CHAPTER 83: CLIMBING SIMULATOR

"Uh... so the goal is to escape from here, right?" Natalie finally understood.

At that moment, a red bar appeared in the lower left corner of her screen, it was her health bar. But it was barely one tenth full, already hanging by a thread.

"What? I’m almost dead the moment I start?!" Natalie exclaimed.

She sighed, "Forget it, I should just focus on finding a way out first!"

She looked around carefully. Smooth stone walls rose on both sides, with a narrow path ahead. Behind her, however, there was a waterway. The surface space was small, but she could still squeeze in if she swam underwater.

Natalie wasn’t afraid. "Heh, since there’s water here, I’ll check it out first!"

With a splash, she dove into the water and began swimming forward. Thanks to a month of grinding in Subnautica, her swimming skills were polished. And compared to that game, she felt much lighter and faster here.

But soon, a new bar appeared on her screen.

The oxygen meter.

It was dropping far too quickly!

"Wait, wait, don’t tell me, there are no oxygen tanks in this game?!"

Realizing the distance ahead was too far, she panicked and swam back. But it was already too late, the oxygen bar hit zero.

"Why is it draining so fast?!" she cried. Her body suddenly felt heavy, sinking into the depths. Darkness swallowed her vision.

Then, across the black screen, a single blood red word appeared: Death.

Barrage of comments.

"Pfft! Natalie drowned again!"

"Hahaha! First in Subnautica, now in Sekiro! Water is her mortal enemy!"

"Obviously, that waterway was a trap. She really jumped in without thinking!"

"Classic trauma from Subnautica, see water, must dive!"

"Even though Wolf is a master ninja, his breath holding sucks, huh?"

"Oh... so I really took the wrong path." Natalie admitted sheepishly. She had gotten carried away, still stuck in the mindset of Subnautica.

Reloading, the screen flashed back to the dark sewer.

This time, she chose the proper road forward. Before long, she was blocked by a stone wall nearly eight meters high.

A message appeared on her screen.

[While jumping toward a wall, jump again to perform a Wall Jump.]

"Whoa, double jump exists?!" Natalie’s eyes lit up.

She dashed forward, leapt up, and kicked off the wall. With a powerful burst, she soared even higher, landing firmly at the top!

All without using her hands. Just pure leg strength.

"Nice!!" Natalie shouted in awe. "These moves are insane!"

The audience was equally impressed. Double jumps were common in games, sure, but seeing a player perform it firsthand was still exhilarating.

Natalie continued forward, finally escaping the sewer. But soon, she arrived at a new obstacle: a towering cliff.

She peeked over the edge, at least 300 meters straight down. Her stomach lurched at the thought of falling.

"Even with Wolf’s skills, a fall like that means instant death..."

She scanned the surroundings, then noticed something, a narrow line of protruding stones along the cliff face.

"Wait... you want me to cross there?!"

A new message appeared.

[Stick to the cliff and move along the edge.]

"Seriously?! That’s crazy!"

The path was thinner than a plank of wood, maybe only ten centimeters wide. And below... nothing but a sheer drop.

The chat exploded.

"What the hell, what bastard would design a path like this?!"

"Bro thinks we’re actual ninjas!"

"Sekiro really said: fall and die, no mercy!"

"Damn, this game is even more brutal than Subnautica! At least drowning made sense, this is just evil!"

"Alright, no point hesitating. Let’s try it!" Natalie steadied herself. She had faced scarier situations before, so she took a deep breath and stepped forward.

And then, she realized something.

When she pressed against the cliff, she felt a strange force pulling her inward, as if the wall itself was holding her tightly in place.

’Hah, so there’s actually a safety net. Tony, you sneaky genius.’

The audience, of course, had no idea about the hidden assistance. What they saw was Natalie, calm and fearless, clinging to the cliff and striding across the deadly edge without faltering.

"Holy crap, she’s really walking it!"

"Balance of a pro! She’s so smooth!"

"This doesn’t look like the Natalie I know!"

Natalie smirked inwardly. Time to put on a show.

The audience was stunned one after another, their comments flooding the screen. Meanwhile, Natalie was fully enjoying the rare thrill of showing off. She couldn’t help but laugh proudly.

"Haha, everyone calm down, I’m just awesome!"

But just as she was about to reach the flat ground on the other side of the cliff, a faint sound of voices came from ahead.

