Shen Lu: I've Mutated into Multiple Game-Breaking Abilities

Chapter 42: The Crowd on the Gale Grasslands

“What?” Chen Xiaoyi had just finished a battle and hadn’t heard what his older brother, Chen Dajia, had said, so he turned around and asked. Seeing this, Chen Dajia pointed toward the canyon entrance a hundred meters ahead and asked in confusion, “Don’t you think there’s some kind of movement coming from inside the canyon?” The Gale Grasslands were a vast expanse of grassland where strong winds blew back and forth constantly. The grass on the ground grew quite tall, reaching nearly to the players’ knees. When the wind blew, the bending grass tickled everyone’s calves like soft feathers. It was summer, and almost everyone was wearing shorts. As the grass tickled him, Chen Xiaoyi felt a tingling sensation, and goosebumps broke out on his skin. While watching his older brother, he bent over and ran his hand along his calf, smoothing out the goosebumps. “Hm?” Hearing his older brother say this, Chen Xiaoyi turned his head toward the entrance to the canyon a hundred meters away. The second stage was Breeze Canyon, an area sandwiched between two kilometer-long ridges, with an average width of two hundred meters. The entrance was extremely narrow, only fifteen meters wide. Now. Countless deep-green vines, each bearing sharp thorns, were densely intertwined there, forming a thirty-meter-high wall of vines that blocked the path ahead. These vines were created by the Boss of this stage, the Vine Tree Monster. Until it is defeated, this vine possesses infinite regenerative power. Even if a ten-meter hole were burned into it with a massive fireball, it would heal in an instant. Of course. There are ways to force your way through, but for the vast majority of people, there’s simply no need. Chen Xiaoyi stared intently at the wall of vines, studying it closely for a moment. After standing there motionless for two or three seconds, he furrowed his brow and said to his older brother, “I don’t think so. Isn’t it pretty quiet in there?” “Huh? Really? But I thought I just heard a loud, fierce wind coming from inside... Haha, maybe I heard wrong.” Chen Dajia scratched the back of his head and laughed it off: “I thought someone was fighting the Boss of the second stage.” “That’s definitely impossible.” Chen Xiaoyi immediately dismissed the idea. Shaking his head and spreading his hands, he said, “If you don’t believe me, listen carefully again—there’s absolutely no sound right now.” “If someone were really fighting, it wouldn’t just be noisy for a moment.” “Right, right.” The two didn’t dwell on the topic but quickly shifted into combat mode, proceeding to take down the nearby Vine Tree Spirits. These were monsters from the Swiftwind Grasslands. Their true form was a wooden stake capable of moving by jumping, with two long vines covered in sharp spikes extending from it—these served as both their “hands” and their weapons. When swung, the vines cut through the air with a “whoosh, whoosh” sound, as if lashing at the air—the sound alone was enough to strike fear into anyone’s heart. However, as early as the very first month after Shen Lu first appeared, someone had discovered the weakness of the Vine Sprites and the Boss, the Vine Monster Tree. That weakness was fire! Fire-element skills could deal significantly more damage to them. Not only that, but since this is a grassland, some players even came up with a strategy to set the grassland ablaze to eliminate all the monsters in this second stage. After testing, they found this method to be highly effective. The biggest weakness of the first-stage Boss, the Vine Monster Tree, is that it cannot move. Although it can simultaneously wield dozens or even hundreds of spiked vines as weapons, it is essentially a massive, immobile tree. As long as players attack it from outside its attack range, killing it is only a matter of time. And flames spreading across the grass are undoubtedly the optimal solution against it. The reason players in Zone 66 haven’t adopted this method is that, while it’s effective, the experience points from monsters killed by the fire are split equally among all those who set it ablaze. For individual players who consider themselves skilled, this is a relatively poor deal. And almost all players consider themselves quite skilled...... 2:25 a. m. After nearly half an hour of continuous fireball attacks from hundreds of players, the first-stage Boss—the Vine Monster Tree—finally fell. Although defeating a boss monster yields 100 times the usual experience, after it’s split evenly, each person only gets a mere few points. After the Vine Monster Tree fell, it dropped some skill materials. Everyone present tacitly agreed not to pick them up. Over the course of the past 20 years, various unwritten rules have long since taken shape across the globe. One of these rules is that— Any loot dropped by a Boss defeated through collective effort belongs exclusively to the Global Players’ Alliance. As compensation, each country grants a certain amount of gold coins to all its players in that zone. This is a measure designed to reduce conflict among players. Publicly, of course, countries around the world advocate for players to help one another and work together in unity. “Who’s going to turn in these materials?” “Of course, someone everyone trusts should do it.” Everyone in the group exchanged glances, and eventually, their eyes all settled on the young girl standing alone in the distance, isolated from the crowd of players, her head tilted back as she gazed up at the sky. Perhaps sensing their stares, the girl slowly turned her head. She glanced at the group with a slightly bewildered expression. “Huh?” “Oh.” Luo Yao had been lost in thought; seeing everyone staring at her, she was momentarily dazed. It wasn’t until she noticed the materials on the ground that she suddenly snapped back to reality. “All right, I’ll turn them in.” She nodded and spoke rapidly. She had only just arrived. On her way here, she’d seen from a distance that the Vine Monster Tree had been defeated. She hadn’t received any experience from the Boss kill, and with no other monsters left on the Swiftwind Grasslands, she felt a bit down. Only then did she look up at the sky, wondering what to do next. After accepting the “quest” to turn in the materials, Luo Yao walked briskly to the center and slowly picked up the dropped items. [You have acquired the 4-star skill [Vine Entanglement]] [You have acquired the 5-star skill [Stamina Drain]] [You have acquired the D-rank material [Soul of the Monster Tree]] [You have acquired the E-rank material [Monster Tree Branches and Leaves]] “Everyone, take a good look—there are only these four items.” To make sure everyone could see clearly, she deliberately picked them up one by one. Only after seeing the people around her nod in agreement did she feel reassured enough to put them away. Watching Luo Yao finish collecting the materials, the group realized there was still half an hour left and began chatting among themselves. “We still have half an hour left. What should we do next?” “Go back to the plains outside camp to farm monsters? Or should we keep pushing the main path?” “No way. Starting from the second stage, all the monsters are Level 10 or higher—there’s no way we can just charge through them recklessly.” “Just kidding. Let’s head back.” “... Let’s open up this vine wall a bit first.” The vine wall was thirty meters high and fifteen meters wide; cutting a small opening to peek through wouldn’t be a problem. This had become a habit for many players. After clearing this level, many couldn’t resist their curiosity and wanted to immediately check out the environment and monsters in the next level. Even though they’d already seen these details on forums and other sources. But once they entered the level themselves, that sense of novelty and the urge to explore were still very much alive.