The wine was still touching his lips when the cold, metallic chime of the system sliced through the air.
[Ding! Daily Quest "Preparations to Become Strong" Failed!]
Seth choked on the wine and looked around like he was searching for a hidden camera.
"What…?" he muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Hold on, I did my part… okay, maybe I skipped the push-ups, the running, and… everything else, but that's no reason to—"
[You will be teleported to the Punishment Zone! Survive 4 hours in the Desert!]
"Desert…?"
The world around him shattered like glass in slow motion. The golden chandeliers, the linen-covered table, the soft sound of violins — all of it crumbled to nothing.
FOOM!
Seth was launched into a dimensional spiral, spinning like a stone in a sandstorm.
When he came to—
The heat.
The heat was insane.
The golden sunlight was so intense it felt like a divine spotlight trying to incinerate him. Dry winds carried fine particles that cut like needles. Dunes stretched into the horizon like a cruel ocean of endless sand.
Seth collapsed to his knees, sinking in up to his shins. He coughed. Sand in his teeth. His shirt clung to his body with sweat in seconds.
"She's gonna kill me…" he spat out grit and dragged himself to a hot rock, trying to cast some shade with his own body. "I literally just drank wine! That should count as emotional recovery, not physical punishment!"
[Environment: Scorching Desert of Kandelerah][Temperature: 67°C][Penalty Duration: 4 hours][Objective: Survive. There are no rewards. Only pain.]
He lay flat on his back, arms spread like a martyr of someone else's stupidity.
"Perfect… four hours here… I'm gonna be even more tanned…" he muttered, glancing at his own skin.
[Monster presence detected.]
An even more intense wave of heat burst around him. The air shimmered like molten glass.
Seth closed his eyes, muttering with bitter irony, "Never again will I ignore the system because of a hot girl wanting to hook up. Mental note taken."
But then…
Something moved.
Dragging. Slithering.
Seth cracked one eye open. Something was approaching through the dunes, leaving a deep and uneven trail.
[Danger Detected: "Infernal Sand Worm" (Rank D)]
From the blistering belly of the desert, a colossal creature burst from the surface. Its body was armored in rocky plates, its skin cracked like burnt leather, and its mouth — a swirling tunnel of jagged teeth — opened with a guttural roar like the sound of the end of the world.
Seth jumped to his feet, eyes wide.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The worm charged like a runaway underground train, carving deep trenches through the sand, sending waves of heat and dread ahead of it.
Seth spun on his heel and ran. No plan. Just panic.
"This is 'cause I skipped the push-ups, isn't it?! I SWEAR I'LL DO 300 WHEN I GET OUT!"
[Stats reduced by 25% due to heat exhaustion][Movement speed impaired][Dehydration detected]
His body felt heavier, as if the sun itself was trying to drag him to the ground. His muscles screamed, his lungs burned.
He tripped, rolled down a sandy hill, slammed his shoulder, half-buried himself in a dune, and spat out grains as hot as coals. Panting, he tore off his shirt and improvised a turban to shield his head.
"DAMN FITNESS SYSTEM!!!" he growled, shaking sand from his eyes.
Behind him, the worm burst from the sand with violent force, launching a dense cloud into the sky. Seth spun in the air, landing with feline precision — sweaty, filthy, and dangerously pissed off.
Then… something glimmered.
A pulse of energy ran down his spine like a shock. The sand beneath his feet seemed to freeze for a heartbeat. A muffled sound echoed inside his mind.
[Skill 'End' adapting to hostile environment][Survival conduct detected][Activating "Survival Mode" — Temporary Strength +20%][New emerging skill unlocked: "Escape Instinct" (Rank E)]
Seth's body surged with strange energy. His senses expanded; time itself seemed to slow. He could hear every grain of sand shifting beneath the monster's armor plates. His heart pounded — not with fear, but with clarity.
"You've gotta be kidding… this is real?" he whispered, half-laughing. "Escape Instinct? This is like... coward mode God-tier?"
But then he grinned.
That kind of grin.
The grin of someone who survived when they weren't supposed to. The kind that makes even the desert second-guess itself.
"Come on, worm. I'm not in the mood to be lunch today," Seth growled with a half-smile, eyes squinting from the sun and sand, his body crackling with faint electric pops.
Blue sparks crawled across his arms and legs, dancing like frenzied lightning serpents. His feet touched the ground — and vanished. He became a blur of light, gliding between dunes like a wild streak of energy.
The desert became a trailing cloud of dust behind him, each footstep vibrating the sand beneath.
'Its name is red...' he thought, the HUD floating at the edge of his vision. 'That means I'm screwed. Like, stupid-level screwed. That monster is Rank D... maybe worse. But if I find a way... a trap, a mistake, a weak point... I can do it.'
He gritted his teeth, dodging a burst of sand that exploded to his right. The creature wouldn't let up — it could sense him even without sight.
KROOOOKK!!!
A subterranean roar echoed with a deep, guttural vibration, like thunder trapped beneath stone.
Seth froze for a split second. That sound... it didn't come from the worm behind him.
He twisted mid-air, landing on his back down a dune, sliding with his feet dug into the hot sand. His heart raced.
"No…"
KROOORKK!!!
Veins of sand started to tremble ahead. First one, then two… cracks forming like scars across the desert. Dunes collapsed, the surface shaking like the beat of ancient drums.
"No, no, no…" he muttered, eyes darting side to side.
Then, an explosion.
Sand erupted like a furious geyser. A second worm emerged — even larger than the first — its thick plates hissing in the wind like steel armor.
"Oh, come on…" Seth barely had time to breathe.
Another roar.
KRRROOOORRRKKK!
Another.
KROOOOOORK!
One… two… six… ten.
Columns of sand began erupting across the horizon. It was as if the ground itself was being shredded. Creatures emerged, their blind, hunger-filled eyes focused only on instinct.
Seth spun in place, eyes wide, and the only words he could choke out through a nervous laugh were:
"Holy shit…"
The sky suddenly felt more oppressive. The sunlight was cruel. And he... alone, sweaty, dehydrated, exhausted… was surrounded by at least ten Infernal Sand Worms.
An army of rotating maws, sharpened plates, and blind fury.
And in the middle of the scorching desert, the system chimed in with its usual calm:
[Survival: Time Remaining - 3h47min]
Seth huffed, looked up at the sky as if expecting something to fall and save him.
"Three hours and forty-seven minutes, huh? Fine… I'll dance with these sand dinosaurs until then."
His eyes sparked with raw energy. The electric mode surged, and the sparks turned to full-blown lightning.
"But if someone's listening up there…" he muttered, kicking the sand as he squared his stance, muscles coiled tight. "I owe you push-ups. Not a damn funeral."
And then he ran.
Again.