Skysher blinked; he was no longer on Yunshan mountain.
Once again, he was standing on the long, stretching desert ground of the system assessment.
And just like last time, he had to kill 100 worms.
Only this time, he wasn't the one running.
[Ding]
>The system assessment begins.
[System Instructions]
>Kill 100 worms.
[Period]
>100 seconds!
>Good luck.
Skysher looked at the panel, brewing with confidence.
He lashed out his hand, cracking his neck.
With a smirk on his face, he started jumping side.
Inevitably releasing an outwards shockwave, opening his position on purpose.
Suddenly, the sand behind Skysher started to shift, bending from side to side.
However this time was different.
Thanks to his heightened senses, Skysher picked up on the worm before it could even get close.
But it was too late.
Without a word, the worm whipped out of the sand, its big shadow covering Skysher.
As he landed his eyes on the towering, ugly beast, Skysher was no more.
He was gone!
Heightened senses meant nothing if Skysher couldn't act on time.
However, things didn't seem as they were.
The next second, the worm too, was no more!
In its place was its severely cut organs and ugly green blood raining everywhere.
Skysher had moved so fast that it was too fast for the worm to even notice his movement!
He was leading.
Turning towards the sand again, Skysher found his next target.
Wasting no time, Skysher immediately got to work.
His eyes on the ticking seconds, Skysher was ready not to waste even a single one.
Every second that passed meant a slayed worm.
Time wasn't something to put off anymore, it was catastrophic.
Locating one after the other, Skysher spared none.
Running across the desert sand, everything that moved was his target!
Within the 20 seconds alone, he was able to have killed 30 worms.
'Hah!, too easy,' he thought scabering his sword.
His face painted both with the joy of excitement and the agony of his enemies.
Half of his face covered with the legacy of his enemies, it fueled him even more.
Now, he was craving more!
Last time, he was the one who shed blood, but this time.
No.
This time, it was they would shed ten times as much!
Now, he was fast, he was sharp.
He was a forged sword.
A forged warrior.
[Ding]
The system came before Skysher once again.
Seeing that things were going too easy for him, it decided it was time to make things more interesting...
>Too easy, huh?
>Would like system to run recaribilation?
"Eh?" Skysher couldn't believe his eyes.
It seemed that he came in too strong for the assessment, and now the system was going to make it harder?
Skysher however, needed to come in peace with the system soon, and sooner than he would ever have thought.
It was always the fact that the system would always keep making things harder and harder for him.
This system was special, it had the ability to exclusively track Skysher's power and recariblate itself accordingly.
Basically, the more Skysher leveled up, the more the system would too, and the system levelling up, was not a great for Skysher.
Suddenly, a huge worm exited the sand as it lunged at Skysher!
Skysher too busy thinking about his problems, was caught off guard.
His eyes snapped to see the worm, his legs shifting swiftly to avoid the chaos!
However, Skysher immediately took notice. Staring at the worm, something felt wrong.
Something felt unfamiliar.
This time, something was different.
Something huge!
The worms before were just overgrown pieces of moving flesh, but these.
They had shells?
On top of that, they were bigger.
Significantly Larger than the normal ones he fought before.
Not only that, but they were also faster! Much much much more faster than the first ones.
In terms of stats, he was no longer the only one who levelled up.
They did too!
The playing field was finally levelled.
And so was Skysher's huge advantage, he was now back to being a mere mouse in a game of cats and mouse!
Skysher nervously dodged the Worm's attack,waiting to slash it as it crashed to the ground.
But Skysher had never expected what he saw.
Both his mouth and eyes, grew thrice their size.
Skysher's knowledge of science, was insulted beyond words and context.
Possibilities weren't just possibilities anymore, no.
They were real!
Turning back, the worm had twisted its body while in air and was now, again, launching another attack.
Just like a snake turning it's direction, the worm shifted it's path.
It's prey puzzled Infront of it's large engulfing mouth.
Skysher's shock grew, but he wasn't about to lose.
Activating his martial art: Slice and dice, combined with his skill, Instant, his chances grew as well.
