《Divine Hunter》 Chapter 1 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Nanhua City. Inside an old warehouse by the outer city¡­ There was barely any light except for the light rays peeking through the exhaust fan within the warehouse. Through the light, instead of any sign of goods expected to be stored in a warehouse, there were red and green cables connected to a radiator and a few huge screens. ¡°This Virtual Reality (VR) Helmet¡­ Its molded perfectly without a single gap on it. It was clearly made of metal, yet it was lighter than plastic. I wonder how they actually made it. This is unbelievable.¡± Chen Mo looked at the VR helmet with a faint metallic luster in his hand and gasped in wonder. ¡°There¡¯s no chance we can infiltrate a website that¡¯s already operating in the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network. I¡¯m afraid the only chance for us to complete the mission is to search around in the game.¡± Chen Mo glanced at the monitor with a huge word written on it, ¡°Genesis¡±. To everyone¡¯s surprise, the era of full-dive virtual reality that everyone once fantasized about had suddenly became the reality. Just a month ago, nearly all the country had collectively announced the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network would be replacing the traditional Internet. In order to test the stability of the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network, the whole world would be launching the full-dive VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game), Genesis. Being the first full-dive VRMMORPG, Genesis was expected to gather the attention of a massive number of players. If Genesis was still able to operate properly without any errors in spite of the shocking number of players, the so-called ¡°perfectly safe, bug-free and stable¡± virtual reality network would fully replace the traditional Internet very quickly. Many were excited and rejoicing at the arrival of the legendary era of full-dive virtual reality, but Chen Mo was not one of them. As a hacker, the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network was definitely going to ruin his livelihood. Regardless of how exciting it might be, there was no way he could enjoy it after losing his livelihood. It was quite obvious that many people shared the same thought as him. He was entrusted with a special mission not long ago. The mission was very simple. He was told to find a loophole of the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network to stop it from replacing the traditional Internet. The deposit was only three thousand US dollars, but if he could find a valid loophole within three months, he would be paid at least a million US dollars! Chen Mo gladly accepted the request since he was getting paid for doing what he wanted to do. However, he had made zero progress in the last few days despite trying his best. He was left with only one option, he must try to find the loophole through the VRMMORPG, Genesis. It was difficult to find a loophole from a normal website since it was quite easy to secure it. However, for a massive game like Genesis, there were simply too many aspects involved. Even if the programming language was flawless, there was still a chance he could find an endless loop somewhere in its logic. As long as he could find a loophole like that within the game, the statement of describing the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network as ¡°perfectly safe, bug-free stable¡± would be treated as an empty promise. The process of transitioning to the era of Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network would be halted too. Lots of people in the same profession as him had received the same request too. However, Chen Mo had a slight advantage over them. He had been closely observing the news about Genesis in the last few days. He saw a few people bragging about having first-hand information about Genesis. Chen Mo shamelessly hacked into their computers searching for information. He was surprised that one of them was actually speaking the truth. The guy did manage to get his hands on some information about Genesis from an unknown source. There was not much. Chen Mo only ended up with pieces of unreliable information, but as a hacker, his instinct was telling him that the pieces of information might be real. He stole the information and kindly did the guy a favor by deleting the files, just so the guy would not be harassed by some other hackers again. It was unlikely to find a kind-hearted hacker like him nowadays. Tonight at six would be the time for Genesis¡¯s open beta. Chen Mo took a quick look at the time and put on the helmet. He logged into the game without the need to enter his credentials. He soon found himself in an ancient room. Chen Mo remained silent. The players did not even have to log into their accounts. Its security clearly outmatched that of the traditional Internet. ¡°The game is about to start. Player, you may create your character and choose your class first.¡± Following a gentle voice, the interface to create a character in the game appeared in front of Chen Mo. ¡°Character¡¯s name.¡± ¡°Chen Mo (Silence).¡± {TL Note: Chen Mo spells the same as MC¡¯s name but has a different meaning. It means silence here.} ¡°Please select your class.¡± A bunch of characters representing the different classes appeared. Chen Mo quickly went through them and soon fixed his attention on two specific classes. Assassin and Hunter. He was playing the game to find a loophole and cause some destruction. He could not expect anyone to lend him a hand, thus it was more appropriate to choose a solo class. Both Assassin and Hunter were perfect for a solo player. The two classes had certain abilities to conceal themselves. An Assassin could learn the skill ¡°Stealth¡±. Not only would it allow an Assassin to move stealthily, but it would also increase their attack damage significantly when they revealed themselves. On the other hand, Hunter could learn the skill ¡°Camouflage¡± to blend themselves into the surroundings. The concealment was actually better than ¡°Stealth¡±. The only downside was, an Assassin¡¯s movement speed would increase when using ¡°Stealth¡±, but a Hunter¡¯s movement speed was under great restrictions when using ¡°Camouflage¡±. That being said, the concealment was only one of the necessities of a solo player. It was more important to have remarkable combat prowess. Words were not needed to describe how outstanding the combat prowess of an Assassin would be. With strong equipment, battle awareness, and skills, an Assassin was basically a killing machine. If he could learn some outstanding Class Talents too, he could easily become a fearsome existence. On the other hand, the Hunter was not to be underestimated either. A Hunter was better than an Assassin when it came to dragged-out battles. Traps and poisonous arrows were the two main attacks of a hunter. Most importantly, a Hunter could also form a pact with beasts to fight for them. ¡°Assassin and Hunter, the Assassin is more suitable for PVPs while the Hunter is more suitable when fighting against powerful monsters.¡± Chen Mo had yet to see the two classes in battles, but he could arrive at some conclusions based on the description of the two classes. He was only playing the game to accomplish his mission of finding a loophole of the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Network. As such, he would spend more time with the monsters and NPCs (non-player characters) than the players. The Hunter was obviously the better pick, but Chen Mo did not choose to be a Hunter. A Hunter was weaker in the early game. He was worried that there were things he could not do as a Hunter. It was better to familiarize himself with the game as an Assassin first. Chen Mo was most likely going to choose Hunter if it was not for his mission. As players levelled up their characters in the game, there would be job advancements for each of the classes too. These job advancements would allow the characters to learn unique Class Talents. The titles of their classes would change according to the talents they chose too. According to the description of the classes, a Hunter could choose to become a Bounty Hunter or a Fortune Seeker in the late game. They sounded more like what Chen Mo was doing in real life. The job advancements of an Assassin were not too bad either. An Assassin could choose to become an Eternal Night Sovereign, a Nightlord, and some other cool-sounding titles. It was a pity that he was not here to enjoy the game but to destroy it to accomplish his mission. He instinctively chose the class that was more likely going to help him to accomplish his mission. ¡°Please create your character.¡± After choosing to be an Assassin, a character appeared out of nowhere in front of Chen Mo. He glanced at the character and was surprised to see that the character looked almost the same as him. Chen Mo only needed to tweak the character¡¯s appearance a little. Chen Mo was not a handsome man, but he was still good-looking by tweaking his facial features a little. He was never unsatisfied with his looks. However, he was planning to do bad things in the game, thus he could not afford to enter it with his actual look. He proceeded to modify the look of his character. It still resembled his actual appearance in real life, but apart from those that were very close to him, it was unlikely that anyone could recognize him. ¡°Character creation completed!¡± ¡°The game will start in a moment. Before that, there¡¯s a little survey for the players. Will Player Chen Mo take the survey? There¡¯s a chance you might acquire some useful equipment in the Rookie¡¯s Village that will aid you in your adventure. The system strongly advises new players to take the survey.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary,¡± Chen Mo rejected it despite the strong recommendation from the system. It was easy to interpret the personalities and styles of the person from the answers to a survey. People of his profession would normally avoid partaking in a survey. It was soon six after a brief wait. A faint white light encapsulated Chen Mo before he vanished from the room. The surroundings cleared up very quickly. Chen Mo was startled after taking a quick look around him. -What¡¯s happening? Shouldn¡¯t players show up at the Rookie¡¯s Village when they first enter the game?- Chen Mo realized he was standing in a red valley with a radius of around ten meters. Behind him were sheer rock cliffs, and ahead of him were more than ten black goblins patrolling the area with menacing looks. The only way out of the valley was passing through the bunch of goblins. Chen Mo had gone through fire and flames. Although he was quite surprised that he had shown up in the wild instead of the Rookie¡¯s Village, he was able to calm himself pretty quickly. He did not engage the goblins right away. He had no clue why he was here, but that was far from his concern for the time being. He had to figure out a plan to leave the valley and found his way to the Rookie¡¯s Village. It was his first priority. Killing monsters was not going to help him accomplish the mission. Chen Mo inspected his character¡¯s attributes. It was exactly the same as what the information he had stolen on the Internet said; his level-one character had Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Spirit as the basic attributes. Each attribute currently had three points. Since Chen Mo had chosen Assassin as his class, each point in Constitution would grant him twenty Hit Points (HP), thus he now had 60 HP. Chen Mo found a ¡°Rusted Dagger¡± in his inventory with a base physical damage of 1-3. He also found a skill book for ¡°Stab¡±. System Notification: You have learned the skill ¡°Stab¡±! Stab (Novice Level): Thrust a dagger at the enemy. Inflicts 120% damage on the target! Skill cooldown: 10 seconds. ¡°Shit, the weapon and skill are pretty useless!¡± Chen Mo could not help but ridicule after seeing the rusted dagger and reading the description of the skill. The valley ahead was crawling with Level 4 Goblins. Although Chen Mo was confident that his reaction was far superior to normal people since he was a hacker, the poor attributes he had at level 1 were completely outmatched by the attributes of the Level 4 Goblins. He could not even tell if he could take on a single goblin. However, he had no choice but to give it a try if he wanted to leave the place. It was quite common that low-level creatures would not take the initiative to attack a player. He might be able to just strut out of the place. Unfortunately, what happened next proved that Chen Mo was just too naive. As he tried to tiptoe his way past two of the goblins, they suddenly turned around and chased after Chen Mo fiercely waving the clubs they were holding wildly. ¡°F**k me, not only did the system not warn him that the monsters would attack him initiatively, he ended up aggroing both the goblins too! Chen Mo quickly backed away. He already had trouble fighting a single goblin with his pitiful attributes, let alone taking on two goblins at the same time! Chen Mo tried to flee, but he miserably discovered the two goblins were just too quick for him. There were a few boulders around the place, but they were clearly not enough to stop the goblins from catching up to him. Chen Mo only ran a few meters away when the two goblins caught up to him. A wooden club was flung in his direction viciously! Chen Mo quickly reacted by ducking. He barely dodged the attack of the first goblin. Unfortunately, the other goblin attacked right after the first. It landed right on Chen Mo as there was no way he could dodge it. Bang! -86! A huge number appeared. Chen Mo was killed instantly. He could not even endure the damage of a single attack from the goblin. System Notification: You were killed by a Black Goblin! System Notification: You are the first player to die in the game. You have unlocked the achievement, ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light!¡± System Notification: You have earned the title, ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light!¡± Chapter 2 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Title: Dying at the Speed of Light Description: A special title. Only available to the first player that died in the game. Attribute: Strength + 1 Constitution +1 Dexterity + 1 Intelligence +1 Spirit+1 Luck +1 Additional Effect(s): Minor Healing Skill. Restores 50 HP to the player after use. Cooldown: 60 seconds. The System Notification of his death showed up. However, Chen Mo noticed other information apart from his death! ¡°Am I really the first person to die in the game?¡± Chen Mo had acquired a title just by dying in the game. What shitty luck he had! Although the extra attributes from the title were quite pitiful since each attribute was only increased by one, Chen Mo believed the Minor Healing Skill that would restore 50 HP every 60 seconds would be somewhat useful. However, the addition to the attributes seemed rather useless. The extra one point to Constitution only increased his HP by 20, meaning that the Black Goblins could still kill him in one hit. His title of ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡± was not going to help at all. A Player would become a spirit whenever they died. While in the Spirit State, the player was unable to interact with a living Player. The only option was to be resurrected. Chen Mo chose to resurrect. Chen Mo initially thought he would come back to life in the Rookie¡¯s Village, but reality basically proved to him how merciless it could be when he realized he had resurrected at the same spot when he first entered the game. Chen Mo equipped the title ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡± that he had freshly acquired, giving him a total of 80 HP. He started trying different ways relentlessly to leave the valley, but he quickly realized that although there were not many Black Goblins around, he would always aggro two Black Goblins every time. Their aggro range seemed to be stacking on one another¡¯s, leaving Chen Mo with no gap to sneak through. He ended up dying a few more times, yet he still could not find a way to leave the valley. ¡°There¡¯s a cave here?¡± He resurrected once again. This time, he was brought quite a distance away from the initial spot. He was surprised to see a dark cave along the wall behind him. ¡°Let¡¯s check it out.¡± It was impossible for him to make his way out of the valley, thus it was very likely that there was an exit somewhere in the cave. The cavern was only wide enough for two people to be walking side by side. It was not deep either, only a depth of thirty meters. He eventually reached the end of the cave, yet he did not encounter a single monster. ¡°A treasure chest!¡± Chen Mo was excited to find a blue-copper chest at the end of the cave. It might contain the exact tools he needed to leave the valley. Unfortunately, in order to open the chest and acquire what was inside, Chen Mo would have to take out the six white goblins that were guarding it. White Goblin. Level: 3, HP: 400. The White Goblins were a level lower than the Black Goblins. However, Chen Mo frowned as he took a closer look at the treasure. He had the title ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡±. If it was outside, he was quite confident that he could survive the chase by two White Goblins. However, he was currently in an empty narrow cave. He did not even have enough space to dodge an attack. He would have to fight the White Goblin head-on if they caught up to him. Taking Chen Mo¡¯s current attributes into account, if he was to fight a Level 3 monster with brute force, it was pretty obvious that he would end up as the one dying. He had zero chance of winning, unless the monster was retarded. That being said, Chen Mo did have the Minor Healing Skill that could restore 50 HP. These White Goblins were not strong enough to kill him instantly like the Black Goblins, meaning that he actually had a total of 130 HP. However, the White Goblins were only a level weaker than the Black Goblins, meaning that their damage would not differ by much. If Chen Mo was hit, it would at least cost him above 40 HP. If the damage of every hit was below 44 HP, he would still be alive after taking three hits. However, if the hits were all above 45 HP, he could only take two hits. The third was surely going to kill him. After doing some calculations, Chen Mo approached the treasure box to aggro a White Goblin. ¡°How the heck am I supposed to do this!?¡± Chen Mo eventually realized he was being too naive as usual when he learned that the White Goblins in the cave were paired up too. He would aggro two White Goblins every time. As soon as he was within range, two White Goblins started charging at him furiously. Chen Mo backed away after briefly grieving for the fate that was awaiting him. It was a pity that he could not outrun the White Goblins. Otherwise, he could slow down on purpose and lure the two White Goblins out of the cave and take his time to kill them. The two White Goblins caught up to him when he was around ten meters away from the exit. One of the White Goblins waved its wooden club. Chen Mo had no chance of dodging it! -47! Damn it, the damage was higher than what he had imagined! The second White Goblin followed up with an attack too. Chen Mo quickly reacted by casting the Minor Healing Spell as soon as he started to lose health, restoring fifty points to the health bar. +50! -44! The value indicating the damage of the second hit he received appeared. It was lower than the damage dealt by the first goblin. If Chen Mo was slightly slower at healing himself, he would be dead by now! He¡¯s still alive! Chen Mo kept running. He might stand a chance against the White Goblins with the help of the obstacles outside! However, Chen Mo soon realized that the cave was purposely designed in a way that a Level 1 Player would never make it to the exit after aggroing the White Goblins. When he was around three meters away from the exit, the two White Goblins attacked again. It was obvious that Chen Mo¡¯s remaining HP was nowhere enough for him to take the hits. He died again ¡°If I can aggro them from a distance away, I might be able to make it out of the cave,¡± Chen Mo concluded after he revived. He was three meters away from the exit. The aggro range of the White Goblins was only five meters. If he could aggro the White Goblins from eight meters away, there might be a chance he could reach the exit in time and figure out some way to kill the White Goblins. Fighting the White Goblins inside the cave was clearly not going to work. He was currently Level 1, it would be impressive if he could deal thirty damage to a Level 3 monster. Besides, the White Goblins had 400 HP each. He would have to deal damage to a White Goblin for more than ten times to kill it. The time it would take for that was enough for the White Goblins to kill him multiple times. He would clearly die faster than the White Goblins without kiting them around obstacles. ¡°Can I hit them with a rock?¡± Chen Mo suddenly thought as he glanced at the rocks lying close to the wall. If he was playing a traditional game, there was no chance an Assassin could toss a rock at a monster. However, he was not playing a traditional game, but a full-dive VRMMORPG. It felt very much like the real world! ¡°Haha, it worked!¡± Chen Mo quickly gave it a go and was surprised to discover that he could actually toss a rock! ¡°But¡­the distance isn¡¯t that impressive!¡± However, Chen Mo quickly realized a problem. Since he was still in a game, he could not toss the rock like he was in real life. Without a proper tossing skill, the range of his toss could only go as far as seven meters at Level 1. He was still a meter short. ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s give a try!¡± Overthinking it would not help at all. Chen Mo decided to put it into action. Chen Mo went into the cave again. He was not in a rush to toss the rock at the White Goblins when he reached the end. He suddenly had an idea when he saw the White Goblins. These goblins were not standing still in the same spot. Even though the cave was very narrow, they would still move around on patrol. If Chen Mo tossed the rock right when the goblins were moving toward the exit of the cave, even though the rock could only cover a distance of seven meters, by adding in the distance that the White Goblins covered, it would sum up to around eight meters. He would then be able to lure the White Goblins out of the cave! Chen Mo silently waited, like a hunter waiting for his prey to walk into his trap. Just a bit more! There were times where it felt like the White Goblins were already in the right positions, but Chen Mo precisely calculated that the distance was still not enough! ¡°Now!¡± The perfect moment finally arrived after Chen Mo waited patiently for some time! A White Goblin had moved half a meter more than he had expected! There was no way Chen Mo would give up on such a great opportunity. He quickly tossed the rock at the White Goblin! Smack! -1! A pitifully low number rose above the White Goblin¡¯s head. The two White Goblins turned toward Chen Mo with wide eyes and chased after him. Chen Mo hastily retreated. He had no clue what else he could do if he still could not make it out of the cave. Smack! Smack! Chen Mo took two hits from the White Goblins when he was less than ten meters away from the exit. After the previous experience, Chen Mo would not allow the White Goblins to kill him so easily again. That being said, he was still alive because he had already used the Minor Healing Skill. He ran as fast as he could. He finally made it out of the cave before the White Goblins caught up to him again! However, he was bewildered as soon as he ran out of the cave. He was not safe after leaving the cave, as they were no obstacles around to stop the goblins. The closest obstacle was around seven meters away. One of the goblins caught up to Chen Mo first and attacked with its club. The man had no chance but to dodge it. It was very obvious that Chen Mo was in a better spot after making it out of the cave. He basically had zero chance dodging the goblins¡¯ attacks inside the cave. Unfortunately, when Chen Mo dodged the attack of the first goblin, the other goblin caught up to him too. Chen Mo had nowhere to run to as the two White Goblins cornered him. It was still a bad ending for him as he was killed by the two White Goblins before he could reach the obstacles. The two White Goblins slowly made their way back to the cave after killing Chen Mo. Chen Mo remained silent after he was revived. Perhaps there was something he had not discovered around the place, and perhaps the thing was the key to taking out the White Goblins. However, he had no idea how long it would take him to find it. Even though he was quite curious about what was inside the treasure chest in the cave, he was well aware that he did not come to play the game, but to find a loophole of the game. He could not afford to waste too much time here. It was unlikely that the loot in the treasure chest was anything impressive. It would not be of great help in finding a loophole in the game. It was something he had figured out from the title ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡± he received. It only gave him a little more attributes than the other Players. Chen Mo decided to kill himself and started over again. Perhaps he might even revive in the Rookie¡¯s Village. Even if he came back here, he also had an idea on how to resolve the situation. The Assassin class was not going to work, but there was a class, in particular, that might be able to kill the White Goblins in the cave, even though it might take some time! Chapter 3 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo inputted the command to kill himself. System Notification: Are you sure you want to commit suicide? It will reset the character¡¯s level, skills, experience, and reputation! ¡°Confirm!¡± In Genesis, there were two ways to get rid of a character. One was to delete it, the other was by committing suicide. When a character was deleted, the new character that a Player created could only inherit the tradeable equipment and money of the old character. Everything else would be lost. However, the penalty for committing suicide was less severe. The Player would be able to keep most of the equipment that was bound to the character. They could even retain the titles they acquired too. The Player would only lose the skills and levels of the character, thus it would be easier for the Player to level up the new character. However, there were other downsides to committing suicide too. For example, the quests with rewards of specific equipment and titles that the Player had completed the first time would no longer be available to the new character. If the Player decided to switch the character to a different class, it would mean that the character would not be able to use the class-specific equipment that the Player had acquired previously. Meanwhile, the titles would remain unavailable until the character reached the level required to prevent the new character from having a crazy attribute boost at Level 1. Chen Mo returned to the character menu. He did not adjust the character¡¯s appearance. He still picked Assassin as the class for the character and entered the game. Following a flicker, Chen Mo realized he was placed in the same valley as before. It seemed like committing suicide would not bring him out of the valley. Perhaps completely deleting the character could work, but Chen Mo decided against it. If he chose to delete the character, he would lose the title ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡±. Although the title did not grant the character a lot of extra attributes, and the benefits of the title were almost negligible as he kept leveling up the character, but for some reason, Chen Mo had a feeling that the +1 to Luck was not as simple as it seemed. His instinct was telling him to keep the title as it might come in handy in the future. Chen Mo decided to switch his class to a Hunter to find a way out of the valley. The reason why he did not choose to be a Hunter in the first place was because a Hunter could only place traps and wait for the enemies to walk into them in the early game. There were too many restrictions to the class as Chen Mo was planning to try killing the important non-player characters (NPCs) in the Rookie¡¯s Village as soon as he entered the game to see if it would break the game. If it actually worked, considering how many players were in the game now, there was a chance that the full-dive VR network might behave abnormally. Therefore, being an Assassin was more suitable for him than being a Hunter. However, if Chen Mo ended up finding something like a Skill Book in the treasure chest in the cave that would increase the number of moves that a Hunter had, he would be able to kill NPCs too, and he might do it better with the help of traps. Chen Mo could not tell what exactly he would find in the treasure chest. However, judging by his current situation, the treasure chest would most likely contain a Skill Book or some powerful equipment if it was going to help him find a way out of the valley. Otherwise, even if a Player managed to kill all of the White Goblins inside the cave and acquired the loot in the treasure chest, it was still unlikely that the Player could leave the valley. Whether it was a Skill Book or some powerful equipment, it was still beneficial to Chen Mo. ¡°Commit Suicide!¡± Chen Mo committed suicide once again and returned to the character menu. This time, he chose the Hunter class. He entered the game and found himself in the same valley. Inside his inventory were a Skill Book of ¡°Set Basic Trap¡±, a crossbow with a base damage of 1-2, and a hundred bolts with a base damage of 1. ¡°A crossbow! It¡¯s going to be much easier killing the White Goblins with this!¡± Chen Mo was overjoyed when he saw the things in his inventory. The crossbow had a range of 10 meters, three meters further than the range of tossing a stone. He could easily lure the White Goblins out of the cave now! Besides, since he now had a ranged weapon, he could just kite the monsters around and kill them slowly. However, it turned out that Chen Mo was getting excited too quickly. When he entered the cave, he was surprised when he realized the cave that looked the same on the outside was around twenty meters deeper than the cave he entered as an Assassin! Chen Mo was stunned. It was reasonable if the cave was only a few meters deep, but being more than twenty meters deep? Was the cave designed in a certain way so that no one could ever make it out alive!? That¡¯s insane! Chen Mo looked at the only skill he had, ¡°Set Basic Trap¡±. Set Basic Trap (Novice level): Sets a trap on the ground. When an enemy walks into it, the trap will explode and inflicts 130% damage, with a 10% chance placing the target in the Disabled state. The Disabled state lasts for 3 seconds. An enemy in the Disabled state will have their movement speed decreased by 30%. Skill cooldown: 10 seconds. Each trap lasts for 60 seconds. Maximum number of traps placed: 3. ¡°I can only set three traps at a time. That¡¯s going to be a problem.¡± Chen Mo came to a conclusion. The nature of a Hunter was different than an Assassin. If the cave was only a few meters deep, it was still very easy for a Hunter to escape the cave in time. However, if the cave was more than ten meters deeper, apart from luck, the position of the traps would also decide if the Player could make out of the cave in time. The movement speed of a Level 1 character was 5 -10. 5 was the speed of walking and 10 was the top speed the character could reach when running. It was similar to the speed of a man going for a run, around 3 meters per second. Chen Mo also did some calculations. The movement speed of White Goblins was around 14, which was around 4 meters per second. If the White Goblins triggered a trap and were placed in the Disabled state, their speed would be roughly the same as a Player¡¯s. Therefore, the Player was safe while the Disabled state lasted, allowing the Player to cover the distance of ten meters. With that in mind, if he was to place a trap every ten meters, he could make it out of the cave if two out of three traps placed the White Goblins in the Disabled state. It turned out that it was still a matter of luck in the end. After realizing what he was supposed to do, Chen Mo proceeded to pick three spots to lay down the traps. He then waited for the right moment to fire his crossbow. Two White Goblins started chasing him. Chen Mo immediately ran toward the exit. Bang! The first trap was triggered. The numbers thirty-something floated above the goblins¡¯ head implying the damage that was inflicted on them. However, their speed remained the same. The trap failed to place the goblins in the Disabled state! There were two traps left. He still had a chance! However, Chen Mo quickly came to a stop. He knew that even if the remaining traps had both placed the goblins in the Disabled state, he still would not make it out of the cave. He had forgotten about something very important. The cave was wide enough for two people to move side-by-side, but the trap was only effective against a single target. Even if all three traps managed to afflict the Disabled state on the goblins, he still would not make it out of the cave alive! -What now?- Chen Mo fell into a deep ponder after he resurrected in the valley. -What if he set the traps in the middle of the path?- The only way he could lure the White Goblins out of the cave was if each trap could place both goblins in the Disabled state. The only way to achieve that was by placing the trap in the middle of the path, so the trap would target both goblins when it was triggered. ¡°It feels like¡­that won¡¯t work either.¡± Chen Mo tried his idea, but he realized that even if he tried placing the trap in the middle of the path, the System would automatically relocate the trap when he used the skill. Since the path was two units wide, the trap would automatically snap to the left or the right of the grid. Chen Mo was not a novice at video games. He was well aware of why it was happening. In traditional games, a grid was used to specify the coordinates of every asset, meaning that every object was snapped to a certain square of the grid with a specific coordinate. No matter how hard the player tried to move the object, it would still be snapped to a specific square instead of being placed in the middle of two squares. It turned out that Genesis, the revolutionary full-dive VRMMORPG was still using a grid to specify the coordinates of assets just like a traditional video game. If that was the case, a Hunter basically had no chance of leaving the valley alive. Chen Mo pinched his arm and closed his eyes to feel the surroundings. He was quite confused. The full-dive Virtual Network was able to make the game feel like it was the reality with all of the revolutionary features it had, but why did they still use the traditional way of using a grid when designing the map in the game? If it was him, he would never allow the maps to be designed with the traditional methods considering how impressive the design of the game had turned out to be! It was clearly going to affect the people¡¯s view on the full-dive Virtual Network once they knew the game was still using a grid system. Something felt wrong! Chen Mo felt something was odd as the thought crossed his mind! In a traditional game, a character could only move between the squares of a grid. They would not be able to stay at the intersection of two squares. It was obvious that the path in the cave consisted of two lines of squares. If Chen Mo was walking on the path, he could only stay on the left or the right of the path. However, Chen Mo was able to stand in the middle of the path, the intersection point of the squares! Chen Mo did not realize that the design of the map was similar to a traditional game when he was an Assassin. He only realized it when he switched his class to be a Hunter. If his character could stand in the middle of the path, it did not make sense that he could not place the trap in the middle too! It was purposely designed that way! Chen Mo was confident that the designer of the game had done it on purpose! Chen Mo stood in the middle of the path and bent forward to lay down a trap. However, the trap ended up on his left just like his previous attempts. It was quite obvious that the game was preventing the traps from being placed in the middle of the path. -But¡­what if he does not use the System Command to place the traps?- Chen Mo suddenly had an idea. Chapter 3 ¨C Switching Class Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo inputted the command to kill himself. System Notification: Are you sure you want to commit suicide? It will reset the character¡¯s level, skills, experience, and reputation! ¡°Confirm!¡± In Genesis, there were two ways to get rid of a character. One was to delete it, the other was by committing suicide. When a character was deleted, the new character that a Player created could only inherit the tradeable equipment and money of the old character. Everything else would be lost. However, the penalty for committing suicide was less severe. The Player would be able to keep most of the equipment that was bound to the character. They could even retain the titles they acquired too. The Player would only lose the skills and levels of the character, thus it would be easier for the Player to level up the new character. However, there were other downsides to committing suicide too. For example, the quests with rewards of specific equipment and titles that the Player had completed the first time would no longer be available to the new character. If the Player decided to switch the character to a different class, it would mean that the character would not be able to use the class-specific equipment that the Player had acquired previously. Meanwhile, the titles would remain unavailable until the character reached the level required to prevent the new character from having a crazy attribute boost at Level 1. Chen Mo returned to the character menu. He did not adjust the character¡¯s appearance. He still picked Assassin as the class for the character and entered the game. Following a flicker, Chen Mo realized he was placed in the same valley as before. It seemed like committing suicide would not bring him out of the valley. Perhaps completely deleting the character could work, but Chen Mo decided against it. If he chose to delete the character, he would lose the title ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡±. Although the title did not grant the character a lot of extra attributes, and the benefits of the title were almost negligible as he kept leveling up the character, but for some reason, Chen Mo had a feeling that the +1 to Luck was not as simple as it seemed. His instinct was telling him to keep the title as it might come in handy in the future. Chen Mo decided to switch his class to a Hunter to find a way out of the valley. The reason why he did not choose to be a Hunter in the first place was because a Hunter could only place traps and wait for the enemies to walk into them in the early game. There were too many restrictions to the class as Chen Mo was planning to try killing the important non-player characters (NPCs) in the Rookie¡¯s Village as soon as he entered the game to see if it would break the game. If it actually worked, considering how many players were in the game now, there was a chance that the full-dive VR network might behave abnormally. Therefore, being an Assassin was more suitable for him than being a Hunter. However, if Chen Mo ended up finding something like a Skill Book in the treasure chest in the cave that would increase the number of moves that a Hunter had, he would be able to kill NPCs too, and he might do it better with the help of traps. Chen Mo could not tell what exactly he would find in the treasure chest. However, judging by his current situation, the treasure chest would most likely contain a Skill Book or some powerful equipment if it was going to help him find a way out of the valley. Otherwise, even if a Player managed to kill all of the White Goblins inside the cave and acquired the loot in the treasure chest, it was still unlikely that the Player could leave the valley. Whether it was a Skill Book or some powerful equipment, it was still beneficial to Chen Mo. ¡°Commit Suicide!¡± Chen Mo committed suicide once again and returned to the character menu. This time, he chose the Hunter class. He entered the game and found himself in the same valley. Inside his inventory were a Skill Book of ¡°Set Basic Trap¡±, a crossbow with a base damage of 1-2, and a hundred bolts with a base damage of 1. ¡°A crossbow! It¡¯s going to be much easier killing the White Goblins with this!¡± Chen Mo was overjoyed when he saw the things in his inventory. The crossbow had a range of 10 meters, three meters further than the range of tossing a stone. He could easily lure the White Goblins out of the cave now! Besides, since he now had a ranged weapon, he could just kite the monsters around and kill them slowly. However, it turned out that Chen Mo was getting excited too quickly. When he entered the cave, he was surprised when he realized the cave that looked the same on the outside was around twenty meters deeper than the cave he entered as an Assassin! Chen Mo was stunned. It was reasonable if the cave was only a few meters deep, but being more than twenty meters deep? Was the cave designed in a certain way so that no one could ever make it out alive!? That¡¯s insane! Chen Mo looked at the only skill he had, ¡°Set Basic Trap¡±. Set Basic Trap (Novice level): Sets a trap on the ground. When an enemy walks into it, the trap will explode and inflicts 130% damage, with a 10% chance placing the target in the Disabled state. The Disabled state lasts for 3 seconds. An enemy in the Disabled state will have their movement speed decreased by 30%. Skill cooldown: 10 seconds. Each trap lasts for 60 seconds. Maximum number of traps placed: 3. ¡°I can only set three traps at a time. That¡¯s going to be a problem.¡± Chen Mo came to a conclusion. The nature of a Hunter was different than an Assassin. If the cave was only a few meters deep, it was still very easy for a Hunter to escape the cave in time. However, if the cave was more than ten meters deeper, apart from luck, the position of the traps would also decide if the Player could make out of the cave in time. The movement speed of a Level 1 character was 5 -10. 5 was the speed of walking and 10 was the top speed the character could reach when running. It was similar to the speed of a man going for a run, around 3 meters per second. Chen Mo also did some calculations. The movement speed of White Goblins was around 14, which was around 4 meters per second. If the White Goblins triggered a trap and were placed in the Disabled state, their speed would be roughly the same as a Player¡¯s. Therefore, the Player was safe while the Disabled state lasted, allowing the Player to cover the distance of ten meters. With that in mind, if he was to place a trap every ten meters, he could make it out of the cave if two out of three traps placed the White Goblins in the Disabled state. It turned out that it was still a matter of luck in the end. After realizing what he was supposed to do, Chen Mo proceeded to pick three spots to lay down the traps. He then waited for the right moment to fire his crossbow. Two White Goblins started chasing him. Chen Mo immediately ran toward the exit. Bang! The first trap was triggered. The numbers thirty-something floated above the goblins¡¯ head implying the damage that was inflicted on them. However, their speed remained the same. The trap failed to place the goblins in the Disabled state! There were two traps left. He still had a chance! However, Chen Mo quickly came to a stop. He knew that even if the remaining traps had both placed the goblins in the Disabled state, he still would not make it out of the cave. He had forgotten about something very important. The cave was wide enough for two people to move side-by-side, but the trap was only effective against a single target. Even if all three traps managed to afflict the Disabled state on the goblins, he still would not make it out of the cave alive! -What now?- Chen Mo fell into a deep ponder after he resurrected in the valley. -What if he set the traps in the middle of the path?- The only way he could lure the White Goblins out of the cave was if each trap could place both goblins in the Disabled state. The only way to achieve that was by placing the trap in the middle of the path, so the trap would target both goblins when it was triggered. ¡°It feels like¡­that won¡¯t work either.¡± Chen Mo tried his idea, but he realized that even if he tried placing the trap in the middle of the path, the System would automatically relocate the trap when he used the skill. Since the path was two units wide, the trap would automatically snap to the left or the right of the grid. Chen Mo was not a novice at video games. He was well aware of why it was happening. In traditional games, a grid was used to specify the coordinates of every asset, meaning that every object was snapped to a certain square of the grid with a specific coordinate. No matter how hard the player tried to move the object, it would still be snapped to a specific square instead of being placed in the middle of two squares. It turned out that Genesis, the revolutionary full-dive VRMMORPG was still using a grid to specify the coordinates of assets just like a traditional video game. If that was the case, a Hunter basically had no chance of leaving the valley alive. Chen Mo pinched his arm and closed his eyes to feel the surroundings. He was quite confused. The full-dive Virtual Network was able to make the game feel like it was the reality with all of the revolutionary features it had, but why did they still use the traditional way of using a grid when designing the map in the game? If it was him, he would never allow the maps to be designed with the traditional methods considering how impressive the design of the game had turned out to be! It was clearly going to affect the people¡¯s view on the full-dive Virtual Network once they knew the game was still using a grid system. Something felt wrong! Chen Mo felt something was odd as the thought crossed his mind! In a traditional game, a character could only move between the squares of a grid. They would not be able to stay at the intersection of two squares. It was obvious that the path in the cave consisted of two lines of squares. If Chen Mo was walking on the path, he could only stay on the left or the right of the path. However, Chen Mo was able to stand in the middle of the path, the intersection point of the squares! Chen Mo did not realize that the design of the map was similar to a traditional game when he was an Assassin. He only realized it when he switched his class to be a Hunter. If his character could stand in the middle of the path, it did not make sense that he could not place the trap in the middle too! It was purposely designed that way! Chen Mo was confident that the designer of the game had done it on purpose! Chen Mo stood in the middle of the path and bent forward to lay down a trap. However, the trap ended up on his left just like his previous attempts. It was quite obvious that the game was preventing the traps from being placed in the middle of the path. -But¡­what if he does not use the System Command to place the traps?- Chen Mo suddenly had an idea. Chapter 4 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches -What was the most important thing to be a hacker?- -Skills?- -Definitely not.- Almost every hacker would have the same answer to the question, creativity! Skills were only the basics. It would be a joke if an unskilled person wanted to be a hacker, but without creativity, a person would struggle to achieve much as a hacker too. As a rather reputable hacker, Chen Mo always dared to think about the things that normally people would not dare to think. Chen Mo immediately assumed the game designer was hoping that the Players would think of a way to overcome the restrictions of the System after noticing the rules when it came to placing down traps. He would soon know the answer after his attempts. When using the skill to place a trap, Chen Mo¡¯s character would bend forward and draw on the ground with his glowing finger. After a second, a trap would appear out of nowhere. Chen Mo memorized the pattern that his character was drawing when laying down the trap. Once the skill was available again, Chen Mo did not execute the skill this time. He imitated the action of his character and drew on the ground with his finger instead. Nothing happened when Chen Mo¡¯s finger touched the ground. However, as he started drawing the same pattern, his hand began to emit a faint light. It was the same light that was produced when he was laying the trap! The hand kept glowing as he continued to draw the pattern. System Notification: Failed to use skill! A trap did not appear after Chen Mo was done drawing the pattern. He received a system notification instead. ¡°As I thought!¡± However, Chen Mo was excited instead of being disappointed by it. He knew he had guessed it right. The skill had most likely failed because there were some discrepancies between his action and his character¡¯s action when using the skill. He was only using the low-level skill ¡°Set Basic Trap¡±. The actions involved were not even that complicated, yet he had failed on his first attempt. It clearly implied the System had strict requirements on the action that was performed. During the second attempt, Chen Mo purposely slowed down to focus on accuracy. System Notification: Failed to use skill! Chen Mo¡¯s second attempt ended up in failure too, but he knew he was very close to getting it right. Although he was performing the action at a slower speed, his hand was still glowing like before. It meant he could still use the skill at a slower speed as long as he was following the pattern accurately. Chen Mo reflected on where he had done wrong during the second attempt before starting his third attempt. The glowing hand moved along the ground. This time, it took Chen Mo more than three seconds to complete the first step. However, he was perfectly following every step! When he lifted his hand from the ground, a trap with the size of a palm appeared on the ground right in the center of the path! He had successfully set the trap! System Notification: Free Skill Casting system unlocked! System Notification: You are the first Player to unlock Free Skill Casting. You have obtained the title ¡°The Pioneer of Liberty!¡± System Notification: You have received the title ¡°The Pioneer of Liberty¡±! Free Skill Casting! As he thought, the game designer was hoping that the Players would discover the ability to cast skills freely on their own. The game designer purposely fixed the traps to a grid just like a traditional game in order for the Players to think outside the box. That being said, Chen Mo was quite surprised that he had earned another title after unlocking the ability to execute skills by himself. The title ¡°The Pioneer of Liberty¡± was obviously a lot harder to acquire than the title ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡±. Chen Mo was expecting the extra attributes from the title to be a lot better than the title he had now. He should have a better chance of leaving the valley now. Chen Mo checked his inventory curiously. Title: The Pioneer of Liberty Description: The title given to the first Player that unlocked the Free Spell Casting system, an honorable symbol. The title is effective passively. It doesn¡¯t have to be equipped. Attribute: Luck +3 Relationship with all Human NPCs +5 Special Effect(s): Decrease the cooldown of a skill by 10% when executing the skill with the Free Spell Casting system. To Chen Mo¡¯s surprise, the title ¡°The Pioneer of Liberty¡± did not increase all his basic attributes. However, it was clearly a lot better than he had expected. The title was effective passively, meaning that as long as he did not forfeit the title on purpose, the benefits of the title would always be effective even when he was equipping a different title! The benefits of the title ¡°The Pioneer of Liberty¡± were quite impressive too. Chen Mo still had no idea what Luck was used for. As for +5 to relationships with Human NPCs, the relationship system was common in many games too. It was clearly not going to do him any harm. As for the last benefit, it was obvious how useful it would be. The cooldown of the skill ¡°Set Basic Traps¡± was currently ten seconds. If he used the skill with the Free Spell Casting system, the cooldown of the skill would be reduced to nine seconds. It might not be that useful when he only had a single skill, but once he learned more skills, it would clearly give him a great edge over other Players if he could reduce the cooldown of every skill by 10%. Chen Mo opened his character panel. He noticed the tab for Free Spell Casting in the Skills panel. Chen Mo tapped on it. He did not find anything special. It was similar to the normal Skills tab, but the normal Skills tab was showing information like the levels of the skills and how proficient the character was with the skills. Meanwhile, the Free Spell Casting tab displayed how many times the Player had used each skill with the Free Spell Casting system and the skill¡¯s highest completion rate. Currently, Chen Mo¡¯s only skill was ¡°Set Basic Trap¡±. The number of times he used the skill successfully with the Free Spell Casting system was 1. Chen Mo looked at its highest completion rate, 42%. Chen Mo had no clue what their uses were, but he knew they were not just mere statistics. He believed the success rate would turn out to be very important later in the game. Chen Mo was not too bothered. He would eventually learn what they were for, but for now, he should focus on familiarizing himself with the spell so he could set the traps at the right spots. His first priority was to leave the valley. The steps of the skill ¡°Set Basic Trap¡± were not too complicated. Chen Mo was quite good at learning, memorizing, and adapting too. After practicing the skill for around twenty times, he now only needed just a little over a second to set up a trap. The highest completion rate had reached 78%. Chen Mo slowly had an idea what the completion rate was too. The traps that he lay down with the help of the System could last for sixty seconds, but Chen Mo noticed it was not the same for the traps he lay down with the Free Spell Casting system. The traps with a low completion rate would only last for less than twenty seconds. Meanwhile, the traps with a high completion rate would last for a lot longer. The trap with a completion rate of 78%, in particular, had lasted for 55 seconds. Chen Mo believed if he could reach the completion rate of 80%, the traps he set on his own would last for as long as the traps he set with the System¡¯s help. If the completion rate was over 80%, it was very likely that the traps would last longer than the normal traps! Besides, Chen Mo also assumed the completion rate would affect the damage of the traps too. There was a reason why he would assume so; when the traps with a low completion rate exploded, their sound effects were not as impressive as those with a high completion rate. The difference was not that obvious, but Chen Mo still noticed it. He would know the answer with a little test. Learning the answer was extremely important. If the completion rate did affect the damage of the traps, it would also affect the chance of applying the Disabled debuff to its target. A trap with a low completion rate would have a low chance of applying the debuff to the target. Therefore, if Chen Mo wanted to increase his odds of luring the White Goblin out of the cave successfully, he would have to try his best to set up traps with a high completion rate. By sacrificing his life, Chen Mo purposely set two traps with a huge difference of completion rate and lure two of the Black Goblins outside the cave to trigger the traps. As Chen Mo thought, traps with a great difference between the completion rates had a significant difference in damage too. When comparing the two traps, the first trap with a completion rate of 70% inflicted around thirty damage on the Black Goblin. The second trap with a completion rate of 40% only inflicted a little over ten damage on the Black Goblin. The difference was fairly obvious. However, with Chen Mo¡¯s current attributes, the combined damage of two traps that he set with the System¡¯s help would be less than ten. Therefore, it turned out that the completion rates of his skills were very important. Since the skill ¡°Set Basic Trap¡± was not difficult, Chen Mo decided to spend more time practicing it to increase the completion rate. Sharpening an ax would not necessarily hold up the work of cutting firewood. He could easily make up for the time he had spent here by dying fewer times later. A sudden thought crossed Chen Mo¡¯s mind as he was practicing the skill repetitively. He was not considered ¡®free¡¯ if he was imitating the System by leaning forward to set the trap. He should be able to use the skill in any way as he pleased if he really had the freedom to use it, for example¡­setting a trap in the air while he was standing upright! Chen Mo¡¯s heart began to pound heavily upon having the thought! Chapter 5 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo realized that the Hunter class was actually quite suitable for a solo Player. However, the class had a huge weakness. It was not good against flying targets. If the traps could only be placed on the ground, they would be utterly useless against monsters or enemies flying in the air. Although a Hunter still had a crossbow and the monsters they had captured as their pets, without the traps, Hunter¡¯s damage would be significantly weaker against flying targets, unless they had god-tier crossbows and pets. A Hunter had two main paths to take in the early game. One was specializing in crossbows, the other was specializing in contracted beasts. Regardless of the path that a Player took, a Hunter was heavily reliant upon traps too. Unlike other classes, a Hunter had the ability to equip a secondary weapon¡ªgloves. These gloves would specifically increase the attributes of traps. If a Hunter was able to set traps in the air, it would mean a Hunter was not as weak against flying targets as he first thought. Even though a Hunter would not suddenly become proficient against flying targets, it still made a huge difference than just being able to set traps on the ground only. Is it going to work? Chen Mo withheld the excitement in his heart. He took a deep breath and stood upright. He looked ahead and held his hand forward. Chen Mo moved his hand following the pattern he was extremely familiar with after countless practices! A trap appeared in the air! It worked! Chen Mo had always been calm and collected, but even he could not help but feel excited when he saw the trap forming in the air. He believed someone would soon discover the Free Skill Casting system and start placing traps that were not snapped to the grid too! However, he believed only a few people would ever think of the possibility of setting a trap in the air! The thought of setting a trap in the air just happened to cross his mind. However, Chen Mo soon noticed the trap he placed in the air was very unstable. It could only last for three seconds in the air before falling to the ground. The trap exploded as soon as it landed. ¡°It didn¡¯t fall right away after it was placed, meaning that the trap can actually stay in the air¡­mm, it must have something to do with its completion rate!¡± Chen Mo immediately thought of the skill¡¯s completion rate. The trap had to stay in the air for more than five seconds to be useful in battles. Otherwise, it would not be able to pose any threat to targets that were a certain distance away. He would not have any problem if he just needed to practice the skills to become more adept with it in order for the traps to last longer in the air. If he could set traps in the air, could he set traps while he was moving? Chen Mo¡¯s began to have active thoughts as more ideas started popping up in his mind. Usually, a Hunter had to stand still when placing traps. Once a monster got too close and attacked the Hunter, it would interrupt the skill too. As a result, Hunters were a lot weaker when fighting at close range. However, if it was possible to place traps while moving, it would completely resolve the weakness! Is it going to work? Chen Mo immediately gave it a try. ¡°It doesn¡¯t work! Whenever the character moves, it messes up the action of setting a trap. It¡¯s not going to work!¡± Chen Mo already knew the answer with a single attempt. It was impossible to place a trap down while moving. Using the Free Skill Casting system to set a trap heavily relied on the accuracy and completeness of the actions required. However, whenever the Player moved, the System would regard the character doing the actions in two different places, thus making it impossible to trigger the skill. Chen Mo¡¯s hand did not even glow while he was moving. It was obvious that he was not in the state of using a skill. ¡°But what if I¡¯m trying to set the trap on a certain object while I¡¯m moving, like a wooden plank?¡± Chen Mo quickly thought. He was able to think of another idea when the first did not work. It seemed feasible! He had not tried it, yet his instinct was already telling him that there was a great chance it would work! Chen Mo could not find a wooden plank, but he did find a flat rock. Move! Chen Mo moved his character. He grabbed the rock with his left hand and started swiping his right hand on the rock to place a trap on it. He steadily completed the strokes! He performed the required actions smoothly! Chen Mo was very focused since his thoughts were very active. He completed the actions at the quickest speed and the highest accuracy! As he finished the last stroke, a trap appeared on the rock he was holding! It worked! The trap had a high completion rate too! Chen Mo tossed the rock with a trap on it seven meters away! Boom! The trap landed on the ground and exploded! ¡°HAHA! A throwable grenade made with a trap!¡± Chen Mo was in a great mood. He only felt the same joy when he first had a huge breakthrough after learning some hacking skills. He suddenly felt like he had gone back in time. ¡°Crap, I¡¯m here to look for a loophole, not to enjoy the game.¡± Chen Mo noticed he was being overly excited. He took a deep breath to calm down. He went into the cave again after collecting himself. His goal remained the same¡ªluring the White Goblins out and killing them in pairs. Initially, the success of his attempts was still heavily dependent on luck even after he had unlocked Free Skill Casting. But now, not only did he unlock Free Skill Casting, he also learned that he could set a trap in the air or even set a trap while moving. It greatly reduced the difficulty of luring the White Goblin out of the cave. He could only set up three traps in the cave before. It was obvious that he would not have time to stop and set up more traps while making his way to the exit, but he had now found a way to set up traps while running out of the cave. Considering the time he had to make it out of the cave, he could set up two extra traps. He now had five traps in total. He only needed two of them to apply the Disabled debuff to the White Goblins to make it out of the cave. If three out of five of them had the Disabled effect, he would have no problem killing the two White Goblins! Knowing that he was very focused for the time being, Chen Mo found three fitting spots to set down traps, each with a high completion rate. After he was done with the preparations, he went to the end of the cave and waited for his opportunity. Although Chen Mo had learned how to set up traps while moving, getting the right timing was still a very important aspect of the plan. He had to aggro two White Goblins at the same time. If the White Goblins were not moving side by side, the traps in the middle of the path would not be able to inflict damage on both the White Goblins. Previously, in order to increase the odds of his plan succeeding, not only did he have to lure the two White Goblins simultaneously, he had to do it when the two White Goblins reached the exact spot where they were the closest to the exit. The two White Goblins soon reached the spot where they were walking side by side. Chen Mo immediately fired a bolt at the White Goblins. The bolt landed accurately on one of the White Goblins. The two White Goblins that were designed to stick with one another in a pair turned around and glared at Chen Mo. Chen Mo ran toward the exit as quickly as possible. Boom! The two White Goblins soon stepped on the first trap and triggered an explosion. Chen Mo took a quick glance and saw floating damage indicators above the two White Goblins displayed over twenty damage. The White Goblins retained their speed. The trap did not apply the Disabled debuff to them. Chen Mo was not worried at all. He was only worried that the trap would not deal damage to both the White Goblins even when it was placed in the middle. After all, the description mentioned that the trap was only a single-target spell, but he was treating it as an Area-of-Effect (AoE) spell instead. In traditional games, it was impossible for a single-target spell to deal damage to multiple targets. However, it was possible in Genesis! As long as the traps were able to inflict damage on both the White Goblins that were chasing after him, it was only a matter of time until he killed the White Goblins outside the cave. There was no reason for him to panic. He was only allowed to set up three Basic Traps at a time. When the first trap was triggered, Chen Mo took out a rock from his backpack and started setting a trap on it while he was running. It took him two seconds to set up a trap on the rock. Its completion rate was quite impressive when Chen Mo was focused. It was at least 70%! Chen Mo was roughly twenty meters away from the two White Goblins at the start. However, the first trap had failed to apply the Disabled debuff on the White Goblins. The distance between him and the two White Goblins was now less than seven meters. As soon as Chen Mo finished setting the trap on the rock, he tossed it at the two White Goblins. Boom! The rock landed accurately below the White Goblin¡¯s feet, followed by an explosion. The two White Goblins seemed to have slowed down! The trap had placed them in the Disabled state! ¡°Nice!¡± Chen Mo knew he now had a chance to make his plan work. He still had three traps left, meaning that there was a great chance that one of them would apply the Disabled debuff to the White Goblins again. The White Goblins continued their pursuit. Around three seconds later, they reached the second trap that Chen Mo had placed beforehand. The two White Goblins stepped right onto the trap as they were completely unaware of its existence. The trap exploded. However, since the Disabled debuff from the previous trap was still in effect, Chen Mo had to wait a little longer to know if the trap had applied the Disabled debuff on the White Goblins and refreshed its duration. After another two meters, the two White Goblins were still moving at the same pace. Chen Mo immediately knew the trap had applied the Disabled debuff again. He had a great chance to make it out of the cave alive! The distance between the White Goblins and Chen Mo remained at around seven meters. The White Goblins soon reached the third trap. The trap exploded. However, the White Goblins suddenly sped up after taking two more steps. The trap did not trigger its special effect. It was within Chen Mo¡¯s expectations. He did not seem to be too bothered by it. The chance of triggering the special effect of the traps was only 10%. He was extremely lucky that the special effect had occurred twice in a row. It was almost impossible that it would happen again for the third time. The White Goblins sped up. They were soon only four meters away from Chen Mo. Meanwhile, the cooldown of the skill Set Basic Trap had ended. Chen Mo quickly took out another rock and set a trap on it. It was a lot more difficult to set a trap while moving than when he was standing still. He also needed more time to do it. Chen Mo only needed a second and a half to set a trap while standing still, but he needed around two seconds to set a trap while moving. In two seconds, the White Goblins moved two meters closer to Chen Mo, meaning that they were only less than two meters away. Chapter 6 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches A distance of two meters was almost within a person¡¯s reach. Most people would be panicking by now. It was important for Chen Mo to concentrate when setting a trap while moving. If he slightly lost his focus, the skill would fail. Chen Mo remained calm as usual. As a hacker, it was extremely important to remain calm at all times, especially when he was in a pinch. Otherwise, all his efforts would be in vain. Besides, he was only playing a game. He could easily try again if he failed. The two White Goblins did not give him any pressure. Chen Mo accurately performed the sequence of actions. He had finished setting the trap when the two White Goblins were trying to move closer to him. He tossed the trap at the goblins. Boom! An explosion took place. Two indicators with a value of 20+ floated above the White Goblins! On top of it, the White Goblins slowed down simultaneously! The area ahead of Chen Mo lit up the moment the White Goblins slowed down. He successfully made it out of the cave! Even if the White Goblins caught up in the end, Chen Mo could still make it to the two boulders with the Minor Healing Skill since he had made it out of the cave. Since the last trap had also triggered the Disabled effect, the two White Goblins would have no chance of catching up to him. These low-level creatures were not that smart. They had no trouble chasing after a target in a straight line in the cave, but their lack of wisdom was exposed the moment there were obstacles between them and the target they were pursuing. Chen Mo was planning to slowly wear out the White Goblins after luring them to the boulders. However, he realized how pitiful the intelligence of the two goblins was. Chen Mo kited them around the boulders, but to his surprise, the goblins suddenly stopped chasing. They were hesitating if they should head left or right to intercept Chen Mo. As such, they had no chance of catching up to Chen Mo. The five traps previously had taken away more than a hundred HP from the two White Goblins. Chen Mo focused his traps and his bolts on one of them. It did not take him too long to kill one of the White Goblins. System Notification: You have obtained 30 exp! ¡°That¡¯s a lot!