Chapter Ten: The Challenge That Shatters the Spirit

Even though his skills would eventually disappear, the benefits Wang Ling had gained in the novice world were already substantial. However, having expended so much effort to reach the final stage, how could he be content to return empty-handed after losing his skills? Gritting his teeth, he declared, "I want to continue the adventure!"

This wasn't a matter of recklessness. Now possessing all of Mario's abilities, along with two spare sets of Fire Flowers and Super Mushrooms, if he didn't dare to take a risk now, he would hardly be living up to his own courage!

"The main quest has changed. The new objective: Defeat King Koopa and rescue Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom."

Stepping out of the transit fortress, Wang Ling found that the sky was not a beautiful azure, but a somber, dark gray, with a heavy, oppressive feel hanging in the air. Beside the barren stone road, there was not a single blade of grass—only towering, spiked cacti.

A black-shelled Buzzy Beetle came rolling toward him. Fireballs had no effect on its iron shell, nor could Mario's stomp do any harm. Unwilling to tangle with such a monster, Wang Ling accelerated, sprinted past, and launched into a super jump, soaring over the beetle's head.

Landing, he immediately unleashed a stream of fireballs, incinerating the line of Goombas trailing behind the beetle, then burned to ash a Piranha Plant rooted in a pipe. After leaping over a series of long, gaping chasms, he spotted a Paratroopa, essentially a Koopa Troopa with two white wings, capable of vertical flight.

The eighth castle teemed with monsters. Were it not for the firepower allowing him to burn enemies from a distance, he would hardly have made it through the first area; after all, his prowess with super jumps and stomps was far from the original Mario’s expertise.

But the greatest danger was not the monsters, but the endless sequence of deadly chasms. After more than an hour, traversing dozens of traps and soaked in cold sweat from tension, Wang Ling finally reached the last platform.

He didn't climb the twelve-meter-high platform, but arrived at the base of the flagpole. Activating his speed boost, and with a seventy percent increase to his jump height, he combined it with a super jump and soared over eight meters, grabbing the middle of the flagpole. The flag, as always, slid down by itself. This jump earned him one thousand universal Dreamspace points and concluded the adventure of Area 1.

Fittingly for a final level, the difficulty of Area 2 surpassed even the first! No sooner had he left the transit fortress than a Lakitu drifted by overhead, and Paratroopas flitted chaotically along the ground. With no time to dispatch the Lakitu, Wang Ling could only run at full tilt. Though he didn’t use the spirit-consuming speed boost, the twenty percent speed increase from his Level 7 skill, combined with his Level 5 basic footwork, kept him moving swiftly.

He dashed, dodging the falling red Spinies from above, firing off fireballs at the incoming Paratroopas, and weaving around the ground’s endless chasms. It was enough to drive him mad! But having come this far, he could only grit his teeth and press on—he even ignored hidden item blocks, focusing all his attention on evasion and fireball attacks.

His nerves taut as a bowstring, Wang Ling sprinted for five full kilometers, when suddenly a jet-black Bullet Bill shot toward him. With a chasm on either side, dodging by jumping was impossible; he had no choice but to take the hit head-on. The Bullet Bill exploded on impact, a violent shockwave erupting in all directions. Yet a burst of white light shielded him from the blast, and he shrank rapidly, returning to his original height of 1.75 meters.

Seizing the one second of invincibility, Wang Ling leapt over the chasm, then immediately retrieved a Super Mushroom from his badge space and ate it. Another Bullet Bill came roaring his way; he rolled to dodge, then activated a Fire Flower. Glancing ahead, he saw a double-barreled cannon with a skull insignia, just as a new shell was being loaded. Without hesitation, he triggered his speed boost and sprinted madly, leaping onto the top of the cannon.

The top of the double-barreled cannon was perfectly safe. Kneeling there, supporting himself with both hands and panting for breath, Wang Ling looked into the distance. Ahead, more cannons fired in relentless succession, and behind, the Lakitu was closing in. A wave of helplessness washed over him.

“Damn it, this is just impossible!”

There was no time to rest. Wang Ling jumped down and kept running, leaping, ducking, even rolling, weaving through the hail of flying shells—it was as if he’d been thrown into a warzone! Several times, the Spinies hurled by the Lakitu nearly impaled him, only for his fireballs to narrowly save him in the nick of time.

