"Received base attribute point Agility 1."
Early in the morning, seeing that prompt, Lin Mo felt quite pleased.
He'd been selflessly helping them boost their attributes these past few days, and finally he got to enjoy an attribute increase himself.
With that extra Agility, his base Agility had reached 83 points, almost the sa as Sherfilia's.
Soon enough, there'd be no more wool to pull from Sherfilia.
Conversely, what Sherfilia gained from him was far more than a single base point—she had gotten a full three points!
Although those were Strength and Constitution rather than Agility as a primary stat, they still represented a sizable boost to combat power.
Lin Mo had also asked about Finnie.
Magic classes couldn't increase Strength, Constitution, or Agility; instead they gained Mana and Spirit.
With Finnie's talent and Lin Mo's help, plus one more day, she was likely to reach level five…
While thinking about these things, the little maid had already tidied him up neatly, making him look presentable.
Lin Mo reached out to pat Sherfilia's head, then waved and left the inn.
According to his agreent with Grim, today he was supposed to go hassle Leonard.
[Fortitude] proficiency 1
"Skill [Fortitude] Lv6 (300/300) leveled up!"
"Current skill [Fortitude] Lv7 (Max)"
"Received base attribute point Constitution 5!"
Finally maxed out!
Co to think of it, [Fortitude] had been Lin Mo's first blue, exceptional-grade skill. When he first obtained it, he hadn't even left Roland Town.
Now, with several epic-level skills in his repertoire, this skill had finally reached its cap.
It hadn't been easy.
That hardship and struggle made Lin Mo even more excited about the new skill that evolved from it.
"Automatically evolved into new skill one — Unyielding Body!"
"Learned skill [Unyielding Body]! Received base attribute point Constitution 5!"
[Unyielding Body]: Lv1 (0/20): Permanently enhances self-defense, automatically consus qi and blood to reduce all incoming physical damage by 30%, and reflects 60% of the reduced damage back to the attacker (reflection can be deactivated). The skill can be cast on others, but only at 60% of its base effect.
"Huh?"
"What?!"
Lin Mo was stunned for a good ten seconds before he ca to.
So it turned directly into a passive?
The effect of [Fortitude] had always been quite good; it often helped Lin Mo soak up critical damage. Combined with his naturally higher Constitution compared to most non-knight professionals and his gear's protection, he could display outrageously strong defense.
Take yesterday, for example—even soone of Grim's caliber, without using skills, could hardly break through Lin Mo's defenses when [Fortitude] was active.
It also provided damage reflection and, after choosing an evolution route, could be applied to others. If the original [Fortitude] had any downside, it was that it only activated three tis and needed repeated use, which was inconvenient.
Now that issue was solved. The upgraded version, [Unyielding Body], beca a fully automatic defensive skill.
In practice, that ant a passive.
Whenever Lin Mo was about to take physical damage, the skill would auto-activate, consuming a portion of his qi and blood to block the damage and reflect it.
And it could release onto others without having to select an evolution route first.
That made it far more convenient than the original [Fortitude]. In so cases Lin Mo might forget or be too slow to activate [Fortitude], but with [Unyielding Body]—even if an ambush occurred while he was unaware—the skill would trigger automatically and sotis produce unexpected results.
Although the damage reduction only increased slightly, from 29% at Fortitude's max to 30%, the functional enhancent more than made up for the minor nuric gain.
Lin Mo was very satisfied with this new epic skill.
Next, as usual, the skill should offer evolution paths to choose from.
He was curious: since [Fortitude]'s evolution choices had been rged into the new skill's baseline, what enhancent options would this new skill provide?
Please choose evolution direction—
Evolution Route 1: Anti-Magic I: Skill [Unyielding Body] will also reduce magic damage by an additional 10%.
Evolution Route 2: Indomitable Will I: Skill [Unyielding Body] additionally provides 20% tenacity, reducing the effect of crowd control.
Very strong!
Lin Mo's eyes brightened. Both evolution routes were useful.
Route 1 would grant 10% magic damage reduction. The number wasn't huge, but damage reduction changes things significantly. Actual damage taken is affected not only by the damage reduction itself, but also by other defensive skills Lin Mo uses, his Constitution-based defense, and his equipnt. A percentage reduction would amplify all those defenses, effectively boosting their collective impact by 10%—a dramatic real-world improvent.
After checking the skill, of course there were also the rewards from maxing [Fortitude] and learning Unyielding Body: a total of ten base Constitution points, just enough to level Lin Mo's Knight profession up.
"Promotion requirents t, Knight profession (lv5) promoted — Current profession Knight (lv6)."
"Received profession attribute enhancent: Strength 3, Constitution 6, Agility 2, Spirit 1!"
