Chapter 7: Jump
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Qin Guan felt that this was a little mystical. If the silver discs had the ability to open a map in their brains using their consciousness, it meant that they had the ability to do even greater things.
However, it only decided to be a game, and the way to play it was incredibly simple. He only needed to jump from one platform to the next without stop.
But when a person truly needed to jump while they had to see endless emptiness beneath them, no one would think that this was just a game.
Qin Guan set his sights on the next platform.
It was a round platform, but its diameter was smaller than the width of the rectangle platform under his feet. If anyone looked from above, they would find that the two platforms coincidentally aligned themselves to form an "i."
And the distance between the two of them was about 6.5 feet.
"What the heck? We're already at something so difficult to reach at the third platform?"
Qin Guan stared at the small platform in the distance. At that moment, he wanted to get out of the dimension to flip a table and exclaim that he was rage quitting!
After he jumped the first time, he had understood the basic attributes of his body. It was slightly better than a normal person's, but not by much.
He usually stayed in his house, so his physical attributes could not be said to be very good. His new body was a little better, but compared to those who started the game with an athlete's body, it would definitely be lacking. In fact, he could easily imagine just how much worse he was compared to them.
Qin Guan continued grumbling about not being able to start the game with the body of an athlete. If he had managed to get it, then jumping down the platforms would have been as easy as breathing!
However, no matter how much Qin Guan pondered over this, it was useless. He could only grit his teeth, do a run-up, and jump toward the round platform in the distance.
"Oh, God!"
Once Qin Guan jumped, he sensed that he had jumped too early, but his right foot landed on the edge of the round platform. He slipped and fell face first on the platform.
He was so terrified that he broke out in cold sweat. In a flurry of motion, he tried to grab at the edges of the round platform, but it was all in vain. The smooth edges did not give him any chance to salvage the situation.
In despair, Qin Guan could only fall down the endless abyss.
Bang.
A dull thud could be heard when Qin Guan crashed against a rather solid material. When he climbed to his feet, he found that he was on the rectangle platform from which he had started.
Clearly, he would not fall to his death if he fell in the trial. Instead, he would return to the starting platform to continue trying to finish his jumping challenge.
Qin Guan might have crashed onto the platform, but he did not feel any pain. His body did not feel tired either. He could not sense any single thing being wrong.
By the looks of it, he had endless stamina in this dimension. He could continue jumping until he succeeded.
Qin Guan thus composed his emotions and jumped once more.
Second time, failed.
Third time, failed.
Fourth time…
He had no idea how many times he jumped before he managed to land on the small round platform.
What caused him to feel relieved was that the surface area of the next platform was very large, and it was not too far away from him. However, it was difficult for him to do a run-up on the round platform because its surface area was so small. Hence, while the next jump was a little easier, he still did not have much confidence in succeeding.
"Isn't this too difficult? When will it end?"
Qin Guan subconsciously went to wipe away the sweat from his forehead, but found that he had not sweated at all.
After the multiple jumps, Qin Guan was no longer afraid of jumping. While the area below him was still empty, he knew that nothing would happen to him if he failed. With this knowledge, the time he needed to prepare himself for the next jump became shorter and shorter, even if the feeling of plunging down still terrified him.
At that moment, he heard his former dormmates engage in an excited discussion about the trial. He left the map and had his consciousness return to reality.
This feeling was rather unique. It was rather similar to multi-tasking. When Qin Guan was in the world in his mind, he could still sense the real world, but it was rather blurry.
It was just like what the system had told him: if someone in the real world snuck up on him and tried to ambush him or someone spoke around him, his subconscious would react to it. He might have a sudden surge of nervousness, or perhaps he would hear a few blurry words, but his consciousness would immediately return to the real world.
When he returned, his former dormmates were engaged in an excited discussion regarding the map of trials.
"Did all of you start the game with the identity of an athlete?"
"No, I chose to be a student."
"Which platform are you at now? I'm already on my 39th. It doesn't feel that difficult at all."
"You chose Novice Mode, right?"
"You didn't?"
"I chose Easy Mode from the get go. Even with the identity of an athlete, it's still very difficult. I keep falling from the later platforms. Speaking of which, the platforms must be around thirty feet away from the ground, right? It's too scary."
"Huh? Why are my platforms only 6.5 feet away from the ground? Could it be because the level of difficulty is different?"
"If even an athlete finds it hard to get through Medium Mode, isn't it basically impossible to clear the higher difficulties?"
"Hmm… I don't think so, because when I jumped, I could clearly feel that I had enough stamina. What I lacked was good technique. There were many platforms which I thought were impossible to reach, but after jumping a few times, I managed to reach them."
Xiao Qiang looked at Qin Guan. "Brother-in-law, what platform have you reached? You should be in the forties or fifties, right?"
Qin Guan shook his head. "No. I just reached the fourth one."
His former dormmates did not believe him in the least. "No way. Even elementary school students can manage to jump across the first ten platforms."
"Brother-in-law, you're lying to us again. Ignore him, let's continue. I really want to know what will happen once we clear the stage," Xiao Qiang said.
Qin Guan could only sigh internally in resignation.
It was clear as day that other people's trials were a lot more normal. A former dormmate of his had even chosen the easiest of all difficulty levels—Novice Mode while having started the game as an athlete. When he leaped across the platforms, he did not even stop for the first few of them. He leapt across them without a moment's hesitation.
Qin Guan felt frustrated and helpless in regards to his situation. When he attempted to reach his third platform, he needed to fall dozens of times before he managed to reach it.
While he cursed his troublesome system multiple times in his heart, he did a general analysis of some of the characteristics of the trial.
First of all, the level of difficulty chosen would affect all aspects of the trial, including the height, size, and distance between the platforms, as well as other things.
Second, the identity chosen at the start of the game would affect gameplay to a certain extent. Athletes would definitely have an advantage over the others, but it was not impossible for other people to clear the trial.
The useless person Qin Guan chose was weaker than an athlete in terms of jumping power, running speed, and all other physical attributes. However, the system still designed the trial in such a way that even useless people would be able to clear it. In its data, the situation where 'the player can not clear the stage' did not exist.
Yet it was obvious that even though they were all attempting to clear the same trial, the useless person needed greater control over his body compared to an athlete. The latter only needed to try once before they could complete the jump, while the useless person needed to jump five or even ten times before they could do so.
And during the later stages of the trial, they were no longer tested on just their jumps.
The former dormmate who chose to go through the trial in Novice Mode had already reached the 39th platform by using the identity of an athlete. According to his words, all sorts of things would happen when they went further. For example, some platforms might sink when stepped on while others would move irregularly. There were even such things as crossroads with platforms going in three different directions in front of the player, making them choose the right direction.
Qin Guan looked at the time—it was not even one o'clock. He directed his gaze at his former dormmates, who lay on their beds with smiles as if they had just eaten honey, and decided to go back home. On his couch, he could play the game in peace.
-- Gift
received