Task

Ignoring the urge to ponder the system display, Wang Ji quickly scanned his surroundings.

This was a dilapidated small building, filled with rubble, weeds, and vines everywhere. The doors and windows were all shattered.

Wang Ji tightened his grip on his combat blade and carefully crept to the window to peer outside. There was quite a commotion out there.

"Hm?"

Outside, a young martial artist was locked in combat with a monster that resembled a wild boar.

It's a Steel-Bristle Pig! A low-level soldier-class monster! High defense, immense strength! Its short-range charge speed is nothing to sneeze at, either! Its only weakness is a lack of agility! Information on the Steel-Bristle Pig surfaced in Wang Ji's mind.

Wang Ji was a high school senior, and the General Monster Knowledge course was mandatory; it accounted for 60 points on the college entrance exam, comparable to biology scores before the Great Cataclysm. In today's society, becoming a martial artist was the dream of every teenager. Wang Ji's predecessor had harbored the same dream, though he hadn't had much time to train daily, only reaching a punch force of just over 500kg by age 17—barely crossing the threshold of an intermediate trainee.

At least I'm a transmigrator! At least I have this golden finger! I will definitely rise to the top! I will! The former corporate slave and loser steeled his resolve.

"Boom!" The battle between the Steel-Bristle Pig and the martial artist was intense! Fragments of old concrete and debris flew across the ground!

Wang Ji could barely keep up with the speed of their fight! They were simply too strong! Both their speed and power were more than double his own!

Half a minute later, "Boom!"

Wang Ji stared wide-eyed at the scene outside.

"Actually... actually..."

The martial artist's blade had been driven horizontally into the Steel-Bristle Pig's chest through the soft spot of its neck! But the martial artist's head had also been viciously struck by the pig's tusks!

It was a mutual destruction! They had both perished!

Was the martial artist's combat experience too green? Or had he been careless at the final moment? Wang Ji hadn't seen it clearly!

When Wang Ji looked at the martial artist's head, the familiar dent and the familiar cracks came into view!

"It's it! It's this helmet!" Wang Ji felt a jolt! It was his damaged helmet! Was this young man the original owner of the damaged helmet? The young man's eyes were already glazing over, and a mixture of red and white fluid was trickling down his helmet.

Perhaps it was a final flash of clarity before death; in his last moment, his eyes regained focus and he saw Wang Ji hiding in the window. After an unintelligible phrase, "Please...@#&...", his eyes dimmed forever!

Wang Ji was still in a state of inexplicable shock! He had always treated this dungeon as a game. But seeing the young man's flickering and then extinguished gaze, and looking at that damaged helmet, he felt a wave of doubt!

This was a real scene! Even if it wasn't happening now, it was a scene that had truly occurred at some point in the past!

During the half-minute Wang Ji spent stunned, another beastly roar echoed. Immediately, an agile figure stepped lightly onto a tree trunk and landed without a sound.

"Damn! It's a Shadow Cat!" This was a monster the size of a leopard! Dark gray all over, skilled at ambushes, and fast—a monster even more troublesome for low-level martial artists than the Steel-Bristle Pig!

Before Wang Ji could even hide, the Shadow Cat sensed something. As it drew closer, it spotted him!

"Swish!" A tearing pain! Wang Ji's blade didn't even touch the Shadow Cat before its claws slashed across his throat!

"Damn it!" Wang Ji screamed as he woke up on his bedroom bed. He touched his neck in terror; thankfully, it was still there!

It seemed that death in the dungeon space didn't mean physical death, but it was terrifying! Wang Ji would never forget the fear of death in that instant.

Wang Ji gulped down a few mouthfuls of cold water until he slowly calmed down. He hardened his heart. "Enter!"

"Roar!"

Wang Ji carefully lay by the window to watch. This time, he began to notice a few things. Although the young martial artist was fighting the Steel-Bristle Pig intensely, he clearly lacked adaptability, barely dodging at the last second several times!

Lack of agility! Although the Steel-Bristle Pig also lacks agility, at least its short-range charge speed is decent, not to mention the innate predatory instincts of a beast. The young martial artist was already losing ground!

Wang Ji recalled the young man's final gaze and desperately wanted to save him, but the speed and power of both combatants were beyond his reach! Wang Ji was just a weakling who had barely passed the 500kg punch force of an intermediate trainee! If he went out there, he'd be killed in seconds!

Half a minute later, "Boom!"

The young trainee put his all into driving his blade into the Steel-Bristle Pig's chest, but in the beast's final death throes, he was struck in the helmet by its tusks! This strike, a violent blow from a two-ton Steel-Bristle Pig, was too much for the Kro Alloy helmet to withstand, instantly denting it by the size of an egg! Two long cracks also split across the helmet!

The young martial artist's eyes dimmed...

Now is the time! Wang Ji steeled himself and suddenly rushed out!

With his intermediate trainee abilities, how could he kill a monster? It was impossible!

Only now was there a chance!

The Steel-Bristle Pig wasn't dead yet, but it had suffered a fatal wound. Only now could he seize the opportunity to kill the monster!

The young martial artist looked at the rushing Wang Ji and muttered something, but Wang Ji ignored it completely, sprinting to the combat zone and pulling the blade from the pig's chest.

"Damn! So heavy!" At least 40 kilograms! But luckily, Wang Ji wasn't the weakling he had been in his past life. The Steel-Bristle Pig still had the strength to struggle, but Wang Ji went berserk, hacking down hard with the blade!

"Squelch!" The blade bit into the pig's neck, but only by a dozen centimeters!

"Awoo!" The Steel-Bristle Pig struggled violently, trying to attack Wang Ji. Wang Ji's eyes remained clear; with a surge of focus, he thrust the blade forward again and again! Finally, he drove it into the same wound he had just made in the pig's neck!

Although it was the same wound, the angle was different; Wang Ji intentionally aimed for the heart. Finally, after a few violent struggles, the Steel-Bristle Pig twitched and went still.

Wang Ji couldn't dodge in time, and his left arm was grazed; it instantly felt as if it had snapped, losing all strength.

"Finally..."

"Roar!"

"What!" Wang Ji swung his blade!

"Squelch!" A dark gray shadow flashed by. Amidst a tearing pain, Wang Ji's vision went black, and he instantly sat up in his bedroom bed again!

"Damn it! I forgot about that Shadow Cat!"

"Ding! Current dungeon, monsters slain: 1/3; mission assessment incomplete!

Mission reward: Essence Source x1"

Essence Source? What is that? Wang Ji's mind stirred, and a shimmering particle appeared in his hand. A strange sense of enlightenment washed over him; with a thought, the particle merged into the flesh of his palm.

A wave of intense, pleasurable relief surged through him, but before Wang Ji could even savor it, it vanished without a trace, leaving only a lingering sensation of lightness and vitality in his body. Is this... something that enhances physical constitution?

Wang Ji pondered, attempting to explore other possibilities. A moment later, a translucent, pale blue virtual interface unfolded before his eyes.

"Name: Wang Ji

Age: 17

Strength: 540kg

Speed: 17m/s

Neural Reflex: Primary Warrior - Unqualified"

It was a simple interface, with no stat points or other special abilities.

Still, Wang Ji was quite satisfied with this! At the very least, he finally had a stat panel! Wang Ji remembered that the last time he tested his punch strength, it was 530kg, so... did one point of Essence Source add 10kg of punch strength?

"Again! I must clear this dungeon! I'll fight until dawn!"