Mana coursed through my body, and my mind reacted joyfully, especially my human memories. It passed through my paws and I looked down to see my claws had bolt-like blue veins, just like the black bear but even brighter.
[Level 13 (2430/2500)
Race: Brown Bear (tier 2) - 294 kg
Class: unlocks at level 20
Mana: 35/35 ( recovery rate: 0.15 per minute)
Strength: 23
Agility: 19
Constitution: 31
Endurance: 15
Perception: 10
Arcana: 3
Luck: 6
Perks: Great sense of smell, Bear's regeneration, Exceptional Arcane talent]
Having gained 3 points in arcana, I expanded the attribute to see what it did.
[Arcana is a measure of magical capabilities.]
Not very useful - that much was clear from its name alone. I knew my locked human memories had a wealth of information on the topic. Regardless, they refused to give me any clues about magic and arcana. Sighing, I checked my new perk.
[Exceptional Arcane talent: this individual is exceptionally talented at controlling mana, and learns magic at an extremely rapid rate.]
Right, that cleared up a bit. So my perk improved my mana control and magic learning rate, which likely meant arcana was purely about firepower: the higher it was, the more magic I could use. With this in mind, I was eager to upgrade my arcana and learn magic, however, I had something to check before that.
[Evolution tier 3 condition: level 25
Further conditions
Savage Bear: kill and eat a fellow bear
Demonic Bear: kill and eat 10 fellow bears
Ravenous Brown Bear: eat 50kg of brown bear meat
Giant Bear: Strength is greater than 25, Constitution is greater than 30
Vampiric Brown Bear: kill 50 enemies and suck their blood
Shadow Brown Bear: Agility is greater than 25
Golden Brown Bear: Luck is greater than 15
???
???
…]
Just like I had thought, while I had gained the perk and attribute, the Arcane Brown Bear evolution had been deleted from my potential evolutions. Instead of being dismayed, I felt enthralled: this meant that meant the Vampiric, Shadow, and Ravenous perks were also accessible without actually evolving! In fact, I already had a few ideas on how to go about them.
Besides those evolutions, I didn't know about the others. Golden type evolution didn't seem to have a perk, but then again neither had the Arcane type and yet I had gained a perk for it anyway, so maybe it was a hidden perk? Other than this, I wondered if it was possible to change my race without evolving as well.
Either way, it didn't matter as I now had enough ideas to keep myself busy for a while.
****
There was a lofty boulder ahead of me, well, actually a rockskin armadillo (my memories had named it) but it may as well have been made of rock as its stony-grey scales were like plates of armour. This was an incredibly dangerous creature, not least because of how tough its armour was but also because of its long wolverine claws.
Although I would have far preferred a bear or weaker enemy for live testing my magic, I was near-certain of winning this as I had three things going for me: firstly, although it towered over me, this armadillo was an infant with little battle experience; secondly, these monsters had low perception, meaning I would be able to effectively sneak up on it; lastly, magic. Having tested my mana-reinforced claws on some trees, I was confident in breaking its scales.
Creeping up on the armadillo, I struck its back, cracking scales and giving a surface wound. As it turned with a bellow, I backed off and stared it down, scratching the soil with my bloodied paws. It plodded towards me and swung, and I rolled below its unnerving claws and bit its thick wrist. Snap! My mana-reinforced teeth broke through its bones.
Shrieking in pain, the monster twisted around and lashed its whip-like tail. It struck me in the side, and I stumbled to the ground with cracked ribs, struggling to draw breaths. This must have stirred the beast's bloodlust as it came at me with its stiff steps, a cruel glint in its eyes.
I tried to dodge but failed as its claws ripped through my back, tasting blood and releasing pain, a lot of pain. The monster raised its able hand to attack again with the broken one limping uselessly. In a desperate bid to live, I pushed all my mana towards my legs and felt an unstable power building. Releasing, I exploded up and came up to its scaled chest. Furious and frightened, I dug my paws into the armadillo's chest and dragged my claws through it as I fell, gravity pulling me down.
It opened a wide gash across its chest down to its gut, and the armadillo bent over the wound, clutching at it with fearful eyes. Even as my injured back tore at my consciousness, I launched myself once more and came head-to-head with it. I yanked its stupid skull down and sank my teeth into its flesh, swinging and swiping and deliriously thrashing.
I knew I had won as the armadillo stopped resisting, and with my last trickle of energy I fled, following my instincts to find a safe place. On the way, I noticed a strong magical presence between two dead saplings. I felt a strange compulsion to avoid the place and carry on, but knowing I would collapse any second, I lunged through the saplings anyway and stopped dead in my tracks. The nondescript forested area in front of me had disappeared and its place sat a large cottage with a thick, gloomy plume of smoke coming out of its chimney.
Just ahead of the hut stood a troll (or so my human memories named it), and it stared at me with a gaping mouth and widened eyes, its expression a caricature of shock.