The [Sleep Bolt] is stopped by another rock, and I glower at the bear for that as I step out of the path of the bear's counterattack. This is the third one it's stopped, which suggests that my spell might actually work against this.

This bear can also summon the stones faster than the other one I faced could, each one forming in a little less than a second. Total, I've dodged about twenty of them, the bear content to sit in the small clearing I found it in. It's even got a boulder to sit on, only shifting its position on the rock to account for my own movements.

Casting a spell is a lot more difficult because of this, but I'm pushing on. Sometimes, pressure is what's needed for growth, and I'm casting my spells faster now. They're sloppy, but I'm getting better at casting them quickly while fixing those mistakes.

I finish casting a [Magic Bolt], then send it at the bear as I start casting another [Sleep Bolt]. The bear doesn't let this spell hit it, either, and not just because it's an attack. Though I can't see any damage on the bear, I know that I hurt it with the only [Magic Bolt] which struck it. There was enough power in the attack to cause the bear's right foreleg to be pushed back upon impact.

The bear holds its paws in front of itself once more, but further apart. Something tells me I'm not going to like this next attack of its, so I start preparing a [Sleep Bolt] on the hope that the bear takes long enough with its next attack.

The pale, grey-streaked bolt of sleeping magic forms before the bear finishes making the much bigger rock, and I let it loose, aiming at the bear's head.

A smaller stone shoots out of the bigger rock, intercepting the [Sleep Bolt] and exploding on contact. More smaller stones start shooting out of the bigger rocks. Pebbles, really, but I was right: I do not like this.

Switching plans, I start quickly casting [Magic Shot]s to stop the attacks I can't dodge, sacrificing the little bit of extra Mana needed to cast them quicker than I can properly manage at the moment, even with them being weakened by the quick casting. Thankfully, they're still strong enough to destroy the pebbles.

How the heck is the bear casting so many so fast? That stone doesn't seem to be decreasing in size, and two to three are shot out a second. How much Mana does it have? Is it actively casting each pebble, or does this spell of the bear's cast them directly, allowing it to attack much faster, but with a limit on how many it can do?

One of the pebbles smashes into my left arm, and I let out a yelp of pain. That fucking hurts! My arm doesn't want to move as well as it did before, and I realize the stone shot might have broken something. Great. I really hope it's not broken, because I don't think I'd be able to learn a spell to mend a broken bone very fast.

Hissing from the pain, I continue moving, summoning up [Magic Shot]s and firing them off at the pebbles shooting at me. As I do, I try my best to improve the quick-casting efficiency so that I can cast more of them.

Picking a fight with this bear was not the smartest move.

Skill Acquired: Quick-Casting Experience Acquired: +2%

As soon as that notification appears in my vision, a little bit of information fills my head. Knowledge of how to cast spells quickly with less of an increase to their cost. That's fitting, seeing as that's what I've been working on.

Unfortunately, the change isn't enough and this fight's gone on for too long already. I'm dangerously low on Mana, so I take a gamble and start backing away as I stop and dodge more of those pebble shots.

Fortunately, the bear is content to stay on its stone, and the more steps back I take, the more time I have to dodge an attack. Soon, I'm out of its range, and the bear merely roars at me, as if daring me to return if I want more.

Just to be on the safe side, I travel further away before coming to a rest against a tree that seems safe. Gingerly, I prod the massive bruise where the stone struck me, hissing in pain at the contact. That wasn't why I poked it, but the amount of pain suggests the injury's a lot worse than just a bruise.

I should at least try to find out how bad the injury is, so I manipulate my mana and push it out, attempting to cast a spell to 'sense' what's within it. A few moments pass before the spell actually works.

Skill Acquired: Scan Experience Acquired: +1%

This low of a Level, the spell only tells me there's an object there, and I already know that my arm's there. I can't sense the finer points of what's within it, only the objects themselves. That's fine, though. There might be a way to alter this to scan for injuries, which was my goal all along, anyway.

Now, I focus on condensing the spell to just the section of arm I'm trying to figure out, on receiving feedback about the injury that's there.

