Chapter 5 – A New Discovery
To Chen Mo, the hunter cla.s.s was not bad as a Lone-Ranger.
However, this cla.s.s has a disadvantage – insufficient abilities to combat attacks from the sky.
Traps are set on the ground and totally useless against flying monsters or enemies.
Though the hunter can also use crossbows and make contracts with monsters to turn them into his pet, unless the crossbow or pet is G.o.dly, the hunter’s destructive power will be lowered without the support of his traps.
The hunter has two paths in the beginning stages. One focus is the crossbow and the other is contracting pets. No matter which path one chooses, traps are the basis of all of a hunter’s skills. Because of this, the hunter can even equip support items other cla.s.ses cannot. The hunter’s support items are gloves – these gloves have an effect only on trap-based skills when equipped.
If a hunter can stand upright and set traps in the air, he will have some defense against air attacks. It might not be strong against air attacks, but it will be much stronger than if it were on the ground.
Will it work?
Chen Mo nervously took a deep breath, stood straight up and started to draw in the air in front of him.
Hu!
The practiced strokes of Chen Mo’s hands moved through the air and a “hu” sound came from the air in front of him!
A trap had appeared in the air!
Success!
Even the ever-calm Chen Mo could not help but be a little excited.
He was sure that though people would quickly discover the Free-skill system and set traps independently of the system like him, not many would think of setting traps in the air!
He wouldn’t have thought of this either if it were not for his stroke of genius.
But Chen Mo quickly realised that the trap set in the air was not stable. It hung in the air for just 2 or 3 seconds before dropping to the ground and exploding.
“It didn’t fall right after I set it so this means the trap can be set in the air. Why did it fall… Ah, it has to do with the degree of completion!”
In just a second, Chen Mo thought of the degree of completion.
The trap has to stay in the air for at least 5 seconds or it won’t be useful in real battle and it won’t pose a threat to long-distance enemies. With more practice and familiarity with the skill, this won’t be a problem.
Setting traps in the air works, but how about setting a trap while moving?
Chen Mo’s brain buzzed with activity and one idea after another popped into his head.
A hunter has to stand in place while setting a trap. If a monster approaches and attacks while he is setting the trap, the skill will be interrupted and stopped. His combat capabilities will be severely reduced in close-up battles.
If he can move about and set traps, this disadvantage will cease to exist!
Will it work?
Chen Mo immediately put his plan into action.
“It won’t work! The trap-making strokes get distorted when I move. It’s impossible!”
Chen Mo tried just once and knew that moving while setting a trap in the air couldn’t be done.
The Free-skill system most requires movement accuracy and completion. When a player moves, his original movement will get moved to another position and be incomplete, rendering it unsuccessful. Chen Mo’s palm did not glow when he moved, signalling a non-use of skill.
“But what if I set a trap on a medium, like a wooden board, while I move?”
Chen Mo’s nimble mind came up with another idea right away when the first failed.
It’s highly probable!
He hadn’t tried it yet but intuition told Chen Mo that this idea had a high probability of success!
Chen Mo couldn’t find any wooden boards in the valley but he found some flat stones to act as subst.i.tute.
Move!
Chen Mo moved his character and started drawing on the rock at the same time. Stroke by stroke, the movements for the trap placement appeared!
His strokes flowed naturally like in calligraphy. All done!
Chen Mo focused his nimble thoughts and attention on his task and the trap was set with unprecedented speed and accuracy!
With his superb thought-hand coordination, a trap suddenly appeared on the stone!
Yes!
The degree of completion was high too!
In one fluid motion, Chen Mo hurled the trap-bearing stone 7m away!
Boom!
The trap landed on the ground and exploded!
“Haha! A trap-grenade!”
Chen Mo felt refreshed. He only had this feeling before when he made a huge breakthrough during the initial stages of his hacker-learning. In that moment, it was like he had gone back to the past.
“No, no. I’m here to look for vulnerabilities, not play.”
Chen Mo felt he had been over-elated. He quickly took a deep breath to calm himself down.
After he had calmed down, he walked back into the cave behind him.
What he wanted to do had not changed – pull the White goblins out of the cave and kill them.
