Chapter Five: Mario, I'm Sorry

When Wang Ling encountered the Gale Turtle again, he requested to try dealing with it himself.

Mario cautioned him, "The Gale Turtle is faster than the Chestnut Kid and its teeth are sharper. However, if you attack it, it immediately retracts into its shell. At that moment, just apply a bit of force and the shell will slide forward on its own."

Wang Ling struck at the Gale Turtle with a cleaver, and, as expected, the turtle withdrew its head and limbs. He was about to push the shell forward when a sudden thought occurred to him—could he perhaps collect this shell?

At this point, the shell still housed the Gale Turtle, which would eventually extend its head again. After a brief contemplation, Wang Ling set down the cleaver and lifted one edge of the shell with effort. The Gale Turtle was very heavy, weighing nearly a hundred pounds, and by the time he managed to flip it upside down, sweat had beaded on his forehead. Once finished, he picked up his cleaver and watched closely.

What would the turtle do when flipped over? Naturally, it panicked, stretching its head and long neck out in an attempt to right itself. Wang Ling watched sympathetically from the side, then gripped his cleaver and struck. Amidst a spray of crimson blood, the Gale Turtle's vulnerable neck was severed cleanly, the head rolling away.

The remaining body convulsed violently and then went limp. Wang Ling proceeded to chop off the turtle's limbs and tail, leaving only the shell. Upon touching it, his Dream Badge issued a prompt:

"Sliding Turtle Shell: single-use item. When used, the shell glides in a straight line along the ground, dealing 5–10 points of damage to any creature it collides with and causing a 3-second stun. The sliding distance depends on terrain and cannot be recovered."

(Note: The 5–10 points of damage does not refer to actual health deduction, as it is affected by the enemy's defense. The abnormal status is not fixed either; the base stun is 3 seconds, but the enemy's resistance may reduce it to 2 seconds, or even 1 second.)

Familiar with the Super Mario series, Wang Ling was again surprised—this shell was reminiscent of the item from Mario Kart on GBA. He hadn't expected that slaying the Gale Turtle would yield such a tool. Unfortunately, the shell wasn't a specialty item and couldn't be stored in the Mushroom Pouch. While the badge's space could accommodate it, with Mario present, the shell's sudden disappearance would surely arouse suspicion.

Wang Ling was keen to avoid any suspicion; he had an important plan brewing. Seeing that the shell was far too heavy to carry, he reluctantly used it on the spot.

Mario, now enlarged, dispatched Chestnut Kids and Gale Turtles with ease. The two proceeded smoothly and soon arrived at the fourth green pipe. Mario consulted the map and declared, "This pipe leads to a secret passage. Let's go down!"

Wang Ling, thinking of his Mushroom Pouch, suggested, "If we avoid the secret passage, we could get more treasure."

Mario firmly rejected, "To save the princess, we must hurry!"

Wang Ling fell silent. Glancing at the area ahead of the pipe, he knew that somewhere nearby was the game's fourth item: the Extra Life Mushroom. Its true function remained unknown, but it was undoubtedly a precious commodity!

Seeing Mario dive into the pipe, Wang Ling sighed and followed, his resolve to carry out his plan intensifying.

"This is the novice world, with the Dream Space's care and protection, the company of Mario as the plot protagonist, and the Mushroom Minister easily handing out rewards. After this mission, when the novice status is gone, everything will depend on my own strength."

"A good beginning is the foundation of success. If I can gain substantial benefits during the novice task, future missions will be much safer. So far, I've obtained four coins, a healing mushroom, a Mushroom Pouch—good rewards, but still not enough!"

"If I simply follow Mario, quietly completing the plot and defeating Bowser's clone at the end, rescuing the Mushroom Kid, the gains will be very limited! To get more, I must take risks!"

Wang Ling dropped into the secret passage below the pipe. Looking ahead, he saw the air thick with hundreds of mushroom coins, their dazzling metallic sheen almost blinding. Even Mario, upon seeing them, cheered and leapt about, gathering coins into his pouch.

While Mario gleefully collected coins, he failed to notice the resolute and apologetic look in Wang Ling's eyes.

