4 The Wasteful Skerry

As the message disappeared from Aimer's view he slowly surveyed his surroundings.

Before him, stood tall primeval trees that towered the vicinity with vines which traced along with them.

Instinctively, he used his Sharkanha's ability to locate the movements of several monster species further within the jungle.

'One….two….twenty…forty...eighty….a hundred….one-fifty. Hmm...so there're around a hundred and fifty-six monsters settled on this island.

*Sighs*

Here we go again, even though their numbers are smaller than my previous monster battle' Aimer thought with one hand held against his forehead as he shook his head left to right.

Aimer then raised his head before progressing deeper within the jungle.

After taking a few steps into the jungle Aimer felt an eerie vibe and even though it couldn't be seen, he knew that a few monsters were lurking around him.

*rustle* *rustle*

Aimer halted his movements while his ears simultaneously perked up reacting to the subtle sounds.

*whoosh*

Reacting solely on animal instincts Aimer thrust his right arm forward and brought out his fallen blade.

For a few second there was a moment of silence just before...

'3...2...1' *Screeeechhhh*

As Aimer counted down from within his mind the monsters shrieked before revealing themselves from behind the trees.

Unfazed by the situation, Aimer scouted all the monsters around him.

Ogres, Orcs, Zombies, Lizard-Folks, and Gargoyles; these monsters circulated the calm and collected Aimer.

Without further notice, a few monsters charged at the standing still Aimer.

The Ogres raised their clubs, the Orcs clenched their fists, the Zombies opened their jaws, while the Lizard-Folks and the Gargoyles bared their claws.

*ROARGHH* *SCREECHH* *HARRGH*

The monsters screamed as they launched themselves at an immense speed towards Aimer.

Skil [Adapt] has been activated!

*smiles*

'Let the training begin'

Aimer countenance lit up like fireworks.

*swhoosh* and within an instant Aimer disappeared from his spot before appearing directly in front of three Ogres that towered over him.

*slash* *slash* Aimer slit the achilles tendons of all three Ogres with precision.

Just as they began to fall, Aimer leaped into the air before performing a few aerodynamic attacks that sliced the Ogres throats one-by-one.

[Drakel's Cloak] has been equipped!

As he landed at floor level Aimer equipped Drakel's cloak.

The monsters who stood idly by awaiting his descending propelled themselves towards him but to their surprise, all their attacks passed through him.

'Tsk...silly monsters' Aimer thought just before turning around to slash the backs of a Lizard-Folk, a Gargoyle, and a Zombie.

Immediately after doing so a group of Orcs punched at him.

*doom* *boom* *bam* The Orcs' fists made contact, but not with Aimer's body but with the canvas beneath him.

Reacting to their reactions, the quick-witted Aimer ran along the arm of the Orc on his left. And before that Orc could stop Aimer's movements along his arm; it was sliced off.

*ARGHHH* The orc screamed while holding its missing arm which gushed a stream of blood.

*KYUK* The Orc was silenced as Aimer left it decapitated.

He then leaped from one Orc to another and did the same.

*slish* *shick* *thud*

Two more head flopped to the floor.

When he finally landed again, the monsters who were once eager to pounce wore a cautious expression.

But that was when Aimer felt an unfamiliar but familiar presence at the same time.

'Wh-what is this feeling!? Wait... I felt this before! I'm sure of it! How did I miss it? That monster...it's back!' Aimer thought with wide-open eyes before he looked ahead of him beyond the leftover monsters.

There it was, a figure that outshined the others. The presence that once overbeard Aimer when he was faced with death.

The Horizon-type monster that sprung fear within Aimer had appeared. And it was none other than A Gnoll...a Gnoll that flashed a devilish smile at Aimer.

'Smiling! It's smiling at me!? Has there ever been a monster that did such a thing!?' Aimer thought as he keenly observed the monster's reactions.

