Chapter 108: Chapter 108

Unfortunately, current conditions don't allow for making "crispy skin water," so roasted suckling pig isn't possible, but grilled ribs and roasted pig trotters are still doable.

The remaining bones and meat can also be used to make soup.

Solan and Carson cleaned the hunted boar, removed the innards, and divided it according to Lin Mo's instructions.

Lin Mo took salt from his backpack, rubbed it on the cut ribs and trotters, and marinated them briefly to enhance the base flavor.

The remaining parts were first blanched in a small pot to remove the blood...

Actually, Lin Mo wasn't very skilled at cooking; he was just relying on memories, learning on the spot from videos he'd seen before. But in the eyes of the others, his series of operations looked quite professional.

Although they were adventurers, because of simple, convenient, and easily stored foods like bread and jerky, plus the many dangers in the wild and exhaustion from missions, they rarely took the initiative to prepare food. Even when occasionally hunting game, they'd simply roast it over fire and sprinkle some salt, never bothering with such elaborate preparations.

As for Finnie, it went without saying—the city lord's daughter, where would she have the opportunity to cook for herself?

So they all watched Lin Mo's operations with great curiosity. Ellie wanted to help but didn't know how, looking busy without actually accomplishing anything, anxiously scratching her head and ears.

Lin Mo reached out and rubbed her ears. Ellie didn't dodge, her face slightly red as she crouched beside him.

The team members understood tacitly. Finnie looked astonished, glancing at Lin Mo, then Ellie, then everyone else, her eyes darting around with a look of wanting to enjoy some gossip.

The marinating time didn't need to be too long, mainly because there wasn't much time to wait. After a while, Lin Mo placed the ribs over the fire to grill.

The blanched ribs were also put back with water to stew, sprinkled with some salt. Lin Mo would have liked to add other seasonings, but unfortunately, he didn't have any.

Although spices seemed to exist in this world too, their prices...

Let's just say his current income wasn't generous enough to indulge excessively in food.

Under the fire's heat, fat continuously dripped from the ribs, and a rich aroma spread, making everyone's mouths water involuntarily.

Lin Mo sprinkled a bit more salt on the ribs. Just then, Finnie suddenly walked over and handed him a small bottle.

Lin Mo opened it and smelled it—a familiar scent made his eyes light up.

Wasn't this cumin? Perfect for pairing with grilled meat.

But just looking at the packaging, he knew this stuff definitely wasn't cheap, so Lin Mo didn't rush to use it. He waited until the ribs were completely grilled before sprinkling a little on them, then returned the rest to Finnie.

Solan, waiting nearby, had long been impatient, staring eagerly at the ribs in front of him.

Ellie, crouching nearby, didn't speak, but Lin Mo had lost count of how many times he'd heard her swallowing saliva.

Solan immediately seemed to regress, cheering as he reached for the ribs.

Then, predictably, he got burned and cried out in pain.

Alden laughed heartily, but then remembered that his daughter would soon marry this guy, and his smile slowly faded. The grilled meat in front of him didn't seem as appetizing anymore.

In contrast, Ellie was completely unafraid of the heat, grabbing a piece directly and eating it in big bites, huffing and puffing, leaving Lin Mo dumbfounded.

But then he noticed that Ellie's hand holding the rib seemed to have a slight frost on it.

Oh right, she could do that...

Lin Mo immediately imitated, mobilizing ice elements to add a layer of "protection" to his hand, then reached to grab one.

The next second, he pulled back again.

This doesn't work either... that bit of ice melted instantly, and it still burned. It seemed Ellie was just naturally heat-resistant.

Forget it, better wait a bit.

Lin Mo shook his head helplessly, then saw Finnie using a cloth as padding to pick up a rib, chewing it in small bites. He suddenly felt like he'd gained some common sense.

Damn, he seemed to have been infected by the fool...

Casually taking out a cloth to use as padding, Lin Mo ate his grilled meat while checking his proficiency panel.

There was some information from the previous battle he hadn't carefully reviewed yet.

First were those two spells.

After eliminating all the mutated goblins, during the subsequent pursuit, he used magic to deal with a few more goblins. The current progress of the two spells was:

【Ice Spike】Lv2 (10/20)

Due to limited mana, the proficiency gains weren't substantial, but as long as he gained 10 more points in Ice Spike proficiency to level up this skill to 3, he could gain 1 more point of mana.

Besides that, there was the newly learned 【Thrust】 skill.

After exhausting his mana, Lin Mo had mostly used this move to chase down those goblins, accumulating quite a bit of proficiency.

