Dan fell to his knees on something spongy and slightly damp as his vision wavered. The world around him swam as he fought through the vertigo. It took a couple seconds before he could actually make out his surroundings, but slowly the blurriness worked its way back into focus. It was evening, dark but not quite night, and he was in a swamp of some sort. Dan gazed up into the sky to get his bearings and did a double take.
Gone was the sun, a moon, or any sort of familiar markers. In fact, Dan couldn’t spot Alpha Centauri A no matter where he looked. Instead, almost the entire sky was filled with a tan gas giant, hovering just out of reach and illuminating the planet softly with reflected light. He bounced on his toes. It might have been the springy moss analogue he was standing on, but Dan was pretty sure he jumped higher than he should have. He didn’t exactly have precision equipment, but his gut said that the gravity was a noticeable amount lower than Earth standard.
Dan shivered. The air was brisk but not exactly cold. He’d have to keep moving, find warmer clothes, or start a fire, or things would get uncomfortable. Dan began trekking through the mossy swamp, careful to avoid the brackish water. He chuckled to himself. That would be a fitting end for Daniel Thrush, explorer and adventurer. Dying of hypothermia the first night on an alien world. It certainly felt like it would fit with the trajectory of his luck and life to date.
A certain part of his brain couldn’t help but reflect on the icy and bleak expanse and compare it to chairman Ibis’ fever dreams. There were many ways to describe Dan’s surroundings, but “hot springs” certainly wasn’t one of them.
A growl echoed behind him. Dan turned around and saw a flash of green eyes in the murky light. A rust-colored bear, almost three feet at the shoulder, crouched on an island of the moss. A monster, immediately upon arrival! There was his luck at work.
The bear seemed a bit small to him, but he had hunted black bears on the family land in Michigan with his Dad before. They weren’t much bigger than the thing before him, but it certainly wasn’t a great idea to tangle with them. He amended his morose thoughts. Daniel Thrush, first extrasolar explorer, eaten by a tiny bear.
Dan unsheathed his sword, keeping his eyes trained on the bear. It moved slowly towards him, eyes unblinking. He chuckled slightly. That wasn’t a great sign. Most black bears on Earth avoided people, concluding that humans were more trouble than they were worth. This thing didn’t look at him like he was a threat. It looked at him the same way he looked at the mess hall’s steamed dumplings after a long run. He wasn’t a problem; he was prey.
It charged him, scrambling toward him across the uncertain surface of the springy moss. Almost six feet from him, it leapt into the air, and Dan sensed a ripple of mana that reminded him of weight and gravity. Great, it could use magic. Ten minutes into his grand space adventure, and he ran into a tiny, hungry, magical bear.
Dan threw himself to the side, grabbing his sword in both hands and swinging it at the flying bear. It twisted in the air and swung a paw at his shoulder. Despite the low gravity, he realized in an instant that he wasn’t going to be able to completely dodge the incoming claw. The monster was just too fast for his trained, but decidedly mundane reflexes. Instead, he muttered “Spatial Shield” and felt the System pull mana from him for a split second. In that moment, the thrill and the adrenaline from the magic use poured through him.
The bear’s paw seemed to impact on a soap bubble of magic that briefly popped into existence around Dan before its claws slipped off the surface and swung past him. His sword, on the other hand, dug deep into the bear’s ribs, cutting through its thick fur and eliciting a spray of blood. A smile flashed across Dan’s face. This is what he had trained for. That split second of adrenaline and terror was what it was all about. Then, he landed in the foul swamp water with a splash.
He tried to pull himself to his feet, but it was hard to find enough purchase on the now-slippery moss, and in that moment the bear was back upon him. This time, Dan was stuck on his back, flailing wildly. There wouldn’t be any dodging. It snapped its jaws towards his throat, trying to end the fight in one stroke now that he was off balance. Panic flowed down his spine as he swung his free arm ineffectually to try and knock the incoming snout away from him. At the last second, inspiration struck him and Dan mumbled “Shocking Fist.”