¡± Chen Mo saw the experience bar increasing by 20% when he took out the first White Goblin. In other words, if he killed all six White Goblins in the cave, it was more than enough for him to reach Level 2. His attributes would improve significantly after reaching Level 2, thus it would be a lot easier for him to fight the Black Goblins in the valley. The other White Goblin was still chasing him. However, the White Goblin only had a little more than two hundred HP left. The White Goblins were having trouble chasing Chen Mo down when there were two of them, let alone just one of them left. Chen Mo kept abusing the obstacles and eventually killed the White Goblin with ease. The experienced bar increased by another 20%. On top of it, the White Goblin also dropped three copper coins after it died. Three copper was pretty insignificant, but Chen Mo still picked them up without any hesitation since he did not have a single cent on him. A single copper might make a lot of differences, especially in a game. Things were a lot easier after Chen Mo had done it once. However, the plan of luring the White Goblins and killing them would only work still if the traps managed to apply the Disabled debuff to the White Goblins. The 10% chance was not particularly high or low. It solely depended on his luck. Chen Mo died two more times before he finally killed the second pair of White Goblins. There was no punishment for Players that died below Level 10. The experience bar was around 90% after Chen Mo killed the second pair of White Goblins. He just needed to kill one more to level up. Chen Mo was in luck when he engaged the last pair of White Goblins. He managed to lure them out of the cave with his first attempt. System Notification: Your level has increased! System Notification: Your basic attributes have increased! Strength +3 Constitution +2 Dexterity +2 Intelligence +2 Spirit +1 White light burst out of Chen Mo¡¯s body after he killed the fifth White Goblin with ease. He felt warm energy surging within his body. His HP replenished all of a sudden. However, Chen Mo was more concerned about the improvement of his basic attributes. It was the key aspect that would determine if he was able to defeat the Black Goblins. Chen Mo glanced at the attributes and discovered that the increase to the attributes was rather balanced for the class Hunter. Each level would grant a Player ten attribute points, and the System would auto allocate these attribute points based on the character¡¯s class. Players were unable to alter these attribute points themselves. However, apart from the ten attribute points allocated by the System, Players also had five attribute points that they could allocate freely. Even so, when Chen Mo took a closer look, he discovered that he could only assign four of the attribute points freely. The last point could only be assigned to the attributes other than the character¡¯s main attributes. Constitution was the main attribute for every class. Apart from it, the main attributes of a Hunter were Strength and Intelligence. In other words, he had to assign a point to Dexterity or Spirit every five attribute points he received. The other four attribute points were completely free. Players could allocate to any attribute as they wished. Even though Dexterity and Spirit were not the main attributes of a Hunter, Players could not afford to ignore them completely, since Dexterity would determine the speed of setting up straps and firing bolts, while Spirit would affect the loyalty of Hunter¡¯s pets. It was important not to overlook the loyalty of pets since it would determine if the pets were willing to obey the Player¡¯s instructions. Regardless of how strong a pet was, if the loyalty of the pet was too low, it was unlikely to be of any use to the Player. As for the three main attributes of a Hunter, Strength would determine the physical damage of traps and bolts. Constitution would affect the character¡¯s HP, and Intelligence would affect the damage of Hunter¡¯s pets. Among them, the attributes that a Hunter would struggle with the most when deciding on which attribute to allocate the points to were Strength and Intelligence. The two attributes would determine the path that a Hunter was taking. If more points were allocated to Strength, the Hunter would specialize in using crossbows. If more points were allocated to Intelligence, the Hunter would specialize in fighting with pets. Chen Mo had yet to decide which path he was going to take, whether it was using crossbows or pets. However, he believed traps were the most important for the time being. Therefore, he allocated one point to Dexterity and the remaining four to Strength without any hesitation. In the beginning, when Chen Mo first equipped the crossbow, the range of his physical damage was 4-5. It then became 5-6 after he obtained the title ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡±. After reaching Level 2 and allocating the attribute points, his strength was now 11, and the range of his damage was 12-13. It seemed like every point in Strength would only increase his physical damage by one. However, Chen Mo realized that was not necessarily the case when he discovered that his attack had instantly dropped to 0 when he unequipped the crossbow. It was obvious that his damage was tightly related to the basic damage of the weapon he was equipping. The fact that his weapon had the attribute ¡°Basic Physical Damage¡± instead of just ¡°Damage¡± proved his speculation too. However, he was unsure what the exact formula for calculating damage was. Either way, his damage had basically doubled after he leveled up. His HP had increased by forty too. He could almost endure an extra hit from a White Goblin. Chen Mo immediately used the last White Goblin to test his damage. He quickly set up a trap and lured the White Goblin to step on it. The trap exploded. -43! The damage indicator floated above the White Goblin. The damage of his trap had almost doubled! The damage was slightly lower than what Chen Mo had imagined. After all, his damage had risen more than double, but after thinking it through, Chen Mo believed there must be a different formula for the damage inflicted on the monsters in the game. Otherwise, it was unlikely that his trap would deal 20+ damage to the White Goblins when his damage was only in the range of 5-6. Chen Mo was able to kill the last White Goblin easily since his damage had increased significantly. System Notification: You have obtained 30 exp! Killing a White Goblin still gave him 30 exp, yet the experience bar had only increased by 7% this time. It turned out that the experience needed to reach the next level every time he leveled up would increase by a lot too. There were around forty to fifty Black Goblins in the valley. The Black Goblins were a Level 4 monster. Chen Mo roughly estimated that he would be able to reach Level 4 after killing them all. He picked up the copper that the White Goblin had dropped and ran to the end of the cave. The bronze chest was located at the end of the cave. It was no longer guarded by the White Goblins. Chen Mo went to the chest and opened it. System Notification: You have obtained the skill book ¡°Dazing Trap¡±! System Notification: You have obtained the equipment ¡°Ordinary Crossbow¡±! ¡°Pretty good!¡± Chen Mo exclaimed. The loot inside the treasure chest was better than he thought. Not only did it have a skill book, but it also had a weapon too! Chapter 7 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Dazing Trap: A skill book for the Hunter class. Level requirement: 1. Using it will allow a Hunter to learn the skill ¡°Dazing Trap¡±. There were two items in the chest¡ªan ¡°Ordinary Crossbow¡± with a base damage of 3-4 which was slightly better than the default weapon he had, and a skill book. The description of the skill book was too simple. Chen Mo could not tell what the skill was from the description. He decisively learned the skill. System Notification: You have learned the skill ¡°Dazing Trap¡±! Dazing Trap (Novice Level): A trap laid with a special method. The trap deals damage to enemies and dazes any target caught within its explosion, including allies. It will also knock Players and monsters back two meters. Skill cooldown: 30 seconds. Trap duration: 60 seconds. Maximum traps: 2. ¡°A supportive trap,¡± Chen Mo arrived at a conclusion after reading the spell¡¯s description. A Hunter¡¯s traps were categorized as offensive and supportive. The Dazing Trap was clearly a supportive and defensive trap. The skill description did not specify its damage, thus it would most likely have a low damage. However, the Dazing Trap sounded quite handy for a Hunter. Hunters were not great at close distance combat. Their skills were pretty much useless when the enemies got close. However, if the Dazing Trap was placed perfectly, it would immediately create a distance of four meters between the Hunter and the enemies. These were only the effects of the trap at the Novice Level. The trap was surely going to be more effective at higher levels. It was pretty easy to set up the Dazing Trap. It only had a few extra actions compared to a Basic Trap. The actions were similar to those Chen Mo was doing when setting a Basic Trap. He was familiar with the Basic Trap now. It did not take him too long to set a Dazing Trap after some practice. He was now able to set a Dazing Trap with ease, and the traps all had a completion rate of above 60%. ¡°As I thought, the hardest part of leaving this valley is dealing with the White Goblins. Taking these Black Goblins is no longer a problem to me now that I have the Dazing Trap,¡± Chen Mo thought. He was able to place two Dazing Traps at a time. If he placed them at the right spots, it would seriously hinder the Black Goblins¡¯ chase. That being said, these Black Goblins were a lot quicker than the White Goblins. Their damage was significantly higher too. Even though Chen Mo now had 120 HP and the Minor Healing Skill could heal him for 50 HP, he could only endure two hits from the Black Goblins. If he was having bad luck, or if the Black Goblins were smarter, it would still be dangerous when he was kiting the Black Goblins at the boulders. The Dazing Trap had given him a chance, but he still needed a little luck to kill the Black Goblins. Chen Mo looked at the group of Black Goblins in the valley and shook his head. He would have to kill at least half of the Black Goblins before he could leave the valley. He was surely going to die quite a few times. -Wait a second!- Chen Mo suddenly patted himself on the head. Why did he have to kite the Black Goblins? Now that he had learned how to set traps with the Free Skill Casting system and how to set traps on rocks and use them like grenades, he no longer had to stick to the same plan to take out the Black Goblins! There was a two-meter-tall boulder in the distance. He could lure the Black Goblins to the boulder and climb up the boulder. He could easily kill the Black Goblins by tossing the traps down! Such a brilliant plan! Chen Mo ran over to the boulder and practiced climbing it a few times. Otherwise, he would become a laughing stock if he failed to climb the boulder after luring the monsters to it. After practicing climbing the boulder, Chen Mo stood on it and tried setting his traps. As he thought, he was able to set up traps on the boulder. However, Chen Mo surprisingly discovered that if he set the traps the normal way, the actions his character was doing would flicker and fail most of the time. However, it was a lot simpler when he set the traps with the Free Skill Casting system. The traps were no longer restrained by the terrain. He had found himself a great advantage by unlocking the Free Skill Casting system earlier than the other Players. Many Players would come up with the plan of attacking the monsters from a high ground, but not many Players would be able to do so in a perfectly safe manner. Chen Mo observed the distribution of the Black Goblins nearby and calculated the distance in his heart before setting the traps. The Black Goblins closest to Chen Mo were less than forty meters away. The range of his crossbow was eleven meters. Therefore, he only had to place five traps in a straight line over thirty meters, and set up two Basic Traps and one Dazing Trap while he was moving later. There were eight traps available. Even if the Black Goblins were quicker than the White Goblins, they had no chance of catching up to Chen Mo. The three Dazing Traps alone were enough to stop the Black Goblins from coming close to him. He would be perfectly safe if one of the five Basic Traps had the Disabled effect. After Chen Mo was done setting the traps, he approached the two Black Goblins that were the closest to him and fired a bolt at them when they were standing side by side. The two Black Goblins charged at Chen Mo furiously. They soon stepped on a Basic Trap. The trap exploded, but it had failed to trigger the Disabled effect. However, after taking a few more steps, the two Black Goblins went back two meters. They had stepped on a Dazing Trap. The Dazing Trap was more effective than Chen Mo had expected. Even though it was only able to knock monsters two meters back, it also forced the monsters to come to a stop while the Player continued running. As such, it ended up creating a distance of more than two meters. Chen Mo easily lured the two Black Goblins to the huge boulder with the help of the Dazing Traps. Chen Mo was already sitting on the huge boulder when the two Black Goblins arrived. He took his time setting a trap on a rock and tossed it down at the goblins that were circling the boulder in vain. Chen Mo did not use his crossbow. Using the crossbow would consume the bolts. He only had a hundred bolts that the System had given him. He would not be able to use the crossbow after using all the bolts. Besides, the bolts would not deal much damage without a proper skill. The traps exploded continuously. Even though each trap could only deal less than forty damage to the Black Goblins with 500 HP, Chen Mo was able to toss each trap precisely. The trap would land in the middle of the two goblins so the trap would deal damage to both goblins. The skill was available every nine seconds. The two Black Goblins barely had any HP left after a minute and a half. The Black Goblins glared at Chen Mo as they were approaching their death. They gradually became more irascible. Chen Mo could even feel their defense had improved by a little. However, Chen Mo was unable to learn anything useful. The two Black Goblins soon fell to the ground as their HP bars were empty. Each goblin dropped around four copper. Chen Mo gladly took them all. ¡°It takes me two minutes to kill a pair of them. I¡¯ll need roughly half an hour to clear a path.¡± Chen Mo quickly calculated the time he needed and was relieved. Half an hour was not that long. However, he was assuming that the Black Goblins in the valley would not respawn. Otherwise, it would be quite tricky for him to leave the place. Half an hour was gone soon. As Chen Mo expected, the Black Goblins did not respawn. However, Chen Mo was not in a rush to leave the valley. The Black Goblins that were alive were constantly moving around. It was impossible for Chen Mo to sneak past. Chen Mo had reached Level 3 in the past half hour. Ten attribute points were allocated by the System. The remaining five were allocated to the same attributes as before. His Strength was now 18, and together with the Ordinary Crossbow¡¯s damage, his total damage was now in the range of 21-22. A Basic Trap could now deal around 70 damage to the Black Goblins. The time he needed to kill a Black Goblin had reduced by half. Chen Mo decided to spend more time in the valley to kill all the Black Goblins. The exp they were giving was high, and it was very easy to kill them by utilizing the boulder. Chen Mo¡¯s HP had increased by 40 too, making his total HP 160. He no longer had to worry dying to the Black Goblins even when they were further away. The remaining Black Goblins rapidly died in pairs. Chen Mo¡¯s experience bar continued to rise too. Soon, there was only one last pair of Black Goblins in the valley. Chen Mo looked at the experience bar. It turned out that the experience needed for each level up was higher than he had predicted. Even after killing the last two Black Goblins, the experience bar would mostly stay at 70%. He did not reach Level 4 as he first expected. Chen Mo¡¯s damage had risen significantly. He was sitting on the boulder. He only needed to toss one more trap to kill the two Black Goblins. However, Chen Mo suddenly recalled a piece of information about the game that he had stolen previously. It mentioned that when a Player was fighting against certain monsters that could not respawn, there was a way to let the monster mutate when there was only one of them left! Chapter 8 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The chance of a monster mutating was not absolute. However, not only was a mutated monster significantly stronger, it also had a hundred percent drop rate of rare items that a normal monster would not drop! Chen Mo believed it was worth trying even if the information was not accurate since it was rare to find monsters that could not respawn. Chen Mo left the last two Black Goblins with less than 10% health. He killed one of them and left the other alive. Chen Mo stopped attacking the last Black Goblin. When a monster did not receive any damage from Players after a certain period, their health would recover rapidly. The Black Goblin was back at full health in no time. Chen Mo started attacking the Black Goblin again after it was back at full health. A while later, the Black Goblin dropped below 10%. Chen Mo stopped attacking and waited until the Black Goblin¡¯s health recovered. After repeating the same sequence for thirteen times, when the Black Goblin¡¯s health dropped below 10% again, it suddenly let out a furious roar! Following it, the Black Goblin¡¯s size doubled. Its black skin was covered in a metallic gloss, its eyes became bloodshot, and its movement speed increased significantly! Incredible! The monster really did mutate! Chen Mo was astounded! He could tell that the Black Goblin¡¯s attributes had increased after it had mutated just by looking at it. If he was not standing on the boulder, he would definitely have trouble facing the mutated Black Goblin on his own! However, since he was standing on the boulder, he was not afraid regardless of how strong the Black Goblin had become. Chen Mo saw the mutated Black Goblin circling the boulder agitatedly. He delightedly set a trap on a rock and tossed it down. ¡°Mutated Black Goblin, HP: 5000, its defense is obviously higher than the Black Goblins.¡± The trap exploded and dealt less than 50 damage to the mutated Black Goblin. Chen Mo roughly calculated and figured that he needed at least 50 traps to kill the mutated Black Goblin. 50 traps was a pretty high number. Even when Chen Mo kept tossing traps down on the boulder, it would still take him around nine minutes to kill the mutated Black Goblin. If he was being chased around by the mutated Black Goblin on the ground, he believed he would need more than twenty minutes to kill it. Chen Mo was relieved that he had come up with such a brilliant plan to kill the Black Goblins. Otherwise, it would be very tricky to kill the mutated Black Goblin! Chen Mo was a little proud of himself. Considering the mutated Black Goblin¡¯s outstanding speed, it would be a torture to kite the monster for twenty minutes. The monster¡¯s attack was very high too. He would not be surprised if the monster could kill him with just one or two hits. Chen Mo continued to inflict damage on the mutated Black Goblin at a constant tempo. Three minutes were gone fairly quickly. The mutated Black Goblin¡¯s health had dropped by 30%. At this rate, the mutated Black Goblin would die in around six to seven minutes. However, Chen Mo gradually wore a stern look. He began to feel uneasy. Previously, when he was killing the Black Goblins with the same trick, he already noticed some unusual behaviors from the Black Goblins. However, the Black Goblins died quickly after displaying the unusual behaviors, thus he was not too bothered by it. The mutated Black Goblin was displaying the same unusual behaviors too. The furious mutated Black Goblin suddenly became even more irascible. It kept raising its head and glaring at Chen Mo on the boulder. It was swinging its club at the boulder too as if it was trying to break the boulder into pieces! Crap! The mutated Black Goblin had started to bend its legs to perform a jump attack! How could Chen Mo not realize what was going on after seeing this? If he could think of the trick of attacking the monsters on a boulder, the game designers would have thought of it too. However, they did not forbid the Players from using the trick, but they had applied some restrictions to it! If Players were allowed to attack the monsters from higher ground, it would make the game more flexible. However, using a trick like it would accumulate a special kind of hatred in the monster, thus Players could not afford to keep using it! The trick had worked perfectly so far because Chen Mo would have to climb down the boulder to lure the next pair of Black Goblins after killing the previous pair. Chen Mo realized it was too dangerous to stay on the boulder and keep attacking the mutated Black Goblin. He had to leave the boulder to lower the special hatred of the Black Goblin toward him. Otherwise, when the special hatred reached a certain level, he would be the one suffering the consequences! Having this thought, Chen Mo jumped down from the boulder and landed opposite the mutated Black Goblin. ¡°Awooo!¡± The mutated Black Goblin uttered a roar and quickly moved around the boulder to chase after him. ¡°Such an insane speed!¡± It did not occur to him how strong the mutated monster was when he was on the boulder. He only realized it after he was on the ground! The mutated Black Goblin easily caught up to Chen Mo who was a few meters away in just a few seconds! Bang! The mutated Black Goblin stepped on a Basic Trap that Chen Mo placed previously! Unfortunately, it did not apply the Disabled debuff to the monster when Chen Mo desperately needed it! As he thought, it was impractical to rely on the petty 10% chance of the trap! The mutated Black Goblin charged forward. It was within inches of Chen Mo. Chen Mo calmly set a Dazing Trap on the rock he was holding. However, he did not toss the Dazing Trap at the monster right away. He continued to run instead. The mutated Black Goblin soon caught up to Chen Mo. Even though he was trying his best to kite the monster between the obstacles, it did not slow the monster down by much. Chen Mo finally threw the Dazing Trap down when the mutated Black Goblin swung its club fiercely at Chen Mo. Boom! The Dazing Trap exploded, inflicting 10+ damage on the mutated Black Goblin while knocking it and Chen Mo two meters back in opposite directions. Chen Mo was well prepared for it. He started running as soon as the trap knocked him away to further distance himself from the monster. The mutated Black Goblin was not as agile as Chen Mo. It stood still on the spot for a while before chasing after Chen Mo again. However, the mutated Black Goblin was just too quick. The distance that Chen Mo had created with the Dazing Trap was gone in just a brief moment. ¡°Set Basic Trap!¡± The Basic Trap was off cooldown. Chen Mo quickly set a Basic Trap while running. ¡°F**k! Still no Disabled debuff!¡± Once again, the trap did not trigger the Disabled effect. Even though the Basic Trap managed to deal more than 50 damage to the mutated Black Goblin, the monster was already swinging its club at Chen Mo after catching up to him. Chen Mo dodged to the side and evaded the mutated Black Goblin¡¯s attack. To his surprise, the mutated Black Goblin¡¯s attack speed was just as insane too. It immediately followed up with another attack after missing the first one. Chen Mo had no chance of dodging the second attack. He raised his crossbow and used it as a shield to defend himself against the powerful blow. While doing so, he straightened his ankle and braced himself for the impact! ¡°Genesis¡± did a great job of making the game as realistic as possible, especially the combat. Players could feel the impact when they were attacking or being attacked. BANG! -88! The mutated Black Goblin¡¯s club landed heavily on Chen Mo¡¯s crossbow. It did not reduce the damage by much. Chen Mo instantly lost slightly more than half of his health. However, Chen Mo¡¯s stance had allowed him to be knocked more than two meters away by the force that the mutated Black Goblin¡¯s attack applied to him. Chen Mo immediately turned around and sped up right after the impact. He quickly cast the Minor Healing Skill to heal himself. His health was back to 120+. Any other Players would feel helpless against the mutated Black Goblin¡¯s attacks, but Chen Mo was utilizing the impacts of the attacks to distance himself from the monster. That being said, Chen Mo¡¯s plan only worked because of the enormous force that the mutated Black Goblin was applying to him. It would not work against the attacks of a normal Black Goblin. He once again created a distance of a few meters between him and the mutated Black Goblin. Unfortunately, the distance was nothing in the eyes of the mutated Black Goblin. It had caught up to Chen Mo again in just less than three seconds. Chen Mo¡¯s skills were still in cooldown. He did a barrel roll when he saw the mutated Black Goblin swinging its club and managed to dodge the attack. The mutated Black Goblin immediately followed up with a second attack. Chen Mo was ready for it. Similar to before, he raised his crossbow and braced himself for the impact. BANG! -79! Another huge number floated above Chen Mo. He only had less than 60 HP left. He was no longer able to take another hit from the mutated Black Goblin. However, the impact had again distanced himself from the mutated Black Goblin. The mutated Black Goblin continued with its relentless pursuit. There seemed to be no escape for Chen Mo. No! The Basic Trap was now off cooldown! Chen Mo quickly set a Basic Trap and tossed it at the mutated Black Goblin behind him. Boom! -47! The Basic Trap exploded, but the mutated Black Goblin¡¯s speed remained the same. It had failed to trigger the Disabled effect. However, Chen Mo was not disappointed by it. He used his final trump card¡ªhe quickly climbed up the boulder before the mutated Black Goblin caught up to him. ¡°There¡¯s nothing you can do but accept your fate against a superior Player like me.¡± Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh glancing at the mutated Black Goblin that went enraged below the boulder. Even though the mutated Black Goblin had outstanding attributes, it was still a monster after all. They were still abusable flaws in their logic. The unique hatred of the Black Goblin had dropped significantly after the brief scuffle Chen Mo had with it. Therefore, he was able to climb back up the boulder and toss the traps down at the monster again. Although Chen Mo was not allowed to stay on the boulder until he killed the mutated Black Goblin, the monster no longer posed any threat to him. It was only a matter of time for Chen Mo to slay the monster. Chen Mo spent some time tossing traps down from the boulder before jumping down the boulder to kite the mutated Black Goblin around to lower its special hatred. He repeated the sequence for a few times, and fifteen minutes later, the mutated Black Goblin¡¯s health finally hit the deck. Chapter 9 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches System Notification: Your level has increased! System Notification: Your basic attributes have increased! Strength +3 Constitution +2 Dexterity +2 Intelligence +2 Spirit +1 The mutated Black Goblin died and fell to the ground without any surprise. The mutated Black Goblin was Level 4, but the experience from killing it was multiple times the experience of a normal Black Goblin. Chen Mo¡¯s experienced bar had increased by 30%! Lots of copper and items scattered across the ground the moment the mutated Black Goblin fell. Chen Mo was a little surprised as it was his first time seeing so many drops. ¡°105 copper, Low-level Mutated Strength Potion, Low-level Mutated Intelligence Potion, Low-level Mutated Constitution Potion, Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion, Low-level Mutated Spirit Potion, Low-level Mutated HP Potion, one each, and a pair of Goblin Boots. The drops of a mutated monster are insane. It¡¯s already more than the total drops of the monsters I¡¯ve killed so far.¡± Chen Mo picked up the drops and quickly looked through them. The drops were quite impressive. He had killed at least sixty goblins in total, yet he had only collected less than fifty coppers. It was pretty obvious that the drops of a single mutated Black Goblin were better than everything he had collected so far. Chen Mo now had more than 150 copper at Level 4. He believed he was quite wealthy among the Players, but in comparison to the copper, the Mutated Potions were more valuable. Low-level Mutated Strength Potion: Increase the Player¡¯s Strength by 20. Every physical attack would inflict 20 extra damage on the target. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 15 minutes. Low-level Mutated Constitution Potion: Increase the Player¡¯s Constitution by 20. Every attack the Player receives is decreased by 20. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 15 minutes. Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion: Increase the Player¡¯s Dexterity by 20. +3 to Player¡¯s maximum movement speed. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 15 minutes. Low-level Mutated Intelligence Potion: Increase the Player¡¯s Intelligence by 20. Every magical attack would inflict 20 extra damage on the target. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 15 minutes. Low-level Mutated Spirit Potion: Increase the Player¡¯s Spirit by 20. Every healing skill will heal the target by an extra 20%. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 15 minutes. Low-level Mutated HP Potion: Heal the Player by 300. Increase the Player¡¯s Maximum HP by 300. Recover 30 of the Player¡¯s HP every second. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 15 minutes. There were six different Low-level Mutated Potions. Chen Mo had yet to see a normal potion, but he knew these Low-level Mutated Potions were a lot better than normal potions! These mutated potions were suitable for low-level Players below Level 10, but their special effects were still very useful even when the Players had reached Level 20. If he had the time, he believed he could make a fortune by killing himself and respawn in a different valley to farm these mutated potions. However, it was just a random thought that crossed Chen Mo¡¯s mind. He believed killing the mutated Black Goblin for the second time would have fewer drops than the first time. He was willing to try it if he had the chance, but he did not play the game to earn some money, thus he was unwilling to waste his time on it. The Goblin Boots seemed pretty cool, but it was only an ordinary piece of White Equipment with +1 to Strength and +1 to movement speed. That being said, it was the first piece of equipment that Chen Mo had obtained from killing a monster. Chen Mo put on the Goblin Boots and headed to the exit. He was surprised to see that the valley was enclosed. There was a teleportation portal at the exit. ¡­ Half an hour later, Chen Mo was roaming in a Rookie Village called Aiur Town. The teleportation portal in the valley had teleported him straight to Aiur Town. Chen Mo did not start looking for a game-breaking bug as soon as he arrived in the town. He decided to surf the game¡¯s forum instead. Chen Mo was relieved that he had decided to take a look at the forum first. Someone had already tried killing important NPCs like the town¡¯s mayor. However, it proved that the Players had no chance of killing the NPCs, even those in the Rookie Village. The Players that tried to kill the NPCs were all put in jail. They were jailed between one to four hours. Killing the NPCs was no longer an option, but there were other things that Chen Mo wanted to try. Aiur Town had soon fallen victim. Chen Mo was an expert when it came to causing destruction. He set the houses on fire. He conveniently killed a chicken that was taking a stroll in the village. He turned a dog bald and cut the whiskers of a cat¡­ The things Chen Mo did seemed insignificant, but he knew he had a higher chance of finding a bug from the little things that people would normally overlook. Unfortunately, Chen Mo did not find anything useful after stirring up troubles in Aiur Town for half an hour. ¡­ System Notification: You have triggered the quest ¡°The Tryst¡±. Would you like to accept it? Chen Mo started harassing the female NPCs after he failed to learn anything useful from the mischievous acts he did. However, the System Notification suddenly popped up when he fondled a female NPC in a sexy outfit with the name Inoch who turned out to be the owner of a tailor¡¯s shop. Chen Mo was surprised by the notification. He did not know whether to laugh or cry after seeing the notification. He had most likely triggered a hidden quest. The other Players had tried so hard to find a hidden quest, but they could not find one. Meanwhile, he had triggered one when he was just causing mischief in the town. What now? Should he accept it? Chen Mo had no idea how difficult the quest was, but he assumed it was not an easy quest. He was the kind of person who would carry things through. If he decided to accept the quest, he would make sure to complete it, and it would certainly take some time. But¡­whatever, he was having no luck finding a bug in Aiur Town. Since he needed to keep leveling up, he would not mind spending some time on the hidden quest to prepare himself for the journey ahead. Besides, if there was really a bug in the game, it would not just disappear all of a sudden. System Notification: You have accepted the quest ¡°The Tryst¡±! Quest: The Tryst Difficulty: Unknown Description: Inoch seems to have something to discuss with you. Meet Inoch in the house located in the northernmost corner of the town alone at night. Reward: Unknown ¡°At night¡­it¡¯s still early.¡± The game had day and night too, but a day was a lot longer than a night. Each day lasted for eighteen hours, but each night only lasted for six hours. The six hours were between 0000 to 0600 in real life. It was only half-past eight at the moment. There was still some time before midnight. Chen Mo decided to grind some levels while waiting for it. Chen Mo took a quest from an NPC that asked him to slay 20 Wild Hares. Chen Mo left Aiur Town with a bunch of Players that were heading in the same direction. ¡°Holy crap, isn¡¯t the number of Players here a little too high!?¡± Chen Mo had a bad feeling when he reached the area where the Wild Hares were. Wild Hares? The whole place was crowded with Players. A few Wild Hares had just spawned, but the Players had already killed them all before the light indicating their respawn disappeared. The spawn rate of the Wild Hares was pretty high¡ªseveral of them would spawn every ten seconds, but even so, it was still difficult for anyone to kill twenty Wild Hares. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that PvP was not allowed for Players under Level 10, the whole area would be covered in blood by now. ¡°Humph, a bunch of noobs! How hard could it be to complete a quest? Set up the perimeter, I just need a few more for the quest. I¡¯ll transfer the money once I¡¯m done with it!¡± ¡°Got it, Brother Qingshan!¡± China was a huge country with a variety of talents. Chen Mo soon witnessed how the nouveau riches play the game. Unlike the normal Players who were competing for the monsters, they simply hired a bunch of Players to surround a certain spawning area so they could kill the monsters to complete their quest with ease. The guy called Da Qingshan was even mocking the Players nearby. Many of them were clenching their teeth at the guy, but they all pretended they could not hear his insults. ¡°Hey, the beautiful lady over there, do you want to come here? I¡¯ll let you kill the monsters to finish your quest!¡± Chen Mo was left speechless. Playing the game was definitely not a waste of his time since he was able to learn so much from it. In real life, men would normally flirt with ladies that caught their attention by treating them to a meal or giving presents, but in the game, they were offering them a chance to kill the monsters. Chen Mo was not a nouveau riche. He could not afford to hire a bunch of lackeys like Da Qingshan, but as a Hunter, it was very easy for him to compete for the monsters! Chen Mo found a spawning point of the Wild Hares and set a Basic Trap on it. Hehe, the Wild Hare would immediately trigger the trap once it spawned. He did not even have to calculate the exact time when the monster was going to spawn. Who could possibly compete with him? ¡°A Hunter? Hehe, that¡¯s not going to happen!¡± A few Players came up with an evil grin and stepped on the trap that Chen Mo had placed. Boom! The trap exploded, but it did not inflict any damage on the Player that triggered it. F**k me, that works? Chen Mo was left speechless. The other Players could trigger his traps by stepping on them. Not only that, but the traps also would not inflict any damage on them. How much worse could it be for Hunters? Chapter 10 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Hehe, brother, I¡¯m afraid you have no chance of competing for the monsters with us. Perhaps you can try your luck somewhere else. The others might not know they can trigger a Hunter¡¯s traps by stepping on them,¡± an Assassin Player with the nickname The Hand of Deadly Poison patted Chen Mo on the shoulder and said. When the game just started, the other Players were having a hard time landing their attacks on the monsters first since the Hunters could just place a trap on where the monsters were spawning. However, someone eventually found out that they could step on the traps to set them off. Since then, the Hunters had become the ones to suffer. The Wild Hares respawned pretty quickly. The Hand of Deadly Poison shrugged when Chen Mo did not listen to his advice and left. As the saying went, good advice jars on the ears. He assumed Chen Mo was unwilling to accept his advice. He insisted to compete with them. The light indicating the Wild Hares were respawning appeared again. The Players nearby raised their weapons and channeled their spells. The monsters all died within the blink of an eye. ¡°Damn it, I was just a second slower!¡± ¡°(Sigh), I just need a few more.¡± ¡°HAHA, got one!¡± An uproar took place. Some were excited after securing the first hits on the monsters. Others were disappointed because they failed to secure the monsters. They began to panic when they saw the others had already done with the quest while they were still stuck with the low-level quest. The Hand of Deadly Poison calmly glanced at the people that were complaining. He had managed to secure a Wild Hare again. He just needed five more of them to complete the quest. The others nearby were not as quick as him, thus he was not too worried about them, including Chen Mo who was trying to rely on his traps to secure the first hits. The Wild Hares spawned again. The Players immediately made their moves. The Hand of Deadly Poison swung his dagger and secured another Wild Hare. However, he was looking at Chen Mo curiously. Previously, the Hunter was trying to attack with his bare fists, but he was using his crossbow this time. The Wild Hares had very low HP. It did not matter if they were attacking with their weapons or bare fists. The person that landed the first hit would be able to secure the monsters. In the eyes of the Hand of Deadly Poison, using range skills or weapons was the stupidest decision. These low-level monsters were spawned at fixed locations. Using range attacks did not really have an advantage. It was easier to secure the first hit by using a melee attack in advance just before the Wild Hares respawned. Many Players were using the same trick, but they were out of luck as they were competing with him. No one could possibly steal the Wild Hares from him as he was perfectly calculating the respawn time of the Wild Hares. No one could be quicker than him, as those that attacked earlier than him would only miss their attacks. The Wild Hares spawned again. The Hand of Deadly Poison swung his dagger together with many other weapons that the Players nearby were using. The Wild Hare fell to the ground following its death. However, the Hand of Deadly Poison was startled. He failed to secure the first hit! He looked at Chen Mo. He knew he was the one that secured the Wild Hare with a bolt. -Was it a coincidence?- The Hand of Deadly Poison thought. The Wild Hares spawned again. The Hand of Deadly Poison concentrated and swung his dagger rapidly. He missed it again! It was the same Hunter that landed the first hit! Damn it, the Hunter was an expert! The Hand of Deadly Poison looked at Chen Mo. He finally realized why the Hunter was using his crossbow instead of bare fists. The best that the Hunter could do with his bare fists was landing an attack on the Wild Hare at the same time as him. When that happened, the System would automatically assign the kill to the person that dealt with higher damage among the two. The Hand of Deadly Poison was an Assassin, thus his normal attack was obviously higher than a Hunter who was attacking with bare fists. Therefore, the Hunter would never be able to take the kill from him. As a result, the Hunter decided to use his crossbow instead. The damage of the crossbow and the bolt was a lot higher than using bare fists. The Hand of Deadly Poison had a basic skill called Stab. However, he was not that confident in using it to secure the first hit. Apart from calculating the respawn time perfectly, he was using a little trick to constantly land a first hit on the Wild Hares. He would purposely slow down the animation of his attack when the Wild Hare was about to spawn, before speeding it up the moment the Wild Hare appeared. As a result, even if his timing was a little behind, he could still land his attack on the target first. However, if he was using a skill, he could not afford to make any mistake. Otherwise, he might end up missing his attack if he used it just a little earlier. The Hand of Deadly Poison admitted it was beyond his capabilities. As such, his gaze toward Chen Mo was filled with astonishment. The Hunter was most likely a professional! Chen Mo was unaware of the Hand of Deadly Poison¡¯s thoughts. He was not as impressive as the man had thought. He was only estimating the timing of his attack. It was impossible to be perfectly precise. Luck was part of the reason that he was able to secure the Wild Hares twice in a row. He did not overthink the situation. He just kept trying until he secured the first hit. ¡°Expert, that Hunter over there, come over here quick, I have some extra monsters for you!¡± When Chen Mo killed the second Wild Hare, the previous guy Da Qingshan yelled excitedly as if he had discovered a new continent. Da Qingshan was already watching the Hand of Deadly Poison before Chen Mo showed up. He was a total newbie. He only started playing the game out of curiosity, but he was dazzled by the fascinating world as soon as he entered the game. It took Da Qingshan some time to reach Level 4. He excitedly left Aiur Town after accepting the quest of killing Wild Hares, but he could not secure a single one of them after spending thirty minutes competing with the other Players. The frustrated Da Qingshan decided to hire a bunch of Players to surround the spawning area instead. Money was insignificant to Da Qingshan. He enjoyed the envious looks of the Players nearby, yet he knew it was crazy to bribe the Players with money just so he could kill some monsters. He was aware of the disdain in the eyes of the Players nearby. Da Qingshan wanted to steal the monsters from other Players too. It would be more interesting that way even though he would complete the quest much slower. He had been observing the Players nearby. The Hand of Deadly Poison soon caught his attention. He was planning to wait a little longer before asking the Hand of Deadly Poison for some advice, but a Hunter who seemed to be more skillful had appeared. Da Qingshan thought the Hand of Deadly Poison was already very impressive, yet someone better than him had shown up. He could no longer withhold his urge. The look in Da Qingshan¡¯s eyes had blatantly expressed his intention. Chen Mo was quite familiar with the look he had. He immediately knew what Da Qingshan wanted. After a slight hesitation, Chen Mo started to approach Da Qingshan. Teaching the man might actually save him some time. It was not a bad thing for him. ¡°Yo, Brother Qingshan, we¡¯ve already made a deal.¡± The Players nearby were displeased by Da Qingshan¡¯s decision. ¡°Cut the crap, I¡¯ll pay double!¡± Da Qingshan glared at the Players. They immediately stopped complaining. ¡°Expert, you¡¯re so impressive. Can you please teach me some tricks? I couldn¡¯t even steal a single monster in half an hour!¡± Da Qingshan cut straight to the topic. He asked Chen Mo with a sincere look. What Chen Mo did was too impressive. Da Qingshan could not hold himself back when he imagined himself doing the same thing. ¡°Of course,¡± Chen Mo smiled. It was not like he was using a secret trick. Anyone with an average reaction time could do it after getting the hang of the right timing. Chen Mo briefly explained it to Da Qingshan. The man nodded and immediately went to try it out. ¡°HAHA, I have a feeling it¡¯s actually going to work!¡± Da Qingshan was not stupid. Besides, Chen Mo had explained it in a simple way too. After a few attempts, Da Qingshan was excited when he discovered that the trick might work. ¡°Spend more time observing, remember the patterns, only attack when you got the hang of the timing. It¡¯s more difficult against high-level monsters, but the basic principles are the same,¡± Chen Mo gave his advice while killing a Wild Hare nearby. ¡°Aye, Master Chen Mo,¡± Da Qingshan sent Chen Mo a friend request as he spoke. ¡°I¡¯m done here. I¡¯ll be going first. Have a go at it yourself, and feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.¡± It did not take too long for Chen Mo to kill twenty Wild Hares since there were no Players competing with him. ¡°Alright, see you later!¡± Da Qingshan nodded. He did not turn around when he spoke. He was staring nervously at the spot where a Wild Hare would spawn. He was prepared to swing his sword in any second. Chen Mo knew Da Qingshan was focusing on killing the monsters. He left without disturbing him any further. Right after Chen Mo left, Da Qingshan swung his sword at a Wild Hare that just spawned. ¡°HAHAHA, I know how to steal the monsters now! You guys can leave now, I¡¯ll ask someone to transfer the money later!¡± Da Qingshan burst out laughing. He waved his hand and dismissed the Players nearby. He then made his way to a group of Players nearby. He had long completed the quest, but since he had learned how to steal the monsters from the other Players, how could he not try it out on the Players nearby? ¡°Damn it! What¡¯s going on!?¡± A Wild Hare spawned in front of him, yet the outcome was different than what he had imagined. He could not secure a kill out of more than ten Wild Hares that had spawned in the same spot. ¡°F**k this, I don¡¯t believe it!¡± The stubborn Da Qingshan stared at the spot where a Wild Hare was going to spawn. He would not give up until he was able to steal a kill from the other Players! Chapter 11 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches System Notification: You have completed the quest ¡°The Annoying Wild Hares¡±! System Notification: You have obtained 10 copper, 500 exp! Chen Mo shook his head when he received the rewards after turning in the quest. Not only were the rewards petty, killing a Wild Hare would only grant a Player 25 exp. Meanwhile, the number of Players competing for these objective monsters was insane. Doing the quests was definitely not worthy of his time. It was better to just grind his levels by slaying monsters. Chen Mo went offline to surf the forum. There were already a lot of posts related to the spawning locations of different monsters. ¡°Wolf Valley, Wild Wolf, a Level 7 monster, that will do.¡± Chen Mo soon decided on his target. These Level 7 wolves had impressive damage and speed. They were pretty tricky to deal with. A Level 5 Player would die in two hits since most Players had no equipment still. However, Chen Mo believed he could utilize the terrains and trees to take on these Wild Wolves by himself after seeing their attributes. Chen Mo logged back into the game and went past large groups of Players. The number of Players significantly decreased after reaching the area of Level 6 monsters, the Man-Eating Flowers. These areas were no longer as crowded as the low-level areas. The Players grinding in the Level 6 area were all in parties, and most of them were established temporarily. The Chinese servers had a lot of gaming guilds and groups, but there were many instances of Aiur Town in the game. The chance of being assigned to the same instance with someone of the same guild was extremely slim. The Level 6 Man-Eating Flowers did not have high damage, and they were almost stationary. They were the first preference for Classes with range attacks to grind their levels, but they were not that ideal for Chen Mo as a Hunter. He could toss the traps at the Man-Eating Flowers, but he would also be inside the monsters¡¯ attack range. These Man-Eating Flowers¡¯ attacks came from under the ground. The terrains and obstacles were non-existent, and since Chen Mo was on his own, he had little chance of dodging the Man-Eating Flowers¡¯ attacks. Chen Mo arrived at the entrance of the Wolf Valley after traversing the spawning area of the Man-Eating Flowers. Most Players were currently around Level 5. The Wild Wolves had high damage, thus a Level 5 Player would die in a few hits. Most Players would not dare to challenge the Wild Wolves yet, thus Chen Mo was not surprised that the place did not have a single Player around. The Level 6 Man-Eating Flowers was a better choice compared to these Wild Wolves. Chen Mo¡¯s eyes glittered after taking a quick look into the Wolf Valley. He saw a huge boulder not far from the entrance of the valley. He might be able to kill the Wild Wolves in the same way he killed the Black Goblins! He cautiously moved to the boulder and lured two Wild Wolves to him. He climbed on top of the boulder and attacked the Wild Wolves with ease. He was surprised that no one had discovered such a great spot for level grinding. It seemed like most Players were still bound by traditional games, thus no one had discovered the special trick to grind the monsters. Otherwise, it was unlikely he could have the spot to himself. That being said, Chen Mo was not kind enough to share his trick with other Players on the forum. He saw many Players who were spawned in a valley with goblins just like him instead of being spawned in a Rookie Village. These Players that were trapped in the valleys were asking for help on the forum, but unfortunately, no one had given them any viable suggestion so far. Chen Mo knew he was not the only Player that made it out of the valley. However, every Player that made it out of the valley was obviously no ordinary Player. No one was willing to share their trick with their competitors. The Level 7 Wild Wolves did not have high HP¡ªonly around 800, but their defense was clearly a lot higher than the Black Goblins. Chen Mo speculated that the Black Goblins had negative or zero defense, while it was likely that the Wild Wolves had some defensive attributes. After putting on the Goblin Boots with +1 to Strength, Chen Mo¡¯s damage was now 8 points higher than before, yet he ended up dealing less than 10 damage to the Wild Wolves. A Basic Trap only inflicted 40+ damage on a Wild Wolf. Now that Chen Mo had found a way back to the Rookie Village, he no longer had to preserve his bolts. When his skills were on cooldown, he would attack with his crossbow. Even though each bolt could only inflict 20+ damage on a Wild Wolf, the total damage inflicted by the bolts was no lower than the damage dealt by the traps. Two Wild Wolves eventually fell to the ground after just over a minute. System Notification: You have killed the monster Wild Wolf. You have obtained 100 exp! ¡°Not bad, at this rate, I will reach Level 5 in twenty minutes.¡± Chen Mo was quite satisfied with the amount of exp the Wild Wolves were giving him. Previously, he spent around seven minutes on the quest of killing the Wild Hares and traveling back and forth from the town. He only ended up getting 1000+ exp. He was lucky that Da Qingshan was around, or else he would spend even more time competing for the monsters with other Players. Chen Mo jumped down from the boulder to lure the next pair of monsters after killing the first two Wild Wolves. He kited the Wild Wolves around on the ground before climbing up the boulder to prevent the Special Hatred from stacking up. Chen Mo¡¯s experience bar rose rapidly as more Wild Wolves died close to the boulder. It was around 70% after some time. He would reach Level 5 in just another six minutes. However, three figures appeared at the entrance of the valley. Splendor Moon Flowing Scar was the Guildmaster of a guild called Splendor Moon. That being said, there were only around seventy active players in the guild. It was not that impressive compared to the other guilds. Splendor Moon Flowing Scar wanted to expand the guild, but to do so, they would have to make a name in a trending game. However, he would have to spend a fortune to make a name in the traditional games. Splendor Moon Flowing Scar was not resourceful enough to spend so much money on games, thus the guild was more or less the same after many years. The launch of Genesis served as a strong glimpse of hope for him. In the past, even if a guild became famous in a game, not many people would still remember the guild after quitting the game. It was also the main reason why Splendor Moon Flowing Scar was unwilling to spend too much money on a specific game. But Genesis was different. From what Splendor Moon Flowing Scar knew, almost every guild in China was playing Genesis. Lots of players from different games were interested in Genesis too. He could really make a name for the guild if it managed to become famous in the game! With enough reputation, money would no longer be a problem, thus the guild Splendor Moon would have no problem expanding too. After entering the game with excitement, Splendor Moon Flowing Scar surprisingly discovered that two other members of his guild were in the same instance of Aiur Town as him. He was a Warrior, and the other two were a Magician and an Archer. The three of them could easily take on monsters at a higher level than them. The trio had a chance of claiming the top spot on the Level Ranking. If they could reach Level 10 first, they might be rewarded by the System, and the announcement would clearly boost their guild¡¯s reputation. The trio could easily grind their levels by killing the Man-Eating Flowers, but Splendor Moon Flowing Scar was determined to earn the top spot of the Level Ranking. He believed lots of players would show up in the spawning area of the Man-Eating Flowers in another twenty minutes, thus they would have to find another place to grind their levels. The Wolf Valley that was a level higher naturally became their first preference. To their surprise, they stumbled into a Hunter who was killing two Wild Wolves with ease on top of a boulder as soon as they arrived at the Wolf Valley. The two Wild Wolves died in succession, yet the Hunter on the boulder did not lose a single HP! It was simple and quick! They never thought it was possible to kill monsters like that! ¡°Boss, let¡¯s claim the boulder for ourselves. These Wild Wolves are Level 7, we can grind here until Level 9!¡± The Magician blurted out. ¡°But PK isn¡¯t allowed below Level 10, how are we going to force the Hunter to leave?¡± the Archer said. ¡°That¡¯s easy, we just need to steal his monsters. He¡¯ll leave eventually!¡± Splendor Moon Flowing Scar said with a smile. Even the Heavens were helping him. There was no stopping Splendor Moon from rising this time. They would easily outlevel the rest of the Players by grinding their levels here! Stealing monsters from other Players was no problem for an experienced Player like Splendor Moon Flowing Scar. There was still enough space for a person on the boulder. The Magician climbed onto it while Splendor Moon Flowing Scar and the Archer lured the Wild Wolves on the ground. That way, Chen Mo had no chance of landing the first hit on the Wild Wolves. Once he came down from the boulder, the Archer would take his spot instead. ¡°Take it,¡± Chen Mo did not waste his time further with the trio. He jumped down from the boulder and looked for another spot nearby to grind his levels. ¡°HAHA, you do know your place!¡± Splendor Moon Flowing Scar burst out laughing. He did not expect the Hunter to give up the spot so easily. He was figuring some other way to drive Chen Mo away if he was reluctant to leave. Chen Mo rolled his eyes and ignored the man. Chapter 12 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°HAHA, boss, it¡¯s so effective to grind levels here!¡± the Magician yelled excitedly. The trio had been leveling up as a party since the start of the game. However, the Magician and the Archer had to be extremely cautious with their damage output, as they might aggro the monsters if they were being careless. However, they no longer had to worry about aggroing the monsters in the Wolf Valley. They could just attack the monsters at will. The Splendor Moon Flowing Scar only had to lure the Wild Wolves to the boulder. When the Wild Wolves were close enough, the Magician and the Archer would output damage freely so the monsters would target them, allowing Splendor Moon Flowing Scar to attack at will too. The three could then attack the monsters freely without any worries. There was no better place to grind levels! Who could possibly match their rate of leveling up? The trio was extremely pleased. They worked even harder. Eventually, lots of Wild Wolves had died around the boulder. Their experience bars increased rapidly. However, the trio did not notice the unusual behaviors of the Wild Wolves that had just spawned nearby. ¡°HAHA, 15% in just five minutes, I¡¯m so close to reaching Level 6! What did I say, you should be glad that I¡¯ve suggested coming here first!¡± Splendor Moon Flowing Scar burst out laughing after luring a few more Wild Wolves to the boulder. ¡°Of course, boss¡­¡± the Magician and the Archer said. However, they suddenly paused amid their sentence. They looked around them with wide eyes. Splendor Moon Flowing Scar noticed something unusual too. He quickly turned around and looked around him. To his surprise, a dozen wolves had suddenly spawned in their surroundings! The wolves lunged at the trio fiercely! A violent pack of wolves had appeared! ¡­ ¡°So that¡¯s how it is! Serves them right!¡± Chen Mo hid in a corner in the valley with a clear view of what was happening. Chen Mo gasped when he saw the dozen of wolves killing the trio instantly after pouncing on them. He only knew the monsters nearby might mutate after the Special Hatred reached a certain level, yet he never thought the monsters would be so terrifying. There was no chance that anyone could survive that. The Special Hatred of the pack of wolves dissipated after the trio died. The Wild Wolves observed their surroundings for a while before scattered across the valley. Chen Mo slowly moved forward. He climbed onto the boulder and tossed his traps at the nearby monsters. Four minutes later, a sacred white light burst out of Chen Mo¡¯s character as he reached Level 5. After allocating the attributes, Chen Mo¡¯s Strength was now 33. His damage was 36-37 and his max HP was 200. It finally looked a little impressive. However, his equipment panel only had an Ordinary Crossbow and a pair of Goblin Boots. Speaking of equipment, Chen Mo felt an urge to complain about the low drop rates in the game. He had killed quite a number of monsters all the way to Level 5, yet apart from the Goblin Boots from the mutated Black Goblin, he had yet to see a monster dropping a piece of equipment. The drop rates were insanely low. Chen Mo was able to kill the monsters slightly quicker after leveling up. However, Chen Mo was unable to kill the monsters in peace for long. The trio soon returned with gloomy looks. Even though they were wiped out by the Wild Wolves before they could even react, they would not give up on such a great place to grind levels so easily. Chen Mo voluntarily left the boulder when the trio returned. ¡°Let¡¯s be careful this time!¡± Splendor Moon Flowing Scar said with a deep voice. He was thinking of venting his frustration on Chen Mo, yet he did not have an excuse for doing so since Chen Mo had willingly given up on the boulder. ¡°Got it, boss!¡± The three began killing the monsters around the boulder again. This time, they were being a lot more cautious, but after a few minutes, the Wild Wolves did not show any unusual behaviors. The trio let out relieved sighs. It was as if the pack of Wild Wolves had only spawned coincidentally. However, after roughly five minutes, the trio was shocked to see a huge pack of wolves spawning in their surroundings! Awooo~! The pack of wolves pounced at the trio furiously. ¡­ ¡°It happened a minute quicker than last time!¡± Chen Mo took a look at the time. While the trio was dying like a team of expendables, Chen Mo gladly took the opportunity to figure out some interesting information. The trio did not die in vain; at least Chen Mo had learned some extra information from the time that had passed before the pack of Wild Wolves spawned. ¡°The Wolf Valley is such a terrifying place!¡± A bunch of Players showed up at the entrance of the Wolf Valley when the trio was brutally killed by the pack of Wild Wolves. It gave the Players quite a shock. They were teams that were grinding levels at the spawning area of the Man-Eating Flowers. When more Players started showing up in the area, they decided to come to the Wolf Valley. They witnessed the brutal scene as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the Wolf Valley. Even the whole bunch of them had no chance against the Wild Wolves, let alone a team. ¡°Let¡¯s go somewhere else. Even if the pack of wolves will only spawn after a certain time, it¡¯s still going to waste too much of our time,¡± someone suggested. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s look for another place.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we try grinding levels at the Black Boars? They are Level 7 monsters too. Their defense is high, but their attack is weaker than the Wild Wolves.¡± The group of Players soon left the area, completely ignoring Chen Mo who was killing the Wild Wolves in a little corner. Chen Mo rubbed his nose. It felt like even the Heavens were giving him more chances to grind his levels in the area. It would be a waste if he let the opportunity go. Chen Mo was willing to use every second available to abuse the boulder. He went over to it and started killing the Wild Wolves. He had to admit how easy it was to grind the monsters on the boulder. Unfortunately, Chen Mo was not able to enjoy it for long. The trio soon returned with enraged looks. Seriously! They hadn¡¯t given up yet! Chen Mo quickly ran away as if he was scared of the trio. ¡°Let¡¯s try again!¡± Splendor Moon Flowing Scar said while clenching his teeth. ¡°Boss, I realize the pack of wolves only spawn after we¡¯ve been killing the monsters for nine minutes. Why don¡¯t we go somewhere else for a while after grinding here for eight minutes and try it again,¡± the Magician suggested. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do that,¡± Splendor Moon Flowing Scar nodded. The trio started killing the Wild Wolves. They constantly kept an eye on the time as they were slaying the monsters. Six minutes had passed. They had earned a lot of experience from killing the monsters. The high amount of experience was the reason why they were not willing to give up even after being wiped out twice in a row. At the seventh minute¡­ Splendor Moon Flowing Scar was just about to go and lure more monsters to the boulder when the familiar pack of Wild Wolves showed up all of a sudden again! The moment the pack of Wild Wolves spawned, another bunch of Players happened to arrive at the entrance of the Wolf Valley. The Players gave up on their thought of grinding levels in the Wolf Valley as soon as they saw the pack of Wild Wolves. The infamous name of the Wolf Valley spread rapidly among the Players. ¡­ ¡°The Special Hatred is stacking up a lot quicker. It¡¯s two minutes earlier this time!¡± Chen Mo looked at the time that had passed when he saw the trio being wiped out for the third time. ¡°The little details of this game are pretty fascinating. Even such a little mechanism involves so many details. That being said, the more complicated it is, the higher the chance there¡¯s a bug somewhere.¡± Chen Mo was able to learn lots of information from the trio¡¯s sacrificial attempts. It seemed like the idea he had of killing the mutated Black Goblin numerous times was not really viable. It was very likely that the mutated Black Goblin would stop dropping any loot after a few times. When the trio died, Chen Mo who was well aware of how to avoid the Special Hatred went back to the boulder to slay the Wild Wolves. The trio had been dying continuously, but he was able to keep obtaining exp from killing the monsters. He just needed to grind for another twenty minutes to reach Level 6. To Chen Mo¡¯s surprise, when he almost killed all the Wild Wolves in the area, a Wild Wolves with a relatively bigger size suddenly spawned not far away from the boulder. An elite monster! Chen Mo was startled. He had a feeling that the elite Wild Wolves had only spawned because of the Special Hatred that the trio had been stacking up. Otherwise, there would be elite monsters spawning in the previous areas if killing the monsters was the only requirement for the elite monsters to spawn. Chen Mo was left speechless. He had yet to find a bug in the game, yet he had discovered lots of secret rules in the game. Well¡­since the elite monster had spawned, he would not mind killing the elite Wild Wolf first. Elite Wild Wolf, Level 7, HP 5000. It had a thousand more HP than the mutated Black Goblin. However, the elite Wild Wolf was only an elite monster. It was a grade lower compared to the mutated Black Goblin. It only had higher HP and damage, but its speed was the same as the mutated Black Goblin. Chen Mo already had the experience of killing the mutated Black Goblin on his own. He was not afraid to take on the elite Wild Wolf that was almost as strong as the mutated Black Goblin. Besides, his damage had almost doubled compared to when he was fighting the mutated Black Goblin. The elite Wild Wolf did not have any special moves. Chen Mo was able to wear its HP down with ease. ¡°Awooo!¡± Chen Mo tossed a trap down. The elite Wild Wolf howled furiously and fell to the ground. A bunch of copper and items scattered across the ground when the monster died too. Three figures showed up at the entrance of the Wolf Valley. Splendor Moon Flowing Scar¡¯s eyes flickered angrily the moment he saw the elite monster falling to the ground. Chapter 13 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Splendor Moon Flowing Scar was not a fool. The trio immediately knew how impressive the Hunter was when they saw him slaying the elite Wild Wolf by himself. It did not make sense for such an impressive Player to give the boulder up so easily. It was obvious that the Hunter was aware of some secret settings when it came to grinding monsters. He was treating them as fools and using them to test out the settings! The furious trio was about to question Chen Mo, but they immediately came to a stop. Something unusual took place in the Wolf Valley. Huge flames suddenly erupted from the ground in the spacious Wolf Valley, as if the ground had melted. Something was appearing from the ground! Chen Mo had just picked up the loot of the elite Wild Wolf. He was taken by surprise when he saw the flames rising under his feet. What¡¯s happening? Boom! Before Chen Mo realized what was going on, an enormous monster appeared as the flames dissipated! ¡°What¡­what¡¯s that¡­a Wild Wolf with three heads?¡± the Magician beside Splendor Moon Flowing Scar stammered. ¡°Three-Headed Fiery Wolf! It¡¯s¡­It¡¯s a Boss! We are going to make a fortune if we can kill it!¡± the Archer blurted out in excitement when he took a closer look at the monster¡¯s name. Splendor Moon Flowing Scar was astounded. However, he soon wore a grim face. There was no chance the three of them could defeat the Boss. They could not care less who would eventually slay the Boss either. ¡°Three-Headed Fiery Wolf!¡± Chen Mo stared at the Boss in astonishment. Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, the Boss-level monster that spawned all of a sudden was engulfed in raging flames. Each of its giant heads had icy eyes burning in different colors. Its muscular body seemed to contain endless power. System Notification: The secret criteria have been met. The Hidden Boss, Three-Headed Fiery Wolf has appeared. The Wolf Valley is now dominated by the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The rules of the area have changed! Hidden boss? The rules of the area have changed? Chen Mo was dumbfounded. What exactly did he do that caused the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf to spawn? None of it made any sense. It was still reasonable if the elite Wild Wolf had spawned because of the Special Hatred that the trio had been stacking up. However, Chen Mo struggled to believe that he was the reason that the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had spawned! Little did Chen Mo, apart from the instance of the Wolf Valley he was in, a Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had spawned in every instance of the Wolf Valley too! Chen Mo did not have time to think about it. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf already had its eyes on Chen Mo. It soon charged at him with fierce flames. Chen Mo barely dodged the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s slam. However, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was different than the other monsters he had encountered in the Rookie Village. Its head with burning blue eyes suddenly turned around with its mouth open. It spat out blue flames in Chen Mo¡¯s direction. Chen Mo had no chance of dodging it. The blue flames dealt 3000 damage to him as soon as he was caught by the flames. He died instantly! Chen Mo was not the only Player that was killed instantly by the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The Players in other instances of the Wolf Valley had all fallen victim to the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Not a single Player could survive for more than an attack from the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf! More Players were making their way to the Wolf Valley as the System Notification had aroused their curiosity. They were overjoyed when they learned a Hidden Boss had spawned. They tried to form a huge party to take out the Hidden Boss, but they soon realized their attacks could not even penetrate the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s defense. Their number did not really make a difference, as they all ended up dying still. The Rookie Village was bustling with discussions when the Hidden Boss¡ªThree-Headed Fiery Wolf¡ªappeared. However, the discussions slowly came to an end a few hours later when the Players realized it was impossible to kill the Hidden Boss. When Chen Mo was resurrected in the town, the whole place was bustling with noise. Every Player was discussing the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Chen Mo was curious about the reason why the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had spawned. He went offline to take a look on the forum. Chen Mo learned that apart from the instance of Wolf Valley he was in, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had also appeared in every other instance of the Wolf Valley too. He checked the time when the Hidden Boss had spawned. It seemed like the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had spawned at the same time in every instance. Chen Mo was now convinced that he was not the one that caused the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf to spawn. There must be several criteria that had to be met for the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf to spawn. However, since there were so many instances of the Wolf Valley, the Players would unknowingly fulfill the criteria when they were grinding the Wild Wolves, thus the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had spawned eventually. Many Players had come up with different speculations on the Hidden Boss. Someone suggested that if a Three-Headed Fiery Wolf died in any instance, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolves in the other instances would disappear too. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf could only be killed once. Many Players agreed with the speculation. Chen Mo too thought the speculation was quite convincing, considering how the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had spawned in every instance. Therefore, the Hidden Boss had become extremely valuable. Several guilds had expressed their determination to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. They were planning to make a name of themselves by killing the Hidden Boss. There were many people that shared the same thoughts as Splendor Moon Flowing Scar. If they could become famous in Genesis, they would be able to make a name for their guild. There were lots of guilds in China, but not one of them dared to say how high their guild could reach in Genesis. Everyone had the same starting line, hence they were all trying to take the lead. There was no easier way to make a name for a guild than being the first guild that killed a Boss monster! In addition to the guilds, many experienced Players were contemplating if they should try to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf too, resulting in fierce competition. Meanwhile, Chen Mo had no interest in killing the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf whatsoever. He was only curious about the secret criteria that triggered the spawning of the Hidden Boss, but it seemed like he would never find the answers. Chen Mo logged back into the game. It was a pity for him that the Wolf Valley was now dominated by the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. His experience bar was currently sitting at 50% after killing the elite Wild Wolf. If only the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf showed up later¡­ Chen Mo decided to find another place to grind levels, but first, he should take a look at the loot he acquired from the elite Wild Wolf. Even though it felt like Chen Mo had gotten some nice drops from killing the elite Wild Wolf, he did not have high hopes after taking the drop rates that the game had so far into consideration. It was just as he had expected. The majority of the loot from killing the elite Wild Wolf was copper. He had acquired 130 copper. In addition to it, there were five Low-level HP potions that could heal a Player by 100, and recover 20 HP every second for 10 seconds. The only piece of equipment from the loot was a pair of Wild Wolf Leggings with a level requirement of 5. It had a +8 to Physical Defense to the Player equipping it. However, the Wild Wolf Leggings were Blue Equipment, slightly better than the White Equipment. It also had a +3 Constitution which was equal to 60 HP. It was not bad for a piece of defensive equipment. Chen Mo put on the Wild Wolf Leggings and left Aiur Town. He discovered that most of the higher level Players had gone to the Wolf Valley to get in on the action. He went back to Aiur Town and accepted a few quests. Now was the best time to complete the quests since not many Players would be around to compete for the monsters. Leveling up by completing quests was quite efficient too. After all, it was unlikely he could use the same trick of grinding monsters on a boulder like he did in the Wolf Valley. There was still slightly over two hours before midnight. Chen Mo spent more than an hour completing some quests. The Players that went to the Wolf Valley to join in the fun finally went back to doing the quests and grinding levels. However, Chen Mo was already Level 7, leading the majority of the Players. There were not many Players competing for the monsters he needed for the quests he was doing. It was the advantage of having a lead in Level. It explained why many Players were trying to gain a lead in Level as soon as they entered the game. Chen Mo continued to do his quests. He had reached Level 9 when it was finally midnight. The difference between Level 9 and 10 was not that significant. Chen Mo headed for Aiur Town for the quest ¡°The Tryst¡±. Chapter 14 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The outskirts twenty kilometers away from Jinghua City¡­ A year ago, a technology company called Canglan Tech was established here. It was not really that famous in the country. Only a few people knew that the company was in charge of the Chinese servers of Genesis. It was the launch day of Genesis, thus Canglan Tech was placing all their attention on the game. It was already midnight, yet the monitoring team was still observing the data collected from Genesis. More data kept showing up on the giant screens that a group of young workers was staring at. It had been a few hours since the game had launched, thus they were no longer as nervous. If the servers did not have any problem when the number of Players was the highest, it was very likely that the servers would operate as intended from now onward. ¡°Huh? How is this possible!? Someone has entered the Sacred Land of Condemnation!¡± A young man yelled all of a sudden. ¡°The Sacred Land of Condemnation? Isn¡¯t that only accessible with a few hidden quests? The highest level of a Player is only 10 at the moment. How is it possible for anyone to enter the hidden area!?¡± ¡°Go find out what happened!¡± The others were dumbfounded too. The young man that yelled in the first place quickly pulled out the relevant data. If there was any bug in the game, they would have to report it immediately. Canglan Tech was only in charge of the game servers in China, they did not have the right to implement changes to the game. ¡°So that¡¯s what happened.¡± ¡°HAHA, how perverted is that guy to harass dozens of female NPCs in a row which triggered the hidden quest that would force him to enter the Sacred Land of Condemnation!¡± ¡°That¡¯s insane, I¡¯m wondering if the person that came up with the quest is an old woman who has never been harassed before!¡± ¡°What a poor guy, the Sacred Land of Condemnation, Players below Level 10 wouldn¡¯t stand a chance in there. I¡¯m afraid his Level is going to drop back to Level 1.¡± ¡­ The Sacred Land of Condemnation¡­ Chen Mo looked at the ancient ruins ahead while clenching his teeth. The ancient ruins were located on a vast black swamp. The sky was gray without any glimpse of light. He could only see half-floating debris on the black swamp. There was no sign of monsters, apart from the black silhouette of a woman that kept appearing from the swamp to assassinate him. It had only been less than five minutes since he came here, but he had already died five times to the black shadow. He had gone from Level 9 to Level 8! Damn it! It was a set-up! The quest ¡°The Tryst¡± was indeed a hidden quest, but it was a complete set-up too! When he entered the house to the north of the town to meet Inoch, the woman detained him right away and proclaimed she was going to punish an evil man like him. She then sent him to the Sacred Land of Condemnation. Chen Mo did not just stand still when Inoch started attacking him. However, he was no match against Inoch¡¯s damage and speed. He was caught in just a few rounds. He was forced to stay in the Sacred Land of Condemnation for an hour. Every time he died in the Sacred Land of Condemnation, he would lose 20% exp, even though he had not reached Level 10 yet. He had died five times in just five minutes. His Level had already dropped by one. If he was stuck here for an hour, he was surely going to drop back to Level 1. Chen Mo bet there must be some insane loot in the Sacred Land of Condemnation, but no matter how good it was, there was no way he could get it. He had died five times in five minutes, but the truth was, the distance he covered was only less than thirty meters. Every time he came back to life, the black shadow would rise from the swamp and kill him with a single blow using her dagger before he could even take a few steps. After thirty seconds, he would be resurrected on the spot he died. The black shadow would come to assassinate him again before he could take a few steps. He could not just go offline either. His character would just stay and die continuously to the black shadow. After dying for five times, Chen Mo finally made it to a boulder. He was trying to use the boulder to defend himself from the black shadow¡¯s assassination. Chen Mo calculated the time it took for the black shadow to appear. He quickly set up a Dazing Trap on a rock. The black shadow showed up on Chen Mo¡¯s right after he set the Dazing Trap. He quickly tossed the trap at the shadow. Boom! The Dazing Trap exploded, knocking the black shadow away. It might work! Chen Mo was overjoyed. However, the blast also knocked Chen Mo away from the boulder. He fell back to the muddy swamp. F**k! Chen Mo felt a sharp pain from his back before he could leave the swamp. He knew the black shadow had done it again. There was nothing he could do! He was initially planning to reduce the number of his deaths with the Dazing Trap to see if he could last for an hour. However, Chen Mo realized he did not stand a chance against the shadow with his current attributes. Chen Mo stopped resisting after coming to the conclusion. He ran in the same direction to see if he could find any treasure before he dropped back to Level 1. Chen Mo kept dying, but he still kept running as soon as he was revived. ¡°A treasure chest!¡± When Chen Mo¡¯s Level dropped to 5, he was surprised to discover an ancient black chest on the swamp fifty meters ahead! It might be worth it for his Level to drop to 1 if he could reach the treasure box! Chen Mo started running toward the chest. However, Chen Mo soon realized how naive he was. When he was less than thirty meters away from the treasure box, several black shadows rose from the swamp. It was Chen Mo¡¯s first time taking a close look at the black shadows. The shadows had the outline of a glamorous woman with an alluring figure, but their figures were pitch-black, making it difficult to see their features clearly. However, their icy bloodshot eyes clearly indicated that they were not someone a Player should mess with. Chen Mo was already struggling against a single black shadow, let alone a dozen of them. Chen Mo let out a sigh and stopped moving. He waited until his Level dropped back to 1. Chen Mo finally left the Sacred Land of Condemnation after dropping to Level 1. He was revived back in the square of Aiur Town. ¡°Damn it, how dare they set me up!? I can¡¯t wait to see what would happen if I was to subdue Inoch in the first place!¡± Chen Mo did not really care if his level had dropped to 1. After all, the Level of his character did not matter much to him. However, he was furious after knowing that he had been set up! He had fought against Inoch. He noticed that Inoch was not unbeatable. If he could get himself a set of impressive equipment, he might be able to defeat Inoch. It seemed like the hidden quest ¡°The Tryst¡± was like a prank that the game designer had come up with to punish the Players that harassed the female NPCs. Chen Mo was unlucky to be its first victim. Chen Mo was suspecting if the game designer had taken into consideration the possibility of a Player outmatching Inoch. After all, Inoch was just insanely strong for any Player at Level 10. There was no way the Players could stand a chance against her. However, if he could complete the quest, he might be able to find a game-breaking bug. Either for personal reasons or for his mission, it was important for him to complete the quest. In order to complete the quest, he would have to find a set of impressive equipment that he could wear at Level 10. It would not be easy to get a set of high-quality equipment now. Furthermore, Chen Mo¡¯s character had dropped back to Level 1 and failed the hidden quest. If he wanted to have another attempt at the hidden quest, he would have to kill his character. Before doing so, there was something Chen Mo had to do to acquire a secret title which might grant him extra attributes. ¡­ Chapter 15 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo first spent more than ten minutes raising his Level to 3. He then headed to the east of Aiur Town and accepted the quest ¡°Protect Jadeite Pheasant¡± from an old man NPC called Brad. The quest ¡°Protect Jadeite Pheasant¡± was only available to Players above Level 3. Only a few Players knew there was a quest here since Brad was in quite a remote place outside Aiur Town. There were not many monsters in the area either. Chen Mo did not learn about the quest because someone had mentioned it on the forum. He had learned about the quest ¡°Protect Jadeite Pheasant¡± from the information that he had hacked previously. The quest was not difficult, but it was a little time-consuming. After accepting the quest, he would have to protect the Jadeite Pheasant from being attacked by Vultures for ten minutes in a small dungeon. The Vultures had low damage. They were far from a threat to the Player. The Player only had to stand in front of the Jadeite Pheasant that the Vultures were attacking. ¡°HAHA, brave adventurer, I will reward you if you can complete the quest!¡± Brad laughed and sent Chen Mo into a tiny dungeon. The sky was already dark, but the dungeon was unaffected by the outside environment. Chen Mo found himself in a backyard. On the field of grass stood a proud Jadeite Pheasant, while a few Vultures were soaring in the blue sky. Brad did not mention what the reward was. However, Chen Mo saw on the forum that Brad would reward the Player with 10 copper and 100 exp once they completed the quest. It was reasonable for a Level 3 Player, but it was negligible for Players above Level 4. It was obvious that Chen Mo did not come for the reward. When the quest began, a Vulture dived from the sky right at the Jadeite Pheasant. Chen Mo was supposed to stand in front of the Vulture to protect the Jadeite Pheasant. However, he fired a bolt at the Jadeite Pheasant when the Vulture was attacking it instead. The Jadeite Pheasant had a very low HP. It died instantly to the bolt. The Vulture was stunned. It gloomily flew into the sky after losing its target. System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! ¡°As I thought,¡± Chen Mo was not surprised by the System Notification. It was exactly the same as the information he acquired, even though he had no idea how the person knew it was possible to decrease the character¡¯s World Reputation this way. The quest did not fail even after the Jadeite Pheasant died. The quest was asking the Player to protect the Jadeite Pheasant from the Vultures. Therefore, the quest would only fail if the Vultures landed a hit on the Jadeite Pheasant. Ten seconds later, a light flickered in the backyard. A Jadeite Pheasant had spawned. Chen Mo killed the Jadeite Pheasant with a bolt before the Vultures could react. System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! Chen Mo¡¯s World Reputation had decreased by 10 again. It was currently sitting at -20. Chen Mo did not stop there. Ten seconds later, the Jadeite Pheasant spawned again, but it soon died to Chen Mo¡¯s attack. The Vultures in the sky had no idea what to do. Their job was to attack the Jadeite Pheasant, yet they never had a chance to attack it. ¡­ System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! System Notification: Your World Reputation has reached -100. All NPCs will no longer provide you with any service. You will now revive in ¡°The Land of Outcast!¡± System Notification: You have received the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±! Title: The Corrupted Description: A unique title granted to the Player after reaching -100 World Reputation. Its effects are only valid when equipped. Attribute: Strength +10 Constitution +10 Dexterity +10 Intelligence +10 Spirit +10 Movement Speed +2 Additional Effect(s): Player can only unequip the title 3 hours after equipping it. When equipping the title, Player is not allowed to enter human territories, the death penalty is multiplied, certain NPCs have a higher affection to the Player. ¡°The information is right!¡± Chen Mo nodded in satisfaction. The time he used to hack the information was not in vain. The attributes from the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± were not insane. They were equivalent to the attributes a character would receive after two to three levels. However, the price that a Player had to pay to unlock the title was quite insane too. It was not easy to revert the -100 World Reputation. There were quests that a Player could do in the Land of Outcast to revert their World Reputation, but the quests were not designed for low-level Players. It was the reason why Chen Mo did not come here to do the quest right away. Even if Chen Mo committed suicide here, he could not afford to wear the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± as he pleased either. ¡°Asshole, what have you done!¡± Brad showed up furiously and snapped at Chen Mo when he killed the Jadeite Pheasant ten times in a row. Brad was supposed to catch Chen Mo and put him in jail for at least four hours. He would then be driven out of Aiur Town and revived in the Land of Outcast. Chen Mo had never been to the Land of Outcast, but he knew it was not a place for Players below Level 10. Chen Mo did not hesitate to input the command to commit suicide the moment Brad caught him. He returned to the Character Creation Room. He made some slight adjustments and entered the game. Once again, he found himself back in the Goblin Valley. It seemed like he would find his way back here every time he committed suicide, unless he deleted his character or left the Rookie Village after reaching Level 10. The same ¡°Old Crossbow¡±, 100 bolts, and the skill book of ¡°Set Basic Trap¡± were inside his backpack. The Ordinary Crossbow, Goblin Boots, Wild Woof Leggings, and the mutated potions that he had acquired before were not in the backpack. They had been placed in storage. He could only retrieve them after making his way back to Aiur Town. However, both the titles ¡°Dying at the Speed of Light¡± and ¡°The Pioneer of Liberty¡± were still available in his character panel. Chen Mo could easily switch between them. The title ¡°The Corrupted¡± with a lot of extra attributes was on the list too. However, since Chen Mo had only obtained the title at Level 3, he could only equip it when he reached Level 3. Otherwise, Chen Mo could forcibly kill the White Goblins in the cave with the title. Since Chen Mo had already done it before, it did not take long for him to kill the six White Goblins in the cave and reach Level 2. He opened the treasure box in the cave. This time, it only contained the skill book for ¡°Dazing Trap¡±. The Ordinary Crossbow was nowhere to be seen. However, it did not make much of a difference. Half an hour later, only one Black Goblin remained in the valley. Chen Mo had purposely spared the Black Goblin¡¯s life so it would turn into the Mutated Black Goblin. Chen Mo counted the times the Black Goblin¡¯s HP regenerated. Previously, the Black Goblin had mutated after its HP recovered thirteen times, but this time, it took the Black Goblin twenty times to mutate. In addition to it, the Mutated Black Goblin had significantly less loot compared to before. The Mutated Black Goblin only dropped 60+ copper, one Low-level Mutated Strength Potion, and one Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion. There was nothing else. Chen Mo could not help but exclaim how wise of his decision of not wasting his time on killing the Mutated Black Goblins repetitively was. Chen Mo took the teleportation portal to Aiur Town. He did not rush out of the town to grind his levels. There were still many Players around. He now had a goal in mind. He had to think about how he could get a set of impressive equipment that he could wear at Level 10. ¡°Mm, a bunch of Players has already left Aiur Town and went to the three main cities? The equipment that the monsters in the three main cities drop is all Level 11 and above?¡± Chen Mo browsed the forum. The Players that were leveling up the quickest had already left the Rookie Village and headed to the three main cities in the hour he spent on starting over again. The three main cities were the East Ocean City close to the Miracle Ocean, the Wind Storm City in the Wind Storm Desert, and the Dark Shadow City in the Dark Serene Forest. There were other smaller cities apart from the three main cities, but the Players had yet to find them. Chen Mo initially planned to leave Aiur Town and buy some equipment in the other cities before having a duel of life and death with Inoch, but it was no longer an option. It seemed like Aiur Town was the only place with equipment below Level 10. However, Chen Mo was well aware of how low the drop rates were in Aiur Town, let alone finding any impressive equipment. If Chen Mo was as rich as Da Qingshan, he would consider buying equipment from the Players. But even so, he doubted if he could find a full set of impressive equipment in Aiur Town even if he had the money. Currently, the best piece of equipment he saw on the forum was a Green Equipment which was one grade higher than a Blue Equipment. There seemed to be a Purple Equipment too, but only the Level 10 Boss, Slime King outside of Aiur Town would drop it. Chapter 16 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches There were currently two known bosses in the Rookie Village. One was the Hidden Boss, Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, and the other was a Level 10 Boss, the Slime King. The Players had stopped getting themselves killed by challenging the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf after a few hours. Everyone knew that the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was not something they could kill by abusing their numbers. All the Players would still die if their equipment was not strong enough. On the other hand, the Level 10 Slime King was a normal Boss. The Players could easily find it in the Slime Valley around twenty minutes away from the Rookie Village. Every Rookie Village had a Slime King. Unlike the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, the Slime Kings were independent. It had only been four hours since the Slime King was spotted, but someone had already managed to kill a Slime King. To everyone¡¯s surprise, it was not a guild that killed it, but a new group called the ¡°Nouveau Riches Club¡±. No one knew if the Nouveau Riches Club actually consisted of nouveau riches, or if the name was just to grab some attention. However, the way they killed the Slime King was pretty insane. The Nouveau Riches Club managed to gather the members of more than ten guilds. It then hired hundreds of Players that were above Level 8 and used the human wave tactic to kill the Slime King. A Player had written a post on the forum about it. The person roughly estimated that the Nouveau Riches Club had spent at least five hundred thousand yuan just to kill the Slime King. Even though the Boss of the Rookie Village was killed for the first time, its drops were not even that impressive. The most valuable loot was a Level 10 Purple Necklace. It could be sold for at most forty thousand yuan. The rest of the drops were even less valuable. However, no one dared to say it was a loss for the Nouveau Riches Club, since it did become famous after killing the Slime King first. Many people had learned about its existence since then. Apart from killing the Slime King, there was another reason why they had become famous so quickly. The words ¡°nouveau riches¡± in their guild¡¯s name had caught many people¡¯s attention. Chen Mo shook his head with a smile after reading the post. He felt sorry for the other guilds in the game. These guilds had an impressive number of members too, yet they were still no match against nouveau riches that were willing to spend a fortune on the game. The guilds were desperately trying to get the first kill on a Boss, yet the Nouveau Riches Club had secured it with money instead. Chen Mo frowned when he learned the Nouveau Riches Club had only acquired a Purple Necklace after spending a few hundred thousand yuan. If he was serious about fighting Inoch, he would at least need to have a full set of Purple Equipment, and the only way to get it was by killing the Slime King. The Slime King was in the center of the Slime Valley of every instance of the Rookie Village. It was not difficult to find. After the Nouveau Riches Club killed the Slime King for the first time, lots of Players had reached Level 10 too. Since there was no death penalty for dying in the Rookie Village, these Level 10 Players were not worried about dying. They gathered together and challenged the Slime King, to try their luck and see if they could kill the Slime King to earn a fortune. Unfortunately, even though the Slime King was not as ridiculous as the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, it was not an easy Boss either. Without proper coordination, even a hundred Players would still struggle against the Slime King. Even though the Players had leveled up fairly quickly, most Players did not have a single piece of equipment still. The Slime King could easily kill them in a single hit. The Nouveau Riches Club was able to kill the Slime King mainly because every member had a set of Green Equipment. They were the main firepower when attacking the Slime King. The Players they recruited were just cannon fodder to distract the Slime King. However, since there was no death penalty, many Players would still go to the Slime Valley when they reached Level 10 and The journey to the Slime Valley took more than ten minutes. Not only was dying and reviving in the town quicker than running back, but they could also even tell the others that they had fought against a Boss before¡ªeven though they had died instantly to a single blow. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how I look at it, it feels impossible to kill the Slime King alone.¡± There was lots of information on the Slime King, yet Chen Mo felt his head hurting after spending some time reading through them. The Slime Valley was a grassland with many Level 8 to 10 slimes of different colors. The only obstacles in the area were a few shrubs. If there were some obstacles around, Chen Mo could think of a way to slowly wear down the Slime King¡¯s HP. However, if it was in a spacious valley, Chen Mo could only challenge it head-on. Even if Chen Mo managed to get a set of Blue Equipment, he still would not stand a chance against the Slime King. Even a group of Players had no chance of defeating the Slime King in the Slime Valley, let alone taking on the Slime King alone. ¡°Mm? A Mutated Slime King?¡± Chen Mo suddenly discovered a post in which the Player mentioned he had encountered a Mutated Slime King. The Player was planning to die to the Slime King, but for some reason, the Slime King had mutated. The Player decided to live for a little longer after seeing the rare mutated Boss. However, since it was at night, his range of vision was limited. When he took a close look at the Mutated Slime King, the Mutated Slime King noticed his presence too. The guy had no choice but to run since he did not want to be killed. The Player had killed an elite monster that dropped a pair of Green Boots with +5 to movement speed with the special skill ¡°Swift¡±. The Player ran for more than a minute to escape from the Mutated Slime King. However, when he turned around to look for the Mutated Slime King, he discovered that the Mutated Slime King had returned to normal. ¡°Screenshot? Where¡¯s the screenshot?¡± ¡°I was too busy running, so I wasn¡¯t able to take a screenshot of it.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no screenshot to prove it, you just wanted to seek some attention.¡± The post attracted lots of views, yet no one believed the Player since he was unable to provide any proof. Chen Mo did not believe the Player, but he did not disregard it completely. He noticed something from the post that perhaps even the Player himself did not notice. It was unusual that the Mutated Slime King had only stopped chasing him after he had run for more than a minute. If Chen Mo assumed the Player was not lying, it meant the Mutated Slime King had retained its hatred over a long distance. Normally, a Boss would stop pursuing the Players and return to their territory after they had left their aggro range. With such a huge aggro range, if the Mutated Slime King did exist, Chen Mo might be able to lure it to a certain spot where it could find a trick to kill it. The question was whether the Mutated Slime King did exist. If it was real, how could he trigger the mutation? Chen Mo did not overthink it. If the Mutated Slime King did exist, it would definitely appear for a second time. Chen Mo logged back into the game and focused on raising his level to 10 first. Chapter 17 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo logged back into the game. He grinded the quests until five in the morning and went offline. Rumors said that the VR Helmet had the sleeping mode, but it was still under testing, so it was not available to the public yet. However, he believed it was unnecessary to try too hard on leveling up the character. Currently, Genesis has limited every Player¡¯s playtime to 12 hours every day to prevent the Players from being addicted and reduce the load of the servers. The Players were forced to log off once they were online for more than 12 hours for the day. The limit was meant to reset at midnight every day. Chen Mo believed it was unnecessary to be a try-hard. ¡°Vivid and lifelike, a brand new world!¡± ¡°A revolutionary game!¡± ¡°The era of full-dive VR network, there¡¯s no stopping to it!¡± A new day arrived as Chen Mo fell into a deep sleep. Every Chinese media was publishing news as if they had all consumed some sorts of stimulants. The news was all about Genesis and the VR network. The opening beta of Genesis had made it easier for the public to experience the charm of the VR network. Some people who were not that interested in video games were only trying Genesis for fun, but they had all indulged in the stunning world after entering the game. It was like a second world in reality, but with the freedom that they did not have in the real world. Even though everyone was still not equal, and money was still driving the world, but the Players had experienced something different in the VR world compared to reality. More people were intrigued by the new world. They had a new goal and motivation in life too. However, there were lots of people that remained unaffected by it. Yuhang City¡­ A glamorous lady with long black hair like a waterfall reaching her waist went past a huge billboard. The woman heard the passionate voice of the advertisement. She lifted her gaze and watched the advertisement about the full-dive VR network on the billboard. Many pedestrians that walked past could not help but glance at the woman. The woman with black hair had fair skin and an oval face. Her figure was slender with elegant temperament, leaving the people that saw her with a strong impression. However, no one dared to went up to the woman to talk or flirt with her. For some reason, the woman had an unapproachable aura. ¡°Xiao Dong, Xiao Dong, come over here, I¡¯ve got some nice vegetables today, have a try.¡± An old woman¡¯s voice interrupted the glamorous lady¡¯s thoughts as she walked past a small supermarket. It was the supermarket¡¯s owner¡¯s mother, Madam Yu. ¡°Thank you, Madam Yu, I¡¯ll pay for it,¡± it was not the first time Madam Yu gave her vegetables. Chen Dong quickly found her purse to pay for them. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, it¡¯s just a few stalks of vegetables, it doesn¡¯t cost much. I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be here if it wasn¡¯t for your help before,¡± Madam Yu waved her hand. She was unwilling to take Chen Dong¡¯s money. Two months ago, Madam Yu tripped when she went to a huge shopping mall to do some shopping. No one dared to lend her a hand. When Madam Yu was about to fall unconscious, Chen Dong showed up and helped her to the side of the road. She called the ambulance and helped to ease her pain before the medical personnel arrived. Just a month ago, Madam Yu surprisingly discovered that the pretty girl who did not leave a name after helping her actually lived close to her son¡¯s supermarket. In addition to it, the pretty girl with the name Chen Dong was also a student of Yuhang University just like her grandchild. After talking to Chen Dong a few times, Madam Yu noticed how nice of a girl she was. She was pretty, polite, and well-mannered. When Madam Yu visited Chen Dong the other time, she discovered that she was good at playing the piano too! Madam Yu was clueless about music, but even so, she enjoyed Chen Dong¡¯s piano. She simply stood outside the door listening to the piano and forgot to knock. Madam Yu blatantly asked her grandson to ask Chen Dong out. It was difficult to find such a nice girl nowadays. Her good-for-nothing grandson seemed quite interested at first, but he immediately gave up when he learned it was Chen Dong. Madam Yu kept asking her grandson for the reason. The young man reluctantly told Madam Yu that he had already tried asking Chen Dong out, but the girl completely ignored him. Lots of people from Yuhang University tried asking her out too, but she never dated anyone. Even among the girls, the only person she was relatively close to was the daughter of the Hua Family. Madam Yu struggled to believe it. From what her grandson told her, Chen Dong was an unapproachable icy beauty, but the Chen Dong she knew was a gentle girl despite her icy appearance. Madam Yu insisted to let her grandson date Chen Dong, but her grandson was reluctant no matter how hard she was trying to convince him. Madam Yu could only murmur about how useless the young man was under her breath. There was no way he could find any girl better than her! ¡­ In a spacious clean rented unit, Chen Dong lied on her bed on which her hair scattered with her eyes open. The room was spacious, yet there was only a desk, a bed, and a black piano close to the bed. Chen Dong was a third-year Computer Science student in Yuhang University. She was supposed to be attending a lecture today, but it seemed like it was only a matter of time until traditional computers were disqualified now that the full-dive VR network had appeared. Following the instructions from the education department, the university had asked the students studying Computer Science to switch courses, thus the lecture was canceled too. Chen Dong picked up her phone and checked her email. She stared at an email from an unfamiliar address silently. Someone had sent her an email saying that her brother whom she had not met since a long time ago and did not even know where he was currently staying was currently in the game Genesis. If she was interested in finding him, she could try her luck in the game. Perhaps she might be able to see him. The person that sent her the email knew about her past. No one in Yuhang University knew she had a brother. Brother? The memories hidden deep inside Chen Dong¡¯s heart rose like a strong tide. Her icy expression was replaced with a gentle smile. Her pale face reddened slightly. Whether the person that sent her the email was stating the truth or not, she had to try her luck in Genesis! Chen Dong immediately made up her mind! Chen Dong picked up the VR Helmet on the bedside table. She adjusted her hair and gently put on the helmet. It had been three years an a half. She could not help but imagine her reunion with her brother. Chen Dong was excited just by having the thought. Chen Dong dug her head into the pillow. She was finally able to calm her thoughts after a while. Chen Dong took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She turned on the helmet and entered the game. It was almost impossible to look for a person in the game considering how many Players it had. However, Chen Dong knew the chance of her finding her brother would be zero if she did not even try! Chapter 18 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Phew, a pretty lady!¡± Chen Dong immediately attracted the attention of a few male Players when she appeared on the plaza of Aiur Town. Chen Dong did not alter her looks. If she could really see her brother here, she wanted him to see her actual looks. She could not care less about what others feel or think. ¡°Humph, she clearly modified her looks. I would have made myself prettier if I knew earlier!¡± A few female Players that were enjoying the attention they were getting from the male Players were displeased when Chen Dong took the attention away. ¡°You might be able to modify your looks, but can you modify your temperament?¡± Someone told the female Player that commented previously. The female Player immediately fell silent. They were able to modify their looks, but every person¡¯s temperament was still unique. One had to admit how impressive the VR Helmet was. Chen Dong¡¯s unique temperament stood out even more in the game than in real life. The female Player only gave her comment because she knew she was no match against Chen Dong. Chen Dong ignored the fuss around her. She had spent some time learning about the game beforehand. She found an NPC old man and collected an Old Wooden Bow, a quiver of wooden arrows, and a skill book of ¡°Basic Arrow¡±. She followed the guide she found on the Internet and proceeded to accept the quests from the NPCs in the town. Half an hour later, she had successfully reached Level 3. She opened a letter in her backpack. She had received the letter from taking part in the optional survey after creating her character. It would grant her a random quest. System Notification: You have accepted the quest ¡°Kallon¡¯s Trial¡±. Quest: Kallon¡¯s Trial Quest Difficulty: Rank D and above Quest Description: Head to the west of Aiur Town (3385, 1309) and look for Kallon, an archery expert. Complete Kallon¡¯s Trial, and you will receive great rewards. Reward: Unknown Kallon¡¯s Trial, Chen Dong recalled reading about it before. Many Players that had chosen the class Archer had accepted it. Players that completed the quests would be rewarded a skill book for ¡°Accurate Shooting¡±. Learning it would permanently increase the character¡¯s Accuracy. Chen Dong followed the given coordinates. People on the forum advised Players who had received the quest to complete it as soon as possible. Even though ¡°Accurate Shooting¡± was not a rare ability, it was extremely useful for Archers in the early game. After learning the skill, the Players would be assisted by the ¡°Auto-Aim System¡± when fighting monsters, thus greatly increasing the Accuracy of Players when firing projectiles. Chen Dong could not care less about how strong her character was. However, she believed she had to be strong enough to roam around freely. Otherwise, she would regret it if she found where her brother was but was not strong enough to visit the place where he was. ¡°Very well, fellow humble adventures, if you are able to pass the trial I¡¯ve given, I¡¯ll teach you the ultimate of archery!¡± Outside Aiur Town, there was a wooden hut in a sparse forest. An NPC middle-aged man called Kallon stood beside the hut. When Chen Dong found Kallon, there were a few Archers around too. These Players had most likely accepted the quest ¡°Kallon¡¯s Trial¡± similar to her. ¡°What ultimate of archery? Isn¡¯t it just a skill book for ¡°Accurate Shooting¡±?¡± A Player grumbled after hearing Kallon¡¯s words. The people who were clueless about the details might think they were getting some rare skill books from Kallon. However, it turned out to be a skill book for the very common skill ¡°Accurate Shooting¡±. That being said, the skill ¡°Accurate Shooting¡± was very important for Archers, thus the man was not necessarily exaggerating it by calling it the ultimate of archery. Kallon ignored the Player that was grumbling. He waved his hand after finishing the sentence. The six Players around him vanished and appeared in a small instance. The six Players found themselves in a field of grass that the sun was shining brightly on. Colorful balloons were floating in the air above the field. Apart from Chen Dong, the rest of the Players were all males. The five male Players were startled when they saw how gorgeous Chen Dong was. ¡°Crap, the trial is about to begin!¡± The Players immediately collected their thoughts. It was clearly not the time to be admiring a beautiful lady. However, the trial was a great chance for them too. If they performed brilliantly during the trial, they might win over the pretty girl¡¯s attention. Even being friends with such a pretty lady was something to boast about with their friends. They did not really have to make her their girlfriend. System Notification: The first trial has begun. Use the bow in your hands to shoot the balloons in the sky. Every balloon you hit is a point. Obtain sixty points within three minutes to pass the trial! Kallon¡¯s Trial begins now! ¡°The bow is swaying too much!¡± the five male Players raised the bow and aimed at the balloons in the sky right away. They already knew about the details of the trial. They had three attempts at the trial. They just needed to get sixty points in any of the attempts to complete the quest. However, they finally realized they had underestimated the difficulty of the trial when they were doing it. It felt as if the bow in their hand was not even under their control. ¡°Let¡¯s try shooting a few arrows!¡± It was useless to just aim at the balloons without firing. The Players shot their first arrow. Since there were so many balloons in the sky, they might be lucky enough to hit one with their first arrow. However, the outcome proved that the Players were too naive. They had all missed their first arrow. ¡°Damn it, no wonder many Players have failed the trial,¡± the Players missed several times in a row. They now realized the other Players did not fail the quest because they were incompetent, but the quest was just too difficult. The Players kept trying to aim their bow at the balloons to finish the quest to get the skill book of ¡°Accurate Shooting¡±. They had totally forgotten about trying to have a brilliant performance in front of Chen Dong. How could they possibly get the girl¡¯s attention if they could not even hit a single balloon? On the other hand, Chen Dong was trying to aim with the bow too. She was struggling to control her arms just like the others. However, she was not in a rush to fire the arrows. She felt uncomfortable the way her hands and arms were trembling. As a pianist, she was able to control the movement of her hands accurately. It felt weird seeing how she was struggling to control her hands. However, Chen Dong felt a pattern when she observed how her arms and hands were trembling. She closed her eyes to feel it better. She was right! After taking some time to feel it, the trembling bow was like a few staccato notes, but the notes were extremely vigorous. However, she would have no trouble controlling even the most vigorous notes! She opened her eyes. Her hands were still trembling, yet she loosened her the grip between her fingers while they were trembling. Whoosh! Bang! The wooden arrow lunged forward and landed accurately on a green balloon. The balloon exploded after a loud blast! Chapter 19 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The beautiful lady was the first person to hit a balloon? ¡°It must be a coincidence, she¡¯s just lucky!¡± The male Players immediately lost their calm. They kept trying to comfort themselves. Look, she missed the second arrow! When they turned to Chen Dong, they happened to see Chen Dong firing the second arrow and barely missing the balloon she was aiming at. She might have missed, but it was still very close to hitting it! They could no longer stay calm after they realized the beautiful lady was better than them. -No way, I must earn more points than the others. I can¡¯t be the one at the bottom!- The Players stared at the balloons in the sky and tried their best to control their bow. Little did they know, Chen Dong never placed any attention on them. She stopped after missing the second arrow. The pattern of the bow¡¯s trembling was unfamiliar and vigorous. It was difficult to master. She needed more time to familiarize herself with it. Besides, even if she managed to master the pattern, she needed some time to familiarize herself with the bow and the class Archer. She might have an outstanding control of her hands than regular Players, and controlling a bow in the game was not as difficult as controlling a bow in real life, but it was unlikely to have perfect accuracy still. For the remaining two minutes, Chen Dong would fire an arrow at times. Some landed on a balloon, but most of them had missed instead. However, after two minutes, Chen Dong was getting the hang of the pattern. She just needed to focus on improving her accuracy from her onward. The way to increase her accuracy was quite simple. She just needed to adjust her aim based on the offset of the previous arrow. Everyone was well aware of it, yet it was extremely difficult to do it. However, it was not a problem for Chen Dong who could play a song on a piano exactly the same way twice in a row. She just needed to do some minimal adjustments to be more adept at shooting the bow. The first trial soon came to an end. The other Players let out a relieved sigh. They had managed to hit a few of the balloons before the end of the trial. They were relieved since Chen Dong did not hit many of the balloons either. The second trial began after a short break. Bang! Bang! Bang! The guys were about to show off their skills and complete the quest. However, when they were aiming at the balloons, they heard a series of explosions behind them! They quickly turned around and saw the beautiful lady moving her arm continuously as she fired the arrows at the balloons like rain. The instance did not limit the Player¡¯s firing speed, thus the Players could fire the arrows as quickly as they wished as long as they were able to control the bow. Many Archers had tried shooting as many arrows as they could to increase the odds of them hitting the balloons. However, they realized it was only a waste of effort. It was extremely unlikely to hit the balloons without aiming properly. ¡°She¡¯s too good! Is she an Olympic archer?¡± The guys were dumbfounded. The woman was firing an arrow almost every second, and seven out of ten had hit the balloons! Even those that missed were just slightly off target! The guys already experienced how difficult it was to use the bow. They were struggling to hit ten balloons in three minutes, but the lady had done it in just less than twenty seconds! ¡°128!¡± Three minutes were gone within the blink of an eye. The Players just stood there and watched Chen Dong achieve the incredible result. They completely forgot they should be hitting the balloons instead. The Players that managed to score 60 had referred to themselves as experts on the forum. How should they even refer to the beautiful lady now that she had scored double? A score of 128, no one could possibly beat it! Looking at Chen Dong in an upright posture, the guys had completely given up on trying to flirt with her. She was clearly not in the same league as them. They still had a chance if the girl only had beautiful looks, but she was both pretty and impressive. They could not help but feel the urge to back away. Players that met the requirement could choose to leave the instance and receive the rewards. The guys were relieved knowing they did not have to feel the pressure from the beautiful lady during their third attempt. However, they were shocked to see that the girl had no intention to leave at all! The guys felt an urge to burst into tears. Pretty lady, I¡¯m begging you, can you just leave now? Your result is already so insane, what else do you want? If you don¡¯t leave, we are only going to put ourselves to shame trying to shoot the balloons in front of you! The third round began regardless of what the guys were thinking. Chen Dong raised her arms as soon as the time started counting down. The arrows sprang at the targets like a storm. The second round was still a practice round for her. She was only starting to be serious in the third round! ¡°This¡­this is insane!¡± ¡°How did she do it!?¡± The arrows were continuously fired into the air, followed by a series of explosions. The male Players stared into the sky in disbelief. This time, nine out of ten arrows had landed on the targets! Three minutes had passed amid the endless explosions. How many balloons did the pretty lady hit? The guys collected their thoughts. They glanced at Chen Dong¡¯s result and were absolutely dumbfounded! 183! 183 balloons in just three minutes! They had witnessed the girl missing some of the targets, which meant her rate of firing was higher than an arrow per second! System Notification: The trial has ended. Players that completed the trial, please take your reward from Kallon! Chen Dong left the forest a minute later. She was a little confused when she saw the skill book in her backpack. She did not expect that Kallon would actually give her a skill book with the name ¡°Ultimate of Archery¡± after she scored 183 in the trial. ¡­ ¡°Ultimate of Archery! How could anyone obtain the Ultimate of Archery so soon!?¡± Meanwhile, someone screamed in the monitoring department of Canglan Tech. ¡°Could she be a national-level archer of our country?¡± a young man asked curiously. ¡°I don¡¯t have access to her information, but judging from her appearance, she¡¯s isn¡¯t an archer from our country.¡± ¡°Wow, she¡¯s so pretty.¡± ¡°Our country is impressive indeed. There are so many hidden talents, such an impressive pretty girl.¡± ¡°Tsk tsk, it¡¯s unbelievable that she has acquired the Ultimate of Archery from the quest ¡°Kallon¡¯s Trial¡±. The Ultimate of Archery will grant her an extra innate talent. She¡¯s going to be so strong.¡± ¡°Other classes have their ultimate abilities too. Unfortunately, not many Players have gotten them so far.¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough, pay close attention, or you¡¯ll die if anything happens!¡± A cold feminine voice snapped when the group of young men was discussing. The young men immediately shut their mouths and focused on their tasks. It was no joke to step on the woman¡¯s toes. ¡­ Chen Mo slept until one in the afternoon. He surfed the forum after cleaning himself and having a meal. ¡°The Mutated Slime King really exists!¡± Chen Mo immediately found the information he was looking for. There was a trending post on the forum! The strongest BOSS in the Rookie Village, the Mutated Slime King! Last night, a Player had put up a post telling the others that the Mutated Slime King really existed. This time, another Player had seen the Mutated Slime King in the day. There were even screenshots and recordings to prove it. The Player was pretty smart to make other people pay 1 Chinese yuan to view the post. When Chen Mo paid the fee to view the post, he realized the post had more than a million views. Not only was the Mutated Slime King famous, but the Player that became a millionaire with just a single post on the forum also made the headline today too. Play Genesis, and becoming a millionaire overnight is no longer a dream! Genesis and the virtual network were already in the limelight, but they were getting even more attention like oil being poured into a pot of fire. A normal slime was around the size of a soccer ball to a basketball in the game. Each slime had different colors and attributes too. The Boss Slime King was significantly bigger than normal slimes. Its diameter was slightly above a meter, and its color was crystalline emerald. The Mutated Slime King was around double the size of a Slime King. Its diameter was two meters, and it was crystalline purple in color like an enormous purple gem. It was stunning to look at. Chapter 20 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Slimes were a kind of monster without legs. They had to hop and jump to move around, thus their movement speed was relatively low compared to other monsters. The Mutated Slime King was a Boss among the Boss Monsters. It might be slow, but normal Players still could not stand a chance against it. The second Player that discovered the Mutated Slime King and provided a recording of it did not have a pair of high-quality boots like the first Player. After the Mutated Slime King noticed him, it did not take long for the Mutated Slime King to catch up to the Player. The Mutated Slime King jumped when it was close enough. Its enormous body descended from the sky and smashed the Player to death. The recording was only less than a minute. It did not provide any useful information apart from proving the existence of the Mutated Slime King. Interestingly, when the second Player that discovered the Mutated Slime King returned, he realized the Mutated Slime King had turned into a normal Slime King just like the first Player¡¯s encounter. Was the mutation random? Or was there some kind of condition that triggered it? These were the two main speculations on the forum. Chen Mo frowned after seeing the two speculations. If the Mutated Slime King would only show up randomly, he basically had zero chance stumbling into a Mutated Slime King. However, as a hacker, Chen Mo believed it was unlikely that the Mutated Slime King was showing up randomly. A Boss that showed up randomly could not highlight the talents of the game designer. Anyone could easily implement the simple logic for a random-spawning Boss. However, judging from the secrets that he had discovered and the existence of the Hidden Boss, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, he believed the game designers of Genesis would not come up with a special Boss that only spawned randomly. There must be certain conditions that triggered its spawning. If the Mutated Slime King really existed, the conclusion he arrived at last night was most likely on point. The Mutated Slime King had an extremely huge aggro radius. If he could find out the conditions that would cause a Slime King to mutate, he could try finding a way to kill a Mutated Slime King by himself. Apart from the Mutated Slime King, the hottest topic on the forum was the ¡°Trial of Innate Talents¡± that was available to the Players after they left the Rookie Village at Level 10. When Players left the Rookie Village at Level 10, they could choose to participate in the Trial of Innate Talents. The Trial of Innate Talents was split into Normal, Hard, Nightmare, and Hell, four different difficulties. Those who passed the Normal difficulty could choose one of the three main human cities to be teleported to, and they would also learn one of the Innate Talents of their Class. For those who chose not to take part in the trial or those who failed the trial, they would be teleported to one of the three main cities randomly. They would have to spend time completing some quests from the guilds of their respective Class to obtain their Innate Talents. The Normal difficulty trial was not too difficult. Many Players on the forum managed to pass it. Furthermore, Players did not have to take the Trial of Innate Talents alone. They could team up with other Players for it. It was possible for Players that were not as skilled to complete the trial, if they were lucky enough. Players were allowed to team up for different difficulties too, but not many had managed to complete them. Currently, on the forum, there were only Players that claimed they had passed the Hard difficulty and provided some evidence for it. Similar to the Player that posted about the Mutated Slime King, the Players that passed the trial on the Hard difficulty also uploaded a pay-to-watch recording. In the end, hundreds of thousands of people were willing to pay just to watch the recording. In the past, a recording that was uploaded to the traditional network would be pirated in less than a minute. However, in the full-dive virtual reality network, the viewers were not allowed to share or download the recording without the owner¡¯s permission. Even words were not allowed to be copy-pasted without the permission of the owner of the post. Therefore, the reason why these Players were able to make a fortune from their posts was mainly because of the full-dive virtual reality network. These functionalities of the full-dive virtual reality network had already been around for some time, but people only had a better understanding of them after someone suddenly became a millionaire overnight. Chen Mo was quite surprised too. He felt like it was almost impossible to prevent the traditional network from being replaced by the full-dive virtual reality network. However, Chen Mo was clearly not the kind to give up halfway. If he gave up just because there was a chance of failure, he would not be Chen Mo. Failing was one thing, giving up was another thing. The outcome of both might be the same, but the nature behind them was completely different. Chen Mo also paid to watch the recording about the Trial of Innate Talents on Hard difficulty. However, he realized there was not much difference between the Normal difficulty and Hard difficulty. Both difficulties involved fighting a powerful monster. The Players in the recording had managed to pass the trial because there were more than ten Players in the trial, and each Player had a set of impressive equipment. The Players were quite skilled too, allowing them to pass the trial in the end. After passing the Trial of Innate Talents on the Hard difficulty, apart from an Innate Talent, each Player was given ten silvers as the reward too. The Players were no longer restricted to the three main cities. They also had the option to teleport to the smaller cities that were suitable for a Level 10 Player. It was quite obvious that the three main cities would have the highest player count, resulting in fierce competition. It would be more advantageous for Players when leveling up if they were teleported to less populated cities. No one had shared about the Nightmare difficulty of the Trial of Innate Talents on the forum, but according to some rumors, some people did pass the trial on the Nightmare difficulty. The Players seemed to have acquired all the rewards in the Hard difficulty, plus a very useful skill book. There was no news about the trial on the Hell difficulty. According to some people, the Hell difficulty was impossible to be completed at Level 10! ¡­ The Wolf Valley¡­ Chen Mo decided to try his luck in the Wolf Valley in the end. The number of Players in the Rookie Village was surprisingly higher than the night before. There were Players everywhere. The only place that was less crowded was the Wolf Valley. The Wolf Valley was guarded by the Hidden Boss, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The valley was deserted; there were only monsters, there was no sign of Players. Chen Mo tried to avoid the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s range of vision to sneak past the monster and venture deeper into the Wolf Valley, but he realized it was impossible. However, there were still many Players that were curious about the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf crowding the entrance of the Wolf Valley and provoking it. If he was being cautious and with a little luck, he might be able to sneak past the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf and went deeper into the valley with the help of these Players. Chen Mo arrived at the entrance of the Wolf Valley and saw a bunch of Players standing there. Occasionally, a Player would hop into the valley and hop back out. Inside the Wolf Valley, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was lying lazily on the scorching ground as if it could not see the Players that were provoking it. The Players were even bolder when the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf did not show any reaction to them. They decided to go closer. ROAR! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf finally went enraged. It cried out furiously and pounced at the Players. Chance! Chen Mo had been waiting for this moment. The title ¡°The Corrupted¡±! The Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion! The Players immediately fled for their lives following the deafening blast. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf chased after them. Unlike the Players, Chen Mo ran into the valley instead. His movement speed greatly increased after equipping the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± and consuming a Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion! Whoosh! Chen Mo rushed into the Wolf Valley. He nervously turned around to look at the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. His heart suddenly skipped a beat! The monster noticed him! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had three pairs of eyes; why did he think it would be easy to sneak past it!? The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf shuddered when it saw Chen Mo. It decided to give up on chasing the other Players and pursue Chen Mo instead. However, after taking a step, it realized there were more Players in the other direction. It decided to give up on pursuing Chen Mo and went after the other Players instead. Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh. It seemed like he had bet it right. However, being able to enter the Wolf Valley was one thing. If the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf returned later, he would still have to die. He could only run as far as he could until he was outside the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s aggro radius. Considering the incredible aggro radius of the Mutated Slime King, he assumed the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had a wide aggro radius too. On top of it, the Wolf Valley was the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s territory. Chen Mo avoided the Wild Wolves along the way and went to the deepest part of the Wolf Valley. After killing the Wild Wolves for some time, Chen Mo was relieved when the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf did not show up. There were monsters everywhere. The title ¡°The Corrupted¡± had granted Chen Mo a lot of extra attributes too, allowing him to rapidly grind the exp. Chen Mo was planning to grind until Level 9 before heading to the Slime Valley. He would reach Level 10 there and look for the Slime King. Chapter 21 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo spent three hours deep inside the Wolf Valley to reach Level 8. Every time he leveled up, he would assign four attribute points to Strength and one to Dexterity. After reaching Level 8, and the extra +1 to Strength from the Goblin Boots and +10 to Strength from the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±, Chen Mo¡¯s Strength was now 63 and his damage range was 66-67. Even a normal attack with his crossbow would deal almost 70 damage to the Level 7 Wild Wolves. Chen Mo could now kill a Wild Wolf with 800+ HP in less than 20 seconds. He was able to kill the monsters a lot quicker. After the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf claimed the Wolf Valley, the number of Wild Wolves that would spawn in the Wolf Valley was a lot lower. There were no longer enough Wild Wolves for Chen Mo. He slowly moved toward the areas where there were still monsters around. Half an hour later, Chen Mo came to a stop. He found a cave deep inside the Wolf Valley! He was one of the first Players that came to the Wolf Valley to grind levels yesterday. There were still not many Players in the different instances of the Wolf Valley. The number of monsters was a lot higher too, thus not many Players had ventured deep into the Wolf Valley. Not long after, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf showed up and killed every Player in the Wolf Valley. Therefore, the cave was undiscovered until now! -What¡¯s inside the cave?- -A treasure?- Chen Mo curiously went into the cave. The monsters inside the cave were still Wild Wolves, but they were no longer Level 7. There were some Level 8 Black Wild Wolves too. The cave was like a maze. Chen Mo spent more than an hour killing the monsters in the cave. He was very close to reaching Level 9, yet he still had not found any treasure in the cave. When Chen Mo was about to give up and focus on grinding his levels, he was surprised to see an NPC old man in the dark ahead. The old man was obviously no ordinary person. He was locked up inside a cage made of iron bars. His hands were not cuffed, but his left ankle was tied with a huge chain. Even if the cage was open, the old man would still be trapped inside it. The old man¡¯s face was expressionless, but his hollow eyes glittered as soon as he saw Chen Mo. ¡°A Corrupted! You are a Corrupted too?¡± the old man screamed. -Corrupted?- -Isn¡¯t that the title he¡¯s equipping?- He never expected the title would come in handy. Wouldn¡¯t that mean the game designer had purposely made the game so Players could grind bad reputation with the quest given by Brad? ¡°I am Mr. Gleeson, are you a Corrupted too?¡± the old man¡¯s name was Gleeson. Chen Mo was in dire of equipment, thus he quickly followed along with the conversation. ¡°Humph! I¡¯m no Corrupted, I¡¯m a Wicked! A Wicked that is detested by everyone! The truth is, I¡¯ve done nothing, but they wrongly accused me to be a Wicked and imprisoned me here!¡± Gleeson yelled furiously. ¡°Mr. Gleeson, should I free you from this place?¡± Chen Mo glanced at the prison that Gleeson was in. However, Gleeson shook his head as his emotions recovered, ¡°It¡¯s no use, this prison is too sturdy. You won¡¯t be able to break through it. However, if you have some time to spare, I do hope you can collect some wolf meat for me. It¡¯s been a while since I last ate meat. Those guys that imprisoned me here would deliver some dried food to me at times so I won¡¯t starve to death. I¡¯ve been eating the same thing for more than ten years. I feel like I¡¯m going to vomit if I keep eating them. Of course, your help won¡¯t be in vain. If you can collect ten pieces of wolf meat, I¡¯ll give you a Hunting Trap.¡± Gleeson took out a trap while he was talking. Low-level Hunting Trap: A sturdy trap useful against monsters of Level 20 and below. If a small monster steps on it, the monster will be trapped for ten seconds. If a big monster steps on it, its lower body will be placed in the Injured state, preventing it from using its abilities. The traps can be recycled. Each Hunting Trap can be used three times. Number of uses left: 3 -It¡¯s brilliant!- Chen Mo¡¯s heart skipped a beat when he saw the trap. With the Hunting Trap, he would have one more way to deal with the Mutated Slime King! ¡°I¡¯m willing to help, but Mr. Gleeson, how do I collect the wolf meat after killing them?¡± Normally, if a Player wanted to gather a monster¡¯s corpse, they would have to learn the respective skills from certain side jobs at one of the three main cities after leaving the Rookies Village. ¡°It¡¯s very simple, I can teach you,¡± Gleeson blurted out. System Notification: Gleeson wants to teach you a gathering skill. Do you accept? -Accept! Of course, I would accept! It¡¯s a chance to learn a gathering skill earlier than everyone else!- System Notification: You have learned ¡°Suspicious Gathering Skill¡±! Suspicious Gathering Skill: A gathering skill of an unknown origin. The skill isn¡¯t accepted by the Guild of Side Jobs under normal circumstances. -F**k! What does this even mean!? Does that mean the game has official and unofficial skills!?- Chen Mo was surprised. If he did not see it with his own eyes, he would never imagine the game would have such a setting. ¡°Mr. Gleeson, the gathering skill¡­¡± Chen Mo tried to ask for more information. ¡°What is it? Do you think the gathering skill I taught you isn¡¯t good enough?¡± Gleeson glared at him as if he was about to go enraged. ¡°No, you¡¯ve misunderstood me,¡± Chen Mo did not want to fall out with Gleeson before obtaining the Hunting Traps from him. ¡°Just go and collect the wolf meat if there¡¯s nothing else, I can¡¯t wait any longer!¡± Gleeson urged. He was not bothered by Chen Mo¡¯s response. Chen Mo did not waste any time further. He turned around and left. He soon stumbled into some Wild Wolves. After killing them, he used the Suspicious Gathering Skill that Gleeson taught him on the remains. Chen Mo was unsure if it was because the Gathering Skill was unofficial. He would acquire nothing from the remains of the Wild Wolves most of the time. He would only obtain a piece of wolf meat from every three Wild Wolves. Besides, the skill did not have a level or proficiency. It was different than the ¡°Set Basic Trap¡± and the ¡°Dazing Trap¡± that he had learned before. Chen Mo soon collected ten pieces of wolf meat. He returned to Gleeson with the wolf meat. ¡°HAHAHA, it¡¯s meat, it¡¯s really meat! Even though it¡¯s only wolf meat, it¡¯s already a delicacy of the mundane world!¡± Gleeson threw a Hunting Trap at Chen Mo after receiving the ten pieces of wolf meat from him. He immediately shoved the wolf meat into his mouth and ate them raw. The man clearly had not eaten any meat for some time. ¡°Mr. Gleeson, do you want more wolf meat?¡± Chen Mo was thinking of getting more Hunting Traps. ¡°Of course! I still have quite a few Hunting Traps with me. Bring more wolf meat to me. Ugh, I can¡¯t just keep eating them raw. I¡¯ll have to make a fire,¡± Gleeson had placed all his attention on the wolf meat. He ignored Chen Mo after responding to his question. Chen Mo proceeded to hunt for more wolf meat knowing Gleeson had Hunting Traps still. Half an hour later, Gleeson wore a satisfied look with a bloated stomach. ¡°Very well, kid, I¡¯ve given you all my Hunting Traps. I don¡¯t have anything else to give you, but if you¡¯re grateful toward me, you can continue to collect wolf meat for me. I¡¯ll stock them up and take my time eating them in the future. Otherwise, I don¡¯t know how long I have to wait before I can eat some meat.