Looking through the history log, there was a string of "【Thrust】 proficiency +1" messages.

Lin Mo's initially happy expression soon turned somewhat frustrated.

Just 1 proficiency point short?

It was worth noting that Lin Mo's base strength attribute had now reached 19 points. Just 1 more point, and he could advance to a Level 2 warrior. And once the 【Thrust】 skill reached Level 3, it would add that 1 point of strength.

He even felt the impulse to go find a monster nearby to kill right now.

But upon second thought, he decided against it. Anyway, tomorrow on the way to find the Crimson Flame Tiger, they were bound to encounter monsters, so he could advance then anyway.

Closing the proficiency panel, he finished the rib in his hand and took another piece—it wasn't too hot to handle now.

On the other side, the rib soup was almost ready.

Lin Mo took a sip with his portable spoon—the taste was much better than expected.

Because the seasoning was overly simple, Lin Mo had originally thought the soup wouldn't taste great. But perhaps because the ingredients themselves were excellent enough, there was no gaminess at all, only freshness and sweetness, with just the right amount of saltiness for flavor.

"The soup is ready to drink."

At his call, the group immediately gathered around, and the atmosphere became quite lively for a while.

Finnie gradually integrated into the group, and even Ellie, who had previously found it hard to blend in, could slowly exchange a few words with everyone because of Lin Mo's presence.

But next came a rather difficult test for Finnie as a newcomer.

Sleeping in the wild really wasn't comfortable. Not only was it physically uncomfortable, but you couldn't sleep deeply and had to take turns keeping watch.

Lin Mo had been very unaccustomed to it for his first several nights, let alone Finnie, who had always lived in luxury.

Out of consideration for the newcomer, and because Finnie wasn't familiar with setting traps or keeping watch, her watch shift was scheduled for last, near dawn, with a significant overlap with Lin Mo's watch time.

This allowed her enough rest while ensuring safety.

Even so, the process of falling asleep was torturous enough for Finnie.

Usually, she always slept on a soft bed in a room cooled by an ice-based mana furnace. But now... although she had a sleeping bag, the comfort level was clearly much lower than the city lord's mansion bed.

Fortunately, the forest nights weren't too hot, and they had sprinkled potent insect repellent around, so there was no worry about mosquito or insect disturbances.

The night passed in a daze.

Near dawn, Lin Mo went to wake Finnie for the final watch.

Finnie was curled up in her sleeping bag, her round hat finally removed. Her golden hair spread beneath her, her face still somewhat round, but this perfectly balanced roundness accentuated the girl's cuteness.

Lin Mo gently poked her cheek—soft and plump, it immediately indented.

"Finnie, time to get up."

No response, so he poked again.

After several attempts, the girl finally made a whimpering sound, like she was acting coquettishly: "Sister Shephilia, five more minutes..."

She mistook him for the maid at home.

Lin Mo smiled helplessly and gently pinched her cheek. "Time to get up for watch, Finnie."

Only then did Finnie open her eyes as if waking from a dream, her light purple eyes still somewhat dazed.

Only when she met Lin Mo's gaze did her thoughts slowly connect.

"Ah, sorry, I'll get up right away!"

Lin Mo turned around, and Finnie quickly emerged from her sleeping bag, straightened her clothes and hair, and put the white round hat back on. Follow current novels on noⅴelfire.net

The sky was slightly bright. For the remaining time, Lin Mo didn't feel like going back to sleep, so he simply kept Finnie company during her watch, while explaining things about traps and precautions for keeping watch.

After all, Flora had specifically instructed him to take good care of this child, and Lin Mo had even accepted a skill scroll from her, so he naturally had to be attentive.

Moreover, Finnie was well-behaved and cute, inherently likable, making people instinctively want to take better care of her.

"How does being an adventurer feel?"

After checking the traps with Finnie, the nocturnal monsters were almost ready to rest. Lin Mo sat under the shade of a tree and chatted with Finnie.

"It's fun, more fun than I originally thought..."

Finnie swung her little feet, looking very happy, but then a trace of worry appeared on her face. "But some difficulties are also more annoying than what I read in books."

After all, having rarely encountered monsters in all her previous years, Finnie wasn't very accustomed to combat yet and needed more time to adapt to some of the bloodier scenes.

But as a newcomer on her first adventure, Finnie's performance yesterday was already quite good.

Not only did she provide assistance to her teammates, but after her mana ran out, Lin Mo even seemed to see her hitting goblins with her staff.

Although somewhat comical, it wasn't unacceptable.

