Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Absurd—It Comprehended “Multi-Burst Fireball” on Its Own?
On the second floor, in the bedroom.
Lin Mo had no idea that downstairs, his parents were already preparing for their grand plan to “raise a new character.”
He locked the door behind him, threw himself heavily onto the soft bed, and immediately opened his class panel.
On the panel, the icon for 【Fireball】 was still gray.
“It has already been half an hour, and it still is not back?”
Just then, a series of messages popped up on the panel.
【Your skill “Fireball” has completed a long journey and arrived at the southern outskirts of Jianghai City—the “Verdant Grasslands” (Lv.1-Lv.3).】
【Enemy encountered! A “Sharpfang Rabbit” (Lv.1) has been spotted ahead, currently grazing.】
【“Fireball” mocked the Sharpfang Rabbit: That is it? Something like this counts as a monster? Are you here to make me laugh?】
【“Fireball” struck in fury and landed a precise hit on the Sharpfang Rabbit’s front teeth!】
【Kill successful! EXP +5, Skill Proficiency +1.】
【“Fireball” feels deeply dissatisfied! It believes the EXP provided by such a low-level monster is simply an insult to its noble status!】
【It is now accelerating its search for stronger opponents! It is roaring: I want to fight ten at once!】
As Lin Mo read the combat log line by line, he fell into deep thought.
First of all, the most important point was that the EXP had genuinely been fed back to him.
That meant that although 【Fireball】 looked as if it had run away from home, it still belonged to his own skill system.
“In other words...”
Lin Mo stroked his chin.
“My cheat ability has finally arrived?”
“Eighteen years. I waited eighteen years, and now my cheat ability has finally arrived?!”
Personified skills.
Lin Mo might have been lazy, but he was not stupid.
As a veteran bookworm from his previous life, he instantly realized just how terrifying the value of this cheat was.
First, there was fully automatic cultivation.
When other people leveled up, they had to risk their lives in the wilderness, fighting monsters head-on.
This world might have been highly gamified, but a person only had one life. If you died, you died. There was no such thing as a resurrection coin.
But what about him?
He could sit at home while EXP fell from the sky.
As long as his skills were hardworking enough, then even if he lay in bed sleeping, both his level and his skill proficiency would keep rising nonstop.
Second—and this was the most outrageous part of all—absolute micro-control.
Even among mages of the same level, the difference in actual combat strength could be worlds apart.
In the middle of an intense battle, predicting movement and controlling the flight path of a skill required extremely high combat talent and real battle experience.
But now?
His skills had minds of their own!
They could aim by themselves, predict by themselves, and might even understand how to kill monsters better than Lin Mo, their master!
“This is not a cheat anymore. This is basically a fully automated idle-grinding hack...”
Lin Mo leaned back contentedly and propped the pillow a little higher.
“Not bad, not bad. Its temper may be awful, but seeing how hardworking it is, I will forgive it for leaving without a word.”
“And in this world, using skills consumes your own mental energy. But when that little fireball is outside grinding, it does not seem to be consuming any of my mental energy at all?”
“Could that be another benefit of skill personification?”
【Ding! Your skill “Fireball” has been surrounded by a “Prairie Gray Wolf Pack” (Lv.1)!】
【Number: 15!】
“Hm? Fifteen level-one monsters?”
Lin Mo’s heart skipped a beat.
After all, these might have been beginner monsters, but for a level-one class holder, that was still far too dangerous.
“Hey, hey, do not go getting yourself killed! If you cannot beat them, then run!”
Lin Mo shouted instinctively.
Even though he had no idea whether a skill could actually die.
But the system messages that followed left him completely dumbfounded.
