Chapter 120: Chapter 120

Just as Branch Head Vic had said yesterday, today's mission board indeed had many new missions related to undead creatures.

Lin Mo's gaze first lingered in the D-rank section for a while.

Most D-rank missions were still quite difficult and rather challenging for the current Silver Radiance Team, though those newly added missions related to undead creatures seemed slightly simpler by comparison.

【Slay the Icy Rotted Corpse】

Client: Adventurers' Association

Note 1: Target threat level temporarily assessed as Level 3, accept with caution!

Note 2: Large numbers of other undead creatures may exist around the target, thoroughly investigate before undertaking mission!

Threat Level 3, huh...

Lin Mo glanced at his current attributes.

【Profession】: Warrior Level 2, Knight Level 1, Assassin Level 1

Constitution: 16 (24)

Fire Element Affinity: 13%

This stat panel was undoubtedly quite impressive—his agility and constitution had actually reached the standard of Level 2 professionals, while his strength wasn't far from Level 3 professionals.

But even for a Level 3 professional, dealing with a threat level 3 monster would be quite difficult.

After all, threat level classification wasn't based on one-on-one combat.

A threat level 1 monster required a professional leading a complete adventurer team to defeat.

Similarly, a threat level 3 monster would require a Level 3 professional leading appropriately matched teammates to challenge, and teammates matching a Level 3 professional should include at least one or two Level 2s, with the rest approaching Level 2.

Honestly, the current Silver Radiance Team still fell far short of this standard. Ellie was a pure Level 1 professional—though stronger than average professionals, that was still within the Level 1 range. As for Finnie, she had probably been a professional for some time, but still had a gap to reach Level 2.

Though he really wanted to seize the opportunity and accept this relatively simpler D-rank mission, from a strength perspective, the current Silver Radiance Team still fell short.

Previously, being able to kill that adult Crimson Flame Tiger was mainly because it was already severely injured.

Lin Mo shook his head and reluctantly chose to give up.

Let's look at E-rank missions first.

There were many E-rank missions to begin with, so he couldn't immediately find any related to undead creatures.

Lin Mo looked for a long time, feeling somewhat dazzled.

But he finally found a decent mission.

【Hunt the Mutated Giant Rat】

Mission Number: E1348

Client: Adventurers' Association

A mutated giant rat has appeared in the Deep Forest Area of Roland Forest, causing significant impact to the local terrain. Allowing it to continue may lead to excessive underground cavities in nearby areas, posing risks of attacks or collapse falls for passing adventurers.

Note 1: Target threat level temporarily assessed as Level 2.

Threat Level 2 wasn't considered a particularly troublesome opponent for Lin Mo. However, cleanup missions tended to have more reward-based compensation, with the monsters themselves having low value, so profits would be slightly lower compared to material collection missions.

But 40 gold coins was quite generous compensation, completely worth accepting.

After selecting one mission, choosing subsequent missions became more difficult than before.

Because he had to consider the distance between two missions and the travel time required. In principle, it wasn't advisable to accept two missions too far apart in one outing—better to return for rest and resupply before setting out again.

Previously, the multiple missions they accepted were mostly quite close together.

Back then, Alden was responsible for these tasks. Now that it was his turn, Lin Mo immediately felt how hard Alden worked.

Looking at the massive number of missions covering the entire wall, he felt completely overwhelmed.

After looking for half an hour, he finally found suitable targets.

Mission Number: E6636

Client: Adventurers' Association

Reward: 40 Gold + Material Purchase (can also trade with others independently)

A rare minotaur settlement has appeared in the Deep Forest Area of Roland Forest, including one minotaur chieftain that needs timely elimination.

Note 1: Target threat level temporarily assessed as Level 2.5.

This mission's activity area wasn't too far from the mutated giant rat's, only about half a day's journey.

Moreover, compared to the giant rat cleanup mission, this one was clearly more appealing.

Because besides the association's reward, the minotaur's materials themselves were valuable, not to mention there was also a minotaur chieftain. This was precisely why the association didn't offer a particularly high price for this mission.

