The bottom of the crater was even harder to traverse than the ridge he was previously on.
The ground was a mess of jagged cracks, small craters and rocks that hovered a few inches off the dirt, vibrating with leftover mana as if the ground was still dealing with some sort of aftershock.
Verso pushed forward, keeping his eyes peeled towards the center of the pit.
'This is completely different from what we learned.' He thought.
In his classes he was taught that the Shattered Wilds was a completely controlled environment.
There was supposed to be a massive stone staircase leading down the ridge that connected to a paved pathway which stretched all the way to the distant castle.
All of which existed because humans had spent years taming the real dungeon, making it easy for students to access.
But here, there was nothing. No stairs, no paths, literally nothing that would suggest a human had ever set foot on this soil.
This place was a version of the Shattered Wilds that was completely wild and untouched.
Verso wasn't even ten percent of the way to the center when he spotted his first target.
He quickly dropped onto the ground crouching and then sliding behind a large floating boulder. As he slowly moved and looked around the edge of the stone looking at his target.
'Minor Stone Golem.'
The beast stood about six feet tall, built entirely from the same grey jagged rocks that littered the crater.
Its body was held together by an invisible force and glowing blue runes were etched deep into its stony chest and limbs.
Verso reached into his mind and manifested the cleaver form of the Nameless Skeleton. In a flash of white light something appeared in Verso's hand as he held a large ivory cleaver.
He gripped the leather handle tightly as he took a second to scan the area to confirm whether the golem was alone.
Once he was sure there were no other runes glowing in the shadows, he thought back to his combat classes.
'All Minor Golems should have a mana stone on their head.'
He looked at the golem's face or what he could call it's face as a bright blue crystal was embedded right in the center of its forehead.
'All I have to do is destroy that, and the whole thing falls apart.'
Verso had been a top ranked student at the school for a reason. He had years of experience with practice weapons because of which he felt a surge of confidence right now.
All he needed to do was be fast.
He watched the golem's slow, mechanical movements for a few minutes and as soon as the beast turned its back to him he made his move.
'Now!'
Verso dashed out from behind the boulder. He kept his body low to the ground as his boots barely making a sound on the dry earth.
He closed the distance in seconds, ready to drive the cleaver into the back of the golem's head but just as he reached striking distance, the golem's runes flared bright blue.
It suddenly spun around with impossible speed as its stone eyes locked onto Verso.
'It sensed me!'
The golem didn't hesitate as it swung its massive stone fist in a horizontal arc. Even though in the textbooks the golems were described as slow and predictable, but this punch was a complete blur.
Verso reacted on his instinct as he ducked, the wind from the heavy fist went over his head. He didn't stop moving, quickly lunging to the left and swinging the cleaver in an upward slash.
CRACK!
The bone blade bit deep into the golem's rocky shoulder its sharpness coming as no surprise.
With a sickening crunch the cleaver sliced right through the stone, sending the golem's arm flying across the crater.
The golem didn't flinch over losing its arm as it did not feel pain. It immediately tried to strike with its remaining arm but Verso was already ahead of it rolling beneath the swing before popping up behind the beast in one smooth movement.
He didn't give the beast a chance to turn again as he brought the cleaver down in a massive horizontal swing.
SHATTER!
The ivory blade cut through the golem's neck like it was made of clay. The massive stone head popped off and hit the ground with a heavy thud, rolling just a few feet away.
Verso didn't relax as he saw the headless body was already shifting with the golem readying its remaining arm for another strike.
'It's not dead yet!'
He ignored the body and lunged for the head on the ground. The blue mana stone was exposed and was glowing frantically as if trying to reconnect with the torso.
Verso didn't waste a single movement. Raising the cleaver high and driving it down with the point of the blade stabbing right through the crystal.
TING!
The stone instantly shattered into a thousand tiny blue particles.
Instantly, the glowing runes on the golem's body went dark as the force holding the rocks together vanished. One by one, the boulders that made up the golem's chest and legs fell to the ground.
Verso stood over the pile of rocks with his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
'I guess this space doesn't prevent me from getting exhausted.'
[Ding!]
Suddenly the familiar system sound echoed in his head.
[Primitive Beast Slain: Minor Stone Golem.]
[Attribute Crystal Dropped.]
"What?"
Verso's eyes went wide as a huge smile broke across his face.
"No way!"
He dropped to his knees and started digging through the pile of grey stones and after a few seconds his fingers brushed against something smooth and warm.
He pulled it out, holding it up to the pink light of the sky.
It was a blue, translucent crystal the size of his palm. It shimmered with an deep light and as Verso focused on it a small window appeared floating next to the crystal.
[Attribute Crystal: Strength 9]
Verso's heart hammered against his ribs. He knew how rare these attribute crystals were. Usually, you would have to kill dozens of golems to see a single one drop but he had just received one from his first kill.
"My luck couldn't get any better!"
He clutched the crystal tight. He had only been in the simulated Realm for ten minutes and he had already found his way to bridge the gap between him and others!