Chapter 10: The Bear Practices Magic
Chapter 10:
The Bear Practices Magic
I WOKE UP EARLY and headed out of town after breakfast. I was going to practice magic I couldn’t try at the inn.
The gate guard stepped away from his post to greet me. I was pretty sure he was the guy who helped me out a few days ago when I first came to town.
“Oh, miss in the weird clothes from earlier,” he said, “are you going outside?”
“Yeah. Here’s my guild card.”
I showed him my guild card and held it over the crystal panel, like I’d have to even when I was leaving from now on. This one gate was the only way in or out I knew about; nobody came or went without getting their criminal record checked.
“Looks like you’ve become an adventurer,” he said, looking over my card. “What’s with this ‘Class: Bear’ thing?”
“Just ignore that.”
“Well, it’s not wrong.” Saying that, he gave me a pat on my hooded head. “Whoa, it feels real nice to touch.”
“Could you stop it?” I pushed his hand away.
“Yeah, sorry about that. It’s dangerous out there, so be careful.”
“I’m just going to practice magic a little outside.”
“I see. Well, as long as you don’t get close to the woods, you won’t get attacked by monsters, excepting if a pack roams out a ways, and that’s not usual.”
“Okay, I got it.”
I took my guild card back, left the town, and walked until I was sure I’d found a nice, empty spot. I would try out the physical enhancement magic that was written in the book first. It wasn’t that difficult. I just needed to let mana course through my whole body.
In WFO, this sort of buff was used by pure melee tanks and DPS classes. It didn’t last for long, but it was a popular tactic for ramping up your damage output. I gave the mana circulation thing a try, then sprinted for a bit to test it out. Everything blurred around me before I skidded to a stop. I tried jumping.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
I jumped ten meters straight up without even really trying. When I landed, it didn’t hurt. Was it because of the physical enhancement? I tried testing out all sorts of things, with and without physical enhancement; I dashed, jumped, did a bear punch, and threw a bear kick. My power had definitely increased.
I checked my status screen.
Name: Yuna
Age: 15 years old
Level: 8
Skills: Fantasy World Language, Fantasy World Literacy, Bear Extradimensional Storage, Bear Identification
Magic: Bear Light, Bear Physical Enhancement
GEAR
Right Hand: Black Bear Glove (Nontransferable)
Left Hand: White Bear Glove (Nontransferable)
Right Foot: Black Bear Shoe (Nontransferable)
Left Foot: White Bear Shoe (Nontransferable)
Clothing: Black and White Bear Clothes (Nontransferable)
Underwear: Bear Underwear (Nontransferable)
…Bear Physical Enhancement?
Bear?
Bear Physical Enhancement
Routing mana through the bear gear allows for physical enhancement.
I closed the status screen silently, pretending I hadn’t seen it, and decided to look for a place where I could practice attack magic. I wound up closer to the forest’s edge.
The method in which you used magic in this world was…
- Gather your mana.
- Create an image of the magic you want to use.
- Invoke the spell.
In the game you’d…
- Gather your mana.
- Invoke the spell.
It was easier in the game, because all you did was collect your mana and recite the incantation. I gathered my mana and could invoke my magic by just incanting “Fire.”
In this world, I needed an image of something. But as someone who’d read a ton of novels and manga, and played all kinds of games, I had a plentiful repertoire of mental images to draw on. I collected my mana in my hands, imagining a blazing ball of fire.
“Fireball.”
There, I thought, that was easy. The bear held a fireball in its mouth. It wasn’t hot. I stretched out my arm, imagining it leaping out. My target was a boulder about ten meters ahead. The fireball streaked from the bear’s mouth and into the boulder, demolishing it.
Just to see if I could do it, I collected my mana and pictured the fireball. It took shape just like before. I confirmed that I could do it without an incantation. Still, it was easier to imagine it when I yelled “Fireball” with my mouth, and it was faster to invoke. You needed an incantation in order to invoke magic in the game, and it was easier to invoke magic in this world by yelling the incantation.
Next, I tried using water magic.
“Waterball.”
Just like before, a ball of water took shape in the bear’s mouth. I took aim at another boulder and released. My target shattered, but far less dramatically than the last boulder did. In that case, I speculated, I could try freezing the water first. I imagined the mass of water turning hard and sharp and loosed another shot at the boulder. Ice arrows flew from my gloved hand and reduced it to shards.
I couldn’t use fire in the woods, so ice was useful. If I had fire and water, wind and earth would make sense to try next, I guess. I wrapped the wind around my hand.
“Air cutter.”
I let the wind blade go and watched it shear the next boulder right in half. Alright, I thought, that leaves earth magic. All my time spent gaming told me it was the sort of thing you’d use to pull a wall out of the ground between you and the enemy.
I collected mana in the bear and put my hand to the ground, imagining a wall coming together.
“Earth shield.”
The earth rose up into a wall. I didn’t know how durable it was, but it was there. With that, I had conquered the four elements, fire, water, wind and earth. I checked my status.