Or rather, missions like the mutated giant rat with few valuable materials had some additional subsidy in their rewards.

A 2.5 threat level was just right in difficulty—should be manageable.

Lin Mo still had an uncompleted mission on him.

Mission Number: E2334

Type: Hunt/Material Collection

Go to Roland Forest, find and kill minotaurs, bring back intact horns.

Mission Duration: Long-term

Note: If higher-tier minotaurs are discovered, can also contact client for purchase—price will definitely satisfy you!

This was a mission he accepted when he first arrived in Silverstream City and went out alone, thinking he'd complete it whenever he encountered minotaurs. Unexpectedly, he hadn't encountered a single minotaur until now.

This was perfect—completing this mission would allow him to sell materials to Ross, plus get an additional E-rank mission count.

Completing 3 E-rank missions at once would bring Lin Mo's E-rank mission count directly to 16!

Without hesitation, Lin Mo went directly to Lena's counter.

"Accepting missions, numbers E1348 and E6636."

"Okay, Mr. Lin Mo, please wait a moment."

Lena quickly completed the registration and returned the team's tag to Lin Mo: "Please be careful~"

Waving with a smile to the cat-eared girl, Lin Mo left the association with his two teammates, heading straight for the city gates.

Not far behind them, a figure in a maid outfit was watching them from a café in the distance. She leisurely finished the pastry in front of her, drank the coffee in her cup in one gulp, then left a silver coin before her figure instantly vanished...

It was about 9 AM when Silver Radiance Team exited the city gates, heading toward Roland Forest.

Just getting to Roland Forest would take about half an hour.

After entering Roland Forest, reaching the target location would take another half day. As their strength increased, this travel time kept growing.

Lin Mo had wondered if they could shorten travel time, but other adventurers had considered this too, concluding there was no good solution.

The journey to Roland Forest was manageable—they could hire a carriage, arriving in about half the time or less, but this only saved about ten minutes.

Once inside the forest, carriages could hardly continue...

Merchant caravans mostly used established main roads, while adventurers' missions were mostly far from main roads.

Only in rare cases could carriages save some time via main roads—most times they could only rely on walking.

Though in some bard stories, powerful adventurers might capture monsters as mounts for transportation.

But not every monster could serve as a mount...

Monsters in Roland Forest generally lacked sufficient intelligence, making them difficult to tame. Follow current novels on NoveI~Fire.net

The long journey wasn't problematic for Lin Mo and Ellie, but for Finnie as a priest, it was quite challenging.

In previous missions, the team would frequently stop to let her rest. After all, she was the benefactor providing extra rewards, so no one objected.

This time was no different.

Before noon, Silver Radiance Team stopped for a brief rest.

Lin Mo didn't forget the principles adventurers should follow. Although monsters in this area theoretically posed little threat to them, he still cautiously scouted the surroundings and set several simple traps.

Finnie took a muffin from the food box she brought, nibbling on it slowly.

Come to think of it, Finnie seemed quite fond of eating—she always brought many delicious foods when going out, mostly high-sugar items.

Lin Mo couldn't help glancing at her flat stomach.

She ate a lot and probably didn't exercise much before, yet didn't gain weight at all. One could only say it was an enviable constitution...

After resting for a while, the traps Lin Mo set were suddenly triggered.

This surprised Lin Mo somewhat. Although he always set traps out of caution, they were rarely actually triggered.

Parting the grass, he saw it was a goblin.

The goblin, with its leg trapped, kept calling for help, summoning several companions.

This worked out well—delivering more proficiency points to him...

Lin Mo never showed mercy toward these damned evil green-skinned creatures, killing them whenever he encountered them.

So, just as several goblins gathered around the trap discussing how to rescue their companion, a fireball suddenly flew out, hitting one goblin directly in the head.

Instantly, the magic's powerful force charred that ugly green head to cinders.

The goblins immediately screamed, looking toward where the fireball came from. Lin Mo slowly approached, launching another fireball from his hand.

