Accidental Healer

"Do you want to kill the last bear?"

The fire behind his eyes flared and he searched the trees.

"It's not here yet. It will be soon though, and it will be the biggest and strongest of them all."

Bracken slowly turned back to Mischief.

"Will it be like you?"

Mischief snorted.

"No, not like me." His shoulders relaxed slightly. "It won't be easy though."

"I want to kill it." The hesitation from before evaporated.

"Why?"

Bracken narrowed his eyes.

"Because they killed us."

Mischief nodded sagely. "Good. Kill the bear and grow."

Champion Selected. Bracken may enter the portal and face the final stage.

Bracken eyed the shimmering portal. "Grow?"

"Grow. Become stronger." Mischief realized he might be getting a bit ahead of himself. "Bigger, more dangerous. Like me."

Bracken puffed his chest.

"What are you waiting for?"

He looked over his shoulder, towards the other cats. Some of them were paying attention but most were still just wandering around.

Mischief thought he understood.

It only took a second but soon all one hundred and forty nine remaining party members were gathered around Bracken. He doubted most of them had a clear grasp over why they were gathered here—but he felt like this is what Bracken was hoping for.

His instincts were confirmed and he was rewarded with a subtle nod.

When Bracken entered the portal he didn't disappear like entering a dungeon or anomaly. In fact, besides the slight shimmer indicating he'd entered nothing else really appeared different at all.

To test a theory, Mischief followed behind Bracken, and, as expected when he arrived where he'd stepped through he was met with a completely translucent barrier.

Just as well. Even if Bracken was about to be killed, Mischief wouldn't have helped. It was painful and he would feel disappointed but he didn't feel the same as Layton did. At some point, people needed to stand on their own two feet. If they couldn't do that?

Well—they were about to see.

The bear was already waiting for Bracken. It was a real brute of a monster. Larger than anything he'd faced in this new world, besides maybe the "Gremtaur" as Layton called it.

With thick shaggy brown fur enveloping its sturdy body Bracken seemed frail in comparison. Size wasn't everything though, especially in a world of bodies enhanced with stats. If these two were near the same levels it would be an interesting fight.

Mischief recalled Layton mentioning how body composition seemed to play a role in how stats manifested and they'd even done some testing. Layton's agility stat was actually just a touch higher than his own and yet when they raced, Mischief was still considerably faster.

Bracken walking on two feet was more comparable to Layton so it was hard to know how things would play out. Either way, the terrain favored his smaller frame.

Scattered thickets of trees and bushes covered the hill. Since the bear would charge, Bracken should take advantage of….

Bracken was already on a collision course.

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Mischief sighed and just watched, hoping the fight wouldn't be over before it even began. One direct hit by those paws concealing dagger length claws and that would be the end of it.

He cocked his head. At the rate they charged each other he wondered how the bear was going to arrest its momentum in order to take a swing. But the bigger question was—what did Bracken plan to do? He waited and watched the competing forces expecting at any moment for Bracken to adjust course…any moment.

Bracken didn't adjust course, he didn't even try. Just when Mischief allowed himself to believe maybe, just maybe he was making progress with these deranged cats—

Bracken goes and gets himself accordioned in a head-on collision with a two thousand pound plus grizzly bear.

Brilliant.

In his best approximation of a face palm Mischief raised his paw to his face while the bear proceeded to tromple all over Bracken's smaller frame. Even if he wasn't outright killed the odds of his chosen champion being uninjured after a hit like that were basically zero.

It was a mistake to trust any of these animals in a fight of this magnitude. Either superior strength or clever tact was required. The figure lying crumpled in the grass clearly had neither.

Mischief shook his head to the chorus of triumphant roars from the bear's champion. It better get its fill of victory, because once Bracken died and the barrier lowered Mischief planned to tear it to ribbons.

He examined its body like a butcher, settling on its haunches as a worthy starting point, taking his time to savor every inch of flesh as recompense for killing Bracken. His imagination whirred pondering on what his anger towards the bear meant about his feelings towards his litter mate.

But his intention to explore those emotions further was cut short when a glint of something in the bear's thick fur drew his attention.

It was at about this time that he noticed the bear was still roaring, but it didn't quite sound as triumphant as it had earlier. From its hind legs it beat on its own chest, only it was clear it wasn't in celebration.

It was trying to dislodge something and it was having a rough go of it. Without fingers or thumbs it couldn't get proper purchase on the smaller object.

He squinted trying to get a sense of what was stuck in the bear's chest.

Another glint.

He shook his head, not trusting what he saw, was that the katana?

The bear dropped to all fours and rolled to its back. It ripped and tore great rivets across its chest depositing mounds of hair into the tall grass, in a vain attempt to free what Mischief was now ninety percent sure was the katana.

He couldn't believe what he was watching. The bear was killing itself, shifting the razor sharp blade like a blender and the more it panicked the worse it got. All the while Bracken was either unconscious or too hurt to move, lying face down ass up in the grass.

It looked bad, but he must still be alive at the very least or the objective would be failed.

Mischief glared. He sympathized with the dying bear.

He himself had suffered a similar fate when hunting Layton. He huffed. Luck was no way to win a fight.

Although, maybe it wasn't just luck. Is this why he'd charged the bear head on? Gamble on a single strike? Sacrificing his body for a lethal attack.

If that was the case he'd underestimated the bear's impressive vitality. But in the end it seemed like the gambit was going to pay off.

It moved sluggishly, whimpering softly as the embers of life faded, its chest a mangled mess of crimson fur.

It let out one last rasping breath, then fell limp.

A champion is born.

Victory is sweet and so are the spoils.

Bracken has been awarded a new title.

Chosen of the shadowborn - Many follow, but you were chosen. +10 to all stats.

You have earned a new title.

Top Dog - When you hunt, the pack feasts. +15 to all stats.

Bracken has been awarded five new levels.

Mischief inclined his head letting his fangs show. He felt the surge of the incredible stat boost coursing through his body. Bracken's boost would also be a huge help. Of course they'd have to chat about the proper way to win a fight. This kind of victory really didn't sit well with him.

Either way, the first anomaly was cleared and there was still one last system message left to review. His bonus objective.

Congratulations! You have successfully cleared the anomaly.

Rewards are based on contributions. Calculations complete.

Reward: Arm bangle (rare, enchanted) - Enchantments provide enhanced stats to wisdom and senses. +10 WIS, +10 Sense

Bonus Reward: The remainder of the Bipedal Feline Anomalies have been granted a bonus skill, Linguistics and have evolved to Bipedal Felines.

Linguistics - The art of communication. Your party will also be granted a telepathy skill indefinitely until a desired medium is procured, upon which telepathy will be lost (assuming that is not the medium chosen.)

The next moment a silver bangle appeared in the air and dropped to the ground. Mischief tapped it lightly and in another instant it was wrapped snug around his right upper arm.

True to form, the system seemed to recognize what he needed the most and provided a path to achieve it. He also couldn't miss the fact that each of the "Bipedal Felines" had shed the distinction of "Anomalies".

What was the difference? To him there didn't seem to be any real physical changes. It was a question for later though.

The ball of fur that was Bracken's body stirred.

Tentatively he stretched his arms above his head stretching and testing his movements. Even though he should've been healed upon defeating the bear, just moments before he was a ruined heap. Who could blame him for making sure everything worked before committing to movement?

From across the way Mischief reached out telepathically.

"Loot the bear, we're leaving."

Bracken did as instructed. That's when Mischief remembered the last bit of rewards he'd earned.

All at once, his head exploded to the sound of over a hundred juvenile cats clamoring to test out their new voices in his mind.