Chapter 103: The Unknown Monster
Chapter 103: The Unknown Monster
Chen Mo practiced traps in real life until after 6 PM, had dinner, and then logged into the game.
After logging in, Chen Mo appeared near the entrance to the second level of the Blackwood Mining Area.
At this time, the players’ mining levels were not very high, and the second level of the mining area remained undeveloped. The monsters there were high-level, so almost no one went to the second level.
Seeing no one around, Chen Mo darted into the second level, following the narrow mine tunnel.
Sure enough, the second level of the mining area was covered in a layer of white fog. Chen Mo’s field of vision was less than twenty meters. He could only summon Big Fatty and carefully move along the mine tunnel wall.
On the mine tunnel walls, some oddly shaped stones that looked like ores stuck out. However, not only was Chen Mo’s mining skill only at the Novice Level, but even if he had a Primary mining skill, he could only look at these ores—his skill level was not high enough to mine them.
“There are three types of monsters on the second level of the mining area: Level 15 Ore Monsters, Level 16 and 17 Ore-Devouring Rats, and finally, Level 18 Ore Giants. If I don’t go too deep, I shouldn’t run into an Ore Giant.”
Chen Mo carefully recalled the information he had seen on the forum about the second level of the mining area. Near the second-level entrance, Level 15 Ore Monsters were the most common. However, as he went deeper, he would encounter the higher-level Ore-Devouring Rats and Ore Giants.
Unlike the Ore Monsters, the Ore-Devouring Rats were a type of rat that devoured ores to become stronger. Depending on the type of ore they consumed, each Ore-Devouring Rat had slightly different characteristics. Especially the Level 17 Ore-Devouring Rats—these rats had devoured many rare ores to reach such a high level, so they were rare among the Ore-Devouring Rats and much stronger than the Level 16 ones.
As for the Ore Giants, being Level 18 monsters on the second level of the mining area, they were naturally the most powerful. The Ore Giants were entirely made of various ores, had astonishing defense, and could absorb nearby ores to restore health while fighting, making them very troublesome.
The presence of these two troublesome monsters, the Ore-Devouring Rats and the Ore Giants, was one reason why the guilds were unwilling to develop the second level of the mining area.
It was too much trouble, and without the certainty of defeating the Area Elite, developing this area was simply a waste of time.
“A monster has appeared!”
A Level 15 Ore Monster appeared in front. Chen Mo perked up and moved forward to face it.
“Ugh! There are two!”
He went up to draw aggro, only to find that there were actually two Ore Monsters.
The two Ore Monsters rushed toward Chen Mo, who quickly prepared for battle.
Monsters above Level 14 had powerful attributes—they could be considered elite mobs. Fighting two Level 15 monsters at once wasn’t impossible for Chen Mo, but it wouldn’t be efficient, and Big Fatty’s Health Points would drop significantly.
However, remembering that Big Fatty had a Flower Demon Battle Spirit on its back, Chen Mo went all out in his attacks.
The Flower Demon Battle Spirit’s healing skill had a Cooldown Time of about 30 minutes. With Big Fatty’s Health Points, if he was careful, having half its health last 30 minutes wouldn’t be a problem.
Besides, couldn’t he also summon a Mutant Slime?
With all his helpers out, Chen Mo quickly identified the weak points of the two Ore Monsters and launched fierce attacks.
“My trap-setting speed has clearly become much more skilled and faster!”
Equipped with the Dark Gold Gloves, Chen Mo’s trap damage was quite significant. While setting up traps and attacking, he noticed that the several hours of practice in real life during the day had a clear effect. Compared to last night, his trap-setting movements were much smoother, and both the time it took to set traps and the skill completion rate had improved.
As long as he practiced for a few more days, he would definitely make good progress in his trap skills!
The only thing Chen Mo was unhappy about was that he had too few types of traps. Although he had made some progress in analyzing trap patterns, it wasn’t clear enough to bring about a qualitative improvement.
Gradually getting used to the strength of Level 15 monsters, Chen Mo found a rhythm for killing the Ore Monsters, and the damage Big Fatty received gradually decreased.
System Notification: You obtained a piece of “Black Crystal Ore”!
