Chapter 4 - Story of Mr. Bear

I woke up in the respawning area called the Star Pool. I was took out!

“Come on!” I screamed.

All that trouble and a single distraction caused my demise. I was so livid I wanted to go wrestle a bear. And the way I felt, that bear had better give its all. But, as I sat there at the serene Star Pool, I breathed deeply and slowly, and I mean slowly, as I calmed myself down. It helped that it was a beautiful place with star-like lights glittering in the clear water. Still, the frustration bubbled up in me again. It was the first time in two weeks that I was struck down and had to respawn.

I shrugged and started to check my runes for my eventual return. While I was waiting, I also got out my mortar and pestle and crafted a single regen health potion. There were just enough ingredients for it. A reminder that I had to spend time gathering the uncommon resources for potions like that, but I didn’t mind that too much. I’d much rather spend the more than average effort in finding the hard to locate Quria plants and Jinxo Grass, than end up in a tough spot like the fight I just had without a regen HP potion.

The clock still showed a minute to go until I could get back in the game. So, I started sharpening my blades with a wet stone. The more uncommon a blade, the less chance it had to go dull beyond a fifteen percent drop in cutting potential, but sharpening kept it at hundred, and as there was the extra buff on sharpness attainable for taking the time, I was more than willing to spend the time. And to be honest, every single edge in a fight helped.

There in the middle a light brightened up the water and I got up. The counter quickly struck zero and I flashed back into the meadow.

Just this time there was no rampaging Hob Goblins there, and all in all, the place looked peaceful again. That was a good thing even though I was severely bugged by being caught off guard. There was a golden carrot though: Loot!

From my experience, Level Scaling monsters always carried rare loot. I quickly ran to the area where I downed three of the monsters, only to stop in shock. I fell to my knees in horror. Oh the horror!

The rookies were just about finished picking the monsters clean. It was true there was a loot sharing system in place for all who took down a monster. That is if one in the party that took it down is still alive, at the end of the fight. As I was not in a party and died, it became a free for all unclaimed loot drop.

And what would you know. I wasn’t alive to claim my loot. If I had known I was going to hit the dirt, I would have at least quickly tapped the Miasma Druid for ‘take all’ before going to the last enemy. Now the big guy that had been a sorry sight was decked out with several rings far beyond the starting zone.

I plucked at my hair in frustration when a hand tapped my shoulder. My step-sister.

“Um, sorry about that. I realized a bit late.”

I waved her off, too busy trying to pull the hair from my scalp and most certainly more than entertained the thought of becoming the next rampaging monster in the meadow.

Though, I bit that one down. The boss won’t be happy with me going on a noob killing rampage. Oh but I wanted to… Finally, I breathed deeply and said,

“Yeah, well, it was interesting to say the least.”

She rubbed my shoulder and all I wanted to do was wail like a rookie. But, I manned up and got to my feet.

“What are your plans?” I asked offhandedly. Not really too keen on staying to chat.

“One of the Spires in this region is open for a siege. So, Aimee and I are heading towards the teams prepping for it.”

A Spire Siege! That was awesome!

For a moment I thought about going to join in. But, the rookie checking out his enchanted rings really worked at my nerves up to a point where looking for a bear to wrestle might be the way to go. Regardless of that fact, yeah fact; Spire Sieges were always big events. It opened up a new region to explore in the game, or a new dungeon system or sometimes even entirely new biomes. It was extremely hard to find and even harder to clear out. Exciting stuff.

“Well, enjoy. And say hi to Aimee.”

Eri blanched like I had slapped her.

“Huh… You aren’t coming? You loved your first Spire Siege.”

My neck twitched. It was true. But, I reaaally wasn’t in the mood.

“No, I’m going to the Hem-Iree Woods.” I said.

Then I recoiled a bit. She had this glare that could cut steel. I almost wanted to apologize for something I didn’t know that I did.

Then her cheeks puffed up and she exploded.

“What did those bears ever do to you—“ Ah, she knew. “–They don’t drop anything besides low level furs and they never attack players unprovoked. They are only there for taming as pets! Why would you want to attack such cute and cuddly bears out of nowhere?”

She got me there. In fact, I couldn’t fathom an answer to a glaring girl about why I chose the bears of Hem-Iree Woods for my frustration dampening wrestling matches. Except for they were big, and they made excellent sumo wrestlers when provoked. And, that it taught me a thing or two on how to attack huge monsters when your only weapon was on cooldown.

Now, my step-sister was going to tear that reason to shreds… So what would you know? I was sweating again. Buckets.

“Um, they make great sparring friends…?”

“Words kind of left you there, didn’t it?” She said flat-panned with narrowed eyes, and I could just scratch at my head.

“Yeah, it did. But hear me out. It is true! Well not the friends part, the bears immediately get suspicious when I go there lately.” It was strange really. It hadn’t always been like that.

“It’s no wonder. You go attacking them out of the blue every other day.”

Now that I think about it, she had a point. Was that one of the main AI’s handy work? Maybe I should trick that AI into revealing that to me… My step sister’s glare made me twitch. Though, I wasn’t going to give her any more ammo regarding that.

“Well, there is something there to learn.”