¡± Chen Mo had acquired ten Hunting Traps from Gleeson. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll come back here later,¡± Chen Mo nodded. Since there were Level 8 Black Wild Wolves in the cave, he decided to leave after reaching Level 10 here. Even though these Level 8 Wild Wolves had less exp than Level 10 Slimes, his speed of grinding levels here was not necessarily slower than killing the slimes since there were no Players around here. ¡°A kind soul you are, I¡¯m glad that I didn¡¯t make a mistake this time. I¡¯ll be waiting for you here. Don¡¯t make me wait too long,¡± Gleeson nodded happily after hearing Chen Mo¡¯s response. However, Chen Mo did not return after almost an hour. Gleeson¡¯s expression started to darken. Two hours later, Chen Mo still did not show up. Gleeson was infuriated. ¡°Damn it, asshole! They are all the same! They are all liars!¡± Gleeson yelled. Another hour was gone soon. Gleeson¡¯s expression gradually recovered. He was no longer anticipating the return of the adventurer. However, Chen Mo suddenly showed up. ¡°Kid, why do you bother coming back now? I no longer want your meat!¡± Gleeson said coldly. ¡°You don¡¯t want it?¡± Chen Mo was curious. -Did the quest have a time limit?- ¡°I have more than three hundred pieces of them. Are you sure you don¡¯t want them?¡± Chen Mo frowned. If he knew earlier, he would not bother wasting his time to collect the meat. The Gathering Skill that Gleeson taught him did not have any level or proficiency, thus it would not improve no matter how many times he used it. ¡°More than three hundred pieces?¡± Gleeson was shocked. -Does that mean he had misunderstood the adventurer?- ¡°Yeah, do you want them?¡± Chen Mo nodded. ¡°Of course I want them! I want them all! HAHA, three hundred pieces, it¡¯s going to last for quite a while!¡± Gleeson burst out laughing. Chen Mo nodded. He took out the meat and tossed them to Gleeson. Ten pieces of wolf meat would take up a slot in his inventory. The three hundred pieces had almost taken up all his inventory. Chen Mo cleared his inventory and took his leave. The amount of experience he needed to reach Level 10 was huge. He was very close to leveling up. ¡°Kid, wait for a second, I can tell that you¡¯re a nice guy. I¡¯ll tell you a secret for free! It has something to do with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf outside!¡± Gleeson yelled. Chen Mo halted in his track. Chapter 22 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf? Chen Mo froze. ¡°What is it?¡± Even though he was not here to enjoy the game, he was still quite interested in its secrets, especially when it was related to a Hidden Boss. ¡°Hehe, you better don¡¯t lose your mind after hearing it! I¡¯m part of the reason why the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf has shown up in the Wolf Valley. I know that the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf has a great weakness!¡± Gleeson said proudly. -Holy crap!- -And you dare say you¡¯re innocent? Even imprisoning you for a hundred years is reasonable if you really are the reason why a monster like the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf has shown up!- Chen Mo finally understood why Gleeson was imprisoned here. ¡°What weakness?¡± Chen Mo asked. ¡°The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf is afraid of water!¡± Gleeson answered. Chen Mo had an urge to beat the man up after hearing the answer. -Can¡¯t you be more specific!?- ¡°What kind of water?¡± Chen Mo asked patiently. ¡°Normal water wouldn¡¯t work. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf is afraid of something called the Icy Stone Water. When you pour it on the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, it will be weakened by 70%! Unfortunately, the Icy Stone Water is very rare. A weak adventurer like you will never get it. However, I did have some a few years ago, but it¡¯s currently in the hands of Aiur Town¡¯s mayor, Solo.¡± -The mayor, Solo?- -Is he seriously asking him to steal something from the mayor?- This was definitely no joke. As the mayor of a town, the man surely had remarkable strength, and if he was busted, it was clearly not as simple as being imprisoned for a few hours. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not asking you to rob Solo blatantly. Didn¡¯t I teach you a Gathering Skill? You can pay Solo a visit and show him the Gathering Skill. Tell him I want to see him as I¡¯m dying. He will definitely leave his house, giving you the chance to steal the Icy Stone Water. If you can get me the Icy Stone Water, I¡¯ll teach you a skill that will allow you to capture monsters. To be honest with you, I was once a Hunter. Although dozens of years have passed and I¡¯ve forgotten most of the skills, I do remember some about capturing monsters.¡± Gleeson seemed to know what Chen Mo was thinking. He proceeded to answer all of his doubts. ¡°But even if the mayor leaves, I still can¡¯t go into his house. There are guards in front of it,¡± Chen Mo said. ¡°Guards? I never knew Solo has guards outside his house. Isn¡¯t he the mayor? Why would he need guards?¡± Gleeson frowned. ¡°You¡¯ve been here for too long. There are guards outside the mayor¡¯s house now.¡± Were there guards outside the mayor¡¯s house? Of course not! Chen Mo was only using the opportunity to test the NPC¡¯s reaction. ¡°Guards, that¡¯s going to be troublesome indeed¡­alright, I¡¯ll teach you the skill Disguise,¡± Gleeson made up his mind after a slight hesitation. System Notification: Gleeson wants to teach you a disguising skill, will you accept? Accept! System Notification: You¡¯ve learned the skill ¡°Suspicious Disguise¡±! HAHAHA, it was indeed possible to trick an NPC! Chen Mo¡¯s eyes widened. He was able to learn the key skill of the Hunter class so easily! Even though it was just an unofficial skill that could not level up, he was still in the Rookie Village. He believed he was the only Hunter in the Rookie Village with a disguising skill! Based on what Gleeson told him, he might be able to learn a capturing skill after he had acquired the Icy Stone Water! ¡­ ¡°Gleeson is dying, and he wants to see me?¡± The northernmost of Aiur Town. Chen Mo grinded in the Wolf Valley until Level 10 and immediately went back to Aiur Town. He went to the mayor¡¯s residence and found Solo. Solo was an old man with a similar age to Gleeson. He fell into deep thoughts after hearing Chen Mo¡¯s words. ¡°Alright, thank you, adventurer, for relaying the message. I¡¯ll pay Gleeson a visit,¡± Solo was still a little suspicious after Chen Mo showed him the Gathering Skill. However, he still wanted to know what Gleeson was up to. ¡°Little guy, look after the house when I¡¯m away.¡± Solo went outside. A huge white hunting dog came from the distance. When Solo waved his hand, the white hunting dog quickly came up to Solo. He obediently followed Solo¡¯s instruction and stayed still in front of Solo¡¯s residence. -Holy crap!- As he thought, things were not that simple! There really was a guard! Luckily, he was smart enough to ask Gleeson to teach him the disguising skill. Otherwise, he would have to think of some way to lure the hunting dog away. After Solo left, Chen Mo immediately used the disguising ability and sneaked up to the entrance. Even though the disguising skill that Gleeson taught Chen Mo did not seem reliable at all, he was able to go up to the door, open a little gap, and sneaked inside the house without alerting the hunting dog. The disguising skill was more effective than he thought. The only shortcoming it had was the extremely slow movement speed. The hardest part of the quest was sneaking into the mayor¡¯s residence. Chen Mo found the Icy Stone Water with a quick rummage. He tried searching for other valuable stuff, but he did not find anything else. After the skill¡¯s cooldown was done, Chen Mo used the disguising skill and left the mayor¡¯s residence. Chen Mo did not bring the Icy Stone Water to Gleeson. He put it into his storage instead. Normally, the Player just needed to give the Icy Stone Water to Gleeson to receive the rewards. However, Chen Mo knew it was clearly not the end of it since the quest was related to a Hidden Boss. It was very likely that Gleeson was going to use the Icy Stone Water to threaten Solo to free him, and since he was imprisoned for so long, even if Solo agreed to free him, he would try to get his revenge still. Since Gleeson was somehow related to the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, the Hidden Boss would surely play an important role when Gleeson was getting his revenge. He believed it would trigger a huge regional quest in the Rookies Village. Stealing the Icy Stone Water was only the beginning of the quest chain. Chen Mo might not have guessed it all, but he was more or less on the right track. Since he had the first-hand information, it might come in handy when he was doing the quest. Chen Mo had inspected the Icy Stone Water¡¯s attributes. Although the item was capable of weakening the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, it turned out to be a quest item. Players were not allowed to use it directly. Their only choice was to hand it to Gleeson. But Chen Mo was thinking otherwise. He had no intention to follow the quest chain that the game designers had implemented. He had some other plans in mind about how he was going to use the Icy Stone Water. He wanted to see what was going to happen in the game if he used the Icy Stone Water according to his plan. Perhaps he might be able to discover a game-breaking bug from it! That being said, it was not the time to use the Icy Stone Water yet. Chen Mo headed for the Slime Valley after putting the Icy Stone Water in the storage. He was already Level 10. It was time for him to meet the famous Boss of Rookies Village. ¡­ ¡°What is the guy thinking? He could have just accepted the reward and triggered the regional quest, giving huge benefits to every new Player in the Rookies Village. Why didn¡¯t he keep going?¡± A bunch of young men in Canglan Tech¡¯s Technology Department learned that someone had triggered the story related to the Hidden Boss: Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. They were looking forward to seeing how the story would turn out. They had to admit that the Hunter was extremely smart. He was able to sneak past the guard that was supposed to be the hardest part of the quest so easily! Once the regional quest was triggered, it would grant great benefits to all Players in the Chinese server, allowing them to take the lead among the serves. Once the servers merged later, the Chinese Players might end up stronger than Players from other servers. However, the Hunter ended up tossing the important quest item into his storage. It basically drove them crazy. ¡°He¡¯s already Level 10. Why would he go to the Slime Valley now? Is he paying the Boss a visit?¡± The group of people was curious about what Chen Mo was up to when they saw him heading to the Slime Valley instead of handing in the quest item. Their privileges were only limited to the Rookies Village. Once a Player left the Rookies Village, they were no longer able to view and inspect a Player¡¯s data as they pleased. According to the superiors, if nothing happened in the Rookies Village, it was unlikely there would be any problem in the rest of the game. They were not too sure why it was the case. They could only say how impressed they were with the full-dive virtual reality network. Therefore, they would satisfy as much of their curiosity as they could while they still had the privileges. Chapter 23 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Slime Valley. The vast valley was crowded with slimes of different colors between Level 8 and 10. The different colors represented the different traits of the slimes. When a Green Slime was being attacked, it would unleash a green poisonous liquid. Players that excelled at close combat would avoid them. It would end up as a fight that neither side would win. White Slimes had high HP while Black Slimes had low HP, but crazy defense. A Level 10 Player could at most deal 3 damage to a Black Slime regardless of the skill they used. Red Slimes would detonate themselves when they died. Blue Slimes would use strange sonic waves as their attacks, placing Players they hit in a temporary Confused state. Compared to the monsters in the Rookies Village, the adorable and crystalline slimes in the Slime Valley were actually a lot trickier to deal with. Not many people would bother killing them if the Rookies Village was not overcrowded with Players. When Chen Mo arrived in the Slime Valley, he did not head straight to the coordinates of the Slime King. The coordinates were not really a secret anymore. He did not have to find the Slime King himself. Chen Mo had to kill 50 Green Slimes first before visiting the Slime King. At Level 8, a kill quest would be available for Hunters in Aiur Town, asking Players to kill 50 Green Slimes at the Slime Valley. After completing the quest, the Players would be rewarded the skill book for ¡°Minor Poison Bolt¡±. Using the Minor Poison Bolt would add extra poison damage when they were attacking with a crossbow. At the Novice Level, the Minor Poison Bolt would add 3 poison damage which was stackable up to five times. If the poison was maintained at five stacks, he would deal 15 extra damage to the target. It was a very useful skill. ¡°We are a melee party with a Priest, looking for a range Player or a melee Player with good awareness!¡± ¡°Our party has a Priest with three skills. Looking for high DPS Player with three and above pieces of equipment!¡± Most Players would form parties when grinding levels in the Slime Valley. It was difficult to take on the slimes alone without proper equipment. Normally, lone Players would have to sit down on the ground to recover their HP after killing a single slime, and if they were unlucky, they might even die to the slimes. Priests with healing and dispelling skills were the most popular in the Slime Valley. Range Players would not have a hard time finding a party either. However, melee Players were struggling to form parties due to the Green Slimes and the Red Slimes. Many melee Players ended up forming a pure melee party. Even though they were slower at killing the slimes, they did not have any problem staying alive. ¡°The Hunter over there, brother, fancy joining our team? We still have one slot open, we have a Priest!¡± A Warrior¡¯s eyes glittered when he saw Chen Mo approaching. He quickly went up to him. The Hunter class was not the best class when it came to killing monsters and doing quests in the early game. Many Players had decided not to pick Hunter as they wanted to raise their levels quicker. However, Hunters were surprisingly popular in the Slime Valley. Hunters could set up traps to slow down the target¡¯s movement speed, and while the crossbow did not have a long attack range, the DPS of Hunters was quite impressive when attacking at intermediate range because of the Minor Poison Bolt, especially against the Black Slimes that had an outstanding defense. The extra poison damage was extremely effective against them. In the Slime Valley, the Minor Poison Bolt was the only attack that could deal more than 3 damage to the Black Slimes. When the poison reached five stacks, a normal crossbow attack and the extra poison damage of the Minor Poison Bolt would deal a total of 7 damage to a Black Slime, which was equivalent to the damage output of two to three Players of other classes. Black Slimes were quite common in the Slime Valley, thus Hunters were very well-received in the Slime Valley. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m already Level 10, I only came here to look around,¡± Chen Mo shook his head. ¡°I see,¡± the Warrior left in disappointment. There were too many Players in the outer areas of the Slime Valley. Chen Mo decided to venture deeper. Fifty Green Slimes was not a lot, but it would certainly take some time if he had to wait for them to spawn in a specific area, especially when there were so many Players around. Chen Mo decided to kill the Green Slimes while going deeper into the valley. He believed he would kill more or less the number of Green Slimes he needed once he reached where the Slime King was. A little more than ten minutes later, Chen Mo found the massive green Slime King. Even though many Players were curious about the Slime King at the beginning, the attention that the Boss monster was getting gradually decreased over time. A few Players would show up occasionally and die to the Slime King, but the number of Players that did so had reduced significantly. They would rather die to the normal monsters and revive in the town instead of wasting ten minutes looking for the Slime King and die to it. The Slime King was in a soft green grassland. It would bounce up and down at times and look around it out of boredom. Chen Mo was pretty lucky. He had killed fifty Green Slimes along the way. He could boldly proceed with some experiments he had in mind without worrying about dying. Chen Mo was not completely clueless about the Slime King. There were already Players that managed to kill the Slime King. There was lots of information about the Slime King on the forum. In a nutshell, the Slime King had high defense and attack. At the present stage, most Players could only deal low damage to it, and since they did not have much defensive equipment yet, they would most likely be one-shotted by the Slime King, thus not many Players bothered to come and challenge it. As a matter of fact, it was not difficult to kill the Slime King. A human wave attack consisting of a few hundred, or even a thousand Players could easily eliminate the Boss monster. However, the only problem was, since there were so many instances of the Rookies Village, even the guilds that could gather hundreds of Players were unable to gather all of them at the same Slime Valley. The only way was spending a huge sum of money to recruit the Players in the same instance like the Nouveau Riches Club. They had basically stoned the Slime King to its death with money. Since the Nouveau Riches Club had done it first, it was no longer as effective to use the same way again. The benefits of killing the Slime King could not even pay off the price they paid. Chen Mo carefully observed the Slime King from a distance. He did not go up to the Slime King right away. The Slime King¡¯s movement speed was not high, yet there was no way he could outrun the Slime King without equipping the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±. He hid in a corner and observed the Slime King for more than half an hour. A few Players had shown up to die to the Slime King. Each time, the Slime King would let out a furious cry and jump on top of the Players mercilessly to crush them. ¡°Jumping attacks and rolling attacks, its attacks are pretty straightforward, the same as what the Players have described on the forum,¡± Chen Mo believed he had done observing the Slime King. There were no other Players around. Chen Mo ran toward the Slime King. Roar! The Slime King began to bounce in Chen Mo¡¯s direction after it was aware of its new challenger¡¯s presence. Chen Mo took out a stone and set a trap on it while he was moving. The Slime King soon reached a spot close to Chen Mo. It would catch up to Chen Mo with a few more jumps and smashed him into mincemeat. Chen Mo was fearless even when the Slime King was approaching. He tossed the trap at the Slime King. Boom! The Slime King was knocked over a meter back! ¡°Nice! It can jump over a meter high into the air. The knock-back still works, even though it isn¡¯t as effective!¡± ¡°The problem is my speed; even with the Goblin Boots and the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±, I¡¯m still slightly slower than it. Maybe I should try and find a pair of boots that can increase my movement speed by 1 or 2.¡± Chen Mo had unequipped the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± before going back to Aiur Town previously, thus he was currently not equipping it. Otherwise, he would not be able to enter Aiur Town. After seeing the Slime King¡¯s speed first-hand, Chen Mo realized even with the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±, the Slime King was still faster than him. The Slime King soon caught up to Chen Mo. It jumped into the air and crashed down on Chen Mo. The damage of a critical hit floated in the air. Chen Mo died without any surprise. ¡°I can take my time looking for the boots with extra movement speed. The question is, how can I make the Slime King mutate?¡± Chen Mo fell into deep thoughts after he came back to life in Aiur Town. What were the conditions to trigger the Slime King¡¯s mutation? By killing a certain number of Players? Impossible, if that was the case, the Slime King in every instance would have killed a similar number of Players by now. As time gradually passed, the Players should have spotted more than two Mutated Slime Kings by now. Therefore, the Players must have used a certain item on the Slime Kings or themselves that caused the Slime Kings to mutate! Chapter 24 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The Players had used a certain item on themselves or the Slime Kings that triggered the mutation. These were the only possibilities. Chen Mo was leaning more toward the former between the two possibilities. Both sightings of the Mutated Slime King did not mention the existence of other Players. Therefore, a Player might have used a certain item a distance away that triggered the mutation of the Slime King. However, Chen Mo did not exclude the possibility that the two Players that spotted the Mutated Slime King had purposely left out the important clue about the conditions that triggered the mutation. Either way, Chen Mo was confident that the item that triggered the mutation of the Slime King must be available from the Rookies Village or the nearby areas. The item was most likely uncommon, and there should be a certain difficulty to acquire it. If Players could use the item as they wished, it meant the item must be unrelated to the Slime King. The item must have some hidden attributes that could trigger a Slime King¡¯s mutation. There were not many items that were available in the Rookies Village. He might not know what the exact item was yet, but he could easily eliminate most of the items that did not fit the criteria based on the information he had gathered. There were only three kinds of items in the Rookies Village; items that were dropped by monsters, items that were sold at the shops, and items that were given to the Players as quest rewards. Chen Mo went around Aiur Town and immediately eliminated the possibility that the item was available from the shops. The items being sold at the shops in Aiur Town was pitifully limited. There were mostly rookie weapons, rookie HP and MP potions, and random quest items like fishing rods, shovels, hoes, and other stuff that were necessary to complete certain quests. The only possibilities left were drops from monsters and quest rewards. There were a lot of items that the monsters in the Rookies Village would drop. It would take Chen Mo some time to figure them all out. As for the quest rewards, Chen Mo could easily find the information about ninety percent of them on the forum. The game was out for more than a day. There were already different guides and walkthroughs on the forum about the quests in the Rookies Village which listed the procedures and the rewards in detail. Chen Mo visited the forum and read the information about every quest. He had only done some low-level quests at the Rookies Village, and the quest that rewarded him the skill book of ¡°Minor Poison Bolt¡±. ¡°From the looks of it, the items with the highest possibility are ¡®Simmer-fried Pufferfish¡¯, ¡®Expired Strong Wine¡¯, ¡®Rotten Apple¡¯, ¡®Alluring Poison¡¯, ¡®Discarded Dog Food¡¯.¡± Chen Mo finally set his eyes on five items that were only obtainable through quests. Simmer-fried Pufferfish was from a famous chef in Aiur Town. The chef was asking Players to get him a pufferfish. To obtain a pufferfish, Players would have to buy a fishing rod from the vendor and fish at a river outside the town to get a pufferfish. The chance of fishing a pufferfish was quite low, thus it would take some time to complete the quest. After handing in the pufferfish, the chef would reward the Player with ten pieces of ¡°Simmer-fried Pufferfish¡±. The Simmer-fried Pufferfish would grant a Player extra attributes for 10 minutes, but since the pufferfish was poisonous, the Player would lose 5 HP every second for the duration. It was quite tricky to complete the quest. It would take a Player at least half an hour to obtain a pufferfish. Spending half an hour to obtain 10 Simmer-fried Pufferfish that was equivalent to 100 minutes of +10 to all attributes and -5 HP every second was not really worth it. As a result, the Players immediately lost interest in the quest after finding out what its reward was. It also meant not many Players would have the Simmer-fried Pufferfish. Since the item was poisonous, there was a chance that it would cause a Slime King to mutate. The Expired Strong Wine was a quest reward from a drunkard in Aiur Town. The Expired Strong Wine would instantly recover a Player¡¯s MP by 300, but the Player could not use MP recovery potions for ten minutes after consuming it. The Rotten Apple was obtainable when Players were cleaning the weeds in a fruit farm outside Aiur Town as requested by its owner. The Rotten Apple was not the reward for completing the quest. When the Players were cleaning the weeds, they had a chance to obtain a special item¡ªRotten Apple. It was the only place where Players could get Rotten Apples. The item could recover both the HP and MP of a Player. However, the Player¡¯s Strength and Intelligence would decrease by 10 after eating a Rotten Apple. It would give the Player that consumed it a debuff just like the Simmer-fried Pufferfish. The Rotten Apples would only appear by chance. Not every Player that did the quest of cleaning the weeds in the fruit farm would have them, thus why it had earned a spot in Chen Mo¡¯s list. The remaining items were the ¡®Alluring Poison¡¯ and the ¡®Discarded Dog Food¡¯. The ¡®Alluring Poison¡¯ was actually a quest item. Many mice had appeared in the basement of a residence in Aiur Town. When a Player accepted the quest, they would be given the ¡®Alluring Poison¡¯. They only needed to use the item in the basement and kill the mice to complete the quest. However, Players could use the quest item ¡®Alluring Poison¡¯ anywhere. Some Players had successfully used it at different places, but it did not have any effects on the monsters other than the mice in the basement. But would it work against the Slime King? The Player never tried it, thus Chen Mo could not afford to miss it either. And there was the Discarded Dog Food. Its source was very strange. A resident of Aiur Town tried to dig a well. When Players accepted the quest, they were asked to buy a shovel from the vendor. The Players had a certain chance to obtain the Discarded Dog Food when digging the well. No one knew what the item was for. However, when Chen Mo saw the Discarded Dog Food, he knew the item was most likely useful for luring the hunting dog that was guarding the mayor¡¯s home away. It was extremely difficult to obtain the dog food. Apparently, the chance of obtaining it was less than a hundredth. Chen Mo spent some time to do some research on the items that the monsters in the Rookies Village could drop. He initially thought it was going to be very complicated, but after some investigation, he had eliminated most of the items that the monsters could drop. The reason was very simple; most of the usable items that Players could obtain from killing monsters were potions. The rest were equipment and materials that were not consumables. That being said, it was possible to exchange some of the materials for usable items through certain quests, but Chen Mo had already eliminated these items too. In other words, all he needed to do was to test the items that had the highest possibility of triggering a Slime King¡¯s mutation. However, these items were not easy to obtain. If he was to collect them by himself, it might take longer than half a day just to collect them all. It would be a waste of his time. Furthermore, he still had to look for a pair of high-quality boots that could further increase his movement speed after learning the conditions of triggering the Slime King¡¯s mutation. He needed money to acquire everything, but Chen Mo had only saved up five silver upon reaching Level 10. It was impossible to buy everything he needed. After some consideration, Chen Mo decided to put up a pay-to-view post to earn some quick money! ¡°A way to make you stronger¡ªrevealing the secret of the Free Skill Casting system!¡± A pay-to-view post showed up on the forum a few minutes later. The Free Skill Casting system was not going to stay a secret for a long time. Chen Mo believed he was not the only Player that knew about it, but the other Players did not disclose it for whatever reasons. Chen Mo was actually not willing to disclose the information of the Free Skill Casting system so early. The Free Skill Casting system was like a key. When Players knew about it, they would surely be inspired by it. They would also realize the full-dive virtual reality network was a lot more powerful than they had imagined. However, Chen Mo decided to disclose the information to secure his capital. At least he still managed to make a profit even if he failed his mission. After Chen Mo had done submitting the post, he felt a little hungry after being online for so long. He decided to go offline and get some food. Chen Mo returned to the forum after he had done eating. He was eager to see how much profit his post had made. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why does it only have slightly over ten thousand views?¡± Chen Mo was away for almost half an hour. He expected his post to have at least a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand views in half an hour. To his surprise, only a little over ten thousand had paid to view his post. Chen Mo soon found the reason behind it. ¡°Nouveau Riches Club will disclose the secret of the Free Skill Casting system to you for free!¡± A few minutes after he put up the post, a guy called Brother Nine had put up the post. ¡°F**k! That son of a b**ch Nouveau Riches Club!¡± Chen Mo cursed after he took a quick glimpse at the post. The Nouveau Riches Club had seriously screwed him up! Chapter 25 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches On the official forum, Chen Mo¡¯s pay-to-view post was copyrighted. The Players that read its content and reposted it for free would be punished accordingly. However, it did not apply to Brother Nine¡¯s situation. Since he had already discovered the Free Skill Casting system before Chen Mo put up the post, he had the right to post about it too. ¡°I saw someone trying to make a fortune with a post about the Free Skill Casting system. As a member of the Nouveau Riches Club, I, Brother Nine, decide to step forward to put a stop to such a shameless act. Otherwise, if every post on the forum becomes pay-to-view, it¡¯s going to be disastrous for the growth of the Chinese server! I have spent more than a day experimenting with the Free Skill Casting system. As a result, I¡¯m already behind in levels, but I¡¯ve made some fascinating discoveries too. I shall explain them to you all¡­¡± ¡°Well said! The Nouveau Riches Club is impressive. We should really put a stop to the people who tried to abuse the posts to make a fortune!¡± ¡°Not bad! Brother Nine, you have my support!¡± ¡°Brother Nine! I want to join the Nouveau Riches Club!¡± ¡°Brother Nine, please date with me!¡± ¡­ Chen Mo¡¯s face darkened when he saw the post that Brother Nine put up. Damn it, this guy from the Nouveau Riches Club was obviously using him to make a name for himself! Brother Nine had only unlocked the Free Spell Casting system slightly later than Chen Mo did. If he really was concerned about the Players, he would have put up the post earlier. However, they decided not to put up the post first. If they posted straight away, they might still earn some reputation and compliments, but they knew the forgetful Players would soon forget about the benefits that they had obtained for free. It was a lot different now that they had put up the post for free while claiming they were doing it for the sake of every Player in the Chinese server after someone put up a pay-to-view post first. Chen Mo who first posted about the Free Skill Casting system and was asking only a yuan from the Players had become a vile person, while every Player was grateful for what the Nouveau Riches Club had done! The Nouveau Riches Club? -Just wait and see, let¡¯s hope you don¡¯t end up in my hands, or I¡¯ll let you know why the flowers are so red!- Chen Mo wore a cold face. He had listed the Nouveau Riches Club as his first enemy in the game. Chen Mo was not trying to make a fortune from the post. He was only planning to earn some capital. Chen Mo would gladly accept his defeat if the Nouveau Riches Club had truly put up the post just because they were concerned about the general wellbeing of the Chinese server. However, the Nouveau Riches Club was clearly using him to make a name for themselves. Otherwise, how was it possible that the guy called Brother Nine could write a post consisting of a few thousand words, images, and even videos to support his claims in just a few minutes? After putting the Nouveau Riches Club on his ¡®to-get-revenge¡¯ list, Chen Mo returned to the game and started buying the Simmer-fried Pufferfish and the rest of the items. ¡°Brother, one silver for a Simmer-fried Pufferfish, are you interested?¡± ¡°Pretty lady over there, do you have a Rotten Apple? I¡¯m willing to trade one silver for it!¡± ¡°Hey, the guy over there¡­¡± ¡­ The Rookies Village did not have a designated area for trading purposes, thus most Players had gathered at the entrance of the Rookies Village to do their trades. However, Chen Mo did not head over to the entrance. The items he was interested in were extremely rare. Despite the number of Players at the entrance, it was still unlikely he could find any Players with the items he needed. Chen Mo went to the NPCs with the quests related to the items he needed instead. The Players that visited these NPCs had most likely finished the quest. The price of one silver for an item was not low at all. Most Players that reached Level 10 only had slightly over two silver. The Players that had the item that Chen Mo was looking for did not even hesitate to sell it to him when they heard the price he was offering. In less than an hour, Chen Mo had acquired the five items he needed. Chen Mo had to look for a pair of high-quality boots too, but it was not easy to find a pair of high-quality boots. He spent some time looking around at the entrance of the Rookies Village. After failing to find the boots he needed, he proceeded to the Slime Valley without any hesitation. He had to find out the reason behind the Slime King¡¯s mutation first. Otherwise, it would be a waste of effort even if he found the boots he needed. Ten minutes later, Chen Mo arrived at the Slime King¡¯s location. Chen Mo used the disguising skill to prevent himself from alerting the Slime King. He went closer to the Slime King. ¡°Simmer-fried Pufferfish!¡± System Notification: You have used the item ¡°Simmer-fried Pufferfish¡±. Your Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Spirit have increased by 10. The effect lasts for 10 minutes. During this time, you will lose 5 HP every second! The Slime King did not show any reaction after Chen Mo used the Simmer-fried Pufferfish. It continued to look around blankly. ¡°Rotten Apple¡­¡± System Notification: You have used the item ¡°Rotten Apple¡±, recovering 200 HP and 200 MP. Your Strength and Intelligence have decreased by 10. Your HP and MP will recover by 20 every second for 20 seconds. The next item was the Rotten Apple, but the Slime King still did not show any reaction. ¡°Expired Strong Wine¡­Alluring Poison¡­Discarded Dog Food¡­¡± Chen Mo soon used all the items. ¡°It¡¯s not that easy as I¡¯ve expected.¡± Chen Mo sighed staring at the Slime King that did not show the slightest change at all. He was not surprised. His approach and thought process was on the right track. The problem was, it was impossible the forum would have information about every quest item in the game. There were still some quests that the Players on the forum had yet to complete. Chen Mo did not give up. He went back to the forum and analyzed the quests that the Players had not completed yet, or did not reveal what the rewards were. Half an hour later, Chen Mo placed his attention on two quests. One was from a beggar in Aiur Town. He was asking Players to collect 10 pieces of wolf meat. The wolf meat was only available in the Wolf Valley, but since the Wolf Valley was currently under the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s control, and a Gathering Skill was necessary to collect the wolf meat, there was no Player on the forum that had completed the quest. There was no information on the quest reward either, but since the reward of a gathering quest was normally not that impressive, the Players could not care less about it. The second quest was to the north of the Slime Valley. An old man was asking Players to collect 20 Green Slime Poison and an old liquid container. Green Slime Poison was an item that the Green Slimes would drop by chance when they died. Chen Mo had collected seven of them so far after killing a few dozens of Green Slimes. The item¡¯s drop rate was not high, but it was not low either. He would not have any trouble buying 50 of them from the Players. The problem left was the old liquid container. No one on the forum knew where to find it. Not even the vendors were selling it. Therefore, even though many Players had accepted the quest, no one had completed it still, thus no one knew what its reward was. Chen Mo wore a weird expression as he read about the two quests. No one would think the two quests had anything to do with one another when they were mixed with the other quests, but if anyone was to look at them together, they would realize the quests were somehow related! The only way to find the answer was to do the quests! Chen Mo accepted the quest from the beggar and returned to the Wolf Valley. He was able to sneak past the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf with the help of the disguising skill while it was busy killing some other Players and went deeper into the Wolf Valley. He collected 10 pieces of wolf meat in the Wolf Valley and returned to Aiur Town. ¡°Thank you, kind adventurer, I¡¯m just a beggar, I don¡¯t have anything valuable. Perhaps this glass bottle will come in handy for you.¡± The beggar gratefully gave Chen Mo a glass bottle after he handed in the quest. System Notification: You have obtained the item ¡°Old Liquid Container¡±! ¡°As I thought!¡± Chen Mo was excited. He believed he had found the right answer! He just needed to get 50 Green Slime Poison to learn what the reward of the other quest was. Since Chen Mo was almost broke, he had no choice but to kill the Green Slimes himself. ¡°Hehe, it actually works!¡± Chen Mo went to the Slime Valley and killed a Green Slime. The monster did not any item, but when Chen Mo tried using the gathering skill on it, he was able to collect a Green Slime Poison! After learning that he could just obtain the Green Slime Poison with the gathering skill, he gave up on killing the Green Slimes himself. He started looking for the remains of Green Slimes along the way and used the gathering skill on them. He had collected 50 Green Slime Poison when he was only halfway to the NPC! ¡°Not bad, this potion is your reward. Use it wisely, you will realize that the slimes are the least of your problem!¡± A few minutes later, Chen Mo handed in the quest to the NPC. The old man nodded and gave Chen Mo a potion. System Notification: You have obtained ¡°Slime¡¯s Poison!¡± Chapter 26 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Slime¡¯s Poison: A special potion refined with the slime¡¯s poison. It can resist every negative status from the slimes, and every attack on slime-type monsters will deal high poison damage. The effect lasts for 30 minutes! This must be it! Chen Mo immediately knew the Slime¡¯s Poison was the item that would trigger the Slime King¡¯s mutation as soon as he read the description. He had overcomplicated the situation before. The Slime King did not mutate because of some hidden criteria. The Players that drank the potion would deal extra damage to the slimes, including the Slime King. Therefore, the Slime King would mutate and become stronger when Players were trying to use the Slime¡¯s Poison against the Slime King! After all, if the Wolf Valley was not occupied by the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf and prevented the Players from completing the quest from the beggar, the Slime¡¯s Poison was not difficult to obtain. He just needed to spend some money to buy one from the Players that completed the quest. It was not even a problem for the Players to have a bottle of Slime¡¯s Poison each. His initial analysis was all wrong. The situation was not as complicated as he assumed. It was just the game¡¯s design to prevent Players from killing the Slime King too easily. However, Chen Mo knew there was nothing wrong with his approach and thought process. Without the information he had gathered from the analysis, he would not be able to learn the answer. Now that he had discovered the Slime¡¯s Poison, how did the other two Players triggered the Slime King¡¯s mutation? Did they use the Slime¡¯s Poison within the Slime King¡¯s aggro radius? Impossible! The two Players only went to the Slime King to die to it. They must have used the Slime¡¯s Poison against the normal slimes and proceeded to look for the Slime King while the Slime¡¯s Poison was still in effect, thus they ended up triggering the Slime King¡¯s mutation! Having this thought, Chen Mo drank the potion of Slime¡¯s Poison without any hesitation. A faint dark green glow burst out of his body. The color of Chen Mo¡¯s crossbow changed slightly too. Chen Mo found a few slimes nearby to test the effect of the Slime¡¯s Poison. The first slime that Chen Mo stumbled into was a Black Slime with an outstanding defense. ¡°How strong!¡± Chen Mo exclaimed after firing a bolt at the slime¡¯s smooth head. -2! -10! His own attack only dealt 2 damage, but following it was another number indicating the damage dealt by the Slime¡¯s Poison! The Black Slime only had 60 HP. It only took Chen Mo a few attacks to kill the Black Slime! ¡°Let¡¯s try it on some other slimes!¡± The Slime¡¯s Poison was too powerful. If it was just as effective against the slimes of different colors, he no longer had to worry about the monsters in the Slime Valley. They were just as strong as the other monsters. ¡°It¡¯s dealing significant damage to every other slime too!¡± Chen Mo tried the Slime¡¯s Poison on slimes of different colors. Every normal attack would deal 40 to 60 extra poison damage to the slimes of other colors. His damage had suddenly doubled. Chen Mo¡¯s eyes glittered. If the Slime King had mutated because of the Slime¡¯s Poison, it should be as effective against the Slime King too. Otherwise, there was no reason for it to mutate! Chen Mo stopped fighting the slimes. He headed toward the Slime King¡¯s location. The spawn point of the Slime King¡­ ¡°HAHA, Slime King, here I come!¡± ¡°Hurry up and die and give us some nice loots!¡± A group of Level 10 Players had come to challenge the Slime King. They were fearless even though they were about to die. They were talking cheerfully still. The Slime King furiously lunged at the invaders. However, it seemed to have sensed something. Its huge black eyes flickered angrily. Someone had killed its people and used their flesh to specifically refine something deadly against it again! Roar! Following a furious roar, the Slime King began to expand. Its color rapidly shifted too! ¡°Mutated Slime King! Damn! The Slime King is mutating!¡± ¡°Record it, quick! I remember some guy on the forum has earned more than a million overnight with just a recording of the Slime King!¡± The Players were stunned. Some were screaming after collecting their thoughts. However, they were standing too close to the Slime King. The Mutated Slime King did not even give them a chance to record it! Whoosh! The Mutated Slime King shuddered. Countless crystalline purple orbs like marbles fell off its body and flew at the Players nearby. -800! -800! -800! ¡­ Huge damage values floated above the Players¡¯ head, killing them all within an instant! The Mutated Slime King immediately fixed its eyes on a person in the distance after killing the group of Players! That adventurer was the reason why it had gone enraged! ¡°It really has other abilities!¡± Chen Mo was shocked when he saw the Mutated Slime King¡¯s attack! There was only limited information about the Mutated Slime King. Chen Mo had long arrived in the vicinity, but he did not show up right away. He waited for the Players to approach the Slime King before going closer to trigger its mutation. To his surprise, he actually baited the Mutated Slime King into using a powerful AoE attack! Chen Mo quickly set a Basic Trap under him before he started running. ¡°This fatty doesn¡¯t have legs, but it¡¯s still a Boss Monster after all. It¡¯s so quick even though it¡¯s jumping! My current maximum movement speed is 11. If I equip the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±, it will be 13. This Boss Monster¡¯s movement speed is at least 17, or even 18. If I don¡¯t have a pair of high-quality boots, I still couldn¡¯t outrun it even if I drink the Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion!¡± Chen Mo analyzed the Mutated Slime King¡¯s movement speed while he was running. He discovered how shocking the Mutated Slime King¡¯s movement speed was, as expected of a Boss Monster. He had no chance of outrunning it! Boom! The Mutated Slime King stepped on the Basic Trap that Chen Mo set previously. The trap exploded! -48! -50! Two numbers floated above the Mutated Slime King. One was the damage dealt by the trap, the other was the effect of Slime¡¯s Poison. The effect of Slime¡¯s Poison was shocking indeed! The Mutated Slime King was extremely quick. Chen Mo continued to run. He even equipped the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± and consumed the remaining two Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion he had brought along. The Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion could increase a Player¡¯s maximum movement speed by 3. After drinking it, Chen Mo¡¯s current maximum movement speed had reached 16, but he was still slightly slower than the Mutated Slime King. It was only a matter of time until the Mutated Slime King caught up to him. However, Chen Mo was able to set traps while he was moving. After observing the Mutated Slime King¡¯s speed, Chen Mo knew it would have a hard time catching up to him too. He still had a chance to escape the Mutated Slime King¡¯s aggro radius if he was lucky enough. Chen Mo quickly tossed a Dazing Trap to his back. Boom! The Mutated Slime King soon stepped on the Dazing Trap. Its huge body came to a stop! In addition to it, it was knocked a meter back by the trap! ¡°Nice!¡± Chen Mo was excited after seeing it. The fact that the Dazing Trap was effective against the Mutated Slime King was great news to him! The Mutated Slime King continued to pursue Chen Mo for a few minutes. The Mutated Slime King failed to catch up to Chen Mo in the end. It glared at Chen Mo and gave up on the pursuit. ¡°The distance¡­it should be enough¡­¡± Chen Mo came to a stop. He did not provoke the Mutated Slime King any further. He lowered his head and calculated the distance that the Mutated Slime King had covered while staying on his trail. ¡°I just need to buy a pair of high-quality boots to try the method out. It¡¯s actually possible to kill the Mutated Slime King alone!¡± Chen Mo reflected on the information he had collected. After some deep thoughts, his eyes flickered with excitement. Chapter 27 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo already had an idea of how he might be able to kill the Mutated Slime King when he was searching for the conditions that triggered its mutation, but first, it was more important to find a pair of high-quality boots. He only had one Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion left. The potion¡¯s effect only lasted for ten minutes. It would take him a few minutes just to lure the Mutated Slime King away. He had to lure it away since a lot of Players would keep showing up if he was to fight it at its original position. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP was very high. He clearly needed more than ten minutes to kill it alone. Once the potion¡¯s effect ended, he was dead for sure. Chen Mo was doubtful if he could find the boots he wanted in Rookies Village. He was currently wearing the Goblin Boots with +1 to movement speed. The Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion could increase his movement speed by 3, which meant he needed a pair of boots with at least +4 to movement speed. If it was any other attributes, the difference between equipment with just a few more or fewer points was not much, but when it came to the movement speed, each extra point would double the price of the equipment. It was already difficult to find a pair of boots with +3 to movement speed, let alone a pair of high-quality boots with +4 to movement speed. That being said, no matter how difficult it was, he still had to get the boots at all costs, even if it meant visiting the three main cities and spent a fortune on it. He would have to kill himself to return to Rookies Village since Players were not allowed to return to Rookies Village after leaving it unless they were doing some special quests. Chen Mo was still equipping the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±, thus he had to wait for a while before entering Aiur Town. However, the guards at the entrance of the village would not bother him as long as he did not enter the town. ¡°Selling Low-level HP Potions, only a limited number left, come and get them before they run out!¡± ¡°Looking to buy equipment above Level 5, White Equipment and above, price is negotiable!¡± ¡°Pure melee party with high DPS, looking for one more member to grind in the Slime Valley, first come first serve!¡± ¡­ Chen Mo could hear Players shouting at the entrance of the town from a distance away. Many Players were looking around. Some were buying, others were selling, or recruiting Players for their parties, resulting in a bustling scene. ¡°Looking to buy boots with +4 and above to movement speed with real money, PM me if you have them!¡± Chen Mo joined the others and started yelling at the town entrance. Many people immediately looked at him when they heard he was looking to buy something with money in real life. However, they soon lost their interests when they heard he was looking for boots with +4 and above to movement speed. Chen Mo kept shouting for some time, but no one had approached him apart from a few Players who were curious how much Chen Mo was offering even though they did not have the boots he was looking for. Chen Mo was not feeling impatient. He had always been patient. It would be strange if he was able to find a pair of high-quality boots so easily. Chen Mo sat close to the entrance and would yell the same sentence at times. An hour later, almost everyone in the Rookies Village knew someone was looking to buy a pair of boots with at least +4 to movement speed. The sky was already dark. Meanwhile, at the spawning area of the Man-Eating Flowers, a female Assassin around the age of sixteen and a female Priest around a similar age were killing the Man-Eating Flowers as a party. The Assassin did not have trouble killing the Man-Eating Flowers with the heals from the Priest. ¡°Feifei, did you hear? Someone is asking to buy boots with +4 to movement speed at the town entrance,¡± the Priest blurted out in excitement after casting a healing spell on the Assassin. ¡°Xiaoyun, are you seriously going to sell these boots?¡± Hua Feifei gently touched the Gale Boots she was wearing. It felt like she was flying when she was wearing the boots with +4 to movement speed. She really wanted to ask Mu Xiaoyun to sell the boots to her, but she withheld the urge instead. She came from a wealthy family, but Mu Xiaoyun was from a single-parented family. Her mother had been sick for a long time, and she still had a younger brother and sister to take care of. She was interested to test her luck out when she heard it was possible to make a fortune in the game, but Mu Xiaoyun could not even afford the VR Helmet. In the end, Hua Feifei told her that she ended up buying two VR Helmets. She was meant to give her cousin one, but her cousin already bought one too, so she told Mu Xiaoyun she could borrow her the helmet for the time being. They were best friends with one another. They never talked about money. Mu Xiaoyun did not even know Hua Feifei was from a wealthy family. Hua Feifei did not dare to tell Mu Xiaoyun too. She did not have many friends. If Mu Xiaoyun knew there was such a huge difference between them, they might not be able to stay friends with one another. Mu Xiaoyun was an optimistic and cheerful girl. She was perfect apart from a slight fear of strangers. Hua Feifei believed Mu Xiaoyun would distance herself because she would feel inferior after knowing Hua Feifei was from a wealthy family. However, Hua Feifei had seen a lot of messed up things about money growing up, thus she did not want to take the risk. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Feifei, my mum¡¯s condition is worsening again,¡± Mu Xiaoyun looked at Feifei apologetically. ¡°It¡¯s more important to treat your mum first. It¡¯s actually better to sell it earlier, since it wouldn¡¯t worth as much once everyone continues to level up,¡± Hua Feifei said. She had thought it through too. She could just spend some money to buy another pair of boots later. It was the same as buying the boots from Xiaoyun. The money that Xiaoyun earned from selling the boots could ease the burden of her family too. -Maybe I could help Xiaoyun by getting some rare equipment in the game and let her sell them for money!- -Haha, why am I so smart!?- ¡°Let¡¯s go back to town!¡± Hua Feifei said joyfully. Mu Xiaoyun was a little confused. She had no idea why Hua Feifei was in such a great joy all of a sudden. ¡­ ¡°You have a pair of boots with +4 to movement speed?¡± Chen Mo looked at the two beautiful girls in front of him. They seemed to be still in high school. One was shy and quiet, the other had an aggressive and cautious look in her eyes. ¡°Here they are,¡± Hua Feifei displayed the description of the Gale Boots. Gale Boots Description: Wearing these boots will allow you to run as quick as the wind Quality: Green Requirement: Level 5 and above Attribute: Physical Defense +15 Magic Defense +20 Movement Speed +4 A pair of Green-Quality boots! It had +4 to movement speed and attributes for both types of defense too! Chen Mo was overjoyed. He did not waste two hours waiting here for nothing. ¡°Nice boots, how much are you thinking of selling them for?¡± Chen Mo said. ¡°How, how about one thousand?¡± Mu Xiaoyun suggested the price timidly. ¡°Xiaoyun, that¡¯s too low!¡± Hua Feifei quickly dragged Mu Xiaoyun to her and glared at Chen Mo, ¡°That doesn¡¯t count, she didn¡¯t really know their value. Uncle, you better offer a reasonable price for it. If you dare to trick us, I¡¯ll chase you down until the very ends of the earth!¡± ¡°What uncle? You should just call me brother! I¡¯m only a few years older than you two!¡± Chen Mo¡¯s face darkened. He might be a slightly reputable hacker, but he was still in his prime years. He was only 21 years old! How could he allow the girls to call him an uncle!? ¡°Brother? Stop taking advantage of us, you¡¯re clearly an uncle! Hurry up and offer your price, Uncle. We won¡¯t sell them to you if it¡¯s too low!¡± Hua Feifei completely ignored Chen Mo¡¯s protest. She insisted to call him an uncle. Chen Mo clenched his teeth. -This goddamn little girl really deserves a beating. Hope she could never marry someone and live as a single old woman forever!- -Ugh, the curse sounds a little too vicious.- -Forget it, if the curse really works, considering the girl¡¯s personalities, his curse is most likely just an extra among all the other curses she has received.- ¡°Five thousand. It doesn¡¯t worth more than that. After all, it¡¯s only a pair of Level 5 boots,¡± Chen Mo did not want to waste too much time with Hua Feifei. It was important to secure the deal first. It would be troublesome if they decided not to sell him the boots after he stepped on her toes. ¡°Are they really worth just five thousand?¡± Hua Feifei looked at Chen Mo suspiciously. She wanted to know if the guy was lying to her. ¡°That¡¯s enough, Feifei,¡± Mu Xiaoyun excitedly pulled Hua Feifei¡¯s shirt. She was quite surprised that a pair of low-level boots would worth five thousand yuan. It was enough to cover her family¡¯s expenses for the month. ¡°If you think I¡¯ve lied to you, feel free to chase me to the ends of the earth,¡± Chen Mo looked at the annoying girl. ¡°Humph, don¡¯t you think I wouldn¡¯t dare to!¡± Hua Feifei harrumphed and gave the boots to Mu Xiaoyun so she could initiate a trade with Chen Mo. Considering the scale of Genesis, it was impossible to stop the Players from trading with real currency. Therefore, the game even allowed Players to trade equipment with real money, but the amount had to be above one thousand yuan, and the game would take 5% of the sum as a surcharge, which would be donated to charity. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve transferred the money to your card.¡± Chen Mo and Mu Xiaoyun took a longer time to complete the trade since it was their first time trading with real money. ¡°Thanks,¡± Mu Xiaoyun said. ¡°Uncle, don¡¯t you forget my warning. If you try to trick Xiaoyun, I¡¯ll hunt you down to the ends of the earth!¡± Chen Mo left for the Wolf Valley as soon as he completed the trade. He heard Hua Feifei yelling behind him in the distance. Chen Mo clenched his teeth again. He really had the urge to beat the girl up. Chapter 28 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The quest of giving the beggar wolf meat and the quest of Slime¡¯s Poison were repeatable, but the number of pieces of wolf meat that a Player had to give every time would increase by ten. Chen Mo decided to collect some wolf meat since the other Players could not enter the Wolf Valley for now. Around half an hour later, Chen Mo had collected more than a hundred pieces of wolf meat from the Wolf Valley. He unequipped the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± and went to Aiur Town. He completed the beggar¡¯s quest twice and handed in fifty pieces of wolf meat in exchange for two ¡°Old Liquid Containers¡±. Chen Mo put the remaining wolf meat into the storage and visited the vendors. He bought a quiver of bolts, some ropes, and a few shovels. He had done all the preparations. All that was left was coming up with a plan to kill the Mutated Slime King. If other Players heard someone mentioning they were going to challenge the Mutated Slime King alone, they would think that the person had lost his mind. A Boss Monster¡¯s attributes significantly surpassed those of a Player. Even though the Mutated Slime Valley was only a low-level Boss at Level 10, a Player had no chance of winning against it in the Slime Valley that did not have any obstacles. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s aggro radius was extremely huge, but Chen Mo could not lure the Mutated Slime King away from the Slime Valley, nor could he find any obstacles that he could abuse to kill the Mutated Slime King. However, Chen Mo had thought of a different plan. Chen Mo went to the Slime Valley and spent all the money he had to buy 100 Green Slime Poison from the Players. After obtaining two bottles of Slime¡¯s Poison, he found three male Players and asked, ¡°Brothers, are you interested in earning some quick money?¡± ¡°Quick money?¡± the three Players looked at Chen Mo excitedly. Chen Mo did not just find the Players randomly. He was able to tell if a person was in need of money or not. With just a quick glance, he already knew the three were living a poor life in the real world. ¡°I found a quest to dig up some treasure, but I need to dig quite a huge hole for it. I¡¯m thinking of hiring you for the job. I¡¯ll pay you two hundred yuan every hour,¡± Chen Mo already came up with an excuse, and it was not just a random excuse either. ¡°Deal!¡± They were offered two hundred yuan every hour, not to mention that they were doing it inside the game. They agreed without any hesitation. Besides, the three were intrigued by the mention of the treasure. The payment was very simple. Chen Mo and the three agreed to trade on the traditional Internet. Chen Mo paid a set deposit, and the three would record their work as the evidence to make sure they were paid accordingly. Chen Mo brought the three Players to a spot where no monsters would spawn in the Slime Valley. Since there was no monster, there was no Player too. ¡°Can we really dig up a treasure here?¡± The three Players found it hard to believe they would dig up some treasure under the ordinary-looking grassland. ¡°An NPC told me about the secret. We¡¯ll know once we dug it up. You¡¯re getting paid either way, don¡¯t you worry about the details!¡± Chen Mo did not want to waste his time further. He gave them the shovels and urged them to start digging. The three obediently picked up the shovels and started digging. If the man saw them slacking, he might decide not to pay them in the end. The plan that Chen Mo had to kill the Mutated Slime King involved digging up a pit! A huge pit over a meter wide and three meters deep! The Mutated Slime King could only jump more than a meter high. If he could lure the Mutated Slime King into the pit, he would not have trouble killing it! Chen Mo had no clue how long it would take for him to dig up the pit himself, which was why he had hired the three Players to dig with him. Apart from saving himself some time, there was another reason why Chen Mo had hired the three Players to dig up the pit. The three Players were observing their surroundings carefully while digging the pit. They had already made up their minds. If they really dug up a treasure, they would run away with it right away. Their wage of two hundred yuan every hour was obviously nothing compared to the treasure! Chen Mo chuckled secretly when he saw the glittering eyes of the three Players. If there really was a treasure here, why would he bother hiring them? How naive were they!? The game was different than reality. It was quicker to dig a pit than in real life. Besides, the Players would not feel tired too. They would only be consuming their Energy. When they were running low on Energy, they just needed to take a rest to replenish it. Half an hour later, they managed to dig up a round pit over three meters wide. ¡°There¡¯s no sign of treasure at all,¡± one of the Players glanced at Chen Mo with displease. They had been digging with anticipation for half an hour. Even though they were still getting paid for it, they still felt as if they had been lied to. ¡°It looks like the NPC was lying. Alright, that¡¯s enough. You can go offline and receive the money now,¡± Chen Mo waved his hand after seeing that the pit was deep enough. He tossed the ropes down so the Players could climb out of the pit. The three left after receiving the money. Chen Mo took off his Gale Boots and placed them on the soil as if he had just dug them out. He then took a screenshot. After saving the screenshot, Chen Mo climbed out of the pit. However, he did not go far. He used his disguising skill and hid somewhere nearby. A while later, someone sneaked back to the pit when it was night. The person was surprised that Chen Mo was not around. He clenched his teeth and jumped into the pit. He searched around for a while. After failing to find anything useful, he climbed out of the pit miserably. The surroundings were already in complete darkness. Chen Mo chuckled when he watched the figure slowly disappearing into the dark. The guy seriously never gave up, but it was unlikely he would return again. He could finally lure the Mutated Slime King to the pit. ¡°I must hurry!¡± Chen Mo put the Gale Boots back and ran to the Slime King. The game would restore a pit that Players had dug after half an hour if there was no activity nearby. ¡°Great, there isn¡¯t anyone around,¡± there was no Player around when Chen Mo arrived. He immediately drank a potion of Slime¡¯s Poison. Roar! The Slime King let out a furious roar and mutated instantly! Chen Mo equipped the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± and ran toward the pit he had prepared for the Mutated Slime King. It was currently nighttime in the game. Players¡¯ vision was limited to only slightly over ten meters. Even though there were Players killing monsters in the distance, none of them had noticed that the Slime King had mutated, and was lured away by some guy with a ridiculous plan in mind. The pit was only less than five minutes away. Chen Mo had already made sure that he would not stumble into anyone unless the person just happened to be passing by. After all, he had purposely chosen a spot where no monster would spawn to dig the pit. Chen Mo sprinted while tossing traps at the Mutated Slime King. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP was very high. Chen Mo roughly estimated it to be around a hundred thousand. It would require a whole lot of effort to slay it. Chen Mo could only attack the monster a limited number of times in five minutes along the way. Even with the effects of the Slime¡¯s Poison, each of his attacks only dealt around a hundred damage to the Mutated Slime King. On top of it, the Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP recovery speed was not slow either, thus he did not really lower the Boss Monster¡¯s HP by much. A few minutes later, he could already see the pit he had prepared. It was only a dozen meters away. The Mutated Slime King only lost around eight thousand HP. It still had around ninety thousand HP left. Chen Mo was having a hard time in the few minutes that passed. It was fine when he did not attack the Mutated Slime King, but as soon as he started attacking, the Mutated Slime King was not only chasing after him. It would accelerate and roll in Chen Mo¡¯s direction at times. If Chen Mo did not have the Dazing Trap to interrupt the Mutated Slime King¡¯s move, he would have died by now. The pit was right ahead. The only problem was, how could he push the Mutated Slime King into the pit? It was unlikely that the Mutated Slime King would stupidly jump into the pit after Chen Mo, thus instead of jumping in, Chen Mo started running along the edge of the pit. The Mutated Slime King chased after him. Disguise! Chen Mo suddenly used the disguising skill. The Mutated Slime King froze for a moment, but it immediately saw through Chen Mo¡¯s disguise within an instant. How could an unofficial disguising skill trick a mutated Boss Monster? The disguising skill was only enough to make the Mutated Slime King hesitate for a brief moment. However, it was exactly what Chen Mo needed. He quickly moved to the Mutated Slime King¡¯s side and tossed a Dazing Trap at it. Boom! The explosion knocked the enormous Mutated Slime King into the pit! Chapter 29 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Nice!¡± Chen Mo was overjoyed. He ran to the edge of the pit and fired bolts into it without aiming. Roar! The Mutated Slime King bounced around furiously inside the pit, but it could not jump out from it. ¡°Just let me kill you, enough with the meaningless resistance!¡± Chen Mo said with a smile. He was relieved that his efforts were not in vain. He wondered what the Mutated Boss Monster would drop when it died. A normal Slime King already had a chance of dropping Purple Equipment, thus the Mutated Slime King could surely drop Purple Equipment too! Once he slew the Mutated Slime King of the current instance of the Rookies Village, he would kill himself and reborn in a different instance of Rookies Village to take on the next Slime King. He would be able to get a full set of Purple Equipment. He should be able to face Inoch by then! ¡°Crap!¡± Chen Mo was indulged in his imagination while attacking the Mutated Slime King. His DPS (damage per second) was high because of the Slime¡¯s Poison. Every normal attack would deal more than sixty damage to the Mutated Slime King! However, the Mutated Slime King went enraged a little over ten seconds after it was knocked into the pit. It let out a furious cry while expanding a little. It then bounced five meters into the air and crashed down on Chen Mo! ¡°Damn it, as I thought, fighting a Mutated Boss Monster isn¡¯t going to be easy!¡± Chen Mo thought. The pit he put in so much effort to dig up could only trap the Mutated Slime King for slightly over ten seconds. He did have the Dazing Trap, but the skill¡¯s cooldown was twenty-seven seconds. There was still some time left until he could use it again. Chen Mo¡¯s speed was more or less the same as the Mutated Slime King after equipping the Gale Boots, but he noticed that not only was the Mutated Slime King able to jump higher, it was faster too. Chen Mo tried to kite the Mutated Slime King around the pit, but it soon caught up to him in no time! Left with no choice, Chen Mo jumped into the pit! The pit he dug up was not only just to entrap the Boss, but to serve as an obstacle too! Chen Mo would be thanking the Heavens if the Mutated Slime King ended up jumping into the pit on its own, but he strongly doubted that it would jump back into the pit again after it had just jumped out of it. As Chen Mo thought, the Mutated Slime King stood on the edge and glared at him. It did not jump into the pit. ¡°If you aren¡¯t going to jump down, I¡¯ll attack then!¡± Chen Mo raised the crossbow. He quickly fired a few bolts at the Mutated Slime King from inside the pit. Roar! The Mutated Slime King cried out furiously after receiving a few attacks. It shuddered while a lot of crystalline purple orbs around the size of a fist fell out from its body and rolled into the pit. ¡°F**k me!