The Roland Forest was exceptionally tranquil in the early morning.
Beasts that typically hunted at night had returned to their caves before the sun appeared, and many animals had yet to awaken.
Vermilion sunlight filtered through the trees, with dewdrops among the leaves refracting light in every direction.
A faint morning mist lingered as condensed water droplets traced the veins of leaves before finally dripping slowly from their tips.
Reflected in those droplets, a young man sheathed his sword and stood upright, flicking blood from the blade.
Before him lay several goblins sprawled on the ground, most killed in their sleep, with only the last one startled awake by the commotion - though it hadn't even managed to open its eyes before losing its head.
Excellent luck!
Coming here first thing in the morning and already finding four goblins.
Seeing that his [Slash] skill needed just one more point of proficiency, Lin Mo felt thoroughly motivated.
He had gone to bed early last night and arrived at the Adventurers' Association before dawn to select a mission.
As soon as the receptionist started her shift, he imdiately accepted the mission and hurried to Roland Forest.
After briefly consulting his map, Lin Mo adjusted his direction and continued northwest.
This mission was a one-star, Black Iron rank assignnt.
The Adventurers' Association clearly categorized mission levels: three-star Silver rank, two-star Bronze rank, one-star Black Iron rank.
As for no-star missions, most involved miscellaneous chores or relatively simple collection tasks like gathering Qingfen Grass.
Though there were occasional exceptions like the rescue mission for the Yori rchant Guild owner's daughter that were special and hard to grade, no-star missions generally didn't count toward an adventurer's record.
Advancing in adventurer rank required completing a certain number of missions, and no-star missions didn't contribute to that count. Having upgraded his equipnt and improved his abilities, Lin Mo chose a one-star mission with future considerations in mind.
[Sli Collection]
Mission Number: E682
Type: Hunting/Material Collection
Client: Richard
Reward: 5 gold
Mission Description:
Enter Roland Forest, locate and eliminate 50 slis, collect their core sli. Mission duration: 7 days.
Slis were low-level magical creatures occupying a similar ecological niche as goblins, belonging to the bottom tier of magical beings. Unlike the pillaging, murderous goblins that committed every imaginable evil, slis weren't as nurous and were relatively docile creatures with low aggression that rarely actively attacked humans, let alone invaded towns.
Yet adventurers remained quite enthusiastic about hunting these creatures.
The reason was simple - unlike goblins that offered nothing but foul odor, sli cores contained sli that proved quite useful material.
This non-toxic, harmless natural high-purity concentrated sli possessed excellent elasticity and plasticity, along with remarkably unique texture properties, making it valuable in basic alchemy, materials engineering, and certain high-end niche food production.
Of course, most commodity values depended on specific market demand. When few people needed it, this material typically worth around 150 copper, equivalent to rewards for about one and a half goblins under current special circumstances.
But when demand arose, temporary acquisition prices could double to 300 copper, or 3 silver coins each.
This was because sli had relatively short shelf life - without special treatnt, it could only last 10-15 days at most.
When wealthy patrons urgently needed it, prices could skyrocket further. Like Lin Mo's current mission: 50 slis for 5 gold reward, equivalent to 10 silver coins per sli!
But such missions weren't easily completed.
Precisely because of sli's limited preservation period, these missions often ca with strict ti constraints. With slis being less nurous than goblins, eliminating 50 within 7 days might not involve particularly difficult combat but heavily relied on luck. Unlucky adventurers, even experienced ones, might fail to complete it.
If missions went uncompleted, so employers might still purchase the sli, though not necessarily at promised prices.
《Complete Bestiary of Roland Forest's Outer Region》
[Sli Characteristics and Common Locations]…………11-14
"Unlike fellow bottom-tier creatures goblins, you won't find slis everywhere in the forest. These creatures appear and distribute according to relatively stable patterns. If your mission requires hunting these little beings for their sli, you might try your luck in depressions, swamps, and areas near rivers.
Your chances of encountering slis will be higher in these locations.
...
Additionally, if engaging in combat with slis, ensure your weapons have protective coating applied beforehand. When attacked, these small creatures temporarily transform their bodies into sowhat corrosive liquid. Eliminating nurous slis might damage your weapons."
Fortunately, Lin Mo had researched his targets in books before accepting this mission, specifically visiting Edgar's shop to spend 5 silver coins applying protective coating to his Wolf Bone Sword.
Swords forged from magical creature bones might be harder and sharper than steel, but they were more susceptible to damage from corrosive liquids.
So Lin Mo didn't economize at all, directly applying the best protective coating available at Edgar's shop.
According to Edgar, this coating would protect against corrosion until Lin Mo used this sword to eliminate over 1000 slis.
After collecting goblin left ears into his bag - these goblins were just bonus rewards - it was ti to search for slis.
Lin Mo's luck wasn't particularly good, but he wasn't unlucky either. The sli search didn't proceed smoothly, but after spending over half an hour along the small river basin, he finally located his first target.
Lin Mo hid in the grass, observing his target ahead.
As described in 《Complete Bestiary of Roland Forest's Outer Region》, slis were quite small, not even reaching his knees - appearing as semi-oval spheres about the size of washbasins.
They had no eyes, no facial features, moving approximately by crawling motion. Under the brightening sunlight, a ping-pong ball sized "sphere" floated slowly within its body.
Calming his breath and focusing his spirit, Lin Mo entered stealth state.
Eliminating one opponent while using Slash from stealth state would grant proficiency to both skills, whereas using only Slash would only benefit that single skill.
Since stealth, as a status skill, didn't consu additional stamina, Lin Mo preferred to stealth first before attacking whenever conditions permitted.
The sli remained unaware of the hidden danger, continuing to approach Lin Mo's position.
The next mont, a figure swiftly erged, his sharp blade tracing a perfect arc that cleaved the sli before him in two.
[Stealth] Proficiency 1
[Slash] Proficiency 1!
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