"Is this really the game I've been playing!?"
Ren Suo looked utterly bewildered.
Although he knew this was the video of "If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters" finally presented in reality... the difference in style was just too great, wasn't it?
You see, "Assassins" might also be instantly recognizable as a game, but at least the character and building modeling were incredibly close to reality. When Ren Suo watched the video of "Assassin's Bloody Banquet," he had almost no trouble recognizing that these were his gaming experiences—even if the realistic character modeling resulted in slight differences due to light and shadow... at least the clothing was the same.
But what about "If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters"?
During the gameplay, the character modeling was that of stick figures, stick figures!
The difference between stick figures and real humans was ridiculously vast!
And it wasn't just the characters, in the game, Ren Suo played something akin to 'Hopscotch,' using strength control and reaction speed to make the stick figure jump from one step to the next.
He had no idea how this game could be turned into reality—were they going to make a stick figure jump up the ten-thousand-meter steps, step by step?
Yet the Mini-World Game Console slapped him in the face: Your stupidity limits your imagination!
In the three-hour highlight reel, the first hour was still of the Seeker moving through the flatland, jungle, and mountains with the agility of an ape or an eagle, at best a jungle movement expert. But as she began to enter the snowy region of Mount Hyjal Summit, Ren Suo realized what his 'Hopscotch' game was really about.
Climbing!
Climbing up sheer cliffs without any aids!
Even if there was a visible path, if it wasn't the shortest route, the Seeker would simply spread her hands apart. Her fingers were flexible as whips and tough as steel, often finding just the right spots to insert into the crevices in the rocks, and she moved without pause as if her limbs were coated with glue.
Occasionally, the Seeker would come across people on the shortest route. They would often stop to ask if she needed help upon seeing her thinly dressed and running through the mountains. However, the Seeker would reply with a hoarse voice, "No need, No, thanks."
Just like in the game!
Thus, the thinly dressed Seeker, whose whole body was red with cold and who had not slept or eaten in days, arrived at the 5,896 meter Mount Hyjal Summit base camp, causing everyone there to instinctively rub their eyes—surely they were seeing a hallucination?
This was a place where temperatures plunged below minus 20 degrees Celsius! Someone dressed like that should be dragged off and preserved as a specimen!
Some tried to stop her, some brought clothing for her, but the Seeker just waved them off and after lingering for a while, she continued toward the Hyjal Peak!
In the game, Ren Suo still remembered when the altitude reached a certain level, a 'Coldness buff' would appear in the top left corner, making jumping consume more physical strength and slowing the recovery rate.
Ren Suo thought that was just a difficulty setting, never imagining it was so real—above 6,000 meters elevation, wearing only a thin layer of clothing without an oxygen cylinder would naturally bring about such an effect.
Ren Suo used to find the 'Coldness buff' quite annoying, but now it seemed the difficulty setting was too low!
The First Camp at 7,200 meters!
The Second Camp at 7,900 meters!
The Third Camp at 8,400 meters!
The Fourth Camp at 9,000 meters!
Practically all the way up was bare-handed climbing. A slope at 70 degrees was considered gentle. 80 degrees was fairly common. 90 degrees was a big challenge.
The mountain winds were like bone-scraping steel knives, just watching made one shiver; when darkness fell and clouds shrouded the sky, making it impossible to see even one's hand, the Seeker dared to spin and leap at the cliff's edge. When encountering unavoidable cascades and ice pillars, the Seeker would just climb on top, her hands touching the ice and forming a white mist—as if at nearly minus 40 degrees, the Seeker's skin was scorching steel.
Moreover, above 7,000 meters, the Seeker's climbing became more dangerous because ice cascades were common on the mountain walls, typical yet fragmented seracs, even mountaineers walking along the trail would be obstructed by icefalls or crushed by falling ice towers from above—if one was injured at more than 7,000 meters, it would be okay if they made it to a camp; if not, they'd honestly become just a set of coordinates.
The Seeker often had to grab onto ice pillars to move up. Although she looked very steady in the video, at elevations above 7,000 meters, she would encounter at least five times per minute where the ice pillars shattered due to excessive force—with the barrage of comments streaming by, the beautiful and enchanting Seeker managed to grab another sturdy rock or ice pillar in the nick of time, continuing to climb!
Once, the Seeker consecutively grabbed three ice pillars that all shattered, which was immensely suspenseful!
"Fake, right... almost died there, yeah!"
"If you think it's fake, just check out the earlier 54p, this is really Mount Hyjal, not a Hollywood set!"
"Just wait and you'll know if it's real or fake..."
"Ren Naiser's videos get scarier and scarier. I thought the Fairy Palace Assassin was crazy enough, but there's something even crazier: sleepless, thirstless, not eating for five days, climbing ten thousand meters, can humans really do this!?"
Seeing this, Ren Suo also took pride: they only saw the Seeker narrowly escape death again and again, but in reality, it was Ren Suo who spent days dying countless times, forging a path to the summit through his experience!
He now recognized the shattered ice pillars as the game's platforms that crumble upon contact; the dark nights and foggy conditions as the game's effects that reduced visibility; the far-apart cliffs as the platforms that required all his strength to leap!
This was the gaming experience he played out!
The Seeker was reenacting his journey to the summit!
...Although many of the flashy moves were due to the Female Seeker's trait "Quick Reaction in a Crisis," which allowed her to dodge danger, Ren Suo's contribution was undoubtedly certain!
When the Seeker reached the Fourth Camp, she actually took a bit of a detour to the sheltered spot of the Fourth Camp, taking out the oxygen cylinder, mask, regulator, and climbing ropes the Kamian people left there.
