Volume 1: Chapter 3 – A Rank Skill
What dropped from the sky were thousands of spheres of light.
A player was able to absorb these spheres and obtain a skill. However, there was a 99% chance the skill obtained would be of little value. It was important to absorb one of these spheres early on to survive as the spheres would disappear after 24 hours. Once a person obtained a skill, they were unable to exchange it for another.
Hundreds of skill spheres fell onto the Jiang City Bridge, a golden skill sphere attracting the gnolls to it. The gnolls were level 3 monsters. As such they were undefeatable by normal people within the first seven days, and twenty of them had begun moving in the vicinity. The skill spheres would dissipate within 24 hours, and these unique skill spheres were not only extremely rare but also exceedingly difficult to obtain.
That golden skill sphere was definitely the one that Zhang Mu wanted!
Zhang Mu quietly said: “Crash the truck into the monsters.”
Fatty lost all color in his face. Unable to open his mouth in fear, all he could do was make a sound that went boo hoo.
Zhang Mu calmly said: “Listen carefully.”
From the direction of Jiang City came the sound of explosions, the howl of monsters, and the cries of humans. The city had been overrun by monsters long ago.
“Right now, nowhere is safe. The monsters are focused on areas where people are gathering. If you return from where you came from, you are guaranteed to die. “ Zhang Mu explained with a nonchalant tone.
Fatty’s face displayed a myriad of expressions, but in the end, he gradually calmed down.
Once Zhang Mu saw that fatty had calmed down he said, “I’ll take my hand off your mouth. You better not be noisy. If you are, I will chop you up before the monsters tear me to shreds. Is that clear?”
Fatty nodded his head forcefully..
Zhang Mu let his hand drop.
Fatty’s whole body started to tremble, “Do we really have to drive into that?”
“Stop the useless chatter.”
Fatty stepped on the gas, launching the truck towards the bridge.
As the gnolls saw the truck coming their way, they started to howl. Unwilling to dodge, they faced the truck head on.
Some of the gnolls went flying as the truck hit them. A few unlucky ones were pinned under the wheels, and all that was heard was ka ka ka of their the fracturing skeletons. The windshield was now smeared with blood. Fatty became momentarily stupefied before firmly stepping on the gas pedal and scattering the ranks of gnolls.
One of the gnolls jumped two meters high, landing onto the windshield. As it stared inside the windshield, the sharp teeth in its maw were exposed. It was a scene that would cause almost anyone’s scalp to go numb. Fatty was paralyzed on the spot, a large area on his pants was already wet. He continued to p.i.s.s all over the driver seat of his truck.
Zhang Mu’s response was automatic. He lifted his fireman’s axe and hacked the windshield into two. Only to hear a crisp hu la as the entire windshield was completely shattered. Of the pieces of gla.s.s that went flying, one of them created a gash in Zhang Mu’s cheek. The axe split the head of the Dogman in two. As the gnoll lost its balance, if fell to the ground and was crushed by the wheel of the truck. Its skull was shattered into pieces and reddish-white liquid spilled onto the ground.
“STOP THE TRUCK!”
Fatty could only squeal frantically, seemingly losing his ability to think critically. As Zhang Mu shouted, he slammed on the brakes of the truck.
Before the truck could come to a stop, a gnoll came to the right side of it, smashing the gla.s.s with a knife. Not letting the gnoll come in, Zhang Mu lifted his axe and chopped at the neck of the gnoll. Its tough skin was cut open, splattering the driver seat with fresh blood and the stench of rotting fish.
The Dogman was still alive. its injuries causing it to be even more frantic. It kept trying to climb onto the hood of the truck, only to find out that the truck’s hood was too small and was held at bay for the time being.
Zhang Mu again lifted his axe and began to hack at the gnoll’s head. On the edge of the fireman axe was a lump of flesh, exposing the skull as blood poured out.
“AO AO AO!”
The gnoll frantically struggled as it tried to get up.
Zhang Mu struck it with the axe once more. KA CHA, the skull of the gnoll was split open.
This guy wasn’t dead yet!
