Night deepened.
Two cold moons hung in the sky, their silver light penetrating the thin poisonous mist, draping this death swamp in a mysterious veil.
For players in the outside world, Newbie Village 9527 had already stirred up a massive storm due to the three server-wide announcements that echoed through the clouds. Countless eyes, countless factions, like sharks smelling blood, were frantically converging on this once unremarkable starting point, attempting to find the "anonymous" player who had created such a miracle.
A storm, sweeping across the entire server, was quietly brewing.
However, Lin Mo, the absolute center of this storm, was completely unaware of everything happening outside.
He stood quietly by the "Corrosive Poison Pool" that exuded a terrifying aura, his face no longer showing the previous fatigue and tension. Instead, it was replaced by a fervent obsession.
His gaze was fixed on his continuously rising experience bar.
['Poison Immunity' effect triggered, you are immune to the damage of 'Highly Toxic Miasma'.]
['Poison Absorption' effect triggered, you absorbed 'Highly Toxic Miasma', Experience +10!]
['Poison Immunity' effect triggered...]
['Poison Absorption' effect triggered, Experience +10!]
Rows of green notifications, like the most beautiful poems, furiously scrolled across his system log.
Just by standing at the edge of this poison pool, enjoying the "massage" from the escaping poisonous mist, he could gain 10 experience points every second!
What an absurd leveling speed!
One must know that a normal player, painstakingly teaming up to kill a level 2 wild wolf, would spend half a minute and ultimately receive only about 20 experience points.
And he, standing here and breathing for twenty seconds, would earn the entire income of another team!
"Is this… the power of a divine artifact?" Lin Mo murmured, his voice trembling with a hint of disbelief.
He slowly raised his hand, looking at the ancient 'Toad's Protection' ring on his index finger, his heart surging with immense ambition.
This was no longer simply "winning at the starting line"; this was directly flying a rocket, leaving everyone else far behind!
"It's still not enough…"
A rational glint flickered in Lin Mo's eyes. "Just this environmental toxin is far from maximizing the value of this ring!"
He took a deep breath and made a move that would scare any other player out of their wits.
He took a step, then another, walking straight into the Corrosive Poison Pool, which was capable of melting a full-health warrior in three seconds!
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle—"
As his feet fully immersed in the emerald green pool water, a terrifying corrosive force instantly enveloped him.
[Warning: You are being corroded by 'Corrosive Toxin'!]
['Poison Immunity' effect triggered, you are immune to the damage of 'Corrosive Toxin'!]
['Poison Absorption' effect triggered, you absorbed 'Corrosive Toxin', Experience +50!]
['Poison Absorption' effect triggered, Experience +50!]
The damage value instantly skyrocketed fivefold!
Lin Mo felt a cool, refreshing sensation spread throughout his body, as if he were soaking in a hot spring, and his experience bar began to surge upward at an unprecedented speed!
"Awesome! This is too awesome!"
Lin Mo couldn't help but let out a long howl, all the suppression and frustration in his chest vanishing at this moment.
He even felt that this ring shouldn't be called 'Toad's Protection'; it should be called 'Ring of the Poison God'!
After soaking in the poison pool for a full five minutes, until his level 3 experience bar had increased by nearly a third, Lin Mo reluctantly emerged. He knew that while simply "bathing" was comfortable, its efficiency ultimately had a limit.
To maximize his gains, he still had to rely on killing monsters!
His gaze, like that of a top hunter, swept towards the highly venomous toads wandering deep within the swamp.
Before putting on the ring, these monsters were opponents he could barely defeat only by focusing entirely and executing extreme maneuvers.
But now… they were just moving, juicy "experience babies"!
"Then, the real madness begins now!"
A cold arc curved at the corner of Lin Mo's mouth.
He no longer cautiously pulled one monster at a time as before. Instead, he directly rushed into the densest area of monsters and then used the skill he had just learned.
"Poison Spray!"
A dark green stream of venom shot from his mouth, accurately hitting a level 4 highly venomous toad.
[-17]
An insignificant damage number floated up, but it successfully drew the toad's aggro.
"Croak!"
Immediately after, Lin Mo did the same, launching a shot at two other toads nearby.
Three giant highly venomous toads were instantly activated by him simultaneously, moving with heavy steps, converging on him from three directions.
If it were the previous Lin Mo, facing such a situation, his only option would be to immediately flee.
But now, he simply stood still, an expression of enjoyment even on his face.
"Croak!"
