Chapter 152: All Skills Enhanced

Seeing Yang Liu’s goodwill towards Chen Mo increase, Luo Hua immediately felt anxious. Hearing Gu Feixing mention that Chen Mo had reached Level 23, he seized this opportunity to subtly diminish Chen Mo’s favor in Yang Liu’s eyes.

Level 23, just one or two levels lower than theirs; it was only natural for him to come. It would be strange if he hadn’t!

Luo Hua’s tone and expression were carefully crafted, not making it seem like he was deliberately targeting Chen Mo, but Chen Mo knew exactly what this guy was up to.

Damn it, you little punk, just you wait! See how I don’t screw you over!

Chen Mo sneered inwardly, determined to find a chance to mess with that little jerk Luo Hua badly.

Chen Mo revealed his Advanced Swimming Skill and said, “I was lucky. I didn’t drown inside the shipwreck. At the very bottom of the shipwreck, there were five treasure chests. After opening them, I obtained experience books that directly raise one level.”

“Tsk, why don’t I have that kind of luck?” Gu Feixing said enviously.

This was just an excuse Chen Mo made up to avoid trouble, but looking at the Advanced Swimming Skill, Gu Feixing and the others didn’t doubt Chen Mo’s words.

They had also died inside the shipwreck, and later learned on the Game Forum that there were five treasure chests at the bottom. The shipwreck being flooded was closely related to those five treasure chests. Who would have thought that Chen Mo ended up getting all five of them?

“This guy’s luck is actually this good!”

Luo Hua couldn’t help feeling jealous that this guy had such incredible luck. If he had gotten those five experience books, his level would have directly jumped to Level 30, making him the highest-level player in the game.

“I have things to do, I’m heading back to the city first. You all go ahead with your business.” Chen Mo didn’t feel like chatting too much with the group. He greeted them, then turned and walked toward Eastern Sea City.

System Notification: Yang Liu applied to become your friend. Do you agree?

Not far away, a system notification came. Chen Mo was a bit surprised to see it.

Heh heh, could it be that she saw how awesome I am, and this beauty is offering herself up?

Chen Mo fantasized a little, then accepted the application.

“Well, hello, Class President Beauty, what’s up?” Chen Mo greeted.

“You lied,” Yang Liu said quietly.

“Huh?”

“Your level wasn’t raised by experience books from the treasure chests at the bottom of the shipwreck, but by exchanging defense points for experience, right?”

“Impressive. How did you know?”

Exposed by Yang Liu’s words, Chen Mo said in surprise, not denying it.

“Just by looking at how you spoke, I had that feeling.”

“Since you know, don’t tell anyone else,” Chen Mo urged.

Damn, a woman’s intuition is so scary! Chen Mo thought he had acted perfectly, but he didn’t expect Yang Liu to see through it.

“Humph, I’m going to tell others,” Yang Liu, however, seemed deliberately intent on opposing Chen Mo, and snorted coldly.

“Beauty, don’t force me. If you tell others, I’ll tell others too, that you got into my bed that night,” Chen Mo immediately threatened.

“You dare? You pervert!” Yang Liu gritted her teeth and shouted.

“Just kidding. But don’t tell anyone else about this. I’m not very familiar with the class, and I don’t want them to know, to avoid trouble,” Chen Mo said seriously.

“Don’t be so arrogant. You just fought a few more hours and got some points.” Yang Liu pursed her lips, but for some reason, after hearing Chen Mo’s proper explanation, she felt much better inside.

“It’s not arrogance. I’m really strong now. I’m number one on the points ranking. If you have any troubles in the game later, you can ask me for help.”

“You’re just boasting. It’s only because the points ranking doesn’t show names that you dare brag like that.” Yang Liu felt displeased again. What did this guy take her for? If you’re going to boast, at least make it somewhat believable. Level 23, number one on the points ranking, who would believe that?

Damn it, these days, no one believes the truth even when you tell it!

Chen Mo rolled his eyes and didn’t continue explaining to Yang Liu.

“Yang Liu, what’s wrong?”

Seeing Yang Liu seemed a bit distracted, Luo Hua couldn’t help asking.

“Just now someone told me that the person in first place on the points ranking is someone at Level 23. Do you think it’s true or false?” Yang Liu thought for a moment and asked the people around her.

“Hahaha, how is that possible? Who is your friend? They actually believe such news!” Gu Feixing laughed heartily.

“That’s right, Yang Liu, no need to think about it. The person in first place on the points ranking must be at least Level 25, most likely Level 27 or 28.” Luo Hua smiled slightly and agreed.

See, who would believe a Level 23 guy is number one on the points ranking? Only that shameless guy would dare spout such nonsense!

…

“Brave adventurer, how may I serve you?”

Coming to the City Lord’s Mansion again, the Great Hall on the first floor had many more players than before. Chen Mo finally managed to squeeze closer to Vena, and Vena’s familiar voice reached him.

The reward exchange list popped up. Chen Mo, familiar with the process, selected the skill proficiency reward.

System Notification: You consumed 100 points. Skill “Trap Manipulation” proficiency increased by 10%!

System Notification: You consumed 100 points. Skill…

…

A series of system notifications continuously rang in Chen Mo’s ears. To upgrade one skill from Novice Level to Intermediate Level required consuming 2000 points.

