Chapter 35: Competitors Emerged

“The Slime King in this Starter Village… was killed first by someone else?”

Chen Mo had already killed the Mutant Slime King nine times. When he went to find the Slime King for the tenth time, he arrived at the Slime King’s respawn location but saw no trace of the Slime King. Chen Mo couldn’t help but be startled.

The Slime King’s respawn time was three days. If he had killed the Slime King here in the first two days, the Slime King in this Starter Village would not have respawned yet. But Chen Mo knew that the Slime King in this Starter Village was not killed by him.

Each Earl Town map had a number to indicate it was different. This Earl Town, numbered 3014, was one Chen Mo had never been to before.

Chen Mo walked around the area to confirm that the Slime King had not been lured away due to mutation. The Slime King had indeed been killed by another player.

The Slime King was not a very difficult BOSS to kill. It only had a few skills. With the right equipment and strategy, killing it was a matter for just one team. Previously, The Tycoons Club had to use human wave tactics to kill it because they were fighting head-on without any strategy. For example, with the right method, Chen Mo could solo it by himself.

Chen Mo knew it was only a matter of time before other players killed the Slime King. Now, after more than ten days, it seemed that a player team had purchased enough equipment from the Three Major Cities and found a way to gather a team of players in the same Starter Village.

Chen Mo did not think the emerging competitors were like him, soloing and killing the Slime King. The Slime King’s location was often visited by players, so it was impossible to set up a trap there to kill it. In a direct solo fight, even with his current equipment, Chen Mo was no match for the Slime King. Without obstacles, he couldn’t dodge the BOSS’s skills.

Only a team with offense, defense, and healing could possibly kill the Slime King head-on.

Because of this, Chen Mo specifically went to the Forum. After a brief search, he confirmed his suspicion.

The situation was more serious than Chen Mo had thought. It seemed that two different teams had suddenly appeared and started killing one Slime King BOSS every day in the Starter Villages, just like him. According to posts on the Forum, this was mentioned the day before yesterday. Chen Mo guessed that these two teams had likely appeared three days ago.

One of these two teams was recorded in a video while they were killing the Slime King.

“A weapon with a Silence-type skill, no wonder.”

The Slime King also had area-of-attack skills. Although not as powerful as the Mutant Slime King’s, if used, players in the team with low health could be instantly killed due to critical damage. Even if not instantly killed, the entire team would suffer heavy health loss, making it difficult to continue the fight afterward.

However, the Priest in this team could use a Silence skill to interrupt the Slime King’s skill just as it was about to use its ultimate move. This way, the Slime King was no longer a threat, and killing it was just a matter of time.

Competitors had emerged, and there was more than one.

But Chen Mo was not swayed. This was an online game; having competitors was completely normal. Overthinking it was useless.

There were many Starter Villages. With only a few competitors, the chance of running into them was not high. He didn’t need much more equipment; as long as his luck wasn’t too bad, it would only take a few more days at most.

Returning to the Game, Chen Mo decisively committed suicide to respawn again.

Appearing in another Starter Village, Chen Mo left Goblin Valley this time. Before reaching Level 10, he first went to Slime Plains to confirm whether the Slime King was still alive.

“It’s still here.” The Slime King in this Starter Village was still there. Chen Mo breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as he was about to leave to continue leveling up, Chen Mo suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He noticed that this Slime King’s color was different from what he usually saw, and its temperament seemed more docile.

Was it an illusion?

No! Chen Mo was very confident in his observation skills. This Slime King was slightly different from the ones he had seen before.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Mo drank a bottle of Slime Venom.

“Roar!”

In the distance, the Slime King suddenly let out a furious roar. Its body swelled, its emerald green color deepened, and it charged at Chen Mo with a fierce look in its eyes.

“Its Aggro range increased, its body grew larger, and its Attributes must have risen quite a bit too, but… it didn’t mutate!”

Chen Mo was surprised. He had only wanted to test it out, but it turned out to be true!

This Slime King… must have been killed once before. It was a newly respawned Slime King!

It hadn’t killed many players yet, so its color wasn’t as deep as those that had killed many players, and its temperament was much more docile.

Faced with Slime Venom, it did not mutate. Because of this, Chen Mo had two different guesses.

First, a BOSS would only mutate once within a certain period. Even if the mutation conditions were met, after being killed, it would only mutate again after some time had passed. BOSS mutation was like players using skills; it had a Cooldown Time.

Second, the BOSS had not actually met the mutation conditions yet. Slime Venom was only one of the conditions for BOSS mutation. There was another condition that the newly respawned BOSS did not have, but the old BOSS did. That was what he had guessed before: the BOSS needed to kill a certain number of players to mutate.

The BOSS not mutating was very likely due to one of these two reasons, or even both.

Regardless, since the Slime King in front of him did not mutate, he could not kill it.

Fortunately, he had come to check first. If he had reached Level 10 before coming, he would have wasted another day. Now, by checking first, he only wasted a little over an hour in Goblin Valley.

Without another word, Chen Mo committed suicide to start over again. If he started over now, he could still reach Level 10 by evening.

After leaving Goblin Valley, Chen Mo naturally checked again to see if the BOSS was alive.

The Slime King in this Starter Village was still there, and its color was very deep, indicating it had not been killed by anyone.

Chen Mo immediately returned and quickly began leveling up.

Those two teams were different from him; they didn’t need to wait until night to kill the Slime King. He had to hurry.

But Chen Mo wasn’t anxious. No matter how fast he leveled up, he still had to wait until nightfall to kill the Mutant Slime King. Otherwise, if his method for killing the Mutant Slime King was leaked, it wouldn’t just be about two more competing teams appearing. At that point, it would be difficult to even find another Slime King.

Chen Mo’s luck wasn’t that bad. Neither of the two teams suddenly showed up to kill the Slime King while he was leveling up. After reaching Level 10, Chen Mo hired players to dig a pit. It didn’t take long before he killed the Mutant Slime King again.

“Another Skill Mutation Scroll… Haha, and a piece of Purple Equipment too!”

The emergence of competitors had cost him an extra day, but Chen Mo felt his luck might be turning around. Killing the Mutant Slime King not only dropped a Skill Mutation Scroll but also a third piece of Purple Equipment armor!

Mercury Bracers

Description: Metal bracers made from mercury, with special effects to resist toxins.

Equipment Quality: Purple

Restriction: Can be equipped at Level 10 or above.

Attributes:

Base Physical Attack Power +12

Base Magic Attack Power +15

Physical Defense +20

Magic Defense +25

Strength +15

Intelligence +15

Additional Effect: Toxin Protection

Toxin Protection: Passive effect. Players equipped with this item receive 10% less Toxin Damage and have a 10% chance to be immune to Toxin Damage received.

It was a Purple Quality bracer armor!

Bracer armor was a very special piece among the five armor slots. It was the only slot that increased both base Physical and base Magic Attack Power. However, correspondingly, the defensive effects of bracer armor were somewhat weaker compared to other slots.

But compared to defense, players preferred to pursue attack. Therefore, the price of bracer armor, along with shoes, was particularly popular among the five armor slots, and also somewhat higher.

With one more piece of Purple Equipment, Chen Mo was in a good mood. After tidying up, he committed suicide to start over again.

About half an hour after Chen Mo’s suicide, a team of well-equipped players arrived at the Slime King’s respawn location.