¡± It was not Chen Mo¡¯s first time seeing them. He clearly remembered how the group of Players had been wiped out instantly by the attack. His HP was more or less the same as those Players. He would die for sure if he was hit by two of the orbs. There was nowhere he could run to in the pit. Luckily, Chen Mo had placed a rope on four sides of the pit beforehand. he quickly climbed up the rope. The pit was filled with almost a hundred purple orbs. It was impossible to attack the Mutated Slime King freely inside it. Even though he could climb the ropes, the time it took to climb out of the pit was clearly longer than jumping into it. When Chen Mo finally reached the top, the Mutated Slime King was already bouncing toward him rapidly. Its pitch-black eyes were glaring at Chen Mo as if it had sworn to end his life. As expected of a Boss Monster, it was different than the low-level creatures. It was extremely difficult to kill it even when he was trying to outsmart it. Any other Players would have trouble stopping the Mutated Slime King from coming any closer and end up reviving in the town after dying to the Boss. The purple orbs were still around in the pit. Chen Mo would die if he was to jump back into it. Luckily, Chen Mo still had some other tricks! The Hunting Trap! It was the trump card he had obtained from Gleeson. He only had a limited number of them, thus he was unwilling to use them. However, if he did not use it now, he would die for sure. Chen Mo stopped hesitating. He quickly placed a Low-level Hunting Trap in the direction that the Mutated Slime King was coming from. Snap! The Mutated Slime King was enormous. The tiny Hunting Trap was obviously not big enough to snare it. However, the Low-level Hunting Trap would place an enormous monster in the Injured state. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s speed dropped significantly after stepping on the Hunting Trap. Nice! It worked! Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh. If the Hunting Trap did not have any effect on the Mutated Slime King, he would have no clue what to do anymore. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s speed had greatly reduced. It could no longer catch up to Chen Mo. Chen Mo turned around to set traps and fire bolts at the Mutated Slime King. Normally, the effect of the Hunting Trap would last for ten seconds, but since the Mutated Slime King was a Boss Monster, the debuff would be gone in less than ten seconds. However, it had bought Chen Mo enough time. The Dazing Trap was off cooldown soon. The Mutated Slime King was even angrier when Chen Mo kept attacking it. It tried its best to bounce forward, but it had no chance of catching up to Chen Mo under the Injured state. It was Chen Mo¡¯s first time using the Hunting Trap. He realized how useful the item was. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s defense was weaker under the Injured state. His attack was dealing more than 100 damage. In the few seconds that the Mutated Slime King was under the Injured state, its HP had dropped very quickly, losing over a thousand HP. Roar! The Injured state finally ended. The Mutated Slime King cried furiously and charged at Chen Mo. Chen Mo surprisingly went forward instead of backing away. When the Mutated Slime King was about to slam on him, he moved to the side and tossed a Dazing Trap at it! Boom! The Mutated Slime King flew into the air and fell into the pit again. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you¡¯re going to survive this time!¡± After the series of events, the Mutated Slime King only had around eighty thousand HP left. He might be able to kill it after repeating the same sequence a few times! If the Mutated Slime King did not have any other tricks up in its sleeves, Chen Mo could easily abuse the pit to slowly wear down its HP. Around ten seconds later, the Mutated Slime King let out a furious roar and jumped out from the pit again. Chen Mo was expecting it this time. He did not panic after the first experience. When the Mutated Slime King came closer, he jumped into the pit and attacked the Mutated Slime King a few times. The Mutated Slime King started unleashing the purple orbs into the pit. Chen Mo immediately climbed up the robe and used the Hunting Trap on the Mutated Slime King. 80%¡­70%¡­60%¡­30%¡­ The same sequence repeated a few times. Twenty minutes were gone fairly quickly. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP had dropped to 30%. Chen Mo was looking at the Mutated Slime King nervously. In traditional games, many Bosses would enter a second phase or go enraged when their HP dropped to a certain level. He did not recall the Nouveau Riches Club mentioning about the Slime King¡¯s second phase when they were killing it for the first time. He wondered if the Mutated Slime King would have a second phase. The Mutated Slime King was already very troublesome to deal with. Unless anyone could come up with the same plan of digging up a pit, it was unlikely that anyone would stand a chance against the Mutated Slime King regardless of the numbers of Players they had. After all, Players that were still in Rookies Village lacked impressive equipment. HP¡­20%¡­10%! The Boss did not mutate further, nor did it have a second phase! The Mutated Slime King seemed to be angrier, but nothing out of ordinary happened. Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh. The Mutated Slime King was still a Boss Monster at Rookies Village after all, thus it was not too insane. Roar! Chen Mo¡¯s continuous attacks eventually drained the remaining 10% HP of the Mutated Slime King. It fell to the ground after a furious cry. Clink! Lots of items scattered across the ground under the Mutated Slime King¡¯s body! The Mutated Slime King had dropped incredible loots! Unlike the elite wolves and Mutated Black Goblin, Chen Mo immediately noticed a few pieces of equipment apart from bronze and silver coins. He even saw something like a scroll! ¡°HAHAHA!¡± Chen Mo jumped into the pit excitedly. He quickly picked up the items on the ground. ¡°Scroll of Skill Mutation?¡± Chen Mo noticed an ancient red scroll by his feet. He could not help but pick it up first. He was astounded as soon as he read the item¡¯s description. Chapter 30 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Scroll of Skill Mutation: When Player learned a new skill, using the scroll will cause the skill to mutate! Awesome! A rare item that no one had come across yet! But¡­it was not really useful for the time being. ¡°Equipment, equipment¡­¡± Chen Mo put the Scroll of Skill Mutation aside. He was more concerned about the equipment that the Mutated Slime King had dropped. ¡°Got it! Green Equipment, Sturdy Leather Armor!¡± {TL Note: Wait, why would a slime boss drop a leather armor!?} Sturdy Leather Armor Description: An armor made of high-quality monster skin. Extremely sturdy, high resistance against monster attacks. Quality: Green Requirement: Level 10 and above Attribute: Physical Defense +40 Magic Defense +48 Constitution +15 Dexterity +5 Not bad for the first piece of equipment from a Mutated Boss Monster. Chen Mo¡¯s HP had increased by 300 after equipping the Sturdy Leather Armor! As a Mutated Boss, it went without saying that the Mutated Slime King would drop more than one Green Equipment. Chen Mo immediately picked up another Green Equipment, a magic staff! Vine Magic Staff Description: A magic staff made of ancient vines. It¡¯s very light, and has the ability to increase the casting speed of the person equipping it. Quality: Green Class Restriction: Summoner, Magician, Priest Level Restriction: Level 10 and Above Attribute: Base Physical Damage: 35-45 Base Magic Damage: 55-70 Intelligence +20 Spirit +15 Additional Effect(s): Withered Vines Withered Vines: When the Player successfully lands an attack on a target, there is a 5% chance that the attack will summon Withered Vines to bind the target, preventing the target from moving for 2 seconds. Such a powerful weapon! Chen Mo was astounded after seeing the Vine Magic Staff¡¯s attributes. If only he had an equivalent Level 10 Green Equipment that he could use, he would be able to kill the Mutated Slime King twice as fast! ¡°I bet I can sell this weapon for at least twenty or thirty thousand!¡± Chen Mo speculated. The Vine Magic Staff was worth around twenty to thirty thousand, and the Sturdy Leather Armor might worth a few thousand up to ten thousand. There was still some equipment he had not picked up yet. In other words, he could earn at least ten thousand every time he killed a Mutated Slime King, which was a lot more than what he could earn normally. Ugh, maybe he should consider it as a way to earn some side income. If it was impossible to stop the full-dive virtual reality network from replacing the traditional network, at least he still managed to make a fortune from the game. Chen Mo was worried that some Players would pass by. He did not inspect every loot clearly. He simply shoved them all into his backpack. Chen Mo did not forget to use the Gathering Skill on the Mutated Slime King¡¯s remains after picking up all the loot, to see if he could acquire something additional from it. System Notification: You have obtained ¡°Summon Slime¡±! -Holy crap!- Chen Mo was surprised when something actually appeared in his hand. It was a skill book for Summoners! Summon Slime: A skill book for Summoners. The Player could summon multiple slimes after learning it. Nice, a skill book. He wondered if the skill book was available elsewhere. If not, it must be a lot more expensive than the Vine Magic Staff. After all, even though the Vine Magic Staff had outstanding attributes, Players would most likely find better equipment at Level 20, but a skill would always be useful. Chen Mo looked into his backpack. There were more than ten pieces of equipment inside it. Since the Mutated Slime King was a Mutated Boss Monster, its loots would be somewhat impressive. However, the rest of the loots were mostly Blue Equipment. There was no White Equipment. It turned out that the quality of the loots of a Mutated Boss Monster was guaranteed. Apart from the Blue Equipment, Chen Mo finally found something he was looking for in his backpack! It was a Purple Equipment¡ªSlime King Bracelet! Slime King Bracelet Description: A bracelet from the Slime King¡¯s collection. One of the Slime King¡¯s set of accessories. Collecting all three accessories of the Slime King¡¯s set will grant the Player hidden attributes. Quality: Purple, a piece of a set Requirement: Level 10 and above Attribute: Base Physical Damage +15 Base Magic Damage +15 Strength +20 Dexterity +15 Intelligence +20 Additional effect(s): Slime Poison Slime Poison: Every time the Player attacks a target, there is a 20% chance to poison the target. Once poisoned, the target will lose 20 HP every second. The poison lasts for 5 seconds, and it can be stacked up to three times. Special Effect(s): Collecting all three Slime King¡¯s accessories will activate the set attributes. Holy crap! Purple Equipment, and it was an accessory that was part of a set, the rarest kind of all! Chen Mo was blooming with joy. The time he had spent was not in vain! After spending some time on the forum, Chen Mo learned that the defensive equipment was the most common drop from the monsters. The odds of a monster dropping weapons and accessories were a lot lower, let alone high-quality accessories. Not only did he obtain a high-quality accessory, but it was also a part of the Slime King¡¯s set of accessories! A single Slime King Bracelet already had such outstanding attributes. How crazy would it be once he collected the full set consisting of a bracelet, a necklace, and a ring! Chen Mo had made up his mind. He must collect all three Slime King accessories at all costs! Only then would he have a chance to defeat Inoch! Apart from defeating Inoch, there was something else he wanted to do too, and he also needed some insane equipment for it! Chen Mo counted the money that the Mutated Slime King had dropped. The sum was around fifty silver. It was quite a huge sum in the current phase of the game. The Slime King would not respawn in a short period. If Chen Mo was planning to kill the Mutated Slime King again, he would have to respawn in other instances of Rookies Village by killing himself. Before that, Chen Mo went offline and put up a post on the forum. ¡°Trying to make a fortune? Treasure in the wild! You can dig up a future!¡± Chen Mo posted the screenshot he took and listed the attributes of the Gale Boots in the post. He would have to hire Players from Rookies Village to dig up a pit. It might be fine a few times, but someone might see what he was doing after several attempts. The Players would be suspicious eventually. Now that he had put up the post, not many Players would believe it, but those that did would make their way to the Slime Valley to dig the treasure. It was obvious that they would not dig up anything. The Players would come back to the post and comment it was nothing but a lie. The post was obviously just a lie, but it would serve as a smokescreen for Chen Mo. That way, when the Players saw Chen Mo hiring someone to dig the pit again, they would just assume him to be an idiot that believed in the post on the forum. Chen Mo would be glad if the Players would think that way. ¡°Is this real?¡± ¡°I bet it¡¯s just a lie.¡± ¡°Hello, are you there? Give us more evidence!¡± A few Players soon wrote doubtful comments on Chen Mo¡¯s post. Chen Mo did not reply to the comments. Most Players assumed it was a lie, but there were a few Players that went to buy some shovels and visit the Slime Valley just as Chen Mo thought. When the Players started digging, Chen Mo had inputted the command to kill himself and found himself back in the Goblin Valley. Chapter 31 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo had reached Level 4 when he left the Goblin Valley. It was already quite late. He went offline and enjoyed a good sleep. He woke up in the afternoon. He ate his fill and visited the forum to check out the attention his post had gathered. ¡°Liar!¡± ¡°What a waste of my time!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t believe it, it¡¯s fake!¡± Chen Mo was glad when he read the comments. It turned out that many Players had taken the bait and gone to the Slime Valley to dig up a pit. However, Chen Mo realized something was not right as he continued to read through the comments. Even though many were saying that he was a liar, he was surprised to see a few Players defending him. Chen Mo broke out in a cold sweat when he was done looking through the comments. There was indeed treasure buried outside Aiur Town! Players that took the survey when creating their characters had a chance to accept a quest of cleaning up weeds from an old man guarding a cemetery outside the town. Completing the quest would give the Players a ¡°Bandit¡¯s Treasure Map.¡± Apparently, the leader of a group of bandits ended up outside Aiur Town in serious injuries. The old man was only a kid back then. He tried his best to treat the bandit¡¯s injuries out of kindness, but the bandit still died eventually. The leader of the bandit group hid his possessions somewhere outside Aiur Town. He left the old man with a piece of treasure map. However, the drawings on the treasure map had blurred out when it was soaked in the bandit¡¯s blood. The old man spent years looking for the treasure, but he still could not find the exact location. In the end, the old man gave up on finding the treasure. He kept the treasure map as a reward for the adventurer that was willing to lend him a hand. After so many years, it was even harder to tell where the treasure was buried from the blurred treasure map. Most of the Players that had the treasure map eventually gave up too. Only a few Players had obtained the treasure map, but Chen Mo¡¯s post had given them a glimmer of hope. They decided to visit the Slime Valley and dig up the spots that they thought the treasure map was referring to. Chen Mo was lost for words. He never thought the lie he came up with would score him a bullseye. However, since his post was a lie after all, the Players soon gave up after failing to find the treasure. Now that the quest was actually a thing, he now had another excuse to be digging up a hole in the Slime Valley. Chen Mo returned to the game and prepared to level up his character. He went back to the storage and was surprised to see that the ¡°Icy Stone Water¡± had disappeared. Chen Mo realized that it was very likely that quest Gleeson gave him had reset after he was reborn. It was clearly in his favor since he could learn the Gathering Skill and the Disguising Skill from Gleeson again. Chen Mo was able to level up a lot quicker after the first experience. He had reached Level 10 before the clock hit ten at night. Chen Mo put on the equipment he acquired from the Mutated Slime King upon reaching Level 10. The Sturdy Leather Armor, the Slime King Bracelet, and three defensive Blue Equipment with impressive attributes. The drop rate of accessories and weapons was indeed the lowest. Among the ten Blue Equipment, there was no weapon that Chen Mo could use, nor was there a single accessory. Even so, Chen Mo was already wearing two Green Equipment, one Purple Equipment, and three Blue Equipment. His attributes had increased significantly. It was unlikely that anyone in Rookies Village would have better equipment than him! It was the advantage of solo-killing a Boss. If a whole team had gone to kill the Mutated Slime King, the profit that a person would gain was not as rewarding. After putting the equipment, Chen Mo¡¯s Strength was now 96 without equipping the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±, which meant his Strength would reach 106 if he was to equip it! His Constitution was 61 with the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± equipped. His HP had reached 1220. He would not die even if he received a direct blow from the Mutated Slime King! The only thing that Chen Mo needed now was a weapon, but good weapons were too rare in the game. They were a lot more expensive than the boots he bought. Chen Mo had already spent five thousand on the green Gale Boots. He would need at least ten thousand to buy a green-quality weapon. Besides, he might even struggle to buy one even if he was willing to spend ten thousand on it. As for getting a weaker weapon, Chen Mo believed it would not make much of a difference considering his current attributes. He was able to kill the Mutated Slime King with the pitiful equipment he had. He would not have any trouble killing it again now that his attributes had increased by so much. Not having a good weapon only meant he would be killing the Mutated Slime King a little slower, but even so, it would still be a lot quicker to kill the Mutated Slime King compared to yesterday with the increase in his attributes! After completing the quest of giving the beggar wolf meat and the Slime¡¯s Poison, Chen Mo returned to Wolf Valley to grind for more wolf meat while waiting for night time. Players¡¯ vision was not affected in the day. It was almost impossible to lure the Slime King away without anyone noticing it. Chen Mo brought a few shovels and ropes to the Slime Valley when the clock almost struck midnight. ¡°Brother, many people on the forum said it was a lie, are you sure about this?¡± Chen Mo went to look for Players to dig the pit for him. One of the three Players he found kindly reminded him. ¡°Just help me to dig it. You don¡¯t have to care about anything else. You want to do it or not?¡± Chen Mo acted arrogantly like he had no better place to spend his money. ¡°Of course!¡± They were not stupid enough to give up on the chance to earn some easy money. They could not care less what Chen Mo was up to after seeing his attitude. Chen Mo led the Players to the destination. Everything seemed perfectly normal when they were almost at the destination, but as they went closer, Chen Mo and the three Players were stunned. They noticed a head suddenly poking out from the ground with a cute face that was covered in dust. It was a Loli Warrior. She had dug up a pit with a depth of almost two meters. ¡°(Sigh), are you all here the treasure too? I strongly advise against it. It¡¯s unlikely you¡¯ll find a treasure here. I have already dug so deep, but I didn¡¯t even see any sign of it.¡± The Loli Warrior thought Chen Mo and the other Players were sharing the same goal as her when she saw them carrying a shovel each. She kindly gave them a piece of advice. Oh my, a Loli with the face of a child but a huge bust! The three Players that Chen Mo hired curiously went to the edge of the pit and discovered the Loli Warrior had an alluring figure. The Players were intrigued right away. One of them crouched down with a smile and said, ¡°Little girl, what¡¯s your name? Do you need our help?¡± -What the heck!? Didn¡¯t I hire you for the job, and yet you¡¯re trying to pick up a chick when you¡¯re working? Do you still want to get paid or not!?- Chen Mo had an urge to go up and kick the guy straight into the pit! ¡°Me? I¡¯m Little Warrior, I have almost reached the bottom. I won¡¯t need your help,¡± the Loli Warrior shook her head and rejected the man¡¯s offer. ¡°What Level are you? Do you want me to help you level up? I¡¯m already Level 10,¡± the guy did not give up. ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary, you have a vicious look in your eyes. You are clearly not a good person!¡± Little Warrior glared at him and snapped. ¡°Time to go, we¡¯ll find somewhere else,¡± Chen Mo said. The Player felt a little awkward after hearing Little Warrior¡¯s words. Chen Mo just happened to give him an excuse to take his leave. He quickly returned to Chen Mo¡¯s side. The other two Players gave up too when they learned it was not easy to trick the little Loli after seeing their friend being rejected. The first spot Chen Mo had in mind was occupied by the Loli Warrior. However, Chen Mo also thought it was too risky to keep digging up a pit in the same place. As such, he had come up with a few options. He led the three Players and walked a few minutes before coming to a stop. He asked the three Players to start digging. Half an hour later, they managed to dig up a pit over three meters deep. Chen Mo asked the three to leave and spent some time roaming around the area to ensure there were no other Players around. After making sure it was safe, Chen Mo went to the Slime King and used the Slime¡¯s Poison after seeing there was no one around. The Slime King mutated instantly and chased after Chen Mo while yelling furiously. Chen Mo adeptly lured the Mutated Slime King to the pit he had dug up. He did not have any trouble knocking the Mutated Slime King into the pit. Chen Mo was well aware of how the Mutated Slime King would react. The Mutated Slime King no longer posed any threat to Chen Mo. His attributes had improved significantly too. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP was dropping very quickly. Last time, Chen Mo had to drink another potion of Slime¡¯s Poison during his attempt, but this time, the Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP was almost at the bottom when the effect of Slime¡¯s Poison still had around ten minutes left. ¡°Almost there, only 20% left!¡± Chen Mo estimated he could kill the Mutated Slime King a few minutes before the effect of the Slime¡¯s Poison came to an end. However, a figure holding a shovel suddenly showed up in Chen Mo¡¯s vision! Crap! Someone is coming! Chen Mo immediately had a bad feeling. He was already killing the Mutated Slime King a lot quicker than his first attempt, but someone still showed up when the Boss Monster did not have much HP left. If the person ended up disclosing it on the forum, he would have difficulties killing the Mutated Slime King on his own again! Chapter 32 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The person was holding a shovel, indicating that he or she was here to dig for treasure. Chen Mo was clearly shooting himself in the foot this time. Chen Mo did not expect someone would come to dig for treasure at this time. Most Players that read the post in the day would have tried digging for the treasure by now. It was unlikely that anyone would be digging for treasure in the Slime Valley at night. The figure gradually became clearer. Chen Mo was stunned when he saw who it was. The person holding a shovel was the Loli Warrior called Little Warrior whom he met around an hour ago. ¡°Why is she back again?¡± Chen Mo even went back to the hole after he was done digging up his. Little Warrior had already left, leaving only the hole behind. Chen Mo assumed she had already left, yet it turned out that she had already gone somewhere else to continue her digging, before coming to the area where he had dug up his hole. ¡°It¡¯s you? Wow! How did you dig up such a huge monster?¡± Little Warrior had a good memory. She recognized Chen Mo right away. Chen Mo just happened to knock the Mutated Slime King into the pit. Little Warrior¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief when she saw it. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s very strong, you better leave now!¡± Chen Mo said. This Little Warrior was not that familiar with video games. Otherwise, she would never think Chen Mo had dug up the Boss Monster. Chen Mo did not overthink it. He just wanted to trick the little girl for the time being. He might not have to kill the Mutated Slime King anymore when she eventually learned the truth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ll lend you a hand!¡± Little Warrior immediately equipped an iron sword and charged at the Mutated Slime King. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Chen Mo was shocked. He tried to stop the girl, but his warning was just a little too late. Little Warrior had already jumped into the pit to fight the Mutated Slime King. Her luck had been on point since she started playing the game. She had acquired some impressive equipment, thus the monsters in the Slime Valley no longer posed any threat to her. Even though the Mutated Slime King was quite huge, she did not think its damage would be too crazy. Meanwhile, Chen Mo did not dare to look into the pit as he already knew what was about to happen. He had just knocked the Mutated Slime King into the pit. There were still a number of purple orbs that the Mutated Slime King had released. These purple orbs would normally last for around ten seconds. If the Loli Warrior was to jump into the pit now¡­she was going to die for sure! As he thought, Little Warrior jumped into the pit and made contact with a few purple orbs before she could approach the Mutated Slime King. BANG BANG BANG¡­Little Warrior died instantly before she even knew what was going on. Ugh, forget it, it did not really matter if the girl died. It was just a game, and there was no penalty for dying for Players under Level 10. Chen Mo did not think too much. He focused on killing the Mutated Slime King. He would not be so lucky again if someone else showed up. Roar! The Mutated Slime King let out a discontented furious roar. As expected of a Boss Monster, it even had the same reaction when it was slain. The spot where the Mutated Slime King fell to the ground suddenly twinkled under the night sky. Once again, the Boss Monster had dropped a lot of loots. Chen Mo quickly jumped into the pit and shoved everything into his inventory. The Loli Warrior might return again. Chen Mo did not spend too much time at the same spot. The little girl was extremely naive. She was surely going to ask him a lot of questions if she was back. Chen Mo did not want to lie to her, thus it was better to avoid her. Chen Mo looked at the loots that the Mutated Slime King dropped after he had walked quite a distance away. ¡°HAHAHA, another piece of Purple Equipment!¡± The Mutated Slime King had dropped more than ten pieces of equipment. Chen Mo immediately noticed the Purple Equipment among them! Windrunner Boots Description: Wearing these boots will turn you into a wind-like man (woman)! Quality: Purple Requirement: Level 10 and above Attribute: Physical Defense +48 Magic Defense +52 Dexterity +10 Movement Speed +5 Additional Skill: Windspeed Evasion Windspeed Evasion: After using the skill, Player¡¯s movement speed will increase by 1. Player also has a 20% chance of evading enemy attacks. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Movement Speed +5, a pair of purple boots! ¡°Not bad, with the Windrunner Boots, I won¡¯t even have to worry about dying to the Mutated Slime King if I¡¯m being careless!¡± The Mutated Slime King¡¯s speed would increase significantly whenever it jumped out of the pit. However, now that he had the Windrunner Boots, his movement speed had increased further. He still could not outrun the Mutated Slime King, but the Boss Monster would also have a hard time catching up to him. He just needed to set up some obstacles, and the Mutated Slime King would never be able to catch up to him. ¡°A piece of Green Equipment too, Sturdy Leather Leggings!¡± Sturdy Leather Leggings Description: Leather leggings made of some high-quality leather from monsters. Very sturdy, can resist monsters¡¯ attacks effectively Quality: Green Requirement: Level 10 and above Attribute: Physical Defense +32 Magic Defense +36 Constitution +8 Strength +5 The description was similar to the Sturdy Leather Armor he acquired yesterday, but the equipment yesterday was upper body armor, and the equipment today was lower body armor. The attributes were different, but they were clearly from the same set of equipment. Apart from these two pieces of equipment, there were more than ten other pieces too, all of them were Blue Equipment. Chen Mo used the Gathering Skill on the Mutated Slime King¡¯s remains too, but he did not find anything this time. The things that were missing were the Scroll of Skill Mutation, a skill book, and a piece of Green Equipment compared to the loots he obtained yesterday, but he was already very satisfied. The loots were better yesterday most likely because it was the first time that someone had slain the Mutated Slime King. It was reasonable to find fewer loots after the first death of a Boss Monster. He would already be thanking the gods if the Mutated Slime King dropped a piece of Purple Equipment every time it was slain. The Mutated Slime King also dropped more than forty silvers. The system would automatically exchange one hundred silvers into a gold coin. He just needed a few more silvers to have a gold coin. ¡­ Little Warrior¡¯s adorable face showed up not long after Chen Mo left. She did not think too much when she did not see Chen Mo around. She was impressed by the big brother. He had dug up such a shocking monster and killed it so quickly. Little Warrior took out an old treasure map with a lot of markings that she had drawn on it. She proceeded to one of the coordinates that were marked on the map. It was close to where Chen Mo had dug up a pit. She began digging diligently. ¡°Nothing here too.¡± More than an hour later, Little Warrior climbed out from the pit and sat beside it. Her legs were dangling at the edge. She took the map out and faced it at the moon. She drew a cross at her current location. ¡°That means, there¡¯s only one spot left.¡± Little Warrior put the map away and headed to the next location carrying a shovel. Around ten minutes later, she took out the treasure map to confirm the coordinates again, before starting to dig a hole on the grassland. Dirt scattered in the air. A giant hole gradually appeared. Ding! A metallic clank was heard all of a sudden. ¡°A treasure box!¡± Little Warrior dug the treasure box out of the hole excitedly. ¡°There¡¯s a bit of everything in it. Forget it, I¡¯ll bring it back to town and put it in the storage first! I¡¯m now done with the treasure hunting quest. Time to do the next quest. (Sigh), why are there so many quests in this little town? When can I finish them all and leave this place?¡± Little Warrior opened the treasure box and saw a bunch of books, scrolls, equipment, and gems. She decisively placed them all in her inventory after taking a rough glance. She climbed out of the pit and let out a sigh after checking the quests that she had yet to complete. Chapter 33 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°This guy, I believe he will only stop after killing the Boss Monster of every Rookie Village.¡± The Monitoring Department of Canglan Tech, a group of young men watched the Hunter kill a Mutated Slime King again. ¡°How did he even come up with the idea?¡± The day before yesterday, the group of people suddenly discovered that someone had slain a Mutated Slime King. They curiously tracked down the Player and were astounded by what they saw. A Player had slain the Mutated Slime King that many guilds were struggling against on his own! They were even more shocked when they saw how the Player had killed the Mutated Slime King. The trick the Player used was abusive, but they did not think it could be classified as a bug since digging a hole was nowhere enough to kill a Mutated Slime King. However, they still reported their findings. In the end, the AI ¡°Twilight¡± actually approved the trick that the Player had used to kill the Boss Monster after some evaluation. The group of young men did not have any complaints. After all, it did not really matter who ended up killing the Boss Monster first. Besides, it was a relief that someone had managed to kill the Mutated Slime King in the Chinese servers so soon. The Players in other servers were still struggling to kill the Slime King, let alone the Mutated Slime King. ¡°Holy cow! Another Scroll of Skill Mutation, he¡¯s going to be rich!¡± The Mutated Slime King had a massive drop again. The group of young men was not allowed to play the game because of the contract they were bound to. Their only way to enjoy it was by watching the Players fight the Boss Monsters. They could not help but feel nervous when they saw the Hunter kill the Boss Monster. They screamed out in excitement as soon as they saw the loots that the Mutated Slime King dropped. ¡°The Scroll of Skill Mutation, I bet it¡¯s something that only mutated Boss Monsters would drop. The Mutated Slime King is clearly the easiest mutated Boss Monster in the whole game.¡± ¡°It must be! From what I know, it¡¯s extremely difficult for other Boss Monsters to mutate, not to mention how difficult it is to kill them after their strength rises significantly due to the mutation!¡± ¡°I remember every mutated Boss Monster will only drop a limited number of Scrolls of Skill Mutation in a certain period, right?¡± ¡°Every mutated Boss Monster will only drop a few. It will only reset after a very long time.¡± ¡°So that means if he keeps killing the Mutated Slime King, he might be able to claim all the Scrolls of Skill Mutation that the Mutated Slime King can drop!¡± It was already impressive for a Player to have a mutated skill in the game. It was crazy to think that a Player would have several mutated skills! ¡°I don¡¯t think killing mutated Boss Monsters is the only to obtain the Scroll of Skill Mutation. Did you forget? Someone has found two Scrolls of Skill Mutation and a bunch of insane loots yesterday,¡± someone in the group mentioned. The others immediately realized something. There were things that they still did not know about the next-generation game. Meanwhile, Chen Mo seemed discontented after picking up the loots that the Mutated Slime King had dropped. Why was he not satisfied? It was already his third time killing the Mutated Slime King, but it had only dropped a Scroll of Skill Mutation this time. Apart from it, there were only two Green Equipment and nine Blue Equipment. There was no Slime King accessory and no Purple Equipment. He did not even get anything after using the Gathering Skill on the Mutated Slime King¡¯s remains. ¡°Again, there¡¯s no way I can¡¯t get a full set of Purple Equipment. Inoch, just you wait!¡± Chen Mo was a very patient man. He went back to the Rookies Village, placed his belongings in the storage, and executed the command to kill his character again. ¡­ ¡°About time, it finally drops a Purple Equipment!¡± Two days later, Chen Mo had killed the Mutated Slime King for the fifth time. The drops yesterday was the worst. He only got a Green Equipment, but today, the Mutated Slime King finally had insane drops again. It was a Purple Equipment; it was a crossbow! Minor Poison Crossbow Description: A crossbow soaked in poison. The bolts it fires can deal poison damage. Quality: Purple Requirement: Hunter and Assassin only, Level 10 and above Attribute: Base Physical Damage: 68-82 Basic Magic Damage: 59-77 Strength +25 Dexterity +20 Skill Level of Minor Poison Bolts +1 Skill Level of Poison Torment +1 Additional Effect(s): Minor Poison Minor Poison: Every successful hit has a 10% chance to deal 200 extra poison damage to the target. The damage doesn¡¯t stack with other poison damage. Chen Mo was overjoyed when he saw the details of the Minor Poison Crossbow. It was all worth it! This purple crossbow was so good, better than the weapons he had seen on the forum so far! The damage of crossbows was lower than other types of weapons, but this Level 10 crossbow¡¯s base damage was higher than most of the weapons that the Players had looted so far. The value of extra attributes to Strength was impressive too, with +1 Skill Level to Hunter¡¯s Minor Poison Bolt and Assassin¡¯s Poison Torment. It even had an additional effect. Chen Mo bet he could easily sell it for fifty thousand yuan! It went without saying that Chen Mo had no plan to sell it, at least for the time being! The Minor Poison Crossbow was his biggest reliance to defeat Inoch. He could now kill the Mutated Slime King twice as faster with it. It took him around twenty minutes to kill the Mutated Slime King, which meant he only needed around ten minutes to kill the Mutated Slime King with the Minor Poison Crossbow! He had acquired the weapon he needed. He just needed four other defensive equipment and two accessories before having the final showdown with Inoch! Chen Mo was a lot more motivated after acquiring the new weapon. He went back to Aiur Town and could not wait to kill his character again. Chen Mo went offline when it was almost daytime. He decided to take a rest. Before he went to bed, he browsed the forum to check on the current progress of the other Players. Even though he was busy killing the Mutated Slime King, he had to stay updated with the latest information too. He was not the only one being hired to find a loophole. It was important to learn about the latest information on the forum. Nothing important happened in the past few days. There were only two topics among the Players. One was the Trial of Innate Talents available to the Players after leaving the Rookies Village. The Players had proven that the better their results during the Trial of Innate Talents, the better their innate talents would be. However, the Trial of Innate Talents was not the only way to receive the Innate Talents. Some Players had unlocked the Innate Talents after reaching a certain level too. However, it was obviously better to unlock these Innate Talents earlier. The second topic was about the difference between day and night in the game. According to the Players that had moved on to the three main human cities, it was better not to go out at night. Not only was their vision limited in the wild at night, but the monsters¡¯ attributes were also significantly higher too. Those without proper equipment would die to the monsters easily when going out at night. However, some people had different opinions on it. The monsters at night might be stronger, but the Players would obtain more experience killing them too. Besides, there were monsters and NPCs that only appeared at night too. Players could accept rare quests from these NPCs and be rewarded handsomely. It was a must to have good equipment to hunt monsters at night. It was extremely difficult to level up past Level 10, which was why a Player¡¯s equipment was so important. Even the supply of Blue Equipment above Level 10 was significantly lower than the demand in the three human cities, let alone the supply of higher quality equipment. ¡­ Two days were gone in the blink of an eye. Chen Mo was a lot stronger after acquiring the Minor Poison Crossbow. The Mutated Slime King no longer stood a chance against him. After a familiar cry, a pile of glittering loots fell to the ground. Chen Mo¡¯s eyes suddenly widened when he saw a piece of familiar equipment! Chapter 34 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches System Notification: You have obtained the ¡°Slime King Ring¡±! Slime King Ring Description: A ring that is part of the Slime King¡¯s collection, one of the Slime King¡¯s set of accessories. Collecting all three accessories of the Slime King¡¯s set will grant the Player hidden attributes. Quality: Purple, a piece of a set Requirement: Level 10 and above Attribute: Base Physical Damage +20 Base Magic Damage +20 Strength +15 Intelligence +20 Spirit +15 Additional Skill(s): Slime King¡¯s Summon Slime King¡¯s Summon: Summon a Level 13 Slime to fight for the Player. The color of the slime is randomized. Duration: 3 minutes. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Special Effect(s): Collecting all three Slime King¡¯s accessories will activate the set attributes. As he thought! The item¡¯s appearance was similar to the Slime King Bracelet he acquired before. Chen Mo quickly picked it up and saw it was the ring from the Slime King¡¯s set of accessories! He had collected two out of three of the set of accessories! The attributes of the Slime King Ring and the Slime King Bracelet did not differ by much. The only difference was, the bracelet had extra attributes for Dexterity, while the ring had extra attributes for Spirit. The additional skills were different too. Chen Mo put on the Slime King Ring and summoned a Slime. A Black Slime appeared. Chen Mo inspected its attributes and discovered that the Level 13 Black Slime had 100 HP. Even with Chen Mo¡¯s current attributes, it would still take him quite some time to kill a Black Slime with 100 HP without relying on the Slime¡¯s Poison. It seemed like the Slime that the ring could summon might come in handy. Chen Mo was in a great mood after obtaining the second accessory out of the set. He quickly picked up the rest of the loots. Chen Mo did not really care about the rest of the loots since he had already looted the Slime King Ring. However, he suddenly froze while he was picking up the loots. He burst out laughing after a brief pause. Damn, he was in great luck today. There was a Purple Equipment too! Refined Wolf Leather Leggings Description: Made of sturdy wolf leather, granting them an outstanding defense Quality: Purple Requirement: Level 10 and above Attribute: Physical Defense +50 Magic Defense +55 Constitution +15 Spirit +20 Additional Effect(s): Resist (Novice) Resist (Novice): Every time Player is attacked, reduces the damage Player receives by 10. Only works when the Player receives 15 damage or higher. Refined Wolf Leather Leggings, their attributes were very impressive even as a Purple Equipment! Their attributes were almost double of the Sturdy Leather Leggings he was wearing! Normally, the Purple Equipment was only a grade higher than the Green Equipment, thus the difference between their attributes was not much. However, even equipment of the same grade would have different attributes still. It further distinguished between high-quality equipment and normal equipment of the same grade. The attributes of the Refined Wolf Leather Leggings were above average among the Purple Equipment, while the Sturdy Leather Leggings¡¯s attributes were only average as a Green Equipment, resulted in the great difference between their attributes. Chen Mo now had two defensive Purple Equipment after obtaining the Refined Wolf Leather Leggings. He also had a Purple Weapon and two Purple Accessories. He was only three defensive equipment and one accessory short on having a full set of Purple Equipment. It was his seventh time killing the Mutated Slime King. His luck was not too bad. He might be able to collect a full set of Purple Equipment after slaying the Mutated Slime King ten times! He bet no Player had managed to get a full set of Purple Equipment in the game yet. It was not like they could buy a full set of Purple Equipment even if they had the money to afford it! However, how would he stand a chance against an NPC if he did not have a full set of Purple Equipment? He was not just competing with other Players. He was aiming to take down NPCs. He could not care less how impressive the other Players were! NPCs were not the same as Players. The system was like the NPCs¡¯ parents. He needed to be a lot stronger, otherwise, he would be courting death provoking the NPCs! Chen Mo was closer to reaching his goal after obtaining two Purple Equipment at once. He was on cloud nine. He picked up all the loots and did not forget to use the Gathering Skill on the Mutated Slime King¡¯s remains. System Notification: You have obtained the skill book ¡°Capture¡±! Capture: A skill book for Hunters. The skill is learnable at Level 10. Using it will allow Hunters to capture monsters to fight on their behalf. Holy shit! Chen Mo glanced at the notification after hearing the sound. He could not believe his eyes. How lucky was he today!? Not only did he get two Purple Equipment at once, he even found a skill book which was one of the most important skills for his class! The skill book of Capture was not necessarily that rare, but most Hunters would only get it after completing the quest at the Hunters¡¯ Guild at Level 15. Currently, the highest level of a Player was 14. No one had reached Level 15 yet, which meant no one had learned the skill Capture yet. If Chen Mo wanted, he could learn the skill right away and become the first Hunter to learn Capture in the game. However, it would be a waste to learn it now since he would be committing suicide soon. He still needed to hunt the Mutated Slime King to get a full set of Purple Equipment. That being said, it did not stop Chen Mo from brimming with joy. With the skill Capture, his rate of leveling up would easily surpass that of other Players after he left the Rookies Village. He would be able to summon a Slime and capture a powerful monster to fight for him, not to mention he would have a full set of Purple Equipment too. What monsters could possibly stand a chance against him? He could just kill anyone that he found to be an eyesore! Unfortunately, his goal was to find a bug to break the game. He did not think he would have many opportunities fighting against other Players. Chen Mo stopped his wild imaginations and collected his thoughts. He pleasantly ended his life and started from Level 1 again. He had repeated the process of leveling up from one to ten around seven or eight times by now. He could even leave the Goblin Valley with his eyes closed while some unlucky Players were still struggling to find a way out of it. Chen Mo did not even bother triggering the mutation of the Black Goblin in the Goblin Valley. After killing the Mutated Black Goblin seven times, the mutated monster was now reluctant to drop any valuable loot. The last time Chen Mo killed it, it had only dropped around thirty coppers instead. It did not even drop a Low-level Mutated Potion. Chen Mo decided not to waste his time on it. Even though he had lots of equipment in his storage, they were only equipable at Level 10, nor were they in his inventory. It would take him some time to kill the Mutated Black Goblin still. When Chen Mo left the Goblin Valley, he went offline, as usual, to take a rest before the sun rose the next day. When he woke up, he went to the Wolf Valley to level up his character. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was still unbeatable. Apart from a few Players, no one bothered to challenge it. The monster was just too powerful. It was a waste of time to fight it. They would rather spend their time leveling up their characters. As a result, not many Players were able to sneak into the Wolf Valley. While the Players were competing for the monsters elsewhere, Chen Mo was taking his time leveling up his character while collecting wolf meat in the Wolf Valley. Chen Mo had collected a huge amount of wolf meat. He now had almost a thousand pieces of wolf meat and a few bottles of Slime¡¯s Poison in his storage. They could easily last for quite a long time for the repeatable quests. The night had come in no time. Chen Mo had already dug up a pit for the Mutated Slime King. With Chen Mo¡¯s current attributes, it was just too easy for him to kill the Mutated Slime King with the help of a pit. Chen Mo had already killed the Mutated Slime King eight times, but it still dropped a lot of impressive loots when it died. ¡°A Scroll of Skill Mutation¡­it seems like the drop isn¡¯t as good compared to yesterday¡¯s loots.¡± Chen Mo unpleasantly shoved the Scroll of Skill Mutation in his inventory. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s drop was so bad today. There was not even a single Green Equipment. All it dropped was a Scroll of Skill Mutation. Meanwhile, the group of young men in the Monitoring Department of Canglan Tech was exclaiming how incredible the Hunter¡¯s luck was. Either the Slime King accessories or the Scroll of Skill Mutation was meant to have an insanely low drop rate! Chapter 35 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Someone has already killed this Rookies Village¡¯s Slime King?¡± Chen Mo had killed the Mutated Slime King nine times. However, he was quite surprised when he did not see the Slime King at the usual spot on the tenth time. The Slime King normally took three days to respawn. If he did kill the Slime King within two days ago, it would make sense that the Slime King had not respawned yet, but he was quite sure that he did not kill the Slime King in this instance. Every instance of Aiur Town had a unique identifier. The instance ID of the Aiur Town his character was currently assigned to was 3014. Chen Mo did not recall being in this instance before. Chen Mo walked around the area to confirm that the Slime King was not lured away by other Players, which meant someone did kill the Slime King in this instance. The Slime King was not necessarily a tough Boss Monster since its moves were quite predictable. A party could easily slay the Boss Monster with the right equipment and plan. The Nouveau Riches Club had to use the human wave tactic because they were trying to kill the Slime King with brute force. Meanwhile, with the right plan, Chen Mo could defeat the Slime King by himself. Chen Mo knew it was only a matter of time that the other Players would find a way to kill the Slime King. It had already been more than ten days since the game was launched. Chen Mo would not be surprised if some Players managed to collect enough equipment and find a way to gather members of the same guild in the same instance of Rookies Village. Chen Mo did not think someone was able to take on the Slime King alone just like him. It was common for Players to pass by the Slime King¡¯s location, thus it was almost impossible for anyone to dig up a pit nearby and kill the Slime King without being noticed. As for fighting the Slime King head-on alone, even Chen Mo would not stand a chance against the Slime King with his current equipment. He would not be able to dodge the Boss Monster¡¯s attacks since there were no obstacles around. Only a party with a balanced offense, defense, and healing could take on the Slime King. Chen Mo purposely visited the forum. He confirmed his speculation after briefly looking around. The situation was worse than what Chen Mo had imagined. It turned out that two different groups of Players were hunting a Slime King every day just like him. Someone had posted on the forum about it two days ago, but Chen Mo believed the two groups might be doing it a day earlier. Some Players had recorded one of the groups killing the Slime King. ¡°A weapon with the Silence debuff, no wonder.¡± The Slime King had an AoE skill too, but it was not as deadly as the Mutated Slime King¡¯s attack. However, a critical hit would still kill a Player that was not at full health. Even if the Players were still alive, everyone would lose a significant amount of health too, placing the group in a disadvantageous position. The Priest in the party was able to cast Silence on the Slime King. It would interrupt the Slime King¡¯s ultimate move. Therefore, the Slime King was no longer a threat to them. It was only a matter of time until it was slain. New competitors had shown up, and there was more than one. Chen Mo did not really care. It was completely normal to have competitors in an MMORPG. Thinking too much about it would not help at all. There were quite a lot of instances of the Rookies Village and only a few competitors. It was unlikely for them to stumble into one another. He was almost done collecting a full set of equipment too. He just needed to spend a few more days on it if his luck was not too bad. Chen Mo returned to the game and decisively killed his character to be reborn again. He found himself in a different instance of the Rookies Village. This time, he did not grind his level after leaving the Goblin Valley. He went to the Slime Valley to make sure the Slime King was alive first. ¡°It¡¯s still there,¡± Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh. The Slime King of this instance was still alive. Chen Mo suddenly halted in his track when he was about to leave to level up his character. He noticed that the Slime King¡¯s color was slightly different than the ones he had seen so far. It also seemed to have a gentler demeanor too. Did he imagine it? No way! Chen Mo was very confident in his observation skills. The Slime King was different from the ones he had encountered so far. Chen Mo took out a bottle of Slime¡¯s Poison and drank it. Roar! The Slime King let out a furious roar. It slightly enlarged and its color darkened. It approached Chen Mo with a fierce look. ¡°Its aggro radius and size are bigger, its attributes have increased significantly too, but¡­it didn¡¯t mutate!¡± Chen Mo was shocked. He was just giving it a try, yet it was exactly what he thought! The Slime King of this instance must have been killed once¡­this Slime King must have just respawned not long ago! It did not kill many Players yet, thus its color was not as deep as the other Slime Kings. It was not as savage either. Chen Mo could only think of two possibilities why the Slime King did not mutate. First, the Boss Monster would only mutate within a certain period of time even when the conditions were met. It would only mutate again after a certain time. The mutation was similar to Player¡¯s skills; it had a cooldown. Second, not all the conditions to trigger the Boss Monster¡¯s mutation had been met. The Slime¡¯s Poison was only one of the conditions. If this new Slime King did not meet the requirement, but the other Slime Kings he had encountered so far did, it was very likely that a Boss Monster would only mutate after killing a certain number of Players, as he had first speculated. Either one of them could explain why the Boss Monster did not mutate. It might even be both of them. Either way, if the Slime King could not mutate, Chen Mo had no reason to kill it. Luckily, he had come to take a look first. If he waited until he was Level 10, he would have wasted another day. He had only wasted around an hour in the Goblin Valley now. Chen Mo proceeded to kill his character again. If he hurried, he could still reach Level 10 before it was night. Similarly, Chen Mo went to confirm if the Boss Monster was still alive after leaving the Goblin Valley. The Slime King of the new instance was still alive. Its color was quite dark too, indicating that it had yet to be killed by Players. Chen Mo immediately went to grind his levels. Unlike him, the two groups of Players did not have to wait until night time to kill the Slime King. Therefore, he had to pick up his pace. However, Chen Mo was not in a rush either. He still had to wait until it was night regardless of quickly he managed to level up his character. Otherwise, if the trick he was abusing to kill the Mutated Slime King was exposed, he would be facing more than two groups of competitors. It would be even more difficult to find a Slime King. Chen Mo¡¯s luck was not that bad. The two groups of Players did not suddenly appear and kill the Slime King while he was leveling up his character. After reaching Level 10, he hired some Players to dig up a pit. It did not take him long to kill the Mutated Slime King. ¡°A Scroll of Skill Mutation again¡­HAHA, a piece of Purple Equipment too!¡± Chen Mo had wasted an extra day after the competitors showed up. However, he noticed that his luck was back. Not only did he obtain another Scroll of Skill Mutation from killing the Mutated Slime King, but he also found the third piece of Purple Equipment! Mercury Bracer Description: A metal bracer made of mercury, it has special resistance to poison Quality: Purple Requirement: Level 10 and above Attributes: Base Physical Damage +12 Base Magic Damage +15 Physical Defense +20 Magic Defense +25 Strength +15 Intelligence +15 Additional Effect(s): Poison Protection Poison Protection: A passive ability. Player equipping the Mercury Bracer would receive 10% less poison damage and has a 10% chance to be immune to a poison attack. -It was a purple bracer!- The bracers were quite special among the five defensive equipment. It was the only defensive equipment that would increase a Player¡¯s base physical damage and base magic damage. However, the defensive attributes of a bracer were significantly lower than other defensive equipment. However, most Players were more fond of having high damage compared to defense. As a result, the bracers were just as popular as boots and were usually sold at a higher price. Chen Mo was in a good mood after acquiring another piece of Purple Equipment. He put the equipment away and killed his character again. Around half an hour after Chen Mo killed himself, a group of Players with impressive equipment showed up at the Slime King¡¯s spawning point. Chapter 36 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches If Chen Mo was here, he would recognize them to be the group he saw in the recording on the forum, one of the two groups of Players that was hunting the Slime King. ¡°Strange, someone has killed the Slime King in this instance,¡± the gentle young man leading the group said curiously staring at the empty grassland. His in-game nickname was Musen. His class was Mage, and he was the leader of the party of six. ¡°Did Leng Xiaoliu and his party kill the Slime King before us?¡± Shallow Speech went forward to take a closer look. Shallow Speech was the party¡¯s Priest, a quiet beautiful woman around the age of twenty. Musen, Shallow Speech, and the rest of the party were all from a small high-end gaming studio. Before Genesis was released, they were focusing on the games that only the nouveau riches played. They were offering their services to the nouveau riches. After the news about Genesis was released, Musen and the others decisively sold all the accounts and resources they had in the other games. Their gaming studio decided to focus on Genesis instead. {TL Note: The gaming studios here refer to a group of people that could be hired by players or guilds to grind levels, materials, weapons, etc. They are pretty common in China.} A full-dive VR MMORPG had always been a fantasy to every person that played video games. How could they possibly miss out on it now that it had become the reality? Most importantly, Shallow Speech, Musen, and the others believed they could earn a fortune from the game. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, I know Leng Xiaoliu and his party are currently in another instance of the Rookies Village,¡± Musen shook his head. ¡°Leng Xiaoliu¡­humph, he¡¯s so lucky to get his way during the quest last time. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to kill the Boss Monster!¡± a Player called Steelhead in the party said furiously. Steelhead was a bulky man. He was a straightforward person too. He always chose the class Warrior in every game he played. ¡°It¡¯s all my fault. If I was able to ambush Leng Xiaoliu back then, there¡¯s no way they could complete the quest,¡± the Assassin in the party lowered his head in shame. ¡°Lil Six, don¡¯t think too much about it. It wasn¡¯t your fault. If Leng Xiaoliu is someone that would be ambushed so easily, we would have long come out on top instead of competing with them over three years,¡± Musen patted the Assassin Lil Six on the shoulder. Before the full-dive virtual network was rolled out, there were countless gaming studios in China. There were many gaming studios that were doing the same thing as Musen¡¯s gaming studio, and Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s gaming studio was one of them. Normally, every gaming studio would avoid having a conflict with others. They would just mind their own business and earn as much as they could, but Leng Xiaoliu had a great appetite and a cunning personality. He was using all kinds of dirty tricks to entrap his competitors. Musen and his group were set up twice as they did not know what kind of a person Leng Xiaoliu was at the start. They ended up paying a huge sum of compensation to their customers, and their reputation was greatly damaged too. They almost disbanded too. Since then, they had been holding a grudge against Leng Xiaoliu. The two groups had been competing for three years, but none of them had managed to come out on top. Similar to Musen and his group, Leng Xiaoliu had also decided to focus on Genesis. Since enemies were destined to stumble into one another, the two gaming studios had shown up at the Dark Shadow City at the same time. They both left the city at night to kill monsters and met the same NPC that gave them a rare quest. During the quest, Musen and his group had secured a huge advantage. They had no problem completing the quests, thus they tried to stop Leng Xiaoliu and his group from completing the quest. Unfortunately, they did not succeed. Both groups completed the rare quests in the end. Each leader received a ¡°Leader¡¯s Badge¡± too. Both Musen and Leng Xiaoliu knew they had obtained something remarkable as soon as they saw the Leader¡¯s Badge. The Leader¡¯s Badge could be used once every day to teleport the members of the same party that completed the quest to the leader, if the members gave their consents! They immediately thought of using the Leader¡¯s Badge to make a fortune from killing the Boss Monster in the Rookies Village. Currently, every Level 10 Blue Equipment and Green Equipment was sold at a relatively high price. If the Boss Monster dropped a piece of Purple Equipment, the single piece of Purple Equipment could easily make more money than what they would earn from a few jobs in the past! They were planning to earn money from the game all along. Now that they were given the chance, they decisively chose to kill their characters to be reborn in the Rookies Village. The Leader¡¯s Badge was bound to the Player¡¯s account. Since it did not grant the Player any attributes, it did not have a level requirement. They could summon their party to them as long as the members did not change their character names. However, the other members of the party would have to kill their characters too. The characters must be in the same map for the Leader¡¯s Badge to work. It would not work if the characters had left the Rookies Village. Musen and Leng Xiaoliu began to hunt the Slime King in every instance of the Rookies Village. However, they did not expect there was a third group of Players that was capable of killing the Boss Monster too. ¡°If it isn¡¯t Leng Xiaoliu, who else could it be?¡± Shallow Speech frowned. ¡°Let¡¯s spread out and investigate it,¡± Musen said to the party. He was eager to find out the truth too. The others nodded and went into different directions. The party of six regrouped half an hour later. ¡°I didn¡¯t obtain any valuable information. No one has seen a group of Players that is capable of killing the Boss Monster.¡± ¡°Same here.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± Musen and the other members shook their heads. They did not learn anything useful. ¡°I do find some useful information. One of the Players I asked told me that he saw a Hunter heading toward the Slime King. He saw the Hunter had some impressive equipment, so he was thinking of forming a party with him to kill the slimes. However, he wasn¡¯t able to catch up to the Hunter. He said that the Hunter was moving so quickly. He suddenly realized he had accidentally walked into the Boss Monster¡¯s aggro radius. It scared the shit out of him, but the Boss Monster did not show up to kill him. He curiously went to where the Boss Monster was, but it was nowhere to be seen,¡± Shallow Speech shared her finding with the party. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that the Hunter killed the Slime King alone? In such a short period of time?¡± Musen¡¯s eyes flickered with astonishment. ¡°Could it be that the Boss Monster is already dead before the Hunter shows up?¡± Steelhead asked. Shallow Speech shook her head and said, ¡°No, the Player mentioned that he could still see the Boss Monster before it was dark. The Hunter only showed up at night, and the Boss Monster was gone several minutes after the Hunter appeared.¡± A Player that could kill the Slime King on his own? Was there really someone so impressive in this game? ¡­ Chen Mo was unaware that someone had figured out he was able to kill the Boss Monster on his own. Chen Mo had reached Level 10 again after killing his character. He was ready to kill the Mutated Slime King again. He hired some Players to dig up the pit, but he was surprised to see a group of Players fighting the Slime King. The group of Players had impressive equipment. The equipment they were wearing was at least Green Equipment. They had great teamwork too. It was quite obvious that they were very good at the game. The Players were different from the ones he saw on the forum. It must be the other team that was hunting the Slime King. Chen Mo already paid a visit to the Slime Valley after leaving the Goblin Valley. He did not expect that the group that was hunting the Slime Valley would show up while he was leveling up his character. The team that was killing the Slime King had noticed Chen Mo and the Players he hired before they could go any closer. A female Mage glanced at Chen Mo and his group and said with a proud and icy voice, ¡°Piss off if you don¡¯t want to die. Don¡¯t you dare disturb us when we are killing the Boss Monster!¡± Chapter 37 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°B**ch, you better watch your mouth!¡± The three Players that Chen Mo hired yelled furiously. They had not been doing well in real life, and yet they were still being disrespected in the game. They immediately lost their temper. They were just passing by the area. They never wanted to challenge the Boss Monster, yet the woman was being so rude to them. How could they possibly let it go so easily? ¡°What? Am I wrong? You can piss off and die somewhere else. How are you going to compensate for our loss if we fail to kill the Boss Monster because of you? Can you even afford it judging from your poor appearance?¡± Leng Xiaoqian said with a cold smirk. Her gaze at the three Players was full of disdain. The Players that Chen Mo hired were indeed living a tough life. Even Chen Mo could tell just by looking at them. It was not a surprise that the observant Leng Xiaoqian could tell it too. ¡°Boss, isn¡¯t your cousin going too far with it?¡± the Warrior in Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s team sent Leng Xiaoliu a private message. ¡°She¡¯s been in a bad mood for the past few days, just let her be. Besides, these Players are worse than the average Players, it¡¯s unlikely we¡¯re going to see them again. It doesn¡¯t really matter.¡± Leng Xiaoliu glanced at the three Players and shook his head indifferently. The game was out for more than ten days. Why would he be worried about some random Players that had only reached Level 10 by now? Leng Xiaoliu would be more mindful of his attitude if the Players were his potential customers. However, the three Players were obviously never going to be his customers judging from their looks. Therefore, he did not have to worry about offending them. There were so many Players in the game. If he tried to not offend anyone, how could he possibly enjoy the game? Leng Xiaoqian¡¯s words had stabbed the three Players right on their weak spot. They completely went enraged. ¡°Brother, I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to help you dig the hole. You might have to look for someone else.¡± The three Players left Chen Mo. They did not quarrel with Leng Xiaoqian any further. They charged at the Slime King furiously instead. They were trying to use the Boss Monster to kill Leng Xiaoqian and the others. ¡°Idiots! What could the likes of you possibly do?¡± Leng Xiaoqian giggled when she saw the three Players running at the Boss Monster. When the three Players went up to the Boss Monster, Leng Xiaoliu and his team adeptly changed their positions. The three Players were obviously trying to mess up the Slime King¡¯s hatred. They did gather the Slime King¡¯s attention, but the Slime King immediately targeted them instead. Leng Xiaoliu and his team had already manipulated the Slime King¡¯s hatred before the three Players showed up. As such, the Slime King immediately focused on the three Players instead. It was just as Leng Xiaoqian had mentioned, the three Players were merely courting their deaths. The Slime King killed the three Players in no time. Their actions did not even result in any disturbance to Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s team. Leng Xiaoqian was pleased by the outcome. She looked at Chen Mo who seemed to be in his thoughts and mocked, ¡°Your friends are already dead. Why don¡¯t you come and join them too? Or maybe you¡¯re worse than those trash, you don¡¯t even dare to get yourself killed?¡± Chen Mo was only equipping a bunch of Green and Blue Equipment since he had come to dig a hole first. He would only put on his best equipment when he was going to lure the Boss Monster to the trap he had set up. Otherwise, his equipment would easily attract other Players¡¯ attention even if he tried to conceal their glow. Therefore, Leng Xiaoqian assumed Chen Mo was the same as the three Players. Chen Mo lifted his gaze. He stared at Leng Xiaoqian and observed her closely. ¡°What do you think you are looking at!?¡± Leng Xiaoqian yelled furiously when she sensed Chen Mo¡¯s weird gaze. ¡°Say, you¡¯re not that bad looking, but why can¡¯t your filthy mouth utter some decent words? Why do you have to be so rude?¡± Chen Mo asked curiously. He seriously could not understand what the woman was thinking. ¡°Son of a b**ch! I¡¯m telling you, you¡¯re dead for sure. I¡¯ll kill you every time I see you in the game!¡± Leng Xiaoqian went enraged. She glared at Chen Mo and threatened him. ¡°Kid, you better watch your mouth. It¡¯s going to be tough for you in the game if you cross us,¡± Leng Xiaoliu warned too. -Seriously? Are these guys really feeling superior from playing the game? They even dare to threaten people?- Even the Buddha would get angry. Chen Mo believed he would not get angry easily, but he too was a little infuriated. ¡°So what? You think you¡¯re so good because you can kill a Boss Monster? You think you¡¯re unmatchable?¡± Chen Mo said coldly. ¡°We can kill a Boss Monster, but a piece of trash like you can only watch us kill one. Of course we¡¯re better than you!¡± Leng Xiaoqian said proudly. ¡°Very well! You think you¡¯re so good right? Show me what you got then!