Chapter 16: Passing the Trial
The thunderous footsteps resonated behind Dachun, the overseer’s speed surpassing all his expectations. Carrying a two-hundred weight burden, maintaining full speed at eleven o’clock was not merely exhausting—it was a triple drain on his stamina!
But there were mushrooms! These mushrooms wouldn’t cause fullness; as long as he kept eating, it was as if he had infinite stamina! With unlimited stamina, he could train his running skill—not only increasing speed but also conserving energy.
Dachun quickly swallowed another mushroom.
—System alert: Warning! You have consumed a highly toxic mushroom, intensifying hallucinogenic effects. The “Whale Power” can no longer fully resist the poison. You will receive 1 point of toxin damage every 1 to 5 seconds! Your illusion value +1. Your hunger level is abnormally increasing.
Damn! The poison defense broke down!
Dachun forced himself to stay calm. The food itself restored health, so offsetting 1 point of poison damage was manageable. But the abnormal hunger—Dachun suddenly realized his hunger hadn’t lessened; it had actually increased slightly!
Damn, this wasn’t just about not feeling full anymore. It was like a parasite—eating more only made him hungrier!
The pursuing footsteps grew ever closer, and he even sensed a fiery golden glow behind him.
Such a sacred golden light… this hallucination was ridiculous! He was curious about what the overseer looked like, but with such a fake vision, it was better not to look.
Dachun had no choice but to keep eating, never turning his head.
Then it finally happened:
—System alert: Congratulations! You have mastered Beginner Running Level 1, earning an achievement reward: Stamina +1, Carrying Capacity +1.
Good, he had slightly distanced himself. As long as he kept pushing and leveling up…
The mushrooms didn’t disappoint. Running levels 2, 3, 4, and 5 surged like a speeding car. Meanwhile, the poison damage grew faster and faster. The “-1 HP” notifications formed a string of red lines overhead. This bleeding and healing balanced out around half health. One had to admit, the saying “drinking poison to quench thirst” wasn’t entirely without reason.
Finally, after circling the area more than ten times, he reached Intermediate Running.
His speed had noticeably improved, the skill effect now a wind trailing behind him. The roaring behind gradually faded—had he shaken them off?
He couldn’t be certain. What was certain was that there seemed to be only one overseer in the entire mining zone.
Normally, he should have stopped to rest. But when pushing running skills, rest was impossible. Running, a common competition skill during the open beta, was thoroughly studied by experts—one had to run continuously or all effort was wasted, no chance to level up.
Dachun hesitated briefly: no stopping, push the skill; maybe he could reach expert level! Compared to trials with no clue, better to master one skill for self-defense.
Skills kept rising, mushrooms kept being eaten, and then the biggest problem finally appeared:
—System alert: Warning! Your hunger level has reached 50. All your attributes are decreasing! Your “Whale Power” toxin immunity is weakened; you will now receive 2 points of toxin damage every second.
Damn! The balance of “drinking poison to quench thirst” was broken!
At the same time, Dachun’s speed noticeably dropped.
Reason told him it was time to stop, to cease eating mushrooms, consume his remaining rations to heal and reset hunger. But his past success training fancy swimming told him this was exactly the reckless moment when miracles could happen with the “hunger flow” or “dying flow” style!
Since he had chosen from the start not to stop, then he wouldn’t stop—this was Dachun’s unyielding style, indifferent to right or wrong.
Soon, his health dropped to around 60 points, leaving him just over a minute. Any breakthrough within that minute felt increasingly unlikely—not even enough time to reach advanced level. Hunger made the already hallucinatory game visuals blur and distort further.
Dachun regretted somewhat but felt more frustration—was this game scene really this hard? Would he never know what the trial was about, even unto death?
As he dashed through a passage, he faintly saw a golden doorframe-like object float past his side.
Dachun froze—was that another hallucination?
But the speed seemed off; it floated by steadily, clearly shaped like a door! Other scenery flashed by as mere afterimages.
Suddenly, Dachun realized this was like filming an animation—24 frames per second flashing rapidly, creating a continuous moving image to the human eye.
Here, as he sprinted, key points of the passage formed a composite image of a door—so entering this door was the key to breaking through!
Turning back now? No, slowing down might prevent the image from forming, making the door vanish. That door was definitely linked to the hallucination.
Then, might there be more doors ahead in the passage?
There had to be!
This discovery explained Dachun’s earlier confusion about what happened when the little devils’ pickaxes wore out. There must be a blacksmith or pickaxe warehouse, and this hidden door might be the mineral crystal storehouse. With seven mining pits spaced so far apart, there had to be seven warehouses!
Now Dachun sprinted through one mining pit, entering the next passage.
He focused intently on the tunnel ahead. Only half a minute remained—he had to succeed, failure was not an option!
A metallic glow shone ahead—was it a door? It had to be!
He saw it—really was!
Dachun’s tension and excitement surged like riding a speeding train, seeing a golden gate opening on a train barreling toward him—he was ready to leap!
