Chapter 10 - The end of training.

Jamaal began to trek back to the battlefield, sword in hand. The explosion had launched him extremely far, at least two miles away from where he had been previously.

He looked around, surprised at how far he had been blown away by his fireball. The boy didn't ponder too much, it being quite a painful event after all. He quietly made his way to where the last worm previously had been. That was until he heard a rumble underneath the earth, quickly pausing as he waited for the right moment to make his move and attack.

"Rumble..." The earth began to crack and shudder, gradually starting to cave-in as tunnels created by the worm loosened the rocks and causing slight depressions to appear in the flat terrain.

"BOOM!" The scaly, long worm appeared quickly, shooting out from its natural abode, rocks clattering around as it glared at the boy who had killed his friend.

Jamaal only stared back, no emotion apparent in his eyes, face, or anywhere. He calmly gripped his sword, lowered his body and shot forward, sprinting as fast as he could. Ready to attack, ready to kill.

The worm charged at him in response. To which Jamaal narrowly dodged the creature and ran in the opposite direction the earthworm had charged. Stabbing his sword into the creature with as much strength as he could, knowing it would not work. However, this time, Jamaal decided to use fireball and shrink it to the size of a ping-pong ball. Then he would place it on the tip of his sword and stab, which was what he was doing.

"Bang!" The fireball quickly exploded, causing a hole large enough for the sword to enter through to appear. Jamaal took this opportunity to start cutting through the beast's scales a severe gash appearing. Unfortunately, the sword only managed to cut through a bit more of the flesh before there was not enough force to carry it through the whole way. However, it was enough to injure the worm.

[20 Damage]

"SCREECH!" It screeched out in pain, blood covering the sword and endlessly escaping through the injury.

[You have inflicted the effect 'Bleed'. The worm will lose four hp every 30 seconds.]

It was the first time Jamaal had seen that effect, and the creatures he had previously attacked never had it, that's why he decided to place a mental note to check up on this.

He pulled out the sword, rolling to the side and glancing at the worm, it had retreated a bit and began to circle Jamaal, seemed it could adapt, well, this one could.

"The other one... Was it more strength-based?" He wondered, perhaps even within the same species, there would be a separation and variety of different attributes, like humans. Well, there was usually a variety in a species's members, but in supernatural cases mostly not. To him anyways,

"I've got to kill this worm quickly and cleanly... If I keep going to such low health every time, I could easily get killed by a bird!" Jamaal thought, glancing at the creature.

The beast dived into the earth, going deeper and deeper till Jamaal could not hear any vibrations. The boy listened for any sounds since there was nothing else he could do. Yet nothing, just nature's sounds that stayed forever within this world.

He thought about the possible moves the worm could make and stabbed his sword into the dirt below him, waiting. If he was incorrect, he could go through some deadly injuries. If his prediction had been correct, then this fight would be in his favour.

Suddenly, the rumbling began once more, this time incredibly loud and close. The worm appeared nearby and charged at the boy, craving for his flesh and meat.

Unfortunately, the boy had brought out his sword from the ground and slashed it downwards, using a fireball to destroy the worm and burn out its life.

[Ding! You have defeated a Giant Earthworm!]

[Ding! You have earned 60 Exp from the Giant Earthworm!]

He then pulled out his sword and put it back into his inventory, staring at the worm's body as he began to leave the Training World.

Jamaal then let out a breath, quickly leaving the training world to see the Continent of Tanzania.

Breathing in the air, he looked at the scenery and decided to relax. Slowly making his way through the forest as he planned his next move. Inwardly wanting a break, a long one, he was growing tired of nearly dying, or dying, suffering so much.

He listened to the birds singing, such simple lives they had, a vast difference between his.

So he decided to take up the system on its offer.

"Hey, system? Give me a break from this world, four days, that's what I want, please?"

There was a small silent moment before it replied.

[Sure. When shall it start?]

Jamaal thought about it and answered hesitantly.

"Now? Can we?" He leaned against a tree, waiting for a reply.

[Sure.]

Immediately darkness fell, and for the first time in a long time, Jamaal had a dreamless night.