Anika didn't have to walk very far until the trees and brush of the forest became dense. She checked the map and realised that the further ahead she walked, more of the greyed out section of the map would get coloured in. Judging by the size of the unexplored area on her map, there was a huge amount of terrain to explore. When she could see she was getting close to one of the red circles marked out on her map, she stopped focusing on it and instead used her eyes and ears to look out for one of these grizzly bears. She could hear plenty of noises, the birds were chirping and occasionally there would be a rustle in the twigs and bushes around her.

Before long, she spotted a large grizzly bear, but despite its size, she could see it was only level 1. It was hunched over an animal carcass of some sort, and it was only a little further down the slope from where she stood. As it was preoccupied having its lunch, she considered the distance and wondered if she could make an arrow fly as far as that. Having still not tried a practice shot, she moved closer, walking as softly as she could. When she found steady ground and a bush to crouch behind, she focused on her bow and arrow and they materialised in her hands. With any luck, she could get more than one arrow loose by the time the grizzly bear knew who was shooting at it.

Before taking aim, she remembered what she had learned about relaxing and breathing. She relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath, then she pushed herself a little further into the bush. Although it was uncomfortable, she figured that hiding herself well in the bush would give her an advantage. Sitting there, she focused on her Camouflage skill and noticed that it activated itself. That was handy she thought, perhaps she would have time to experiment with the tracking skill as well later.

You have gained a skill point: Camouflage 1/50

She noticed the system message in the bottom left corner of her vision but didn't think too much about it. It was a distraction and her only focus should be on taking a deep breath and aiming at her target. She aimed for the Grizzly bear's head, took a deep breath in and let it out. Everything in the periphery of her vision faded out and the bear was the only thing in focus at that moment. It was as if she had a mental lock on her target. After pulling the string back as gently as possible, she let the arrow loose. It hit the bear on its back and she heard it roar in pain, then it looked up to see where the attack had come from.

Another arrow materialised in her hand and she took aim at the bear once again. It was now looking around in pain and confusion. This time, she fired the arrow without taking a moment to think about her breathing or paying attention to any of the training she had received earlier that day. She didn't have the same clear focus on her target like before. The arrow didn't have enough power and landed with a thud in the ground next to the carcass where the bear was standing. The bear looked up and must have spotted her, because it set off at a brisk pace, heading straight towards her.

Shit, she thought to herself. One more chance to get it right before this thing will be on top of me.

She closed her eyes for a brief second and relaxed her shoulders, then took a deep breath and let it out. The bear had covered half the distance between them, so she made a quick decision to get out of her hiding place and stood up at full stretch. Aiming straight for the beast charging towards her. She tried picturing the arrow hitting its mark but was feeling the panic rising through her stomach and thought about the consequences of missing the shot. She knew she didn't have any time to lose but there was a nagging thought which caused her to hesitate and stall for longer than she wanted. What if I miss at such close range? What if I hit the target, but the bear just keeps running, what will I do then? In the last possible moment, she let go of the bowstring and the arrow hit its mark. It went straight into the throat of the bear who fell to the floor with a loud groan.

She couldn't quite believe what she had just done. She had never shot a bow before today and had just taken down a huge grizzly bear by herself. In the bottom left of her vision, she saw a couple of other messages;

Grizzly bear dies.

Experience gained: 50

You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 1/50

You have gained a skill point: Accuracy 2/50

The quest progress had also updated itself and now showed 1/10 grizzly bears. Satisfied that the bear was dead, she walked over to it and noticed that the outline of it shimmered in a faint yellow colour. As she got close, she noticed a small label that said "Loot". When she focused on it, it became highlighted, just like the other buttons in the quest dialogue had done. She knew what to do and focused harder until the button clicked.

You receive item: [Bear Tooth]

The text of the item looked like a clickable hyper-link so she focused on it and a small description window popped up.

Bear Tooth - junk item.

The tooth of a bear, most likely a dead one.

The bag icon in her menu bar was flashing, politely asking for her attention. She had seen it before and opened it, but there was nothing in the bag at the time. When she opened it, she saw that the bear tooth had been placed inside one slot, of which there were 12 in total. Not knowing what to do with it, she closed the bag screen and set off to find another target.

