Sleeping was hard for Lan. He had never particularly enjoyed it, owing to the fact that most of his dreams were plagued by visions of things he couldn''t have. Money, a family, a childhood. He had always kind of wanted a dog, but that wasn''t possible. Not for him.


    And when he would wake, and his desires disappeared into the night, leaving him with the harsh reality of his life, Lan always felt empty. Almost like he had been cheated by his own imagination.


    He supposed that it wasn''t dreaming he hated.


    Lan hated waking up.


    This time when he awoke, it was no different.


    The train rocked like it had been hit by a missile, tipping off the rails on one side and swaying precariously towards the chasm.


    "What the hell was that?" Lan was dumped out of the doorway and onto the tracks, receiving a familiar notification.


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    <td style="width: 99.052%">Warning, the driver must be on the train while it is in motion!</td>


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    He picked himself up off the track, thanking his superhuman endurance for curbing most of the injuries he would have gotten.


    About fifty metres ahead, the train had ground to a halt, with clouds of smoke rising from its protesting breaks.


    Beside the train, a dark shadow loomed large, battering the side of the huge vehicle. Each time it slammed its body into the carriage, the train shook, and metal screeched as it resisted the immense strain.


    Lan started to run towards the figure, getting a better idea of what was going on as he did so.


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    <td style="width: 99.052%">Lvl: 18 Skoliki Champion</td>


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    He wasn''t sure if this beast was a challenge sent to him by his opponent or something that had happened upon him by chance, but experience was experience all the same.


    Since he had already beaten a level 20 monster with ridiculous abilities, Lan was confident he could take a giant worm.


    Which is exactly what the Skoliki Champion was. A worm the likes of which Lan had never even imagined.


    It looked like a mixture between a maggot and a shark that had been carved from crystal. Its body was divided into bulbous sections, each with its own fins that ended in sharp hooks. On one end of its body was a tail like a fish, and on the other was a mouth with more teeth than it could possibly use.


    Even beside the huge steam train, the Skoliki looked big, towering over the tracks in an ominous shadow.


    Compared to the other worms, Lan noticed that it looked less fragile.


    It didn''t seem to have noticed him yet, too busy battering the train and trying to throw it off the tracks. So Lan jumped up and grabbed a lantern from the ceiling. He had left his other one in the train''s cabin and didn''t have time to sneak in and get it.


    He unhooked the lantern and glanced over at the giant worm, wondering how he should go about this. After sleeping briefly, he felt refreshed, and his mind worked smoother than it had earlier that day.


    ''In hindsight, it was a little careless to avoid delaying the other guy... But I''m confident I can take this thing out quick enough. Besides, he probably had to waste a bunch of time doing the challenge, giving me an even bigger lead,''


    To test the waters, Lan snuck up behind the worm, although he wasn''t exactly sure where that was. It had no eyes or face, just a gaping hole filled with teeth.


    The worm paused its assault on the train when Lan got within ten metres of it, whirling around towards him. He barely had time to react before its massive tail slammed into the tracks where he had been standing moments before.


    Its hooked fins gouged deep divots in the stone as though it were butter, and Lan tried not to think about what would happen if he got hit by one of them.


    ''How can it see me?'' He wondered, jumping up and onto the worm''s body. When his feet touched the worm''s smooth, crystalline skin, he realised it felt slightly weird to call it a worm since it wasn''t slimy or soft. The exact opposite, in fact, the crystal beneath his feet felt like it could stop bullets.


    He activated Strengthen on the lantern and bent back, using his whole body to leverage force and swing it over his head. The lantern swung in a wide arc and smashed down on the worm''s smooth carapace, barely making a dent.


    "Huh?" Lan jumped immediately, avoiding being crushed into a paste as the worm rolled over.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Thankfully the lantern wasn''t damaged, but neither was the worm. If he wanted to break its incredibly tough skin, he needed something heavier, something bigger. But there was nothing to use in the tunnel.


    The worm had burrowed out of the rock wall further down the track. But there weren''t any boulders for him to use there. The hole was smooth and without rubble, making it seem as though the worm had swallowed everything...


    "Hm," Lan glanced at its gaping mouth as he dodged another attack, sliding under its sweeping tail.


    For a brief, insane moment, he considered jumping into the worm''s mouth and taking it out from the inside. But he quickly decided that this was one of the worst ideas he had ever had.


    He didn''t have to go in himself. Lan had his lantern.


    While dodging attacks and landing occasional blows to keep the Skoliki distracted from the train, Lan tried to figure out how to turn his lantern into a bomb.


    He understood, in theory, how this should work. Pump the flame full of mana and chuck it inside the worm. But in practice, this was harder to pull off. The worm wasn''t cooperating.


    First, he had to compress the mana and flame together, so that they didn''t explode immediately, which would defeat the purpose of his attack. He already knew the outside of the Skoliki was impervious to fire, so he needed the lantern to explode inside the beast.


    The technique for compressing the fire was somewhat similar to water, but fire was far harder to work with since it was way more volatile than water. If not for his title, he wasn''t sure this would even be possible, but as he kept trying, he saw a glimmer of hope.


