Chapter 41: S-Rank Skill

The Diamond Road was not long, barely a hundred meters, yet on this narrow path stood no less than twenty diamond men.

The true intent behind this challenge was for players to exploit the diamond men's sluggish movements and slow turns, dodging and sprinting past them. But Chen Mo had no interest in the subtleties; instead, he approached the task with brute force, dispatching each diamond monster with a single punch.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Diamond men exploded one after another, each blast yielding a fist-sized gemstone, dazzling and beautiful.

“My sister will surely love these!” Chen Mo, transformed into a gleeful boy collecting diamonds, gathered all the gems into his storage space.

Thus, Chen Mo traversed the Diamond Road effortlessly, facing no obstacles.

He soon arrived at the Diamond Hall. At its center stood a table inlaid with diamonds, upon which lay fifteen gems of various colors, each stunningly beautiful.

Beside the table stood a diamond man, bent respectfully, as if awaiting Chen Mo’s arrival.

Chen Mo, unfazed, strode confidently toward the diamond table.

Ding~ Ding~~

A fairy descended, fluttering her wings. “Congratulations, player, for conquering the Diamond Road. Now you may play a delightful game with the diamond man. On the table are fifteen diamonds. You and the diamond man will take turns picking diamonds. Each turn, you must take at least one and at most five. Whoever takes the last diamond wins. The victor will receive the fifteen colored diamonds, as well as a mysterious diamond chest!”

Chen Mo was stunned. Was this really happening? A math problem?

Fortunately, Chen Mo excelled at mathematics, always ranking among the top students in his class. If someone with poor math skills faced this, frustration would surely ensue.

He asked, “Do I go first?”

The fairy replied sweetly, “Yes, the player goes first. You have one minute to consider your move…”

“One minute? Are you insulting my intelligence? I already know the answer!” Such childish puzzles posed no difficulty for Chen Mo.

At first glance, the game seemed unpredictable, since you couldn’t know how many diamonds your opponent would take each round. In reality, you didn’t need to; as long as you ensured there were six diamonds remaining for the last round, victory was guaranteed.

Because with six diamonds left, no matter if the opponent took one, two, or five, you could take the rest and win.

The question, then, was how to ensure only six diamonds remained for the last round.

Chen Mo smiled confidently. “I’m ready to take my turn!”

Without hesitation, he took three diamonds from the table, leaving twelve.

Now, regardless of whether his opponent took one, two, three, four, or five, Chen Mo simply needed to take enough diamonds so that their combined total equaled six. Then, only six diamonds would remain for the final round, and Chen Mo could claim victory.

The diamond man took two diamonds.

“You’ve lost!” Chen Mo took four.

The diamond man stared silently at the six remaining diamonds for a full minute, then finally admitted, “I’ve lost!”

Bang!

No sooner had the words fallen than the diamond man's body exploded.

The fairy said sweetly, “Congratulations, player! You have won the diamond chest!”

Rumble—

The diamond table split in two, sliding aside to reveal a chest adorned with diamonds rising slowly from within.

The chest was breathtaking, decorated with hundreds of diamonds of various shapes. Chen Mo was sure that even the chest alone would fetch a fortune if sold outside.

He felt a surge of nervous excitement; the chest was already so precious, what could be inside?

Carefully, he opened the diamond chest.

A brilliant light poured forth, so dazzling that Chen Mo could barely keep his eyes open.

A divine artifact—surely it was a divine artifact!

Eagerly, Chen Mo reached into the chest to retrieve its contents. As the light faded, he stared in disbelief at what he held.

What the—? What on earth was this?

It was not the coveted divine equipment he had hoped for, but merely a skill scroll.

He unfurled the scroll, and instantly a stream of data flooded his mind.

[Congratulations! You have opened the skill scroll and obtained the S-grade magic skill: Diamond Skin.]

An S-grade skill!

Chen Mo's eyes lit up. This was a worthwhile reward!

He hurried to examine the skill:

[Diamond Skin – S-grade Secret Magic]

[Your skin becomes as hard as diamond for 10 seconds, absorbing up to 40% of your health in damage. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]

[Skill Rune: None]

That was it? So simple! Was this truly an S-grade skill? It seemed a bit underwhelming.

Ning Xuan’s advanced magic spell, Frost, was so powerful it could freeze enemies outright, whereas this S-grade skill he had struggled to obtain was merely a defensive ability—not invincible, just capable of absorbing damage equal to 40% of his health. With his current health at 3000, 40% was 1200, meaning this S-grade skill was equivalent to gaining 1200 extra health, but only for ten seconds.

He was a little disappointed.

Still, having something was better than nothing. The skill’s power was tied to health, so as his health increased, so would the skill’s strength. If he reached ten or twenty thousand health, the skill would be monstrous—activate Diamond Skin, withstand the enemy’s assault, then transform into a bat to escape once the skill ended. When the cooldown finished, he could charge back in with Diamond Skin. The enemy would surely go mad.

Thinking this way, Chen Mo realized the skill could indeed be considered a divine ability—the key was how it was used.

There was also a note in the description about current runes. What did that mean?

“Fairy, what does skill rune mean?”

The fairy explained, “Skills of S-grade or higher possess unique skill runes. Runes can add more effects to your skills. For example, the Diamond Skin rune—Energy Prism—allows all your skills to consume half as much mana while Diamond Skin is active. The Diamond Shard rune lets you convert absorbed damage into diamond shards to attack nearby enemies. Every S-grade skill has at least five runes, which can be obtained from high-level dungeon bosses or purchased from the rune shop in the advanced store!”

Chen Mo felt his scalp tingle. Only now, after hearing the fairy’s explanation, did he understand the true terror of S-grade skills. It meant S-grade skills could be equipped with various runes—the more runes, the greater the skill’s power and versatility. If a skill could have five runes, it would wipe out everything once activated.

At that moment, every player in the world possessing a cognitive node received a notification.

[Congratulations to the Dark Lord for becoming the first player in the world to obtain an S-grade skill. He will receive a system reward of one hundred thousand points, as well as an extra prize—a rune gift box.]

Chen Mo was dumbfounded. Who? The Dark Lord?? Wait—that’s me!!