Chapter Eight: Leaping Mushrooms, Turtle Shells, and Stars

After Mario’s refusal, Wang Ling insisted on escorting him out of the castle, offering the reasoning, “There might be more enemies here, and returning through the pipe shortcut won’t take much time.” But his true intention was to ransack all the treasures in the first level.

After all, this was a foundational FC game—a relic from so long ago that Wang Ling certainly couldn’t remember every treasure’s location. The parchment map given by the Mushroom Chancellor marked secret passages and treasure blocks, but didn’t specify whether a block held coins or mushrooms.

Wang Ling’s plan was to skip levels and charge straight to the final boss, but this would more than double the main quest’s length! He had to make sure the one-day time limit wouldn’t be exceeded, so time was precious. In the later stages, he couldn’t afford to hit every block just to see what was inside, nor could he wander around searching for hidden bricks.

Moreover, as the stages advanced, the monsters would become more diverse and difficult, making it foolish to risk searching for treasures then. Therefore, in the simple and familiar first castle area—and even the next area—Wang Ling was determined to collect every treasure, so he could focus on sprinting forward later.

He sent Mario to wait outside Koopa’s castle, then reentered. Excitement surged in his chest; with so many new skills acquired, he felt transformed.

Change was inevitable. Just in speed and jumping ability alone: Basic Footwork at Level 5 boosted both by 50%; Sprinting at Level 7 permanently increased base speed by 20%; Super Jump at Level 8 granted a four-meter vertical leap and distance.

When he pushed off with both legs, he practically soared five meters high, like a martial arts hero from some novel. Yet, landing proved clumsy and awkward—far less graceful than Mario. These abilities had come suddenly, and he was unused to them; falling from five meters, keeping balance was hard. If he tried to use Super Jump with the Headstomp Technique now, he’d hardly hit any enemies.

Fortunately, running was easier than jumping; all he had to do was dash, and he could activate the sprint skill at will. The downside was that sprinting consumed one point of mental strength per second, and made him less agile—in simple terms, as if his brain was starved of oxygen from exertion, and the faster he ran, the harder it was to change direction.

To avoid missing his mark when encountering monsters, Wang Ling kept leaping forward, consciously controlling his balance in the air, striving to master his new jumping prowess.

In the first area, the first growth mushroom had already been eaten by Mario; the blocks had been hit, and all monsters stomped flat. Hopping along, Wang Ling reached the fourth green pipe, his excitement mounting—just ahead lay a hidden brick containing an extra life mushroom!

What would an extra life mushroom do, exactly? Wang Ling didn’t know, but he was certain it would be extraordinary.

Here, reality was not the side-scrolling screen of the game. Faced with a football-field-sized expanse, he had no choice but to conduct a thorough search, using the opportunity to train his jumps. As long as his head struck a brick, that was enough; without precise locations, this was the only way—efficient and practical.

Jump, land, jump, land, jump, land…

Persistently jumping across the open ground, Wang Ling gradually found his sense of balance and could control his landing points, no longer flailing in panic. His nervous system and muscles were adapting through practice.

Suddenly, his head struck something hard with a resounding thunk.

Immersed in his jumping, Wang Ling was nearly caught off guard. He looked up just in time to see a blue-spotted mushroom tumble from the sky and zip off along the ground. He hurried after it—only to find, to his frustration, that the mushroom was actually faster than he was!

“Sprint: activate!”

With Sprint at Level 7, his speed surged by 70%. The gap between him and the mushroom closed quickly, but he couldn’t celebrate; just ahead lay a massive chasm.

To call it a chasm wasn’t quite accurate—it was more like a section of missing road, over three meters wide and thirty meters deep, a trap set by the monsters of Koopa’s castle to thwart intruders. If he failed to clear it, even if the fall didn’t kill him, he’d never get out—the wall was smoother than a sheer cliff.

“Damn it, I can’t let the extra life mushroom fall!”

Wang Ling’s eyes blazed as he lunged forward, soaring through the air and skidding along the stone floor on landing. At last, he managed to clutch the extra life mushroom in both hands.

But the momentum from his sprint was overwhelming; his body slid all the way to the edge, his torso jutting out over the abyss!

