It seems the man had ran pretty far. I can’t detect him anywhere around me… Oh well!

I should probably disable the self-defense, it might get me into some unnecessary situations.

> Disabling self-defense process.

There are plenty of other things I can detect.

Plants, bugs, monsters… Monsters?

I look over to my right, and sure enough, far away in the forest is some sort of bear with what looks like… shields? Shields! It has shield-like growths on its limbs! I have to see this! It’s also a good chance to see exactly what this body can do, especially with my self-defense turned off.

I quickly run over to the bear, bashing several trees on the way. Oops. I’m not quite used to this body yet.

> Executing motor simulation.

Thank you, Termenal! Ha, get it? I’ll call you that from now on.

As I approach the shield bear, it hears me and turns to look in my direction. Of course it wood, I’m smashing myself into almost every tree as I run quickly out of excitement. It wasn’t as bad before since those people were slow, but I’m running almost as fast as I can. There’s… quite the difference in speed.

THUNK!

CRASH!

This repeats several times. I’m sorry trees, it’s a shield bear. A bear… with shields!

> Motor simulation complete.

Ah, now I’m not crashing into trees anymore.

I stop in front of the shield bear on a dime. This body is really convenient. I can move almost instantly, and stop almost instantly. Inertia’s got nothing on this body!

The shield bear looks confused at first, but stands on its hind legs and roars at me, covering its body with the shields on its limbs.

Interesting… It interlocks the shields on its legs with those from its arms. Though, it doesn’t completely cover it. The back is completely exposed and its eyes are visible between the shields. I notice a scar across one eye and a few smaller, slashing scars across its shields.

I run up and poke its eyes!

Ah, that angered it more.

Since it can’t use its eyes for now, it’s just swinging wildly. Its shields really are destructive! Well, that’s a bit hypocritical of me. I did destroy a few trees on my way here…

I decide to see if I can stop the swinging shield, and I reached a quick consensus. I cannot. This thing’s strong!

I fly several dozen feet into two trees, knocking them down.

> Re-adjusting power to Self-Repair Module.

Ow! So this is pain! Sort of… It’s not like how it was when I was alive. I know I’m damaged, but it doesn’t actually hurt. Though, the human inside me still reacts the same.

I jump towards the shield bear as fast as I can. It manages to react barely in time, using the shield on its left arm to block my kick to its head. Tough! It’s like bone! I use its shield as a platform to jump behind it, kicking at its back. It gives a roar of pain before being pushed forward and turning around.

It seems like it can still see, hmm… It’s regenerating?

The bruises I inflict on it seem to heal rather quickly, especially on its shields, and its eyes have completely recovered.

Maybe I can use that beam from before?

I’m not quite yet sure how to activate it myself. Maybe if I replicate how it felt I can use it?

I raise my hand to fire a beam, and!

It explodes in my face.

Ow, damnit!

> Re-adjusting power to Self-Repair Module.

Oh, ha ha! Laugh it up Termenal!

As I’m distracted from the blast in my face, the shield bear bashes me with the shield on its right arm.

My body goes flying, once again slamming into some trees. I look down and there are several dents in me, some of them looking pretty bad. It looks like I’ll have to stall until my self-repair completes.

Ah… I can’t move properly.

I barely dodge another attack from the bear, using the trees as cover. The shield bear lets out a frustrated roar, hurting itself on the thick trees around us as it keeps hitting them instead of me.

> Magica simulation complete.

Thank you!

I cast the spell, a magical circle appearing before me. This is awesome!

… Then it disappears just as fast as it appeared.

> Access denied.

What?

SLAM!

> Re-adjusting power to Self-Repair Module.

Ow… this shield bear doesn’t mess around. The trees around me have either fallen or are close to falling. I’m now in a wide-open area. This is bad.

The shield bear strikes me again, knocking me down to the ground.

This is bad.

This is bad.

> Initializing self-defense process.

A beam shoots out from my hand, leaving a hole in the bear’s shield. It recoils slightly in pain, but continues to slam down at me. I roll out of the way, and the ground where I was is completely bashed in. The bear must not have many nerves on its shields. In fact, it looks like the huge hole I made in it is slowly closing up.