After all, ordinary goblins were relatively fragile monsters. Finnie, as a priest, didn't differ much in physique from ordinary people, but she was still somewhat stronger.

Even with an ordinary person's strength, a full-force hit could be enough to smash a goblin's skull.

When Lin Mo brought this up, Finnie immediately looked embarrassed: "Mother always told me to hit bad guys hard on the head when I encountered them. I didn't think much at the time and just did it subconsciously..."

"Haha, but be careful today. When encountering powerful monsters, be sure to maintain a safe distance and hide behind your teammates."

Finnie nodded very seriously.

The sky gradually brightened, and it was almost time to get up. The little wolf girl, rubbing her growling stomach, was the first to emerge from the tent, ready to eat breakfast and welcome a new day.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes, about to go find Lin Mo to make "little burgers," when she looked up and saw those two leaning against the tree, chatting with smiling faces.

That strange, unpleasant feeling surfaced in her heart again.

Ellie didn't know what this feeling was called, but she roughly understood what was happening.

So she crouched by the fire, hugging her knees with both hands, not speaking, just gazing resentfully over there.

Lin Mo soon noticed her gaze. Seeing that innocent yet wronged expression, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It wasn't like he'd done anything, yet it seemed as if he'd bullied her.

Fortunately, this girl was relatively easy to coax. He waved to Finnie and walked over.

Nothing needed to be said. Just by sitting beside her, Ellie's expression immediately relaxed. She shifted her butt, moving closer to Lin Mo, almost pressing against him.

The little wolf girl's face wore a silly grin as she happily took bread and jerky from her backpack, looking at him eagerly.

Even though she had actually learned how to make it long ago, she still preferred eating the "burgers" made by Lin Mo's own hands.

Alden and Solan also got up one after another, unsurprised by the scene before them. After all, many days ago, the captain had already caught these two sleeping in the same bed.

After a simple breakfast, they continued their journey.

There were still two tasks left for this adventure: the most difficult one, hunting the Crimson Flame Tiger, and a collection task, gathering Hemostatic Herbs.

Neither task had fixed locations and required searching, but their distribution areas were relatively close, so they could be done simultaneously.

They maintained yesterday's formation. Since they were already in the deep forest area of Roland Forest, they proceeded with extra caution.

Their resting spot from last night wasn't far from the destination, and they soon entered the area where Hemostatic Herbs were distributed.

Solan pulled up a grass that looked different from the ground, carefully examined the leaves, and shook his head: "Pity, it's just ordinary clover..."

Hemostatic Herbs looked very similar to this grass, but the leaf edges had very fine serrations, and the stems were thicker compared to clover.

Lin Mo had just reviewed this last night.

Ellie was the first to find a Hemostatic Herb and put it in her backpack.

"I have one here too..."

Rick also pulled one from the ground, carefully confirmed it, and stored it cautiously.

"Still need to pay attention to safety, don't go too far."

Alden, not far from Solan, reminded them.

Lin Mo also stood close to Finnie's position. In the team, she and Solan were the most vulnerable and needed the most protection.

Finnie suddenly screamed, stepping back several steps and bumping directly into Lin Mo's chest.

Lin Mo looked closely—it was a snake.

About two meters long, completely black, looking intimidating, but actually just a common forest snake, non-venomous.

Just as Lin Mo was about to step forward to handle it, Finnie suddenly gripped her staff tightly and "swish"—struck down, accurately hitting the snake's head.

The forest snake immediately rolled its eyes and fainted directly.

That looked like quite some force.

"S-sorry, I'm still not used to it..."

Finnie turned around and apologized repeatedly, unsure whether from guilt or fright, her eyes glistening with tears.

"It's okay, all newcomers are ."

Although his reaction hadn't been as strong, when Lin Mo first started adventuring and encountered snakes, he'd often get startled too.

After seeing them more often, he gradually got used to it. Plus, he always carried antidotes for common snake species, so even if accidentally bitten by a venomous snake, there were ways to handle it.

After searching around this area extensively, they only found 7 Hemostatic Herbs in total.

That's how these relatively common tasks were—adventurers came every few days, so even originally dense areas became hard to harvest from later.

Among the 7 they just picked, several were clearly recently grown.

"Let's move forward. The range given in the task is quite large..."

Collection tasks were relatively safer but time-consuming. Staring at the grass for long periods made eyes sore and tired.

After working all morning until nearly noon, they found a total of 19 Hemostatic Herbs.

"18, 19... not bad. Making 19 gold coins from an E-rank collection task is pretty good."