Skill Acquired: Medical Scan Experience Acquired: +2%

So a more precise version of the spell is a higher Tier than the base spell. I suppose that makes sense, considering it's more specialized. It works, though. I can tell through the spell that there's bruising and some fractures.

Opening up one of the pockets on my shorts, I pull out two of the potion bottles, downing both of them. This is my first time drinking any of the potions, and when I do, I discover that they both restore a total of 18 Mana, or 6 Mana per ounce. That's less than I expected, but hopefully more than enough.

Even if I'm not sure about being able to learn healing spells, I won't know for sure until I try. This will be the most difficult attempt at it so far, though. Why?

Because it will be my first time casting two spells at once, and one of them, I don't know if it exists.

[Medical Scan] has a cost of about 2.1 Mana per second, so I drink a third potion before I cast it again, this time also pushing more mana out and into my arm, into the injured area. Ignoring the bruise, I focus solely on the fractures. I can barely make them out, only the spell keeping me aware of their presence.

Magic is intent and will, and I will my magic into fixing the fractures, into repairing the damage to the bones however it's supposed to fix. The effort takes me more than a minute, and I have to drain three more mana potions, but I finally succeed in the spell.

Skill Acquired: Repair Bone Experience Acquired: +2%

Information fills my mind, a little bit of knowledge about the spell. It's not an instant-spell, like [Magic Shot] or [Sleep Bolt], but one that I have to sustain, like [Medical Scan]. Every second costs me about 3.4 Mana to keep it active.

"Fuck that," I mutter, canceling the spell after just two seconds.

There's some repair to the bone to that, but I don't want to use up all my mana potions healing myself. I need to recover myself properly, so I stand, then locate my backpack, which I'd taken off before fighting the bear.

With my backpack recovered and worn on just my right arm, I find a quiet spot to sit and meditate. I don't know if meditation will increase my mana recovery, but at least it will help increase my awareness of my surroundings. I'm too far from camp to wander back there with an injured arm.

At least, not without risking being attacked. Thankfully, the squirrels are leaving me alone here.

It takes me over two and a half hours to reach full Mana from empty, and it would take more than half of that to reach camp.

Breathing in, I focus in the way that Grandma taught me. Not inwards, but outwards. Instead of focusing on my breath, an image in my mind, or anything like that, I focus on everything around me. The creek that's flowing beside me, the slight feel of a breeze upon my skin, the glow of the fruits, the squirrel that's running along the branches of a nearby try. I focus on it all, following the patterns, how one thing flows into another.

The stream flows along the ground, feeding it. The trees grow from the ground, their roots reaching deep into it. The fruits hang from the trees and the squirrels run across their branches. The breeze flows around them, slightly shaking their leaves as its passes.

I settle into this pattern, this cycle of nature that my grandma taught me to focus on. I settle into the boulders nearby, the flowers growing from the soil, the moss that's covering some of the boulders beside the creek. I settle into its all, achieving an inner calm as part of this cycle of nature.

It heightens my awareness of my surroundings, allowing me to achieve calm even while being able to react swiftly to any threat that comes my way.

This meditation technique she taught me isn't just focusing on everything, but following the paths of the cycle, of recognizing them and seeing how everything connects. This is my first time being able to properly use it since the System arrived, though, as I've found it difficult to use when not surrounded by nature.

A message appearing in my vision after a few minutes distracts me, and I as focus on it, the feel of being one with the cycle begins to fade away. The awareness will linger for a few moments longer, but I'll have to achieve this calm again once I finish being distracted. Unlike grandma, I can't keep it up when there are distractions.

Skill Acquired: Elmar Druidic Meditation Experience Acquired: +6%

That much Experience? I go to my Skillbook to find it, but there's nothing in [General] and no [Meditation], either. Is it in my Spellbook for some reason? Accessing that, I find a new category: [Nature].

Opening it, I find only one Tier set: Tier III. What's even weirder is that it references the "Elmar Druids" in the Skill description as being the origin of the meditation technique.