¡± Chen Mo smirked. Roar! The Slime King suddenly let out a furious roar when Chen Mo finished his sentence. Its size instantly doubled, and its color had turned from green to purple! The Slime King had mutated! ¡°Watch out!¡± Leng Xiaoliu was shocked. He did not expect the Slime King to mutate all of a sudden. They had slain several Slime Kings, but they had never seen the Boss Monster mutating. They were completely clueless about the details of the Mutated Slime King. The Mutated Slime King did not go easy on them. Leng Xiaoliu and his party¡¯s attacks landed on the Mutated Slime King just when it had done mutating. It fired a bunch of purple orbs at its enemy. Bang! Bang! Bang! Leng Xiaoliu and the others who were taken by surprise were hit by a few of the purple orbs. The party of six died instantly when damage indicators in the range of 700-800 floated above their heads. The Mutated Slime King did not forget about Chen Mo who had started it all. It started moving toward Chen Mo, but it soon came to a stop when Chen Mo used Disguise. Chen Mo was more familiar with the Mutated Slime King¡¯s behaviors than anyone else after killing it ten times. The Mutated Slime King had a large aggro radius, but the aggro radius could be separated into two circles. The inner-circle had a radius of thirty meters. The Mutated Slime King could see through a Player¡¯s disguise within it. However, using a disguising skill outside of the inner circle could get rid of the Mutated Slime King¡¯s hatred. ¡°Why did the Slime King mutate all of a sudden?¡± Leng Xiaoliu and his team were wearing displeased looks when they came back to life in Aiur Town. The Boss Monster only had a third of its HP left, yet it suddenly mutated and killed all of them. As soon as they looked down at the Hunter, the Boss Monster had killed them all and sent them back to town. It was definitely a huge slap to their face. Leng Xiaoqian completely lost the great mood she was in before. ¡°Boss, what do we do now?¡± the warrior asked. ¡°We¡¯ll have to start again. I remember seeing that a mutated Boss Monster will return to normal after some time,¡± Leng Xiaoliu had already calmed down. He had had similar experiences of the entire party dying to a mutated Boss Monster over the years. He was not too fussed about it. He would not give up on killing the Boss Monster of this instance, since it would mean they had wasted the whole day for nothing. Not only would they suffer a great loss, it would also place Musen¡¯s team ahead of them. Around ten minutes later, Leng Xiaoliu and his party went back to the Slime King¡¯s spawning point. Chen Mo casually showed up when the party of six started the fight with the Boss Monster. The Slime King did not mutate this time. Chen Mo had already gone offline to get rid of the Slime¡¯s Poison¡¯s effects before the party returned. ¡°Weren¡¯t you saying how good you are? Why did you end up being sent back to town by the Boss Monster?¡± Chen Mo chuckled. ¡°Piss off! I have no time to spare on you!¡± Leng Xiaoqian said. -No time? But I have plenty of time! I¡¯m going to teach you some manners without having to do it myself!- Chen Mo smiled upon seeing Leng Xiaoqian¡¯s reaction. He consumed a bottle of Slime¡¯s Poison again. Roar! The Slime King let out a furious roar. It had mutated once again! Leng Xiaoliu immediately glared at Chen Mo! Even though he did not have any proof, he could tell that the guy had something to do with the Boss Monster¡¯s mutation based on his experience! Chapter 38 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Leng Xiaoliu was about to ask Chen Mo about it, but the Hunter had already vanished into thin air. Did he go offline? Leng Xiaoliu was confused, yet he could not afford to waste any time. The Mutated Slime King was already charging at them. The team had already mentally prepared themselves to face the Mutated Slime King before coming to the Slime Valley again. They were killed within an instant last time, thus they were treating this as their first encounter with the Mutated Slime King. They could barely kill the normal Slime King by using everything they had. Leng Xiaoliu already knew there was no chance they could take on the Mutated Slime King after seeing two of its attacks. Their Paladin had died after suffering two hits from the Mutated Slime King. They were lucky that the Mutated Slime King did not use its ultimate move right away. Otherwise, at least half of the team would die instantly! ¡°Retreat!¡± Leng Xiaoliu blurted out. No one was willing to die even though they was no death penalty at their current level. The Mutated Slime King rolled forward like a giant ball when it saw its enemy trying to run away. -775! -800! ¡­ A few damage indicators floated above the Players. Only a Paladin that had learned the skill Shield Block could possibly resist the skill that the Mutated Slime King had used. Even if their Paladin was still alive, he would not have a chance to stop the Mutated Slime King¡¯s attack either, not to mention that their Paladin was already dead. Similar to Musen¡¯s party, they had derived a plan specifically to target the Slime King¡¯s traits and skills. They had spent a fortune on buying the right equipment. They could only learn two to three of their respective classes¡¯ skills at the Rookies Village. The Shield Block of the Paladin class was only available at the Paladin¡¯s Guild in the three main human cities. The Assassin and Warrior of the party died instantly. The only ones alive were the Archer Leng Xiaoliu, the Magician Leng Xiaoqian, and the Priest. They were standing quite a distance away from the Boss Monster. However, it was almost impossible to run away from a normal Boss Monster, let alone a mutated Boss Monster with a higher movement speed. They did not manage to get too far away before the Mutated Slime King soon caught up to them and sent them to the Shadow Realm. ¡°Boss, are we going back again?¡± The Warrior looked at Leng Xiaoliu at the resurrection point in Aiur Town. The team¡¯s morale had dropped significantly after being wiped out two times in a row. ¡°Again!¡± Leng Xiaoliu said with a cold expression. He had to go, he was eager to find out the truth! Slime Valley¡­ Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s party of six engaged the Slime King once again. Leng Xiaoliu was not paying attention to the Slime King. He was observing his surroundings instead. It was almost dark, yet the Hunter was nowhere to be seen. Did the guy already leave? Leng Xiaoliu was confused. Roar! The Slime King suddenly let out a familiar roar! It had mutated once again! The Mutated Slime King went enraged. It did not take long for the party of six to fall dead to the ground. Leng Xiaoliu did not forget to look around when he died, yet there was still no trace of the Hunter. He waited for two minutes, but the Hunter never showed up. It was starting to get dark too, limiting his range of vision. Leng Xiaoliu discontentedly chose to revive back in town. A while later, Chen Mo walked out of the shadows. He knew Leng Xiaoliu was suspicious of him. He did not really care if Leng Xiaoliu knew the truth. Once the Wolf Valley was accessible, people would eventually figure out that the Slime¡¯s Poison was the key to triggering the Slime King¡¯s mutation. Even if Leng Xiaoliu knew he was the reason why the Slime King had mutated, his party would still struggle to kill the Mutated Slime King. However, Chen Mo insisted not to reveal himself just to go against Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s wishes! Curiosity killed the cat; he would not mind to let Leng Xiaoliu be troubled by his own thoughts. It would be best if the man ended up suffering from insomnia because of it! When Chen Mo showed himself, the Mutated Slime King immediately let out a furious roar and pounced at him. Chen Mo put on his equipment and led the Mutated Slime King into a certain direction. After Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s party was wiped out for the first time, Chen Mo had gone to hire four Players to dig a hole. He was helping to dig the hole too, but when he saw it was about time for Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s party to return to the Slime Valley, he told the Players he had to go offline for a while. He sneaked away with the disguising skill and proceeded to set Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s party up. He then came back to continue digging the hole. He did not have much time to fool around with Leng Xiaoliu and his party. It would be different if they would drop their equipment when they died to the Mutated Slime King, but unfortunately, there was no death penalty in the Rookies Village. Chen Mo did not want to waste his time further. He only needed less than ten minutes to kill the Mutated Slime King. Once Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s team was wiped out, he had plenty of time to kill the Mutated Slime King and leave before they returned again. Before Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s party died for the third time, Chen Mo was already done digging the hole. He used the disguising skill to move closer and triggered the Slime King¡¯s mutation. It was already dark when Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s party was wiped out, thus Chen Mo decisively lured the Mutated Slime King to the hole he had prepared for it. The Mutated Slime King died in less than ten minutes. ¡°It¡¯s the Scroll of Skill Mutation again. I bet it¡¯s not even that rare considering how often it has been dropping lately.¡± Chen Mo picked up the loots that the Boss Monster dropped. He grumbled when he took a closer look at his inventory. One Scroll of Skill Mutation, one piece of Green Equipment, nine pieces of Blue Equipment; the loots were not as satisfying today. Chen Mo had already gotten five Scrolls of Skill Mutation so far. He initially thought it was a rare item, but its drop rate was surprisingly high since he had gotten five of them out of the ten Mutated Slime Kings he had slain so far, which meant it was most likely less valuable than he thought. Little did he know, the people at Canglan Tech were completely dumbfounded. It did not make sense at all! Why would something as rare as the Scroll of Skill Mutation drop so many times!? A ratio of one out of five was already quite insane, yet the ratio was one out of two for the guy. It was just too crazy! ¡°Holy crap! He has the title ¡°The Pioneer of Liberty¡± which gives him three extra points to Luck!¡± ¡°He has +3 to Luck at Level 10? No wonder the drop rate is so high!¡± A young man blurted out after inspecting Chen Mo¡¯s attributes. ¡°Is +3 to Luck a lot? How is the drop rate so insane?¡± Another young man asked with a confused look. Having +3 to Luck did not sound much at all. It still did not make any sense. ¡°You must understand, the attribute Luck is the most special in the game. We all know that Luck will affect the drop rate of an item. However, there is more to how it works. The value of the Luck attribute, the Player¡¯s level, and the monster¡¯s level are tightly bound together. They have to match to achieve the best outcome. For example, his Luck of 3 only works the best when he¡¯s fighting a Level 10 Boss Monster at Level 10. If his current level is 20, and the Boss Monster¡¯s level is 10, or if he¡¯s fighting a Level 20 Boss when he¡¯s only Level 10, the Luck attribute is going to be a lot less effective.¡± The others that were not familiar with the Luck attribute immediately came to a realization! They finally knew why the Hunter was so lucky. It was because of the Luck attribute! It was crazy for a Player to have 3 points in Luck below Level 10. There were less than ten Players with 3 points in Luck at Level 10! ¡­ ¡°The Boss Monster¡­is gone?¡± Leng Xiaoliu was unwilling to give up still. However, the Slime King was nowhere to be seen when they returned. They went to look for the Boss Monster in the nearby areas, but they still could not find it. What¡¯s going on? Did the Boss Monster disappear after it mutated three times in a row? It was the only explanation they could come up with. As for the possibility that Chen Mo had killed the Boss Monster by himself¡­ The thought only crossed Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s mind for a brief moment. He would never believe that anyone could take on the Slime King on their own! Are you kidding me? It took them an entire party just to kill the Boss Monster. How could a single Hunter possibly kill the Boss Monster alone? ¡­ Chen Mo killed himself again. He went to bed after making his way out of the Goblin Valley. A phone call woke him up before noon. Chapter 39 Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Brother Chen, you¡¯re pretty carefree aren¡¯t you? Were you sleeping?¡± the image of a perverted-looking fatty crossed Chen Mo¡¯s mind when he heard the restless voice from the other end of the call. ¡°Oh, Old Tian, what do you want?¡± Chen Mo asked after collecting his thoughts. This Fatty Tian never called him for no reason. ¡°Seriously, Brother Chen, didn¡¯t I tell you not to call me Old Tian? I¡¯m only eighteen this year!¡± Fatty Tian said furiously. Chen Mo rolled his eyes. Did the fatty really think he was Guanyin or something? Chen Mo clearly remembered the fatty telling him he was eighteen years old two years ago, yet he was still eighteen years old after two years. Did the fatty really think he could trick him so easily!? ¡°What do you want? I¡¯m going back to sleep if it¡¯s nothing important,¡± Chen Mo was reluctant to waste his time. ¡°Ah, wait, I do have something to tell you. Brother Chen, I remember you¡¯ve accepted the strange job before, right?¡± Fatty Tian blurted out. ¡°What kind of crap are you talking about? Weren¡¯t you the one that introduced it to me?¡± Chen Mo grumbled. Fatty Tian was not a hacker. He was working in a special agency that served as an intermediary between clients and hackers. The agency would allocate jobs they received to the hackers. Chen Mo had received the special job of stopping the rollout of the full-dive virtual reality network from Fatty Tian. ¡°Well, I want to know if you¡¯ve started playing Genesis.¡± ¡°I did, why? Is your company planning a business reform?¡± ¡°Mm, something like that, to be honest, our company has received news that the traditional network has reached a point of no return. Our company is going to close down eventually if it doesn¡¯t reform its business now. I¡¯m calling to let you know that my company has decided to focus on Genesis for the time being. The superiors are planning a meeting with you and the others to discuss how we can continue working together,¡± Fatty Tian explained. ¡°Focus on Genesis? Is your company planning to become a gaming studio?¡± Chen Mo was a little amused. It was weird to hear a hacker agency being reformed into a gaming studio. Regardless of how well it was going to work out, it already sounded quite lame. ¡°Not a gaming studio, we are just trying something new. If we don¡¯t act now, the company is only going to close down in the end, which means I¡¯ve wasted two or three years working here,¡± Fatty Tian grumbled. He finally made some progress after working in the company for two years. He did not expect it would come down to this. If the company was to close down, he would lose his job too. ¡°Alright, when and where is the meeting?¡± Chen Mo asked. ¡°Our company has set up a virtual meeting room in the virtual network. I¡¯ve already sent you an invitation to the meeting. It will happen at six o¡¯clock tonight. You just need to connect to the virtual network and accept the invitation to join the meeting.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be there.¡± Chen Mo had no reason to reject the invitation. Besides, he had always been curious about the hacker agency called Worm. Chen Mo had never met a second worker from Worm apart from Fatty Tian. He tried asking Fatty Tian about the company before, but the guy never told him the truth. ¡­ Six o¡¯clock at night¡­ Chen Mo spent the afternoon leveling up his character. He logged off when it was almost six and connected to the social platform of the full-dive virtual reality network. The social platform of the full-dive virtual reality network was currently in beta still. Users had to specifically register to gain access to it, and apparently, it was quite difficult to be approved too. However, the hacker agency Worm seemed to have the right connection. It had already helped every hacker that was working with them to acquire access to the social platform. Everyone had a unique nickname on the full-dive social platform. The users were able to see the information that a person was willing to disclose by inspecting their nicknames. Chen Mo¡¯s nickname was ¡°M.C.¡±. The invitation worked similarly to the traditional network, but it could only be accepted by the person with the nickname that the invitation was meant for. Chen Mo found his avatar being transferred to a spacious, modern, white meeting room after accepting the invitation. A dozen virtual avatars with different appearances were already seated in the meeting room. They were waiting silently. A few of them looked at Chen Mo when he showed up, but they did not converse with him. ¡°Brother Chen, you¡¯re here,¡± a voice said. Chen Mo knew it was Fatty Tian without having to turn his head around. The social platform of the virtual reality network was similar to Genesis. They were different chats available. The others would not know that Fatty Tian and Chen Mo were having a conversation. ¡°Where are the superiors of your company?¡± there was no one at the podium in front of the room. It did not seem like any authority of the hacker agency Worm was around either. ¡°They are almost here. Patience, Brother Chen.¡± A middle-aged man suddenly appeared at the podium when Fatty Tian was in the middle of his sentence. ¡°Good evening, I¡¯m the person in charge of the meeting and the proposal for the company¡¯s reform. You can call me Black Fox. Everyone here is an elite hacker that has been working with Worm for at least a year. I¡¯ll cut straight to the topic instead of wasting too much of everyone¡¯s time. ¡°I¡¯ve mainly called you here to announce three things. ¡°First, from today onward, Worm is going to have a business reform. We¡¯ll still be taking jobs related to the traditional network, but we¡¯ve withdrawn most of our resources. We¡¯ll gradually accept few jobs related to the traditional network too.¡± ¡°Mr. Black Fox, pardon me for interrupting, but is the company¡¯s decision an indication that the traditional network¡¯s downfall is inevitable? Does that mean we won¡¯t be able to complete the job we took before?¡± Someone interrupted Black Fox¡¯s speech. ¡°Regarding that, I¡¯m sorry to say that the company doesn¡¯t have an absolute answer either, but according to the information I¡¯ve received so far, I¡¯m expecting the traditional network to go down within a year. Of course, it¡¯s only my personal opinion instead of the company¡¯s. You can still continue on with the job, and the reward remains the same for whoever that completes it,¡± the Black Fox answered the person¡¯s question patiently. He was not annoyed that the person had interrupted his speech. It was a very ambiguous answer, but everyone was smart enough to learn some information from it. Worm was not willing to give a clear answer, but judging from Black Fox¡¯s attitude, it was very likely that Worm had learned some important information that they were unaware of. The company believed it was only a matter of time for the traditional network to be replaced. Otherwise, they would not decide to reform the business all of a sudden. Chen Mo fell into deep thoughts after hearing Black Fox¡¯s response. He wanted to stop the full-dive virtual reality network from replacing the traditional network, but if it really was inevitable, he would not bother wasting his time on it. However, he was not the kind of person to give up halfway either. He was about to conduct a series of experiments in the game. He would decide to continue with the job or give up on it after he was done with the experiments. ¡°Second, the company is allocating most of the resources to the game Genesis. We¡¯ll be putting up jobs that are related to the game. Feel free to contact us if you think you can complete any of the jobs. Everyone here is very talented, so I believe most of you already had a go at the game. I believe you all are going to achieve great results even if it¡¯s a game!¡± Black Fox said. Chen Mo sent Fatty Tian a private message, ¡°Old Tian, is your company that unreliable? I don¡¯t think a person¡¯s skill as a hacker has anything to do with his skill in playing games. Isn¡¯t it weird for your company to think a bunch of hackers are competent enough to take on the jobs?¡± Fatty Tian chuckled and said, ¡°Old Chen, tell you one thing, make sure you don¡¯t tell anyone else. The people here are only a portion of the people that the company has contacted. We have also arranged meetings with professional players and gaming studios too.¡± F**k! That explained everything! Chen Mo was utterly confused about why Worm would consider letting a bunch of hackers to take on the jobs! It turned out that the company was only interested in their talents as hackers, and since there were all elites in the field, they might be able to achieve some unexpected results when playing the game. The company was betting on it, and it was not going to bring them any huge loss either. ¡°Third, I will now announce the first job that our company has accepted after the reform. The total reward for the job is more than ten million. Our client is Glacier Corporate Group, so you won¡¯t have to worry about not being paid according to the deal!¡± Everyone was shocked after hearing the third announcement from Black Fox. A job that would pay more than ten million? The game was only released less than half a month ago. How was this even possible? Chapter 40 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches A job that would pay more than ten million. If it was true, it would be paying more than the job they had accepted which was asking them to stop the traditional network from being replaced by the full-dive virtual reality network! If they could complete the quest, the money was more than enough to support the rest of their lives regardless of whether the traditional network would be replaced or not. Everyone looked at Black Fox with eyes burning passionately amid the astonishment. However, many people were chuckling on the inside too. Black Fox had mentioned that the total reward was ten million, which meant no single person was going to get ten million! ¡°Everyone, please calm down, the total reward is very handsome, but the most that a person could get is only a hundred thousand. I¡¯ll now explain the details of the job. Glacier Gaming Club supported by Glacier Corporation Studio is planning to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Anyone that is interested can apply for an interview with Glacier Gaming Club¡¯s representative. You will be paid at least five thousand once you passed the interview.¡± Black Fox immediately answered everyone¡¯s question with the explanation. Nevertheless, the job was still very appealing to them. ¡°Mr. Black Fox, can you elaborate on it? I¡¯m quite interested,¡± someone asked. ¡°Of course, the Players would have to gather in the same instance of the Rookies Village to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, and the only way to do so is to kill the character and restart. Therefore, everyone that passed the interview will be paid five thousand as compensation. The Players that are assigned to the right instance will be paid at least ten thousand. The pay will be adjusted based on the Players¡¯ strength and their contribution in the battle. The highest pay is a hundred thousand. That being said, Glacier¡¯s Gaming Studio¡¯s representative also mentioned that if anyone, in particular, has an outstanding performance or provides them with crucial items to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, they won¡¯t mind multiplying the reward by two or three times!¡± The gaming studio was planning to use such a brute force method to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. It explained why the total reward was over ten million. Even though they knew each person could only earn a certain amount of money from the job, they were still dumbfounded by the amount of money that Glacier Corporation Group was willing to spend on it. Was it even worth to spend ten million on killing a Boss Monster of the Rookies Village? Many among them shared the same doubt. The few hundred thousand that the Nouveau Riches Club had spent to kill the Slime King was clearly worth it, but Glacier Gaming Club was obviously just trying to make a name for themselves by spending over ten million to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The value of the loots they would obtain from killing the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf would not even be close to the amount they spent. It might even be better to just spend the money on advertising themselves. Black Fox did not explain why Glacier Corporation Group was willing to spend such a fortune on it. Chen Mo suddenly asked, ¡°May I ask when the deadline to register our interest it? If it¡¯s possible, I would like to know when they are planning to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf too. It¡¯s not worth spending so much time if we are only going to earn a few thousand yuan from it.¡± ¡°He¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Many agreed with Chen Mo. Black Fox nodded and said, ¡°These are no secrets. The deadline is midnight of the day after tomorrow. If I¡¯m not mistaken, they will be doing it two days after the deadline.¡± It was unlikely that anyone would disclose the time so easily, but since Glacier Gaming Club was obviously trying to make a name for themselves, there was no need for them to keep the time a secret. Besides, they would not have to worry about someone else showing up to intervene with their plan. ¡°That¡¯s all for the meeting today. We do have other jobs apart from the one from Glacier Gaming Club, but we won¡¯t be disclosing them today. Feel free to contact us about the other jobs.¡± Black Fox declared the end of the meeting when he did not see anyone asking questions. A few that were interested in the job went up to Black Fox. Although Chen Mo had asked a question, he did not approach Chen Mo. He turned around and took his leave. A virtual avatar suddenly showed up in front of him. ¡°You¡¯re Chen Mo?¡± the avatar with the nickname ¡°W.X.¡± said. ¡°M.C.¡± was the acronym for ¡°Mr. Chen¡±. It was not Chen Mo¡¯s first time using the nickname, thus the person must know who he was! ¡°Wang Xu?¡± Chen Mo guessed seeing the avatar¡¯s nickname. He did not sound pleasant. The person¡¯s voice was slightly different than reality, but it still sounded familiar to Chen Mo. Chen Mo and Wang Xu were both hackers in Nanhua City. As the saying went, one¡¯s peers were usually his enemies; the two had been competitors for a long time, and Wang Xu usually ended up losing, resulting in great losses. He had become a hacker a lot earlier than Chen Mo, thus he was reluctant to admit his defeat. He kept figuring out ways to set Chen Mo up. ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± Wang Xu answered coldly. ¡°I don¡¯t think we have anything to say to one another.¡± Wang Xu was a vengeful man. Chen Mo did not believe he was here to become reconciled with him. ¡°Hehe, we do have nothing to say to one another. Why don¡¯t we have a conversation about your sister?¡± Wang Xu grinned. It was quite obvious that he was trying to threaten Chen Mo! He had been investigating Chen Mo¡¯s background for the past two years. He finally learned that the man had a beautiful sister a few days ago. He could not do anything to Chen Mo, but he could easily pick on his sister, unless his sister avoided using a computer at all times! Wang Xu could not wait to see Chen Mo lose his temper after he was threatened. However, Chen Mo simply glanced at him and said, ¡°Wang Xu, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m looking down at you, but I believe you should really focus on becoming better instead.¡± ¡°Fine! Very well! You better don¡¯t come and beg for mercy later!¡± Wang Xu was stunned for a moment. He burst into hysterical laughter and vanished into thin air. ¡°Brother Chen, Brother Chen, aren¡¯t you going to sign up for the job?¡± Fatty Tian yelled when Chen Mo was about to leave. Fatty Tian was responsible for contacting Chen Mo, thus if Chen Mo had an outstanding performance, it would give Fatty Tian lots of credits too. Even though Fatty Tian had no idea how Chen Mo was doing in Genesis, he strongly believed in his instincts. He believed it was the right choice to maintain his relationship with Chen Mo! ¡°I¡¯m not interested,¡± Chen Mo shook his head. He left the meeting room without giving Fatty Tian any chance to convince him. Not only was he not interested in the job, but he was also planning to intervene with Glacier Corporation Group¡¯s operation instead! He wanted Glacier Corporation Group to spend a fortune on it and return empty-handed, losing both its reputation and money! He only asked Black Fox a question to confirm when Glacier Gaming Club was planning to make their move! ¡­ ¡°Screw you! You think you¡¯re so good!? You think you can underestimate me!? I¡¯m going to pick on your sister and make you pay for it!¡± Wang Xu furiously took off the VR helmet. He went to a spacious room where a row of high-specification computers were placed. Wang Xu turned on a computer and grinned as he began his hacking. He already found out Chen Mo¡¯s sister¡¯s IP address and the computer she normally used. Otherwise, he would not bother threatening Chen Mo today. He only dared to threaten him because he was feeling confident! Once he hacked Chen Mo¡¯s sister¡¯s computer and acquired her personal information, he believed Chen Mo would have no choice but to compromise. He would easily forgive Chen Mo if he dropped to his knees and apologized! ¡°Humph! It¡¯s just a university student¡¯s computer. It would only take me a few minutes!¡± Wang Xu grinned when he learned his target was online. However, he completely forgot that Chen Mo was also just a university student. ¡°Great! Only one last step left¡­humph, Chen Mo, I can¡¯t wait to see you begging for mercy, HAHAHA¡­huh, what¡¯s happening!?¡± Wang Xu adeptly found the vulnerabilities of the target¡¯s computer. He began to hack into the system. He was almost done hacking into the system when his hard disk started spinning crazily! Wang Xu was dumbfounded! He was being counter-hacked instead. Someone had injected the ¡°Hard Disk Destroyer¡± virus into his computer instead! ¡­ ¡°Glacier Gaming Club has been established!¡± ¡°Glacier Corporation Group is investing huge funds in it!¡± ¡°Glacier Gaming Club is aiming to take down the Hidden Boss, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf!¡± The forums were swarming with posts related to Glacier Gaming Club. The posts were obviously pinned to the top as advertisements, but both the investor, Glacier Corporation Group, and the target were enough to attract lots of attention. Glacier Corporation Group was one of the Ten Great Financial Groups in China, the first financial group to be investing in a gaming club! If one financial group had invested in a gaming club, many people believed the other financial groups would soon be investing in their own gaming clubs too! Glacier Gaming Club had entered the limelight among the Players even before it had done anything. It had gained a lot of attention. Chen Mo smiled when he saw the posts. -It sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately, the key to eliminating the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf is currently in my possession! Oh Glacier Corporation Group, I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ve made a huge mistake this time!- Chapter 41 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Once the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was slain, everyone could easily get their hands on the Slime¡¯s Poison. It would be a lot harder for Chen Mo to kill the Mutated Slime King, thus he decided to acquire the Slime King Necklace before the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was killed. To Chen Mo¡¯s surprise, when he killed the Mutated Slime King when the clock struck midnight, an unusual-looking amulet falling to the ground. Slime King Necklace Description: A necklace that belongs to the Slime King¡¯s collection. One of the Slime King¡¯s accessories. Collecting all three accessories of the Slime King¡¯s set will grant the Player hidden attributes. Quality: Purple, a piece of a set Requirement: Level 10 and above Attributes: Base Physical Damage +20 Base Magic Damage +20 Strength +25 Intelligence +25 Dexterity +20 Additional Effect(s): Slime King¡¯s Roar Slime King¡¯s Roar: Using the skill will increase Player¡¯s movement speed by 3 and allow Player to jump two meters high. It also increases Player¡¯s damage by 10%. Duration: 10 seconds. Skill Cooldown: 1 minute. Special Effect(s): Collecting all three Slime King¡¯s accessories will activate the set attributes. Chen Mo had collected all three Slime King¡¯s accessories! Chen Mo was having a difficult time believing it. Even though he knew it was only a matter of time for him to collect all three Slime King¡¯s accessories, he was still shocked that he had managed to collect the full set so quickly. After standing still for some time, Chen Mo quickly equipped the Slime King Necklace without caring about the rest of the loots on the ground! The three accessories instantly glowed, followed by a notification from the system! System Notification: The Slime King¡¯s special set effects have been activated! Chen Mo inspected the set effects of the Slime King¡¯s accessories. Special Effect: Slime King¡¯s Dominance Slime King¡¯s Dominance: Significantly improves the effects and skills of the Slime King¡¯s accessories! Slime Poison: Every time the Player attacks a target, there is a 50% chance to poison the target. The poisoned target will lose 25 HP every second. The poison lasts for 5 seconds, and it can be stacked up to 5 times. Slime King¡¯s Summon: Summon a Level 15 Mutated Slime to fight for the Player. The color of the slime is randomized. Duration: 3 minutes. Skill Cooldown: 5 minutes. Slime King¡¯s Roar: Using the skill will increase Player and allies¡¯ movement speed by 3 and allowing Player and allies to jump two meters high. It also increases Player and allies¡¯ damage by 10%. Duration: 10 seconds. Skill Cooldown: 1 minute. The set effects did not seem too special, but Chen Mo¡¯s eyes glittered as soon as he read the description. The set effect had significantly improved the additional skills from the three accessories. The chance of applying Slime Poison and its damage had increased. The buff from Slime King¡¯s Roar would be applied to the whole party instead of himself. Most importantly, the Slime King¡¯s Summon was now able to summon a Level 15 Mutated Slime instead of a normal Level 13 Slime! Chen Mo never fought a Mutated Slime before, but he did fight against a Mutated Black Goblin. Even the low-level goblin was more than twice as strong as a normal goblin after it mutated, let alone a Mutated Slime! Chen Mo was more confident in taking down Inoch with the help of a Mutated Slime! Chen Mo had collected all Slime King¡¯s accessories, but he was still two pieces of defensive Purple Equipment short, but after seeing the attributes of the Slime King¡¯s accessories, he believed he was strong enough to take on Inoch now. However, Chen Mo was not in a rush. He still had some time left. He still had two days until Glacier Gaming Club¡¯s attempt to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. He could still kill the Mutated Slime King twice. If he was in luck, he might be able to collect a full set of Purple Equipment, giving him a better chance to defeat Inoch. ¡­ Genesis¡¯ forum, reality¡­ In the past two days, Glacier Gaming Club and Glacier Corporation Group had gathered every Player¡¯s attention. Glacier Corporation Group had invested ten million to establish Glacier Gaming Club, which was planning to eliminate the only Hidden Boss that was discovered in Genesis; the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf! Everyone had heard about the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Seven out of every ten Players had visited the Wolf Valley to check out on the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. They were well aware of its overwhelming strength! Furthermore, both Glacier Corporation Group and Glacier Gaming Club were pushing the wave and adding to the billows behind the scene, thus almost everyone had heard the news about Glacier Gaming Club¡¯s plan to eliminate the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. In addition to it, Glacier Corporation Group also announced that a few popular television stations in China would be broadcasting the epic battle with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf live at 9:00 p.m. in two days! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was basically unbeatable for most Level 10 Players. Someone even asked the person-in-charge of Binghe Gaming Club, Lofty Glacier about it, but Lofty Glacier only told the person that Glacier Gaming Club had already figured out a way to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The death of the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was inevitable! Chen Mo went to the northern part of Aiur Town the day before Glacier Gaming Club¡¯s scheduled operation. Knock knock¡­ ¡°Adventurer, please come in.¡± It was the place where Inoch had asked Chen Mo to meet her. He heard Inoch¡¯s voice when he knocked on the door. He pushed the door open and went inside. Bang! The door behind him slammed heavily. Chen Mo quickly set up a Dazing Trap. Inoch¡¯s voice immediately turned cold, ¡°Shameless adventurer, have you decided to confess your sin?¡± ¡°What sin?¡± Chen Mo said. It did not matter what his answer was, as the outcome would always be the same. ¡°Humph! Still trying to play dumb? I¡¯ve called you here to punish you on behalf of every woman in Aiur Town, so you could turn over a new leaf!¡± Inoch straightened her face and lunged at Chen Mo. Inoch was wearing a skintight armor instead of her usual black dress with a dagger in her hand. She was an NPC Assassin! Inoch¡¯s first attack was utterly terrifying. Regardless of its damage, it would seal off Chen Mo¡¯s movement once he was hit, preventing him from doing anything! He had already lost to Inoch once. He knew he had to dodge the attack at all costs! How could he dodge it? It was very simple! Dazing Trap! Detonate! Bang! The Dazing Trap exploded, knocking both Inoch and Chen Mo back instantly! The explosion had knocked Chen Mo two meters back and Inoch one meter back. Inoch had missed her first move too! Chen Mo had no idea what Inoch would do next. He quickly used Slime King¡¯s Summon as soon as he had the chance! A Green Slime appeared. It was a poisonous Mutated Slime! ¡°Not bad!¡± Chen Mo was overjoyed when he saw the Mutated Green Slime. Chen Mo believed it was ideal to summon either a Black Slime or a Green Slime in the battle against Inoch. The Black Slime had an outstanding defense. It could endure quite a number of hits from Inoch. On the other hand, a Green Slime could poison its target it was attacking, but the poison was not the kind that would inflict extra damage on the target. It would reduce the target¡¯s defense and movement speed instead! Whoosh! As soon as the Green Slime was summoned, it slammed its head into Inoch who had yet to recover from the explosion of the Dazing Trap! -130! A not-so-high damage indicator floated above Inoch¡¯s head. However, her actions had noticeably slowed down! Chapter 42 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo dashed across the room when Inoch¡¯s movement speed was reduced. The room was quite spacious. It was more than ten meters long and wide. Chen Mo had an advantage in terms of speed. He would not want to be forced into a corner, as he would have nowhere to run to if Inoch happened to have an AoE skill. ¡°Come here.¡± Chen Mo gave the order to the Mutated Green Slime. It bounced and followed behind Chen Mo instead of attacking Inoch. ¡°You prick, where do you think you are running to?¡± Inoch¡¯s goal was to catch Chen Mo. She quickly chased after him after missing the first attack. However, she triggered the Basic Trap that Chen Mo tossed at her as soon as she started to move. Chen Mo could only toss a trap to a distance of seven meters. It was not even a middle-range attack, but it was plentiful in the room where the battle was taking place. Bang! The Basic Trap exploded and further reduced Inoch¡¯s movement speed! The trap had surprisingly applied the Disabled debuff on Inoch despite the extremely low odds! ¡°Lucky!¡± Minor Poison Bolt! Chen Mo knew he could not afford to miss out on the opportunity. He quickly used the skill and fired a bolt at Inoch. His weapon Minor Poison Bolt had the additional skill Minor Poison Bolt. Chen Mo¡¯s Minor Poison Bolt was currently at the Beginner Level, which was slightly better than the Novice Level. Each of his attacks would deal an extra 7 poison damage to a target, and it could be stacked up to five times. Chen Mo fired a bolt at Inoch. Inoch tried to dodge it, but she had no chance of dodging it at such a close distance, especially after her movement speed was reduced. -211! -7! -25! -200! Four different damage indicators floated above Inoch¡¯s head when the bolt landed on her. The first red damage indicator was Chen Mo¡¯s physical damage. The second, third, and fourth green indicators were inflicted by poison. The second and third indicators were from Minor Poison Bolt and Slime¡¯s Poison respectively, and the last poison damage was the effect of his Minor Poison Crossbow. Inoch had lost 600 HP including the damage that the Mutated Green Slime had dealt at the start. ¡°Not bad, Inoch¡¯s defense isn¡¯t high. Her HP isn¡¯t too crazy either, it¡¯s around thirty thousand,¡± Chen Mo felt even more confident after seeing the damage he dealt. To some degree, the Mutated Slime King¡¯s attributes were actually higher than Inoch¡¯s, but he was able to use a little trick to slay the Mutated Slime King, whereas he had to face Inoch head-on. ¡°Stop her!¡± Inoch furiously charged at Chen Mo. It went without saying that Chen Mo would not let her come any closer. The Assassin class was great at close combat. It was likely that Chen Mo would die in no time once Inoch was close enough to him. Even though Chen Mo had failed to acquire a purple upper armor and head armor in the last two days, his equipment was unmatchable at Level 10. However, he could not afford to treat Inoch as a Level 10 Player either. Chen Mo could not guarantee that he could endure a series of attacks from Inoch with the amount of HP he had now. The Mutated Green Slime obediently bounced around and kept Inoch busy. Its attack had a hundred percent chance of poisoning its target to constantly lower the target¡¯s defense and movement speed. Its attack was not high, but it was already quite impressive since the Slime was meant to be playing a supportive role. Inoch was hit by the Mutated Green Slime again, resetting the duration of the debuff of reducing her movement speed when it was about to run out. She immediately went enraged. ¡°Bisecting Slash!¡± The dagger emitted an icy flicker before slashing across the Green Slime in the middle. A clean cut swept past the Mutated Green Slime¡¯s body. The Mutated Green Slime acted as if its lower body was missing all of a sudden. It tried desperately to bounce closer to Inoch to attack her, yet it could no longer control its lower body. It would only stare at her in disbelief. ¡°Holy crap! I knew it!¡± Chen Mo was even more alerted. He could not afford to let Inoch catch up to him. Otherwise, he would not stand a chance against her at close distance! Chen Mo knew his speed was his only hope. Even though he was almost wearing a full set of Purple Equipment, it had only given him a chance to fight Inoch. It did not necessarily guarantee him the victory. He believed once Inoch caught up to him, she would restrain him and send him to the Sacred Land of Condemnation! After all, he believed the person that designed the quest never planned to let the Player complete the quest. But then again, why didn¡¯t the designer make Inoch invincible instead? Chen Mo was slightly intrigued. It was something he did not understand still, but based on what he had learned, the Players had yet to discover any invincible NPCs in Genesis. Chen Mo was able to attack Inoch a few times while she was busy with the Mutated Green Slime. Inoch¡¯s HP had dropped by around two thousand. The Minor Poison Bolt and Slime¡¯s Poison had stacked up five times and four times respectfully too. Inoch was now losing 135 HP every second. Together with Chen Mo¡¯s attacks, Inoch was basically losing more than 300 HP every second. After taking the Minor Poison Crossbow¡¯s occasional effect into consideration, Inoch would die in less than three minutes at this rate! However, Chen Mo knew things were not that simple. The Mutated Green Slime was no longer able to move around freely after it was attacked by Inoch. The Disabled debuff was gone too. When the reduction to movement speed from the Mutated Green Slime¡¯s poison disappeared, Inoch¡¯s speed increased significantly. She dashed at Chen Mo with an icy look. Chen Mo attacked with his crossbow, but Inoch did not bother dodging it. She could not care less about the damage it would inflict on her. The shameless adventurer was finally slower than her. She just needed to endure a few more hits. Once she caught up to the adventurer, he would have nowhere to run to! ¡°Heh! Trying to come closer to me? In your dream!¡± Chen Mo surprisingly grinned at Inoch. The NPC was utterly confused when she noticed the adventurer¡¯s speed increasing rapidly all of a sudden! The title ¡°The Corrupted¡±! The Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion! Chen Mo equipped the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± and consumed the Low-level Mutated Dexterity Potion within an instant, increasing his movement speed by 5! Chen Mo did not equip the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± before entering the room. He was planning to rely on the Mutated Slime as long as he could. He did not want to expose his maximum speed if possible, since he did not know how Inoch would react according to it. However, Chen Mo could no longer rely on the Mutated Green Slime. The Basic Traps were not reliable at slowing down Inoch either. If he hesitated any further, he would be done for once Inoch caught up to him. ¡°You can¡¯t run away from me! Blitz!¡± Inoch straightened her face when she saw Chen Mo¡¯s speed increasing. She uttered fiercely as her figure blurred! Crap! Chen Mo knew Inoch might react differently once he increased his speed, but he did not expect it to come all of a sudden. If it was as he had guessed, Inoch would hit him with a blink attack in the next moment! No one could possibly complete the quest! There was a chance that the quest did not even have a reward when it was completed! Chen Mo was even more confident with his initial speculation! There was a great chance he might be detained the moment the attack landed on him! However, Chen Mo did not wait for his defeat. He decisively used another skill the moment Inoch vanished into thin air. Windspeed Evasion! Bang! A figure suddenly appeared in front of Chen Mo the moment he used the Windspeed Evasion, stabbing the dagger right into Chen Mo¡¯s chest! MISS! However, the attack somehow missed! The 20% evasion rate of the Windspeed Evasion had saved Chen Mo¡¯s life! Chen Mo burst out in cold sweat. He quickly went up to the Mutated Green Slime! He might not be so lucky the next time! He would never leave the Slime¡¯s side if he knew the NPC had a move like that! However, now that he knew the NPC¡¯s move, he would never fall for it again! A new plan was derived within the blink of an eye in Chen Mo¡¯s mind! Chapter 43 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Chen Mo did not expect he had to avoid being hit by Inoch even once. However, he believed his speculation of Inoch¡¯s max HP was still on point. If Chen Mo knew he had to defeat Inoch without being hit once, he would have given up on the quest. The quest was way too difficult; it would be impossible if Chen Mo did not have the skill to summon slimes to his aid after collecting the full set of Slime King¡¯s accessories. Chen Mo had come up with a plan to deal with Inoch with the help of Mutated Slimes. He ran to the Mutated Green Slime and hid behind it. He consumed a bottle of Low-level Mutated Strength Potion. Apart from increasing Player¡¯s Strength by 20 upon consumption, the Player would also deal 20 extra damage to enemy. The potion was extremely rare. Chen Mo had only gotten three of them after killing the Mutated Black Goblin six times. If possible, Chen Mo would prefer to keep it, but he had no choice but to use it under the circumstances. As soon as Chen Mo consumed the potion, he aimed his crossbow at Inoch that was chasing after him and fired at will. Inoch did not expect her Blitz to fail. She was even more enraged. She had no intention to give up until she got her hands on Chen Mo. However, Chen Mo obviously would not give her any chance to do so. There was no obstacle in the spacious room, but Chen Mo was using the Mutated Slime as an obstacle instead. A normal Slime was only the size of a basketball, but a Mutated Slime was thrice as big. It was blocking in front of Chen Mo like a huge balloon. Inoch¡¯s current speed was nowhere close to Chen Mo¡¯s. He could easily kite her around the Mutated Slime. Besides, Inoch was unable to use Blitz when the Mutated Slime was in between her and Chen Mo. Her Bisecting Slash could only hit Mutated Slime too. Chen Mo was basically treating the Mutated Slime as an obstacle. He had given it the command to hold its position. It would only bounce and attack Inoch whenever she came close. The bolts landed on Inoch; the skill Minor Poison Bolt, the effects of Slime¡¯s Poison, and the physical damage and extra poison damage of the Minor Poison Crossbow allowed Chen Mo to deal close to four hundred damage to Inoch with every arrow. Inoch¡¯s HP was falling at an insane rate. She had lost over ten thousand HP in no time. Her remaining HP was less than twenty thousand. ¡°Shadow Strike!¡± Inoch finally ran out of patience. She flicked her wrist, sending a shadow that dashed toward Chen Mo fiercely. Even though Chen Mo was using the Mutated Slime to kite Inoch, he never did lower his guard. He was paying full attention to Inoch¡¯s movement at all times. He knew Inoch was using a new skill as soon as he saw her wrist flicking. However, the new skill still took Chen Mo by surprise! Inoch seemed to be tossing a shadow dagger at Chen Mo. The skill was different than Blitz. Using Blitz would instantly teleport Inoch to where Chen Mo was. However, since the Mutated Slime was in the way, Inoch did not have enough space to use Blitz. On the other hand, she could toss the shadow dagger right at Chen Mo since it could fly right past the Mutated Slime above its head. Chen Mo was aware of what Inoch was doing since he had been keeping an eye on her at all times. Even though the skill had taken him by surprise, he was still able to dodge it in time. However, Inoch gathered her strength like a stretched bow as soon as she executed the Shadow Strike. Chen Mo had a strong feeling that Inoch would immediately dash to him if he was to dodge to the side or crouch to dodge the dagger. It would allow Inoch to catch up to him! He could not afford to dodge the dagger! Chen Mo immediately came to a realization! What was he supposed to do then? The effect of Windspeed Evasion had long ended. Even if it was still available, he only had a 20% chance to evade the dagger. It was still very likely that the dagger would land on him. Slime King¡¯s Roar! ¡°Jump!¡± Chen Mo did not dodge the dagger, but it did not necessarily mean he was out of options. He used the Slime King¡¯s Roar as soon as he made up his mind. The skill¡¯s buff was applied to him and the Mutated Slime. He quickly ordered the Mutated Slime King to jump. Normally, the height that the Mutated Slime could reach was extremely low. It was nowhere high enough to block Inoch¡¯s shadow dagger, but the Slime King¡¯s Roar had increased its jumping height by two meters! The Mutated Slime carried out Chen Mo¡¯s order without any hesitation. The Mutated Slime bounced into the air when the shadow dagger was flying across the air. The dagger stabbed heavily into the Mutated Slime, dealing around seven hundred damage to it. It also reduced the Mutated Slime¡¯s speed. Not only was the Shadow Strike¡¯s damage high, it would also apply debuffs to its target. The Mutated Slime¡¯s eyes were veiled by a gray light, indicating that it was currently under the Blind state. Speed reduction and blind; even if Chen Mo did not die to the attack right away, Inoch would still catch up to him eventually! He indeed could not allow Inoch to hit him even once! Inoch¡¯s eyes widened. Her tense body slowly relaxed. She did not expect the Mutated Slime to jump into the air and block her dagger. ¡°Hehe, what other skills do you have? Use them all on me!¡± Chen Mo said provokingly. It would be the best to force Inoch to use all her skills while the effects of Slime King¡¯s Roar were still around. However, Inoch simply glared at Chen Mo and proceeded to chase after him. Chen Mo kept running around the Mutated Slime and attacking Inoch with his crossbow. He would occasionally throw down a Basic Trap at times. Chen Mo preferred to hold on to the Dazing Trap. It was his life-saving trump card. Inoch continued to struggle to catch up to Chen Mo while suffering Chen Mo¡¯s attacks, each inflicting multiple damages on her. Her HP eventually dropped below ten thousand, and it continued to drop further. HP¡­9000¡­7000¡­ Chen Mo fixed his eyes on Inoch. He began to feel a little nervous. Inoch was mostly just a Level 10 Boss. Even the Mutated Slime King that was most likely the strongest Level 10 Boss in the game did not behave differently when its HP was almost empty. He assumed Inoch would be the same too. However, Inoch was different than the Mutated Slime King. She was an NPC, not a low-level Boss Monster that every Player could fight against like the Slime King. Chen Mo would not be surprised if Inoch suddenly behaved differently. HP¡­6000¡­4000! Her current HP was lower than 15% of her max HP! Inoch did not behave differently. -Does that mean she isn¡¯t going to do anything different then?- Time to give her the killing blow! Chen Mo could not care less anymore. He began to attack more rapidly while being cautious around her, causing Inoch¡¯s HP to drop even quicker! Remaining HP¡­3000! Only 10% left! ¡°Shameless adventurer, I didn¡¯t expect you to be so strong, but evil never wins! Come, Sacred Condemnation Demoness!¡± When Inoch only had 10% HP left, the thing that Chen Mo worried about the most happened still. Inoch stopped chasing after Chen Mo. She took out an ancient wooden badge from her backpack. It began to emit a dark glow while she was speaking. Chen Mo felt the ground softening all of a sudden. It suddenly turned into a pitch-black swamp. A familiar black figure emerged from the swamp and stood at the center of the room. Chen Mo was startled when he saw the figure. The Sacred Condemnation Demoness, the black figures that he once saw in the Sacred Land of Condemnation! Chapter 44 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The Sacred Condemnation Demoness glanced at Chen Mo expressionlessly. Her body slowly sank into the swamp. In addition to it, Chen Mo¡¯s expression sank when he saw Inoch slowly sinking into the swamp too. Seriously? Are you kidding me right now? Does this quest even give Players a chance to complete it? Chen Mo was well aware of how strong the Sacred Condemnation Demoness was. Even though his current max HP was over 1300, he still could not endure a single hit from the Sacred Condemnation Demoness. He had no choice but to give his best! ¡°Slime King¡¯s Roar!¡± Slime King¡¯s Roar was able to increase his jumping height by two meters for ten seconds. He was extremely vulnerable when he was on the ground, thus he might have a chance to dodge the Sacred Condemnation Demoness¡¯s attacks. However, his priority was to locate Inoch. He had to find out where Inoch was and kill her within ten seconds. Otherwise, he would lose his only chance! ¡°Deadly Poison Bellow!¡± Inoch had gone into hiding under the swamp. Chen Mo had no choice but to give the Mutated Green Slime the order to use its only active skill. Deadly Poison Bellow: The Mutated Green Slime will let out a furious roar that poisons every nearby enemy. The poison will inflict 100 damage on the target every second for 7 seconds. Skill Cooldown: 5 minutes. Chen Mo thought the Mutated Green Slime¡¯s skill was utterly useless. After all, the poison could only inflict 700 damage on an enemy at most since it could only last for 7 seconds. It was nothing for a high-level monster. However, it had turned out to be a life-saving skill for Chen Mo! ¡°There she is!¡± Two green damage indicators with values around 100 floated above the surface of the pitch-black swamp from two different spots! Even though both the Sacred Condemnation Demoness and Inoch were hiding in the swamp, they were obviously still within the Mutated Green Slime¡¯s range of attack. The Deadly Poison Bellow worked! Chen Mo saw two numbers appearing in two different spots. They were both hiding in the swamp still, but Chen Mo could easily tell which one of them was Inoch. Chen Mo fired a bolt at Inoch¡¯s hiding spot without any hesitation. Thud! -366! -100! -35! -75! -20! Chen Mo¡¯s arrow inflicted a series of damages on the target. Chen Mo only had a few skills available, yet his equipment was utterly impressive. Each of them had given him outstanding attributes, thus the total damage inflicted by a single arrow was quite shocking. Inoch only had less than 2500 HP left. Chance! He would be able to slay Inoch in five seconds at this rate. Chen Mo took a huge step back after firing the bolt. He tossed a trap in front and dodged to his left. Boom! The trap exploded less than a meter from him, revealing a black figure. It was the Sacred Condemnation Demoness. Chen Mo had roughly estimated her speed based on the distance between the spot where she sank into the swamp and the spot where the damage indicator was. The Sacred Condemnation Demoness that Inoch had summoned was not as strong as the ones he had stumbled into in the Sacred Land of Condemnation. Otherwise, he would not even stand a chance against her. Even so, it would be impossible for him to dodge the Sacred Condemnation Demoness¡¯ attack if it wasn¡¯t for the Slime King¡¯s Roar. A second had passed. Two damage indicators appeared again. Chen Mo shot another bolt at Inoch. Inoch had moved to somewhere else, but her location was still exposed by the damage indicator. Inoch did not have much HP left when she summoned the Sacred Condemnation Demoness, thus she had stopped taking the initiative to attack. She was focusing on dodging the bolts, but it was impossible due to the damage indicator exposing her location. The bolt had reduced Inoch¡¯s HP by another 500. Her HP was now less than 2000! Inoch decisively came out from the swamp. She knew she was going to lose to the adventurer at this rate. Inoch dashed toward Chen Mo. She was trying to flank him together with the Sacred Condemnation Demoness! Chen Mo was shocked. He could barely dodge the Sacred Condemnation Demoness¡¯ attacks. He was obviously going to die facing them simultaneously! What now? He must defeat Inoch before she could come any closer! It was the only choice! Fire! It¡¯s a hit! Inoch¡­she only had around 1500 HP left! Keep going! Another bolt! Inoch¡¯s HP was less than 1000. He just needed two more hits to defeat her! However, Chen Mo no longer had time to attack. Both Inoch and the Sacred Condemnation Demoness were already within inches from him! He could not afford to jump into the air. Inoch could still hit him in the air! Dazing Trap! The Hunter¡¯s skill with relatively low damage had come into handy in the crucial timing again. Chen Mo took a step back and tossed the Dazing Trap forward. Boom! Inoch, the Sacred Condemnation Demoness, and Chen Mo were knocked back by the explosion! It had only bought Chen Mo some time. Both Inoch and Sacred Condemnation Demoness started approaching rapidly in the following second! Disguise! Chen Mo did not panic. He used the skill Disguise as soon as he was knocked back by the Dazing Trap. Inoch lost sight of Chen Mo. Her action of pouncing at Chen Mo suddenly came to a stop. It was the exact opportunity that Chen Mo was looking for. The skill Disguise had tricked Inoch, yet it did not trick the Sacred Condemnation Demoness since the swamp was her territory. Therefore, Chen Mo fired a bolt at Inoch before the duration of his disguise came to an end. He took the initiative to show himself. Chen Mo jumped toward the Mutated Slime as soon as he showed himself. He barely dodged the Sacred Condemnation Demoness¡¯ attack! Meanwhile, Inoch quickly reacted when Chen Mo jumped into the air. She ran toward Chen Mo at lightning speed before he landed on the ground. ¡°Jump!¡± Chen Mo uttered in the air. The Mutated Slime jumped as soon as it received the command as if it had long awaited it. It blocked Inoch¡¯s attack just in time! -1100! Inoch¡¯s dagger stabbed the Mutated Slime heavily. Its HP instantly hit the deck, but it prevented Inoch¡¯s attack from hitting Chen Mo. Chen Mo landed on the ground and fired a bolt at Inoch. A damage indicator appeared. Inoch¡¯s body stiffened before falling to the ground. The swamp and the Sacred Condemnation Demoness disappeared as soon as she hit the ground. The room reclaimed its initial appearance. System Notification: You have completed the quest ¡°The Tryst¡±! System Notification: You have obtained 100 Silver! System Notification: You have captured ¡°Inoch¡±! Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh when he saw the three consecutive notifications. He immediately froze on the spot. ¡°There¡¯s indeed a quest reward for it still.¡± The person that designed the quest did not forget to give the quest a reward after all. Chen Mo did not trigger an infinite loop by completing the quest. He had bet it wrong. However, he was not too surprised by it. If the person that designed the quest assumed no one could possibly complete the quest, he might not assign a reward to the quest if it was real life, hence Chen Mo would have placed the bet correctly. However, it was still a game after all. Every quest must be assigned a reward unless it was the kind of quests that could not be completed. Otherwise, the quest would not be accepted by the system. Chen Mo learned one thing from completing the quest. There was no quest that could not be completed in Genesis! It was part of the requirement of designing a quest for the game, thus there was no quest that could not be completed. Otherwise, Chen Mo would only be wasting his time on the quest ¡°The Tryst¡± if he was a quest that could not be completed regardless of how strong he was. The reward of the quest was really not that impressive. Apart from keeping Inoch as a captive, the 100 Silver was all it had. Any other Player would lose their mind after seeing the reward considering the amount of effort they had to put in. However, Chen Mo seemed perfectly calm. He grinned looking at Inoch who was no longer able to move because of her injuries. Even though he had bet it wrong and the reward was not as gratifying, he now had an NPC in captivity. He believed he was the only Player that had captured an NPC! He had long wanted to conduct all kinds of experiments on the NPCs in the game. How could he possibly miss out on such a great opportunity? Chapter 45 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Inoch lied still on the ground in serious injuries. Chen Mo chuckled and went up to her with a mischievous grin. He took out a rope from his inventory. Even though Inoch would not wake up anytime soon, it was better to tie her up as a safety precaution. Chen Mo used the rope to truss up Inoch. He realized he was quite talented at tying someone up when he was done. He actually managed to tie the NPC up like he was doing the rope bondage that legends foretold. Inoch already had an alluring body, thus she looked more seductive when she was being tied up. Even university students could no longer withhold their urge, let alone primary school kids. Hang on, it would not do. He had tied her up too tight. He was having trouble taking off her clothes. He would not be able to conduct his experiments if he could not take off her clothes. Chen Mo had no choice but to loosen the rope. He went with a simpler way this time; he only tied up Inoch¡¯s hands and legs. He made sure she could not break free from the rope. Inoch regained her consciousness and discovered herself being tied up. She even saw the adventurer trying to take off her clothes. She screamed, ¡°You shameless prick, what, what do you think you¡¯re doing!¡± ¡°Taking off your clothes,¡± Chen Mo answered honestly. The full-dive MMORPG felt so real. He long had a lot of ideas to test the game out. Now that he finally had an NPC in captivity, how could he not conduct the experiments he had in mind on her? Taking off her clothes was only the beginning. ¡°Let me go, if the folks know about this, you will be banned from human cities forever!¡± Inoch warned. She knew that the adventurers were afraid of being banned from entering the human cities forever. ¡°Is that seriously going to happen? That¡¯s quite a harsh punishment,¡± Chen Mo nodded. Unfortunately, Chen Mo was a super adventurer that would feel uncomfortable if he did not kill himself once every day. He would just kill himself again once he was banned from the human territories. Why would he even be afraid of the penalty? Chen Mo had undone every button on Inoch¡¯s armor while he was talking. ¡°Stop it, or I¡¯m going to scream for help!¡± Inoch yelled in a panic. ¡°Your place is in such a remote corner. There isn¡¯t anyone nearby. If you scream, I can easily find something to fill your mouth. I have plenty of time for you,¡± Chen Mo said. He sounded utterly fearless. ¡°Besides, even if someone did show up, I will tell them that you were trying to rape me instead. Don¡¯t forget, you were the one that invited me here. Even if someone does believe you, your reputation will be ruined still,¡± Chen Mo threatened the NPC in return. Inoch¡¯s heart skipped a beat after hearing Chen Mo¡¯s words. She immediately fell silent. Not only was it possible to trick the NPCs, but it was also possible to threaten them too! Chen Mo successfully tricked Gleeson in the Wolf Valley. He tried to threaten Inoch, but to his surprise, it actually worked too. He was impressed by how good the game was at mimicking real life. The traditional games were not even close to its level! Seriously? An NPC wearing bra!? Inoch did not speak. Chen Mo had already taken off her shirt, yet he was left speechless when he discovered Inoch wearing a black silk bra under her shirt. Chen Mo tried taking it off, but he was having trouble doing it. System Notification: The relationship or servitude between Inoch and you isn¡¯t high enough! Holy crap, it¡¯s actually possible? Chen Mo was astounded. He only wanted to give it a try, yet it turned out that it was actually doable. He just did not meet the requirements. Speaking of which, he knew about the relationship system, but what the hell was servitude? Was it telling him that it was actually possible to capture NPCs and make them his slaves? Such a wicked feature, he wondered how many Players with twisted personalities it would attract once they found out about it. Chen Mo did not waste his time on it any further since he did not meet the requirements. He proceeded to look for the weapon and the wooden badge that Inoch had used to summon the Sacred Condemnation Demoness instead. However, he did not find them after searching her thoroughly. It seemed like these NPCs had their own inventory too, thus making it impossible to rob NPCs of their belongings. Chen Mo stopped and looked at Inoch, ¡°Miss Inoch, do you want me to free you?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to free me? If I don¡¯t show up, the people of the town will be looking for me. It won¡¯t do you any good either!¡± Inoch grinned. This motherf***ing b**ch, he already tried talking to her nicely, yet she was refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit instead! But¡­he must stay calm, the woman was just an NPC. ¡°You¡¯ve tricked me here and set me up, and yet you think I¡¯m going to let you go so easily? I don¡¯t mind telling you, I¡¯m an adventurer. I don¡¯t really care if the people of the town knew what I did. I can just start over again, but you are a resident of this world. You won¡¯t be able to redeem yourself once your reputation is ruined,¡± Chen Mo said patiently. Inoch fell silent upon hearing the words. She knew the adventurer was saying the truth. Regardless of what happened, she was the one that invited the adventurer to her place. Otherwise, the adventurer would not be able to come inside. Even if the majority of the people in the town believed her, the rest would still doubt her. ¡°I will give you 100 Silver,¡± Inoch finally compromised. ¡°It¡¯s nowhere enough, give me the wooden badge that you¡¯ve used to summon the Sacred Condemnation Demoness,¡± Chen Mo demanded. -Are you kidding me? I¡¯ve spent so much time just to complete the mission. I won¡¯t be satisfied with just 200 Silver!- ¡°You can¡¯t even use it. You can only summon the Sacred Condemnation Demoness with my tribe¡¯s lineage,¡± Inoch did not agree. ¡°It¡¯s none of your business, I can sell it for money even if I can¡¯t use it!¡± Chen Mo insisted. ¡°Fine, here you are,¡± Inoch eventually accepted after hesitating for a little. System Notification: You have obtained 100 Silver! System Notification: You have obtained the ¡°Sealed Summoning Badge!¡± Sealed Summoning Badge: A special item, unusable until the requirements are met. A black wooden badge appeared in Chen Mo¡¯s inventory following the notification from the System. Chen Mo quickly looked at it and discovered that Inoch was not lying to him. Just as she mentioned, he could not use the wooden badge. ¡°I¡¯ve given you what you want, let me go!¡± Inoch yelled. He had successfully blackmailed the NPC. It seemed like these NPCs were not really that smart. She had given up on her belongings so easily. ¡°It¡¯s not enough still, I will only let you go if you can give me a little more.¡± An unusable Summoning Badge was nowhere enough to satisfy Chen Mo. ¡°Assh***, you liar!¡± Inoch was stunned for a while before she yelled furiously. ¡°A little more! Give me something else, and I¡¯ll let you go!¡± Chen Mo said. ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing else. I¡¯ve given you everything I had!