Name: Yuna
Age: 15 years old
Level: 8
Skills: Fantasy World Language, Fantasy World Literacy, Bear Extradimensional Storage, Bear Identification
Magic: Bear Light, Bear Physical Enhancement, Bear Fire Magic, Bear Water Magic, Bear Wind Magic, Bear Earth Magic
GEAR
Right Hand: Black Bear Glove (Nontransferable)
Left Hand: White Bear Glove (Nontransferable)
Right Foot: Black Bear Shoe (Nontransferable)
Left Foot: White Bear Shoe (Nontransferable)
Clothing: Black and White Bear Clothes (Nontransferable)
Underwear: Bear Underwear (Nontransferable)
Of course all of it came with bears tacked on.
Bear Fire Magic
Based on the mana that is gathered in the bear glove, gives the ability to use fire elemental magic.
Power is proportional to mana and the mental image.
When imagining a bear, power increases even more.
Bear Water Magic
Based on the mana that is gathered in the bear glove, gives the ability to use water elemental magic.
Power is proportional to mana and the mental image.
When imagining a bear, power increases even more.
Bear Wind Magic
Based on the mana that is gathered in the bear glove, gives the ability to use wind elemental magic.
Power is proportional to mana and the mental image.
When imagining a bear, power increases even more.
Bear Earth Magic
Based on the mana that is gathered in the bear glove, gives the ability to use earth elemental magic.
Power is proportional to mana and the mental image.
When imagining a bear, power increases even more.
In short, if I didn’t have the bears, I couldn’t use magic. Okay, I thought, I get it now. I’d already given up on ever getting rid of these things, but there was one part that bothered me.
When imagining a bear, power increases even more.
In the spirit of scientific inquiry, I pictured flames in the shape of a bear. A bright red, flaming bear appeared in front of me.
“Uhh.”
For the time being, I let the bear go to town on a giant boulder, which promptly melted.
I didn’t want to ignite a forest fire, so I poured water on it to get it under control—but the fire didn’t extinguish when I used normal water. I conjured up a water bear that threw itself onto the spreading pool of lava, cooling it until there was only burnt sedge, steam, and a much flatter rock left.
This was dangerous—really dangerous.
After I rested a while, I heard something parting the vegetation in the woods, and a single wolf appeared. In other words, I had a new practice dummy.
I’d probably burn the woods down if I used a fireball, so I collected my mana and pictured a razor-edged shard of ice, and the way the light would play off it in rainbow patterns at this time of day.
“Ice arrow.”
It lodged itself in the wolf’s head, and the wolf stopped moving. This bear suit really did come with the most broken aimbot conceivable. Of course, the same had happened with the rocks earlier, but those weren’t moving targets. Now I knew that so long as I could aim, I’d hit.
I didn’t mind. It was useful.
I got up close to the wolf and put its carcass in my bear storage to sell off to Gentz later.
“Wolves, huh…”
In WFO, wolves were usually mobs designed for beginner players to cut their teeth on. I hesitated slightly before I decided to go deeper into the woods, running mana through my shoes so I could sprint around and jump without worrying about where or how I landed. This bear gear was just way too handy! I’d be able to use my new speed and verticality to search for wolves.
Mid-jump, I noticed a pack in the brush below me.
“I wonder if that’s too many.”
Well, if I couldn’t deal with them, I could just run away. I let myself land in the middle of them, loosing three ice arrows that drilled through three wolf heads. It looked like I could handle three at a time just fine.
“Earth shield.”
I instantly drew up a wall, and the wolves in front of me collided with it. In that moment, another wolf leapt from a rock, jaws snapping.
“Bear puuunch!”
The wolf went sailing off. Another wolf charged, and another bear punch sent it flying. There was no doubt that the power in my bear punch had risen. I’d created enough distance to start using magic again.
“Air cutter.”
I cut the nearest wolf in half, and shower of blood sprayed the air.
Yeah, I thought, this doesn’t feel that great. It worked like a game, but this was real, wasn’t it? I decided not to use the air cutter anymore. Maybe beating them with ice was better?
I guessed I would have to get used to it eventually. I would think about the unpleasant things later. Today was for magic practice. There were still wolves around me, after all.
I jumped high and imagined as many ice arrows as I could. Several dozen materialized. I aimed them at the howling, broken pack beneath me and released them. Of course, I couldn’t make headshots with this spray-and-pray approach, but every arrow hit somewhere in center mass. In an instant, several dozen wolves collapsed. I bear punched another wolf as I touched back down.
I cycled from magic to punches to magic, over and over again…
When the battle ended, countless wolf corpses lay scattered around me. I put them into my bear storage one by one. It would have been nice if they could disappear and turn into items.
I wasn’t hesitant about killing monsters. I’d done it plenty in WFO. The issue was the bloodstained bodies left behind. There must have been about forty in total just from this encounter.
It weighed on me enough that I decided to call it quits for the day and head back to town.