Chapter 9, Rush into the Final Level

Having finally gathered everything desired, Wang Ling can now proceed with peace of mind

Wang Ling pressed forward and bumped into a giant mushroom. Initially, he was worried that, like in the game, only firepower flowers would appear, but now he could finally set his mind at ease. Continuing on his way, after bumping into a firepower flower, he felt that the two types of treasures should appear alternately

Stepping out of the transit fortress, Wang Ling saw a peculiar white cloud drifting over. Perched atop the cloud was a creature with a green head and two large eyes, its expression suddenly stern: "Indeed, it has come!"

Wang Ling, whose entire body shimmered with golden light, sighed dejectedly: "Mushrooms can be preserved, but the Invincible Stars cannot. I had originally planned to use the effect of invincibility to deal with King Koopa, but it seems that the Dream Space indeed does not allow for obvious exploitation of loopholes..."

Wang Ling dared not rush onto the platform to use the speed run, nor attempt a super jump to grab the flag. He could only manage to control his balance during a fall from a height of over 5 meters. If he failed to catch the flag, he would inevitably end up injuring his ankle like Mario.

He has already decided that he must obtain three precious life-enhancing mushrooms from this world scene to take with him. Such treasures that prevent death are undoubtedly more valuable than both the giant mushrooms and the fire flowers, whether for personal use or for sale

Another life-enhancing mushroom

Wang Ling's gaze swept over the three water pipes, and he resolutely jumped into the pipe leading to the final castle. After a long slide along the wall of the pipe, he fell into the transit fortress, where the Dream Badge immediately prompted: "Warning! Dreamer No. 10521 has entered the final level of the novice world scene. The difficulty of this scene has been upgraded from Level E to Level D! Level D difficulty is extremely dangerous for novice dreamers! In order to protect novice dreamers and *book* thinkers, you may choose to end your adventure in this world scene and return to the Dream Space. Dreamer No. 10521 has entered the final level of the novice world scene. The difficulty of this scene has been upgraded from Level E to Level D! Level D difficulty is extremely dangerous for novice dreamers! In order to protect novice dreamers and *book* thinkers, you may choose to end your adventure in this world scene and return to the Dream Space. The currency points and items you have obtained will be retained, but the skills acquired will be lost. Please make a careful decision whether to return!"

Upon hearing the prompt, Wang Ling thought to himself: "Jumping directly from the first major checkpoint to the fourth major checkpoint has increased the difficulty, and the Dream Space will correspondingly provide compensation. Originally, I could only leave one item, but now it has changed to leaving two items... However, two items are still not enough. I wonder how many items I can leave when I reach the final checkpoint."

At that moment, Wang Ling executed a super jump, throwing two fireballs that struck the happy cloud. The green-skinned monster, with a smug expression, along with the white cloud it was hiding in, was instantly ignited by the flames, burning fiercely and turning to ashes amidst a chorus of screams

Currently, Wang Ling possesses two sets of giant mushrooms and fire flowers, which are means left for adventuring in the Eighth Castle and confronting Bowser. After all, even in fireball form, encountering damage just once will revert him to his original state, making backup items essential

At a height of nearly twenty meters, floating bricks and stones are connected to form an expansive road. Wang Ling, standing on the stone platform below, has continuously shattered twenty-six bricks, his body covered in scattered stone dust, resembling a figure made of ash. After much effort, he finally managed to push the mushroom up.

This area does not present significant difficulty; rather, it is characterized by numerous pitfalls in the road cross-section, as well as new types of monsters: the man-eating flower rooted in the green pipes and the swift turtle with a red shell. Under the power of fireballs, the man-eating flower is reduced to ashes from a distance. As for the red swift turtle, Wang Ling specifically used a large kitchen knife to craft its shell, only to discover it was a new type of item: "Tracking Turtle Shell and Book, a consumable item. Upon use, the shell glides along the ground, automatically tracking the first enemy in its direction, dealing 5 to 10 points of damage to any creature it collides with, and causing a 3-second stun effect. The distance the item glides is influenced by the terrain and is non-recoverable."

Wang Lingxin joyfully placed this anti-erasure tool into the mushroom pocket, a specialty that could not originally be taken out of the world. This will be the greatest gain obtained in this world scene, aside from skills

Wang Ling looked hatefully at the ashes drifting in the air, feeling much more at ease in her heart. After all, avoiding the continuously falling red hedgehogs was truly troublesome, and as soon as one was pricked by a thorn, she would revert to her original form, unable to launch fireballs, and even her enlarged state would disappear.

In this way, the badge space was saved by four slots. Wang Ling took out the large mushroom and the fire flower, placed them in the slots, and put the extra life mushroom into his pocket

"I told you to chase me! I told you to throw a hedgehog at me! Now you've died, haven't you!"

