Chapter 68

Shadow City
Chen Mo's mutated Trap Mastery attributes were boosted but he couldn't tell if Plunder had any added attributes. The description had changed though.
The normal Plunder stated "monster" but in the mutated Plunder, it was "enemy" - did this mean Plunder worked on players too?
If this was true, he really made the right choice to learn Plunder.
Success rate also changed from "small chance" and "very small chance" to "some chance" and "small chance". There was an increase in the success rate too.
Chen Mo didn't know what the original success rate was so he'd have to see how his luck went.
"Itsy Bitsy, how many options do you have for skills?" Chen Mo asked Itsy Bitsy Fighter.
He was already familiar with the three hunter Natural Skills and Concealment seemed complicated to use, so he had quickly eliminated it and did not spend much time deciding.
"Five," Itsy Bitsy Fighter replied gloomily. It looked like she had a hard time deciding.
"What did you get other than the three fighter Natural Skills?" Chen Mo asked curiously.
Fighters had three basic Natural Skills too - Double Sword Mastery, Shield Control and Blood Vigour.
Fighters who chose Double Sword Mastery could equip two main weapons and the attack power would be the average of the two weapons, but both weapons' special effects would work simultaneously. If skills of both weapons were used at the same time, attack power would be increased by 20%, allowing fighters to have tremendous damage output. However, fighters with two main weapons would have reduced attack speed due to having two weapons to draw. The advantages and disadvantages were clear.
Many fighter players on the forums chose this build for the enviously high damage output. They also believed that they could overcome the slow attack speed if they managed to get equipment which increased attack speed, cancelling out the disadvantage.
Shield Control was for players going for the sword-and-shield build, where the fighter could attack and defend. Attack power and defence were not particularly strong but defence and HP were much higher than the other two builds. The fighter can also counterattack while on defence so this suited players who were not used to fighting on the frontlines. It was a more balanced build.
For Blood Vigour, the less HP a fighter had, the stronger they became. People on the forums called those who chose this build Berserkers. The Berserker skills were unique – all became more powerful the less HP the player had, making it quite an extreme build. When a fighter's HP's high, the damage output would be average, or lower than the sword-and-shield builds. When a fighter has low HP, the damage output could be even greater than a dual-weapon holder's. A fighter who chose this build needed excellent awareness and mobility or he would be killed by the enemy before he could react when his HP dropped to critical levels.
"Chain Kill and Battle Spirit," replied Itsy Bitsy Fighter.
Chain Kill: Every monster death while chain-killing temporarily increases player's attributes. More monster kills increase attributes more.
Battle Spirit: Monster's soul can temporarily attach to your character after you kill it, adding its attributes to yours. Attributes added are directly proportional to monster's original attributes.
Woah! Both were really strong Natural Skills! It added directly to the attributes no matter which you chose - the only difference was in how the attributes were gained.
Chain Kill, in particular, could make a strong player even stronger!
However… This Natural Skill would not be of much use to Itsy Bitsy Fighter.
The Level 11 to Level 13 monsters surrounding the three main cities were simple enough to deal with but Level 14 and up had a sudden spike in strength!
Players who had fought with monsters Level 14 and up all agreed that the beginner village was a paradise compared to what they experienced!
Monsters Level 14 and up were powerful and difficult to kill.
An inexperienced player like Itsy Bitsy Fighter would probably not be able to use Chain Kill to the fullest. In Chen Mo's opinion, Battle Spirit was a better fit for her.
But Itsy Bitsy Fighter did not ask him for help and thought hard on her own. Chen Mo did not volunteer his opinion either.
They had not interacted much but Chen Mo more or less understood Itsy Bitsy Fighter's character. If she did not understand something she would definitely ask. Since she didn't, that meant she had her own way of thinking it through and Chen Mo was not about to interrupt.
After a while, Itsy Bitsy Fighter finally let out a big breath. She had chosen her Natural Skills.
"Big Brother Silence, I've reached my online limit. I think I'll get logged off by the system right away when we leave this map. Which city are you going to? I'll go too!" Itsy Bitsy Fighter looked at Chen Mo and asked earnestly.
They had spent quite some time in the map - about three hours. However, the Hell Trial map was special and a player would not be logged out of the game even if he went over the daily online limit.
"Shadow City." Chen Mo was glad Itsy Bitsy Fighter chose to go with him. He did not know many people in-game and it was nice to have someone accompany him while grinding levels. If he needed help he would have someone he could trust… though he wasn't sure if inexperienced Itsy Bitsy Fighter could be relied on for help.
The two of them finished choosing their Natural Skills and the system awarded them an extra skill but there were no additional rewards. A teleport interface appeared in front of them, prompting them to pick a city they would like to be teleported to.
"The options available are the same as what Nightmare Level players got." Chen Mo was a little disappointed when he saw the options.
Other than the three main cities, they only had six other smaller cities to choose from.
But Chen Mo knew that even if the system let him teleport to a higher-tier city, he could only use the system-given Main City Teleportation Scroll and get teleported back to one of the three main cities.
Players who passed Nightmare Level could choose from the six additional cities and receive a Main City Teleportation Scroll which allowed them to teleport to one of the three main cities.
It looked like they had options but those who chose to go to the smaller cities mostly used their scrolls to teleport back to one of the main cities in the end.
Other than the Level 11 to 13 monsters around the main cities, the monsters around the other cities were too powerful. Even the Level 11 monsters were too much to handle for regular players.
There wouldn't be anyone to kill-steal you but the monsters were too powerful and if you were not powerful enough it would be difficult to level up, let alone have a decent levelling up speed.
System prompt: You teleported to main city "Shadow City"!
System prompt: You gained one "Main City Teleportation Scroll".
Main City Teleportation Scroll: Teleport to the nearest human main city. Unusable if distance is too great from main city.
Chen Mo selected Shadow City and the scenery before his eyes changed. He appeared in the marketplace of an ancient city.
This was Shadow City's revival point. Players who teleport to Shadow City appear here.
A white light flashed in his surroundings from time to time. Chen Mo did not see Itsy Bitsy Fighter but assumed she must have been logged off by the system.
Chen Mo looked at his quest interface and the quest "Impossible (Helper)" was complete. He couldn't receive his reward yet, though. As an assistant, he would only be able to receive his reward after the main quest holder had received hers.
It was his first time in Shadow City but Chen Mo was in no hurry to get out of the city. There were many players in the city hawking their wares or looking for people to join their parties. The city was full of hustle and bustle.
However, if it weren't for the many players running around, Shadow City could not be said to be a prosperous one.
This was an ancient city, falling apart. It was large, true, but you could see that it was in a state of decline.
The other two main cities, East Sea City and Storm City, were in similar states of decline.
The players who had called the beginner village a paradise were not lying.
This was how it was in the three main human cities. In this game, humans faced imminent danger. Monsters outside the cities were too strong!
Other than the Level 11 to 13 monsters, those Level 14 and above were much too strong. Players who could take monsters on one-on-one were lauded as pros by everyone!