In the end, the skull was only thoroughly split open on the third strike. A disgusting mix of brain matter and blood sprayed out, and the truck was filled with the stench. The howl of the gnoll started to quiet down. Half of its body remained in the car even though it had lost its life force.
Zhang Mu was enveloped by a white light, and he heard an emotionless voice whisper into his ear:
There were more than a dozen basic jobs. Among those included sword specialist, knight, berserker, a.s.sa.s.sin, elemental mage, summoner and so on. The system would transfer job information to the player. The player was not allowed to change their job after they had picked it. This would decide the direction the player would follow later on.
Zhang Mu pondered for a while, before making a choice – Ranger!
Cla.s.s: Ranger
Life: 20 (100)
Mana: 20 (100)
Strength: 6
Vitality: 6
Dexterity: 7
Spirit: 6
Experience: 0
Every cla.s.s could be considered different; none of them were the strongest nor the weakest.
The Ranger cla.s.s was a physical-dominated cla.s.s with strength considered inferior to berserkers and warriors, defense inferior to shieldbearers and knights, explosive strength inferior to a.s.sa.s.sins, stealth weaker than that of thieves, and ranged attacks weaker than that of snipers… It could only be considered moderate in all aspects with no prominent specialisation. However, it was very well-rounded.
The surface of Zhang Mu’s skin became covered in light. A powerful force flooding into his body, his fitness increased by multiple times, comparable to that of a warrior from the Han dynasty, while his speed became by no means inferior to that of a professional athlete.
“Go backwards!”
Fatty did not hesitate, immediately turning the body of the truck. However, ten gnolls had used the chance while the truck decelerated to approach, having climbed all over the truck in two or three seconds.
“Don’t panic!”
Fatty slammed on the gas. The truck violently charged backwards towards the bridge, catching several of the gnolls off guard and crushed them into patties with the wheels of the truck in the process. The rest of the gnolls were scattered all over the truck like ants, while the truck continued to accelerate, almost as if it was a mad beast.
At that moment, a gnoll climbed on the gla.s.s on the left side and proceeded to throw a knife, shattering the gla.s.s. “Ah! – ” Fatty was shocked and jerked the steering wheel, throwing off the truck’s balance. In the next moment, the whole earth seemed to turn on itself
“Boom!-”
An earth shattering noise erupted as the torn and ragged truck tipped over to the right. Its heavy frame shooting off sparks as it slid forward a few meters, scattering debris all over the ground, its momentum horrifying.
“You really f.u.c.ked up!” Zhang Mu was severely wounded when the truck flipped, his head bleeding badly, and his health reduced to roughly 80. He took out a hammer from the luggage, pa.s.sing it to Fatty and said, “Take it, we’re going to need to defend ourselves!”
Zhang Mu used the axe to clear away the shards of broken gla.s.s and quickly climbed out from the broken windshield.
There was a thick atmosphere of blood outside that would have made a person gag. Forty-five gnolls bodies were crushed and strewn all over the place. Their blood and guts littered all over the ground. However, to Zhang Mu, these odors and images were already commonplace, and he did not feel any sense of discomfort.
The golden sphere was about 50 meters away.
Although the gnolls were strength-type monsters, because of a level advantage, they were no slower than Zhang Mu. To a normal person’s const.i.tution, there was basically no comparison.
A gnoll was still stuck trying to extract itself from under the side of the toppled truck. Zhang Mu jumped off the truck, aiming for the Dog man’s head with the axe, splitting its head on the spot, killing it instantly. This immediately raised his experience from 0 to 33.
In regards to the monsters that were on the bridge, the knife wielding gnolls were level 3 common monsters, the club wielding gnolls were level 2 common monsters. The gnoll that was killed was a knife wielder, and exceeded that of a level 2monster; thus granting a significant amount of experience.
Zhang Mu jumped from the truck and bolted towards the golden sphere. At that moment, there was a club wielding gnoll blocking the front, raising its club and aiming towards Zhang Mu’s head. Zhang Mu did not panic in the slightest. He leaned to the side dodging it by a hair’s breath. Using the momentum from his charge, he ruthlessly smashed into the gnoll’s abdomen, splattering blood everywhere and spilling its intestines all over the ground.