    Keeping the worm distracted, while simultaneously trying to concentrate on the lantern was incredibly difficult, but Lan finally managed to create a casing of sorts for the flame. Made entirely of mana and spherical in shape, the flame inside was fuelled solely by Lan''s mana.


    But this was only the beginning. Next, he had to compress the sphere without letting the fire go out. Which wasn''t dissimilar to juggling while spinning a plate.


    Every time he shrunk the sphere down, the flame inside would flicker precariously on the verge of being extinguished. When this happened, Lan''s only choice was to pump more mana in, but he didn''t have an infinite amount, even if he had a hell of a lot.


    Gradually, the glowing ball of fire began to change colour. As it got smaller and more mana was added, it glowed brighter and changed from red to orange.


    When Lan added even more mana and compressed it for the final time he was able, the sphere had shrunk from the size of a watermelon to an apple, and inside, the fire was a ghostly yellow flame.


    Just maintaining the sphere was putting immense pressure on Lan''s mind, and he knew he needed to be quick before the bomb went out of control.


    ''I hope this works,'' Lan thought. Making the sphere had taken longer than he would have liked and used up almost half his mana. He couldn''t afford to make another one, and his only option to beat the worm if this didn''t work, was to try and slowly push it off the edge of the ravine. Something he knew would be challenging considering its enormous size.


    Lan took a deep breath and stopped dodging the worm''s attacks. Its huge tail crashed towards him, and he jumped, landing on the other side of the worm near its head.


    With its mouth open wide, the massive worm launched itself at him, while the jagged teeth within its gaping maw spun like a washing machine full of razor blades.


    Spinning the lantern with the bomb inside around his head like a shotput thrower, Lan released the lantern and ran.


    It sailed into the open mouth, and barely a second after it disappeared down the worm''s throat, it started to breathe fire.


    Yellow flames exploded from the worm''s mouth in a violent wave of heat that cooked the very air it touched.


    Lan just barely managed to dodge the pillar of fire by ducking behind the train and covering the top of his head. His heart was racing as he felt the heat sear the back of his neck. ''Even I would have died if I got hit by that!'' He realised in a mix of excitement and nervousness.


    The train rocked back and forth on the track, the force of the explosion almost blowing it off the rails. Bits of scalding crystal started to rain down on the ledge, and Lan got a new notification from the system.


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    <td style="width: 99.052%">Alert: Killed Lvl: 18 Skoliki Champion - Experience Gained (Bonus due to level difference)</td>


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    ''No level? I suppose It''s only three levels above me, so I can''t expect to level up from just killing that.''


    Lan suddenly had a wave of panic hit him, ''Oh shit! I hope the train wasn''t damaged by that explosion,''


    He ran around the side of the train where the explosion had gone off and froze, staring blankly at the carnage. Bits of the worm''s body were embedded deep into the walls in a crystal, corpse mosaic that documented just how powerful the explosion had been.


    The rock that the yellow flames had touched was glowing softly, on the verge of melting.


    "This... this could be a skill!" Lan realised, trying to remember every aspect of his creation of the bomb. ''If I can repeat it without the lantern as a case, I could throw bombs without a second thought!''


    Somehow, despite the utter destruction of the worm, the tracks and train remained untouched. Lan chalked this up to some Bridge bullshit and left it be. The train was probably indestructible for all he knew.


    With nothing else to do here, Lan jumped back onto the train, and it started up again, continuing deeper into the earth. In the distance, Lan could just about make out a door carved from solid stone. It was so pointlessly massive that he could only picture a giant needing such a thing.


    The first giant.


    ***


    Thea groaned as she waited in the throne room. It had been three hours since she passed the fifth step, and since then, she had been waiting for her final opponent to arrive.


    "Why do we need to wait for a third person?" She asked, "Let''s just fight, you and me! I''m sure I''m gonna win either way,"


    She was standing on a marble podium on the edge of a vast crater. In the centre of the crater was a bubbling pit of magma, and rising from this cauldron of flames was a magnificent throne carved from a single block of obsidian.


    Another girl sat patiently on a nearby pillar with her legs crossed. Over one shoulder, she rested a simple steel sword with no sheath. It was covered in notches and scratches that told tales of many battles. Perhaps what stood out about her most was the school uniform that was still mostly clean. She hadn''t died yet.


    "You know we can''t fight until the third person shows up, so why ask?" She said, her voice steady and stern.


    Her brown hair was short, cut to just above the neck and tied back in a functional ponytail. Everything about her was functional. Even her shirt was tucked into her trousers and her tie was still firmly around her neck.


    "You''re no fun," Thea pouted, "I''m just trying to relieve my boredom with some trash talk,"


    "That''s stupid," The girl said bluntly. "Why would I talk with someone who I will defeat either way?"


    Thea grinned, clapping her hands. "Oh, not bad!"


    The girl paused, "No. That wasn''t-"


    "I''m gonna fuck you up. The sixth step is mine!" Thea shouted over her, licking her lips.


    The girl rolled her eyes and went back to ignoring Thea, but that didn''t stop her from talking.


    "I wonder who our final opponent will be..." Thea mumbled, itching to fight someone, anyone. "Do you think they''ll be strong?"


    "It doesn''t matter." The other girl said quietly, "I''ll win."