The fireball hit a goblin's torso, burning with intense flames that instantly made it emit piercing screams before collapsing motionless within seconds.

The remaining goblins immediately lost all will to fight, scattering in all directions.

Lin Mo wasn't in a hurry, leisurely chasing them down and using 【Fireball】 to pick them off one by one.

Finally, he gained another 6 proficiency points for fireball.

Lin Mo looked at the (13/100) progress and sighed helplessly—still a long way to go.

Returning to their spot, Finnie had rested enough, so they continued toward the mutated giant rat's location recorded in the mission.

With only three team members, forming a proper formation was difficult, so they simply walked side by side, with Lin Mo and Ellie protecting Finnie in the middle.

Traveling inevitably became boring. Besides staying alert, during occasional free moments, Lin Mo would chat with his teammates.

For instance, he was quite curious about Finnie's staff.

It was silver-gray throughout, about over a meter long. Besides serving as a magic staff, it also doubled as Finnie's walking stick and melee weapon.

"Finnie, the material for this staff... it's not mithril, is it?"

Considering her identity and family wealth, Lin Mo asked somewhat uncertainly.

Finnie nodded: "This was a gift from my mother for my 16th birthday."

Being rich is really nice.

Lin Mo couldn't help sighing inwardly, ultimately suppressing the rather outrageous thought of "Does aunt still need a son?"

"How much would this staff cost approximately?"

Lin Mo was somewhat curious. Mithril gloves cost 800-1000 gold coins, and this staff clearly used much more material than gloves.

"About 25 crystal coins? I'm not really sure..."

Finnie's eyes held the confusion unique to young ladies from wealthy families.

25 crystal coins—2500 gold coins.

Lin Mo couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath. Such an expensive item, and she used it to whack goblins on the head.

Although mithril material was quite sturdy, so damage wasn't a concern anyway.

Besides being used for staffs and spellcasting gloves, this material could actually also make armor.

Better defense than most steel plus lightweight quality, even having decent ductility.

But compared to other materials at equivalent prices, like orichalcum, mithril armor besides being lightweight had much poorer defensive performance, also wasting its excellent magic conductivity. So it generally only served as choice for some nobles showing off or daily protection—a very niche usage.

As for making weapons...

Mithril material was indeed sturdy enough and had some ductility, but this material's flexibility was only average—usable as weapons but not excellent.

Most importantly, melee weapons made from mithril had a very fatal problem—they were light.

Lightweight itself was an excellent attribute, but for professions like warriors and knights, they preferred heavier handling.

The weapon's own weight could also give them some advantage in direct combat collisions.

Even for assassins' short weapons, there were materials with better comprehensive attributes that were cheaper.

That's why the "magic sword" Flora mentioned that day was so difficult to forge—because mithril wouldn't work, while materials like meteoric iron and dark iron lacked magic affinity.

Unless it was the legendary adamantine.

But that material's scarcity and preciousness were far more exaggerated than mithril's.

Legend said adamantine was one of dragons' favorite materials, and even a dragon's hoard typically wouldn't have much, completely insufficient for forging a weapon.

Most importantly, currently, "spellswords" were practically like fantasy—there were simply no people who could simultaneously hone both magic and sword skills to extremely high levels. So even capable people wouldn't waste such extremely expensive materials on futile attempts.

Flora had painted him a pie that couldn't be realized for a very long time...

After another rest period, around 3 PM, they finally reached their destination.

Just as the mission described, that mutated giant rat led its kin in constant burrowing, already creating very dense underground tunnels throughout this area.

In this situation, methods like previously using poisonous smoke to force them out became difficult to implement.

For most adventurers, this was actually quite a difficult mission.

The difficulty lay not in defeating the mutated giant rat, but in encountering it and preventing its escape.

This was when assassins truly shined.

Coincidentally, Lin Mo happened to be an assassin.

Lin Mo looked toward Ellie, who had been investigating nearby for a long time, carefully discerning scents.