Alden carefully placed the collected Hemostatic Herbs in a cloth bag. "We've pretty much searched this area. Next, we can focus on finding the Crimson Flame Tiger."

Actually, the area they were active in this morning was already within the possible range of the Crimson Flame Tiger. It's just that this task lacked accurate intelligence, so finding the target was still somewhat difficult.

"Captain, continuing forward will bring us close to the middle of the deep forest area, right?"

Carson expressed some concern; they had never been this deep before.

"Indeed, we need to be careful not to go too deep..."

Alden nodded. Their team had a decent chance against a sub-adult Crimson Flame Tiger, but if they carelessly went too deep and encountered an adult Crimson Flame Tiger, that would be no joke.

An adult Crimson Flame Tiger had a threat level of at least 3, even up to 5!

But generally, such individuals wouldn't be active in the shallow areas of the deep forest but rather in the core area or its vicinity.

The midday break didn't last long. Although searching for herbs in the morning was somewhat troublesome, it didn't consume much physical energy. So after a short rest and eating something to replenish energy, everyone continued on their way.

Carson and Ellie were still responsible for scouting. Carson climbed a treetop, looking into the distance through the gaps in the leaves.

"There are two Swiftwind Foxes about 200 meters ahead to the left. No monsters detected in other directions for now."

"Swiftwind Foxes? Those things are hard to kill."

Rick shook his head: "If these things start running, unless you're a professional-level assassin or higher, don't even think about catching up."

"And they're extremely cautious by nature; they'll flee immediately at any sign of disturbance. At 200 meters, they might have already spotted us."

"I'll go give it a try."

But Lin Mo didn't want to give up easily. Mainly because he'd been busy looking for Hemostatic Herbs all morning and hadn't encountered any monsters. His 【Thrust】 was still 1 proficiency point short, which was frustrating.

Alden knew Lin Mo was a professional-level assassin, so naturally didn't stop him: "We can't help much with this. Be careful yourself."

Finnie cast 【Light's Assistance】 on Lin Mo, boosting some of his attributes.

Lin Mo smiled and nodded in acknowledgment, heading towards the direction Carson indicated.

Estimating he'd advanced about 100 meters, Lin Mo decisively activated 【Vanish】, disappearing from sight.

Continuing forward, within just two or three seconds, he indeed saw two foxes over a meter long, with bluish-green fur, looking quite beautiful.

As Alden had guessed, these two Swiftwind Foxes had already noticed something amiss, looking around suspiciously, clearly having caught Lin Mo's scent.

But since Lin Mo was in 【Vanish】 state and invisible, they didn't flee immediately.

After all, hunting in the forest wasn't easy.

One of the Swiftwind Foxes soon lowered its head, continuing to gnaw on the deer meat in front of it.

Lin Mo timed it carefully, approaching within 50 meters. At this distance, they were practically already corpses.

Swiftwind Foxes were indeed fast; even ordinary assassin professionals couldn't necessarily catch up. But Lin Mo was anything but ordinary. His 24 agility put his speed close to Level 2 assassin standards. If they were farther apart and these two Swiftwind Foxes split up and ran, perhaps one might escape. But once he got this close, there was absolutely no chance of survival.

With only one second left on 【Vanish】, Lin Mo didn't hesitate, striking directly, thrusting his sword at the Swiftwind Fox that was busy eating.

The suddenly appearing figure clearly startled them, but at this distance, it was already too late to escape. The Wolf Bone Sword precisely entered through the mouth, deeply penetrating the throat.

Lin Mo estimated this thing's fur should be worth something, so he deliberately chose this angle to preserve the pelt's integrity as much as possible.

The physical damage bonus from 【Vanish】, plus the strength bonuses from the Wolf Bone Sword and Finnie's 【Light's Assistance】, made Lin Mo's output completely reach, even exceed, Level 2 warrior standards. Even with just a common-grade skill like 【Thrust】, he easily killed this Swiftwind Fox.

【Thrust】 proficiency +8

The Swiftwind Fox's threat level was 1, so the proficiency gain was the same as for an adult mutated goblin—8 points.

This message appeared before Lin Mo's eyes. He temporarily ignored it, preparing to continue pursuing the other fleeing Swiftwind Fox.

Just as Lin Mo started to move, a tiger's roar suddenly came from the distance.

Immediately after, a ball of flame suddenly landed on the escaping Swiftwind Fox. With a shriek, the Swiftwind Fox was directly burned black all over, convulsing as it fell to the ground.

Lin Mo looked ahead—a giant beast nearly five meters tall was slowly approaching from the distance...

Crimson Flame Tiger? But... something didn't seem quite right?