Chen Mo first spent 2000 points to raise the Trap Manipulation Skill from Novice Level to Primary Level.

With Chen Mo’s twelve thousand points, he could already exchange for a decent Level 25 Purple Equipment. However, Chen Mo didn’t consider exchanging for Purple Equipment at all.

His current equipment was sufficient. Exchanging for Level 20 gear would be a waste, and Level 25 gear couldn’t be used yet. Unless it was a weapon, even if he exchanged for Level 25 Purple Equipment, the improvement wouldn’t be significant, and it would eventually become obsolete anyway.

On the other hand, raising skill proficiency wasn’t easy. Once increased, it was permanent, with no concept of becoming obsolete.

Therefore, Chen Mo planned to use all his points to increase skill proficiency.

Trap Manipulation (Intermediate): After activating the skill, within a short time, you can consecutively apply enhancements to two traps. Traps enhanced by this skill can have their trigger delayed by up to 4 seconds.

After the Trap Manipulation Skill was upgraded, the effect improvement was lower than Chen Mo expected. Upgrading from Novice to Primary increased the delay time to 4 seconds. Upgrading from Primary to Intermediate only allowed enhancing two traps.

But this skill was too powerful for trap-specialized Hunters, so it was normal for the skill effect improvement to be restricted after leveling up.

By now, the Vortex Trap, Shockwave Trap, and Trap Manipulation on Chen Mo had all been upgraded to Intermediate Level. Of course, there were also the Trap Chain and Alchemy skills at Grandmaster Level.

Next, Chen Mo spent another 2000 points to upgrade the Venomous Assault Skill to Intermediate Level.

Venomous Assault (Intermediate): After the player enters combat, each time damage is dealt to an enemy, 15% of the damage can be converted into toxin energy. When toxin energy reaches 500 points, the player can use this skill when attacking an enemy to additionally deal 700 points of Toxin Damage. If the player leaves combat status, or no damage is converted into toxin energy for 30 seconds, the toxin energy will be reset to zero. When the attack is a backstab, there is a chance to deal double toxin damage.

After obtaining the Venomous Assault Skill, Chen Mo only used it occasionally while killing monsters. It hadn’t been put to much real use. But the reason it hadn’t been useful wasn’t because the skill was weak, but because his pet was too powerful, leaving no room for this skill to shine. As long as the Venomous Assault Skill level increases, its effects will become more and more formidable, and there will definitely be times when it comes in handy.

With 8000 points remaining, Chen Mo could upgrade four more skills. Chen Mo wanted to first upgrade Blood Refining Art to Intermediate Level, but then discovered that after selecting the reward, he couldn’t choose Blood Refining Art at all. Not just Blood Refining Art, all life skills were unselectable.

“Damn it, life skills actually can’t be upgraded using points.”

Chen Mo sighed. With so many life skills, he had been counting on using this batch of points to upgrade them all to Intermediate Level in one go. Especially Blood Refining Art; leveling up this skill was unusually difficult. Even after learning it for so long, the number of times he had used it was still extremely limited. He was far from reaching Primary Level, let alone Intermediate Level.

Unable to upgrade life skills, Chen Mo had no choice. But he still had plenty of other skills.

Blasting Trap, Thorn Trap, Slight Poison Crossbow; Chen Mo upgraded several of his skills one by one to Intermediate Level.

He still had two thousand points left. Chen Mo didn’t use them all, keeping them in reserve.

After the city defense was over, he still needed to learn Seaspear Proficiency. By then, the Powerful Throw Skill would also require spending points to upgrade to Intermediate Level. It was better to keep some points in reserve for now.

“Brave adventurer, you’ve finally come! Regarding this invasion by the Sea Clan, I have an important matter to ask of you. Please, you must help!”

After exchanging skill proficiency, Chen Mo went aside to look for the quest NPC. Who would have thought that before he could even speak, the old man issuing the quest saw him and said excitedly.

There were many players around, but for this type of quest NPC that could interact with numerous players simultaneously, each person could only see the NPC’s reaction to themselves; others’ reactions were invisible. Chen Mo couldn’t see how the NPC old man reacted to other players, but he could guess that it was probably because his points ranking was too high that made the old man so excited to give him a quest upon seeing him.

“Of course, what is it?” Chen Mo asked.

“Thank you, brave adventurer! This is the matter: The Sea Clan invaders have already infiltrated Eastern Sea City and are preparing to destroy it from the inside! If they succeed, the entire Eastern Sea City, even all of humanity, will suffer severe losses! I want to ask you, adventurer, to go into the city, find those invaders, kill them, and drive them out of the city! For each invader you kill, you will receive a substantial reward!”

“They’ve infiltrated Eastern Sea City? So that means they have a way to disguise themselves so they won’t be discovered? If that’s the case, how can I recognize them?” Chen Mo frowned and asked.

Invaders, meaning Sea Clan players, normally they would appear as red enemy status. The city gate guards would instantly kill them as enemies. For them to enter Eastern Sea City, the Sea Clan players must be able to disguise themselves to get in.

“Don’t worry, brave adventurer. I have an item here that can help you identify whether they are invaders or not,” the NPC old man quickly said.