One of the toads attacked first, spitting out a deadly stream of venom.
Lin Mo did not dodge, allowing the venom to spray squarely onto him.
['Poison Immunity' effect triggered, you are immune to the damage of 'Toad Venom'.]
['Poison Absorption' effect triggered, you absorbed 'Toad Venom', Experience +100!]
A huge green number floated up, and Lin Mo's experience bar visibly jumped up a small segment!
"Hahahaha! Come on! All of you, come at me!"
Lin Mo completely let loose.
He stood his ground like a steadfast pillar, letting the three highly venomous toads attack him furiously. Meanwhile, his hands moved like two phantoms, calmly and precisely landing punch after punch on different targets.
[You applied the 'Endless Poison Source' effect to 'Highly Venomous Toad A', current stacks: 5/10]
[You applied the 'Endless Poison Source' effect to 'Highly Venomous Toad B', current stacks: 4/10]
[You applied the 'Endless Poison Source' effect to 'Highly Venomous Toad C', current stacks: 6/10]
His operation was like the most precise machine, perfectly controlling the poison stacks on each monster, ensuring that every attack was not wasted.
Soon, all three toads had 10 stacks of poison on them.
[-12]
[-12]
[-12]
A series of continuous damage numbers began to furiously float above their heads.
And Lin Mo completely transformed into a "tank" war god. While enduring the monsters' "experience baptism," he methodically maintained their poison stacks, occasionally using [Poison Spray] to supplement damage.
The entire combat process was easy, comfortable, and even a bit monotonous.
In less than three minutes, the three level 4 highly venomous toads, with unwilling wails, successively turned into white light.
And Lin Mo's experience bar instantly surged a large chunk!
If other players saw this leveling efficiency, they would probably drop their jaws on the spot and then report him for cheating!
"This… this is too exaggerated…"
Even Lin Mo himself was startled by this rocket-like leveling speed.
Without any pause, he immediately rushed towards the next wave of monsters.
Time flew by in this almost "cheating" frenzy of monster grinding.
Lin Mo was completely immersed in the thrill of rapidly increasing his strength, forgetting time and fatigue.
His level began to skyrocket at a speed that would make the entire "Epoch" pale in comparison!
[Congratulations, you have reached Level 4!]
[Congratulations, you have reached Level 5!]
[Congratulations, you have reached Level 6!]
...When Lin Mo finally snapped out of this frantic leveling state, the sky was already bright again.
He opened his attribute panel and looked at the two dazzling numbers on it. Even with his resolute nature, he couldn't help but gasp.
[Player: Lin Mo]
[Level: 8]
Level 8!
While mainstream players were still struggling to reach level 4, he had already soared to level 8 like a god!
This was no longer just a lead; this was an overwhelming victory! A dimensionality reduction strike!
What surprised him even more was that when he reached level 7, due to absorbing a massive amount of toxins, his divine talent [Endless Poison Source] finally underwent its first evolution!
[Ding! Detected that you have absorbed enough 'Poison Essence', your talent [Endless Poison Source] has evolved!]
[Maximum stack limit increased to: 20 stacks!]
[You have unlocked a new poison effect — Corrosion!]
[Corrosion: When your poison stacks exceed 10, each stack of poison will additionally corrode the target's physical defense and magic resistance by 1 point.]
Armor penetration!
Although each stack only corroded 1 point of defense, when he stacked the poison to 20 layers, he could reduce the target's total physical and magic resistance by 20 points!
In the early game, when players' and monsters' defenses were generally not high, these 20 points of armor penetration were enough to instantly zero out the defense of any squishy class!
"This talent… truly has no end!" Lin Mo clenched his fists, his heart filled with unprecedented confidence.
Just as he was about to continue his leveling endeavor, aiming to rush to level 10 and leave this newbie village in one go, a burst of noisy footsteps and curses suddenly came from the entrance of the swamp, breaking the tranquility of the place.
"Damn it, this ghost place is not fit for humans! I've only been in here for five minutes, and I'm almost out of potions!"
"All of you, perk up! The Guild Leader gave a death order; we must drag that bastard named 'Anonymous' out today!"
"Vice-captain, do you think that guy is really here? To be able to solo a BOSS in a place like this, what kind of freak must he be?"
"Who cares if he's a freak! If he dares to steal the spotlight from our Mad Dragon Guild, he'd better be prepared to be killed back to level zero! Search carefully, all of you!"
It was people from the Mad Dragon Guild!
Lin Mo's eyes instantly turned cold.