Chapter 20 – Trial of Natural Skill
Slimes are legless monsters and can only move by jumping and hopping. It was considered one of the slower monsters.
The Mutated Slime King was a BOSS and though it was slower than other BOSSes, an average player was still no match for it.
The second player who discovered the Mutated Slime King managed to record a video of it but he did not have good shoes like the first player. When he got discovered by the Mutated Slime King, he could only run a short distance before it caught up with him, launched itself into the air, and came hurtling to the ground to crush him.
The video was less than a minute long. Other than confirming the existence of the Mutated Slime King, it had no other valuable information.
The interesting thing was that when this player, like the player before him, went back to the site to look for the Mutated Slime King, it had resumed its normal Slime King BOSS appearance.
Random mutation? Or was it a condition-based temporary mutation?
There were 2 main speculations on the forum.
Chen Mo looked at the two bits of speculation and his brow wrinkled.
If it was random, his chances of meeting one was close to zero.
However, as a hacker, Chen Mo was reasonable sure that the chances of it being random was low.
A randomly mutating BOSS does not reflect the existence of game designers. Anyone could do it. He had found hidden game settings and there was the hidden Flaming 3-Headed Wolf BOSS. It was not possible for the game designers of GENESIS to have a completely randomly mutating BOSS. The chance of it being a condition-based temporary mutation was higher.
The Mutated Slime King really did exist. Then, the conclusion he reached last night about its aggro-range being huge should be correct. If he could find the condition that sets off the mutation, he could try to find ways to kill the Mutated Slime King himself.
Besides the Mutated Slime King, the other hot topic on the forums was the “Trial of Natural Skill” that players can partic.i.p.ate in when leaving the beginner village at Level 10.
When Level 10 players leave the beginner villages, they can choose to partic.i.p.ate in the trial. The trial has 4 levels; Normal, Difficult, Nightmare and h.e.l.l. Those who pa.s.s the Normal level can pick which of the 3 main cities he would like to go to and learn a natural skill of his character cla.s.s. If one does not partic.i.p.ate or fails, he will be randomly transported to one of the 3 main cities. Once there, he would have to waste quite some time running to all the Profession Unions to complete the quest for a natural skill.
The Normal level was not difficult and quite a few players on the forums had already pa.s.sed it. This Trial of Natural Skill was not an individual trial either – it can be completed as a group. Even weak, novice players can pa.s.s the trial with a little luck.
The Difficult level was the same. Many people can team up too but there was less success. There was a person on the forums who posted proof of himself pa.s.sing the Difficult level.
It seemed like this person, too, had been influenced by the guy who posted the video of the Mutated Slime King. He had posted a pay-per-view post and hundreds of thousands of players had paid.
These videos, if posted on the traditional networks, would be pirated within the minute. However, on the holographic virtual network, if the poster does not allow it, it is impossible to download or repost. Even text cannot be copied without permission.
These people could get rich from a single post because of this feature of the holographic virtual network.
These features had existed in the holographic virtual network since the beginning but n.o.body paid attention to it or understood it well until now, when people got rich from it.
When Chen Mo saw that, he felt a tinge of worry. It seems the advancement of the holographic virtual network era cannot not be stopped.
However, it was not in his character to give up halfway. If he gave up because he thought it would fail, then he was not Chen Mo.
Failure was one thing but not attempting at all was another. Though the result of both was the same, it was completely different.
Chen Mo paid to view the post and, after viewing, found that the Difficult level and Normal level was about the same.
Both required the player to face a strong monster. The player in the video pa.s.sed due to his team-mates. There were over 10 of them and all had pretty decent equipment and skills.
After pa.s.sing the Difficult level, these players got a natural skill and an additional 10 silver coins. They also had the added option of choosing smaller cities near the 3 main cities that were also suitable for Level 10 players.
The 3 main cities were the most crowded and compet.i.tive so they chose the smaller cities without thinking twice. A less-populated city would mean more monsters and faster levelling.
There was yet anyone to boast about the Nightmare level, but there was some news that said that a group of people had pa.s.sed it. It had the same rewards as the Difficult level and it also seems to give a skill book as an extra reward.
There was no news at all about the h.e.l.l level.
According to them, it is an impossible trial for Level 10 players!
… … …
Wild Wolf Valley.
Back in the game, Chen Mo decided to go to Wild Wolf Valley to try his luck.
There were just as many players in the beginner village today as yesterday and it was flooded with players except for one place – Wild Wolf Valley.
The Flaming 3-Headed Wolf kept the whole map in lockdown mode. It was devoid of humans and there were only monsters to be found.
It was impossible for Chen Mo to evade the vigilance of the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf on his own. Then again, there were so many players around and a number of curious fools so people still went to the Wild Wolf Valley for a look-see.
With those kind of players around, and a little luck, he might get into the deeper parts of the Wild Wolf Valley.
Nearing the map, Chen Mo saw a group there as expected. One of them was jumping in and out of the entrance.
In the Wild Wolf Valley, the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf was lying lazily on the burning ground. It seemed to have not noticed the taunting of the players.
Seeing that the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf did not react, the players near the entrance got bolder and bolder and moved closer and closer.
“Roar!” The Flaming 3-Headed Wolf finally flew into a rage and pounced on the group of players.
Chance!
Chen Mo was waiting for this chance.
Degenerate t.i.tle!
Low Level Mutated Agility Drug!
The players had scattered at the roar and charge of the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf. Instead of retreating, Chen Mo equipped the Degenerate t.i.tle and drank an agility drug, increasing his speed dramatically!
Whoosh!
Chen Mo sped into the Wild Wolf Valley.
He threw a nervous glance over his shoulder and his heart nearly seized!
He’d been discovered! The Flaming 3-Headed Wolf has 3 pairs of eyes – how could he have hoped to fool it so easily?
Upon seeing Chen Mo, the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf twitched as if it were considering giving up on chasing the other players and going after him.
However, after moving a step, it looked like it preferred to kill more players and ignored Chen Mo in the end. It turned and galloped towards the group of players.
Chen Mo breathed a sigh of relief. He’d won this gamble.
However, getting into the map was one thing. If the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf came for him afterwards, he was bound to die.
His only option was to run as far as he could and get out of the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf’s aggro-range.
But with the Mutated Slime King’s aggro-range being so wide, the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf’s range should be even bigger.
On top of that, the Wild Wolf Valley was also the territory of the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf.
Chen Mo’s burst of speed brought him to the deepest part of the map.
After a long while in the map and killing a big bunch of monsters, Chen Mo finally relaxed when he saw no sign of the Flaming 3-Headed Wolf.
Surrounded by monsters and with the Degenerate t.i.tle boosting his stats equipped, his experience went up and up.
In this map, Chen Mo prepared to rise to Level 9 in one shot, then go to the Slime Plains and get to Level 10. The Slime King BOSS would be next.