Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

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Exeter

Insectoid, male, 0 years old

Combat Class: Elite Bug Warrior - Lv51

Skill slots: 3 / 3

Health: 1140 / 1140

Stamina: 1260 / 1260

Mana: 420 / 420

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Kset's level 51 may not seem high, but it is still one level higher than Jiang Ran.

A higher level not only means an increase in level, but also means one more skill than Jiang Ran.

Generally speaking, without considering the skills that come with the equipment, having one more skill will undoubtedly give you a greater advantage in battle.

Jiang Ran can be an extraordinary existence because he has acquired a lot of additional skills in production, manufacturing professions and equipment.

Facing an enemy of a higher rank than himself, Jiang Ran returned to his usual caution. Not only was he on guard against the three unknown skills of Cosette, he was also very wary of the eye pattern on the inside of this guy's wing armor.

(If that's not a decorative or intimidating pattern, then it's probably a psychic skill.)

For safety reasons, Jiang retreated a few steps, then threw out the Yama Knight Sword and summoned a shadow clone, which fought with Cosette.

The shadow clone followed the order and rushed forward to launch a fierce attack as soon as it appeared!

Cosette raised his arm and tried to block the attack with his exoskeleton shell, but unexpectedly his arm was cut off by the sword of the Yama Knight.

After losing his arm, Cosette retreated repeatedly, and the shadow clone chased him closely, cutting several shallow wounds on his body.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Cosette flapped its wings and took off rapidly, spraying insect eggs shining with red light from its tail at the same time. However, the shadow clone was faster and braver than the others. It jumped up directly against the explosion of the insect eggs, and then cut off Cosette's insect wings with a sword in mid-air.

At this point in the battle, both Cosette and the shadow clone were in a falling state in the air, unable to move. The shadow clone was about to launch an additional attack, but he could not exert force in the air, and Cosette seized the opportunity and grabbed his hands and feet, making him unable to move.

Then, Cosette unfolded the wing armor on his back, and the pair of eye patterns that appeared on the inside of the wing armor suddenly emitted an orange light, continuously illuminating the shadow clone until the shadow clone became limp and gave up resistance.

Then, Cosette exerted force suddenly, grabbed the hands and feet of the shadow clone and tore them apart in one breath, then threw the body into the air, venting his pleasure after victory!

But what Cosette didn't expect was that the pieces of body thrown into the air also included the Yama Knight Sword. The human boy who appeared above him at some point grabbed the sword and slashed it down from the air, splitting him in two as he landed on the ground, ending his life.

·

(It's a Psychic skill after all. I was right to keep it in reserve.)

Jiang Ran shook off the green insect fluid on the sword blade, retreated a few steps and waited for the next round of battle.

Watching Cosette's body turn into black smoke and return to the magic circle, and watching the text information in the sky change step by step, Jiang Ran gradually realized that something was wrong with his current situation.

(Something's weird... this rhythm is too comfortable.)

Looking back at the three rounds of battles, although it was the enemy who provoked first, as long as Jiang Ran did not initiate the attack, the enemy would not initiate the fight.

At first glance, this seems to be a delaying move so that Jiang Ran can get less reward in 999 seconds. But on the other hand, if Jiang Ran deliberately did not take action in the first round of battle, what would be the result?

(When the 999 seconds are up, will I pass the Advanced Trial with a "0 reward" result?)

(If that's the case, then judging by the difficulty of passing the trial alone, isn't this advancement trial from level 2 to level 3 too easy?)

No matter how he thought about it, Jiang Ran felt that it was impossible for him to pass so easily.

The high death rate in purple trials at all stages is the best proof of this.

Since it's not possible to get '0 rewards', how many 'reward levels' should be sufficient to pass the trial?

Is it enough to win at least one game, or is there a specific level requirement?

According to the current situation where the enemy's strength increases by one level with every victory, Jiang Ran's next battle will be a difficult one, and the next battle against a fifth-level enemy will be a life-and-death battle.

Should I seize the time to defeat more enemies, or just give up and wait for the countdown to end?

Will continuing to fight and strive like I am now actually push myself into the abyss of failure?

What exactly is the "real passing condition" of this trial?

Thinking of this, Jiang Ran felt a chill on his back.

The test he faces now is the exact opposite of the test in the first stage.

The "person" who designed this trial from the second level to the third level is definitely a master of extremely perverted psychological torture!

·

While Jiang Ran was lost in painful thought, the giant black magic circle continued to perform its duties, bringing the next stage of insect eggs to the surface on time.

This time, the eggs grew even larger, reaching a full three or four meters in diameter. They began to shake as soon as they landed, undoubtedly indicating that the "big guy" inside couldn't wait to come out...

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Current Challenge Level: 4

Reward Level: 3

Time remaining: 973 seconds

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[img=675,1200]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/02/724cd9bf-1249-4b8d-97e4-518961d53d16.jpg[/img]

8.33 - Jiang Ran's Answer

(Do you want to fight, or just give up?)

(Should I... continue fighting?)

Looking at the enemy about to break out of its shell, Jiang Ran was troubled by the mystery of the trial and had no intention of going to war with it.

Because he didn't know what the minimum required 'challenge level' was, he didn't dare lie down;

Because he wants higher-level rewards, he always wants to challenge the next level of difficulty;

The two contradictory concepts continued to collide in Jiang Ran's heart, ultimately making it difficult for him to think and fight normally.

This kind of psychological torture is a "new type of attack" that Jiang Ran has never encountered since coming to the Prison Star World.