“Like what?! The ideal way to arm lock a big bear into submission while you practise your crazy laugh?!!”

“Hmm, that is a really good idea.” I said sincerely without thinking.

“Wil…” Eri groaned.

I snapped out of my new plans for that day’s sparring match.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll only wrestle three bears.”

“Wil! I’m serious.” She said with more meaning.

I smiled at her and said,

“Say what you want, they really do make excellent wrestling practice.”

Before she could fire another shot of artillery at me, I waved at her and activated my boots of haste again. I still had to win an argument against her. So, I got out while I still could.

She shouted stuff from behind. But, I was already two thirds to the closest Travelling Stone. Luckily I had completed the Travelling Stone Quest of the Hem Iree Woods; each region or area had one, some far and I mean faaar more difficult to complete than others. That one was actually quite a brutal chain quest to unlock fast travel to, and I have no clue why. It still bugged me.

The oval stone standing in the grass hummed as I approached. Within seconds, the energy in the stone rushed through me as I chose my destination.

I landed in the peaceful woods and was immediately met with suspicious stares. They really did know me as the guy that messed up their day. No matter, they got a lot of fight in them too, so it wasn’t like I had it easy. I rubbed my hands together and ran towards the toughest looking one of them. Though really, they never attacked without being attacked first. My fist struck the bear and I started on attempting the idea of an arm lock as it growled and tried to maul me.

Half an hour later.

I cackled madly in the forest. Four bears was licking their wounds close by. The arm lock had worked! I had to thank Eri for the idea… uh or not.

I wiped some sweat from my brow and was about to call it a day and log out, when a big shadow fell over me. Odd, the in game was still a ways off from switching to night. I turned around and immediately swallowed. A massive and creepy looking bear was glaring at me. It was different from the other bears in the region. Its ears were capped with threatening looking protrusions and it had weird burnt orange stripes on its face and completely black body. Different or not, what made it really creepy was that it was twice the size from the normal ones. And it definitely didn’t look too peaceful to me.

I stepped back, It stepped forward. I stepped back again and it followed.

“Uh-um, hi Mr. Scary Bear, I don’t want no trouble.”

It charged. And before I realised it, I was locked in an epic struggle. One that would keep me up at night.

Two hours later.

I was grunting on the ground, my arms felt like lead as I nurtured my numerous bruises. Looking over, I saw Mr. Scary Bear doing the same. But one thing was for sure. I have met my wrestling match. A stalemate raged between the two of us. Neither of us could get out on top. And my pride as a strong bear wrestler denied me even a hint of the notion to use my weapons. No! I will prevail!

I worked up strength from somewhere as I looked at the bear also getting unsteadily back to its feet. I stumbled upright and lifted my arms. Round Fifty Seven. A sudden alarm went off, startling me. A recorded message popped up from Macy.

“Um, Wil. I know you said I shouldn’t bother you while in game, but your boss says his boss wants to speak to you.”

Agh…

I looked at Mr. Scary Bear with intensity and it returned the stare. Then I nodded in respect, pointing a finger.

“This is not over.”

The bear tilted his head ready to charge. I shakingly lifted my arm and flipped through the menu up to the log out button. I tapped it before he entered my combat zone and the world broke into a thousand shards.

The pod powered down and the MSL flowed off of me without leaving a drop behind as I got up out of it. It was a fun little quirk of the support liquid. I stretched with a focused resolve. Macy came up to me and held out a hand.

“Good job in there, I only received the news a few minutes back.”

The whole five minutes real time for an actual hour in game really was an interesting challenge to manoeuvre around for the Outside Game Admins. I would never have had the patience for that. And for that I had a lot of respect for the OGAs.

“Thanks. Though… next time start with something like a Miasma Druid when giving me last second intel.”

She giggled as she blushed.

“Sorry. I’ll be sure to.”

I half saluted her and left the circular command room. Though as I walked I was furiously trying to understand why on good earth I received the title Bear Wrestler. It was while busy fending off Mr. Scary Bear’s attempt at squishing me while I had it in a neck grab.

Monster Wrestler I

You have wrestled valiantly against

monsters of all sizes, and have even discriminated against

the peaceful monster bears of the Hem Iree Woods.

With it, you have gained extra bonus strength when you attempt a grapple while unarmed.

Strength +5 while grappling.

Bears will be even more wary of you

[Congratulations! You are one of only ten to have have discovered Monster Wrestler. But you are the first to make bears more wary of you!]

+1 in Skill level

I groaned again while thinking of the text that had accompanied the skill. My step sister was going to have a field day way with that one. But, that was a battle for another time. What a fierce battle it will be. Still, what was with that sarcastic humor from the game?

Really the title was interesting to say the least. I had grappled with hundreds of bears and the title had never popped up until now. I didn’t even know the Bears of Hem Iree Woods were considered monsters. In the game there was distinct groups called critters, animals, and monsters, etc. Sure, those specific bears were creepy looking, but, it was something I didn’t know. Either way, the +5 to strength when I grappled something unarmed was a welcome bonus.

Macy coughed behind me, clearly to grab my attention.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Your boss’s boss wanted to see you.”

Oh! I scrambled out of the room.