Parchment

Liu Xing looked up at the second floor and estimated it was about two meters high. As for the wooden railing on the second floor, it looked fairly sturdy. It probably would not break from his pulling force... probably...

Just as Liu Xing stared uncertainly at the railing and considered what posture he should use to jump, Bai He Cheng, adhering to his usual spirit of enjoying a spectacle without fearing trouble, spoke up. "Hey, Liu Xing, listen to me. Don't chicken out. Just jump. Your Luck is so good, you even passed a one-percent roll. Passing a twenty-percent roll should be easy for you, shouldn't it?"

Liu Xing had no response. Bai He Cheng had probably forgotten that his Investigation roll had just failed.

But a short pain was better than a long one. Liu Xing could not be bothered to think any further and directly contacted KP004. "KP, I want to make Multiple Checks to jump up to the second floor."

KP004 immediately replied, "No problem."

Jump, 63/70, Success.

Climbing, 23/20, Failure.

Sure enough, Liu Xing's Climbing skill roll failed, so KP004 did not even bother making a Luck Check for him.

Thus, Liu Xing leaped into the air, jumping more than two meters high. However, his hands failed to catch the railing, and he began falling freely without any surprise.

Fortunately, Chen Ling and Wang Qi below had already prepared themselves. They both reached out and caught Liu Xing. Moreover, because Liu Xing's Constitution and Size values were relatively low, there was no need for any Contest Roll.

When certain special circumstances arose, a Contest Roll was needed. For example, in Liu Xing's situation just now, if the combined value of his Constitution and Size had exceeded a certain threshold, he would have needed to make a Contest Roll against Wang Qi and Chen Ling's Strength. If he failed, Wang Qi and Chen Ling would not have been able to catch him and might even have been injured. But Liu Xing's combined Constitution and Size was only a little over eighty, roughly equal to Chen Ling's Strength alone. In addition, he had only fallen around two meters, so KP004 simply ruled that Chen Ling and Wang Qi had successfully caught him.

After a while, Liu Xing decided to make another set of Multiple Checks.

In the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, some actions could only be rolled once unless special circumstances applied. For example, when Liu Xing and the others used their Investigation skill in that Locked Room, a failure was regarded as "the Player losing interest in continuing to explore this room." Therefore, unless the Player could find an appropriate reason to persuade the KP, the Player could not investigate that room again.

But in Liu Xing's case, he could make multiple rolls. After all, Liu Xing was "determined to jump up to the second floor no matter what," so he contacted KP004 again. "KP, I want to make another set of Multiple Checks!"

"Alright. Although the Player failed once before, the Player has also gained a certain understanding of the railing's position and height. Therefore, in this set of Multiple Checks, the Player's Climbing skill will receive a bonus value of 20."

In the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG, there were bonus values and penalty values. In Liu Xing's case, although his previous Climbing roll had failed, he had learned from that failure. Therefore, when he attempted Climbing again, he received a bonus value. As for penalty values, if Liu Xing had injured his leg in that fall just now, his Jump skill would have been affected by a penalty value, lowering its value for a certain period of time.

Jump, 31/70, Success.

Climbing, 12/40, Success.

Luck, 59/80, Success.

Liu Xing leaped high into the air once again. This time, he successfully grabbed the railing. Though it let out a soft creak, nothing unexpected happened, and Liu Xing made it safely to the second floor.

Only then did Liu Xing let out a breath of relief and nod down at Bai He Cheng and the others. Following their previously discussed positions, Bai He Cheng and the others spread out to keep watch for Liu Xing. Of course, Wang Qi stayed close to Bai He Cheng to protect him, ready at any moment to carry out "humane destruction" on Bai He Cheng should he make any suspicious move.

Standing in the second-floor corridor, Liu Xing began examining 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 at the far left.

Following the principle of "men on the left, women on the right," Liu Xing planned to try his luck with the Castle Lord's room first. He had already decided that the Castle Lord was the BOSS of this tabletop game. With the BOSS out, it could not have been better to gather useful information from the BOSS's room.

However, standing before the Castle Lord's room, Liu Xing sighed helplessly. He had not expected the Castle Lord to install a fingerprint lock on his own door!

This really was a BOSS who kept up with the times...

Since it was a fingerprint lock, Liu Xing knew that even if he used his Lockpicking skill, KP004 would automatically rule it a failure. So he gave up struggling and turned toward the study.

Just then, Liu Xing heard the sound of dice hitting the ground, but no result appeared. He asked KP004, "KP, was that a Hidden Roll?"

KP004 was quite straightforward... well, perhaps it was not a person. "Yes. I can tell you directly what this Hidden Roll was for. It was a Luck Check to determine whether the study door was locked."

Liu Xing silently nodded. When he arrived before the study, he found that its door was slightly ajar. Yet what struck Liu Xing as strange was that he could see nothing through the gap except pure blackness—a blackness that seemed to absorb all light. As far as his eyes could see, there was only darkness.

Clearly, there was definitely something wrong with this study.

Liu Xing hesitated for a moment. He was alone now, and he was not a combat-oriented character to begin with. If something unexpected happened inside the study, he feared that he might die in there...

Liu Xing fell silent for a while before finally gritting his teeth and deciding to enter the study. He still had a Character Card to revive with, and the more dangerous a place was, the more information and benefits it could yield!

With that thought, Liu Xing directly pushed open the study door. Several lamps suddenly lit up inside, brightly illuminating the study.

Clearly, the study's light switch was connected to its door.

"This is a small study containing more than ten bookshelves, all holding various books. They all appear to be Ancient Books of considerable historical value, and you even see a roll of parchment."

Liu Xin listened to the information provided by KP004 while observing his surroundings.

KP, I need to make an Investigation roll, focusing on that parchment, Liu Xing thought as he looked at the roll of parchment KP004 had mentioned.

Investigation, 58/60, Success.

"Looks like your Luck is pretty good. You nearly failed. You obtain the following information: there is nothing particularly unusual about this study, while that roll of parchment appears extremely ancient and gives off an aura that makes you feel very uncomfortable."

Liu Xing knew that this parchment was the important item in this tabletop game.

PS: Thanks to Blox. Higa for recommending the book list, and thanks as well to the other friends for your support. No wonder the favorites have been rising so quickly these past two days. Thank you, everyone.