Chapter 5: A New Discovery
Chapter 5: A New Discovery
Chen Mo thought the Hunter class was quite a good profession for a solo player.
But this class had one big weakness: it lacked good anti-air capabilities.
Traps were laid on the ground, so they were completely useless against flying monsters or enemies.
Although Hunters could use a Hand Crossbow and had a contract monster as a Pet, unless the crossbow or Pet was at the level of a Divine Artifact or divine beast, the Hunter’s damage would drop significantly without trap support.
In the early stages, Hunters mainly had two branches: one focused on the Crossbow Bolt, and the other on the contract beast. Regardless of the main focus, traps were a skill Hunters had to master. For this reason, Hunters could even equip off-hand weapons that other classes couldn’t. The Hunter’s off-hand weapon was a glove-type weapon. After equipping it, the glove only affected trap skills.
If Hunters could stand and set traps in the air, they would gain anti-air ability. Though still not strong, it would be much better than ground traps.
Could it work?
Chen Mo suppressed his slight excitement, took a deep breath, stood on the ground, stared at the air ahead, and focused his palm.
Whoosh!
Chen Mo’s hand suddenly swept through the air. The skill action, already quite practiced, was completed smoothly in the air before him.
A Trap suddenly appeared in the air!
It worked!
Even though Chen Mo was usually calm, he couldn’t help feeling a bit excited now.
He believed that even if others soon discovered the Free Skill System and could set traps freely on the ground like him, few would think of setting traps in the air.
If he hadn’t suddenly had a flash of inspiration, he wouldn’t have come up with this idea.
But Chen Mo quickly noticed that traps set in the air seemed unstable. They only stayed for two or three seconds before suddenly falling to the ground and exploding upon impact.
“Since it didn’t fall immediately, it means the trap can stay in the air. Why did it fall… Hmm, it must be related to skill completion!”
In an instant, Chen Mo thought of skill completion.
The trap needed to stay in the air for at least five seconds to be useful in combat. Otherwise, it couldn’t threaten enemies even a little farther away. But with more practice and smoother movements, this wouldn’t be a problem.
If setting traps in the air was possible, what about setting traps while moving?
Chen Mo’s mind became fully active, and ideas kept popping up.
When Hunters set traps, they had to stand still. If a monster got close and attacked during setup, the skill would be interrupted. This greatly reduced the Hunter’s combat ability in close fights.
But if they could set traps while moving, this weakness would no longer exist!
Could it work?
Chen Mo immediately tried it out.
“No! While moving, the trap-setting actions get completely scattered. It’s impossible to succeed!”
After just one attempt, Chen Mo knew that setting traps in the air while moving was simply not feasible.
Using the Free Skill System to set traps heavily relied on precise and complete actions. When a Player moved, the actions were scattered across different spatial positions, making success impossible. During movement, Chen Mo’s palm didn’t even glow, clearly showing he wasn’t using the skill.
“But what if I set a trap on a carrier, like a wooden board, while moving?”
Chen Mo’s thinking was extremely sharp now. When one method failed, he quickly thought of another.
It might very well work!
He hadn’t tried it yet, but his intuition told him this idea had a high chance of success.
Chen Mo couldn’t find a wooden board in the Valley, so he used a fairly flat stone instead.
Move!
Chen Mo controlled his character to move, and while moving, his right hand fingers swiftly drew trap-setting movements on the stone held in his left hand.
Smooth and fluid! Done in one go!
With his mind highly active, Chen Mo’s focus was extremely sharp. His trap-setting actions were more accurate and faster than ever before.
As his hand completed the motions, a Trap suddenly appeared on the stone in his hand!
It worked!
And the skill completion was quite high!
With a thought, Chen Mo swung his arm hard and threw the stone with the trap about seven meters away!
Boom!
The trap hit the ground and exploded!
“Haha, a throwable trap bomb!”
Chen Mo felt great. He had only felt this way when he first learned hacking knowledge and made a huge breakthrough. For a moment, it felt like he had returned to the past.
“No, no. I’m here to find Game bugs, not to play the Game.”
Feeling too excited, Chen Mo quickly took deep breaths to calm down.
After calming down, Chen Mo walked back into the Cave behind him.
His goal remained the same: to lure the White Goblins out of the Cave and kill them in groups.
