The words didn't sound as stupid once they were out in the open.
But then reality followed.
How?
He didn't have a sword. A spear. A knife. Not even a sharp stick. At most, he could throw a rock. Maybe if he prayed hard enough, the "power of the ancients" would descend and guide his aim.
Yeah. Sure.
Can I actually kill any of these things with a rock?
Maybe the fire ants. If he found a decent stone, three kilos or more, and smashed one cleanly. That could work. He just needed another colony. One that wasn't parked next to an Arthropleura that looked like it could spit acid.
Without a weapon, his options were essentially zero.
Then a thought slid into his head. Slow. Dangerous.
Wait. I do have a weapon.
My body.
I can use my weight.
Gravity.
If he couldn't match their claws or venom, he could at least bring physics into the fight. A hundred and eighty kilograms falling from high enough would kill anything that wasn't armored like a tank.
But how?
The only solution that made sense was jumping from somewhere high and slamming into the monster with everything he had. There was no version of a head-on fight that didn't end with him dead in under ten seconds.
Two options.
First: find another anthill without backup nearby. Hunt a stray ant away from the colony.
Second: divebomb something from a high place.
No third choice.
And if he went with the second option, he'd only get one shot. Success or failure would probably lead to the same result.
Best case: broken bones.
Worst case: dead.
One shot. One opportunity. Can't miss.
If he succeeded, he just needed to survive the remaining time and he'd return to his world having actually accomplished something. And collect whatever rewards the system offered.
Obviously.
As for the chance of things going wrong? He refused to entertain it.
Like an idiot, one single thought flashed through his mind:
Damn. I'm so dope.
Excitement hit him like a drug.
"Let's do this shit."
The desert answered immediately.
A roar tore through the air. Deep. Feral.
His spine snapped straight.
Shit. Was that a lion? I'm definitely not going in that direction.
Reality restored. Excitement dialed down. Now more cautious and significantly less cocky, he resumed moving.
This time as a hunter. Not prey.
He opened the system.
Time remaining: 23:33... 32... 31...
Not much time. He needed to find something now.
As he moved, the initial plan kept refining itself in the back of his head. The first version had been emotional. Stupid. Jump and pray.
But twenty-three minutes was enough time to think. And his brain didn't shut off just because the rest of him was terrified.
If I jump now and break my legs, I'm stuck here for twenty minutes with broken bones and no way to move. Anything with a nose will find me. And I'll die before the timer runs out.
But if I wait until the last seconds...
If something goes wrong, the teleportation kicks in the instant the timer hits zero.
Success: I kill it and get sent back.
Failure: I probably still get teleported before dying.
Probably.
The plan wasn't safe. But it was less stupid than the original version. Broken bones were fine. Pain was fine. As long as he got sent back to his apartment, he could call a hospital. A Healer could fix fractures instantly.
That was assuming it was just bones.
That was where the problem lived.
The best target he'd seen was the giant scorpion near the collapsed structures. And scorpions were venomous. This one? Definitely venomous.
If it was normal venom, he didn't care. But this was a monster from another world. Different system. Different power rules. What if the venom couldn't be cured? What if it was some cursed energy that melted organs from the inside?
Stop overthinking, Yan Ye.
Just do it.
Time's running out.
For once, he actually stopped spiraling. Not because he was forced to. But because he chose to.
Weird. Now wasn't the time to unpack that.
Five minutes passed in what felt like seconds. Then ten.
He was scanning a dune, looking for another anthill, when the sand moved.
Something jumped. Straight at his face.
Instinct saved him. He twisted and threw himself sideways the instant it launched. A blur of legs and camouflaged chitin sailed past his cheek, close enough that he felt the brush of something sharp against his skin.
He scrambled back several meters before stopping. Heart hammering.
He spun around.
Nothing.
The sand was still. No tracks. No movement. No body.
What the fuck was that?
Some kind of spider. Over thirty centimeters long. Perfectly camouflaged. Invisible until it moved.