"Finally using tools?"
"No way, how could the Goddess need those..."
"Is this the human limit?"
Among the commenters' confusion, the Seeker just took the gear, but did not use them, instead continuing to climb with just one hand!
Ren Suo was stunned.
At that moment, he naturally thought of his own actions: in the in-game purchase system, he spent two Merit Points to buy an Oxygen Cylinder and ropes.
In fact, he had spent four Merit Points—because after the first purchase he had not achieved his desired score, so he played again and had to buy them a second time.
Ren Suo had previously wondered how the Oxygen Cylinder and ropes he bought would appear, since the Truth Seeker was only wearing a single layer of Clothing. It wouldn't just come out from under the armpits, would it? But if it really happened, Ren Suo wouldn't be surprised. What he hadn't expected was for the Truth Seeker to take out the equipment at the Fourth Camp.
This was a detail that had never appeared in the game.
What followed was the Truth Seeker climbing to the 9600 meter high Fifth Camp, sprinting towards the ten-thousand-meter peak!
The Climbing above 9600 meters was even more difficult, especially since the Truth Seeker was holding equipment in one hand and climbing with only one hand and two feet. Although the game did not increase the difficulty because of this, in reality, every move of the Truth Seeker, the thrill of it, could make the viewers shudder through the screen.
It was like some extreme sports videos filmed from the first-person perspective of daredevils on the edge of a cliff, with a highway and sidewalk hundreds of meters below their feet. The sheer terror of the sight alone, imprinted on the retina, was enough to instill fear in the human brain.
Soon, the video's Truth Seeker encountered people again—there seemed to be a team of climbers who also chose this time to strike for the summit of ten thousand meters at dawn.
In the video, one could clearly see a person lagging behind, resting against the mountain wall with thick gloves. The Truth Seeker directly walked in that direction, stood in front of the person, casually opened the Oxygen Cylinder valve, lifted off the person's Oxygen Mask, and stuffed her own Oxygen Mask onto them.
At this time, Ren Suo saw hundreds of messages suddenly flood the bullet comments:
"Thank you for saving my husband!"
"Thank you for saving my son!"
"Thank you for saving my husband!"
"Thank you for saving my son!"
"So the Oxygen Cylinder was for rescuing people!"
"Amazing, that's divine! How did she know someone was running out of oxygen?"
"So that's why she's a Goddess!"
...
Hm? Are the family members of the person saved by the Truth Seeker also watching this video on Giligili?
Ren Suo had anticipated the Truth Seeker's rescue—it was his doing after all.
In the game, when the Truth Seeker passed by this group of climbers, she saw a stick figure with a timer above their head, with only a few minutes total, and the time was ticking down by the second.
Ren Suo had ignored it at first, but during his replay to achieve a higher score, he realized he needed to give this stick figure a new Oxygen Cylinder, so the stick figure could continue onward.
After the Truth Seeker in the video saved the person, the person thanked her, put on the new Oxygen Mask, and continued forward, while the Truth Seeker also continued climbing upward.
Many could already see from the video that the Truth Seeker was not far from the summit. Her climbing speed was even faster than walking, and despite the dangerous ice pillars and steep rocks, nothing was a problem for the almost Non-Human Truth Seeker.
But for some unknown reason, when the Truth Seeker was just a short distance from the summit, she stopped on a safe mountain path and untied the rope from her waist.
In the previous 54 episodes, the Truth Seeker had waited a full hour, but in the highlight reel, it was just a few accelerated seconds—the climbing team also caught up with the Truth Seeker's pace.
And then, one of the climbers suddenly stumbled as if drunk, falling towards the edge of the cliff!
His teammates in front and behind were too slow to react, as he fell at the moment of near success. The Truth Seeker threw the prepared rope and perfectly looped it around the falling climber!
Then with a fierce tug, she pulled the climber, who was at least 80 kilograms with equipment, directly to her side!
"This Strength is unmatched."
"Great strength produces miracles!"
"Worthy of the Goddess!"
Then, the climbing team followed the Truth Seeker to the summit of Hyjal Peak with awe-filled eyes!
Time, April 8, 11:40 a.m.!
In the gaze of the twelve climbers, a blonde girl who did not wear cold weather gear, did not use an Oxygen Cylinder, did not eat, did not sleep, and was climbing the entire journey as if challenging the Grim Reaper herself, successfully reached the summit of Mount Hyjal Peak at an altitude of 10,230 meters!
She stood on the summit's cliff, looking at the countless mountains and changing cloud streams next to the peak, with the world beneath her feet!
The dazzling sunlight fell upon the Truth Seeker as if crowning her. Despite her dirty, gaunt face from not eating or washing, at that moment, she was incredibly brilliant. Her eyes, always Flickering with Determination, radiated a shocking power that resonated with all the viewers through the screen!
In an instant, countless messages flashed through the image, repeating the same sentence:
"If You Are Strong, Climb Ten Thousand Meters."
The two climbers who had received help from the Truth Seeker wanted to come over to thank her, but when they saw the true powerhouse before them, a scene that seemed like a Miracle unfolded.
This scene made even them question whether they were in a Hollywood movie.
In the sunlight, the scrapes and dirt on the body of the Truth Seeker dissipated in an instant, and her emaciated and withered skin and face also plumped up, her eyes remaining as dazzling as ever.
She opened her arms as if embracing the sky.
Then, her figure turned into golden light, melting together with her Clothes, and before the astonished eyes of the climbing team, she transformed into wind, into electricity, into light, becoming the one and only Myth, completely disappearing into the world.