He was able to instantly cut through the Worm's new shell and cut it in half.
Landing on the ground beside it, Skysher was once again outclassed.
Three more Worms splashed out of the sand as they all shot towards him!
Not even giving him a moment to catch his breath, Literally.
The worms now and before had many visible differences, but none of those were much of obstacles to Skysher.
However, just one alone was an undeniable weapon against Skysher, and that would be their hearing.
It had doubled a hundredfold!
So much so that they were now tracking Skysher by his breathing!
Skysher once again tried going for the air to escape, but what he hadn't learnt was that these worms weren't giving up!
These worms were flexible, and they could move every part of their body.
What Skysher was seeing as their target just moments ago, could turn agaisnt him and momentarily cause him cardiac arrests.
Now, in the middle of the air, Skysher was once again taken by total surprise!
The worms just like the one before, just shifted seemlessly in air and he was now once again with no escape.
I guess the ancient proverb of "Once bitten, twice shy" truly did not apply to anyone. Especially Skysher!
Stuck in the air, and tradegy approaching from every corner, he seemed to have no escape, but that wasn't Skysher.
Remembering from his previous encounter, he knew the one weakness they had was their mouths.
With a dazzling step, Skysher supported himself, avoiding tragedy as he jumped from one worms mouth to another.
Them, trying to shift in such small space being their greatest downfall, they proceeded to take each other out.
Basically he put his hunters against each other.
The two other worms now lunged at the worm Skysher was a top of.
Skysher smiled.
They might have outclassed him in brons and stats, but he, he had his brilliant intelligence.
In a blink, Skysher had fulfilled his plan.
Striking three worms with one bird, he took them all down at the same point, by their heads.
Green blood flew everywhere, their heads and huge bodies toppling to the ground.
As his body continued to fall back on the ground, it started to shake again.
This time, more vigorously and tenacious, causing him to lose his balance.
Suddenly, Skysher's eye caught it, another worm jumped from the side as it opened its mouth wide.
He hadn't expected it!
The worm landed on its target, swallowing Skysher as a whole and jumping back to the ground.
Skysher went inside its body.
His hands were struggling against the ferocious teeth of the worm closing in on him.
[Ding]
>Still think it's easy?
Skysher tightened his jaw; he was fighting both his anger and being eaten.
The system could not have chosen a better time to distract him.
[System Alert]
>Hurry up. You have only 40 seconds!
>Or have you decided to fail?
Skysher became red, he had had enough.
Suddenly, the worm flew out from the sand, its mouth suffering from abnormal pain.
Out of nowhere, Skysher broke through.
Weaving through with a splash of slashes, turning the worm to minced meat.
"Not in your dreams," Skysher growled as he smiled, swiping away the icky mucus.
The position was tight and time was running out, but Skysher would win!
After all, he wasn't going to go back, defeated after all that.
No way!
However, the system wasn't going to make things easier for him. Motivated or not, he was going to fall and he was going to suffer!
[Ding]
The system came before Skysher, giving him the anchor of his demise.
[System Alert]
>Assessment level [BOSS] detected.
>Defeat the [BOSS] and get to clear out the level.
[Time left]
>20 seconds.
[Complementary time]
>1 minute.
[Total time]
>80 seconds.
>Play it fair and keep it tourted!
"Huh?"
>Ready? Begin!
Before Skysher could keep talking, something struck.
Extreme teror and fear hit, his body felt cold and dark, as if it had turned lifeless.
Standing right behind him, was the monster who had been waiting for him.
The system Assessment [BOSS]whose level was 10 times that of his race.
The beast was one of a kind, and in every assessment test there was a boss.
The host/player would be given an objective, whether it was slaying 100 worms or something else, and the player would finish the task to finish the level.
In the rare occasion they come eye to eye with a boss?
They would be given extra complementary time and if the player defeated the boss, they'd pass the system assessment.
If not, they would fail.
For Skysher, it wasn't 'rare' occasion.
The system decided he was fighting a boss, then he was fighting a boss. No loopholes.
Skysher stood there, his bones shaking, his heart throbbing harder and harder every second.
He was doomed!