For a second he genuinely wondered if he'd hallucinated the whole thing.
That scared him more than the spider.
He stayed frozen for nearly a minute, scanning every grain of sand within five meters of his feet. Nothing moved.
Okay. Dune spiders exist here. Wonderful. One more thing that can kill me without warning.
After that, he became even more careful. Every step tested. Every patch of sand suspicious.
Maybe he adapted. Maybe luck decided to stop bullying him. But no other emergencies happened.
When there were only five minutes left, he reached the area where he'd seen the scorpion earlier.
And there it was.
Not the scorpion.
The structure.
A giant ring. Or more accurately, a portal. A massive, ancient portal.
Only about eight meters were visible above the sand. But that was just the exposed part. The ring itself extended downward, partially buried. Judging by the curve, the full diameter had to be around twenty-six or twenty-seven meters. If it weren't half-devoured by the desert, it would easily stand thirty meters tall.
Carved inscriptions ran along its surface. Symbols in a language he didn't recognize. They created enough grooves for fingers and toes.
Why something like this exists? Don't care. Not now.
His brain was locked on one mission.
Scorpion Slayer.
And there he was. The scorpion. Standing on the ground near the center beneath the portal's arch. Two meters from the most central point.
"It seems luck is on my side."
He'd been thinking about how to lure it under the highest point. Apparently, he didn't need to. Perfect positioning. And he was confident he could climb without it noticing.
So he started climbing.
The portal was about two meters wide. The carved inscriptions created enough handholds that the first few meters weren't terrible. As he went higher, the incline decreased. Halfway up, he could technically walk.
But he couldn't.
His legs were shaking.
Not from effort. From height. Or from what he was about to do. Or both.
Two minutes of climbing felt like an eternity. At one point he genuinely wondered what was scarier. This, or the deathworm.
Ridiculous.
Finally, he reached the top. Instead of standing, he lay flat against the stone, hugging it like a scared koala.
He opened the system.
Time remaining: 2:14... 13... 12...
"Fuck."
For the thousandth time today, he wished time would move faster.
He locked his eyes onto the timer. Not because he was afraid of running out. But because he didn't want to think. He needed a distraction. Anything.
Randomly, a teenage memory surfaced. His old dream. Becoming a professional MOBA player. Grinding ranked matches at 3 AM with energy drinks and headphones that were falling apart. Raging at teammates who couldn't hold a lane. Dreaming about tournaments he'd never qualify for. The hours he'd spent practicing combos, studying builds, watching replays of players who were everything he wanted to be.
That memory calmed him. A little.
Time kept moving.
When he snapped back to reality, the timer read ten seconds.
No more time.
He stood up quickly, barely keeping his balance on the curved stone. Wind whipped at his clothes. The desert stretched out below him, vast and indifferent. The scorpion sat exactly where it had been. Still. Patient. Unaware.
His brain accelerated. Three seconds passed in what felt like an eternity.
At five seconds remaining, he jumped.
In the two seconds before impact, something so stupid surfaced in his mind that it almost made him laugh.
And then he shouted.
"FOOOOOORRR—"
The wind tore at his face.
"DEEEEEEEE—"
The ground rushed up.
"MAAAA—"
Impact.
BOOM. No slow motion. No dramatic cinematic descent.
Just instant violence.
3...
He heard the sound before he understood what happened. A wet, crunching crunch that traveled up through his entire body. Then he was on the ground. His mind spun. For a moment, he thought he'd lost consciousness.
Then he looked down.
Two bizarre sights.
First: his legs. They looked like spaghetti. Bent wrong. Angles that shouldn't exist on anything with a skeleton. It would take hours to count how many fractures.
Second: around his waist, it looked like he was wearing a duck swimming ring. Except it wasn't a duck.
It was the scorpion.
2...
Its body was crushed beneath him. Flattened. Cracked open. Legs still twitching faintly on either side of his hips like the world's worst pool accessory.
