"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, "Assassin" 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 10,000-meter steps, step by step?
Yet the Mini-World Game Console metaphorically slapped him in the face: My limited thinking restricts my imagination!
In the three-hour highlight reel, the first hour still showed the Truth Seeker moving through flatlands, jungles, 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 Truth Seeker would simply spread her hands. Her fingers, flexible as whips yet tough as steel, often found just the right crevices in the rocks. She moved without pause, as if her limbs were coated with superglue.
Occasionally, the Truth 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 Truth Seeker would reply in a hoarse voice, "No need. No, thanks."
Just like in the game!
Thus, the thinly dressed Truth Seeker—her whole body red with cold, having 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 -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 Truth Seeker just waved them off. After lingering for a while, she continued toward Mount Hyjal Summit!
In the game, Ren Suo still remembered that 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 its Recovery rate.
I 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. I 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 70-degree slope was considered gentle. An 80-degree one was fairly common. Ninety 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 Truth Seeker dared to spin and leap at the cliff's edge. When encountering unavoidable Ice Cascades and Ice Pillars, the Truth Seeker would just climb over them, her hands touching the ice, causing white mist to form. In an environment nearly -40 degrees Celsius, the Truth Seeker's skin was like scorching steel.
Moreover, above 7,000 meters, the Truth Seeker's Climbing became more dangerous. Ice Cascades were common on the mountain walls—typical yet fragmented seracs. Even mountaineers on the designated trail could be obstructed by icefalls or crushed by falling ice towers from above. If injured at such altitudes, making it to a camp was crucial; otherwise, they risked becoming just another set of coordinates on the mountain.
The Truth Seeker often had to grab onto Ice Pillars to move upward. Although she appeared remarkably steady in the video, at elevations above 7,000 meters, she faced a perilous challenge: at least five times per minute, Ice Pillars would shatter under the strain. Yet, as the barrage of comments scrolled by, viewers watched the beautiful and enchanting Truth Seeker miraculously grab another sturdy rock or Ice Pillar in the nick of time, continuing her ascent!
Once, the Truth Seeker consecutively grabbed three Ice Pillars that all shattered—it was immensely suspenseful!
"Fake, right... she 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, who never missed, was already extreme enough, but there's something even more so: sleepless, without drinking, not eating for five days, climbing 10,000 meters—can humans really do this!?"
Seeing this, Ren Suo also took pride: they only saw the Truth Seeker narrowly escape death again and again, but in reality, it was I who spent days dying countless times, forging a path to the summit through my experience! I 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 my strength to leap! This was the gaming experience I played out! The Truth Seeker was reenacting my 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, my contribution was undoubtedly certain!
When the Truth Seeker reached the Fourth Camp, she actually took a bit of a detour to its sheltered spot, taking out the Oxygen Cylinder, mask, regulator, and climbing ropes the Kamian people had left there.
"Finally using tools?"
"No way, how could the Goddess need those..."
"Is this the human limit?"
Amidst the commenters' confusion, the Truth Seeker just took the gear but did not use it, instead continuing to climb with just one free hand!
Ren Suo was stunned.
At that moment, he naturally thought of his own actions: in the in-game purchase system, I spent two Merit Points to buy an Oxygen Cylinder and ropes. In fact, I had spent four Merit Points—because after the first purchase, I hadn't achieved my desired score, so I played again and had to buy them a second time. I had previously wondered how the Oxygen Cylinder and ropes I bought would appear, since the Truth Seeker was only wearing a single layer of Clothing. They wouldn't just come out from under her armpits, would they? But if it really happened, I wouldn't be surprised. What I 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 9,600-meter-high Fifth Camp, sprinting towards the 10,000-meter peak!
The Climbing above 9,600 meters was even more difficult. This was especially true since the Truth Seeker was holding equipment in one hand, relying on only her other hand and two feet for the ascent. Although the game hadn't increased the difficulty for this scenario, in the realistic depiction, the sheer thrill and danger of the Truth Seeker's every move could make viewers shudder, even through a screen.
It was like those extreme sports videos filmed from the first-person perspective of daredevils perched on a cliff edge, a highway and sidewalk hundreds of meters below. The sheer terror of such a sight, merely imprinted on the retina, was enough to instill primal fear in the human brain.
Soon, the Truth Seeker in the video encountered people again—a team of climbers seemed to have also chosen this time, at dawn, to make their push for the 10,000-meter summit.
In the video, one could clearly see a person lagging behind, resting against the mountain wall with thick gloves. The Truth Seeker walked directly towards that person, stood in front of them, casually opened her Oxygen Cylinder's valve, lifted off the person's oxygen mask, and pressed her own mask onto their face.
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 my doing after all.
In the game, when the Truth Seeker passed by this group of climbers, I saw a stick figure with a timer above their head; it showed only a few minutes total, and the time was ticking down second by second. I had ignored it at first, but during my replay to achieve a higher score, I realized I needed to give this stick figure a new Oxygen Cylinder so they could continue onward.
In the video, after the Truth Seeker saved the person, they 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; 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 54p, 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. Just as he was about to fall, mere moments from success, the Truth Seeker threw the prepared rope, perfectly looping it around the falling climber!
Then with a fierce tug, she pulled the climber—who weighed at least 80 kilograms with equipment—directly to her side!
"That Strength is unmatched."
"Great strength produces miracles!"
"Truly a Goddess!"
Then, the climbing team followed the Truth Seeker to the summit of Hyjal Peak with awe-filled eyes!
Time: April 8th, 11:40 a.m.!
In the gaze of the twelve climbers, a blonde girl successfully reached the summit of Mount Hyjal Summit at an altitude of 10,230 meters. She wore no cold-weather gear, used no Oxygen Cylinder, hadn't eaten or slept, and had climbed the entire journey as if challenging the Grim Reaper herself.
She stood on the summit's cliff, looking at the countless mountains and changing cloud streams beside the peak, the world beneath her feet!
The dazzling sunlight fell upon the Truth Seeker as if bestowing a crown. Despite her gaunt, travel-stained face from days without food or washing, at that moment, she was incredibly brilliant. Her eyes, always Flickering with unwavering Determination, radiated a shocking power that resonated with all viewers, even through the screen!
In an instant, countless messages flashed across the screen, 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 then they witnessed a seemingly miraculous scene unfold before the true powerhouse.
This scene made even them question whether they were in a Hollywood movie.
In the sunlight, the scrapes and dirt on the Truth Seeker's body instantly vanished. Her emaciated, weathered skin and face 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, her Clothes melting into it. 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.