Last night, with Little Warrior constantly swinging her pickaxe and mining nearby, the sound of “ding, ding, ding” accompanied Chen Mo as he killed monsters all night, and he didn’t mind it. Now that he was alone, after killing Ore Monsters for over three hours, he started to miss that little loli, Little Warrior.
Having someone around, even without talking, felt quite nice.
While Chen Mo was lost in his thoughts, a System Notification sounded. Chen Mo was slightly startled.
This was another ore he hadn’t seen before, similar to last night’s “Crystal Ore,” but with the prefix “Black” added before the ore name.
Black Crystal Ore: A rare ore that can be refined into a Black Crystal with unknown uses.
Unknown uses?
What a strange ore. But this Black Crystal Ore was definitely rarer than the Crystal Ore!
With a good item in his inventory, Chen Mo felt more energized. He stayed alert and focused on practicing his traps, aiming to shorten the time it took to set them.
As a Trap Hunter, no matter how strong his Attributes were, traps would become increasingly important in the future. If he couldn’t set traps skillfully, their power would be greatly reduced!
“Roar!”
Another hour passed, and Chen Mo was still silently killing monsters and practicing his traps.
His movements were noticeably more proficient than they were yesterday.
But at that moment, Big Fatty suddenly let out a furious roar. Its purple crystal body leaped and landed behind Chen Mo.
What was this big guy doing?
Chen Mo was puzzled. The next moment, his eyes widened as he saw Big Fatty’s somewhat clumsy body being knocked flying by something that had rammed into it!
A monster was ambushing him!
As Big Fatty was sent flying, Chen Mo saw a small figure that had collided with Big Fatty bounce back several meters and fall to the ground!
A monster that could turn invisible!
Chen Mo was shocked!
He had spent some time on the Forum and had never heard of any monster that could turn invisible!
The monster that had tried to ambush him definitely knew how to turn invisible! The monster was definitely within twenty meters of him—within his field of vision—yet he hadn’t seen it at all!
Only after the monster’s ambush was blocked by Big Fatty and it fell to the ground did Chen Mo get a clear look at the monster’s form.
It was a very strange monster.
Its body was transparent, like a ball of water. The monster’s name was “???”. Even when Chen Mo quickly used a Scouting Skill on it, he still couldn’t get any information about the monster.
What was going on? Weren’t there only three types of monsters on the second level of the mining area? How could there be an additional strange monster without even a name?
After the water-ball monster was blocked by Big Fatty and fell to the ground, it didn’t give up. It bounced off the ground and shot toward Chen Mo again, as if determined to attack him no matter what, completely ignoring Big Fatty.
But at that moment, a figure emerged from the white fog behind the water-ball monster. The figure waved its hand, and a tattered fishing net flew out like lightning, covering the water-ball monster.
Caught off guard, the water-ball monster was trapped in the suddenly appearing fishing net before it could reach Chen Mo, and it fell to the ground.
The water-ball monster bounced around wildly inside the fishing net, trying to break free. The net looked worn out, but no matter how hard the water-ball monster struggled, it remained tightly bound.
The NPC old man who had thrown the fishing net hurried over, trying to catch the water-ball monster. Just as he was about to reach it, the water-ball monster’s body suddenly expanded and then melted into a puddle of water on the ground.
“Ah, I was still a step too late. It seems this method really can’t capture them.” The NPC old man sighed regretfully.
Then, he looked at Chen Mo.
Chen Mo cautiously stared back at the NPC old man.
This old man was the one on the second level of the mining area who bought Crystal Ores—Bevicent.
As far as Chen Mo knew, Bevicent had a small wooden hut on the second level of the mining area and never left that place. This time, for some unknown reason, he had come to this area near the mining area entrance.
This old man could live on the second level of the mining area, so he was definitely not someone Chen Mo could handle. Chen Mo was in the Black Name Status and felt very nervous facing Bevicent. If the old man wanted to kill him, it would be hard for Chen Mo to escape.
But Bevicent didn’t seem to react to Chen Mo, who was equipped with the Heinous Crime Title. It was as if Chen Mo were no different from any other player. Bevicent’s eyes only glanced at Chen Mo with little interest, but when he saw Big Fatty, his eyes suddenly lit up.