His weight. Gravity.
It worked.
I'm wearing a scorpion.
1...
[Punishment completed. Teleportation initiated.]
Everything disappeared.
Suddenly he was back.
No pain. No sand. No broken legs.
Perfectly intact. Lying on the floor of his apartment.
The only proof was his clothes. Shredded. Covered in sand. Smelling like dust, sweat, and something faintly chemical that might have been scorpion.
He stayed on the floor for several minutes.
Physically fine. Mentally drained. Not trauma. Not exactly. Just the emptiness that comes from being on high alert for three straight hours. It hollows you out. Leaves your brain running on static.
The ceiling above him was clean. White. Still. No vultures circling. No sand in his teeth.
It's over.
It's actually over.
Eventually he forced himself up. Grabbed his phone.
3:14 AM.
Time hadn't paused while he was gone.
Whatever. It wasn't like he planned to go back there anytime soon.
His stomach reminded him it existed with a growl loud enough to echo off the walls. Right. He hadn't eaten. Or drunk anything. In three hours of running, hiding, climbing, and killing a scorpion with his ass.
He opened PortalHaul. Noble Leaf. Ordered a nutrient-dense meal and a drink.
Estimated delivery: 4 minutes.
He leaned back on the sofa.
And then it hit him.
"Fuck."
"Big Sis. Are you there?"
[Humn]
Then the translucent screen appeared.
Main Panel / Quests / ??? / ??? / ??? / ...
Name: Yan Ye
Age: 17
Status: Severe mental fatigue, hunger, dehydration...
The Quests tab glowed brighter than before. He tapped it.
Limited Time Quest
Survive for 3 hours in the Ruins of Zarathen
Task completed.
Calculating completion...
Time survived: 3 hours
Distance traveled: 12.7 km
Creatures killed: 1 (T1 Common Beast)
?: n/a
?: n/a
?: n/a
Score: C+
Rewards:
3,000 System Points
Rare Sword
Common Litham Helmet
He stared at the screen.
"That's it?"
Three hidden conditions he hadn't known about. Three question marks sitting there like accusations. And a C+.
A C plus.
He'd been buried alive. Chased by three different predators. Climbed an eight-meter ancient portal with his bare hands. Divebombed a scorpion from the top of it. Broke both legs on impact. And killed the thing with nothing but gravity and a hundred and eighty kilograms of commitment.
C+.
"Hey, Big Sis. Why didn't you tell me there were hidden conditions?"
He didn't expect an answer. He was venting.
[You didn't ask.]
Of course. She answered when he didn't want her to. Mocking tone included.
Now he was genuinely irritated.
"You little jerk."
He pointed at the screen with a trembling finger.
[Do you have the ability to do anything more than what you did?]
That felt like ice water.
On the surface, it sounded like praise. Underneath, it felt like a challenge. Like she was saying: that was your limit.
"You... aren't we on the same team?"
"You could've at least told me. Maybe one of the hidden conditions was something easy. Like... doing a somersault?"
His voice lowered. Confidence dropped.
I wouldn't have managed the somersault anyway.
He was about to close the screen in a huff when a final notification scrolled up.
[Skills Learned]
Novice Runner — Lv.1
Basic Stamina — Lv.1
Perception — Lv.1
Basic Pain Tolerance — Lv.1
Hero Dive — Lv.1
His finger hovered over the screen.
The irritation evaporated. The exhaustion took a back seat.
Because five skills in one night was insane. He didn't know what each one did. But he knew enough from the fragmented memories to understand that most people spent decades training for a single skill before awakening.
He'd gained five in three hours.
His hand was still trembling. But it wasn't from exhaustion anymore.
Then he stopped.
Wait.
He looked at the skills again. Then at the reward list. 3,000 points. Rare Sword. Common Litham Helmet.
The skills weren't on it.
"Big Sis. These skills. Why weren't they listed with the rewards?"
[Because you earned them yourself.]
He blinked.
"...What do you mean?"