*whoooo* A steam of hot breath escaped Aimer's lips as he calmed himself to think rationally.

"Whether it's faith or luck, I won't be running with my tails between my legs such as the last time. Right now, the hunted must become the hunter,' Aimer muttered in a soft-spoken voice.

"This time, I'll be the one doing the killing," Aimer continued before launching himself through the cluster of monsters that barred his path before the "Smiling Gnoll."

*slash* *slish* *slash* Aimer killed every monster within his path vacating a blood trail behind him.

From cutting them directly in half to disassembling their limbs or leaving them decapitated; he did it all.

*screeches* and *screams* of the monsters could be heard as they perished to Aimers blade.

[You've leveled up] x3

[You've leveled up] x2

[You've leveled up] x6

[You've leveled up] x3

[You've leveled up] x8

[You've leveled up] x3

Unbothered by the notifications of him leveling up not only because he was dealing with the last of the monsters but because he was still irritated due to the fact he can't see his level.

That aside, Aimer's clash soon came to an end.

50….45...39….27...19....17...10....9...2…*slash* *HYUEK*...1.

The last monster, an Gargoyle, wept as Aimers blade penetrated its heart.

'Now we do…' *BOOM*

Before Aimer could process his thought a heavy blow came from above him but luckily it was blocked.

And to do so, Aimer had to quickly shrug the Gargoyle off his blade before raising it overhead to stop the attack from above.

*grunt* *groan* AImer struggled to hold off the sudden attack.

With the blade in his right hand Aimer used his left to brace the blade's dull end to apply more pressure to guard against the blow. And as he looked up he witnessed the Gnoll staring dead at him.

"You! I see you're not smiling anymore. Perhaps it's because I slaughtered your monster colleagues," Aimer muttered at the monster.

Immediately after he did the Gnoll applied more force to his pickaxe which caused Aimer to sink a few inches into the ground.

*DING*

Warning: Gnoll has used the Skill: Intimidate

'Huh? It's using a skill! Dammit...it's strong..really strong. But I'm not the same as I was back then, I've grown! No matter your level...I can still defeat you' Aimer thought before he made a counterattack of his own

Skill [Empathy] has been activated!

As soon as Aimer activated this skill the Gnoll's feelings, emotions and actions were hit by an irresistible power.

A force with brought forth an internal turmoil within the Gnoll.

Ultimately causing the Gnoll to succumb to that force before retracting both its skill and attack as the Gnoll now stood in bewilderment.

"Skill against skill! I know this skill might be unfair to you but a win is a win right?" Aimer mumbled while staring at the frozen Gnoll before leaping into the air to meet it face to face.

*slash* *splash* Aimer sliced horizontally at the Gnoll's neck leaving it decapitated as a surge of blood drenched his face.

Soon after landing Aimer peeked behind him at the massacre he just committed.

[You've leveled up] x7

[You've leveled up] x3

[You've leveled up] x4

[You've leveled up] x2

'Glad that that's over. Now, I should go check the bodies for my rewards' Aimer thought with an emotionless gaze at the hundred-plus carcasses.

He then continued to turn around before the second window intruded his movement.

*DING*

"Congratulations! User has defeated the monsters within the Wasteful Skerry!"

Reward - [Skill: Animal Instincts]

Description: Once activated the user enters an emotionless yet focused state. All six senses are heightened for the user and if its target has deemed an enemy the user is driven to kill without remorse. Stats such as strength, speed, agility, and stamina are all increased by 33%.

(window's note: better used when it's one against many)

*Gulp* 'Th-this skill! It's amazing but isn't it too detailed. It's just like my performance against the monsters not too long ago...well that's without the emotionless state. And look at the effects...killing an enemy without remorse... a 33% percent increase on specific stats. Is this window watching me?

It's just getting more and more mysterious as time passes' Aimer pondered before shifting his focus towards the carcasses.

Yet again, Aimer was impeded but in a good way.

