Chapter 21: Suspicious Gathering Skill
Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by SnowPeaches
Chen Mo spent three hours deep inside the Wolf Valley to reach Level 8.
Every time he leveled up, he would assign four attribute points to Strength and one to Dexterity. After reaching Level 8, and the extra +1 to Strength from the Goblin Boots and +10 to Strength from the title "The Corrupted", Chen Mo's Strength was now 63 and his damage range was 66-67. Even a normal attack with his crossbow would deal almost 70 damage to the Level 7 Wild Wolves.
Chen Mo could now kill a Wild Wolf with 800+ HP in less than 20 seconds.
He was able to kill the monsters a lot quicker. After the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf claimed the Wolf Valley, the number of Wild Wolves that would spawn in the Wolf Valley was a lot lower. There were no longer enough Wild Wolves for Chen Mo. He slowly moved toward the areas where there were still monsters around.
Half an hour later, Chen Mo came to a stop.
He found a cave deep inside the Wolf Valley!
He was one of the first Players that came to the Wolf Valley to grind levels yesterday. There were still not many Players in the different instances of the Wolf Valley. The number of monsters was a lot higher too, thus not many Players had ventured deep into the Wolf Valley. Not long after, the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf showed up and killed every Player in the Wolf Valley. Therefore, the cave was undiscovered until now!
-What's inside the cave?-
-A treasure?-
Chen Mo curiously went into the cave.
The monsters inside the cave were still Wild Wolves, but they were no longer Level 7. There were some Level 8 Black Wild Wolves too.
The cave was like a maze. Chen Mo spent more than an hour killing the monsters in the cave. He was very close to reaching Level 9, yet he still had not found any treasure in the cave.
When Chen Mo was about to give up and focus on grinding his levels, he was surprised to see an NPC old man in the dark ahead.
The old man was obviously no ordinary person. He was locked up inside a cage made of iron bars. His hands were not cuffed, but his left ankle was tied with a huge chain. Even if the cage was open, the old man would still be trapped inside it.
The old man's face was expressionless, but his hollow eyes glittered as soon as he saw Chen Mo.
"A Corrupted! You are a Corrupted too?" the old man screamed.
-Corrupted?-
-Isn't that the title he's equipping?-
He never expected the title would come in handy. Wouldn't that mean the game designer had purposely made the game so Players could grind bad reputation with the quest given by Brad?
"I am Mr. Gleeson, are you a Corrupted too?" the old man's name was Gleeson. Chen Mo was in dire of equipment, thus he quickly followed along with the conversation.
"Humph! I'm no Corrupted, I'm a Wicked! A Wicked that is detested by everyone! The truth is, I've done nothing, but they wrongly accused me to be a Wicked and imprisoned me here!" Gleeson yelled furiously.
"Mr. Gleeson, should I free you from this place?" Chen Mo glanced at the prison that Gleeson was in.
However, Gleeson shook his head as his emotions recovered, "It's no use, this prison is too sturdy. You won't be able to break through it. However, if you have some time to spare, I do hope you can collect some wolf meat for me. It's been a while since I last ate meat. Those guys that imprisoned me here would deliver some dried food to me at times so I won't starve to death. I've been eating the same thing for more than ten years. I feel like I'm going to vomit if I keep eating them. Of course, your help won't be in vain. If you can collect ten pieces of wolf meat, I'll give you a Hunting Trap."
Gleeson took out a trap while he was talking.
Low-level Hunting Trap: A sturdy trap useful against monsters of Level 20 and below. If a small monster steps on it, the monster will be trapped for ten seconds. If a big monster steps on it, its lower body will be placed in the Injured state, preventing it from using its abilities. The traps can be recycled. Each Hunting Trap can be used three times. Number of uses left: 3
-It's brilliant!-
Chen Mo's heart skipped a beat when he saw the trap.
With the Hunting Trap, he would have one more way to deal with the Mutated Slime King!
"I'm willing to help, but Mr. Gleeson, how do I collect the wolf meat after killing them?"
Normally, if a Player wanted to gather a monster's corpse, they would have to learn the respective skills from certain side jobs at one of the three main cities after leaving the Rookies Village.
"It's very simple, I can teach you," Gleeson blurted out.
System Notification: Gleeson wants to teach you a gathering skill. Do you accept?
-Accept! Of course, I would accept! It's a chance to learn a gathering skill earlier than everyone else!-
System Notification: You have learned "Suspicious Gathering Skill"!
Suspicious Gathering Skill: A gathering skill of an unknown origin. The skill isn't accepted by the Guild of Side Jobs under normal circumstances.
