Stone Fist Bears

I wake up early the next day, even before the sunrise so I can leave the town as soon as the gates open to go to Turvass mountain rage which is at the edge of Sector-4 and where the stone fist bears are mostly seen.

When I leave the house, I can see the smile on my parents' face and also their concern and worries in their eyes. I hardened my resolve to keep this hidden for now when my mind wanted to tell them everything when I look at them like this, full of worries but unable to convey it to me.

I leave the house earlier than I expected as my mother has not started to prepare the breakfast as she didn't know I will be leaving at this time. I just took some snacks to munch on the way while I walk in the wilderness, just to convince my mother that I will not be roaming around on an empty stomach.

I get to the defense wall just minutes before the gate is opened. The security guard who is about to open the gate recognizes me as he was with my mother when we defended the town against the 'dungeon outbreak'.

He smiled at me and sent me on my way as he knows I will not be sneaking around with my mother in the Security Detail and I am sure he called the minute I left the town to inform my mother about it.

I don't care about it as she thinks I am going to the area where the E-grade monsters roam to hunt them to get back in form, but she doesn't know that just behind it is the place where I am going to hunt the D-grade animals.

After walking through the forest with caution for three hours to make sure I am not followed or attract any animals which will delay my journey to Sector-4, I reach the mountain range.

It might be luck, I see a stone fist bear at the border of the sector chewing the animal meat it just killed. I immediately equip my armor which is for the first time and I can feel the indestructible metal covering me from head to toe. Holding the longsword in both hands, I move towards the bear cautiously not making any sound to make a surprise attack.

ROAR.. BANG.. THUD

That is where I make my first mistake and would have been the last mistake if it was not for the new armor. I am rammed by another stone fist bear as I was focusing on one bear when there were two which I didn't notice due to my excitement and being single minded.

I hit a tree that is a few meters away because of the raw power of the bear. I immediately get to a defensive stance as the bear that was chewing its food leisurely is coming towards me with clear anger on its face as it was disturbed while eating.

I look at the side where the bear rammed me and as I imagined, there is not even a scratch or a dent in that place and I am sure it will be the same at my back where I hit the tree. I swing the sword at the right as the bear is closer to me swinging its stone fist at me.

CLANG.. SLURP..

I only felt a little resistance before it was sliced into two. I knew it would be an easy kill, but still it made me feel surprised to see it happen. Without giving time for the bear to realize what has happened, I swing my sword at its neck separating its head and body killing it within seconds.

As expected, the death of the bear enraged the other bear which is still coming at me increasing its speed to avenge its kin's death.

BANG

I take a sidestep dodging its attack. Unable to stop its momentum, it hit the tee that is behind me blasting the trunk into smithereens. I keep moving backwards to maintain a distance so it will try to ram me like before which it did again and again.

People might think I am a fool giving the bear enough time to gain its composure and attack me, but I am doing this as it is helping to know the limits of my new armor. I even took a couple of hits from the bear willingly to test its defense.

Except for a little pain in the places it rammed, the armor was fine and I didn't get any serious injury except for a little pain which will be revealed within a few minutes, if I get some rest.

After playing with the bear for an hour, I finally got used to the armor and kill the bear with a single strike to its chest where the heart is.

I leisurely harvest the materials from the bears so I can use it to upgrade the armor which I get to know from Shona. She said that I can keep upgrading the armor with crystals from the wild animals that have the ability to convert their skin to any metal or element.

That is also the reason I chose the stone fist bears as they have the ability to change their skin to stone. This will increase the durability and the defense of the armor by a very small margin, but I will do it none the less as I will be needing all the defense I could get to become invincible and protect my family.

I leave to go to Sector-2 where I can kill a few E-grade animals to take them back home to make them believe I didn't go anywhere else and handed only in the mid area of the forest where most E-grade animals are found.

I hunted till the evening, I prepared to leave about an hour to the sunset with my holowatch full of raw materials and crystals which will be sold for at least forty thousand credits, but unfortunately I can't as I will can sell them only for contributions which I can't do now.