The mist had swallowed Zaen once again, but unlike before, there were no game prompts. Just the task information floated before him.
"Would it kill you to tell me what's happening before kidnapping me?" Zaen grumbled, grabbing the stick.
Nothing changed in his surroundings, at least from what he could see. It was still a blank sheet, but the notifications confirmed he had arrived in a special realm to complete the test. As he got up, leaning on the stick, it sank into the ground, startling him.
"What the heck?"
Zaen bent down and touched the floor, which turned out to be made of sand. The special realm was a massive desert. Surprised, he immediately went to check the task information.
"No. No. NO! This can't be happening!"
There was no time limit for completing the task. While it would be relieving for a normal game, not having a time limit was a curse for everything related to the Hunter Games.
He was in a desert with no water, no food, or preparation, and the only way to get out of there was to complete the said task. Walking a hundred meters would be easy, especially in a desert, if not for the obstacles mentioned.
Zaen had no idea what these obstacles were or where they were. To make things worse, even stumbling once could fail the task, forcing him to start over. He could be virtually trapped there forever.
"Don't panic now," Zaen said, trying to reassure himself. "It's not the official game. You can't die here… probably."
With that thought, he got up and, using the stick, took a step in a random direction. He took one step after another, and soon a new notification appeared before him.
[First checkpoint completed.]
[Total distance walked: 5 meters.]
[Perception +0.0175]
"…what's with the weird increase?"
Despite the increase, Zaen couldn't see any better than he did before. Before he could wonder about it more, the ground shook, almost throwing him off balance, but he shoved the stick deep into the sand and held on for his dear life.
[Difficulty has been increased.]
[Obstacles spawned.]
[Next checkpoint will become available in: 10 meters.]
"There were no obstacles until now? …no wonder it was so easy."
The obstacles had appeared, but as expected, nothing appeared in his vision. The stick was his only way to traverse.
Unfortunately, he had no idea how blind people walked using a stick. Uncle Mack had planned to take him to a rehab the next day to get him started, but he stupidly took on a task.
"You know how to walk," Zaen mumbled to himself. "How difficult can it be—"
He moved, walking with the stick before him. However, the next second, there was a deafening explosion, and everything turned black, even his vision. A few seconds passed, and everything turned back to normal.
[Confirmed player death by a landmine.]
[Checkpoint reverted.]
[Current distance traveled: 5 meters.]
[Checkpoint callbacks remaining: 4/5.]
[Note: unused checkpoint callbacks can be carried over to the next section.]
"Landmines… that's the obstacle? Wait… why am I even alive?"
Game or not, if one dies, they should be dead. Yet this strange game somehow brought him back to life? How does it even make sense?
"Why am I complaining about being alive…?"
Zaen shook the strange thoughts out of his head. Even when facing the endless, he didn't let such thoughts enter his mind, but this time it was different. It was as if the task location itself was messing with his mind.
"Four chances. I don't know what will happen if I die without any callbacks remaining."
Zaen fell into deep thought, wondering how to clear the obstacle course. Without his eyes, remembering the position of the mines was impossible, so he mentally crossed out the possibility of carefully making his way through the minefield.
"Should I try to jump... no, that's absurd."
Even professionally trained Olympians couldn't jump 10 meters, let alone a cripple like him. Pole-vaulting wouldn't work either, since he needed the stick for the remaining sections and also because the stick wasn't long enough.
If he had his eyes, then he could even disarm the mines, as they were taught all that during the training. Obviously, Zaen never had to disarm a real mine, just replicas that gave off a dense smoke when triggered.
"If only there were a way to clear the mines…"
He impatiently tapped on the stick's handle.
"…this could work!"
It was a good thing Zaen was alone because the next moment, he stripped to his undies to make a makeshift rope.
The idea was simple. If merely waving the stick above the mines could make them explode, it meant the triggers were highly sensitive. In theory, they were sensitive enough for even his clothes to trigger them.
Using the stick as the base, he hurled the clothes onto the minefield. At first nothing happened, prompting Zaen to try again. However, as he tried to pull the clothes back, hundreds of mines exploded at once.
"Shit!"
Zaen dropped the stick and covered his ears while laying flat on his stomach. He had already lost his eyes and didn't want to lose any more organs through this mess.
He waited for the explosions to stop, but they kept going. The first explosions sent sand and debris flying everywhere which triggered even more mines. The endless cycle of explosions continued for over ten minutes before stopping.
When Zaen got up, he was naturally buried in sand. It had gotten everywhere, but still, he was happy and quickly grabbed his stick and made a break for the next section.
[Second checkpoint completed.]
[Total distance walked: 15 meters.]
[Perception +0.035]
[More checkpoint callbacks added.]
[Checkpoint callbacks remaining: 9.]
"Yes!" Zaen punched the air while panting.
Who would have thought walking fifteen meters could give someone such satisfaction?
[Difficulty has been increased.]
[New obstacles spawned.]
[Next checkpoint will become available in: 15 meters.]
Following the same path, Zaen lifted the stick to see what remained ahead. However, the moment he did, something sharp grazed his skin.
"What is it now?"
He held the stick at the edge and poked ahead, only to hear something scraping against the stick. He kept poking around until he realized what the next obstacle was. In fact, it was something he was quite familiar with.
"Barbed wire course… who the heck is coming with all these obstacles?"