Chapter 5: First Ability

"Ugh!"

Liu Ye could hear Black Rose's grunt from far away but he didn't turn around to spare her a look. She didn't deserve his attention after trying to mess with him for no reason.

When Liu Ye reached the first spawn of monsters in the nearby grasslands, only then did he look back to check if she was following him. Just as he thought, Black Rose was already gone, probably rushing to complete her stolen quest.

The whole map was his to farm yet he didn't have much time. The first batch of players would soon appear so he had to hurry.

[Wisp - Lvl. 1]

[HP: 10/10]

Tens of floating blue-colored balls roamed all around the open grassland. They left a blue mist behind them like a trail and when he approached, they turned blood red before speeding up towards him.

It was time to put his Grinding Mage to the test.

Even though Liu Ye didn't even pick his ability yet, he showed no fear in his eyes while sprinting right past the Wisps. They chased after him while buzzing angrily but he was much faster than them.

He opened his Elemental Tree while luring one Wisp after another, but his eyes quickly widened at the screen. It looked like a standard skill tree but the sheer number of locked abilities showed him how advanced the game was.

The total count was in hundreds!

The Elemental Tree grew in four main directions with tens of abilities scattered in between them. Liu Ye couldn't even see their descriptions as his level was too low. He could only inspect the three starter Abilities of each basic Element.

[Fire Blast] [Locked]

[Description: Creates a small blast of flames from the hands or feet.]

[Cost: 1 Elemental Point]

[Requirements: Lvl. 1, Firebending]

Liu Ye tapped a random locked Ability and as he guessed, he couldn't really get much information about either the damage or the usage cost. He wasn't worried about it though.

All the information he might require would be available on the online forums by the time he needs it.

[Ice Projectile]

[Description: Creates single-target ice projectile.]

[Cost: 1 Elemental Point]

[Requirements: Lvl. 1, Waterbending]

———

[Small Water Whip]

[Description: Creates a small whip of water with an area of effect damage.]

[Cost: 1 Elemental Point]

[Requirements: Lvl. 1, Waterbending]

———

[Water Boxing]

[Description: Creates a water gauntlet around your fist.]

[Cost: 1 Elemental Point]

[Requirements: Lvl. 1, Waterbending]

"Nice..." Liu Ye muttered under his breath, his gaze glued to one of the Abilities. He couldn't help but smirk when he spotted his favorite words.

Area of effect damage!

There was nothing better than AoE damage when it came to grinding, especially when in connection with his foolproof farming strategy.

[Ding! You unlocked a Small Water Whip.]

Liu Ye was about to open his new Ability when he suddenly lost focus, his eyesight turning blurry. Out of nowhere, new knowledge appeared in his brain. He could sense the presence of water in the nearby stream, and the structure of the water whip was visualized in his mind.

[Small Water Whip]

[Description: Creates a small whip of water with an area of effect damage. The player can control it to continuously lash at the opponent from a short distance.]

[Cost: 1 MP per second]

[Damage: 5 + 20% Elemental Power]

The new ability was just as he imagined it to be, but choosing an ability in the middle of a battle wasn't necessarily smart.

-2

-2

-2

Three Wisps smashed their bodies against his back while he was distracted, dealing a small chunk of damage with every hit. Liu Ye was surprised he actually felt the hits directly as if someone hit him with an open palm. Thankfully, with his high HP, his momentary lapse of judgment wasn't fatal for his character.

Liu Ye kept his distance as he equipped his waterskin. The feeling of sensing the water inside of it was mesmerizing. With just his thought, the water poured out, turning into the form of a small whip. When it reached the length of two arms, he suddenly felt discomfort inside his head, signaling his limits. Having only unlocked his first ability, he could only control a limited amount of water.

-1 MP

-1 MP

"What?" Liu Ye blinked, startled at the sight of the small numbers blinking above his whip. This ability was already draining his Mana before he even dealt any damage!

He didn't stall anymore and whipped his arm in a slashing motion, causing the water whip to copy his motion.

-10

-10

-10

It wasn't a perfect strike as Liu Ye simply slammed the whip on the Wisps but the damage was still dealt.

[Ding! You killed the Wisp. You received 1 Experience and 5 bronze.]

[Ding! You killed the Wisp. You received 1 Experience and 5 bronze.]

[Ding! You killed the Wisp. You received 1 Experience and 5 bronze.]

Three Wisps closest to him popped like balloons, dying instantly. He didn't even glance at the rewards as he whipped at the rest, killing all ten with just three swings.

"Nice," Liu Ye muttered, shifting his gaze to another spawn of Wisps. It seemed like farming in this game would be an enjoyable experience.

To make the best use of his whip, he needed more monsters. Ten wasn't enough to whet his appetite.

10...

25...

50...

Liu Ye started luring Wisps from everywhere, almost clearing the whole beginner-friendly area. Just the grasslands outside the gate had almost fifty Level 1 Wisps and he could still see more monsters in the distance. The collection of Wisps had been closely crowding behind him, even bumping together, when Liu Ye realized something was wrong with the setup.

How come he wasn't losing the monsters' aggressions?

The Wisps had been led quite a distance from their initial spawn location yet they refused to give up, stubbornly trailing after him. After a while, Liu Ye figured there must be no limit. As long as he stayed close and didn't run away, he wouldn't lose their aggro.

If the game was giving him such freebies, he would be a saint to ignore it.

75...

100...

After luring more than a hundred, Liu Ye stopped counting.

[Slime - Lvl. 1]

[HP: 15/15]

———

[Green Snake - Lvl. 2]

[HP: 30/30]

———

[Rat - Lvl. 2]

[HP: 25/25]

Different kinds of monsters joined the group and all of them moved with similar speed, allowing him to empty the whole Level 1 and Level 2 zones of anything that was moving.

Liu Ye almost felt bad for the new players entering the game. It had been about ten minutes since he focused solely on luring the monsters, gathering so many they didn't even fit in his minimap. Naturally, they also wouldn't respawn until he killed them all, leaving other players with nothing to farm.

"Alright, time to clean-up," Liu Ye announced to the rounded-up monsters, his eager gaze signaling the start of his harvest.

———

While Liu Ye was busy swinging his water whip left and right, the first batch of players began to appear in the Newbie Village. One could say, they weren't exactly happy.

"Damn, what is with this game? First, there was that wolf that killed me on the spot, and now this. Where are all the monsters? Are we supposed to sightsee or eat the grass?"

A crowd of confused players spread out in search of the monsters, but aside from the initial ten Wisps right outside the village gate, they couldn't find anything.

"We walked so far yet there is still no sign of any monsters. Did someone clear all the camps already? There is no way the spawn rate would be so lon—"

Before one of the players could finish, he heard hissing behind him. A green snake wriggled its way to sneak attack him.

"Hey! I found—" he cried out to his friends who had roamed far from him, but he was cut short when he realized that the hissing intensified. In a matter of seconds, tens of snakes and rats spawned in his surroundings, instantly attacking him from all directions.

"Aaaaaa!"

His friends only heard a scream before his body turned into white pixels and vanished. Together with him, tens of other players died in a similar way, heralding a phenomenon that wouldn't be just a one-time occurrence.