Even though he had unlocked the Free-skill system and was able to set a trap in the middle of the cave pa.s.sage, he would still have to rely on luck to succeed.
But now, he had not only unlocked the Free-skill system, he also knew that he could set traps in the air and could also move about and set a trap on a medium. The matter of pulling the White Goblins out of the cave and killing them had become very very small.
He could originally set just three traps in the cave and was not able to set any other traps while moving. Now, he could use the time taken to run out of the cave to set two more traps.
With a total of 5 traps, he could run out of the cave safely if the disabling effect of two activated. If 3 traps’ disabling effect activated, he could 100% kill those White Goblins behind him!
When rested, Chen Mo set 3 high completion traps in the appropriate locations and went to the end of the cave to await an opportunity.
Despite a firm grasp of the mechanics of setting a trap while moving, timing was still most important. He must pull both goblins at the same time. If they chased him one behind the other, the traps in the centre of the cave pa.s.sage would not be able to damage both of them at the same time.
Originally, to increase his chances of getting out of the cave, Chen Mo had to lure two White Goblins from as far away as possible but now, he did not need to do so.
Soon, two White Goblins moved to the same spot and Chen Mo immediately used his crossbow. A bolt flew.
Chi!
The stumpy little bolt struck home and hit a White Goblin. The two White Goblins turned and charged towards Chen Mo with fire in their eyes.
Chen Mo swiftly retreated.
Boom!
Soon, the 2 goblins stepped on the first trap and it exploded.
Chen Mo looked over and saw two 20+ damage numbers float over the heads of the goblins.
The White Goblins’ speed remained the same. No disabling effect.
Chen Mo was not worried.
He was most concerned with whether the traps set in the middle of the cave pa.s.sage would deal damage to both goblins. The basic trap technique was a single-target skill according to the skill page but he had used it to deal group damage.
If it were a traditional game, a single-target skill could never deal damage to a group.
But it can be done in GENESIS!
As long as the basic trap technique can simultaneously damage the goblins that chase after him, it was just a matter of time for him to pull them out of the cave and kill them. Chen Mo, naturally, did not have to feel anxious.
He could only use 3 traps at the same time. The first trap had already exploded so Chen Mo immediately took a stone out from his backpack and set a trap on it as he ran.
In just 2 seconds, a trap appeared on the stone. Chen Mo had done his job well – the completion degree was over 70%!
The distance between Chen Mo and the goblins was about 20m but since the first trap’s disabling effect did not activate, the distance had shortened to under 7m.
As soon as he finished the trap-grenade, he hurled it at the two White Goblins.
Boom!
The trap landed at the feet of the two White Goblins and exploded with a boom.
The steps of the goblins suddenly slowed!
The disabling effect had activated!
“Good!” It worked this time. He still had 3 traps. The chances of the disabling effect activating again was not slim.
The chase went on and after about 3 seconds, the White Goblins arrived at the location of the seconds trap.
With no idea that there was a trap lying in wait for them, the goblins stepped on the trap with no hesitation.
The trap exploded but the disabling effect from the first had not worn off so Chen Mo had to wait to see if the disabling effect had activated yet again.
The goblins moved another 2m and their speed did not increase. Chen Mo then knew that the disabling effect had activated again. He could escape from the cave!
The distance between the goblins and Chen Mo was still 7m. Then, they got to the third trap.
The trap exploded and the goblins took two more steps and their speed suddenly increased.
The disabling effect had not activated.
It was within the parameters of his calculations. Chen Mo kept calm.
The basic trap technique has just 10% chance of activating. He had already been extremely lucky for it to have activated twice in a row. If it had activated thrice in a row – what science could explain that?
The goblins’ speed increased and the distance between them and Chen Mo shortened to 4m.
At that moment, the cooldown for his skill was complete and Chen Mo quickly took out another stone from his backpack and started setting a trap.
It was more difficult to set a trap while moving than standing so, more time was needed to set it too.
When standing, Chen Mo needed a second and a half. When moving, he needed about two seconds.
In two seconds, the goblins had moved 2m closer to Chen Mo. The distance between them was now less than 2m.