I wonder if I can direct the self-defense…

As my hand lights up for another shot, I force my arm to move towards the bear’s head. A blast shoots out, the bear bearly dodging and the shot blowing a hole through its right shoulder. It lets out a roar of pain, its left shield sending me flying and leaving a huge dent in me. With the last of my power, another shot exits from my hand, finally ending the battle.

> Re-adjusting power to Self-Repair Module.

Ow ow ow…

I stand up, my dented body slowly repairing itself. As I look around, I’d see just how much devastation that shield bear caused. Note to self: Don’t mess with a shield bear.

It’s a bit pathetic that I had to turn on my self-defense again. Let’s turn that off for now.

> Disabling self-defense process.

> Executing combat simulation.

There we go, now once that’s done I should at least have a basic grasp of combat.

I don’t want to rely too much on my simulations, but it’s incredibly handy, and I don’t want to die trying to learn how to defend myself.

As my body repairs enough to move comfortably, I notice something odd from the corner of my eye. The bear is letting out the same light as the Elves from before. I walk up and extract it.

> Magica increased +72. Estimated value: 103/317.

Oh, wow. That shield bear had a lot of Magica.

I notice my body repairing itself a bit faster, and the speed of simulations increasing slightly. It seems everything in my body’s functionality is related to Magica. If I can get that from monsters instead of sentient races, maybe this can help me become stronger without putting a massive target on my head…

This is good.

I can use this.

One thing I’m really worried about is that “Access Denied” message from before. What denied me access, and to what? I’m not sure… maybe it was something restricting me from using Magica? Was it something within me, or an outside force?

I think through this for several minutes, but arrive to no satisfactory conclusion. Looking to the horizon, the sky turns a deep orange as the sun begins to set, the light around me slowly turning darker and the shadows lengthening further.

My best bet might be to increase my power by killing monsters around here and absorbing their Magica. Let’s try to lay low for now. I want to become stronger before I interact with any sentient races. It seems those Elves from before were some of the weakest, judging from their memories.

I begin walking around the perimeter of the mountain further South. The base of it is about 10 minutes from the facility, and about 12 minutes from where the fight with the shield bear ended. I shouldn’t use this time as a measurement of distance, though, considering my speed compared to the Elves from before.

I notice what seems to be a road. The land seems flattened here, and it is wide enough for a large truck to make its way through. Well, considering the memories I gained from Malos, Kenir, and Mela, a carriage or tow could probably fit here. It seems this world is rather medieval-fantasy-like.

I walk westward along the road, coming across an opening to what seems like a cave of some kind. On either side of the opening are two guards chatting, and further to the right of them is a horse tied down to a tree.

What could this be?

Ah, thank you, memories of Malos! This is a labyrinth! It was created by a lich centuries ago. The legends go that the lich hid something powerful here, and built this labyrinth to protect it.

I can see there’s an unnatural amount of Magica that gets pulled here, and from Malos' memories, the labyrinth has some sort of spell that constantly creates monsters from that Magica. To me, Magica looks similar to the light from bodies, but has a purple hue to it and is much less condensed. The light from the bodies is more like flowing water, while natural Magica is more like steam.

Interesting! I need to see what makes this tick!

I attempt to make my way towards the entrance, but I realize something.

What am I supposed to do about the guards?

It seems from the memories I’ve pieced together by the three Elves from before, it’s highly unnatural for anyone to come during the night. I don’t want to kill them and make a scene.

Wait, a moment… I’m not exactly human.

I give it some thought, and come up with a plan.

I make my way into the trees, to a spot where the guards wouldn’t be able to see directly.

I modulate my voice to sound like the roar of a shield bear, and increase the volume.

The two guards quickly look in my direction, panicking. They stay still for a moment, so I do the roar again, knocking down a tree next to me. The top of it lands at the edge of the road. What a tall tree!

Ooh that really freaked them out.

The two guards untie the horse then get on it as fast as they can. They then ride it down the road, eastward.

I’m glad my plan worked out. It just seems like shield bears are unnaturally strong. I’d fear them, too!

Once I feel they are far enough away, I slip my way into the labyrinth.

I’m excited!