"Wait...is th-that a drop skill! N-not one but two!" Aimer exclaimed with eyes that sprung open as the first carcass he approached was the deceased Gnoll.

Hovering over its body was two bluish-whitish tokens that Aimer recognized to be drop skills.

Recuperating himself, Aimer quickly retrieved the tokens before speculating them.

Gnoll's Drop Skill - [Intimidate]

Description: Allows the user to influence others through hostile actions, overt threats, and deadly persuasion. Intimidate can also be used in combat encounters; if the user's level is higher than their opponent the more effective the skill.

'Now wonder its attack was so "intimidating" when it struck me from above. It felt as if I was almost overpowered...Cheh!' Aimer thought as he saw the description of the skill.

Shortly after, the other skill was revealed to Aimer by the window.

Gnoll's Drop Skill - [Perception]

Description: The user can perceive missing clues, detect subtle movements, spot imminent dangers, find traps, follow tracks, listen for sounds in a distance, or locate hidden objects.

'Interesting...I can't come to imagine what'll be able to do with these two new skills I just received' Aimer thought with a slick smile appearing across his countenance.

Without further ado, Aimer vacated the Gnolls carcass seeing that there aren't any more rewards for him to collect.

He then decided to quickly scurry through the other carcasses hoping to find some good rewards. But to his surprise, no matter how much he searched his efforts were to no avail.

'After all that the only things I ended up accumulating were monster cores. Tch! How is this even possible? You're telling me none of these monsters were not equipped with an item!?

No... somethings wrong. Is it my luck?

*Ahhh* I guess things don't always go your way. Whatever...let's just store these cores in the inventory and locate the Collapsing Peaks.'

Aimer thought with a slight frustration in his expression as he walked to the other end of the forest.

...….

A few minutes passed before Aimer made it outside of the forest backend to witness a ginormous mountain range ahead of him. To be specific, that mountain range was a volcano known as the "Collapsing Peaks."

*DING*

"You've breached the Collapsing Peaks!"

"So this is it huh?" Aimer mumbled as he looked high up ahead of him.

He closely speculated the pitch-black volcano that amassed sharp-edged caved in peaks with molten rocks called "lava" spurting from either of its sides.

"I should get-go-" *zwoop*

Aimer's unfinished sentence was suddenly intruded when the window warped him away. When Aimer opened his eyes he came to a realization that he was falling, once again.

"Don't tell me….AGAIN! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU AND WARPING SH*T AWAY! AND WHY IS IT SO FREAKING HOT!" Aimer exclaimed, probably for the first time in his lifetime.

And whilst being airborne Aimer turned around to see a dark orange substance below him: Lava. He was falling towards the lava located inside the volcano.

"SHIT! This must be another one of those freaking training" Aimer muttered, but soon his expression shifted to that of being shocked as his eyes froze in a wide-open state.

Recollecting himself, Aimer propelled his body directly above a floating platform atop the lava.

*whoosh* Aimer landed in a soft motion before standing upright. Unfazed by the immense heat, Aimer became lost deep in thought.

'I think I've somewhat figured it out...all of this back and forth warping! At first, I was just blindly executing the given task by this mysterious window...but looking back closely at it now I realized something.

From the beginning when I had to "survive the invasion." Then I had to survive the "Lifeless Abyss." Putting two and two together makes it seem that I was first placed in a situation where my current skills were being tested then I was placed into an environment I had to get accustomed to which I think is what this window calls "training.' It all makes sense! From surviving to training to surviving to training!

And now my current situation is similar to the previous...surviving those monsters within the "Wasteful Skerry" and now I'm in an environment I'll have to get accustomed to.

*sigh* I'll just have to suck it up just like I used to. hehehHEHEHE! FXCK YOU window!'

With that, Aimers long thought process came to an end as he chuckled before breaking into a burst of crazed laughter.

Skill [Adapt] has been activated!

*whooo*

Let's proceed...shall we?

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