Ant nest :

The huge red ant stood in front of me. Her mandibles moved as she smelled me.

Nevertheless.

[Abyss] materialized in my hand. My legs bend and I jump. Amplified by my reverse telekinesis, I reached the ant's neck in less than half a second.

My sword horizontal, with both hands on its hilt, the shot went off.

I land with both feet on the earthy ground at the same time as the enormous head of the ant. Two seconds later, his body also collapsed.

[Ding...Red Breastplate Ant Killed +30 EXP]

[You gained a level (level 6 --> level 7)]

[Error your stats cannot increase, reward is recalculated]

[+1 level for each of your skills]

New knowledge then assaulted my brain. New ideas for using my skills came to me.

"Easy"

The ant was only intermediate and isolated apprentice level. Their real strength is in their immense numbers.

I dematerialized [Abyss] and turned towards the body. A small red ghost floated above his body.

"Even in virtual reality monsters have souls??"

[Absorb the ant's soul?]

[YES NO]

"Yes"

[Ding...You obtained the communication ability of red ants: Telepathy]

"That sounds great! What is it?"

[Telepathy: A mind skill allowing you to send undetectable brainwaves to another mind which will then automatically decipher them regardless of language or species]

"Oh my God, can I talk with animals and monsters??"

Suddenly I felt the earth in the tunnel shake. It would seem that his congeners have sensed his death.

"It's better not to drag"

I activated [The Art of Concealment] and blended into the shadows of the tunnel. I then sprinted away from the noise of many huge legs running in my direction.

Thanks to my now well-developed mind, I was able to locate myself easily in the galleries to push back the horde of ants which had come by sensing their colleague dead thanks to the link of telepathy which united them all.

I slowed down to advance cautiously, I had arrived in the main room.

A huge red ant, well over twice the size of red worker ants, filled the room.

She mentioned laying a red egg too that a worker hastened to pick up to take her to I don't know where.

This spawning cycle was repeated every minute or so.

"Their population must be huge if it spawns at this speed. Luckily it's a virtual reality otherwise it would have been a real scourge for humanity"

As I spoke I hadn't noticed the shadow that appeared behind me.

This shadow screeched, and a blow from its mandibles hit me.

I was sent flying through the queen's hall like a cannonball. My body crashed into a dirt wall, shaking the room.

"I'm getting sick of this mania of crashing into walls" I grumbled to myself pertinently.

The blow hadn't affected me that much. The ant though superior in size was inferior in strength and my constitution was able to absorb the damage well.

[Abyss] materialized in my hand as I saw ants coming at my crashing noise as they smashed me against the wall.

The queen was quickly evacuated by worker ants while fighting ants, recognizable by their spikes on their legs and on their mandibles, face me.

Seeing that the ants kept coming into the room, in the tunnel behind and I couldn't even see the end of it, a feeling of despair took hold of my throat.

"I can't stop this early in the contest, I'm destined for greatness, to be the savior of mankind."

Light shone in my silver eyes and I threw myself into the fray. It's time to use my power to its fullest.

My body rose into the air and [Abyss] in one hand, I propel myself into the middle of the heap.

A mental thread clings to an ant, my body is disposed towards it and its head cleavage at the same time as my sword rises.

My telekinesis is used to its fullest as I deploy more and more mental threads as the number of ants coming at me increases.

The monstrous heads of ants litter the ground but yet I still do not see the end of this procession.

They advanced without fear despite the fact that I had slaughtered more than a dozen of them.

My arms are shaking, yet I tighten my grip. To falter now means death, therefore the end of the ordeal. What a shame for me if I had to leave the adventure so soon.

One of my mental threads is unfolding again. It's time to start the butchery again.

Another row of heads fell but eventually a spike pierced my thigh. The pain made me scream slightly and I pulled out of the fight.

But the ants decided otherwise. They chase me relentlessly. No way for me to sow them.

"Damn why did I want to jump in that damn hole when it's a survival test??"

I feel every muscle in my body twitch, my mind starts to buzz no doubt from overuse and the pain in my thigh only gets worse as the blood flowing out of it gets more and more important.

"Fight, fight, fight to survive"

These words haunt my mind and they become the only thing I think about. My body, my soul, my mental strength and my intention to kill enter then by these words in symbiosis.

They unite to fight, to survive.

Body, mind and soul become one.

My silver eyes then shone like lanterns. My body lifted into the air as a silver aura enveloped my body like a cocoon. Lightning bolts of energy even escape, killing the few ants who got a little too close.

Like when I went from an intermediate apprentice to a superior apprentice, my body which was tense like an arc suddenly relaxed, a "clack" sounded throughout the tunnel, as if something was finally released.

He wasn't wrong. My body then descends, the aura that surrounded me dissipates and my eyes resume their normal luminosity, yet something in me had changed.

