Liu Xing looked up at the second floor, estimating it to be about two meters high. As for the wooden railing, it looked quite sturdy; it shouldn't be damaged by his own pulling... Probably...
Just as Liu Xing was looking at the railing with some uncertainty, pondering how to jump, Bai Hecheng, upholding his usual willingness to watch the action, spoke up, "Hey, Liu Xing, listen to me. Don't be scared, just jump. You're so lucky anyway. You passed the 1% chance, so the 20% chance shouldn't be a piece of cake, Liu Xing?"
Liu Xing was speechless. Bai Hecheng must have forgotten that he had failed his previous detection check.
But a short pain is worse than a long one, so Liu Xing didn't bother to think about it anymore and simply contacted kp004, "KP, I need to perform multiple checks to jump to the second floor."
kp004 immediately responded, "No problem."
Jump, 63/70, success.
Climb, 23/20, failure.
As expected, Liu Xing failed his Climb skill check, so kp004 didn't even give him a Luck check.
So, Liu Xing leaped over two meters high, but his hands couldn't grab the railing, so he naturally began to free fall.
However, Chen Ling and Wang Qi below were already prepared. They both reached out and caught Liu Xing. And because Liu Xing's Constitution and Size stats were relatively low, no resistance check was required.
In special circumstances, a counter-attack check is required. For example, in Liu Xing's situation just now, if Liu Xing's combined Constitution and Size values exceed a certain value, a counter-attack check will be required against Wang Qi and Chen Ling's strength. If the check fails, Wang Qi and Chen Ling will be unable to catch Liu Xing and may even be injured. However, Liu Xing's Constitution and Size combined are only over 80 points, roughly equivalent to Chen Ling's strength alone. Furthermore, Liu Xing's fall was only about two meters, so KP004 assumed that Chen Ling and Wang Qi successfully caught Liu Xing.
After a while, Liu Xing decided to perform multiple checks again.
In Cthulhu role-playing games, some actions require only one check unless there are special circumstances. For example, when Liu Xing and his companions used the Scout skill in the locked room just now, a failed check would be considered "the player has lost interest in exploring the room." Therefore, unless the player can find a good reason to convince the KP, they cannot explore the room again.
In a situation like Liu Xing's, multiple checks are possible. After all, Liu Xing was determined to reach the second floor, determined to do so. So, Liu Xing contacted kp004 again, "KP, I need another multiple check!"
"Okay, since the player failed the previous time, they have a good understanding of the guardrail's location and height. Therefore, this time, their climbing skill will receive a 20 percent bonus."
In Cthulhu role-playing games, there are bonuses and penalties. In Liu Xing's case, although Liu Xing failed the previous climbing check, he learned from it. Therefore, the next time he tries to climb, he'll receive a bonus. As for the penalty, just like if Liu Xing had injured his leg, his jumping skill would be affected by a penalty, reducing its value for a certain period of time.
Jumping, 31/70, Success.
Climbing, 12/40, Success.
Luck, 59/80, Success.
Liu Xing leaped high again, this time successfully grabbing the guardrail. It creaked slightly, but Liu Xing reached the second floor without incident.
Liu Xing breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Bai Hecheng and the others downstairs. They spread out according to their previously agreed positions, providing cover for Liu Xing. Of course, Wang Qi provided close protection for Bai Hecheng, ready to "humanely destroy" him if he made any unsettling moves.
Liu Xing stood in the second-floor hallway and surveyed the three rooms. According to the information provided by kp004, from left to right were the castle lord's room, the study, and the castle lord's daughter's room. The staircase connecting the first and second floors was on the far left.
Following the principle of "men on the left, women on the right," Liu Xing prepared to try his luck in the Castle Lord's room. After all, Liu Xing had already determined that the Castle Lord was the boss of this group game. Now, while the boss was out, gathering some useful intel from his room would be the best opportunity.
However, standing in front of the Castle Lord's room, Liu Xing sighed helplessly. He hadn't expected the Castle Lord to install a fingerprint lock on his door!
This boss truly keeps up with the times...
Because of the fingerprint lock, Liu Xing knew that even if he used the lock picking skill, kp004 would automatically consider it a failure. So, Liu Xing gave up and turned to study.
Just then, Liu Xing heard the sound of a die landing, but no result was revealed. Liu Xing said to kp004, "Kp, were you casting a secret bet?"
kp004 was a straightforward man... Well, maybe it wasn't a human. "Yes, I can tell you directly about this secret roll. It's your luck role that determines whether the study door is locked."
Liu Xing nodded silently and arrived at the study. He found the door ajar, but what struck him strangely was that through the crack in the door, he could only see a pure blackness, a blackness that absorbed all light. Everywhere Liu Xing looked, there was darkness.
It was obvious that there was something wrong with this study.
Liu Xing hesitated for a moment. After all, he was alone, and he wasn't a combat-oriented character. If something happened in the studies, he felt he would be dead.
Liu Xing was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and decided to enter the study. After all, he still had a character card to revive, and the more dangerous the place, the more information and benefits he could gain!
Liu Xing, thinking this, pushed open the study door. Several lights suddenly lit up, illuminating the room.
Clearly, the light switches were connected to the door.
"This is a small study, with over ten bookshelves filled with a wide variety of books. They all appear to be ancient and of great historical value. You even saw a scroll of parchment."
Liu Xin listened to KP004's intelligence while observing the surroundings.
"KP, I need to conduct a reconnaissance. The key is that parchment," Liu Xing thought to himself, looking at the parchment KP004 had mentioned.
Reconnaissance, 58/60, success.
"Looks like you're lucky. You almost failed, but you've got the following information: There's nothing special about this study, but that parchment looks very ancient and exudes a rather unpleasant aura."
Liu Xing knew that this parchment was the key item in this role-playing game.