SSS-Class Profession: The Path to Mastery

The bear didn’t charge right away.

It stared first, huge and quiet, as if deciding whether I was prey or threat. My breath came slow and steady, honed from hours of sprinting, but inside my chest—there was a tremble.

Not of fear.

Of readiness.

I wasn’t going to outrun this one.

Its weight shifted.

Then it lunged.

I dodged left, narrowly avoiding a swipe that would’ve taken my head clean off. The sheer power behind its claws carved bark from a tree behind me.

I drew my newly-bought blade in a fluid motion.

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Lv. 4)