Limits

Each second felt like hours to me and with each loud thump of the bear's step, I was more concerned. 'Would Shelly be able to survive this? Can we defeat this monster?' I thought. I noticed that the cracks on Shelly's shell started to heal up. This meant the medicine started to work. It was a good sign, at least Shelly would be in better form facing the silver bear.

I said to Shelly "Just stall him, if he falls he is dead, if I recover then he is dead but if you don't preserve. We are dead". Shelly didn't acknowledge my words by either nodding or making sounds. It simply stood there like a statue. I got a bit worried and called out "Shelly, are you there?" but again I saw no reaction. The bear was getting closer and only a few metres separated us right now.

I tried to stand up but my legs wouldn't listen to me anymore. I also felt immense hunger and could feel my strength instead of returning due to Vital Liquid, it was actually fading. Becoming ever so slightly smaller with time. I had no more time to think about stuff like this as the silver bear arrived. My only hope was Shelly. If Shelly was still awake and recovered some of its strength then we may have a chance, otherwise we die.

The bear launched its attack. Although it was probably aiming at me due to my size and the fact that Shelly was not moving, Shelly was still in front of me no matter what size it had. When the silver bear's attack was about to arrive, Shelly finally moved. It didn't try to ram into the bear or defend, it actually used its mouth as a weapon and tried to bite the punch.

All of this happened very quickly but I experienced it in slow motion. As if time slowed down just for me where I could see everything clearly, then "Boom". While I was expecting for Shelly to be knocked back and with serious injuries it didn't happen like that. Shelly's lightning quick bite attack actually managed to take a large chunk of meat from the silver bear's paw. Shelly then avoided the punch in last possible second.

The bear cried in pain as it lost a bit of its meat but also slammed that damaged paw into the ground. I guessed that it wouldn't be able to use that paw for a while now. The silver bear fell onto the ground and cried in pain. it laid there and didn't pick itself up. I noticed that Shelly moved closer to the bear and started biting and taking away more of its flesh.

The silver bear roared even more due to the pain but it was also exhausted and could do nothing while its flesh was ripped apart like this. After a while the roars ended and the silver bear died. It was eaten alive. Even after its death, Shelly continued to consume the bear until only bones were left.

I looked at Shelly in shock and thought 'Could it be due to the medicine? Did it make Shelly to be this strong?'. The silver bear was weakened but even my daggers could barely penetrate it, yet Shelly was able to just bite away chunks of its meat as if eating vegetables.

When Shelly finished the bear, it came over to me and looked concerned like it always would. I had no words to speak due to the shock. Shelly acted as usual and even rubbed its head on me to show affection. I finally managed to blurt out "What happened to you?" to which Shelly looked confused. Shelly took a look at its front legs and then at the sides, it was looking for any changes but it obviously didn't find anything out of ordinary. I was not referring to Shelly's appearance but its increase of strength. I wondered 'Could it really be the medicine? Would it be that effective?'

I then said "I was referring to your strength. Was it due to the Vital Liquid?" to which Shelly nodded its head while showing an excited and happy expression. I was stupefied again 'Why would it have such great effects on Shelly? Every time I gave it to Shelly in emergencies, it seems to develop something but not to that kind of extend'. I asked a probing question "If I gave you loads more, could you develop even further? Would you become unstoppable?" this time Shelly shook its head and tried to explain something.

Shelly draw couple of things then pointed at them while making noises. The drawing seemed to indicate that when Shelly was damaged to certain extend, the medicine I gave to it would not only start repairing its body but it would also improve it. The drawing also showed that only in this type of situations where it could barely move, the medicine would show such effects and that with more use, the effect would become smaller. I recalled that Nick already told me about this. If the medicine is abused, it would not create any positive effects and would stop helping the one who ingested it.

'This would make sense in that case. Shelly was damaged quite badly today and I poured 2 vials of the medicine on its shell. The liquid was absorbed and because of that Shelly recovered and even managed to increase its strength. I noticed a pattern as well. When Shelly was badly injured and I gave it some medicine to heal itself, it would always develop skills or traits that were most required for the situation. In this case, the silver bear was very strong and had a tough skin. Because of the Vital Liquid that I poured on top of Shelly, it decided or maybe something dictated that the strength is the trait needed the most for it right now.

This would be fascinating in itself because if Shelly could choose what to gain, that could be helpful in the future but if that was not true, then there is another question. What exactly decides for Shelly what trait is the most useful at that moment? I decided to ask "Do you choose what to improve or is it random?" to which Shelly draw something again on the ground and it looked like Shelly had no way of choosing, something simply chose for it depending on the situation.

I thought 'It could be nature or maybe Shelly doesn't even know it is choosing this trait'. My thoughts got distracted with the sound of my stomach. I was very hungry now so I reached into the bag and took out everything that was edible in order to satisfy my hunger. Shelly also wanted to eat despite the fact that it just ate a whole bear. I shared the food with Shelly and rested until my strength came back.