The scene shifted; before his eyes was a grand, resplendent hall sparkling with crystalline light—truly piled with mineral crystals and various sundries.
Dachun had no time to examine further or slow down. He was running straight toward a glowing object ahead, which he assumed was the trial’s endpoint—if not, he had only seconds left to live, either poisoned or crashing fatally…
He saw it clearly—a radiant, pulsating teleportation portal!
Approaching the portal, Dachun felt a tremendous suction force, his running speed surged, feeling as if flying. No, his legs no longer felt like his own; his entire body was being sucked into the portal’s afterimage! Hallucination—definitely hallucination…
A blinding white light engulfed him!
—System alert: Congratulations! You have broken the speed limit; your Intermediate Running Level 6 has successfully advanced to Expert Running Level 1! Achievement rewards: Carrying Capacity +21, Stamina +21, Speed +1. You have earned the “Three-Day Newcomer’s Discount Blessing” achievement: Intelligence +2.
—System alert: Congratulations! You have broken the stamina limit and successfully learned the hidden skill: Beginner Marathon Level 10. Achievement rewards: Carrying Capacity +10, Stamina +10.
—System alert: You have completed the Trial of Level 1. Please await evaluation results.
...
Damn... skipping advanced level and leaping straight to expert! No need to wait for evaluation—the rewards alone were incredible!
Dachun’s tightly wound nerves relaxed suddenly; he collapsed into his chair, panting heavily.
He had to admit… never mind, too tired to think about anything anymore.
After a while, the white light faded, the screen shimmered gold and jade again, and Dachun found himself in a hall shrouded in mist, resembling a celestial realm.
What was this? Dachun noticed he moved quite lightly.
He hurried to check his attributes—only two remained: Intelligence 8, Illusion Value 57.
Damn! Where were all my other attributes?
An ethereal, elegant yet alluring voice spoke: “Brave warrior, you are now in soul form.”
Am I dead? Dachun quickly turned his head and saw a golden-haired female angel with flowing white robes and dazzling wings emerging from the mist. Up close, she wore the trendiest skirt that covered and revealed just enough—a style barely passing the censorship threshold. Could this be a banshee’s illusion?
Dachun hurriedly asked, “Is this Heaven?”
The angel smiled: “Wherever there is Heaven in your heart, there is Heaven everywhere.”
Dachun was stunned. “Even if one is in Hell, is that also Heaven?”
The angel laughed: “Wherever evil dwells in your heart, there is Hell everywhere.”
Dachun asked again, “How should I address you?”
The angel smiled broadly: “You may call me Maria!”
Damn, who would dare call a real angel by that name?
Dachun got straight to business: “I just passed a trial in a hellish lava mine pit. I want to know the result.”
The angel asked with a smile: “What do you think you deserve? Power, wealth, influence? Or all three?”
Dachun sensed an interview vibe and needed to answer carefully.
But the trouble was, he had clashed with a major conglomerate boss. What use was dominating in the game? Once discovered, unknown men might storm the internet café. Changing cafés was impossible—machines were in high demand, almost impossible to find!
Moreover, today several masters had emerged: mining experts, advanced runners, gatherers. After midnight, rankings would update—he might break into the top 1000. Such a leap was dazzling!
So he couldn’t accept any of those three. He needed something that could lower his rank drastically or hide his identity—like her disguised illusion. That was basic demon skill, wasn’t it?
Dachun carefully chose his words to make a good impression: “The greatest foolishness of mortals is to offer trivial tributes to gods in exchange for wishes worth millions. Though I passed the trial, I see nothing remarkable in my performance. I don’t deserve power, wealth, or influence.”
The angel was surprised: “Then what do you want?”
Dachun said, “To pursue ultimate evil.”
The angel laughed in disbelief: “A mere mortal speaks of ultimate evil before me?”
There was a hint of arrogance.
Dachun replied, “To me, simple evil like killing, stealing, and cheating is easily guarded against and eliminated, causing limited damage. But ultimate evil is kindness, weakness, innocence—never suspected, and all their deeds are good, yet the destruction they cause is immeasurable, and no one can blame or suspect them.”
The angel was stunned for a moment: “So you want me!”
Damn, what kind of logic was that? Although maybe the banshee did exactly that, it wasn’t what he truly wanted!
Dachun hurriedly said, “Please don’t misunderstand, I want weakness and disguise. I cannot be near the top of the rankings!”
The angel laughed heartily: “You’re exactly my taste! Becoming weak is far easier than becoming strong. Consider it done!”
With that, the world before Dachun flooded with pink light!
—System alert: You have initiated the Soul Separation Ritual. The ritual will take approximately two hours to complete. You will exit the game and await the update of the operation mode. Please log in again after two hours. Enjoy your game.
Ah!!
Dachun was stunned. Soul separation? Could this be the legendary consciousness upload? But this was a standard model without a brain-computer interface! That pink light confirmed it—this was a banshee!
As long as it solved his ranking problem, that was enough. Two hours was a rare break—he might as well catch some sleep.
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