At last, after escaping the cannon zone, the difficulty eased. Cautiously jumping over a few more traps, Wang Ling finally reached the platform before the flagpole, and another leap earned him a thousand Dreamspace points. The moment he entered the safety of the transit fortress, he collapsed in exhaustion, not wanting to move a single finger. The ordeal of Area 2 had left him utterly drained in both body and spirit.

He was, after all, just an ordinary high school student—a big kid who enjoyed games and novels—not some elite soldier or assassin with extraordinary mental endurance. This nerve-wracking adventure, as precarious as walking a tightrope, had truly exhausted him.

Recalling the ordeal, Wang Ling felt a lingering fear. Had he been even slightly less focused on dodging shells and shooting down Spinies, he would surely have died.

Lying in the transit fortress, Wang Ling didn't fall asleep. Instead, he pondered something odd: After entering the eighth castle, the Dream Badge had not specified how many skills could be retained upon completing the main quest. Could it be that all of them would be kept? He doubted it. The skills Mario had imparted included not just the six main ones—speed boost, stomp, and so on—but also four foundational skills.

If all ten could be retained, the reward would be far too generous; Dreamspace was never so lavish, even with the increased difficulty.

"Could it be that the final reward depends on my performance in this level?"

A vague premonition stirred in Wang Ling’s heart, but since he couldn’t be sure, he set the thought aside and closed his eyes, silently recalling the monsters and secret passages from the final stage of Super Mario Bros. 1 on his childhood console.

He lay in the transit fortress for over two hours, and once fully recovered, he got up, stretched his body and limbs, then clenched his fists in front of him and encouraged himself: “Let’s go!”

Leaving the safety of the fortress, he advanced into the third area—8-3 in game terms. With no Lakitu raining down Spinies from above and after a good rest, Wang Ling was in better spirits.

But that didn’t mean it would be easier here; this was clear within a hundred meters. In the distance, a double-barreled cannon fired a jet-black shell in his direction—barely begun, and already the cannons appeared!

Thankfully, there was no Lakitu interference. After leaving the cannon zone, Wang Ling saw two large Koopa Troopas standing atop floating bricks ahead—these were the dangerous Hammer Bros!

The Hammer Bros wore hard green shells and green helmets, resembling hunched old men clad in full green armor. They could hurl massive black hammers, each head larger than a football—imagine the horror of being struck! Their throwing rate was extremely high, their arcs covering the area ahead, making it nearly impossible to jump through.

Wang Ling halted more than fifty meters away and raised his arm, firing two fireballs. But the Hammer Bro did something impossible in the game: it sidestepped and dodged!

Watching the fireballs bounce past and disappear against a stone, Wang Ling frowned slightly.

“It seems I’ll have to get closer.”

At about twenty meters away, the Hammer Bro beneath the floating brick suddenly charged at him, flinging black hammers all the while.

Narrowing his eyes, Wang Ling raised his wrist, sending two fireballs ricocheting off the ground. At such close range, the Hammer Bro couldn’t dodge; it was instantly set ablaze, its body engulfed in red flames as it howled in agony.

Unmoved, Wang Ling flung two more fireballs, intensifying the blaze. The Hammer Bro staggered backward under the impact, still desperately throwing hammers, but now out of range.

The other Hammer Bro quickly leapt over to help. Wang Ling tossed a fireball its way, and as it dodged, he suddenly jumped, shooting up five meters into the air before bringing his feet together and dropping down.

With a sickening crack, the Hammer Bro’s head caved in under the force of Mario’s stomp—plus Wang Ling’s own body weight—driving straight down into its neck cavity, a jet of blood spurting forth in a gruesome display.

Its neck was shattered, pulverized! The head, helmet and all, sank down into its chest. The Hammer Bro’s body swayed a few times, then collapsed in defeat.

Mario’s stomp was truly formidable!

The first Hammer Bro, meanwhile, was reduced to ashes in the flames, leaving only its shell, helmet, and a few scattered hammers on the ground. Kicking at them, Wang Ling received a Dream Badge prompt: “Story monster equipment. Cannot be used or carried.” He moved on.

Ahead lay another cannon zone, interspersed with flying Paratroopas, and further on, more Hammer Bros. Wang Ling handled these situations with practiced ease, repeating similar scenarios a dozen times before reaching the stone steps at the end.

This was the end of 8-3. Seeing the scene before him, Wang Ling couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath:

A stretch of empty space, fifteen meters long, with four small floating stone steps as the only footholds—the abyss below was no ordinary pitfall, but a real cliff. A single misstep in jumping across would mean instant death, body shattered against the rocks below.