At the same time, a prompt appeared on the left side of her screen.

[You can lean out at the edge to peek ahead. This allows you to detect enemies in advance. Very useful, always pay attention.]

"This hint looks important..." Natalie muttered. She slowed her steps, pressed her body against the cliff, and carefully leaned her head forward to peek.

On the open ground ahead, two soldiers in plain cloth armor were chatting casually.

"Hey, that prisoner we locked up... was it okay not putting him in special shackles?"

"Don’t worry. He doesn’t even have a blade, and he’s injured badly. He’s useless now."

"Yeah, you’re right..."

"Tch, are you looking down on me that much?" Natalie grumbled under her breath. Obviously, those two soldiers were talking about the ’wolf’ she was playing.

Right then, another prompt appeared.

[Crouch and hide in the grass. Moving like this will let you advance without being detected. Since you don’t have a weapon yet, avoid enemies and head toward the Moon Viewing Tower. Note: When you’re about to be spotted, a warning icon will appear above the enemy’s head.]

"What? So because I don’t have a knife, I have to sneak around like a coward? Ugh, that’s so unfair!" Natalie complained. Then she quickly added, "Guys, don’t blame me. I’m not being cowardly, this is the system forcing me!"

The viewers teased her back immediately.

"Don’t make excuses, Natalie. Just follow the tutorial!"

"Yeah, this is still early game. The real fight hasn’t even started!"

"Haha, why does this suddenly feel like some ancient assassin game?"

Natalie got into character and acted fast. Luckily, the cliff edge connected to some tall grass. Clearly, Tony had set it up intentionally. She crouched low and melted into the grass, moving quietly forward.

Her heart pounded faster as she crept past the two soldiers. When she noticed the swords hanging at their waists, her nerves tensed even more.

"This really feels like I’m playing an assassin... so nerve wracking..."

"Huh?" One of the soldiers suddenly turned, frowning as if he had heard something.

At the same time, Natalie noticed a bright exclamation mark pop up above his head. It shifted rapidly from yellow toward red!

"That’s the warning sign! When it turns red, you’ll be spotted, Natalie!"

"Yes! Get back into the grass, quick!"

Panicking, she shuffled deeper into the grass. Sure enough, the exclamation mark slowly faded, turning yellow again before disappearing completely. The soldier lost interest and turned his head back.

"Whew... that was close!" Natalie whispered, forcing her racing heart to calm as she kept advancing through the grass.

Soon, the grass ended, leaving her with no cover. Fortunately, she had already slipped past the guards. She let out a sigh of relief.

Up ahead stood a graceful old pavilion. Its structure was elegant and refined, and above it hung a bright, round moon.

"What a beautiful scene... that must be the Moon Viewing Tower," Natalie murmured. But her relief didn’t last long, another cliff blocked her path.

A prompt appeared again.

[Grip the stone cracks along the cliff to move forward. With the Wolf’s skill, you can easily scale across.]

"Oh no..." Natalie glanced at the cliffside. Sure enough, there was a faint line of cracks running along the wall.

The audience exploded with chatter.

"Pfft, seriously? Grab the cracks and move forward? That’s basically extreme rock climbing!"

"Not even! This is way harder than real rock climbing, have you ever seen climbers doing it without any equipment?!"

"This is insane! If it’s this tough at the tutorial stage, how are we supposed to fight later?!"

"I swear, I’d give up right here. The game’s difficulty is brutal!"

"The New World trilogy: Corridor Simulator, Swimming Simulator, and now Rock Climbing Simulator! Each one crazier than the last!"

Natalie groaned with them. "Tsk, the developer is not human! But come on, he wouldn’t really make us climb raw like this. There must be some kind of assistance built in."

Even so, she couldn’t resist the urge to show off again.

"Although this looks ridiculously hard, for the sake of you guys, I’ll give it a try!" she declared boldly.

Steeling herself, she stepped forward, gripped the stone crack with both hands, and with a small pull, her entire body lifted off the ground, hanging against the cliffside.

To her surprise, it wasn’t nearly as exhausting as she imagined. Even with just her arms holding her, her body felt light, as though an invisible force was helping her stay steady.

The viewers was floored.

On their screens, Natalie was actually dangling high above the abyss, gripping cracks in the cliff, and smoothly making her way forward, just like a professional climber.

1553 Words.