Shesmu used Inspect on the unknown creatures. They were parasite rats, level 35. From his past knowledge, Shesmu knew that he stood no chance against them.

As such, he ran.

He coated his legs in Ki and dashed out of the cave. Fortunately, the golden gorilla wasn’t there to greet him, yet. However, Shesmu couldn’t spare the time to breathe a sigh of relief. The thousands of rats, hungry for flesh and blood ran after him like an ocean wave.

In a moment of epiphany, Shesmu thought up a way to flee from those little pests. The trees. If he were to jump from one tree branch to the other, they would have much less of a chance of catching up to him.

With those thoughts in mind, Shesmu jumped up a tree branch. He took a few seconds to gain his balance before he jumped towards another tree, and then another. As time went on, Shesmu became more proficient at branch jumping and could do it easily.

Did I lose them?

Shesmu looked back only to have his expectations subverted. The rat army ate the trees. It was as if a Feller Buncher was going through the forest, cutting down trees left and right. Just that they were much faster and much more horrific.

What the fuck is this test?!!

However, Shesmu’s misfortunes were only beginning. A mighty roar came from behind the trees, and the golden gorilla that Shesmu thought already left, appeared once again.

The golden beast jumped high in the sky and landed in front of Shesmu, scaring the latter shitless. Is this the end?

Even though the situation was grim beyond measures, Shesmu kept his calm. He focused on the gorilla’s eyes. It wasn’t looking at him, the only thing that was in its vision was the army of rats behind him.

It was then that Shesmu saw hope. There was a way out of that situation, he just needed to play his cards right.

He didn’t move. He knew that if he did, while both parties surrounding him stayed stagnant, he would become the center of attention immediately.

And soon enough, the gorilla made the first move.

“Roar!!”

With a mighty roar, it jumped high above Shesmu and into the pile of overgrown rats. The moment it did, Shesmu ran like there was no tomorrow. He coated his feet with as much Ki as he could possibly, and launched himself out of the two monsters’ fighting area. He ran like he never did before in this timeline.

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Meanwhile, the golden gorilla was being assaulted from all directions. They sunk their poisonous fangs into its flesh, making it drip purple blood. No matter how much it flailed and jumped, the rats stuck on it like parasites.

In the end, the golden gorilla had had enough. It gathered an outworldly amount of golden energy into its fist and smashed the ground.

The shockwave disturbed even Shesmu who was hundreds of meters away. He turned around only to see debris flying everywhere. Trees, dirt, and rocks were catapulted like they were caught up by a tornado. And one of these rocks flew right into his face.

Shesmu could only hear buzzing in his ears. He couldn’t see, nor feel anything around him. However, even though his vision was blurry at best, he could still make out the red in it. Whether that was the red of his blood or signal from the system that his life was in danger, Shesmu didn’t know.

[You died]

[Those who hold the sword live their life at the brink of death. Lifeforce, in the end, is but another form of energy. Use the life of your enemy as your own sustenance, and thrive!]

The same notification Shesmu saw when he first entered this stage appeared once again in front of his face. After his death, Shesmu was sent back to the same place he first spawned in.

“Roar!”

Shesmu already expected the tiger’s pounce, and as such, sidestepped it with ease. He unsheathed his sword and slashed at its exposed neck, leaving a deep gash in it. The tiger whimpered in pain, but Shesmu didn’t stop. His flurry of attacks pierced and slashed at the tiger’s flesh, slaying it.

Once he killed the beast, Shesmu knew he had to get out of his place fast, lest the golden gorilla reappear. Looking at his minimap, Shesmu knew that he had to cross a river and a valley before finally reaching the ruins. And that’s where his goal resided.

Shesmu closed the minimap and focused all of his attention on running as fast as possible. As expected, the golden gorilla had appeared where he previously stood. However, instead of chasing after him this time, it took the opposite path. It went in the direction of the rat cave.

Shesmu sighed in relief before cursing within the depth of his mind. Who in godmother’s holy land thought that giving a test full of Tier 2 beasts to a Tier 0 would be a fucking good idea. Talk about game motherfucking balance.

On his way towards the river, Shesmu encountered multiple beasts. Overgrown cobras, two-headed lions, packs of thunder horned rabbits, all kinds of lethal creatures that were way beyond his level. However, he survived. Either by running, hiding, or fighting, Shesmu did whatever it took.

Battered, and exhausted from all the fighting, Shesmu put his hands on top of his knees to catch his breath. He looked at the river. Its stream was strong, too strong for him to cross. But even if he could, Shesmu wouldn’t dare touch the water.

A steel eagle soared atop the river, looking for a prey, but little did it know that below it were the predators. The moment it flew low enough, a pack of piranhas jumped from within the water took hold of it with their jaws. Their teeth bit so fast at the bird’s flesh that by the time the piranhas went back into the water, the eagle was but a pack of bones.

Shesmu looked at this scene and crossed the cross the river idea from his mind. He took a look at his minimap and found that there was a bridge to cross the river upstream. Looking at its direction, Shesmu found that the river was passing through a small canyon, while the bridge connected at the top.

As such, Shesmu made his way to the top of the canyon and stood in front of the bridge. It was time to cross the first obstacle.