Having obtained 3 tracking turtle shells, I simultaneously dealt with several ordinary swift turtles, accumulating the gliding turtle shells to a total of 9. However, if I were to add more, I would need to occupy new spaces. It can now be said that the eight spaces are essentially full. Nevertheless, within this area, there is still a treasure that must be acquired at all costs: the life-boosting mushroom

After obtaining this Fire Flower, there were no more treasures or special products in the first area. Wang Ling threw fireballs all the way to the end of the level, which is where the platform and flagpole are located

The pocket can only hold 3 special items, while the spatial bag can also store items but cannot bring them out into the world. Wang Ling immediately took out 2 gold coins, 1 silver coin, a life potion, and a mental potion, placing them into the pocket of his clothing. The 3 small coins and the book coins naturally do not take up much space, while the life and mental potions, being small vials, make the pocket slightly bulge but are not very noticeable

After obtaining a giant mushroom again in the area behind 1-2, Wang Ling used a speed run combined with a super jump to ascend to the high floating brick path, arriving in front of three pipe passages.

The 30 seconds of invincibility are now completely useless, a total waste, but Wang Ling is at a loss. Fortunately, by using the hidden copper coin treasure floating bricks ahead as a stepping stone, he managed to push out a firepower flower from a higher floating brick, somewhat alleviating his feelings of loss

Wang Ling, once again filling the space, runs forward while dodging the annoying hedgehogs thrown down by the happy clouds

Fire Flower, upon use, grants the ability to launch fireballs. You can release up to two fireballs at once, each dealing fire elemental damage equal to your current intelligence value plus 10 points. The fireballs will bounce along the ground until they hit an object, at which point they will disappear. The Fire Flower only takes effect when in a grown state. This is a specialty of the Mushroom Kingdom and cannot be taken out of the Super Mario world.

Due to the increased difficulty of the scenario, after completing the main quest, you may choose to retain two skills, with the retained skills being converted to level 1

Upon arriving under the flag, placing a hand on the flagpole caused the flag to unexpectedly slide down by itself. Subsequently, the Dream Badge provided a prompt: "You have pulled down a Kupa Devil Battle Flag. Based on your performance while pulling down the flag, you will receive 100 points of universal currency in the Dream Space."

This creature, known as the Happy Cloud, throws down red hedgehogs from the clouds. The size of the hedgehogs is similar to that of a small chestnut, and they are covered in spikes. Contact with them will cause injury, and they cannot be dealt with using Mario's jumping on the head technique

He continued to run and stopped in front of an area with floating bricks of treasure. Instead of hitting the floating bricks, he jumped on top of them and suddenly thrust upward into the empty void. With a dull sound, a mushroom with blue spots popped out.

Uh, it's the red shell from Mario Kart

Leading to the sixth, seventh, and eighth castles

Wang Ling jumped into a secret passage leading to the fourth Koopa Castle. After sliding along the inner wall of the pipe for quite a distance, he fell into a transfer fortress that was 4 stories high. The Dream Badge immediately provided a prompt: "You have entered the fourth Koopa Castle. The difficulty of the scene in this world has increased, and the main quest has changed. The new main quest is: Defeat Koopa's clone No. 04 alone, rescue a Mushroom Kid, and learn the whereabouts of Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom."

The fireball struck the ground and immediately rebounded, bouncing forward until it hit a chestnut creature, at which point it vanished. After being hit by the fireball, the chestnut creature erupted in flames, and the red health bar above its head instantly emptied, resulting in its immediate death

Since it is a power associated with the giant mushroom, Wang Ling, who happens to be in this state, directly used the Firepower Flower. Indeed, he was able to launch fireballs forward. When he shot the fireball, there was a distinct hand gesture, as if he were throwing something from his hand, which looked very amusing

The cunning Happy Cloud followed closely behind, directly throwing the hedgehog at Wang Ling, nearly hitting him several times, which was truly perilous. Infuriated, Wang Ling suddenly stopped while leaping onto a floating brick high in the air. The monster on the white cloud, m.hetushu.com.com, was laughing heartily behind him, not expecting his sudden halt, and hurriedly adjusted its flying speed.

The Tracking Shell is more useful than the previous Gliding Shell. Wang Ling stored it in the space of the Dream Badge, occupying the last available slot. The Tracking Shell can also be stacked; however, in this area, the number of Red Gale Turtles is quite limited, while there are many ordinary Gale Turtles.

Launching fireballs does not consume mental energy, and striking monsters from a distance with fireballs is much safer than engaging in close-range stomping.

Fortunately, the Firepower Flower was used. Upon seeing the green-skinned monster in the clouds begin to throw red hedgehogs, Wang Ling immediately charged forward. After using a fireball to knock down a hedgehog blocking the way, he extracted a Firepower Flower specialty from a floating treasure brick and stored it in the badge space

After the badge provided a hint, the flag immediately disappeared. Wang Ling had a bewildered expression on his face; he had already realized that this should be similar to the game, where rewards are given based on the height reached when jumping to the flagpole. Unfortunately, he had not jumped at all and only received 100 points

Entering the transit fortress of the first area, this is merely an empty building with nothing of interest inside. Moving further ahead, there is something more intriguing: a bi-directional water pipe, one side facing the fortress and the other facing the sky. Wang Ling stepped into the green water pipe and slid down along the wall of the pipe for a distance before dropping out onto the ground—here is the second area of the first castle, which corresponds to level 1-2 in the game

After passing through this area, he arrived at the second zone of the fourth castle (4-2). Entering from the third green pipe, he reached a secret passage filled with tall mushroom umbrellas. At the deepest part of this passage, there are three green pipes, identical to those in 1-2, which also serve as warp pipes.

He took a deep breath; the road ahead was the true beginning of danger