¡± Inoch¡¯s eyes glittered. She stopped talking to Chen Mo. Everything? Who did she think she was trying to trick!? Chen Mo might believe it if he did not see the Summoning Badge for the Sacred Condemnation Demoness, but he thought otherwise when he heard about the special lineage that was needed to summon the Sacred Condemnation Demoness! Inoch was reluctant to spill the beans. Chen Mo bet threatening her with the same words was no longer going to be effective, but he still had a final trump card. Inoch who had her eyes closed suddenly felt a hand rubbing her breasts. Inoch¡¯s eyes sprang open. She glared at Chen Mo, ¡°You shameless bastard, what do you think you are doing? Move your hand!¡± Oh my, he could actually molest an NPC! Chen Mo was utterly surprised. He had the idea long ago, yet doing it would seriously offend an NPC, making it difficult to threaten the NPC and force her to compromise. However, he was no longer worried about it since the negotiation between him and Inoch was on the verge of collapsing. However, even though Chen Mo was molesting Inoch, he did not really feel anything from it. The VR Helmet was still in the testing stage, thus many of its features were restricted. The sense of touch was only available when the Players were holding something or fighting. Players would not feel anything else. ¡°Miss Inoch, do you really don¡¯t have anything else to compensate for my loss?¡± Chen Mo asked with a chuckle. ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing!¡± Her tone implied otherwise! Let¡¯s see who¡¯s more patient here. He¡¯s got plenty of time to spend. Inoch soon blushed. Her breathing intensified. System Notification: Inoch¡¯s Servitude to you increases by 10! Chen Mo was surprised by when the notification popped up. Did he just earn the NPC¡¯s Servitude just like that? Did it mean he would earn enough Servitude to take off Inoch¡¯s bra if he kept going? Perhaps not, judging from Inoch¡¯s words, some other NPCs were going to show up soon. ¡°Miss Inoch, have you made up your mind? I¡¯m starting to run out of patience. I¡¯m going to take off your pants and throw you on the street. Think about how the folks are going to see you when they see you naked.¡± Chen Mo threatened, knowing that he was running out of time. ¡°I have something important to give you, but you have to promise me one thing first.¡± Inoch finally compromised. If she was thrown onto the street like this, she would not be able to live in the town anymore. Chapter 46 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°As you know, I¡¯ve inherited a special lineage that allows me to summon the Sacred Condemnation Demoness. I¡¯m not from Aiur Town. I¡¯m living in disguise as I didn¡¯t want to be disturbed. I¡¯m from Catherine Estate under the jurisdiction of the Dark Shadow City. I¡¯m a successor of the Catherine Estate, but I had no choice but to leave Catherine Estate and live in Aiur Town. If you can do me a favor, I can hand over the ownership of Catherine Estate to you.¡± Inoch let out a sigh and said after gathering her thoughts. -The ownership of an estate? Does that mean I¡¯m going to be an overlord in the game after agreeing to her request?- -The problem is, owning an estate doesn¡¯t really give me any benefits¡­hang on, if I really become the owner of Catherine Estate, I might be able to conduct a lot of experiments there.- Besides, it was not like Inoch could offer anything else apart from the ownership of the estate! If that was the case, he would reluctantly accept the ownership of the estate! ¡°Alright, what do you want me to do?¡± Chen Mo asked immediately. ¡°You will find the previous lord, my father¡¯s relics at Catherine Estate. If you successfully become the owner of Catherine Estate, I want my father¡¯s relics back,¡± Inoch said with a determined look. ¡°Not a problem,¡± Chen Mo nodded. Even though he had no idea what Inoch wanted him to retrieve for her, it did not really matter now. Once he became the lord of the estate, he would be able to conduct all kinds of experiments on it. ¡°This is the proof of ownership of Catherine Estate. Come see me if you¡¯ve decided to claim it,¡± Inoch let out a relieved sigh. She was worried that the adventurer would not agree with her request. System Notification: You¡¯ve obtained ¡°The Contract of Inheriting Catherine Estate¡±! The Contract of Inheriting Catherine Estate: Special item, non-tradeable, Player with the contract can inherit Catherine Estate. ¡°I¡¯ve given you the contract. It¡¯s time for you to fulfill your end of the deal. Let me go!¡± Inoch glared at Chen Mo. ¡°Of course, Miss Inoch, I¡¯m known for keeping my words among the adventurers,¡± Chen Mo uttered some bullshit. Since he had made a deal with Inoch, it might be favorable to improve their relationship, even though Inoch¡¯s Friendliness toward him was most likely negative at the moment. Chen Mo untied the rope on Inoch¡¯s hands and helped her put on her clothes. He said, ¡°Miss Inoch, you may have to untie yourself. I¡¯ shall excuse myself.¡± Chen Mo left the room and used the skill Disguise. He was now equipping the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±. He had no idea if the folks of the town would arrest him when they saw him. Most importantly, Inoch¡¯s Servitude toward him was currently 10. Chen Mo had no idea what it actually did, but he knew it was not something positive in the NPCs¡¯ eyes. Chen Mo had no idea what was going to happen to him when he was caught by the NPCs while his Servitude value was not empty, but he still had some matters to attend to. He had no intention to be arrested now. Chen Mo sneaked out of Aiur Town with the skill Disguise. He had completed his main goal in Rookies Village, but there were still two things he had to do. It went without saying that the first thing had something to do with Glacier Gaming Club and the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. It was extremely important, but there was still some time left until Glacier Gaming Club¡¯s attempt to slay the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Chen Mo was not in a rush since he still had around nineteen hours left. The second thing was what he wanted to do right away. He had long decided to do it, but he was only confident that he could achieve it just recently. He believed its difficulty was only slightly lower than the quest ¡°The Tryst¡±! ¡°HAHA, brave adventurer, are you willing to defend my precious Jadeite Pheasants from the Vultures on my behalf? I, Brad shall repay your kindness!¡± Chen Mo went to the east of Aiur Town and found Brad, the place where he earned the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±. ¡°Of course I am,¡± Chen Mo accepted the quest. Brad immediately waved his hand and teleported Chen Mo into the instance of the quest. A proud Jadeite Pheasant appeared on the spacious grassland when the quest began. The Vultures dived at the pheasant from the sky. Chen Mo did not even bother looking at the Vultures. He fired a bolt at the Jadeite Pheasant. System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! ¡­ System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! ¡­ Several System Notifications popped up. Chen Mo¡¯s World Reputation soon reached -100! System Notification: Your World Reputation has reached -100. All functional NPCs will no longer provide you with any service. You will now revive in the Land of Outcast when you die! ¡°Asshole, what have you done!¡± Just like last time, Brad furiously ran toward Chen Mo when the System Notification appeared. Last time, Chen Mo was not strong enough to take on Brad, but this time, he almost had a full set of Purple Equipment. Besides, he felt that Brad was not as strong as Inoch! Slime King¡¯s Summon! However, Chen Mo did not dare to underestimate the NPC either. He quickly backed away and summoned a Mutated Slime. A Mutated Black Slime appeared. Brad was a plump man. His speed was lower than Inoch¡¯s. He was struggling even more to catch up to Chen Mo. The NPC was having trouble going closer to Chen Mo who was abusing the Mutated Black Slime as an obstacle. Meanwhile, his HP dropped rapidly after he was continuously hit by Chen Mo¡¯s bolts. ¡°You prick, I¡¯ve asked you to protect my precious pheasants, but not only did you slaughter them, you even dare to attack me too! You¡¯re done for, you will have no place to go to in the human world!¡± Brad yelled furiously. Chen Mo completely ignored the NPC¡¯s threatening. He kept firing his bolts at the NPC. -Are you kidding me now? I¡¯ve only come because I¡¯m prepared to kill my character again! I¡¯m going to grind the negative reputation until the end of the world, until I have the highest negative reputation in the game!- When Chen Mo obtained the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± after reaching -100 World Reputation, he already had an idea of capturing Brad to grind the negative reputation continuously. Unfortunately, he was not strong enough to take on the NPC before, but now that he was strong enough, he had to give it a try! He did not care how low his World Reputation was as long as he could unlock more titles. He could just kill his character and start over again. He had unlocked the title ¡°The Corrupted¡± with -100 World Reputation. He wondered what other titles he would unlock when his World Reputation reached -1000, or even -10000. ¡°Asshole! Prick! I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± Brad kept yelling furiously, yet it did not stop his HP from dropping. His build was massive, and his HP was pretty high too. Chen Mo roughly estimated the NPC¡¯s HP to be at least one hundred and fifty thousand. The NPC¡¯s defense was very high too. Each of his bolts only dealt around sixty to seventy damage, but the extra poison damage completely disregarded the target¡¯s defense. As a result, Brad¡¯s HP was falling at an insane rate still. ¡°Piss off, you black piece of shit!¡± Brad was enraged after losing around thirty thousand HP. He started using his skills. His body bloated like a meat bomb and rammed heavily into the Mutated Black Slime! The skill did not have a high damage, but it was able to knock the target flying over a distance of ten meters. However, Brad¡¯s eyes immediately widened. The black monster did not even budge when he rammed into it with his Meat Bomb Collision! The Mutated Black Slime looked at Brad with a blank expression. What was he even thinking? Did he not know how dense and heavy it was? The reason why its defense was so high was mainly because of its shocking density. Brad used another skill when the first did not work according to his plan. He came to a stop and raised his right foot which inflated crazily! Chen Mo raised his brows. He uttered without any hesitation, ¡°Slime King¡¯s Roar!¡± Chen Mo jumped into the air after using the Slime King¡¯s Roar just as Brad stomped the ground with his enlarged foot. A deafening blast took place. The green land rippled like the surface of the water after the stomp! ¡°Such a close call! This guy isn¡¯t easy to deal with either!¡± Chen Mo let out a relieved sigh. Luckily, he was able to react in time. The Mutated Black Slime was unable to jump into the air in time. It had suffered seven hits consecutively. If it was Chen Mo, he would have to suffer at least four hits without the extra jumping height from the Slime King¡¯s Roar. The Mutated Black Slime lost 5 HP from every hit. The damage was utterly shocking. Chen Mo would have died from it. However, it seemed like Brad only had two skills. He did not have a chance to use the Meat Bomb Collision on Chen Mo, nor was his skill that shook the ground like an earthquake able to hit Chen Mo when he was under the buffs of the Slime King¡¯s Roar. Five minutes later, Brad only had 1 HP left. He fell to the ground in serious injuries. Chen Mo went up to him and adeptly tied him up. Chapter 47 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! ¡­ System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! ¡­ Chen Mo continued to slaughter the Jadeite Pheasants after tying Brad up. His World Reputation dropped rapidly as one after another Jadeite Pheasant died. System Notification: You have brutally killed the target you¡¯re supposed to be protecting. -10 World Reputation! System Notification: Your World Reputation has reached -1000. Every kind and well-behaving human NPC is reluctant to communicate with you. You will revive in the Land of Outcast when you die! System Notification: You have obtained the title ¡°The Wicked¡±! Title: The Wicked Attributes: Strength +50 Constitution +50 Dexterity +50 Intelligence +50 Spirit +50 Movement Speed +3 Special Effect(s): After equipping the title, Player can only unequip it 24 hours later. When the title is active, Player is not allowed to enter human cities. Player will drop half of the active equipment upon death. Player¡¯s level will also drop by 1. Equipping the title will increase the Friendliness of certain NPCs toward Player. Player will receive special treatments in the Land of Outcast and the City of Sins. Player will deal 10% extra damage to the monsters in the Land of Outcast and the City of Sins. Around sixteen minutes later, Chen Mo¡¯s World Reputation dropped to -1000 when he killed a Jadeite Pheasant, granting him the title ¡°The Wicked¡±. It turned out that the title ¡°The Wicked¡± was unlocked when a Player¡¯s World Reputation reached -1000. It further indicated that Gleeson was no ordinary person, considering that his World Reputation was below -1000 as an NPC. It also indicated how deadly the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was that had appeared because of Gleeson. Chen Mo had unlocked the title ¡°The Wicked¡± upon reaching -1000 World Reputation. The attributes from the title ¡°The Wicked¡± were insanely high compared to the title ¡°The Corrupted¡±! Every level up would only grant a Player 15 attributes, but the title ¡°The Wicked¡± alone was able to increase a Player¡¯s by 250. It was equivalent to the attributes granted to a Player after leveling up 17 times! The attributes were insane, but the risks involved were high too. If the Player died within 24 hours after equipping the title, they would lose half of their equipment and items, and their level would drop by one too. The penalties were worse than the death penalty of a Blacklisted Player. Normally, dying in the game would only cost a normal Player 10% of the exp that the Player needed to reach the next level, with a low rate of dropping equipment and items. If a Redlisted Player died, the penalties were double that of a normal Player; 20% of the exp that the Player needed to reach the next level. If a Blacklisted Player died, the penalties were double that of a Redlisted Player; 40% of the exp that the Player needed to reach the next level. Meanwhile, if a Player died when the title ¡°The Wicked¡± was active, the penalties were double that of a Blacklisted Player! Chen Mo was a little disappointed. The death penalty of the title ¡°The Wicked¡± was too serious. It was unlikely that he was going to equip it. However, it might be useful in the Land of Outcast and the City of Sins that he had yet to visit. He wondered what the special treatments were. He would have to check them out when he had the chance. ¡°You wicked! You demented bastard! You¡¯ve killed so many of my little precious, I don¡¯t want to live anymore!¡± Brad seemed to have woken up after lying on the ground for more than ten minutes. However, he was completely tied up in ropes. He could not do anything apart from crying out. ¡°Mr. Brad, that doesn¡¯t sound right at all. You¡¯re going to kill these Jadeite Pheasants and eat them eventually. I have only killed them earlier so they could be reborn earlier. I¡¯m actually doing them a good deed. I¡¯m not wicked, I¡¯m a very kind person.¡± Chen Mo was feeling bored after killing the Jadeite Pheasants repetitively. He started fooling around with Brad instead. ¡°You ignorant scum! Who told you that I¡¯m raising these Jadeite Pheasants because I want to eat them!? These Jadeite Pheasants are valuable because of their eggs! Every Jadeite Egg is as valuable as a jadeite pearl! Do you have any idea how many Jadeite Eggs I¡¯ve lost after you¡¯ve killed so many of my Jadeite Pheasants?¡± Brad roared furiously. ¡°How valuable are they?¡± Chen Mo asked curiously. He was indeed clueless. ¡°I have some on me, take one and check it out!¡± Brad blurted out. The adventurer must have slain the Jadeite Pheasants because he had no idea how valuable they were. He would never kill them if he knew their value in the first place! System Notification: You have obtained 1 ¡°Jadeite Egg¡±! Chen Mo searched Brad and surprisingly found an egg on him. Jadeite Egg: A rare item, has outstanding recovery and supportive effects. The following effects will be applied to the Player, the effects last for 10 minutes. Instantly recover 3000 HP Instantly recover 3000 MP Max HP +1000 Max MP +1000 Strength +30 Constitution +30 Dexterity +30 Intelligence +30 Spirit +30 Movement Speed +4 Attack Speed +20% EXP from killing monsters +100% The item can only be used once every day. Holy shit! Even Chen Mo who already took down a Mutated Boss Monster more than ten times and owned almost a full set of Purple Equipment could not remain calm after reading the description of the Jadeite Egg. Weren¡¯t the effects of the Jadeite Egg too good to be true!? If it was not a consumable item, the list of attributes alone was most likely comparable to a legendary item! It was still possible to acquire similar recovery effects and additional attributes from other consumables, such as the Low-level Mutated Potions. He just needed to drink a few of them to match the attributes from the Jadeite Egg. Most importantly, the Jadeite Egg had +100% to the exp obtained form killing monsters! It was the legendary double experience! He had yet to see anything similar on the forum, which clearly implied how rare the item was. Imagine if he could kill monsters while under the Jadeite Egg¡¯s effects for a whole day, wouldn¡¯t his level rise like he was riding a rocket? Unfortunately, such an incredible item had its restriction too; he could only consume one Jadeite Egg every day. Even with the restriction, Jadeite Egg¡¯s effects were still unbelievable. Many Players would lose their minds if the existence of the item was disclosed to the public. It explained why killing a Jadeite Pheasant would cost him 10 World Reputation. These Jadeite Pheasants must be extremely rare too. No one would have expected the Rookies Village to have such an incredible secret item! ¡°What do you think? Is the Jadeite Pheasant valuable enough!? However, its real use isn¡¯t as simple as it seems. If you can find a skillful chef, you can even cook an even more valuable and rarer dish using it!¡± Brad quickly explained, hoping to convince Chen Mo to stop killing the Jadeite Pheasants. It was possible to cook a dish with it too? The Jadeite Egg¡¯s effects were already insane. How crazier would the dish even be? Even Chen Mo was quite intrigued by the dish. ¡°It¡¯s acceptable I guess, Mr. Brad, can you please give me a few more?¡± Chen Mo nodded indifferently. It was such a rare item. Chen Mo had no idea if he could find more of it somewhere else other than Rookies Village later in the game, thus he had to think of a way to get more of them from Brad if possible. ¡°Yes! Of course I do! I can give you more if you let me go and stop killing my precious pheasants!¡± Brad blurted out without any hesitation. It was the exact response he was looking for. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you, I wouldn¡¯t know if you¡¯re lying to me. You will give me a few more of the eggs to prove that you¡¯re not lying,¡± Chen Mo acted as if he did not believe the NPC. ¡°I¡­I¡¯ll give you five more, but you must promise me that you¡¯ll stop killing them after you¡¯ve received the eggs. I¡¯ll give you another fifty of them when we are out of this place,¡± Brad said after hesitating for a little. Chen Mo had already killed more than a hundred Jadeite Pheasants in slightly over ten minutes. At this rate, the man was going to kill all of the Jadeite Pheasants that he had raised with great efforts. System Notification: You have obtained 5 ¡°Jadeite Eggs¡±! ¡°There you go, you have the eggs, stop killing my pheasants!¡± Brad grunted. ¡°Fine!¡± Chen Mo nodded. He went up to Brad and took out a piece of cloth. He shoved the cloth into Brad¡¯s mouth and turned around to kill the Jadeite Pheasants as he pleased. The Jadeite Eggs were great, but he was more curious about what kind of title he could unlock if he kept going! Chapter 48 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Time gradually passed. Chen Mo¡¯s World Reputation continued to decrease. ¡­-2000¡­-4000¡­-6000¡­ Chen Mo¡¯s World Reputation was already lower than -5000, but he still did not receive a System Notification. Chen Mo did not seem to be bothered. He continued to kill the Jadeite Pheasants repetitively. -1000 World Reputation was clearly not the limit. There must be some greater title after it! -8000! ¡­ -9000! ¡­ -10000! System Notification: Your World Reputation has reached -10000! System Notification: You are wanted by all human cities. The human cities have listed you as the most wanted criminal! System Notification: Your death penalty has reached Level S. Upon death, your level will drop by ten levels, and you will drop all your equipped items. You will revive in the Land of Outcast! System Notification: You have obtained the title ¡°The Heinous¡±! Chen Mo¡¯s World Reputation finally reached -10000 after killing the Jadeite Pheasants for more than three hours in the instance! Chen Mo quickly looked at the description of the title as soon as he heard the notification. ¡°That serious!?¡± Chen Mo was shocked following a glimpse. It was no longer just a single System Notification when his World Reputation reached -10000, but a few of them in a row! He had become the most wanted criminal in every human city. Not only would he drop all his equipment when he died, his level would drop by ten too! There was no way a Player could survive in the game after their World Reputation hit -10000! However¡­ Chen Mo had unlocked the title he was looking for after reaching -10000 World Reputation! Title: The Heinous Description: A special title that is only obtainable when Player¡¯s World Reputation is lower than -10000. Its effects are only active when the title is equipped, but it is automatically equipped when Player¡¯s World Reputation is lower than -3000. Attributes: Strength +100 Constitution +100 Dexterity +100 Intelligence +100 Spirit +100 Max HP +3000 Max MP +3000 Movement Speed +5 Jumping Height +2 meters Additional Effect(s): After equipping the title, Player can only unequip it after 72 hours. When the title is active, Player¡¯s name will turn black. Player will be attacked by every kind and well-behaving NPC. Player will drop all the equipped items and lose 5 levels upon death. Equipping the title will increase the Friendliness of certain NPCs toward Player. Player will be granted special authority in the Land of Outcast and the City of Sins. Player will deal 30% extra damage to the monsters in the Land of Outcast and the City of Sins. Player¡¯s defense will increase by 20%, and the drop rates of items will increase by 10% in the Land of Outcast and the City of Sins too. Special Passive(s): Force of Destruction, Concealing Ability Force of Destruction: Player has a certain chance of destroying the target they are attacking. Power of Concealment: To avoid being arrested, Player has become better at concealing and disguising himself. The effects of concealing and disguising skills and items have been strengthened. Holy cow! The title had +100 to every attribute, +3000 to both Max HP and Mp. It would even increase his movement speed by 5, and the extremely useful jumping height by 2 meters! It would also grant him special authority in the Land of Outcast and the City of Sins, not to mention the boost to the damage dealt to the monsters, his defense, and the drop rate of items! On top of it, it also gave him the two impressive passive abilities; the Force of Destruction and the Power of Concealment! The effects of the title ¡°The Heinous¡± were absolutely unbelievable! The title was just too insane. The combined attributes from the full set of equipment that Chen Mo was wearing were fewer than the attributes from a single title! The problem was, the title was really something. Who would dare to equip it? Everyone would immediately become his enemy once he equipped the title, especially when he had a full set of impressive equipment. If the person beside him suddenly stabbed him out of nowhere, not only would his level drop significantly, he would drop all his equipment too! He would go right to square one within a single night! If the title that was unlocked upon reaching -10000 World Reputation was already this insane, would there be a title that was even more insane than it? Chen Mo was utterly curious. However, his face turned pale when he saw a bunch of soldiers in silver armor rushing out from the building on the side! Brad vigorously twisted his body around when he saw the soldiers. His face already turned ashen when he witnessed Chen Mo killing more than a thousand Jadeite Pheasants. His help finally arrived in the end. Chen Mo believed the soldiers had shown up because of the bounty on his head. He was not far away from Aiur Town. The soldiers must have some special tracking abilities to locate his whereabouts. ¡°Commit Suicide!¡± Even though Chen Mo really wanted to know what the consequences of being arrested when he had -10000 World Reputation and 10 Servitude from an NPC were, he still had to make it to the Wolf Valley today. He could not afford to have anything go wrong. Otherwise, he would not make it to the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf in time. Chen Mo was sent to the Character Creation Space. He entered the game once again without making any changes. When he appeared in the Goblin Valley, the group of young men at Canglan Tech gasped after seeing his character. Previously, they only thought the Hunter was smart and creative, whose luck was on point too. However, after watching him blackmailing Inoch and using a quest in Rookies Village to acquire the insane title, they suddenly felt the Hunter was not as simple as they had assumed! If they were not considered half a Game Master themselves, they would seriously think one of the Game Masters had broken the rules and gone to play the game! ¡°Maybe he has the information about the game that the guy has stolen a month ago?¡± one of the young men blurted out. A month ago, someone in Canglan Tech had stolen information about the game. The guy was caught in no time, but he had managed to leak some of the information still. ¡°The information that was leaked was nowhere close to what he knows!¡± another guy shook his head. The former guy agreed too. The information that was leaked was so little that it was almost negligible. Knowing the information was not really helpful for the Players. It was even worse than the benefits that some of the lucky Players had gotten after taking the surveys when they first entered the game. ¡­ Chen Mo was teleported to Aiur Town after he left the Goblin Valley. ¡°It¡¯s so crowded.¡± Chen Mo had visited Aiur Town more times than any Players after killing himself for more than ten times. He immediately noticed something unusual about the Aiur Town when he came back again. There were a lot of Players, and the whole place was bustling with noise! ¡°HAHA, we are in luck, we ended up in the same instance of Rookies Village too!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been killing myself for two days, five times every day just to come to this instance. They are going to kill the Boss Monster tonight. It¡¯s going to be chaotic, but I might be able to get some great loots from it!¡± ¡°Of course it¡¯s not that simple, do you really think they have invested a million or even ten million just to give you free loots? It¡¯s already good enough if you can find a nice spot to witness how they are going to kill the Boss Monster!¡± Many people were discussing the same topic. Chen Mo was startled after listening to them. He somehow ended up in the instance of Rookies Village where the Glacier Gaming Club was planning to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. There were times where unintentional actions would bring unexpected success indeed. He knew many of the hackers working for Worm could not even end up in this instance after killing themselves many times, yet he had successfully ended up here just like that. -The Glacier Corporation Group¡­hehe, this is going to be very interesting!- Chen Mo did not have to be in the same instance of Rookies Village to mess up their plan. He did not really mind that he happened to be in the same instance either. However, he had to make his way to the Wolf Valley and activate the quest from Gleeson before the night! It would be difficult for him to sneak into the Wolf Valley when more Players started to gather around it. Chen Mo headed for the Wolf Valley after picking up a bunch of Wolf Meat and his equipment from the storage. Chapter 49 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Even though Glacier Gaming Club was planning to eliminate the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf tonight, there were not many Players around when Chen Mo arrived at the entrance of the Wolf Valley. The operation was scheduled to start at nine, but it was only five in the morning now. Since Players were only allowed to be online for twelve hours every day, those who were interested in watching the show tonight had gone offline for now. A few Players were challenging the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf in the Wolf Valley still, since they might not see the Hidden Boss anymore after tonight. Chen Mo waited for his chance to adeptly sneak into the Wolf Valley. ¡­ It was clearly the liveliest day since Genesis entered the open beta phase half a month ago. Genesis was getting more popular every day, but Glacier Corporation Group had managed to push the number of Players online to a new record today. Glacier Corporation Group was one of the ten biggest financial groups in China. It had countless child companies under it. These companies just needed to contribute a little, and the advertisements about their mother company were all over the place. After some detailed calculations, it turned out that the money that Glacier Corporation Group had invested in the operation had exceeded the ten million that Worm had mentioned before. Even the residents that did not play video games knew Glacier Gaming Club which Glacier Corporation Group had invested in was planning to kill a super Boss Monster in a game tonight. It would be broadcasted live on several television stations. Previously, Nouveau Riches Club had earned some reputation by killing the Slime King, but Glacier Corporation Group¡¯s attempt was clearly on a different level. In just two days, Glacier Gaming Club had overtaken Nouveau Riches Club as the trending topic among the Players. Nouveau Riches Club might have invested a few hundred thousand, but Glacier Corporation Group had invested more than ten million. There was no way the two could be compared. ¡°Glacier Corporation Group has made a pretty bold move,¡± Brother Nine in a white tuxedo said with a smile looking at the live broadcast on the screen. He was slouching comfortably on the couch in a virtual bar. ¡°Unfortunately, we couldn¡¯t find the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s weakness. Otherwise, our club can easily secure a firm foothold by taking out the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf,¡± A beautiful girl in a red dress with the nickname ¡°Hand In Hand¡± said with a sigh. There were around eight people in the virtual bar. Many Players on the forum started to think nothing of Nouveau Riches Club ever since Glacier Corporation Group came into the scene. However, the truth turned out to be the complete opposite. Nouveau Riches Club never saw Glacier Corporation Group¡¯s money as a threat. ¡°Xiao Yu, aren¡¯t you one of the elites of Glacier Corporation Group¡¯s younger generation? Why didn¡¯t you learn about their plan beforehand?¡± Brother Nine glanced into another corner where a beautiful lady in a blue dress with an icy temperament was seated. Her nickname was ¡°Blue Fantasy¡±. Even though they were currently wearing their nicknames, they actually knew one another in real life. ¡°They didn¡¯t put me in charge of Genesis. Otherwise, I won¡¯t be here either,¡± Blue Fantasy said calmly. ¡°But I¡¯ve just learned something new; our Glacier Corporation Group didn¡¯t want to invest so much in the game in the first place, but a few days ago, someone outside the company invested a huge sum in the project related to Genesis, which eventually led to this huge operation.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on? Do you know where the fund is from?¡± Brother Nine and the others were shocked. They immediately exchanged glances with one another. ¡°I have no idea, the related departments are doing a great job keeping it a secret. Apparently, they even signed a contract to keep it confidential. Only a few of the authorities know the details. I don¡¯t have enough authority to access the information,¡± Blue Fantasy shook her head. The people in the virtual bar lowered their heads and fell into deep thoughts. They had all come from renowned families and financial groups, providing them with a formidable background. As such, they had access to information that was beyond the reach of ordinary people. The full-dive virtual reality network that appeared out of nowhere was closely related to a lot of secret dealings and relationships behind the scenes. They were planning to earn some benefits from the game to secure a firmer foothold in their respective factions. It was reasonable for Glacier Corporation Group to establish Glacier Gaming Club, but the external fund was the problem here. It was unlikely that Glacier Corporation Group would need external funding considering their financial status. Ten million was nothing for them, since most of their projects would involve even greater sums than this. On the other hand, there was something strange about the investor too. If they were willing to invest ten million in Glacier Gaming Club, why did they not establish their own gaming club instead? Why would they choose to invest in Glacier Corporation Group, and why did they have to do it secretly? What good would it bring to them? ¡°Huh?¡± They were struggling to come up with an explanation. Meanwhile, Hand In Hand suddenly yelled when she caught a glimpse of a figure on the screen in front of her. It was now half-past eight. In less than an hour, Glacier Gaming Club would begin their attack on the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The entrance of the Wolf Valley was fully crowded with Players. More than three hundred experts that Glacier Gaming Club had hired with an insane amount of money had gathered in front of the Wolf Valley. These Players were not to be underestimated. They all had at least a full set of Green Equipment! That being said, most of the equipment was provided by Glacier Corporation Group. They had seriously gone all out with the operation! ¡°Everyone, stay calm, we still have some time left. Let¡¯s go through the plan again. For the Players that are lending us a hand, please do your best. Glacier Gaming Club will pay you accordingly if the operation is a success!¡± The entrance of the Wolf Valley was bustling with noise. The person-in-charge of Glacier Gaming Club, Lofty Glacier said in front of the three hundred experts that were hired. The Players that were hired were professionals. They immediately quietened under Lofty Glacier¡¯s instructions. ¡°Huh? Who¡¯s that guy?¡± Someone exclaimed among the Players before Lofty Glacier could continue his speech. Many people immediately glanced into the Wolf Valley in astonishment. Lofty Glacier turned around with a confused look. He was astounded when he saw a masked Player who managed to sneak into the Wolf Valley beforehand. He was coming out from the Wolf Valley, heading right at the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Even though the entrance of the Wolf Valley was bustling with noise, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf did not seem to be bothered at all. It remained lying on the ground lazily. However, it quickly rose to its feet as soon as the Player showed up. Its eyes of different colors were glaring at him. ¡°The people nowadays are willing to do anything to get some attention, aren¡¯t they?¡± a few among the Players that were hired chuckled. The broadcasts had gone live at eight. They simply assumed the Player was trying to get himself killed just to be on the television. ¡°Hang on, didn¡¯t you see him wearing a mask?¡± someone shook their head. ¡°Why did he look so familiar?¡± Wang Xu stared at the masked Player with a confused look. Everyone had different thoughts when they saw the masked Player. However, they stopped looking at him when the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf pounced at him following a furious roar. They could easily tell that the Player was going to die for sure without even looking at him. Even though they had no idea what the masked Player was trying to achieve by approaching the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, no one could possibly withstand the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s attack before Glacier Gaming Club used their secret item that was meant to be the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s weakness. ¡°Huh? How is this possible?¡± Many Players blurted out in surprise. In addition to the Players that had gathered in front of the Wolf Valley, the Players that were watching the live broadcasts shared the same reaction too. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf suddenly came to a stop and stared at the masked Player after he took out an item. ¡°Who is that guy?¡± Everyone immediately realized that the masked Player was no ordinary person! ¡°Crap, stop him at once!¡± Lofty Glacier immediately had an uneasy feeling. The Player was holding something that even they had never seen before. It was unlikely that he had just acquired it recently. The masked Player obviously did not show up to lend Glacier Gaming Club a hand! ¡°How are we supposed to stop him? We are still in Rookies Village!¡± Lofty Glacier¡¯s men blurted out. ¡°Idiots, send someone to provoke the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Don¡¯t give the Player any time to communicate with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Just buy me some time while I arrange for the attack to take place earlier!¡± Lofty Glacier demanded. He was very decisive despite the unexpected circumstances. ¡°Got it!¡± His men immediately made the arrangements. Two teams consisting of more than ten Players charged at the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf simply turned one of its heads around and spat out blue fire, which wiped out the two teams of Players within an instant. It immediately set its eyes on the weak human adventurer standing in front of it, who was holding a dark blue sphere with an icy aura in his hand. Chapter 50 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches The masked Player was none other than Chen Mo. The observant Chen Mo had a better understanding of the game than most Players that were busy leveling their characters after interacting with the NPC of the same quest repetitively for more than ten times. The NPCs in the game did not have a fixed behavior. Chen Mo had received the same quest from Gleeson more than ten times. The quest might be the same, but the words that Gleeson said every time were different. From the different conversations they had, and taking the situation of the Wolf Valley and the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf into consideration, Chen Mo was able to deduce some useful information even though the quest did not progress to the next step. When Gleeson summoned the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, the creature had been causing a lot of troubles. In the end, Gleeson had no choice but to use the Icy Stone Water to entrap the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf in the Wolf Valley with the help of Aiur Town¡¯s NPCs. However, that was not all of it. Chen Mo also learned that the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was not just a Boss Monster with a great lust to kill. It could actually communicate with humans. Otherwise, even though the Icy Stone Water was its weakness, it would not compromise and agree to stay in the Wolf Valley if it could not communicate with the humans. That being said, if anyone was to run at the creature without the Icy Stone Water, it went without saying that the creature would not bother communicating with them. ¡°See this? It¡¯s the thing that you are the most scared of, and the thing you wanted the most too. If you can agree to some of my conditions, I can give it to you. You can then leave this good-for-nothing valley and go anywhere you please!¡± Chen Mo knew he had gotten Glacier Gaming Club¡¯s attention. He was running short on time. Roar! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf did not speak in human language. He knew what Chen Mo was saying, but all three of his heads were brimming with anger. Those humans had used the same thing to make him suffer. Even just a little of it had given him great pain, forcing him to stay in such a small valley. He had the urge to pounce on the human and tear him into pieces, but at the same time, he was afraid of the special liquid inside the sphere that was emitting an icy aura. ¡°Do you really want to die? The humans out there are here to kill you. You can only live for another half an hour at most! Even if you managed to survive half an hour later, I will still give this Icy Stone Water to Solo if you don¡¯t agree to my condition. You will be trapped in this valley forever!¡± Chen Mo noticed the anger in the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s eyes. He had no choice but to emphasize his intention again to calm the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf down. As he thought, even though the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf became angrier at the mention of his death, the anger in his eyes was gradually replaced with a cold murderous look. ¡°Very well, I¡¯m only asking for one thing, and it won¡¯t bring you any loss at all. If you agree to form a pact with me, I will give you the Icy Stone Water. You can then leave this place and go anywhere you want. If you are interested in hearing my condition, nod your head.¡± Chen Mo quickly explained his intention. He was not intimidated by the murderous look from the Boss Monster. ¡°It nodded! The Boss Monster just nodded!¡± Chen Mo and the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf had long attracted everyone¡¯s attention. They all realized that Chen Mo was no ordinary person when the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf did not kill him right away. They were even more dumbfounded when they saw the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf nodding at Chen Mo. Not only was the man able to communicate with the Boss Monster, he even convinced the Boss Monster to agree to something. Who exactly was him? ¡°Get ready to attack!¡± Lofty Glacier knew the masked Player had reached an agreement with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf after seeing the monster¡¯s reaction. He immediately fell into a great panic. ¡°But we aren¡¯t prepared yet!¡± a Player blurted out. ¡°We are running out of time. Everyone, on my mark!¡± Lofty Glacier yelled furiously. He was not just a random Player, but an authority of Glacier Corporation Group. He was placed in charge of the operation to slay the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The money that had spent on spreading the news for the past few days was not his main concern. However, if the plan they spent so much time and effort on failed in the end, they were going to end up as a laughing stock! Someone would have to hold responsibility for it when the time came, and he was obviously going to be the first victim! They might still fail if they were to carry out the attack now, but it was better than just standing still and watching someone coming to an agreement with the Boss Monster right in front of them! So many people had seen the Boss Monster nodding at the masked Player. If he did not react now, he would be blamed for his indecisiveness, and the corporation group would never entrust important tasks to him again! On the other hand, if he failed because he had decided to carry out the attack earlier, it was still a reasonable decision. He still had a chance to redeem himself in the future even if he was to be blamed for the failure! ¡°Very well, I only have one condition. I will give you the Icy Stone Water so you can leave this place, but every time you see me in the future, not only are you not allowed to hurt me, you have to do me a favor too. I won¡¯t ask you to hurt yourself. If I do, you can just reject my request! If you agree to it, we¡¯ll form a pact right now!¡± Chen Mo was constantly keeping an eye on Glacier Gaming Club¡¯s movement. He proceeded to explain his condition. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was startled. Just that? The condition was basically non-existent if he did not see the human again! He had no reason to not accept it! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf instantly made up his mind! ¡°Huh? What now!?¡± The people watching the broadcast suddenly noticed the broadcast freezing for an instant. Everyone in the game was unable to move too. ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s some problem with the transmission?¡± However, everything went back to normal after less than two seconds. Many people that were watching the broadcast shared the same thought. Only the Players that were in the game knew the freeze was not caused by a problem with the transmission, but the game actually froze for more than a second! Their consciousness was still around when the freeze happened, but they were unable to control their character. It was exactly the same as a traditional game freezing briefly! Only Chen Mo who was standing in front of the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf knew the reason behind the freeze. He did it! He actually caused the game to freeze! He had done it even though the freeze only lasted for more than a second! Chen Mo was overjoyed when the freeze occurred. He knew he had finally found a bug in the game! Chen Mo realized it was unlikely he could discover a bug in the game using the normal approach. Therefore, Chen Mo decided to use a different approach on the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf that was designed to be part of a regional quest. After interacting with Gleeson numerous times, Chen Mo learned that the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was going to die as the quest progressed. Therefore, he decided to choose a completely opposite approach by helping the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf live. Not only would the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, he would also leave the valley and go anywhere as he pleased! Chen Mo was only giving it a try. It was never going to work in traditional games since it was not part of the script that the game designers had implemented, but the important NPCs in Genesis clearly had their own A.I. which granted them their own thoughts. The fact that Gleeson¡¯s response was different every time he came was an obvious proof to it. System Notification: You have formed a pact with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf! Details of the Pact: You have given the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf the Icy Stone Water. Every time the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf sees you, he will do you a favor that does not endanger his own life! Chapter 51 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Go! Attack at once, kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf!¡± The system had returned to normal when Chen Mo received the System Notification. Lofty Glacier had also collected his thoughts. He knew something unusual had just happened, and it clearly had something to do with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf! Lofty Glacier yelled furiously without caring about his image. Although the Players that were hired were displeased by Lofty Glacier¡¯s furious roar, they too knew they were running short on time. They immediately charged at the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf under Lofty Glacier¡¯s lead. ¡°It¡¯s too late.¡± Chen Mo glanced at the Players that were rushing into the Wolf Valley. He tossed the sphere of Icy Stone Water at the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Roar! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s eyes flickered with excitement. He subconsciously let out a furious roar while the head in the middle bowed and caught the Icy Stone Water. To Chen Mo¡¯s surprise, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf raised his head and swallowed the Icy Stone Water that was emitting an icy aura into his stomach! Roar! Roar! Roar! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf uttered three furious roars while his body was trembling, as if he was suffering from a great pain! Flames were bursting out of his body. The flames engulfing the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf burned even more vigorously as if someone had just poured fuel on them! ¡°Is that masked Player going to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf just like that!?¡± The Players in the distance were in utter disbelief. They could clearly see the pain that the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was enduring. They would not be surprised if the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf suddenly fell to his death amid the vigorous flames. ¡°It¡¯s very likely! That guy is most likely here to steal the Boss Monster!¡± The same thought crossed the minds of many Players. If the masked Player managed to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, the effort that Glacier Corporation Group had put in so far would end up as the cat¡¯s paw for him! They would also do the same thing if they had the chance! While the Players were discussing among themselves, Chen Mo was the only one that could observe the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s changes. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was evolving! The Icy Stone Water was his weakness, but it was also the material he needed to evolve! The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s body was undergoing tremendous changes amid the raging flames! Wings! A huge pair of wings had grown rapidly out of his back! Boom! In just a few moments, the wings had fully grown over ten meters long. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf beat his wings, blowing the flames away and revealing its body that had clearly grown stronger. ¡°Did the Boss Monster just evolve?¡± The Players at the entrance of the Wolf Valley were stunned. Lofty Glacier who was leading the Players that Glacier Corporation Group had hired felt his heart skipping a beat. Would their secret weapon still work after the Boss Monster evolved? Chen Mo would be very surprised if he saw the thing in Lofty Glacier¡¯s inventory. Inside Lofty Glacier¡¯s inventory was also a sphere of Icy Stone Water, but it was different from the one Chen Mo had. Lofty Glacier¡¯s Icy Stone Water was not a quest item, nor was its uses restricted. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was even more savage after consuming the Icy Stone Water. He glanced at Chen Mo before beating his wings to lift off. ¡°Attack! Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± Lofty Glacier yelled. He must stop the Boss Monster from running away at all costs! Lots of fireballs, icy arrows, bolts, and projectiles flew into the air and went right at the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. Lofty Glacier also used the Icy Stone Water in his inventory without any hesitation. He tossed the Icy Stone Water at the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf amid the colorful projectiles. Most of the attacks only inflicted around thirty to forty damage on the evolved Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, despite the Players were mostly had a full set of Green Equipment. If their equipment was slightly worse, they might even struggle to break through the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf¡¯s defense. Snap! The Icy Stone Water smashed into pieces after landing on the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. The Three-Headed Fiery Wolf turned around and glared at Lofty Glacier. He was extremely familiar with the Icy Stone Water. If he did not evolve, the Icy Stone Water would significantly weaken him! Whoosh! He beat his wings and unleashed three flames of different colors resembling fire dragons at the Players that Glacier Gaming Club had hired! -3000! -3000! -3000! ¡­ Damage indicators with values over 3000 floated above the Players¡¯ heads! ¡°F**k me!¡± ¡°What kind of damage is that!?¡± The crowd exclaimed. It all happened within an instant! More than three hundred Players were wiped out just like that! Every Player, including Chen Mo, was dumbfounded! Chen Mo knew the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf would become stronger after he had evolved, but the damage was too insane! He had formed a pact with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. He could easily ask the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf to eliminate anything as he pleased every time he stumbled into the Boss Monster! The Players in the distance and the people watching the live broadcast were lost for words to describe their feelings. They were looking forward to witnessing something spectacular tonight, but it was clearly beyond what they had expected. ¡°Glacier Corporation Group has made a fool of itself!¡± Everyone shared the same thought as they recovered from the shock. They had invested so much time and effort in spreading the news about their plan of killing the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, but the Players had all been killed instantly by the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf instead. One could not possibly imagine a louder slap to the face than that! ¡°Headline! It¡¯s going to be the headline tomorrow!¡± Many reporters started writing a draft right away. A mysterious masked Player! The ridiculous strength of the evolved Boss Monster! Glacier Gaming Club was entirely wiped out! The plan of getting the first kill on the Hidden Boss had ended up in such an unbelievable outcome. There was nothing more attention-grabbing than the headline! After taking out more than three hundred Players within an instant, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf beat his wings and rose into the sky. He circled the Wolf Valley once before disappearing into the horizon. ¡°The masked Player is gone too!¡± The crowd noticed that the masked Player was already gone when they shifted their attention to the Wolf Valley. ¡°Xiao Yu, your Glacier Corporation Group has really suffered great losses.¡± In the virtual bar, the members of Nouveau Riches Club glanced at Blue Fantasy upon collecting their thoughts. Blue Fantasy remained silent. She was still staring at the screen with great astonishment, even though the masked Player was already gone. Meanwhile, a bunch of young workers in Canglan Tech¡¯s Inspection Center was soaked in a cold sweat. Every monitor in the Inspection Center was filled with red alerts when the system froze briefly, scaring the crap out of them. Even though the system had returned to normal, they were still performing numerous checks on the system cautiously. ¡°Sister Bing, you are here, something went wrong with the system just then.¡± A young beautiful lady with a cold expression walked in. One of the young workers immediately went up to her and reported. Tang Bing stared at the character that the screen was being locked onto in astonishment after hearing the report from her subordinate. Everyone, including Tang Bing was familiar with the character. The people of Canglan Tech were curious why the Player did not use the Icy Stone Water when he first got his hands on it, but now, not only did he use it, he almost crashed the system too. ¡°It¡¯s fine, calm down,¡± Tang Bing waved her hand, signaling everyone to calm themselves. The young workers let out relieved sighs. They initially thought Tang Bing was going to give them a great scolding. They were surprised to see Tang Bing in such a calm mood. ¡°Sister Bing, what should we do with the Player? Should we give him a warning?¡± one of the workers suggested. The guy had almost crashed the entire system! ¡°Nonsense, the system might even reward him for it, let alone giving him a warning!¡± Tang Bing looked at the worker. ¡°Ah? But why?¡± the members of the Inspection Center were dumbfounded. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious!? The game is still in the beta stage. The guy just helped us to find a shortcoming of the system!¡± Tang Bing grunted. The team immediately came to a realization. They clearly remembered the announcement stating that if anyone managed to find a bug in the game, they would be rewarded accordingly. ¡°What reward will he get then?¡± someone asked. ¡°How would I know? The system will decide!¡± Tang Bing shook her head. The team was still too young and naive. However, Canglan Tech had carefully filtered these people to ensure that the information was kept confidential. Only the A.I. Twilight would know how severe the system freeze was, thus she would reward the Player accordingly after she had done analyzing the fault that occurred. Chapter 52 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Is the full-dive virtual reality network really safe, stable, and bug-free as it was promoted?¡± Chen Mo was not the only person that did not want the traditional network to be replaced. The freeze that only lasted over a second in Genesis immediately became the trending topic on the forum. Several articles that were voicing out their suspicions soon appeared on the Internet. There were a lot of discussions going on. It was obvious that someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes, trying to get as much attention as possible. Canglan Tech had also expressed their opinions on it, ¡°First, a freeze did occur in the game; it is caused by a fault in the game¡¯s source code. Second, the freeze in the game did not influence the other functionalities of the full-dive virtual reality network. Third, if the same problem was to occur to the traditional network, the whole network is most likely going to crash, but in the full-dive virtual reality network, the A.I. Twilight has managed to fix the problem in slightly more than a second. In addition to it, the A.I. Twilight will also learn and adapt from the fault that occurred without human intervention. The same problem will not happen again.¡± Canglan Tech¡¯s statement was straight to the point. Half of the voices had disappeared as soon as it was released. ¡°As I thought, it¡¯s not enough still.¡± Chen Mo returned to Aiur Town and went offline to avoid arousing suspicion. He also used the opportunity to observe people¡¯s reactions on the Internet. Chen Mo¡¯s expression was clearly saying ¡°as I thought¡± after he read Canglan Tech¡¯s statement. He might have caused the game to freeze briefly, but he did not complete the mission yet. He was actually far from completing the mission, and it seemed almost impossible that he could ever complete the mission through the game. It was going to be very difficult to find any bug in Genesis after the first time. Chen Mo was a hacker; he had been dealing with a lot of programs, thus he knew how terrifying it was if the A.I. Twilight was able to fix the bug in just slightly over a second! It simply indicated that the A.I. had a self-recovery ability that was beyond human capabilities. Chen Mo would not doubt that the pact that he had formed with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, the action of the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf consuming the Icy Stone Water, and the creature¡¯s transformation that granted it a pair of wings after it evolved were the acceptable outcome that the system had calculated and implemented in just more than a second since these things were clearly not implemented in the game before the freeze! If the system had such strong self-recovery and learning abilities, it was almost impossible to find a loophole in the game. However, Chen Mo had no intention to give up yet. He still had an insane idea on how to crash the system! He had discovered how extraordinary Genesis¡¯ A.I. Twilight was. She was most likely implemented with an Emotion Program too. Otherwise, the NPCs in Genesis would not behave and have emotions like they were real human beings! However, it seemed like Twilight was not still familiar with handling these emotions. Chen Mo was most likely one of the Players that had interacted with the NPCs the most, not to mention that he had interacted with the same NPCs over and over again. Chen Mo could still sense the stiffness in these NPCs¡¯ reactions. It was clearly the thing that Twilight was lacking still, and since the A.I. had the ability to self-learn, it would continue to improve its Emotion Program. Once the Emotion Program became reliable, it was very likely that Twilight would grow into a massive program with her own consciousness. Chen Mo was planning to influence Twilight¡¯s emotions and personalities through certain NPCs in the game. If Twilight ended up deriving two opposite emotions and personalities from the same incident, there was a great chance that Twilight would make a mistake! If anyone knew Chen Mo¡¯s idea, they would think that he was completely out of his mind. His idea was a complete waste of time since its success rate was extremely close to zero percent! Chen Mo knew his idea sounded crazy, but for some reason, he had a feeling that it was going to work. ¡°Could this be the so-called three greatest misconceptions in a person¡¯s life?¡± Chen Mo chuckled upon having this thought. One of the three greatest misconceptions in a person¡¯s life¡ªthe Dunning-Kruger Effect! {TL Note: FYI, the other two misconceptions are ¡°Phantom Vibration Syndrome¡± and ¡°Psychological Projection¡±.} There was no way he would admit that he would have nothing better to do, or it would be a waste of his character if he was to give up on the mission now. ¡°Huh? A Mutated Slime King that can fission into two?¡± After Chen Mo decided not to give up on the mission, he was surprised when he saw an interesting post on the forum. After the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf was gone from the Wolf Valley, many Players were able to complete the quest where the beggar was asking for wolf meat and the quest that would reward Players with the Slime¡¯s Poison. As a result, the Mutated Slime King had become a lot more common. Chen Mo already knew it would be the case, but even though he had killed so many Mutated Slime Kings, he had never seen one that could fission. Chen Mo read the post and discovered that there was indeed a Mutated Slime King that could fission. The Mutated Slime King was a strong Boss Monster. The Players in most instances of Rookies Village were struggling to take the Mutated Slime King on, but the Mutated Slime King in one of the instances was dying quickly after being attacked by a huge group of Players. However, when the Mutated Slime King had half its max HP left, it suddenly underwent fission and split into two, before using its ultimate move to wipe out the Players that were attacking it, and other Players that were watching the battle nearby. ¡°Oh my, how crazy would it be when two Mutated Slime Kings joined hands! Besides, isn¡¯t this instance of Rookies Village¡­¡± Chen Mo quickly logged back into the game. He was right, the Super Mutated Slime King was in the same instance of Rookies Village he was currently in! The instance of Rookies Village had the highest number of elite Players. After failing to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, the Players who had yet to leave the instance decided to form a team to kill the Mutated Slime King instead. If the Mutated Slime King did not mutate again, it was most likely going to die to the Players. Chen Mo was guessing that the Mutated Slime King¡¯s mutation had something to do with the freeze and the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, meaning that he was the cause behind it! Chen Mo changed into his high-quality equipment at the storage. He also took the skill book of the skill ¡°Capture¡± and a Scroll of Skill Mutation. After killing so many Mutated Slime Kings, Chen Mo had long wanted to test if he could capture a Mutated Slime King to be his underling. Chen Mo believed the normal skill ¡°Capture¡± was nowhere enough to catch a Boss Monster, but he still had the Scroll of Skill Mutation! The skill ¡°Capture¡± was one of Hunter¡¯s specialties. Chen Mo was definitely going to use the Scroll of Skill Mutation on it eventually. Since he had quite a few Scrolls of Skill Mutation to spare, he would not mind trying it on the Super Mutated Boss Monster! System Notification: You have learned the skill ¡°Capture¡±. Do you want to use the Scroll of Skill Mutation on it? Accept! System Notification: You have learned the skill ¡°Capture (Mutated)¡±! System Notification: The pet system has been activated. You now have three pet slots! Capture (Mutated) (Novice Level): A mutated skill, using it will allow Player to capture a monster or a Boss Monster equivalent to Player¡¯s level as a pet. The success rate depends on Player¡¯s Strength and Strength. Using the skill on the same target five times will make the target immune to the skill! HAHAHA, holy crap! As expected of a mutated skill! He could actually use it to catch a Boss Monster! Some Hunters had already learned the skill ¡°Capture¡± after reaching Level 15. The normal ¡°Capture¡± only had two pet slots, and the skill could only be cast on monsters that were at least two levels weaker than the Players. If the skill failed on the same target three times, the target would become uncatchable. In comparison, the mutated skill ¡°Capture¡± was significantly better! -Super Mutated Slime King, don¡¯t you die so quickly! I¡¯m coming to catch you!- Chapter 53 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Slime Valley¡­ The place was extremely crowded. It was bustling like never before. The Players were surrounding the spawning point of the Boss Monster. An enormous purple Mutated Slime King was massacring Players in the middle of the circle. The Players fled for their lives, but they were clearly no match for the Mutated Slime King¡¯s speed. Each of its attacks would kill a bunch of Players. There were a lot of Players around, but not many among them were able to deal damage to the Mutated Slime King. Even though the Players that were chased by the Mutated Slime King would turn around prior to their deaths to attack the Mutated Slime King, the damage they dealt was almost negligible. Apart from a bunch of Players with impressive equipment that engaged the Mutated Slime King right at the beginning, the mutated Boss Monster was basically unstoppable. ¡°Brother, it¡¯s going to be tough to take down this Boss Monster,¡± among the crowd, Wang Xu said to a young man beside him sternly. If Chen Mo was around, he would surely recognize the young man. Even though Chen Mo had only seen the man a few times, he still managed to leave a strong impression on Chen Mo. He was Wang Xu¡¯s elder brother in real life, Wang Wen. Unlike Wang Xu, Wang Wen who was around the age of twenty-six had a slightly more mature demeanor. ¡°Mm, that¡¯s as expected. A single team is not going to take down the mutated Boss Monster. Brother Xiaolou, what¡¯s your plan?¡± Wang Wen did not express his opinion. He asked the Magician with a small build beside him instead. The Magician¡¯s in-game nickname was Xiaolou Fengyu (A pavilion amid the wind and rain). Xiaolou Fengyu said with a smile, ¡°Of course we¡¯re going to kill it. We¡¯ve already suffered a great loss after losing the deal from before. We must cut some losses after knowing there¡¯s a mutated Boss Monster here. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve already contacted the members of Glacier Gaming Club who are still in this instance and the Players we hired. We shouldn¡¯t have any problem defeating the Boss Monster. We were taken by surprise before. This time, we are well-prepared for it. We should be able to kill it as long as we stop it from fissioning.¡± The Mutated Slime King¡¯s clone from fissioning was not as strong as its actual self, but the Players would still struggle against it. They had no trouble enduring the Boss Monster¡¯s attacks as long as they had a Paladin as their tank and a Priest healing the tank. However, the party was doomed when the Boss Monster split into two. ¡°Stop the Boss Monster from fissioning? How?¡± Wang Xu frowned. He asked with a confused look. ¡°Aren¡¯t Leng Xiaoliu and the others here? Their equipment has the Silence debuff,¡± Xiaolou Fengyu glanced in another direction and saw Leng Xiaoliu and his party looking at him too. Leng Xiaoliu came up to them with a smile, ¡°Brother Xiaolou, your reputation precedes you. I heard that you¡¯ve joined Glacier Gaming Club. Congratulations!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu was an expert in competitive games in China. His skills were remarkable. Normally, someone like him would rarely have any interaction with a gaming studio like the one Leng Xiaoliu was managing, but Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s team would also work as boosters when they were not busy with other jobs. They would only accept well-paid jobs too, thus Leng Xiaoliu had bumped into Xiaolou Fengyu in a few ranked matches. He ended up losing badly to Leng Xiaoliu most of the times, which meant he had to spend more time on completing the jobs. On top of it, the guy was called Xiaolou, and the people usually called him Xiaoliu. Their names sounded very similar, thus it was not difficult to remember one another. Xiaolou Fengyu chuckled in his heart after hearing Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s words. Even though Leng Xiaoliu might be congratulating him, everyone knew that Glacier Gaming Club had failed miserably even before it was established officially. It was already difficult to say if Glacier Gaming Club was going to keep going. Even if it was, it was most likely not going to receive huge support from the others. Leng Xiaoliu must be very pleased by the outcome. However, Xiaolou Fengyu could not be bothered wasting his time with the narrow-minded and cunning guy now that they had a Boss Monster to deal with. He nodded and went straight to the topic, ¡°Boss Xiaoliu, I know you have some equipment that can silence a Boss Monster¡¯s skills. I doubt if any of our parties could take on the Boss Monster alone. Why don¡¯t we team up for once?