-F**k! What does this even mean!? Does that mean the game has official and unofficial skills!?-
Chen Mo was surprised. If he did not see it with his own eyes, he would never imagine the game would have such a setting.
"Mr. Gleeson, the gathering skill..." Chen Mo tried to ask for more information.
"What is it? Do you think the gathering skill I taught you isn't good enough?" Gleeson glared at him as if he was about to go enraged.
"No, you've misunderstood me," Chen Mo did not want to fall out with Gleeson before obtaining the Hunting Traps from him.
"Just go and collect the wolf meat if there's nothing else, I can't wait any longer!" Gleeson urged. He was not bothered by Chen Mo's response.
Chen Mo did not waste any time further. He turned around and left.
He soon stumbled into some Wild Wolves. After killing them, he used the Suspicious Gathering Skill that Gleeson taught him on the remains.
Chen Mo was unsure if it was because the Gathering Skill was unofficial. He would acquire nothing from the remains of the Wild Wolves most of the time. He would only obtain a piece of wolf meat from every three Wild Wolves.
Besides, the skill did not have a level or proficiency. It was different than the "Set Basic Trap" and the "Dazing Trap" that he had learned before.
Chen Mo soon collected ten pieces of wolf meat. He returned to Gleeson with the wolf meat.
"HAHAHA, it's meat, it's really meat! Even though it's only wolf meat, it's already a delicacy of the mundane world!" Gleeson threw a Hunting Trap at Chen Mo after receiving the ten pieces of wolf meat from him. He immediately shoved the wolf meat into his mouth and ate them raw. The man clearly had not eaten any meat for some time.
"Mr. Gleeson, do you want more wolf meat?" Chen Mo was thinking of getting more Hunting Traps.
"Of course! I still have quite a few Hunting Traps with me. Bring more wolf meat to me. Ugh, I can't just keep eating them raw. I'll have to make a fire," Gleeson had placed all his attention on the wolf meat. He ignored Chen Mo after responding to his question.
Chen Mo proceeded to hunt for more wolf meat knowing Gleeson had Hunting Traps still.
Half an hour later, Gleeson wore a satisfied look with a bloated stomach.
"Very well, kid, I've given you all my Hunting Traps. I don't have anything else to give you, but if you're grateful toward me, you can continue to collect wolf meat for me. I'll stock them up and take my time eating them in the future. Otherwise, I don't know how long I have to wait before I can eat some meat."
Chen Mo had acquired ten Hunting Traps from Gleeson.
"Alright, I'll come back here later," Chen Mo nodded.
Since there were Level 8 Black Wild Wolves in the cave, he decided to leave after reaching Level 10 here.
Even though these Level 8 Wild Wolves had less exp than Level 10 Slimes, his speed of grinding levels here was not necessarily slower than killing the slimes since there were no Players around here.
"A kind soul you are, I'm glad that I didn't make a mistake this time. I'll be waiting for you here. Don't make me wait too long," Gleeson nodded happily after hearing Chen Mo's response.
However, Chen Mo did not return after almost an hour. Gleeson's expression started to darken.
Two hours later, Chen Mo still did not show up. Gleeson was infuriated.
"Damn it, asshole! They are all the same! They are all liars!" Gleeson yelled.
Another hour was gone soon. Gleeson's expression gradually recovered. He was no longer anticipating the return of the adventurer.
However, Chen Mo suddenly showed up.
"Kid, why do you bother coming back now? I no longer want your meat!" Gleeson said coldly.
"You don't want it?" Chen Mo was curious. -Did the quest have a time limit?-
"I have more than three hundred pieces of them. Are you sure you don't want them?" Chen Mo frowned. If he knew earlier, he would not bother wasting his time to collect the meat. The Gathering Skill that Gleeson taught him did not have any level or proficiency, thus it would not improve no matter how many times he used it.
"More than three hundred pieces?" Gleeson was shocked. -Does that mean he had misunderstood the adventurer?-
"Yeah, do you want them?" Chen Mo nodded.
"Of course I want them! I want them all! HAHA, three hundred pieces, it's going to last for quite a while!" Gleeson burst out laughing.
Chen Mo nodded. He took out the meat and tossed them to Gleeson.
Ten pieces of wolf meat would take up a slot in his inventory. The three hundred pieces had almost taken up all his inventory. Chen Mo cleared his inventory and took his leave.
The amount of experience he needed to reach Level 10 was huge. He was very close to leveling up.
"Kid, wait for a second, I can tell that you're a nice guy. I'll tell you a secret for free! It has something to do with the Three-Headed Fiery Wolf outside!" Gleeson yelled. Chen Mo halted in his track.
-- Gift
received