Elmar Druidic Meditation Level 2 A way to focus outward and become part of nature, increasing your awareness and clarity of mind while reaching an inner calm created by the Elmar Druids. Increases your Energy Regeneration and personal healing while active based on how much of nature is around you.

My grandma said this was a family technique, passed from one generation to another since long before our family settled down in town more than three centuries ago. It's also something that affects our recovery of our Energies? Does that mean Mana and Aura? If so, that's even weirder. Then there's the fact that our last name is the first part of the druids' name.

Is there a connection? Was there magic on Earth already and the System coming only enhanced it? Did my family originate here, or did they come from another world? Am I descended of druids? What are druids?

The System helpfully answers that last question.

Druids Druids are priests of nature. Their powers involve anything in the Nature and Holy schools of magic, allowing them to heal plants and animals alike. Many druids are also alchemists, while some focus on the darker side of nature. [Next…] Druids [Part 2] The first druids originated on the world of Lakinxka, and consisted of seven brothers who helped to repair their forest home after a dark curse ravaged it. Each of the seven brothers went on to found their own clans after: Ventmar, Fulmar, Naedmar, Elmar, Solmar, Lunmar, and Kaevmar. [Next…] Druids [Part 3] Over the generations and eras, each of the seven clans spread across their own world, and from time to time, they ventured out to others. In some, they discovered similar branches, though far younger than theirs, but never stayed for long, leaving behind only their teachings when they returned to Lakinxka.

Did they, perhaps, leave behind legacies, too? Is my family descended of one of the Elmar druids who came to Earth and taught some arts before leaving? Why did the System decide to give me this set of information when it's refused to give others regarding Traits? I'm more than confident that there's a Trait for this, too.

Accessing my Quests, I filter then for ones that have Traits, quickly confirming there's one for [Druid Apprentice]. It requires having a total of 25 Skill Levels in each [Nature] and [Holy] magic. What's even weirder is that mine is definitely a modified version of it.

Elmar Druid Apprentice Available Rank: 2 Requirements: Earn the [Elmar Druid Apprentice] Trait. Reward: Druid's Apprentice Staff; 10 medium-quality mana potions; 1 Tier I spell scroll Details: An apprentice of the Elmar Druids has a rudimentary understanding of nature and healing magics, able to perform minor tasks and enact miracles. Prove you are worthy of this title by achieving a total of 25 Levels in each of nature and holy magics, with only those at Level 3+ counting for this. Note: You have an affinity for this Quest.

This one specifies the Elmar Druids, which only furthers my belief that I'm descended of them. Why else would I receive that instead? Is there a difference in the benefits between the two, or is it merely a change to the name of the [Trait] to reflect a special status, with no additional benefit to the Trait?

A message from the System pops up to helpfully inform me that the benefits from [Druid Apprentice] and [Elmar Druid Apprentice] are exactly identical. Though it doesn't say anything else, that pretty much confirms the name difference is just an identifier from the branch I'm under.

Dismissing both of those, I focus on the other Trait Quest that's become available: [Blessed Wizard Apprentice]. It requires having at least 10 Levels in light magic spells and 10 Levels in holy magic spells, with only spells at Level 3+ counting for it. I must have unlocked that Quest once I used [Medical Scan]. I already meet half of its requirements, too, since I have the required Skill Levels in my light spells.

Dismissing these notifications, I return to my meditation. Though I didn't notice an increase in anything, it might help me over time and it wouldn't hurt to raise it further. Once I have enough Mana to use [Repair Bone] for two seconds while sustaining [Medical Scan], I'll stop the meditation to do that, then resume the meditation.

In theory, this will help me fix my arm faster. If I notice an improvement in the next half-hour or so, I'll keep doing this until my arm's fixed, then I'll try to recover the rest of my Mana and return to the hunt.

That bear was definitely an act of overconfidence on my part, but I'm positive I can handle a weaker one, a glow stag, or something else. I did take on that thorntail fox, didn't?

Come to think of it, I still have the injuries it gave me. Is there a [Repair Flesh] spell?