Beads of sweat were rolling off her forehead, and the young woman wiped them away with her arm. Genesis had just come back from her morning of self-training in the forest around Hapshass, mainly centered around meditation and various exercises. She was about to walk past the town’s public bulletin board, if not for one of the paper ads coming loose and fluttering down by her feet. She bent down to pick it up, and was about to stick it back on the board when she caught sight of what it advertised.




There were two things that caught her attention. One: Hapshass Forest. Two: Yul. She was just there earlier that morning for her training, and she had not seen anything amiss. Or perhaps she was just lucky and did not cross paths with the mentioned bear. Clear grey eyes studied the advertisement critically. It would not be her first time picking up odd jobs here and there for the yul, and her money pouch was currently a little light...

“Sure, why not.” She muttered to herself, and shoved the advertisement into her pocket. She retraced her path back into the woodlands, keeping a wary eye out. “If I was a bear, where would I be...” She shielded her eyes from the sunlight. It was late morning, almost noon, and it was going to become unbearably hot soon. “Of course.” She murmured, darting towards an area where she knew had several caves. It was also convenient that there was a stream nearby, making it the perfect place for furry animals to live and hide.

Now at the said stream, the redhead carefully made her way across, hopping from one stone to another. Her eyes caught sight of a few caves up ahead, and slowly approached it. With any luck, she would be able to kill or scare away the bear before noon. Even now, her stomach growled. “Soon, soon.” She said absentmindedly, patting her stomach.

Wait, was that growl really from her stomach, or was that…

A large furry creature poked its head out from one of the caves. Genesis froze. Its nose was up in the air, sniffing. Then it swung its head towards her direction and caught sight of the red-haired intruder.

Immediately, shadows leapt into her hands, forming Couteaux, her knives. She snatched more nearby shadows, wrapping them around her legs for Accélérer. Here she was, worried that she would not be able to find the bear. But it seemed like luck was on her side today, letting her object of interest appear before she even had a chance to use her ki.

The brown bear snorted, then without warning, charged at her. It was fast, but she was faster, thanks to her shadow’s speed. “Not fast enough,” she taunted her attacker, though she doubted it understood her. Then she stepped on something. Something soft. Unpleasantly soft.

“Merde. Shit.” Literally. Her nose wrinkled as she heard the squelch of bear droppings underneath her shoes. Apparently she had just stepped into a fresh pile of bear scat. Leave it to her to get dirty at any chance she could, though it was never planned or intentional.

But now it was lumbering towards her. She quickly scrambled up a nearby tree, using her knives to help her climb up its sturdy trunk and onto one of its branches. The bear growled in annoyance and stood up on its hind legs. Now in its upright position, the bear was tall enough to swat at the branch Genesis was standing on.

“W-Whoa!” She had to throw her arms out to balance herself. “A little bit mad, aren’t ya?” Clambering up to a higher branch to safety, her clear grey eyes darted around, taking note of their surroundings. Yes, she could work with this. Her attacker below pawed at the trunk, and started to throw itself at the trunk. The redhead gripped on to the trunk. It was trying to shake her off, and she had no doubt it could, with enough force. Heck, it could even bring the tree down with time.

Good thing she had a spell that had more range. Her grimoire glowed as she activated Cauchemar, bending nearby shadows to her will. As they came under her control, she set them to surround and to attack the bear. She watched as the mass of shadows partially covered the brown animal, making it almost black. Her spell also attempted to blind its target, but the bear was too strong, and simply swatted it away.

“Oui oui, I’ll come down so we can play on fair ground.” And with that, she let herself fall, dropping right onto the creature’s back. She wrapped her legs around its furry hide. She sank both of her shadow knives into it, then pulled them out quickly as it reared and tried to buck her off. Her knees tightened, but the bear’s bear was too wide for her to get a strong grip, and she went flying the second time it bucked backwards.

“Oomph.” She grunted when her back hit the ground. The redhead only had time to look up and roll to her side as the bear came charging towards her. It swiped one of its clawed paws at her, and it grazed her. There was now a line of blood on her right upper arm, but she paid it no mind. The shadow mage had rolled away out of reach, and quickly jumped to her feet.

With two quick motions, she threw both of her shadow knives, one at the bear’s shoulder, one at its throat. Thanks to her earlier training that morning, her throws sailed straight and true towards their mark, embedding themselves in the bear. The furry creature growled one last time before it wheezed and fell forward. Genesis waited for a few moments to ensure that it died before approaching it.

With a wave, her shadow knives faded away. Human or animal, all life was to be respected and properly sent off. She stood in front of the animal, hands clasped in front of her. “À tout seigneur tout honneur...” She murmured.


Back in civilization...

Genesis smacked the wrinkled advertisement down on the table. “I’m here to collect the yul reward for chasing away the bear.” She leaned forward against the counter,

The man stared dubiously at the advertisement, then up at her. The young woman in front of him did not look like someone strong enough to handle a bear by herself. “How do we know you actually killed it? Where’s the Magic Knight with you?” He peered around her, as if he was looking for a non-existent comrade.

She let out a loud sigh. “It was just me. Go check for yourself.” The redhead shrugged, knowing very well that they probably would not. They would just send someone else, possibly a poor assistant, to check whether the forest was really free of the bear disturbance. Then an idea popped up to her.

“Or...” Here she smirked, and swung one of her legs up so he could see the bottom of her shoes. The bear feces she had stepped on earlier was still there, and the man’s nose wrinkled at the less than pleasant sight. And smell. “Want to take a sample of this? I assure you that it’s quite fresh and—”

“Ah, yes, yes. I mean, no! No thank you, that would not be necessary. I know what that is.” He nodded hurriedly, and started counting out the yul onto the counter. “We don’t doubt you did your job.” At least he could recognize it for what it was, and thus cement her testimony.

Genesis rolled her eyes, but did not comment more on that. She took the coins, hearing the satisfying clinks as she dropped them into her yul pouch. The money was all she was after, and now she could finally satisfy the hungry black hole called her stomach. With the extra money, she could even treat herself a little. “Hmm...now, what should I get for lunch...”





- Cast Couteaux, -10 mana
- Cast Accélérer, -10 mana (movement speed 12m/s)
- Cast Cauchemar, -10 mana
- Took junior damage to mana skin
- Dealt 5x junior damage to bear, killing it
- Close Combat Expert, perk active (bear’s INT damage dropped to JR)



Couteaux (Knives)
Accélérer (Accelerate)
Cauchemar (Nightmare)

[attr="class","sigh"]POW 18

[attr="class","sigh"]DUR 00

[attr="class","sigh"]SEN 25

[attr="class","sigh"]STA 21

[attr="class","sigh"]CON 21

[attr="class","sigh"]HEALTH
senior

[attr="class","sigh"]MANA SKIN
Int + Jr

[attr="class","sigh"]MANA POOL
30/60

[attr="class","sigh"]MANA REGEN
5 IC/10 OOC

[attr="class","sigh"]ITEMS
Magic Broom
Chuchote
Avant-Bras

[attr="class","fall"]WORDS 1,364
TOTAL 1,364

TAGS
Genesis Fantome