Second World-Novel

1325 Chapter 1325. Parkour

"Since I am also generous today, I will let you in on a clue," Aglea said. "Two people or more traveling together will make the journey easier than one. Happy gaming!"

She then vanished.

The participants were left to study the platforms. The platforms had different sizes and were placed at different elevations. Most were at a jumping distance between one to the other. The platforms with wider distances had horizontal beams, poles, and even ropes in between them. There were also some obstacles like low walls or such.

"This is a parkour arena…," Winson said.

"Parkour?" Kramer asked. As a native, he was not familiar with this term.

"Suffice it to say, we have to run and jump our way to the other end before the time runs out," Jack said. "The crazy woman said that it is better to go with more than one person. Anyone wants to join me?"

"I will go," Stefan said. "I have a high dexterity stat. I am confident in my movement."

"Just remember you don't have the super jump ability of your class anymore," Jack reminded.

"I will go as well," Winson said. "I used to do parkour in my younger days. I also have a decent dexterity. I should be able to navigate this route."

"Are you sure, old man? How long ago did you do parkour?" Stefan asked.

"Do not underestimate me. I participate in a lot of parkour tournaments when I'm in my prime," Winson replied. "My body now is even stronger and faster than then. I believe I will get the hang of it once I start doing it."

"Anyone else?" Jack asked.

No one else responded.

"Okay, let's go!" Jack said. He didn't know how far away the other end was. It was better if they didn't waste too much time getting there.

Jack jumped and ran along the next platform, which was a long plank, before jumping and climbing to the next one which was at shoulder height. Stefan and Winson followed behind.

Jack didn't try to go full speed because precision was important here. He couldn't afford to slip and fall. Also, he needed to adjust to the two others who were slower than him.

After passing through some platforms, the paths that could be taken were no longer linear. The direction was still the same but they could take different platforms to go forward, which provided different challenges.

Some needed them to walk through narrow beams. Some required them to swing through a series of monkey bars. There were also spots where they had to swing like Tarzan over a wide distance using ropes.

After going through some obstacles, Winson seemed to get the hang of it. His confidence prompted him to start to take different paths than Jack. Sometimes he was even in the lead despite being slower than Jack.

"That geezer does know how to do this," Jack remarked after seeing Winson. It was Stefan who had trouble trying to keep up with the two.

After around three minutes, they finally stopped. The reason was that the path ahead seemed untraversable. There was only one path, and the next platform was ten meters away.

The problem was, the platform before it didn't give them much space for running. It was just a small platform reached by swinging through a long line of monkey bars. Without sufficient space to run, they couldn't develop speed. Without sufficient speed, they couldn't jump far enough to get to the next platform.

"We can do a horizontal run through that wall," Winson said. In between the platform they were at and the next one was a vertical wall on one side.

"Are you sure? That is a hell of a long way to go even by running on the wall," Stefan said.

Jack was also not confident about this idea. In his current condition, he thought he might not be able to build enough momentum to run along the wall to cover that distance.

 They thought about it for a while. Time continued to tick.

"I will give it a try," Winson finally said. They won't achieve anything by waiting here.

When he was about to jump, Jack stopped him. "Wait! See that ledge up there?"

The others looked up. The vertical wall Winson was about to jump to was very high, that's why they didn't think about climbing that wall and walked along its top to reach the opposite platform. However, a small part of it was low. It was within climbing distance.

"What about it? There is another wall facing the platform we are trying to reach up there. We still can't walk over," Winson said.

"But maybe there is a roundabout path up there that brings us to the other side," Jack said. "I will climb up there and have a look. If there is nothing, you can try your wall running stunt."

Finished speaking, he ran to the vertical wall and jumped in the direction right under the ledge. Boosted by his jumping power, he ran up the wall a little bit until his hands grabbed the edge of the ledge.

"Is there a secret way up there?" Stefan asked after Jack climbed up the ledge. He wasn't eager to follow Winson's suggestion. Winson might be able to do the wall running but he for sure couldn't.

"No," Jack answered from above. "But there is a lever."

"Lever?" Stefan asked.

"I'm going to pull it," Jack said from above.

"Wait! Do you think that's a good…"

Stefan hadn't finished speaking when a rumble was heard. Jack must have pulled the lever. Stefan and Winson then saw ahead of them, a part of the vertical wall revolved and became a platform in between theirs and their target platform. Now, the platform on the opposite side was within normal jumping distance.

"Hey! You make a bridge!" Stefan shouted.

"Really? Cool! I'm coming back down now," Jack uttered. But as soon as he said that, the bridge platform fell back into the vertical wall again.

"Hey, where is the bridge?" Jack asked while looking down from the ledge.

"It's gone… I think you have to hold that lever you turned up there," Stefan said.

"What…? Then how am I supposed to cross afterward?" Jack asked.