On my back, a moon-shaped tattoo etched itself into my skin. A branch of this moon then extended, until it engraved intricate patterns all over my right arm.

[Congratulations on becoming a 1 Star Warrior]

"I'm incredibly more powerful. Just this small change from 99 to 101 in my stats and yet the change is huge."

My gaze then turns to the red ants who took a step back, quivering.

[Telepathy Activated]

"You are all dead"

They then cried wanting to escape but their large number made this escape impossible.

A mad laugh echoed in the room.

"Let the killing begin"

View from the camera room:

"There are only two to three thousand students left to eliminate before the test ends," said one of the judges.

"Who stands out so far?" asked the king

"Sire, there are five truly remarkable figures this year"

"That's very few out of 18,000 students. Introduce them to me."

"Yes Sire. To begin with your daughter Leila, whom you know very well. Then Mathilde Nirmor is a 16-year-old girl, superior apprentice level who stands out for her remarkable mastery of the wood element. She knew how to kill every monster that came the assaulted. This round was a recreation for her."

Une vidéo se lança alors sur les écrans géants. Une jeune fille brune aux yeux vert au milieu d'un multitudes de lianes et énormes troncs mobiles qu'elle contrôlait et qui massacraient les monstres. On aurait dit une nymphe des bois dansant son requiem.

"What a promising maiden" looked at the king with interest.

"Very well Sire. Now let's move on to Paul Tracin. An even more promising young man, he is already a one-star martial warrior and his fire magic is particularly noteworthy as it is exactly the same as that spewed by dragons, those monsters that nearly annihilated humans a hundred years ago."

"Oh great, these young shoots deserve attention from us".

As the king said these words, a clamor then resounded from across the room.

"What is going on ?" asked the judge presenting the promising youngsters.

A servant who was monitoring the screens of the remaining attendees turned from his chair.

"It looks like a sixth promising youngster has emerged," he said.

Altaïr breaking his chains and slaughtering the ants could be seen on one of the screens.

Back to Altaïr:

I drain my saber which is dripping with ant blood, standing on the mountain of corpses that I erected by killing them all, I can finally breathe.

"At least now I'm sure here to survive until the end of the ordeal."

I fly the bodies and send them through the tunnels out of the queen's room to make room for me and not be bothered by the smell of blood.

Speaking of the queen, I thought she would be tough to kill but in the end it was as easy as killing a baby.

The workers defended it to the death but since I am a one star warrior their struggle was useless.

In the tunnel I saw all the corpses gathered and lots of little red ghosts floating above them.

"Absorb 'Em All"

The little red ghosts then all flew towards me and melted into my chest.

[Ding... Soul Absorption of 34 Intermediate Apprentice Level Red Ants and 1 Advanced Apprentice Level Red Ant Queen]

[+24 in all stats, + one skill (red skin)]

"Great Rewards!!"

[Red Skin: Your skin becomes covered with the red breastplate of red ants. The more powerful you are, the more resistant she becomes to physical damage]

"Interesting. Activate the skill!"

My skin turned into an extremely hard and resistant red skin, much like the body of a car.

POC POC

The sound when I hit it made me laugh. It's the same noise as when I hit Sam's head and find that his head is hollow (so he has no brain).

"Well I'm going to get some sleep myself. This fight has tired me out." I said yawning.

I lay down in a corner that was not flooded with blood and fell asleep.

Three hours later:

"Participants! The number of eliminated students has reached the required number, you have passed the test, you will be teleported to your cabin in two minutes. On your return the ranking will be displayed."

"The leaderboard?? There is a leaderboard?? Didn't they say you just have to survive?? Why is there a leaderboard?" I wondered.

My consciousness went out before reigniting in the capsule. I left at the same time as all the other qualified students. Those who came out before us were of course already disqualified. Some of them were crying.

A giant screen faced me with the list of nine thousand qualified. The names of the top ten shone with a golden color.

"Hello dear students, the ranking was made thanks to points that some students were able to score by performing exceptional actions or performances. Students ranked in the top ten will receive rewards. You can view their achievements online on the official website of the competition."

Murmurs spread through the room.

I look around for my name.

8000 -th, 5000 -th. But where is my name?? Arrived at the level of the first ten I begin to wonder if I did not miss my name.

???????

My name is displayed first ?????

Shining with its dazzling golden light the name Altaïr Saïto reigned over the competition.

"Going in that hole was really not a good idea" I said, pulling my hood down.

"But who is this guy?"

"I don't know never heard of"

"He must have been lucky let's see his video on the official website."

The surrounding students whispered softly, wondering about me.

"It's not good, I would have liked to remain anonymous. Too bad, you have to get used to it"

I want to remain humble but my talent does not allow it.