"Fuck!"
The sudden pull at his leg caused Varian to almost fall head first. It'd have been a harmless prank anywhere else but in this mad desert, Varian didn't doubt he'd be seriously injured if he fell into this magical sand.
Varian kicked the sand and leaped into the air.
The gravity of this planet was far higher than any earth and even with his physique which could crush the moon into pieces, he was only able to jump a hundred meters.
Varian saw a short elastic but tough serpentine-like worm. It was trying to bite through his shoes with its razor-sharp teeth.
On its light gray skin were many openings that contracted and expanded, sucking the aura from the surroundings.
These openings had an unexpected ability to control the worm's aura. Coupled with its body aligned to blend with the sand, it was able to hide from Varian's senses and sneak attack him.
Unlucky for it, even though Varian wasn't strongest here, his fighting instincts were unmatched.
The moment he felt something pull his leg, a layer of hardened space appeared over his feet and protected them from any damage.
"Kaaaa!"
The worm was a high rank 2 and had enough intelligence. Realizing that there were invisible barriers stopping it from ripping his foot away, it whipped its tail around Varian's ankle and raised its head, aiming to bite at his stomach.
"No."
Varian's palm came down like an irresistible tide.
The worm wasn't weak at all. Its bites could kill even peak rank 2s. Its physical strength allowed it to wrestle against several rank 2s. But what it faced wasn't another rank 2 like it initially thought.
The worm's speed slowed down quickly as the time flow around it changed. Then, its active body twitched violently as an invisible force struck its soul and sent tremors throughout its body.
Finally, a mass of lightning entered the worm through its body openings and before it could do anything else, the lightning reached every nook and corner of the creature's interior.
As Varian was about to instinctively implode the creature, he stopped.
[If you kill a native of your rank, you can get 2 hours of additional survival time.]
If his common sense and the screen blinking in the corner of his vision weren't lying, then he'd die when his survival time runs out.
[Survival Time Left:
23:59:10]
[Survival Time Left:
23:59:05]
[Survival Time Left:
23:58:50]
To find those circles to reach the next floor, he'd need to survive long enough.
From a simple calculation, he'd need to add 24 or more survival hours every day to not die.
The rewards were given only for the first five kills of native creatures and the first three kills of fellow challengers.
If he killed a rank 3, he'd get 2 more hours.
Even though he's confident he could take down rank 3s and even kill some weak rank 4s, provided they're somewhat injured, he preferred a stable path.
"Lucky for you. You'll not die." Varian kicked the worm away and landed softly on the sand.
The worm had no eyes but from its constant growls, Varian understood that it was mocking him.
'Run away from me now. The next time I see you, my tribe will tear you apart.'
'The loners are always easy prey. You might've escaped death from me, but this desert will kill you sooner or later. '
The creature was sentient and clever. Even the reason it attacked his legs was to trip him and injure him so that it could feast on helpless prey.
The reason it's mocking him now was likely because it knew Varian's reason behind not killing it. But perhaps it's also calling its tribe members to gang on him.
In its own words, it's clear that almost all challengers hunted in teams. If someone was going solo, it's most likely they're kicked out and left to die.
And it also seemed like the natives weren't just lonely wild beasts. These creatures lived together and might even have communication channels all over the planet.
Varian chuckled softly at its lame provocation attempt. "I haven't finished my sentence."
The worm stopped growling and turned to him with its eyeless smooth face.
"You will not die. YET."
The lightning network in the storm flared up and the worm twitched violently before it collapsed powerlessly.
Varian stopped searching on the surface and dug his senses into the sand. It was hard to search through it, the sand had special properties that made it difficult for him to even look through ten miles of area.
With a basic plan in his mind, Varian began searching for the rank 3 creatures.
But six hours passed and except for a dozen rank 2 worms, snakes, and scorpion-like creatures, he got no rank 3s.
"Even if I hunt down five rank 3 native beasts, I'll only gain 20 hours of time. But I can't even find one so far."
Varian stopped on a high cliff formed by frozen sand and looked at the endless sand sea in confusion.
"I should've covered a thousandth of the planet's surface area already. But I didn't even encounter a single challenger."
Things were not well, to put it mildly.
To gain at least 24 hours of survival hours, Varian would need to hunt down at least one rank 2 challengers in addition to five rank 3 native beasts.
But he found neither so far.
Varian turned to the sky and squinted at the dim dots in the space. "Should I search other planets in the star system?"
Perhaps this planet had no hope for him. Maybe there weren't many challengers here and were all somewhere else.
"Or maybe…" Varian's thoughts spun and he gaze down at the sand. His gaze grew serious and the aura around him fluctuated. "They're not up but…"
An invisible barrier of space enveloped him and Varian's matter power separated the sand under his feet.
As it looked like the sea of sands parted, Varian jumped in.
The sand around him crashed onto the space barrier and almost cracked it open. But Varian quickly used his other powers and held on.
Exactly after ten minutes of falling and a hundred miles of transversing, Varian found himself in a rich forest that looked like it was from another world.
The only telling that he was still on or to be precise, in the planet, was the small rain of sand from the sky.
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