Night had fallen, but no one was sleepy.
Cody stood to the side, staring blankly at the flickering campfire.
Millian still hadn’t woken up. Evan was in the tent looking after her. The Life Potion, with a third of its contents remaining, was placed beside her, ready for her to drink when she awoke.
Lin Mo sat under a tree not far from the campfire, studying the scroll in his hand by the firelight.
Bain had just returned from checking the traps and saw Lin Mo wave at him.
The Knight walked over, his steps slightly unsteady, and carefully sat down.
The Life Potions were in limited supply. Although he’d drunk so, it wasn’t nearly enough. It had only restored his mobility; a full recovery was still a long way off.
"Thank you for what you did..."
Bain looked at the young man before him and thanked him sincerely.
Back in the Secret Realm, if Lin Mo had wanted to, he was strong enough to leave on his own. Neither the Cursed Cat Demon nor the Minotaur could have stopped him. He probably would have even had ti to take the spoils.
But he didn’t do that. Instead, he fought with all his might and saved everyone.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they all owed Lin Mo their lives.
Lin Mo nodded, not bothering with aningless platitudes like, "It’s what I had to do."
Adventurers weren’t fond of such eloquent expressions. Their conversations weren’t always heartfelt, but they were almost always direct.
"About splitting the mission rewards..."
"We’ll just stick to our original agreent."
"Thank you."
Bain mumbled his thanks. He opened his mouth to protest a few tis, but ultimately didn’t refuse the offer.
Their party needed the money, especially since they had used one of Lin Mo’s Life Potions. They were counting on the mission’s reward to pay him back.
"In that case, I won’t be shy about taking a larger share of the extra loot."
Lin Mo looked at the minotaur horns in his bag, then pointed to the two Giant Axes beside him.
That’s right, he’d managed to bring those out as well.
"Of course."
Bain nodded without hesitation.
"By the way, Uncle Bain, do you know how to use a Skill Scroll?"
Lin Mo took out the [Tenacity] scroll and spread it out in front of him.
"Use?"
Hearing his choice of words, a puzzled look appeared on Bain’s face.
He glanced at the scroll. When he saw the word written at the top, a flicker of longing crossed his face. But he quickly suppressed the improper thought and began to explain, "You don’t really ’use’ a Skill Scroll. You learn and practice what’s written on it, slowly familiarizing yourself with the technique until you can finally perform it. That’s what it ans to learn it..."
At the end of the day, a Skill Scroll wasn’t so wondrous Magic Item; it was just a record of a skill mastered by soone in the past, left behind for future generations.
So, getting a Skill Scroll didn’t necessarily an you had gotten the skill. It required patient study.
The ti required to learn a skill varied. It could take a long ti—months or even years—or it could be very quick, a matter of days or even hours.
It mainly depended on the learner’s talent and their affinity for the skill.
Lin Mo nodded, then said, "There are so things on this scroll I don’t understand... For example, what does ’circulate Qi and Blood’ an?"
Bain seed taken aback by his question, a look of astonishnt on his face.
"You’re... not joking?"
Seeing Lin Mo’s genuine expression, Bain began to question his reality for a mont.
"You an to say, you don’t even know what Qi and Blood is, nor how to circulate it, yet you comprehended a skill on your own, mastered it perfectly, and beca a Professional?"
Seeing Lin Mo nod, Bain rubbed the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
’What kind of monster is this?!’
He composed himself and began to speak slowly. "You should know that a Mage needs to expend Magic Power to cast Magic, right?"
"Of course. How can you use Magic without Magic Power?"
To this day, Lin Mo’s Magic Power was still zero.
"So do other Professions just use Skills out of thin air? In fact, it’s not just Mages; all Professions are more or less the sa."
Seeing Lin Mo’s look of dawning comprehension, Bain patiently explained, "Skills aren’t simple techniques. A sword strike made with the sa force and angle will have vastly different power depending on whether it’s a Skill or not... This is because ’Energy’ is used in the process of executing a Skill."
"For example, Priests and Alchemists, both being Magic Professions, use the sa Magic Power as Mages."
"And for Physical Professions like Warriors and Knights, although they don’t have Magic Power, they have sothing similar... When you use a Skill, you should be able to feel it, as if sothing is flowing inside your body."
As he said this, Lin Mo suddenly understood.
It was true. Every ti he used a Skill, although he was systematically following the steps, he did feel a sense of mobilizing so power within his body.
"That is Qi and Blood. It’s a power born from the human body. Mobilizing and circulating Qi and Blood along a set path should be an essential foundation one must grasp before learning a Skill..."
But the young man before him clearly understood none of this, yet he had relied on sheer talent to comprehend and master skills, even advancing to beco a Professional in an incredibly short amount of ti.
In that mont, Bain felt that all those stories he’d heard from Minstrels—the ones that always seed too absurd and unrealistic—suddenly didn’t seem so hard to believe anymore.
’Just because sothing is beyond your understanding doesn’t an it doesn’t exist. There really are such outrageous people in this world.’
’Even stories have to follow so logic, but a real-life genius... they don’t play by the rules at all... ’
"Qi and Blood relies on the body. Strength, Constitution, and Agility can all affect the potency of your Qi and Blood. Among them, Constitution has the greatest effect, followed by Strength, while Agility has the least impact."
In other words, Qi and Blood was like a Warrior’s hidden "mana bar," and it was completely tied to Physical Strength, or rather, Endurance.
This also matched reality. Knights had the most Physical Strength, followed by Warriors, while Assassins and Rangers had relatively weaker Endurance.
"Now that you know this, you should understand how to ’use’ a Skill Scroll."
Lin Mo nodded. He stood up, picked up the Wolf Bone Sword beside him, and executed "Slashing" once.
He paused for a mont, closed his eyes, and executed it again.
This ti, that subtle feeling was much more distinct.
It was like a warm current flowing through his body...
After several more repetitions, he put down his Sword and once again took out the Skill Scroll nad [Tenacity].
The descriptions on it, once obscure and difficult to understand, now seed to be gradually becoming clearer.
Bain took all of this in, unable to stop himself from guessing inwardly, ’With his talent, it probably won’t take him more than a few days to get a preliminary grasp of this skill.’
’It’s really maddening to compare yourself to others. To think, it took several months of practice just to learn Shield Strike!’
"Alright, I’ve got it!"
However, the words that reached Bain’s ears the next second made his face fall.
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