【Faced with the encirclement, “Little Fireball” not only felt no fear, it became extremely excited instead!】
【It believes picking them off one by one is a waste of time and seriously drags down leveling efficiency!】
【In its fury, it begins to think, to calculate, and to attempt a reorganization of fire-element patterns!】
【“Little Fireball” has erupted! It has comprehended the secret of fire-element fission!】
【Congratulations! Because your skill’s comprehension is heaven-defying, it has independently deduced and evolved an advanced skill—Multi-Burst Fireball (Lv.1)!】
【Multi-Burst Fireball: Instantly splits into 10-15 fireballs for saturation bombardment, and upon impact, triggers a secondary explosive burst of damage! Cooldown: 15 seconds】
【BOOM——!!!】
【Gray Prairie Wolves x15 killed! EXP +75! Skill Proficiency greatly increased!】
【“Little Fireball” looked at the wolf corpses all over the ground and blew out a disdainful smoke ring: A pack of trash like you thought you could stop my evolution?】
“Holy shit?!”
Lin Mo shot up from the bed.
At that moment, a brand-new skill had appeared in his skill bar: Multi-Burst Fireball.
“That works too?!”
Lin Mo might have been a poor student, but he still possessed basic knowledge about classes.
In this world, learning skills was not nearly so simple.
Skills were divided into six ranks: 【Basic】, 【Beginner】, 【Intermediate】, 【Advanced】, 【Legendary】, and 【Forbidden Spell】.
Basic skills like the fire-type 【Little Fireball】 and the water-type 【Water Arrow】 could be learned by any mage.
But once it came to 【Beginner】-rank skills, things were no longer that simple. It was not as if one could casually read a skill book and comprehend them.
Even though 【Multi-Burst Fireball】 was only a Beginner-rank skill, it involved the techniques of “element splitting” and “secondary detonation.”
Even a 【Blaze Mage】 specializing in fire-type skills would not necessarily succeed in comprehending it in one attempt.
Not to mention a blank-slate mage like him.
But now?
He had class-awakened less than half a day ago. He had not even seen the shadow of a single monster, let alone the cover of a skill book. Yet simply because his skill thought killing monsters was too slow, it had gone ahead and comprehended an upgraded skill by itself?
This was completely unheard of...
Lin Mo stared blankly at the newly appeared skill icon.
“Heaven-defying... this is too heaven-defying.”
“So this is the world of the truly overachieving?”
“Other people train their skills. My skills are training me.”
Lin Mo shook his head slightly, and a thought surfaced in his mind.
If things kept developing at this rate...
Then once he reached level ten and could learn a second basic skill, what if he learned 【Water Arrow】? Would it also think its power was too weak and push itself all the way into something like 【Tsunami Art】?
If he learned 【Earth Shield】, would it think it was not hard enough and push itself into 【Absolute Defense】?
If every skill across every element were this overachieving...
Then would his so-called “blank-slate mage” not eventually become an all-element forbidden-spell archmage?
“Hiss—”
Lin Mo sucked in a sharp breath.
This was the pace of becoming a god while lying down!
“Judging from this, in three days, at the Class Holder Grand Exam, is my blank-slate mage actually going to astonish everyone?”
Lin Mo could not help feeling a little excited.
He might have been lazy, but if he could get an excellent result while lying down and earn his parents a little pride, that would not have been bad at all.
【Ding! “Fireball” thinks the monsters in the Verdant Grasslands are too weak and is now heading to the higher-level zone, the “Gloomwood” (Lv.3-Lv.5).】
【Message left behind: Go to sleep. Stop making a fuss and interrupting my work!】
Looking at that domineering message, Lin Mo finally relaxed completely.
Fine, then.
Since his skill was already working this hard, how could he possibly hold it back?
At a time like this, the greatest support he could offer was to stop causing trouble.
“In order to cooperate with my skill’s great leveling enterprise, I have decided to—”
Lin Mo yawned and adjusted himself into the most comfortable position possible.
“Sleep!”
“When heaven and earth are vast, sleep still comes first.”
“Hey, you there... Little Fire, work hard. If you have not reached level three by tomorrow morning, I am going to laugh at you.”
Two minutes later, the sound of even breathing filled the luxurious bedroom.