"Good. Looks like the rank-up system still works. System, what's my current stats?"

"Standard 20pts for human, good. Put 6 into DEX, 8 into CON, 2 into STR... 3 into WIS and 1 to the other two." Aedan felt his body begin changing with the new inputs, "Ah, this feels much more realistic... and itchy... gotta get moving, rather not find out who put this here." After wriggling a bit in place, Aedan attempted to use his better flexibility to reach up towards the snare on his foot. "Come... on! Damn it!" He growled, taking several attempts to reach it. "Come on, this skill better work just as well as it did in the game!" Escape Artist, the skill mentioned, is a Rogue base skill but it can be learned through training. The skill, to oversimplify, increased one's chance of, literally, escaping a trap or binding, usually through senses or mental solutions. After fumbling a little on the snare, Aedan figured out the trick to removing it after a handful of attempts. "Looks like it does work. Normally I'd spent hours trying to do this... fantastic."

Gripping the rope just above the snare, as soon as he loosened the knot, he held on as he quickly righted himself from the gravity. "Whoa!" He swung in place for a minute before dropping to the ground carefully. Grunting on impact, Aedan rose and dusted himself off, "Well, I already feel better. Now then... I have no weapons, so I have to be careful. System, show me the compass... okay, so I'm facing southeast. Which way is the nearest village?"

The system's bland voice responded, "Dawncairn, 93 miles east-northeast."

"That's a good distance... Rogue is a perfect choice for this." Beginning to make his way in the direction specified, Aedan quietly used Stealth, masking his footsteps, breathing, and movement. "I hope this skill is as good as it was in the game." At higher ranks, Stealth is one of the strongest skills to have, as it can make one completely disappear, even from magic senses. Only a handful of skills can see the highest-rank Stealth skill. "At my current speed, when will I get to Dawncairn?"

"Approximately 9 hours and 18 minutes. It is currently 11:23 am. Expect an arrival time of approximately 8:41pm. It is recommended you camp at approximately 6:00pm."

"Great. Having no weapons makes it hard to stay safe, so I guess I'm going to sleep in a tree."

Crossing several small streams and ponds, and cautiously avoiding animals lairs, Aedan eventually reached a peaceful clearing after several hours... and found it suspicious. To be safe, he stopped and looked around quickly, "This is definitely not a safe area to cross in the dark..." With a sound of exertion, the newly-empowered Rogue climbed up a nearby beech tree until he was halfway up the trunk. "This should be high enough off the ground, and with Stealth, my scent should've been weakened quite a lot. I'll camp out here for the night."

And so he did, using a thick branch as his seat and using the trunk to lean against, Aedan went into a state similar to light sleep, but he was still aware of his surroundings. As such, he only truly partially slept, as he had to check now and then to ensure his safety.

Deep in the night, at what Aedan assumed was around midnight, he awoke to a low, growling sound from nearby. Having lived in many rural areas on different continents as a child, he was vaguely familiar enough with the sound to recognize it as a bear, but couldn't place what type. After making sure his Stealth was still active, he cautiously used minimal movement to scan the area. Crossing the clearing in a path that went almost directly under his tree was a lone brown bear. It appeared as if it had just completed a hunt, as its muzzle and claws appeared tainted with blood. Knowing that some creatures could sense when they were being watched, Aedan looked away, closing his eyes and only using his other senses to keep track of the beast.

The bear lumbered its way across the clearing and began passing the row of trees just before Aedan's tree in particular. Subconsciously, the hidden Rogue had slowed his breathing, as if instinctively knowing that he couldn't reveal his position. The beast continued on until, suddenly, it stopped just after passing Aedan's tree. The sounds of huffing could be heard as it attempted to scent the area, searching for something peculiar in its territory. Aedan's breathing came to a halt, though his heart rate sped up in contrast.

After a moment of hair-raising, nerve-wracking beastly investigation, the bear made a low growl as it continued on its way. Even after all sounds of it had faded into the distant forest sounds, Aedan did not move. Only when his body couldn't take anymore did he slowly release his breath and begin steadying his breathing. Despite his woodland experience, he had never been this close to a bear before.

As if to show that he had just overcome a huge ordeal, a pop-up appeared in his vision.

"... I almost feel insulted for the fact that my hiding skill was so bad that the system needed to boost it... but I'm too happy by comparison to get that new skill. I'm solidly surprised I got a legendary skill so quickly." Aedan wasn't kidding, his new skill was one of the few skills that can only be acquired in specific situations. Legendary is the third-highest rarity from Accora Online, behind Artifact/Saint (Item/Skill) and Divine, and very few players ever achieved a Legendary skill without being of such high level that there is nothing left of low-rarity to acquire. The most common way to even reach a Legendary skill was to increase the rank of a skill to its maximum, and then meet the prerequisites to evolve the skill. For example, the base skill of Stealth could be evolved into the rather underwhelming skill of Enhanced, then Supernatural, then finally Absolute Stealth, with Supernatural being the Legendary rarity version. However, some skills are Legendary from the beginning, such as the one Aedan just received. To simplify, it causes the body to almost immediately act in a way that will preserve the user's life, making it a passive and active ability simultaneously.

"Well, my survivability has gone up even more."