However, time waits for no one. Regardless of whether Jiang Ran has figured it out or not, the hatching of the giant insect eggs is already underway.

With a crisp sound of shattering, Jiang Ran's opponent in the fourth round smashed the eggshell from the inside and stood in front of Jiang Ran with a fierce look in his eyes.

After three rounds of advancement, the insect man Cosette has now reached the fourth level. His physique is taller than last time, and his height is estimated to be more than three meters. His body structure has further developed towards that of an insect monster.

On Cosette's current head, the once large horns of a longhorn split into a pair of reverse-angled wing horns, seemingly degenerating from weapons into decorations;

The original three pairs of forelimbs have now been reduced to a pair of thick and powerful mantis hook arms. In contrast, his lower body has been completely "insectized", with three pairs of strong hook legs growing on the sturdy and stable "chassis". It is estimated that his sprinting speed should not be underestimated.

In addition to these, Cosette's original two pairs of membrane wings are still on his back, but judging from the size of the wings, his flying ability seems to have weakened or degenerated.

Overall, after this advancement, Cosette's ground combat capabilities were enhanced, but as a price, its flying capabilities were weakened, and it seemed that it no longer had the means to carry out mental attacks.

[img=700,738]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/02/6ee52f67-9df7-4941-b4ee-f131bab48c66.jpg[/img]

[Image source is from the Internet, please delete if infringed]

At this moment, Cosette stood up and made a sharp hissing sound towards Jiang Ran with his mouthparts. Combined with the twitching movement of his hands, he should be provoking Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran stood there and watched, without any reaction.

He was still thinking about the rules of the trial and had no intention of accepting the challenge.

(It's a provocation, just to see what this guy will do if I don't take action.)

Jiang Ran raised his head and glanced at the countdown in the sky. The time was decreasing second by second.

More than nine hundred seconds may sound like a short time, but when converted into minutes it is as much as fifteen or sixteen minutes.

Unless the battle develops into a chase or a war of attrition, generally speaking, even a battle of equal strength will not last more than five minutes.

Therefore, the remaining time is enough for Jiang Ran to fight three more games. According to the rule that the enemy's strength will increase by one level after each round, Jiang Ran will not be able to defeat the enemy after three games.

Therefore, there is more than enough time.

·

"Brother, don't just provoke me and not do anything. If you want to fight, come over here quickly."

Jiang Ran waited for ten seconds and found that Ksette only continued to provoke him and had no intention of launching an attack.

So Jiang Ran sat down and launched a counter-provocation, but Kesette was completely indifferent.

In a blink of an eye, another ten seconds passed, and Jiang Ran and Kesette were still staring at each other peacefully.

At this point, Jiang Ran was basically certain that as long as he didn't reveal his intention to attack, Ksette wouldn't enter combat mode, and they could just keep "looking at each other affectionately" until the countdown ended.

In that case, Jiang Ran simply decided to think through the mystery of this trial first. There was plenty of time anyway, and it wouldn't be too late to start the fight after he had figured it out.

(Yes, you can only get a small reward at most, but it’s better than failing and dying.)

·

After making the decision, Jiang Ran suddenly felt a lot more relaxed.

In fact, he is not afraid of difficulties, but he is afraid of not being able to find a way to solve the difficulties.

Jiang Ran believed that in order to understand the rules of the trial, the key was to go back and think about the words on the stone pillar.

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"Insatiable desires and unrestrained pursuits"

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(The desire to embezzle is never satisfied, and the ambition to greed has no limit...)

(This sentence is advising people not to be too greedy, to know when to stop and be content.)

After re-examining this sentence, Jiang Ran asked himself two questions. The first question was:

"What is my purpose in entering the trial?"

And his answer was very clear, his purpose was to pass the trial.

Therefore, any desire other than "passing the trial" can be classified as greed.

If Jiang Ran fails to pass the trial due to greed, it means that his greedy ambition has backfired on him.

The second question Jiang Ran asked himself was:

"Am I greedy now? What am I greedy for?"

Jiang Ran raised his head and looked at the sky. What made him start to become abnormal was actually the concept of "reward level".

Because he was worried about missing out on the rewards that he was supposed to get, he couldn't let the countdown go on in vain, and he was unwilling to believe the possibility of "passing the trial without even fighting a single battle."

So, the answer to this trial is to not be greedy for rewards and just lie down... right?

Jiang Ran pondered this for a while and felt that the answer wasn't that simple. He thought, "Wanting to pass the trial without fighting at all? Isn't that just another form of greed?"

And if it were really that simple, the nearly 100% mortality rate of the Purple Trial would be difficult to justify.

After thinking for a long time, Jiang Ran seemed to be back to the starting point, but this time he kept his composure. Without being anxious or impatient, he finally simplified the complex and came up with an answer that belonged only to him.

·

Jiang Ran's final answer was actually very simple, which was to "do his best."

If you reluctantly challenge high difficulty for better rewards, it is undoubtedly greed. If you choose to lie down out of fear or to take shortcuts, it is also an excessive greed.

"Make efforts in an orderly manner and receive corresponding rewards" - perhaps this is the "golden mean" that this trial wants to test the challengers.

This seemingly simple truth is actually not practiced by many people, because the world is always full of various temptations, making people want to be rich and get something for nothing.

The fact that Jiang Ran took so long to come up with this answer is the best proof that the "Golden Mean" is difficult to practice.

·

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

Jiang Ran stood up and re-examined the enemy in front of him.

He asked himself, do he have enough chances of winning against this fourth-order, level 91 Ksette?