As the strange fluctuations appeared, everyone felt a surge of Rule Power descending!
At the same time, a powerful energy wave surged out from within the forest.
"Damn it, the Master of Mutation has appeared!"
Following Shen Rulong's low cry, a visible rule barrier rapidly expanded outward from the center of the energy wave.
Chen Mo had just finished checking his attributes when he saw a group of teachers and Academy Alliance experts being forcefully pushed out of the forest by a semi-transparent rule barrier.
The rule barrier expanded extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, it spread from the center of the forest to behind Chen Mo.
Before Chen Mo could even react, the Principal and the others beside him were also pushed back by the rule barrier.
Just before being forced away, Shen Rulong only had time to shout to Chen Mo, "Tell everyone inside to run out of the rule barrier immediately! This Master of Mutation is not something you can deal with at your current Level!"
By the time Chen Mo turned to look, Shen Rulong had already been pushed several hundred meters away.
The rule barrier finally stopped expanding when it reached a distance of more than 500 meters from the forest.
Outside the rule barrier, Shen Rulong and the others couldn't probe the situation inside at all. They could only wait for the students within the barrier to run out on their own.
"Who was closest to where the Master of Mutation appeared?"
Ling Yu, as the Inspector sent by the Academy Alliance to protect the students this time, immediately turned to the crowd and asked.
Although she had also been observing with her Illusion, the area she was monitoring wasn't where the Master of Mutation had appeared. An Inspector Assistant beside her spoke up, "It was near that teacher."
Following the direction her assistant pointed, Ling Yu looked towards Su Tianxin.
"The Master of Mutation that just appeared—is it Reborn or Non-Rebirth?"
"Non-Rebirth," Su Tianxin replied, based on the information she had gathered from the BOSS's phantom she had seen earlier.
Level 20 Professionals underwent a class rebirth, significantly boosting their attributes. The same applied to Level 20 BOSSes.
A Non-Rebirth BOSS was much easier to defeat than a Reborn one, but the quantity of loot dropped after killing them was vastly different.
"Were there any students near the Master of Mutation?"
"I already told them to retreat in time. We've repeatedly publicized how powerful the Master of Mutation is. I believe they understand the danger."
Recalling the students' reactions before she was pushed away, Su Tianxin felt there shouldn't be a major problem.
Although the Master of Mutation was powerful, as long as everyone escaped while its phantom was still forming and before it fully manifested, they wouldn't be in danger.
For their own lives' sake, they should know when to advance and when to retreat.
Hearing Su Tianxin's words, the others nodded, feeling that there shouldn't be any issues.
「Inside the Rule Barrier.」
Chen Mo looked up at the massive rule barrier, realizing that from inside, it was impossible to see what was happening outside.
Looks like observation really is completely blocked both ways.
Although he had heard the teachers emphasize the details and power of a Master of Mutation's appearance many times, this was his first time experiencing it personally.
The Master of Mutation, a type of field-spawned BOSS, was a group BOSS. Its Health was incomparable to the solo BOSSes Chen Mo had previously killed; all group BOSSes had astonishingly high Health.
But every downside had an upside; they had high Health but poor regeneration.
As long as hundreds, or even thousands, of well-organized combatants could be gathered to continuously besiege it, it could be defeated in about a day or a day and a half.
However, the basic requirement for these hundreds or thousands of people was not low; they had to be at least three-star Professionals equipped with Silver-grade gear of their Level.
I wonder what Level this Master of Mutation is.
When a Master of Mutation appears, its Level is generally based on the highest Level of monsters in that Mutated Land.
Chen Mo had just farmed a large amount of experience points from red-named individuals and hadn't had time to enter the forest to check. Thus, he naturally didn't know the Level of the Master of Mutation that had just appeared.
However, regardless of its Level, he wanted to check it out. If there was a chance to take it down, it would mean a huge income.
The Master of Mutation had an extremely high drop rate, and the quality of the drops was guaranteed to be at least Silver-grade.
Even if he couldn't use the dropped items himself, selling them would be an incredible fortune. This was a great chance to make money.
Although Chen Mo currently had a robust set of assets—two SSS-level titles, mythical-grade equipment, a golden weapon, and yellow skills—none of it could be sold.
The Space-Time Pearl, however, was not soul-bound.
But can such a thing be casually sold?
Let's not even talk about how a mythical-grade piece of equipment's value is simply immeasurable. Even if you were willing to sell it cheap, making only tens or hundreds of billions, what kind of impact would selling such an item cause?
People would soon come to investigate.
Moreover, this wasn't an ordinary piece of mythical-grade equipment; it was part of a Divine Artifact set.
If you sell one piece, wouldn't people suspect you have a second? A third?
A Divine Artifact! Since Professionals first appeared on Earth, the known number of such treasures couldn't even be counted on one hand!
It was enough to attract the attention of all the top powers and figures in the world.
Chen Mo simply couldn't handle such drastic repercussions.
Despite possessing a hoard of treasures, it was a tragedy that none of them could be converted into money.
Chen Mo naturally wanted to make as much money as possible.
He needed money to give Sister Yiyi a good life, so she wouldn't have to work so hard.
He also needed money to buy more materials and synthesize better treasures.
What he needed most right now was to make money quickly.
And this Master of Mutation that suddenly spawned is an excellent gold mine; it would be a waste not to dig it!
Having made up his mind, Chen Mo immediately ran towards the direction where the energy fluctuations were most intense.
As he ran towards the forest, he saw many students already fleeing from it in succession.
It was just as Su Tianxin and the others had predicted: once the Master of Mutation fully manifested, none of these students would likely survive!
No one wanted to die, so naturally, they scrambled to escape for their lives.
This made Chen Mo, who was heading against the flow, particularly conspicuous.
Fortunately, everyone was currently preoccupied with escaping, each running as if they wished their parents had blessed them with two more legs, so no one paid attention to Chen Mo.
Moving against the crowd, Chen Mo quickly slipped into the forest.
Just a few steps into the forest, he spotted familiar faces.
It was Fang Datong and his group, who had sprinted breathlessly all the way from where the Master of Mutation had spawned.
"M-Mr. Mo... Quick, run... The Master of Mutation has manifested! Damn it, that scared me to death! It appeared right next to us! You have no idea... that oppressive feeling! Thankfully, only its phantom manifested; it hasn't fully descended yet. Otherwise, your brother here would have died there."
Exhausted, Fang Datong collapsed onto Chen Mo, panting heavily as he complained.
He had just run for his life, pushing himself to utter exhaustion.
Shen Bingbing and the others nearby were also incredibly tired.
If Fang Datong, a warrior, was so exhausted from running, the others with weaker classes were naturally even more out of breath.
However, an Assassin among them was in slightly better shape than the others.
"You said the Master of Mutation spawned right next to you. Did you get a clear look at the Master of Mutation's Level?"
"How could I not see clearly? It was right in front of us—a Level 20 Master of Mutation! Are you kidding me? What Level are we? It could kill us with a sneeze! Enough talk, let's escape first!"
Fang Datong felt a lingering fear just thinking about the Master of Mutation's Level. That was a Level 20 Master of Mutation! Hundreds of Level 20 Professionals would have to give it a wide berth if they encountered it, and they weren't even Level 5!
For such a creature to spawn right in their faces—wasn't that a death sentence?
If he hadn't run fast enough just now, he would probably be dead already!