From level five to six ant moving from beginner-level professional to veteran-level professional, so the gain was fairly decent.
Also, Lin Mo's base Constitution was now 67 points, only three points away from level seven.
Not bad…
Lin Mo looked at Leonard across from him, sweat streaming down his back from training, and walked over with a smile.
"Wait! Brother Lin Mo… no, Lin—I'm done for. I can't do it, I really can't… go pick on soone else!"
"Uh…"
Lin Mo shrugged helplessly, "Don't be nervous. Training is over."
"Really?"
Leonard's face lit up. The man who'd once been like a lion was now completely whipped.
"Why would I lie?"
Lin Mo, half laughing and half crying, produced the gift he'd prepared long ago from his Spatial Ring. "You've worked hard these past few days. Consider this a small token of appreciation."
"Brother Lin Mo, you're too polite."
Leonard finally returned to normal and tried to refuse. "We're bros. Helping each other is what friends do. How can I accept your gifts?"
"You won't?"
Lin Mo smiled at him.
"No."
Leonard shook his head firmly.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely sure!"
"Fine, then humor and train a little longer."
"No way!"
Leonard panicked, "I want them, I want them—can't I have them?"
He hurriedly accepted the alchemical reagents from Lin Mo and didn't dare refuse another word.
Why not just take them earlier?
Lin Mo shook his head with so helplessness. These days you had to put people in this position just to give a gift.
After having lunch with Leonard and chatting briefly, Lin Mo took his leave.
He planned to rest one more day, then check the Adventurers' Association to see if there were tasks to take.
Since they were heading to the Royal Capital anyway, he might as well pick up a couple of tasks along the way.
Of course, they'd need to be convenient detours…
On that note, while chatting earlier with Leonard, Lin Mo had already asked the Lion Adventuring Company's staff to prepare a brief task list.
He could pick tasks tomorrow afternoon or the day after in the morning.
The remaining day and a half would be for spending quality ti with the people around him.
Because he'd been moving between assignnts constantly, even rest tis were often busy. So this day and a half he planned to spend without thinking of anything—just enjoying life properly.
Back ho, Lin Mo announced the news. Ellie imdiately jumped up happily, hugged his neck, and planted a kiss on his cheek.
Finnie was delighted too, her face flushed.
Having only just broken through that awkward barrier a couple days ago, she was still very shy.
Lena was also pleased. As for Sherfilia—you wouldn't notice at a glance, she always wore that expressionless face.
But truthfully, she was happy inside as well.
A day and a half—neither long nor short.
Lin Mo first took everyone out to wander for half a day, buying lots of food, clothes, and small items that each of them liked.
They also visited the planting field Lena had rented.
Of course they planned to keep renting it, but Lena would hire a few people to look after it. She'd already arranged that and didn't need Lin Mo's money.
She was earning decently now; self-sufficiency was no problem.
The next day Lin Mo stayed ho with them all day. In the afternoon they set up a barbecue grill in the yard and had a feast.
Thankfully Breeze Residence had excellent facilities and plenty of space.
That extra day also ant they didn't slack off on practicing the [Shared Cultivation] skill—if anything they were very diligent. Besides the usual night sessions, they added morning exercise and midday practice.
As a result…
"Skill [Shared Cultivation] Lv3 (40/40) leveled up!"
"Current skill [Shared Cultivation] Lv4 (0/100)"
That's right, the skill leveled up again.
There were significant attribute gains.
First, Lin Mo got another 3 Agility points from Sherfilia; his base Agility should now completely catch up to hers, and further gains were unlikely.
Finnie successfully reached level five and was halfway toward level six.
Ellie shot up to level six, while Sherfilia improved a lot in Strength and Constitution. She was now an eight-level Assassin, and her Strength and Constitution were roughly equal to a level six Warrior/Knight—quite a versatile build.
This progress wasn't enough to make her Lin Mo's true main support yet, but it was a good start.
They needed to take it more seriously.
Although it would be hard on Lin Mo, it was a necessary sacrifice for everyone's sake.
Happy tis flew by and the departure day arrived quickly.
Early that morning, Lin Mo and the group went to the nearby Adventurers' Association.
This ti it was only them, so there was nobody to help pick tasks. Lin Mo checked the list he'd gotten from the Lion Adventuring Company carefully, then selected two suitable tasks.
Because they were detours while traveling, he didn't choose difficult jobs—just two simple D-rank tasks.
As for the route to the Royal Capital… whether through Blackwater Swamp or Boulder Mine, the environnts were harsh; Lin Mo didn't want to go that way.
So they chose a longer route that was more comfortable: Silent Forest.