Even with the Free Skill System, allowing him to set traps in the middle of the passage, this task would still rely on luck.
But now, not only had he unlocked the Free Skill System, but he also knew he could set traps in the air and even set traps while moving. The difficulty of luring and killing the White Goblins had become very, very small.
Originally, he could only set three traps inside the Cave and had no time to set extra traps while running. But now, he could set two additional traps while running out of the Cave.
With five traps in total, if just two triggered the Crippling Effect, he could escape the Cave safely. If three triggered it, he could definitely kill the two White Goblins chasing him!
While his condition was good, Chen Mo set three traps with decent completion in suitable spots in the Cave passage. Then he went to the Cave’s end to wait for the right moment.
Even though Chen Mo had mastered moving while setting traps, timing was still crucial. He needed to lure both White Goblins to chase him at the same time. If they came one after the other, the traps in the middle couldn’t hit both at once.
Originally, to have a better chance of escaping the Cave, Chen Mo not only had to lure both White Goblins but also wait until they were farther from the Cave’s end before attacking. But now, that wasn’t necessary.
Soon, both White Goblins were in the same spot. Chen Mo immediately shot a Crossbow Bolt at them.
Shoop!
The short bolt hit one White Goblin accurately. These two Hatred-linked White Goblins turned their heads and fiercely chased Chen Mo.
Chen Mo quickly retreated.
Boom!
Soon, the two White Goblins stepped on the first trap, and it exploded.
Chen Mo looked over and saw both White Goblins take over twenty Damage.
The White Goblins’ speed remained the same; the Crippling Effect didn’t trigger.
But Chen Mo wasn’t worried at all.
His biggest concern was that the traps set in the middle of the passage wouldn’t Damage both White Goblins. After all, according to the skill, the Basic Trap Technique was a single-target Damage skill, but he was using it as an area Damage skill.
In traditional games, it would be impossible for a single-target skill to cause area Damage.
But in Genesis, it was possible!
As long as the Basic Trap Technique could Damage both chasing White Goblins, it was only a matter of time before he lured them out and killed them. So, there was no need to rush.
At most, only three Basic Traps could exist at once. After the first trap exploded, Chen Mo immediately took a stone from his backpack. While running, he quickly set a trap on the stone.
In just two seconds, a trap appeared on the stone. With his full concentration, the completion was quite good—at least 70% or more!
The distance between Chen Mo and the two White Goblins was originally about twelve meters. Since the first trap didn’t trigger the Crippling Effect, the distance was now less than seven meters.
So, as soon as the trap was ready, Chen Mo threw the stone with the trap at the two White Goblins.
Boom!
The stone landed precisely at the Goblins’ feet and exploded with a bang.
The two White Goblins’ steps suddenly slowed!
The trap’s Crippling Effect had triggered!
“Good!” Chen Mo knew things were looking up. With three traps left, there was a good chance the Crippling Effect would trigger again.
After about three seconds of chasing, the White Goblins reached the second pre-set trap location.
Unaware of the trap waiting for them, the two White Goblins stepped right on it.
The trap exploded, but since the previous Crippling Effect duration hadn’t ended, Chen Mo had to wait to see if this one triggered the effect.
After moving two more meters, the White Goblins’ speed didn’t increase. Chen Mo knew the Crippling Effect had triggered again! He had a chance to escape the Cave!
The distance between the White Goblins and Chen Mo remained about seven meters as they reached the third pre-set trap.
The trap exploded. The two White Goblins took two steps, then suddenly sped up.
The Crippling Effect didn’t trigger.
But this was expected, so Chen Mo’s emotions didn’t fluctuate at all.
The Basic Trap Technique had only a 10% chance to trigger the Crippling Effect. Triggering it twice in a row was already lucky. If it triggered three times in a row, that would be just too unscientific.
The Goblins sped up and quickly closed the distance to Chen Mo to about four meters.
But by then, the Basic Trap Technique’s cooldown had ended. Chen Mo quickly took out another stone and began setting a trap.
Setting traps while moving was harder than setting them while standing still, so it naturally took more time.
Standing still, it took Chen Mo about one and a half seconds to set a trap. While moving, it took about two seconds.
In those two seconds, the White Goblins chased two meters closer, reducing the distance to less than two meters.