The system is not a path, but instead, a guide. It will guide you towards your path of power, but thats it, You will reach a time where stats and skills are not enough to enforce your progress, and that would be the time when you need to forge your own path, without the help of the system.

-Teachings of one of the Elder Custodians of the Shir Council

' Welp, would you look at that? ' I mentally muttered as the forest bear toyed with the swordsman. I should be terrified by now because when the bear is done with the "Dayons" as the system classified them, it's going to be my turn. Fortunately, I have a skill that prevents me from having a mental breakdown.

[Divine Clarity] is one of the best skills that I have, it turns me into an impeccable goal-oriented school president, minus the depression and anxiety. It lets me think any time of the day and with that, I can make great choices.

That's why I told the girl to leave, even though the prospect of having some companions in my new isekai life is kind of exciting, but in the long term... Nah.

First of all, I don't know anything about them, what if they suddenly went behind my back and killed me? or what if they sold me to an alchemist that will suck me out of my juices and turn me into an artifact!! What if-

The chilling sensation came and went like a blur, weird, but nonetheless helpful when it came to my full-blown mental crisis from being reincarnated out of nowhere.

Okay, let's go back with my explanation, shall we?

Second of all, I was here on this planet for only an hour! Every single thing is going so fast like a fast-paced isekai manga that no one ever reads! I want to have at least a semblance of peace, like maybe finding a shelter and then practicing a little bit and leveling up more, and then when I'm ready, I will personally try to reach out to people for information.

Lastly, is this fantasy world. Based on my knowledge from fictions from Earth, spirits are brash, powerful, and a literal floating treasure chest when it comes to their magical someshit, That's why I want to take in everything slowly, impusive actions led to trouble, that's why I want to have a breather first before doing anything. As far as I can see and based on the current situation, a spirit is stupidly strong, but I don't know how strong am I when it comes with the natives of this planet, so I do not want to be going willy nilly like a shonen protagonist.

Going back to the action, the bear, with the lack of a better word, is insanely strong. Struck with a spell brimming with fire "energy", you'd expect a monster with the word "Forest" on its name to be weak against it.

Well it was, I don't know if type advantage works with this world just like on P*kem*n but the way that the energy, or mana, of the spell interacted with the energy naturally emitted by the bear, is telling me something.

Anyway, I thought the bear was done the moment it was thrown like a ragdoll, but reality shows its surprises. The bear was still alive according to my [Spirit Sense], the core, where mana is situated, is still pumping mana on the bear's body, albeit much weaker than before. A thick scarlet aura starts to appear around the bear like an aura of sorts, where did it come from? It suddenly appears out of nowhere...

My [Spirit Sense] can detect different types of energy, that includes this kind of aura that, at first, I don't know what signifies, but upon observing the humans earlier, I found out that the aura is emotion! But unlike the aura from the humans which is subtle and mild, the monster's aura is blazingly bright, I instinctively turned off my [Spirit Sense] but I can still see it with my normal vision! although not that striking anymore but still significant.

Emotion? kinda, I'm not sure if it signifies emotion, might be intent? or a skill? I don't know, I' 'll add some mental notes to gather more information about this one.

The bear, somewhat full of vigor even with a grave wound on his chest, jumped from the pieces of broken plants and sticks where he had been thrown. It rushed towards the unaware swordsman, he might have felt something was approaching because he tried to sneak a glance at his back, unfortunately, the bear tackled him so hard that he flew like he had been hit by a truck.

It became clear that the bear's main target was the mage until it realized that I was brewing a spell.

Of course, I will not just float here doing nothing while the only thing that is separating me from a murderous magic bear is a mage without its magic. Based on my spells, I considered using [Thorn Whistle], but with the realization of elemental type advantages ( I'm not sure about this, let's experiment later ), I used my reliable spell, [Mana Bolt].

I let go as the system automatically constructs the ball of mana the size of a baseball, of course, I took over the spell creation when the system automatically allocated the mana required for the spell. I immediately pushed forth more mana until it reached the threshold allowed by the spell itself.

[ Mana: 1284/2030 ]

' Shit, I'm burning through my mana reserves ' I mentally said as the [Mana Bolt] manifested, 100 mana points gone in just five seconds. The [Mana Bolt] traveled as fast as a baseball thrown by a professional pitcher, it hit the bear directly into its face leading to its death and we all live happily ever after.

Well, I wish, Who would thought that the bear would dodge? It slightly grazed its head fur and hit a tree a few meters away, resulting in an explosion akin to that of a grenade and snapping the small tree in half. In this kind of situation, I would be panicking nonstop leading to my second death, but thanks to my wonderful and tantalizing skill, [Divine Clarity], I was able to formulate a plan... well I don't know if throwing spells in the safety of the skies is a plan or a coward tactic (I have to live! no need for chivalry and fairness bullshit!).

I will myself to fly, but alas, I can't. It's not like I don't want to, it's my plan! But every time I will myself to move upwards like how I do to move, it seems like I'm hitting an invisible wall. No time to think! If I can't fly, can I at least go somewhere that the bear cannot reach?

With that in mind, an imaginary light bulb suddenly appeared.

' In that case... '