Taking that path to the Royal Capital would take about five to six days of travel; even with their carriage speed, it would still be around two days on the road, but there would be more task options and plenty of monsters inside the Silent Forest to grind proficiency.
After settling the route and selecting tasks, Lin Mo went to the D-rank task counter and completed the acceptance process.
He chose very simple tasks.
[Hunt Goblins]
Task ID: D88473
Type: Clear
Client: Adventurers' Association
Reward: 800 Gold Coins
Task Description: Go to Silent Forest Area 5 and kill at least 200 Goblins, including at least 10 Goblins of Bronze-rank or higher.
A really simple little task, with a usual reward.
After all, it was just sothing to do along the way.
The other task was similar…
[Slay Gale Tiger]
Task ID: D77488
Type: Clear / Material Collection
Client: Adventurers' Association
Reward: 200 Gold Coins 300 Gold per material recovered
Task Description: Go to Silent Forest Area 15 and hunt Gale Tigers.
Gale Tigers are similar to the Crimson Fla Tiger from Roland Forest—monsters that aren't even Lord Level, so again a simple job.
However, the Gale Tiger King in the sa zone has so fighting power; adult individuals usually reach level ten, and occasionally special specins above level eleven appear.
"Please confirm the task information."
Lin Mo nodded. "Please register us."
"Okay, please wait a mont…"
The registration completed quickly. Leaving the Adventurers' Association, the group went to the city gate, boarded the carriage, and headed straight for Silent Forest.
Previously, whenever they went on tasks, they either traveled with a caravan or with other adventurers. This ti they were alone, so the Gale Steed could finally pull the carriage at full speed. Rolling up the curtain, the scenery flew by, blurring at the edges.
There was one extra passenger on this trip. Lena, who had never gone on a task before, was clearly nervous, but the novelty of going out with everyone made her curious and excited.
With the Gale Steed's incredible speed, they reached the first task's destination—Silent Forest Area 5—around three in the afternoon.
This was a Goblin area. Those small green creatures reproduced like crazy; you didn't need to search carefully. If you didn't conceal your presence and slowed your pace, once you entered the territory you'd soon et troublemakers who practically showed up on their own.
After entering Area 5, Lin Mo left the carriage and went to the front.
Seeing the Goblins ahead felt oddly familiar, like seeing family.
It's been a while since I've fard these guys for proficiency…
Lin Mo didn't waste ti. He used [Crystal Shield Technique], conjured a glittering shield, and hurled it out.
[Spinning Shield]!
Under Lin Mo's qi and blood enhancent, the shield spun rapidly. Its power was enormous; goblins it hit were bisected at the waist, killed in a single blow.
The shield spun back and mowed down another wave.
These ordinary goblins didn't even count as slowing him down.
[Spinning Shield] proficiency 21
[Crystal Shield Technique] proficiency 3
As a white common-grade skill, [Spinning Shield] naturally gained a lot of proficiency quickly. But [Crystal Shield Technique] was a blue exceptional-grade skill; the amount of proficiency obtainable from these common goblins was minimal—about seven goblins to gain a single proficiency point.
Still, so gain was better than none.
Lin Mo caught the shield cleanly and threw it again.
Another large batch of goblins fell. Blood and gore splattered, turning the forest floor red.
[Spinning Shield] proficiency 23
[Crystal Shield Technique] proficiency 3
A lot of goblins had co this ti, so Lin Mo gained lots of proficiency.
[Spinning Shield] directly leveled up.
"Skill [Spinning Shield] Lv1 (10/10) leveled up!"
"Current skill [Spinning Shield] Lv2 (20/20)"
"Current skill [Spinning Shield] Lv4 (4/100)"
"Received base attribute point Constitution 1!"
The advantage of common-grade skills is fast leveling, but the downside is that the one base attribute point reward per level is trivial for Lin Mo.
He should hurry and evolve this skill.
This wave of goblins was nearly wiped out. Lin Mo guided the carriage to continue roaming the area, waiting for goblins to co make trouble.
Goblins communicated information surprisingly quickly. The news that this group had been slaughtered spread to nearby settlents.
Within ten minutes, a huge crowd of goblins sward in and surrounded Lin Mo's carriage.
Compared to the earlier batch, this group was higher quality and far more nurous.
Seeing the mass of green-skinned shorties, Lin Mo's eyes lit up.
All of this was proficiency!
These low-level monsters were perfect for training common and excellent-grade skills.
With goblins all around, Ellie and Sherfilia climbed out of the carriage. It wasn't that they had to share the burden—they simply didn't want the goblins coming close and dirtying the carriage, which would be gross even if the carriage wasn't damaged.
"Then, let's start!"
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