Chapter 8

I finished moving the third tree back to the farm before searching for one last tree. I decided to head deep into the forest. The old man asked for the best wood and I was gonna find it. Also, I wanted to clear my head. A walk could help.

I was out in the forest for longer than I probably should have. I couldn't see the sun between the trees, but I guessed it was around noon. If I wanted to run out, it would take at least half an hour, and I still hadn't found a good tree.

I was thinking I should head back when I noticed something was wrong. It's hard to explain, but it was like there was no life around me. Just silence. The only thing I could hear was my own steps. I slowed down, and just waited.

There was nothing. No birds, no call of any animals in the distance, not even any wind. It was like I blacked out for a second, and then there was a deafening roar, coming from directly behind me.

I recognized this roar. We heard them every so often, in the woods nearby. It was a brown bear. My body seemed to scream as I tried to turn around, only for a clawed paw to slam into my left shoulder.

Pain exploded from my arm. The force of the paw pushed me to the ground, on my side. Frantically, I rolled onto my back, face to face with the beast, now. It towered over me, threatening to end my life.

I tried to scramble backwards, to little effect. The bear raised a paw, and I put my arms up in hopes to protect my face. In that moment, it was like my instincts took control of my body. The mana in my chest seemed to move on it's own, rushing to make an axe as the claws rapidly approached me.

By pure chance, my arm was positioned in such a way that the axe was facing the bear, just below the arm coming straight at me. With the entire weight of the bear behind it, the bear's elbow slammed straight into my bladed right arm. The weight crushed me, but the bear's arm came clean off.

The bear released a tremendous roar, clearly not expecting that to happen. I didn't either. With my body still following it's instincts, and running on adrenaline, I moved my arm and started swinging it into the bears neck. I was laying on my back, and the bear was hunched over me, giving me a clean shot.

The first swing cut deep, and with it, another roar. Blood rained from above. I was seeing red. With everything in my arm, I yanked the axe back out.

The second cut was deeper. Deeper and deeper with each swing. By five swings, the bear stopped roaring. Feeling that the bear was about to fall over, I tried to scramble out from under it, which was very difficult with just one hand. Somehow, I managed it.

I got back to my feet, and I could feel just how much pain my shoulder was in. Looking at myself, I noticed I was covered, head to toe, in the beasts blood.

Somehow, I thought back to the town crier. fifteen silvers, he had said. That's a pretty good deal.

Maybe not worth the pain I was in, but still, fifteen silver is fifteen silver. After catching my breath, I started to chop at the bear's neck again, despite the protests of my body. My previous chops had cut about a quarter of the way through. A few more well placed cuts and I'd be done.

About five minutes later, the head of the bear fell from the rest of the beast. And a beast it was. It was over six and a half feet long. It was no wonder the guild hall was paying so much for this thing.

As I was about to head back to the farm, I had another terrible idea. I walked over to the bears severed arm, and kneeled down.

'Could I consume this? Like I did with the axe?'

Not my brightest idea, but I thought it was worth a try. I put my right hand, which had returned to being a hand after I finished chopping, onto the arm, and recreated what happened with the axe.

Sure enough, my hand began its transformation into the vines. After a short few seconds, they started receding, leaving no trace of a bear arm. I once again felt the feeling of nourishment, similar to how you feel after a good dinner. And once again, I was slightly disturbed by it.

As I turned my attention to the mana in my chest, I realized it felt hollow. Empty. It wasn't gone, but it wasn't there either. Which made sense, as I had heard mages could only use so much mana at a time.

Interestingly, the nourishment I felt started to dissipate, and as it did, that hollowness started to disappear. It was like my mana was recharging at a very quick pace.

'I'm almost certain that's not supposed to be that fast,' and by the end of it, I felt I was at about a quarter of what I was at before the bear attacked me. I decided to turn my arm back into the axe, this time paying closer attention to the feeling of the mana.

Focusing on the feeling now, I could tell, if only slightly, the mana was getting thinner. Being used to support my transformation, probably. And it seemed that I had a fast track way to recharge my mana.

'One last quick test. I need to get back home.' I wanted to test how efficient this mana recharge was. When I tried to stand up, I stumbled. I felt lethargic. Tired.

I caught myself, and regained my balance. My shoulder was in a lot of pain, and the fatigue I was experiencing felt unnatural. Pushing through it all, I stumbled towards the beast.

Kneeling near the other arm, I repeated the process for the third time that day. But this time, I stopped as I felt my mana was about half of what it was before I started on this last arm. The hungry vines returned from their feast, seemingly reluctant.

They had only consumed just past the paw. Moving my attention to the mana in my chest, the feeling of nourishment came and went. It seemed that about a quarter of what I used consuming was returned to me.

Another thing I noted, as I was eating the second arm, it was like my knowledge of the bear was increasing. Well, the anatomy of it's paw, at least. Nothing else. I hadn't noticed anything like that with the axe or the first arm. I would need to test more.

With that, I got to my feet, and immediately fell back onto my knees. I'm not sure if it was because of the fight, or a side effect of my magic, but I was very tired now, and in a lot of pain. It was time for a very hard, very long walk back.