She continued in the direction she had been going and passed the carcass that the bear had been snacking on. Then a thought occurred to her. The smell of the blood all over the ground might attract other bears or predators. Not knowing whether to continue searching, or if it was wiser to set up a small hiding place and wait for luck to strike, she checked her map to see if she was still in the right area for spotting grizzly bears. She was well inside the red circle, so she spent a few minutes getting her bearings in the surrounding area of her first kill. The hiding place she found had served her well, but she wondered if there might be a better place to hide and wait, somewhere with an escape route in case things got tricky.

The surrounding trees were dense, so running fast in any direction was not an option. This forest was the natural habitat of these bears; she didn't fancy her chances at being able to out-run one of them at all. What about a barricade or a trap? Trapping. Wasn't that a skill she was supposed to have as a hunter? Wasn't there something about trapping back when she was creating her character? She looked on the character sheet to see if there is any sign of trapping abilities. There was nothing. Her basic abilities were listed, but there was no sign of anything to do with trapping.

As she searched the area looking for some way of protecting herself in case another bear came charging at her, she found a small ditch. With no prior knowledge of hunting or trapping, it still seemed intuitive that you could cover a trench with foliage and stand behind it. She pictured a bear landing in the ditch, perhaps being a little surprised from the fall. But that would be it. It might slow the bear down, but that was all she could hope for. If only she had some sharp sticks or knives so that the bear would at least get injured. She decided there wasn't any time to experiment, she then covered up the ditch with branches as the first layer and long leaves scattered around the top of it. The best case scenario was that it would slow the bear down, enough for her to get another shot at it.

You have learned a new ability: Traps

You have received a skill point: Trapping 1/50

Ok, so that made sense. She had learned an ability by trying something new and having a go.

She no longer had the bush to hide behind, and there was nothing close to the ditch that would allow her to hide as before. The best she could do was to crawl under a couple of longer branches by making a small A-frame and tucking herself inside. It would be hard to move around in there and to pull the bow, but she was confident she wouldn't be noticed. The plan was to lie quietly, get the first arrow off and then stand up for another two or three shots. She lay down and activated her camouflage ability.

Another system message appeared in her view;

You have gained a skill point: Camouflage 2/50

This was good news, it appeared that every time she performed an action like camouflaging herself or shooting a bow, her skill points would increase. She wondered if this had some correlation to how successful the attempt at disguise or shooting would be. Something to figure out later.

Two bears, about the same size as the earlier one, entered the area. Shit. Her plan did not include having to take down several bears at once. This would require at least two steady and skilful shots, one each. And then she would stand up to unleash as many as she could before they could get to her. She could deal with taking aim and shooting at a target that was unaware of her presence, but shooting at a bear running towards you was a different kettle of fish. It made sense that this was the perfect moment to keep your cool, to stay focused and relaxed, but how that was even remotely possible was beyond her. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her limbs were shaking.

She went through the ritual of relaxation and deep breathing. Once again, aiming for the head, she let go of the first arrow. It was a good hit, somewhere on the back of the neck, but not enough for it to kill. As the bear roared and stood up on its hind legs, she knocked a second arrow and aimed at the uninjured bear. Another good shot, but again, nothing that would stop the bear in its tracks. To her surprise, neither of them had figured out where she was hiding, so she knocked the third arrow, steadied her breathing and fired it. The shaft sunk into the furry beast near its shoulder, and then she noticed the other one sniffing in the air, trying to catch her scent.

By the time she had prepared her fourth shot. They were both roaring furiously and made their way towards her. Lying under the tent of branches would not do her any good. Her earlier idea of running away to escape seemed like a good choice. They were both injured, so she might get away. She then made a new plan to fire one last arrow into them, and then to run for it. Hopefully, the makeshift trap she had prepared would slow them down and allow her to get away.

Another two shots and the bears were still alive and kicking, still bellowing with rage and pain and heading straight towards her. She turned around and ran for it, but only got two yards away before she tripped and fell face down on the forest floor. It was possible that her trap had slowed at least one of them down, but by the time she got to her knees and looked around, one of them was on her. She felt an intense pain as a paw smashed into her face, then everything went dark.