Exiting the secret passage, the two could see the transfer fortress of Area One in the distance. Before the fortress stood a triangular flag on a tall pole, bearing a green demon emblem—Bowser's war banner. Pulling down the flag and entering the fortress marked the end of the first area, that is, stage 1-1 of the game.

Mario jumped out of the pipe, and the patrolling Chestnut Kids and Gale Turtles immediately rushed toward him. Despite missing the Fire Flower due to the secret passage, Mario—nearly three meters tall and skilled at jumping and stomping—handled them with ease.

Wang Ling followed closely behind, rushing up to a Chestnut Kid and slashing it, intentionally letting its poisonous blood spray onto himself.

This time, he closed his eyes in advance, but the pain on his face and exposed right arm was searing, making him cry out loudly. Mario, still fighting monsters, heard his cries, jumped on a Gale Turtle, kicked its shell to clear a path, and hurried back to Wang Ling.

"How could you be so careless!"

"There were so many monsters—I got nervous," Wang Ling replied, pulling out the healing mushroom and eating it right in front of Mario, using the health-restoring item Mario was familiar with. As he chewed, a peculiar fragrance and softness filled his mouth. After swallowing, he found his health fully restored, his red health bar now at maximum.

By this time, the monsters had surrounded them. Mario, faced with dozens of foes, showed no fear, effortlessly leaping and stomping, flattening one after another. When only a dozen Chestnut Kids remained, he jumped again, but suddenly felt an itch in his nose and, unable to control it, unleashed an earth-shattering sneeze:

"Ah-choo!"

The force of the sneeze expelled all the air from Mario's chest! His body jolted midair, altering his trajectory so he landed not on the monsters, but on empty ground. A nearby Chestnut Kid immediately bit his foot, but a burst of white light repelled it.

Mario's body, enveloped in the white light, rapidly shrank from a giant back to less than one and a half meters tall.

The effect of the Super Mushroom had ended!

"Finally, the protective ability is gone."

The sneeze was caused by Wang Ling's E-level talent:

"Troublemaker: maximum level seven. Each level unlocks a unique ability. Current ability: allows you to cause a violent sneeze in any human target you look at."

Mario reverted to his normal form but stayed calm, rubbing his nose and continuing to stomp the remaining monsters, then rushing toward the high platform ahead. The platform had eight steps, each nearly as tall as the plumber himself—meaning the top was almost twelve meters above ground!

Mario bounded up the steps, and at the summit, he sprinted and accelerated, preparing to leap high and grab the top of the flagpole to tear down Bowser's war banner.

Accelerating, he could jump an astonishing ten meters, plus the platform's twelve-meter height. As he vaulted toward the flagpole, this stout plumber soared like an Olympic pole-vaulter, tracing a graceful arc to the peak and then descending toward the flag!

Still at ground level, Wang Ling squinted at the spectacle, a flash of light in his hand from using an "E-level Skill Refresh Stone."

In midair, Mario again felt his nose itch, unleashing a super sneeze. At the same time, his heart chilled—something was wrong!

As his body convulsed with the sneeze, the previously perfect trajectory suddenly faltered. Alarmed, Mario reached out, hoping to catch the flag or pole, but at less than one and a half meters tall, his reach was limited. He flailed helplessly as he plummeted toward the ground.

"Ouch!"

A height of twenty-two meters—about the sixth floor—plus the momentum of his sprint. What would happen landing on hard brick? For most humans, a ninety percent chance of death. Mario, however, was a plot protagonist skilled at jumping; his legs were strong enough to flatten Chestnut Kids, so this fall likely wouldn’t kill him.

Indeed, Mario collapsed onto the bricks, groaning in pain. Wang Ling breathed a sigh of relief; in the grand scheme, the protagonist's death meant main quest failure and his own erasure. On a smaller scale, he didn't wish for the simple, kind-hearted Mario to die—especially not by his own hand.

If Mario truly died, Wang Ling would accept his fate and perish alongside him. But he understood that in the Dream Space, danger was inevitable; if one feared gambling, they couldn’t hope for extra rewards.

Wang Ling ran around the platform. He saw Mario's red health bar had lost about one-ninth.

The plumber, slumped on the ground, had an awkwardly twisted right foot—clearly a sprained ankle.