Again, mana flowed out of his core, and the adrenaline-laced thrill shuddered through his body. Only two spells into the fight, and he was already beginning to feel the emptiness and hunger of mana depletion. He would have to finish things soon.
His hand hit the side of the bear’s head, and it rocked back with an audible crack and flash of light as the electricity discharged. Stunned, the creature didn’t react as Dan grabbed his sword with both hands and stabbed up into the creature’s underbelly. The blade skittered off of its thick ribs before it slipped between them. In a panic, Dan ripped the blade sideways, lengthening the wound.
The pain snapped the creature out of its stupor, and it swung a claw at Dan. It was practically on top of him. No amount of artifice or magic was going to stop him from taking the blow. Instead, he turned his armored left shoulder into the blow and let its force knock him clear of the bear.
He wasn’t sure if it had broken anything, but it sure hurt like hell before the System clamped down on the nerves and shut down the pain. He tried to open and close the hand, but it didn’t respond. Whether his inability was due to serious structural damage or the System’s influence to keep him from being distracted by the pain, he didn’t know. It’d be a problem to deal with later.
He pulled his knife from his belt with his remaining hand. The bear didn’t look hungry or predatory anymore. Instead, blood matted its fur and the hilt of the longsword glittered from its stomach. Its breath clouded the chilly air with a wet rattle. He had definitely stabbed a lung in their earlier exchange.
With a hole in a lung, the bear was on its last legs. Or, it was an alien and had more than one pair of lungs, in which case Dan was completely and irrevocably boned. That said, the last year had taught him the importance of positive thinking.
He darted forward, his left arm flopping bonelessly behind him, probably exacerbating the damage caused by the bear’s claws. He stopped short, his boots digging into the spongy moss of the swamp as he let a sluggish swing sail past him before he lunged forward once again. The bear’s eyes tracked him, but they were clouded. Even with his arm disabled, Dan had dealt more damage to the monster than it had to him.
“Shocking Fist!” he shouted as he brought his right elbow around into the side of its head. Again, there was the rush of adrenaline and heat as his mana flowed into his elbow and discharged, its flash lighting the night. The bear’s eyes lost any semblance of focus and its body shuddered as the electricity flowed through it. This time, Dan took advantage of the creature being stunned by the blow and drove the knife into its eye.
He jumped back in time to avoid its death throes, breathing heavily. It lunged in his direction, flailing wildly, but stopped short. It collapsed into the mud and moss, and slowly the green light left its remaining eye.
Then, Dan felt it. The bear had been awakened. Its mana transferred into him. The feeling was indescribable. It was like having sex for the first time while eating the best meal of his life and skydiving, but somehow better. His entire body shuddered in euphoria as sparks of pure creative energy jolted back and forth inside him.
He dropped to his knees, his left arm forgotten. He could almost see the stream of energy flowing from the bear’s corpse into him. He felt the mana sate a hunger that he hadn’t even known existed, and he vowed to himself that, no matter what the cost, he would get more of this. Dan needed to feel this again.
Eventually, a rasping sound woke him from his magical, euphoria-induced stupor. Dan blinked and chuckled to himself as he realized that the sound was him breathing heavily. In the corner of his vision, an innocent notification burned in blue:
Mana influx detected. Recalculating Spirit.
Spirit is now 2.
He smiled. It would take a while, but he was starting. Sam had theorized that the next rank would require a Spirit of 10, but he had time. It was just a matter of finding more monsters to kill. Hopefully, the next fight wouldn’t be such a desperate life-or-death struggle. What he really needed at this stage was something more to the tune of magic chipmunks or bunnies. Bears were a bit much.
Injuries detected. Infection detected.
System needs material to make repairs, it is suggested that <USER> find a source of protein immediately.
He sighed. Definitely magical bunnies and chipmunks.