¡± Leng Xiaoliu was a professional too. He put his thoughts aside when there was business at hand. He had only approached them since he too was sharing the same idea. He said after a slight hesitation, ¡°I have no problem working together, but how are we going to split the profit?¡± ¡°Our parties are still not enough to kill the Boss Monster. I¡¯ve also called the members of Glacier Gaming Club and a few other experts to lend us a hand. We will have to split the profit among quite a huge group, but I can promise you to let you pick one out of the three most valuable loots that the Boss Monster drops.¡± ¡°Sure, but who¡¯s going to pick first?¡± Leng Xiaoliu agreed without any hesitation. Even if they were taking on a mutated Boss Monster, it would only drop around ten items at most. It was already good enough if he could obtain one of the most valuable loots among them. However, even the three most valuable loots would still have some difference in value between them, thus it all came down to who was going to pick first. ¡°We¡¯ll all pick the three most valuable loots. If our choices do not clash, we¡¯ll claim them straight away. If we ended up picking the same loot, we¡¯ll decide its ownership by rolling the dice.¡± Xiaolou Fengyu had already come up with a way to split the loots. Leng Xiaoliu nodded in agreement since he believed it was a fair method too. The others proceeded to make their preparations. The Mutated Slime King was still massacring the Players that had crowded around the place in the distance. The Players knew they had no chance of killing the Boss Monster, but they still came to try their luck. With so many Players around, including the Players that were hired to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf, it was only a matter of time until the Boss Monster was killed. If they could pick up an item amid the chaos, it would be a great fortune for them. ¡°Those experts are making their move!¡± The Players finally waited until Leng Xiaoliu, Xiaolou Fengyu, and the others to make their move. They were eight parties with less than fifty people in total. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP began to drop rapidly when the Players engaged it. ¡°Paladins, focus on your defense, Priests, keep up with the heals!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu said. The first wave of attacks had taken away a huge amount of the Boss Monster¡¯s HP. However, the teams were going to be wiped out instantly if they could not withstand the Boss Monster¡¯s upcoming attacks. The Players involved were all experts. They were already using everything they had to defend themselves before Xiaolou Fengyu even mentioned it. However, they might be able to block any other attack from the Mutated Slime King, but the Mutated Slime King¡¯s skill of releasing purple little orbs was not something that a bunch of Paladins alone could resist. The other Players were most likely going to die if they were hit by the purple orbs. Xiaolou Fengyu already came up with a plan for it. They gradually moved closer to the other Players surrounding the place. They would blend into the crowd whenever the Mutated Slime King released the purple orbs. They were able to use the Players nearby to block the purple orbs for them. When the orbs disappeared, they would swiftly regroup again to continue attacking the Boss Monster. ¡°Damn it, these assh****!¡± The Players nearby finally realized what Xiaolou Fengyu and the others were trying to do. However, Xiaolou Fengyu and his crew did not seem to be bothered at all. Most of the Players that had gathered around the place were obviously here to steal the loots! If PVP was allowed in Rookies Village, Xiaolou Fengyu and his crew strongly believed that these Players would attack them when the Boss Monster was about to die to steal their loots! Therefore, they did not feel guilty at all using these Players as their shields. ¡°Lucky, I¡¯ve made it in time.¡± Chen Mo finally arrived. He knew there was still time when he saw the Boss Monster had only lost half its HP. ¡°Wang Xu, Wang Wen?¡± Chen Mo instantly recognized Wang Xu and Wang Wen when he looked at the Boss Monster. The two brothers had slightly modified their appearance, but it was still quite easy to recognize someone you knew among a bunch of strangers. ¡°That Wang Wen is as steady as he is in real life. Impressive!¡± Chen Mo had only met Wang Wen twice in real life. He had no idea what the man did as a living, but his performance in the game was quite eye-grabbing. ¡°Those guys are here too. How small is the world?¡± Chen Mo recognized Leng Xiaoliu and Leng Xiaoqian too. ¡°Glacier Corporation Group, the Wang Brothers, and the hot-tempered lady with a foul mouth. I¡¯m going to regret it if I don¡¯t steal the Boss Monster!¡± The game did not forbid Players from stealing other Player¡¯s Boss Monster, but Chen Mo might feel a little guilty if he ended up stealing the Boss Monster that a bunch of strangers was attacking. However, not only would he not feel guilty stealing the Boss Monster from these guys, it would make him feel a lot better too! Chapter 54 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°It¡¯s almost at 50% HP, apply the Silence debuff when it¡¯s going to fission, don¡¯t miss the chance!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu reminded Leng Xiaoliu. The Mutated Slime King would fission and produce a clone when its HP reached 50%. Its body would blur temporarily when it was undergoing fission. The Silence debuff was able to interrupt it forcibly. ¡°I got it, you don¡¯t have to remind me, I don¡¯t want to die either!¡± Leng Xiaoliu harrumphed coldly. They only had one chance. If the Boss Monster successfully fissioned, they were all going to die! ¡°Toothpick, take note of the timing, don¡¯t mess it up,¡± Leng Xiaoliu said. The Silence debuff was a special skill from their Magician¡¯s staff. ¡°Boss, don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t mess it up,¡± Toothpick was a reliable male Magician. Leng Xiaoqian was the only female Player in the party. ¡°50%!¡± The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP had reached 50% while they were talking. Its outline became blurry as it was about to split into two. ¡°Silence!¡± Toothpick raised his staff, firing a ray of black light at the Mutated Slime King when it was fissioning. The Mutated Slime King froze for a moment. Its blurred outline became solid again. ¡°It worked! Make use of the chance, attack at will, don¡¯t give it any chance to use the skill again!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu yelled out in joy. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP dropped rapidly as the Players used everything they had on it. The nearby Players became restless as the Boss Monster¡¯s HP was almost empty. It was time for them to steal the loots once the Boss Monster was dead. Even though they did not have the right to loot the items right away, they just needed to stand on top of the items to prevent the Players that killed the Boss Monster from picking them up. After the protection time was gone, they would be able to loot the items. Even though almost fifty people had teamed up to fight the Boss Monster, the multi-party system was still not unlocked for the Players in Rookies Village, hence only a single party would have the right to pick the items up. Since they had so many Players on their side, they had a great chance of stopping the party from looting the items. The Boss Monster¡¯s HP soon dropped from 50% to 20%. However, the Players waiting to steal the loots remained in positions. They were only going to die if they were to go closer to the Boss Monster now. To their surprise, a figure suddenly dashed out from the crowd, grabbing everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°It¡¯s a Player wearing a mask again!¡± The Players looked at the figure and saw the person wearing a mask. ¡°Is he the same person that showed up in the Wolf Valley around an hour ago?¡± the Players were well aware of what happened in the Wolf Valley, thus they could not help but think the two masked Players were the same person. ¡°It looks like it, their builds are similar!¡± Many Players immediately felt the person to be familiar after seeing his physique. They strongly believed the two were the same person even though they could not see his face. ¡°It¡¯s going to be interesting again!¡± A lot of Players immediately became excited. Did the guy show up to steal the Boss Monster again? It was quite possible knowing after knowing how mysterious he was! ¡°It¡¯s him again!¡± the surrounding Players were able to recognize the masked Player, let alone Xiaolou Fengyu and the others who had seen the masked Player at a closer distance. The experts immediately went enraged. They were initially hired to take out the Hidden Boss, yet the guy somehow drove the Hidden Boss away, putting them to shame. They also lost half of their pay as a result. If they were allowed to PvP, they would give up on the Boss Monster and attack the masked Player at once. Chen Mo ignored Xiaolou Fengyu and the others. He ran directly at the Mutated Slime King and fired a bolt at it. Many Players had been posting about capturing monsters on the forum. A Hunter must deal damage to the monster they were trying to capture. Otherwise, the chance of success would be zero. In addition to it, the skill Capture at the Novice Level only had a range of five meters. The skill would not have any effect on a target that was more than five meters away. ¡°The guy is either a Hunter or an Assassin!¡± the Players immediately realized Chen Mo¡¯s class when he attacked with a crossbow. ¡°Kid, my boss Lofty Glacier is asking you if you dare to tell us your in-game nickname!¡± One of the Players grunted. He had contacted Lofty Glacier as soon as he saw Chen Mo. ¡°Are you stupid or what!? I¡¯m covering my face because I don¡¯t want anyone to recognize me. Otherwise, I won¡¯t have any chance to do bad things again, hehe!¡± Chen Mo purposely roughened his voice as he spoke. Apart from the Players that were hired, the members of Glacier Gaming Club were extremely furious too. Their bright future had darkened significantly because of this guy, and it sounded like he was not done messing with them still! ¡°Kid, you better hope we don¡¯t find out who you are, or Glacier Corporation Group is going to crush you to death with money!¡± someone yelled. ¡°HAHAHA, I¡¯m so scared!¡± Chen Mo burst out laughing. He did not sound scared at all. Chen Mo quickly put on his best equipment. He fired an arrow at the Boss Monster, dealing more than two hundred damage. ¡°Such damage!¡± The Players were utterly dumbfounded. It was just a normal attack without using any skill! It was already impressive if they could hit the Boss Monster for more than a hundred damage! They were already wearing a full set of Green Equipment. Wouldn¡¯t that mean the masked Player was wearing a full set of Purple Equipment instead? The Players could no longer remain calm upon having this thought. There were only rumors about having a full set of Purple Equipment on the forum, but no one had ever seen anyone with a full set of Purple Equipment until now. They did not expect to see anyone with a full set of Purple Equipment here. Who exactly was the guy if he already managed to get a full set of Purple Equipment? ¡°Focus on the attacks, don¡¯t let him steal the Boss Monster!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu yelled. The person¡¯s damage was too high. He was most likely here to steal the Boss Monster. Even though they had engaged the Boss Monster first, but if the party that engaged the Boss Monster first died, the person could still steal the Boss Monster if his damage output was higher than the other parties. The experts were extremely nervous. They had already failed to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf. If the Mutated Slime King that was so close to dying was stolen too, it would seriously be a great loss to them. Chen Mo glanced at the Mutated Slime King. Its HP was now less than 15%. Capture! Chen Mo quickly moved closer to the Mutated Slime King and used Capture on it. According to the posts on the forum, the chance of capturing a monster was the highest when its HP was below 10%. However, Chen Mo could not afford to wait any longer. The Boss Monster¡¯s HP was dropping too fast. If he waited until the Boss Monster¡¯s HP to drop below 10%, he would have to use Capture consecutively. The skill Capture did not have cooldown, but the chance of capturing a monster would drop significantly if he kept using the skill within a short period of time. Every time the skill failed, the target¡¯s resistance against the skill would increase slightly. If he used the skill again before the resistance was gone, it would only make the chance of capturing the target lower. System Notification: Capture failed! Chen Mo was not surprised when the System Notification of failing to capture the Boss Monster appeared. He was trying to catch a mutated Boss Monster. It would be insane if he managed to capture it when its HP was still at 15%. Chen Mo backed away. ¡°What is he trying to do?¡± Leng Xiaoliu was utterly confused when he saw Chen Mo backing away so quickly. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about it. ¡°Attack at will!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu was having the same feeling too. He immediately asked the team to attack the Boss Monster at will earlier than he had planned. When the Boss Monster¡¯s HP was almost at 10%, Chen Mo believed it was time to use the skill again. He went up to the Boss Monster and used Capture. System Notification: Capture failed! The skill had failed once again. It failed again, but there was still chance! Chen Mo did not panic. He calmly backed away. Xiaolou Fengyu and Leng Xiaoliu were both keeping an eye on Chen Mo. They knew something was not right when they saw Chen Mo repeating the same sequence of actions. They began to feel nervous. They did not forget that the guy had helped the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf evolve so it could fly away just an hour ago. They would not be surprised if the guy was doing something they could not understand. The Mutated Slime King¡¯s HP had reached 5%! Chen Mo went up to the Boss Monster again! Capture! System Notification: Capture failed! ¡°Crap! It¡¯s indeed not easy to capture a mutated Boss Monster. I still have one more chance left, but it¡¯s most likely going to fail still!¡± After failing for the third time, Chen Mo had a feeling he was going to fail his fourth attempt too! Players would feel something strange when using the skill Capture. Chen Mo felt like he was tossing a rope around the Mutated Slime King, but the monster easily broke free from the rope without even needing to struggle. He had the same feeling three times in a row. He believed it would still be the same on his fourth attempt. As for his fifth attempt, the Boss Monster would be dead by then. What now? The Boss Monster only had a little HP left. Chen Mo was desperately trying to come up with a plan. Chapter 55 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches Did he have an idea? Yes sir! The chance of success of capturing a monster was closely related to a Player¡¯s Strength and Spirit. The other Players might be left helpless despite knowing about it, but Chen Mo was different. He had a title that could boost his attributes insanely¡ªthe Heinous! Equipping the title ¡°The Heinous¡± would increase both his Strength and Spirit by 100. Chen Mo had no clue how much the chance of success would increase by, but he knew it was going to multiply his attributes! The only problem was, he would have to wait for three days before he could unequip the title ¡°The Heinous¡± once he put it on. His name would turn black too. He would not be allowed to return to Aiur Town, which also meant he would not be able to leave Aiur Town. When a Player reached Level 10, they would have to talk to the teleporting NPC in Aiur Town and choose to participate in the Trial of Innate Talents or teleport to one of the three main cities. However, Chen Mo would have to wait three days after equipping the title ¡°The Heinous¡±. Even if he put on the title ¡°The Heinous¡±, there was no guarantee that he would be able to capture the Boss Monster still. Should he take the risk? Of course! Chen Mo was not an indecisive person. Three days would only slow him down by a few levels at most. Unlike other Players that were desperately trying to level up their characters, Chen Mo did not really mind taking his time to level up his character. Besides, if he succeeded, he would have a Mutated Boss Monster as his lackey! It was unlikely that he could find a better chance than now to capture a Mutated Boss Monster to be his lackey! ¡°Keep it up, the Boss Monster is almost dead. Use every skill you have on it!¡± The Mutated Slime King only had 2% HP left. Xiaolou Fengyu, Leng Xiaoliu, and the rest of the Players were very excited. It was a mutated Boss Monster, and they believed it was the first time that anyone had killed a mutated Boss Monster. It was surely going to drop some insane loots. Once they put up a post on the forum, they would be able to earn both fame and fortune! ¡°Get ready, even getting only a piece of the loots is still a profit for us!¡± the Players nearby were restless too. They were ready to sprint forward like it was a race. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Why did he eerily become so dark!?¡± Xiaolou Fengyu did not forget to keep an eye on Chen Mo. However, his eyes widened when he observed Chen Mo¡¯s changes. The masked Player that was no different from an ordinary Player suddenly began to emit a strong dark aura as he approached the Boss Monster! ¡°Quick, kill the Boss now!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu immediately had a bad feeling about it. The Boss Monster still had 1% HP left! The Players nearby started running at the Boss Monster. Xiaolou Fengyu, Leng Xiaoliu, and the rest of their crew maximized their damage output too. The Mutated Slime King let out a furious roar to express its grief over its upcoming death. A huge number of attacks were aiming at the Mutated Slime King. It would die when the attacks landed on it. However, the Players were blinded by a brief flash. The attacks from the few dozen of Players had all missed! The Boss Monster¡­it had vanished in the very last moment! ¡°What just happened?¡± The normal Players that were planning to rob the loots halted in their tracks with blank faces. They were desperately looking for the Boss Monster! ¡°Attack the masked Player, he¡¯s up to something!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu let out a furious roar despite his usual gentle appearance! It was him again! He had seen everything clearly. The masked Player had waved his hand when he reached the Boss Monster, and the Mutated Slime King immediately vanished into thin air! ¡°A Blacklisted Player! He¡¯s a Blacklisted Player!¡± ¡°Kill him!¡± A few Players among the crowd yelled when they finally noticed Chen Mo who was engulfed in a black mist after hearing Xiaolou Fengyu¡¯s angry roar. They had no idea why the masked Player had become a Blacklisted Player all of a sudden, nor did they understand why there was a Blacklisted Player in Rookies Village where the PvP system was not unlocked yet. However, the Players could not help but attack as soon as they saw the Blacklisted Player, since there was a chance that the Player would drop a lot of insane equipment. A lot of attacks were aiming at Chen Mo just like how they were attacking the Boss Monster just a moment ago. ¡­ It worked! It was worth the risk of equipping the title ¡°The Heinous¡±! Chen Mo was overjoyed. ¡°HAHAHA, I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t be killing me today!¡± Chen Mo burst out laughing when he saw the attacks coming toward him from all directions. He did not even have time to check his lackey Boss Monster¡¯s attributes. Windspeed Evasion! Slime King¡¯s Roar! Chen Mo started glowing. Both the Windspeed Evasion and the Slime King¡¯s Roar were able to increase his movement speed, and together with the movement speed from the Windrunner Boots and the title ¡°The Heinous¡±, his movement speed had shockingly reached 24. It was twice the movement speed of an ordinary Player! Even though there were lots of attacks aiming at Chen Mo, they were mostly basic range attacks that did not have the ability to lock onto the target. Chen Mo weaved through the attacks that were pouring down at his location like a phantom. He instantly blended into the crowd like a dark flicker. ¡°Stop him, don¡¯t let him get away. He has a lot of outstanding equipment. Taking him down is better than killing the Boss Monster!¡± Everyone was utterly shocked by Chen Mo¡¯s speed, but they were convinced that the masked Player must have a lot of outstanding equipment in possession. Some of the attacks did inflict damage on the Player too, which meant they were allowed to attack the masked Player even though they were still in Rookies Village! However, most of the Players nearby were just normal Players without any tracking abilities or skills with a huge AoE radius. It was impossible for them to intercept Chen Mo who was moving at such an insane speed. Chen Mo nimbly weaved through the crowd like an eel. He abused his speed and sneaked his way out from the crowd in no time. Xiaolou Fengyu and the others were not going to show any mercy again after their Boss Monster was stolen again. They believed the masked Player must have used some special skill or magic scroll to temporarily increase his speed. They might be able to catch up to the masked Player once the buffs wore off. However, Xiaolou Fengyu, Leng Xiaoliu, and the others were soon staring at one another awkwardly. The masked Player that was previously still within their range of vision had completely disappeared. ¡°It must be a disguising or stealth skill! Did he return from one of the main cities? Otherwise, how is it possible for him to have such impressive equipment and skills!?¡± Leng Xiaoliu said while clenching his teeth. Anyone would be mad if the Boss Monster they were attacking were stolen when it only had so little HP left, let alone the narrow-minded Leng Xiaoliu. ¡°Humph! I don¡¯t care who he is, I will not forget this! I swear I¡¯m going to make him pay once I found out who he is!¡± Xiaolou Fengyu was wearing a dark expression too after suffering from a great loss twice in less than two hours. ¡°Count me in, I¡¯ll give you all my help if Brother Xiaolou can find out who he is!¡± The experts had their dignity and temper too. Their anger was no weaker than Xiaolou Fengyu and Leng Xiaoliu¡¯s. ¡­ Chen Mo was extremely familiar with the Slime Valley. He used the skill Disguise and quickly ran to a deserted corner in the Slime Valley. He immediately inspected the Mutated Slime King that he had captured. Mutated Slime King Description: The king of the slimes. It had mutated due to its anger, which significantly increased its attributes. Level: 10 Attributes: HP: 100,000 MP: 1000 Physical Damage: 100-500 Magic Damage: 100-400 Physical Defense: 50 Magic Defense: 50 Movement Speed: 5-17 Skills: Body Slam: Using its body to slam the target, dealing 150% damage to the enemy. Skill cooldown: 5 seconds Furious Roar: Awakening its own power to increase its Physical Damage and Magic Damage by 30%, Movement Speed by 5, Jumping Height by 3 meters. The effect lasts for 15 seconds. Skill cooldown: 120 seconds. Bounce Attack: Available when the Furious Roar is in effect. The Mutated Slime King will bounce into the air and attack the target, dealing 250% damage. Skill cooldown: 10 seconds. Tiny Self-Detonating Slimes: Summon a group of Tiny Self-detonating Slimes to attack the enemy. Each Tiny Self-detonating Slime lasts for 10 seconds. Every explosion will deal 200% damage to the enemy. Skill cooldown: 5 minutes. Fission: Available when the Slime King¡¯s HP is lower than 50%. The clone only has 70% of the Slime King¡¯s attributes. The clone has all the Slime King¡¯s skills apart from Fission. Its skill will only deal 70% of the original damage. The clone lasts for 5 minutes. Skill cooldown: 60 minutes. Holy crap, that¡¯s insane! Chen Mo wore a blank look when he saw his lackey Boss Monster¡¯s attributes. It was unlikely for him to keep a low-profile having such an insane Boss Monster as his lackey! ¡­ Chapter 56 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches How strong was his lackey Mutated Slime King? Without including the attributes from the title ¡°The Heinous¡±, Chen Mo¡¯s maximum damage was only around 270 with the set of insane equipment he had, yet the Mutated Slime King¡¯s maximum damage was already 500. That alone was unbelievable. Besides, it even had 100,000 HP. It was truly a Boss-level lackey! Chen Mo could not wait to summon the Boss-level lackey to admire it. The Mutated Slime King appeared in front of Chen Mo following a purple flash. The Mutated Slime King was not as fierce as it used to be after it became a pet monster. It was rather compliant. However, the monster seemed a lot dumber to Chen Mo. It simply stood still on the spot after it was summoned. It briefly glanced at Chen Mo with its huge black eyes before looking at the surroundings. He could not tell if it was looking for some monsters to showcase its extraordinary strength. Chen Mo would not mind letting his Boss-level lackey show off its unusual strength if there was any monster nearby. However, most of the monsters in the Slime Valley apart from the Black Slime were most likely going to die instantly against it. Chen Mo was too lazy to run too far away to look for a monster. It would be troublesome if his new pet was spotted by someone else. Hunters had the chance to rename the pets they had caught once. The name would show up above the pets when they were summoned, so the other Players could tell that these pets were not monsters and not attack them. That being said, Hunters could choose to hide their pets¡¯ name too, but they could only blame themselves if their pets were killed by other Players. These pets were different from the summoned beasts and pets that belonged to a Summoner that could be summoned as soon as the skill was off cooldown. When a Hunter¡¯s pets died, the Hunter could only revive them through specific NPCs in the cities. Chen Mo thought the name ¡°Mutated Slime King¡± was a little too long. He decisively renamed the enormous monster to ¡°Big Fatty¡±, a suiting and easy-to-pronounce name! He could not return to Aiur Town, interact with NPCs, and killing monsters would not grant him any experience either. There was nothing he could do in the game for now, and the available playtime for today was running out too. He logged off after renaming the Boss lackey. When Chen Mo went offline to enjoy some supper, the forum was in great chaos. ¡°Glacier Corporation Group, Extreme Joy Turns To Sorrow!¡± ¡°The Biggest Joke of the Year!¡± ¡°Analysis of the Mysterious Masked Player¡¯s Identity!¡± ¡°The Strongest Player in China!¡± ¡°The First Blacklisted Player in the Game!¡± ¡­ Almost every post was related to Glacier Corporation Group¡¯s attempt to kill the Hidden Boss and the mysterious masked Player. Glacier Corporation Group had been putting up a lot of advertisements for the past few days. A lot of people were extremely annoyed, thus they could not help but add insult to injury when Glacier Corporation Group¡¯s plan failed miserably. The posts about Glacier Corporation Group were all filled with disdain. The Players that enjoyed looking on were very pleased with the outcome. However, the hottest topic among the Players was still the masked Player without a doubt. The guy had used an unknown method to help the Hidden Boss, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf evolve, ruining Glacier Corporation Group¡¯s attempt to kill the Boss Monster. All the efforts that Glacier Corporation Group had put in were all in vain. It even ended up suffering a double loss as its reputation was damaged as a result too! Many people on the forum were also discussing the system freeze that lasted for slightly over a second. Some say the masked Player was the cause of it. Not long after, news was spreading around Rookies Village again. The Mutated Slime King that a bunch of experts was killing had disappeared mysteriously after the masked Player did something to it. It was said that the mysterious masked Player was a Blacklisted Player with insane movement speed and strength! Every piece of news was enough to grab everyone¡¯s attention! The news just kept coming. The masked Player had only made an appearance less than four hours ago, but many Players were already worshiping him like a god and treating him as their idol. ¡°Humph! Strongest Player in China my ass, he¡¯s just lucky. I¡¯m going to beat the crap out of him until his mother can¡¯t even recognize him when I see him again!¡± The Players that believed they were stronger and should be making a name by now immediately expressed their disdain toward the masked Player whose reputation had skyrocketed all of a sudden. There were actually quite a lot of these Players. What was the quickest way to become famous? Similar to challenging a dojo in the past, the easiest way to earn a name was defeating a reputable skillful Player in the game! They would easily become famous once they were able to crush a fairly famous Player in the game! If Chen Mo dared to disclose his in-game nickname to the public, it would guarantee that not a single day would go by peacefully for him. Many reckless Players were going to challenge him to a duel for sure. ¡°He¡¯s basically unbeatable in our Chinese server!¡± Even though the young workers in Canglan Tech¡¯s headquarters already knew how impressive Chen Mo was, they were still dumbfounded when they saw him successfully captured the Mutated Slime King. Even they were jealous when they saw Chen Mo able to capture a Boss Monster to be his lackey. If any other Players knew about it, they were clearly going to lose all hope. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see how he will be doing after leaving Rookies Village.¡± The group of young workers let out a sigh. They were very interested to see the guy¡¯s performance after leaving Rookies Village with such a great start in the game. Unfortunately, they were no longer allowed to observe Players that left Rookies Village as they pleased. ¡­ After a good night¡¯s sleep, Chen Mo woke up early in the morning. He brushed his teeth and went for a jog. Having a healthy body was the capital of a revolution. He could afford to miss classes, but he could not afford to skip exercising. Chen Mo had pulled quite a few overnighters as he was too busy with killing the mutated Boss Monsters. Even though he had been exercising in the morning still, it had been half a month since he last went for a jog. Chen Mo had long been reflecting upon himself. He had planned his gaming and exercise respectively. Chen Mo had breakfast after he went for a jog. He was not in a rush to log into the game. He only reached home around nine. He noticed a few messages on his phone. The phone started ringing when he was about to read the messages. ¡°Hello, Old Tian, how can I help you?¡± Chen Mo asked as usual. The call was from Fatty Tian. ¡°HAHA, Brother Chen, you were so smart that you didn¡¯t sign up for the job from Glacier Corporation Group. Not only did the people that signed up for it only end up earning a little money, they are very vexed by the outcome too,¡± Fatty Tian immediately mentioned Glacier Corporation Group instead of arguing that he was only eighteen years old like he normally did. ¡°What is it? You sound very excited and nervous. Did you just watch some ¡°action¡± movies?¡± Chen Mo asked. {TL Note: The ¡°action¡± movie here is referring to an adult movie.} ¡°No way! Brother Chen, what are you saying? Why would someone as handsome and well-behaving like me watch those ¡°action¡± movies¡­(Cough cough), enough bullshit, Brother Chen, I actually have good news for you. The company has asked me to contact you as soon as possible. Pardon me for calling you so early,¡± Fatty Tian finally got to the point after boasting about himself. ¡°I¡¯ve received a call from a company early in the morning. They say it¡¯s a huge job about Genesis with an insane commission, even crazier than the pay from Glacier Corporation Group. The commission is up to ten million!¡± ¡°What does it have anything to do with me?¡± Chen Mo frowned. ¡°(Cough), well, it has an insane commission, but the client requests that only you can take it. It doesn¡¯t only consist of a single job, but a series of jobs in Genesis. Brother Chen, you will be paid accordingly after finishing each job. If you¡¯re willing to do it, you will receive a deposit of a hundred thousand US Dollars now. If you don¡¯t agree to it, the client will withdraw the request,¡± Fatty Tian said nervously. It was the biggest job that the company had received since its restructuring. If Chen Mo rejected the offer, the client would withdraw the request, resulting in a great loss to the company. He would be held responsible too since he was the contact person for Chen Mo. On the other hand, if Chen Mo was willing to take the job, he would no longer have to worry about his performance for the year. ¡­ Chapter 57 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Only I can take the job? The others aren¡¯t allowed to?¡± Chen Mo asked. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what the client insisted! Brother Chen, you¡¯re truly impressive, no wonder you aren¡¯t interested in the job from Glacier Corporation Group!¡± Fatty Tian had no clue how Chen Mo was doing in Genesis. He only knew the company had tried to introduce some professional players that were more impressive to the client to secure the job, but the client rejected the offer without any hesitation. The client insisted that Chen Mo was the only person that was allowed to take the job. Chen Mo fell into deep thoughts. The request was very odd; the client seemed to know what he did in the game last night. Otherwise, the client would not specifically appoint him for the job. He had been wearing a mask at all times last night. However, Players could learn the skill ¡°Inspect¡± after they visited the three main cities. They could still find out his in-game nickname even if he was covering his face. Chen Mo was not surprised that someone had managed to learn his in-game nickname. If he could learn the skill ¡°Capture¡± in Rookies Village, it was not impossible for someone to learn the skill ¡°Inspect¡± too. The problem was, the person most likely knew him and had seen him without the mask in the game, hence why the person had asked for him in real life. That being said, there was a chance that the company behind Genesis had leaked his information too. The other Players might have no idea about his details, but the company behind Genesis would have records about everything he did. It was very easy to find out who he was. Chen Mo had seen many cases where workers of a company would sell the details of their customers to earn some extra money. Someone in the company might have sold his information to the client, allowing the client to learn who he was. It was possible to do anything with money, and judging from the pay that the client was offering, it was very likely that the client had bought the information about him. ¡°Brother Chen, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to turn it down?¡± Fatty Tian asked nervously when Chen Mo remained silent for a while. ¡°Of course I¡¯m going to take it, why wouldn¡¯t I? So does that mean I¡¯ll be getting a hundred thousand US dollars as the deposit?¡± Chen Mo gladly took the offer after collecting his thoughts. Worm had made it clear that they would not return the deposits despite the outcome of the jobs. If the client already knew about him, it was meaningless to keep concealing his identity. It was free money anyway. As for the job, he would worry about it later. He would not believe that the client had any way to force him to do the job even if he was unwilling to do it. Besides, his character was only at Level 10. The impressive equipment he had would only be helpful until Level 20 at most. After reaching Level 20, he might not do better than other Players if he did not make any progress in the game. He was very curious about the client¡¯s identity for willing to place so much hope on him. ¡°HAHAHA, Brother Chen, that¡¯s good to hear! A hundred thousand US dollars is yours as soon as you agree to take the job! However, the client also requests that you will do the first job for free,¡± Fatty Tian burst out laughing when Chen Mo agreed to take the job. ¡°What¡¯s the first job about?¡± Chen Mo asked. There was indeed no such thing as a free lunch. However, he still had no reason to reject a job that would pay him a hundred thousand US dollars. ¡°Brother Chen, which city are you in now? The client will only tell you what the first job is about when you¡¯re in the Dark Shadow City.¡± Dark Shadow City? The three main cities were a huge distance away from one another. It was impossible for a Player around Level 10 to travel to another city. Fatty Tian was tactfully implying that if Chen Mo had chosen to be teleported to cities other than the Dark Shadow City, he might have to kill his character so he could teleport to the Dark Shadow City instead. Chen Mo was still in the Rookies Village. He would have no problem going to the Dark Shadow City, but he would have to wait for two days first. Having this thought, Chen Mo said, ¡°Old Tian, I¡¯ll need at least three days before I can go to the Dark Shadow City. Please ask the company to tell the client about it. If the client can¡¯t afford to wait, I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s nothing I can do.¡± If Chen Mo was willing, he could make it to the Dark Shadow City in just a day, but he would have to give up on his lackey Boss Monster. As a matter of fact, his Boss-level lackey was clearly not worth of a hundred thousand US dollars. After all, the monsters that a Hunter captured would not level up until the Hunter¡¯s job advancement of choosing to specialize in fighting with pets. Even though the Boss Monster was very strong, it was only a Level 10 Boss Monster. Most people would choose to give up on the Boss-level lackey, Big Fatty for a hundred thousand US dollars. However, Chen Mo had decided otherwise. He wanted to know what the client¡¯s attitude was. He could only act passively since he knew nothing about the client. ¡°Brother Chen, you won¡¯t have to worry about that. The client has given us plenty of time to finish the job.¡± However, Fatty Tian¡¯s words immediately ruined Chen Mo¡¯s plan. Chen Mo did not give up; he asked Fatty Tian for more information about the client, but Fatty Tian did not know much either. Chen Mo hung up the call when he failed to get the information he was looking for. Chen Mo opened the unread messages after he was done with the call. ¡°Come to school in the afternoon, before 4pm.¡± ¡°Come to school before 4pm, or you will bear the consequences yourself.¡± There were two unread messages. The first one was from his class teacher, Su Yuehong. The second one that sounded slightly aggressive was from the class monitor, Li Yun. The two messages had the same content. It was likely that something had happened at school. Now that he thought about it, it had been almost a month since he last went to school. He should really show his face around. Chen Mo stayed at home until three in the afternoon before riding his scooter under the scorching sun to the University of South China. Soaked in sweat, Chen Mo went into the self-revision classroom for the third- year second class Computer Science students. He was surprised to see only the class monitor Li Yun in it. His other classmates had all disappeared. -Oh my, did the world change when he only skipped school for a month?- ¡°You¡¯re here? The school has decided to cancel the Computer Science stream. Here is the request form that the school has specifically given us to transfer to other faculties. The form is only valid until five pm today. Once it expires, you will have to follow the normal procedures. The others have already done it. You¡¯re the only one left.¡± Li Yun was wearing a white shirt and black formal pants. His gentle face was wearing a gloating look as he threw the form at Chen Mo. ¡°Five pm today?¡± Chen Mo frowned. Chen Mo quickly glimpsed at the form. Even though the form did simply the procedures to be transferred to other faculties, there were still a few steps involved. It was impossible to get it done in just a few hours. ¡°What is it? You aren¡¯t pleased with it? Whose fault it is for not coming to school? I¡¯ve already done my part notifying you about it!¡± Li Yun said with a cold grin. Chen Mo glanced at Li Yun. He knew the guy had long been holding a grudge against him. The reason was very simple; he was more brilliant than Li Yun in the class. In the first year, Li Yun volunteered to be the class monitor. His skills were significantly better than his classmates too. He was quite popular in the Computer Science stream. During that time, not only did Chen Mo did not skip classes, he actually spent most of his time studying diligently. He had finished learning almost all the courses for his degree by himself in just a year. Starting from the second year, after Chen Mo was done learning all the courses, he rarely showed up in the class apart from those that were compulsory to attend. In the second year, Computer Science students had the chance to take part in the annual Programming Contest that every Computer Science treated very seriously. Every class needed to have at least two representatives. For Chen Mo¡¯s class, it went without saying that Li Yun would take part in it, but to the class¡¯ surprise, the class teacher, Su Yuehong forced Chen Mo to take part in the contest too. The result took every student in the class by surprise. Chen Mo ended up winning third place! It was rare to see a second-year student being placed in the top three for the contest. On the other hand, Li Yun whom they had high hopes in came tenth. The students started placing their attention on Chen Mo. They were shocked to discover that there was more to their quiet classmate than met the eye. He often skipped classes, yet his results were still very impressive. He was able to answer the questions that most people struggled with. Even Li Yun did not know the answer to these questions. Li Yun was no longer the prodigy in the class. He had lost his status and his sense of superiority. Even though Chen Mo rarely came to school, he could easily sense the jealousy from Li Yun¡¯s eyes. However, he did not expect Li Yun would abuse the situation to get his revenge. Chen Mo often skipped classes, but that did not necessarily mean he had a bad relationship with his classmates. He even asked two of his classmates to notify him if there was something important he should know. Everyone had a phone nowadays. They just needed to give him a call or send him a message to tell him about it, but none of them told him about the transfer. Chen Mo looked at Li Yun who seemed to be pleased with the outcome. He had a speculation in mind, yet he could not say for sure. After all, it was indeed his fault for not coming to school for a whole month. ¡°Got it, I¡¯ll handle the transfer myself,¡± Chen Mo nodded. He kept the form and left the classroom. The pleased look in Li Yun¡¯s eyes was replaced with anger as he saw Chen Mo taking his leave. He had been waiting so long for this moment to watch Chen Mo going enraged and losing his calm, yet the guy was indifferent as usual; the same reaction he had even when he came third in the contest! ¡°Go ahead! Keep faking it! I¡¯m going to tear off your mask one day!¡± Li Yun slammed his hand on a desk heavily in the empty classroom! He had lost too many things that were supposed to be his because of the guy! Chapter 58 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Miss Su,¡± Chen Mo saw a tall pretty woman in black stockings and heels approaching him not long after he left the classroom. It was his class teacher, Su Yuehong. Su Yuehong nodded and said, ¡°Just in time, I happened to be looking for you too. I bet you¡¯ve heard about the transfer. You¡¯re the only one that hasn¡¯t settled it.¡± ¡°I just knew about it, I¡¯m afraid I might need your help,¡± Chen Mo blurted out. It would take him more than a week to handle the process himself. ¡°I knew it would be like this, here, sign your name on the form. I¡¯ve already arranged for you to be transferred to the Chinese Language stream. To Chen Mo¡¯s surprise, Su Yuehong took out a form that was already filled up. The only thing missing was his signature. Chen Mo would not let such a chance go to waste. He did not really care about the stream he was being transferred to. Chen Mo took a pen and quickly signed the form. ¡°Thank you, Miss Su,¡± Chen Mo expressed his gratitude and prepared to take his leave. ¡°Wait,¡± Su Yuehong stopped Chen Mo. ¡°What is it? Does Miss Su need my help with anything?¡± It was not Chen Mo¡¯s first day interacting with Su Yuehong. It was very likely that the woman had stopped him because she had a favor to ask. It was normal for students to skip classes in university, but it was still unacceptable for Chen Mo to not come to school for an entire month. Chen Mo was able to avoid the penalty mainly because of his class teacher, Su Yuehong¡¯s help. He had to pay a price too. In return, Chen Mo agreed to take part in the Programming Contest during his second year and came third. Since then, for more than a year, Chen Mo had helped Su Yuehong fix her laptop and recover her files numerous times. She would always ask Chen Mo to lend her a hand when she could not fix the problem herself. ¡°Forget it, it¡¯s fine. I can handle it myself. Don¡¯t forget to register yourself at the Faculty of Chinese Language when the time comes,¡± Su Yuehong shook her head after a slight hesitation. She took the form and left. Chen Mo was a little confused, but he did not ask any further. Su Yuehong would not hesitate to ask him for help if she really needed it. Chen Mo rode his scooter back to his place on the outskirts of the city. He visited Genesis¡¯ forum and discovered an interesting post. It more or less had something to do with him. The author of the post was recruiting experienced Players to do the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty. The game had entered the open-beta phase for more than half a month. The Hell-difficulty of the Trial of Innate Talents was the highest difficulty. No one had overcome it so far, but a few Players had already tried it out to see how difficult it was. In terms of the Trial of Innate Talents, most Players would have no trouble passing it at the Normal difficulty as long as their luck was not too bad. There were also detailed guides on how to overcome the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hard difficulty. Players would have a chance to pass it with good equipment and reliable teammates. As for the Nightmare difficulty, Players would need high-quality equipment and outstanding teammates with great teamwork to pass it. The guides on the forum were specifically designed for parties with certain equipment and combination of classes. However, there was not a single guide about the Trial of Innate Talents on the Hell difficulty. It was not only because no one had completed it; normally, even if the Players failed to finish the trial, the people that had tried it could still describe what the trial was about even if they had failed very early in the trial. However, it was not the case for the Hell difficulty. Unlike the first three difficulties, the rules and instances of the trial were different for every attempt, thus it was impossible to write a guide about it. Every Player could only take part in the Trial of Innate Talents once every week for an account. Deleting the character would not reset the timer, thus most Players would choose the difficulty of the Trial of Innate Talents cautiously. This time, the Players of Glacier Gaming Club and the experts they hired believed with their outstanding equipment, their skills, and their ability to work together, they were most likely the strongest party in the game for the time being. After failing to kill the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf and the Mutated Slime King, they decided to challenge the Hell difficulty of the Trial of Innate Talents instead. However, when they chose to take part in the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty, they were surprised to see that the rule was different from ones that were known so far. It stated that the party would need at least sixty-four Players for the Trial of Innate Talents to take place. If they failed to gather enough Players in three days, they would be considered to have failed the trial. They had no choice but to recruit other experienced Players on the forum to take part in the trial. The group of experts consisted of over forty people. They only needed another twenty to start the trial. It was not difficult to recruit twenty Players considering how populated the Chinese server was. But the truth was out of their expectation. The Trial of Innate Talents might either be a competition, or a cooperation quest. It was fine if the Trial of Innate Talents required the Players to work together, since everyone was only going to benefit from it. However, if the Trial of Innate Talents was asking for sixty-four Players, it was more likely to be a competition. The Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty was already so difficult, not to mention they had to compete with a bunch of experts too. They would simply be courting their deaths. In addition to it, most Players that had the option to take part in the Trial of Innate Talents after leaving Rookies Village were newbies. Therefore, even though the post had gathered quite a lot of attention, not many had signed up for it. ¡°It¡¯s really difficult to recruit enough good Players at this time,¡± the person that put up the post was Wang Xu, Xiaolou Fengyu, and a bunch of others. They did not expect this to happen when they decided to challenge the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty. ¡°Worst come to worst, we¡¯ll have to hire some Players to fill up the spots,¡± Xiaolou Fengyu said with a sigh. It was their own decision to do the trial, thus they would have to pay the Players they hired themselves. It was not like they could not pay the Players, but there was a chance that they would fail the trial even after hiring the Players. It would not cost much to hire normal Players for the trial, but they were completely unaware of what the rules of the trial were since it would only start after they had enough Players. If the trial required them to work together, hiring a bunch of normal Players was only going to make it worse. Therefore, they were only willing to hire normal Players as the last resort. As the saying went, one was not afraid of facing a godly opponent, but a pig-like teammate. Even if it turned out to be a competition, they would rather have experienced Players instead of ordinary, unreliable Players. Two days were gone fairly quickly. Some relatively strong Players had signed up for the trial over the past two days. They only needed a few more to reach the requirement. ¡°Only five left, we still have twelve hours until the deadline. We should be fine,¡± Wang Xu was excited when another Player signed up for the trial. ¡°Another one, Holy crap, did this loli with huge bust sign up for fun!?¡± Before the start of the trial, the Players would be on standby in an empty room, thus they would immediately notice the new Players that signed up for the trial. It was a Loli Warrior with a huge bust in the default cloth armor with no other equipment. The Players were utterly dumbfounded when they saw her. Such an adorable loli could just ask to join teams that were interested in the Hell difficulty of the Trial of Innate Talents, and a bunch of perverted men would be willing to let her join their parties as a freeloader. Why would she bother challenging the trial at the Hell difficulty? Chapter 59 Translated by XephiZ Edited by SnowPeaches It was rare to see a Loli Warrior with such outstanding physical characteristics in either the game or real life. She was none other than Little Warrior whom Chen Mo had stumbled into twice. However, for some reason, she had only decided to attempt the Trial of Innate Talents now, and she was not wearing any equipment even though she had chosen to take on the Hell difficulty. Little Warrior looked around her with her adorable, big black eyes when she entered the room. She fearlessly glanced at the Players that were staring at her. She was initially thinking of going up to the Players to ask if they were willing to let her join their parties. However, after seeing their reactions, she went to a corner in disappointment and sat down while hugging her knees. She did not think anyone would be willing to invite her to their party. ¡°Little girl, do you want to join my party?¡± Two guys with malicious intents came up to Little Warrior and looked up and down at her tender pale skin under her cloth armor. ¡°Irritating jerks, be gone!¡± Little Warrior grunted. Her crisp voice echoed in the room. ¡°Humph, what a waste of our time, you¡¯re done for when the trial starts!¡± The others looked at them. The two guys blurted out harshly and left after noticing the unfriendly looks from the rest of the Players. ¡­ In the Slime Valley, a figure slowly appeared in a corner with no sign of Players or monsters. Chen Mo had returned to the game after three days. ¡°It¡¯s been three days, I can finally unequip this¡­¡± Chen Mo was planning to unequip the dangerous title ¡°The Heinous¡± as soon as he logged into the game. However, he was shocked when the System Notification popped up. System Notification: Your actions in the game have helped the game to improve. You have received a special reward from the system! System Notification: You have obtained a piece of special equipment ¡°The Seed of Hope¡±! Seed of Hope Description: A unique equipment from an unknown source. It was extremely rare. Untradeable, bound to character. Quality: A rare special equipment Requirement: Level 10 and above Attributes: Relationship with all races +10 Reputation among all races +100 Luck +3 Range of vision at night +20 meters **Additional Skill(**s): Teleport, Light of Hope Teleport: Consumes a certain amount of energy to teleport the Player to certain cities or the Player¡¯s buddies. The energy required depends on the destination and the distance. Light of Hope: Consumes all energy to increase Player¡¯s Luck for five seconds. Only usable when energy is above 1000. The increase in Luck is directly proportional to the amount of energy that is consumed. Energy: 0 (obtainable from killing monsters with the same or higher level as the Player) Chen Mo¡¯s eyes widened after reading the System Notification. He looked at the green seed inside his inventory. Such a sudden and unexpected fortune! Chen Mo was a little dumbfounded. He did not expect the system to reward him just because he had put the system to freeze for just over a second three days ago, not to mention how insane the reward was! Each Player could equip five defensive equipment, three accessories, and a weapon. Apart from the nine types of equipment, each Player could also equip three special equipment. These special equipments would not directly grant Players extra attributes, but some supportive attributes that might be useful for the Players on certain occasions. For example, the range of a Player¡¯s vision at night. In Rookies Village, Players would not struggle too much in the wild at night since their range of vision was still enough. However, once they reached the three main cities, if they went out at night when the moon was shrouded by the clouds or they went to places where the moonlight could not reach, they would find themselves in pitch-black darkness. The range of vision at night would come in handy in situations like these. Only special equipment would grant Players an extra range of vision at night. There were ways of obtaining special equipment that would increase a Player¡¯s range of vision at night from the three main cities, but most of them would only increase a Player¡¯s range of vision at night by 5 meters. Chen Mo had never been to the three main cities, but he had spent most of his time browsing the forum when he did not play the game for three days. He had read some information about the special equipment on the forum. Currently, not many Players had special equipment with +5 to their range of vision at night. Some lucky Players did acquire special equipment with +10 to their range of vision at night. When these Players took a screenshot of the equipment and posted it on the forum, a lot of Players immediately expressed their envy. However, these special equipment that many Players were utterly impressed of were complete garbage compared to the Seed of Hope! 20 meters, double the range of vision at night! It was only one of the extra attributes from the Seed of Hope, and it was not even the best thing about it! Most of the special equipment that other Players had found only had one attribute. Those with two attributes were enough to arouse jealousy. The row of attributes from the Seed of Hope was enough to dazzle the eyes of a Player! Chen Mo was not familiar with the benefits of the addition to his relationship with all races, his reputation among all races, and Luck, but the skill Teleport alone was surely enough to gather other Players¡¯ attention. Some Players on the forum did find special equipment that could teleport them, but not only was these special equipments extremely rare, but they could also only teleport a Player to the cities unlike the Seed of Hope! As for the skill Light of Hope, Chen Mo was still unsure of its uses since he had not used it. However, judging from the name of the skill that was closely related to the special equipment¡¯s name, he strongly believed it would be extremely useful to him! ¡°I¡¯m running out of time, I should return to Aiur Town at once.¡± Chen Mo admired the Seed of Hope for a little longer and equipped the impressive special equipment. He made his way to Aiur Town at full speed. In the past three days, the group planning to challenge the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty had almost gathered sixty-four Players as requested. They just needed to fill a few more spots. ¡­ ¡°Another one, just three more now!¡± Another Player showed up in the room for the Trial of Innate Talents after a brief flash. ¡°Why¡­why does he look so familiar?¡± Wang Xu looked at the person. Somehow, the person felt a little familiar to him. The person was none other than Chen Mo. Wang Xu had met Chen Mo in real life before, thus if he could see Chen Mo¡¯s in-game nickname, he would immediately figure out that the person was Chen Mo. ¡°Big brother, it¡¯s you!¡± Little Warrior recognized Chen Mo right away. Her eyes glittered as she greeted Chen Mo happily. ¡°Why are you here too?¡± No one could ever forget Little Warrior after seeing her for the first time. Chen Mo walked up to Little Warrior and asked curiously. The Loli Warrior should have reached Level 10 long ago, yet why did she only take the Trial of Innate Talents now, not to mention that she was challenging the highest difficulty. She was no doubt courting her death by taking the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty, similar to her reckless move of jumping into the pit to fight the Mutated Slime King the other day. ¡°I have a quest that asked me to pass the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty,¡± Little Warrior said gloomily. ¡°There¡¯s a quest like that in Aiur Town?¡± Chen Mo raised his brows. He had been browsing the forum for the past three days, yet he had not seen anyone mentioning a quest like that. ¡°There is, I¡¯ve completed all the quests in Aiur Town. When I can no longer receive any quests from the NPCs, I went to the village chief, Solo. He gave me this ¡°Impossible Quest¡± that asks me to complete the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty without wearing any equipment. However, after accepting the quest, I can keep attempting the Trial of Innate Talents without any restrictions. I¡¯ve tried it more than ten times, but I have failed all of them. It¡¯s too difficult,¡± Little Warrior said. Chen Mo was dumbfounded after hearing Little Warrior¡¯s explanation. Some Players on the forum did say they were interested in completing all the quests in Rookies Village like Little Warrior, and many among them claimed that they had completed every quest in Rookies Village. They could no longer receive any quest from the NPCs in Rookies Village, but none of them mentioned anything about the ¡°Impossible Quest¡± that Little Warrior told him. It was most likely that the Players did not really complete all the quests in Rookies Village, but Little Warrior had completed all them, thus allowing her to receive the ultimate quest of Rookies Village from the village chief, Solo! ¡°Are you able to share the quest with me?¡± Chen Mo quickly asked. He had already learned that no quest was impossible in the game from his experience. Therefore, it was possible to complete the quest that Little Warrior had received too. However, it was obviously impossible for anyone to pass the Trial of Innate Talents on the Hell difficulty, which meant she would have to rely on teammates to complete her quest. She should be able to share the quest with other Players! Chapter 60 Edited by SnowPeaches ¡°Share the quest? Let me try,¡± Little Warrior was startled. She had completed a lot of quests alone. She never tried sharing a quest with someone else. Chen Mo invited Little Warrior to his party. Little Warrior opened the quest¡¯s interface and discovered the option to share the quest. System Notification: Will you accept the quest ¡°Impossible Quest (Assist)¡± from Little Warrior? Accept. System Notification: You have accepted the quest ¡°Impossible Quest (Assist)¡±! Quest: Impossible Quest (Assist) Quest Difficulty: Rank S Description: Help Little Warrior to pass the Trial of Innate Talents at the Hell difficulty. The quest will automatically disappear when Little Warrior leaves the party. Reward: Unknown Holy crap! An S-rank assist-type quest! Chen Mo took a deep breath. In Genesis, there were two kinds of quests where Players could share with their party members so they could complete them together. The first kind was the Collaborative Quests that party members could work on together, while the other kind was like the Assist Quest that Chen Mo had just received. For Collaborative Quests, as long as the Players met the requirements of the quest, everyone would receive the same reward. It did not matter who completed it. As for Assist Quests, they would only be completed if the person sharing the quest had completed their quest. On top of it, the rewards for the assisting Players were usually not as impressive as the rewards given to the person that was sharing the quest. After hanging around the forum for three days, Chen Mo rarely saw any Assist Quests. The Assist Quests he had seen so far had low difficulties. Most of them were C-rank quests that did not give any reward. There were only a few B-rank quests, and not a single A-rank quest, let alone the S-rank quest. Even though the rewards for the assisting Players were not as handsome as the rewards for the person that initiated the quest, Chen Mo did not really mind at all. He had gotten an S-rank quest just by stumbling into Little Warrior. Even if the rewards were less handsome, he believed the rewards of an S-rank quest would be somewhat impressive still! ¡°Brother, your equipment isn¡¯t great either. Should we ask other people to join our party?¡± Little Warrior inspected Chen Mo¡¯s equipment. She had a feeling that Chen Mo¡¯s equipment was nowhere enough to pass the Trial of Innate Talents on the Hell difficulty. She had already attempted the Hell difficulty more than ten times. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I haven¡¯t put on my actual equipment yet. You¡¯ll see how good they are later!¡± Most people in the room were experienced Players. Even if he hid the glow of his equipment, they could still tell how unusual his equipment was. Therefore, Chen Mo had changed into a set of blue and green equipment instead. ¡°Really?¡± Little Warrior¡¯s eyes glittered. ¡°Of course,¡± Chen Mo nodded. He did not talk any further. His equipment could be considered the strongest set of equipment in Rookies Village. He also had a Boss-level lackey too. If he still failed to pass the Trial of Innate Talents on the Hell difficulty, it was unlikely that anyone else could pass it. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great,¡± Little Warrior was overjoyed. It seemed like she believed in Chen Mo¡¯s words. Chen Mo could not help but worry if the little girl was going to be kidnapped by some strange men if she was to go out alone. There were sixty-one people in the room. Chen Mo and Little Warrior sat in a corner. One of them was not wearing any equipment, while the other was only wearing average equipment compared to the others in the room. Since Chen Mo was a stranger to most of the Players in the room, no one bothered to invite Chen Mo to their parties. ¡°Finally, we now have sixty-four Players!¡± After slightly more than an hour, three other Players gradually showed up in the room, summing up to a total of sixty-four Players. ¡°The Hell-difficulty Trial of Innate Talents is about to start. Fellow adventures, please form parties of at least two members in the next five minutes. You won¡¯t be able to change parties after the trial begins!¡± A deep voice echoed in the room. ¡°At least two members in a party!¡± ¡°It¡¯s most likely a competitive instance!¡± The Players in the room immediately concluded. The system was asking the Players to form parties, but everyone in the room had already done so before the voice appeared. They all waited patiently for the trial to start. ¡°Time¡¯s up! There are sixty-four Players and fifteen teams in total! You are about to enter the Hell-difficulty Trial of Innate Talents ¡°Hunters of the Jungle¡±. You will be invulnerable for three minutes after entering the instance to familiarize yourself with the rules and the conditions to pass the trial!¡± The deep voice appeared once again. Following it, everyone in the room was encapsulated by a white glow before they disappeared from the room. The scenery shifted; Chen Mo and Little Warrior found themselves in a quiet gray forest. The ground was covered with wilted branches and leaves. System Notification: The Hell-difficulty Trial of Innate Talents has begun. The current instance is ¡°Hunters of the Jungle¡±! Instance: Hunters of the Jungle Rules: 1) Players are allowed to attack one another in the instance. 2) The instance has a total of 300 pieces of Jungle Crystals. Every elite monster has a 100% chance of dropping a piece of Jungle Crystal. 3) The Jungle Crystals are untradeable. Players will drop all their Jungle Crystals upon death. Players could revive their fallen teammates by consuming 10 Jungle Crystals. 4) There are NPCs in the instance whom Players could trade their Jungle Crystals with for certain consumables. Winning conditions: 1) Kill the Guardian of the instance. The Guardian of the instance will only appear when there are less than ten Players alive in the instance. Players can also summon the Guardian of the instance by consuming 100 pieces of Jungle Crystals. 2) Player must have at least 10 pieces of Jungle Crystals when the Guardian of the instance dies. ¡°As expected of the Trial of Innate Talents on the Hell difficulty, these rules and winning conditions are insane!¡± Chen Mo immediately realized how difficult the trial was after looking at the information provided. There were not many rules; the four rules that were given were quite standard for competitive instances, but Chen Mo was able to learn many things from both the rules and the winning conditions! The primary winning condition was killing the Guardian of the instance, but the Guardian would only show up when they were only ten Players left in the instance or by consuming 100 pieces of Jungle Crystals. It went without saying that the Guardian of the instance would be extremely tough to fight against since they were challenging the Trial of Innate Talents on the Hell difficulty. Therefore, it was more favorable to have more Players around when fighting the Guardian. Ideally, twenty Players would form a party and eliminate the rest of forty-four Players in the instance. They would secure all three hundred Jungle Crystals, and each member in the party would have ten pieces. They would then use the remaining a hundred pieces to summon the Guardian of the instance. All twenty Players would pass the trial once they defeated the Guardian. However, Chen Mo believed the party of twenty would be wiped out in the end still. Since it was the Hell-difficulty of the Trial of Innate Talents, every rule in the instance would play an important role, which means the NPCs that rule number four mentioned would have certain items that were crucial for defeating the Guardian. Otherwise, they would have no chance of defeating the Guardian! The Players had no idea how many Jungle Crystals they would need to trade for the items. Either way, it was most likely going to be a significant amount. Reducing the number of members in a party so they would have enough Jungle Crystals to exchange for the items seemed like the most viable way of passing the trial. That being said, the Hell-difficulty Trial of Innate Talents was most likely going to be more complicated than that. Chen Mo was confident that it would be better to collect as many items from the NPCs as possible. Therefore, the parties with more than ten Players would have to decide if they were going to reduce the number of members in their parties to save more Jungle Crystals, or they were going to maintain their party size by compromising on the number of items they could obtain from the NPCs. It was a difficult decision to make; having fewer members in the party meant more items, but if their damage output was not high enough despite having enough items, their efforts would be in vain still. Having too many members and fewer items would also mean the chance of failing to defeat the Guardian because they did not have enough items. ¡°It¡¯s better to find the NPC and see what the items are first.¡± Most of the people in the instance were experienced Players. Apart from Chen Mo, Xiaolou Fengyu and the others soon realized the same problem too. However, it should not be hard to make the decision after seeing what the items were. That being said, Chen Mo also realized another problem too. Players had no idea what the Guardian of the instance was before exchanging for the items. If there were multiple items that the NPC was offering, which one should they be getting instead? Chen Mo immediately felt a chill running down his spine. If that was really the case, the instance was seriously a bait!