When he finally stopped, his navel was precariously balanced on the razor-sharp ninety-degree angle of the broken road.

A cool breeze brushed past. Wang Ling swayed in the wind, heart pounding as he stared down at the thirty-meter-deep pit and its slick, unscalable walls.

Muscles rigid, he inched his belly backward along the edge, bit by bit. By the time he finally pulled himself to safety, his forehead was slick with cold sweat, and his muscles were cramping—if he’d fallen, he’d be trapped for sure!

“That was close!”

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Wang Ling held the mushroom up to his eyes:

“Extra Life Mushroom: Consuming this allows you, upon failing the main quest in the current world, to resist erasure and return directly to the Dreamspace. As a penalty, all gains from the current world will be lost, and your mission rating will be set to the lowest grade, E. This is a specialty of the Mushroom Kingdom and cannot be taken out of the Super Mario World.”

“To resist erasure upon failing the main quest? That’s a fantastic item! The only downside is, if I actually need it, everything I’ve done in this world will be for nothing—no matter how many quests I completed or benefits I gained, they’ll all be revoked… But rewards can be earned again. Life is only granted once; the value of this treasure is immense!”

Wang Ling carefully put the extra life mushroom into his pocket, and the pocket into the badge’s storage space.

Moving forward, he leaped over the trap and found a cluster of bricks. Aiming for the question-mark block in the center, he struck it from below and a growth mushroom popped out. Remembering the lesson from the extra life mushroom, he deftly snatched it up.

“Growth Mushroom: Consuming this doubles your height and size, and your strength stat is also doubled. When you take damage, the growth effect ends, but the damage is negated and you become invincible for one second. This is a specialty of the Mushroom Kingdom and cannot be taken out of the Super Mario World.”

“Another excellent item!”

Wang Ling noted that not only would a growth mushroom block a hit, but it also granted a second of invincibility—a phenomenon he’d seen earlier, when Mario’s glow repelled the Goomba.

He popped the mushroom into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. A fierce surge erupted inside him as his form expanded in a flash of light—he became a three-meter-tall giant!

“How extraordinary!”

He squeezed his own limbs; even at this new size, his skin and flesh felt no different. Raising his eyes to the remaining bricks, he mused, “Twice the strength—let’s see how that feels.”

He leapt and smashed a floating brick with his head. Thanks to Iron Head at Level 7, he felt no pain, just heard a crunch as the block shattered into fragments.

“Ha! Much more powerful than before.”

Unable to resist, Wang Ling smashed the rest of the floating bricks, then moved on. Having taken the shortcut earlier, this section hadn’t been cleared yet, so Goombas and Koopa Troopas still roamed.

Now a giant, Wang Ling simply leapt high and activated the Mario Headstomp Technique, coming down hard from above. Having mastered his jump, and with monsters being fairly large targets, he squashed Goombas flat beneath his feet.

As for the recoil from stomping enemies, Iron Legs at Level 7 absorbed it effortlessly.

The Headstomp Technique only unleashed its full power when landing on an enemy’s head. Koopa Troopas, with their hard shells, would withdraw into them when stomped. Wang Ling, following Mario’s method, flipped the turtles over and used his big cleaver to sever heads and limbs, producing shells to store in his badge’s space.

Only two slots remained in the badge’s storage, but like coins, shells could be stacked. Wang Ling stomped Goombas as he went, preparing turtle shells. With seven shells collected, he reached a long stretch of floating bricks.

His gaze fixed on one seemingly ordinary brick; he knew it concealed a secret treasure: the Invincibility Star.

With the Invincibility Star, one could be untouchable for thirty seconds!

With a mighty Super Jump, he crashed his head into the floating brick, which didn’t shatter but instead released a gold, shimmering five-pointed star.

“Got it!”

Wang Ling snatched the fleeing star, but as soon as it touched his skin, the sparkling star dissolved into golden motes, merging with his palm.

Then, a message from the Dream Badge: “You have obtained the Invincibility Star. It cannot be stored or carried; its effect activates instantly upon contact. You are now invincible for thirty seconds. While invincible, you cannot be harmed, and any ordinary monster that touches you will die instantly.”