level Up! Walking

Level Up! Seeing

Level Up! Throwing Weapons

I should get up. And I am not falling asleep this time. It’s like noon. But I think laying here sounds nice for right now.

Very nice.