The club wielding gnoll collapsed on the ground, wailing.
Zhang Mu brought up the axe, splitting the gnoll’s head, killing it on the spot.
The golden sphere was now right in front of him.
Zhang Mu could not wait to pick it up,so he immediately touched the fist-sized sphere with his hand . Upon contact, information was transmitted over into his mind.
This skill was not bad!
A Rank skill, highest level: 9, consumes 50 mana upon use, grants 1 second of invincibility, skills below S cla.s.s have their cooldown times removed, all attributes are increased by 25 for 120 seconds, and has a cooldown of 60 minutes.
Skills were separated into seven ranks; S, A ,B ,C ,D ,E and F. A rank skills had to be found and could not be made. Besides that, within two months, even D rank skills would be extremely rare. Only by killing an extremely strong boss or finishing an extremely high difficulty quest would one be receivable. Soon, no more than ten people would have A rank skills. Every one of them were lucky enough to earn it from the skill spheres.
Invincibility!
Cooldown removal!
Temporary attribute boost!
This was undoubtedly G.o.dlike!
Zhang Mu did not have time to rejoice. Two knife wielding Dog men furiously barked as they charged towards him. Knife wielding gnolls were level 3 monsters with a large attribute advantage over Zhang Mu. The knife wielding gnolls carried rusty machetes. They tore up fierce winds as they slashed at Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu used the skill without a thought!
At the moment when a gnoll swung his machete, Zhang Mu was surrounded by rays of light. Temporarily invincible and unable to take any damage. The gnoll staggered in shock. Zhang Mu wheeled around his axe to chop. He had to chop three to four times to kill the gnoll. Only by aiming for the head could further damage be inflicted. Using only an axe, Zhang Mu was able to crack open the dog man’s skull, immediately exterminating its life.
Zhang Mu then flung the fireman’s axe, sweeping it towards the other knife wielding gnoll, knocking it airborne and causing it to fall heavily to the ground. Its mouth was completely split open with its tongue hanging out. Its teeth were scattered across the floor. Wailing incessantly, it struggled to get up.With its life value reduced to 35, Zhang Mu stamped on its body, ruthlessly hacking at its head.
Experience reached 99!
The big truck was surrounded by four gnolls. With one already climbing into the car, Fatty’s shocked roars erupted from within. Zhang Mu rushed towards the truck with his axe, heavily slamming it into the back of a gnoll and immediately cutting down its health by 20. He then dragged the stick wielding gnoll to the ground. He raised up the axe and heavily slammed it down on the gnoll’s neck. It broke, causing a 1 meter fountain of blood to spurt out.
Amidst the system’s prompts, Zhang Mu rose to a level 2 ranger. His wounds healed, and his attributes significantly increased as he was enveloped in a warm light.
Even before the results had disappeared, Zhang Mu’s attributes had already increased, completely rising to a whole new level. Now, he was by no means inferior to a level 3 knife wielding gnoll. Zhang Mu swung his axe. He one hit killed gnolls with his head shots and dealt varying damage on the parts he hit, taking no more than four chops to kill each gnoll.
Simultaneously, Fatty’s face flushed. Roaring loudly, he swung his hammer, smashing a gnoll’s canine’s into pieces. Fatty also jumped up, using mind numbing strength to hysterically smash a stick wielding gnoll’s face into a pulp with several blows, splattering blood all over Fatty’s face. Only after the fourth blow did the gnoll’s skull cave in, shattering under Fatty’s barrage.
Zhang Mu detached the gnolls’ corpses from the vehicle, loudly yelling, “Fatty, grab out the bags and luggage. We need to leave this place.” After Fatty threw out the luggage and bags, Zhang Mu pulled him out from the overturned truck.
Fatty could not help but cry out in shock, feeling the blood on his face with his hands. His two legs trembled as he stammered, “Oh – oh my G.o.d – I killed a …. I killed a monster!”