"I can indeed smell a slightly different scent..."

Ellie nodded, signaling the two to follow.

Almost every stretch of the path had burrow holes dug by giant rats visible.

Finally, they stopped before a seemingly ordinary hole entrance.

"Here—this is where that scent different from ordinary giant rats was most obvious recently."

After confirming the aura here, Ellie made her judgment.

Lin Mo nodded. What came next was patient waiting.

Giant rats were generally active at night, so they were sleeping in their burrows at this time, only rising around dusk to forage.

The three crouched in the grass for a long time until the sun sank westward, around 6 PM, when movement finally came from the hole ahead.

Ellie leaned close to Lin Mo's ear, softly reminding him.

With extremely faint sounds, a giant rat poked its head from the burrow.

It was an ordinary giant rat.

Then a second, third...

Over a dozen giant rats emerged without any abnormal individuals appearing.

Remembering Ellie's reminder, Lin Mo continued waiting patiently.

Half a minute later, finally a clearly larger head poked from the burrow, cautiously looking around, extremely careful.

For concealment, the grass where Lin Mo's team crouched was quite far from the hole, so it didn't detect anything unusual, slowly climbing out.

Compared to ordinary giant rats, its size was noticeably larger, though not excessively so. More striking was its significantly darker fur.

It looked glossy and sleek, quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, limited by giant rats' size, their fur couldn't make leather armor, only serving as decorative items for nobility—valuable but not highly priced.

Lin Mo didn't speak, just lightly touched Finnie's hand.

She immediately understood, placing her staff on the ground, carefully hiding the light effects while casting 【Light's Assistance】 on Lin Mo.

The next moment, his figure vanished on the spot.

After the cautious mutated giant rat confirmed the surroundings were safe, it slightly relaxed vigilance, leading this group of kin to forage.

However, just as it chattered communicating with its kin, an extremely faint sound suddenly reached its ears.

It immediately crouched down, perking ears, observing surroundings, ready to retreat at any moment.

But there was nothing unusual around—seemingly just passing wind.

Evening wind blew again. Just as the mutated giant rat raised itself, it suddenly felt prickling unease down its back.

Without any hesitation, it immediately dove for the burrow, but it was too late...

Rapidly flying blades fell just as its head entered the hole, seven sword energies striking simultaneously, directly severing its head.

【Accumulated Sword Combo】 proficiency +15

【Vanish】 proficiency +15

Lin Mo, revealed from attacking, smiled slightly. Indeed, he guessed correctly—this thing was truly cowardly, fleeing at the slightest sign of trouble.

Fortunately, he predicted its movements beforehand, sword energies slashing directly toward the hole direction, with 【Charged Sword Slash】's power sufficient to instantly kill.

Otherwise, it might really have escaped.

If it weren't him, even a Level 2 assassin professional would have significant chance of failure.

Because even if that assassin perfectly concealed themselves like Lin Mo, instantly killing a threat level 2 monster was very difficult, almost impossible.

Unless they simultaneously possessed exceptional-grade stealth skills and exceptional-grade burst skills—an even lower probability.

Skills were quite scarce, even for professionals.

This was one difficulty limiting many professionals' advancement—without new skills, they couldn't continue improving attributes, couldn't level up.

Only those with background and influence, or exceptionally talented geniuses worth recruiting, rarely worried about this aspect.

Looking at the rat head fallen into the burrow, Lin Mo slightly relaxed.

No wonder this earlier-numbered mission remained unaccepted for so long—the difficulty explained it.

Of course, the mutated giant rat's harm wasn't significant enough compared to rampant goblins and recently appearing undead creatures.

The association naturally wouldn't focus more effort on such less urgent monsters.

Regardless, the mission was finally completed smoothly. Lin Mo conveniently killed the other ordinary giant rats—not bothering with escaped ones since they were hard to manage anyway—then severed the mutated giant rat's tail and skinned it to take along.

It was getting late—needed to quickly set up camp.

At times , another drawback of three people compared to the previous seven-person team emerged.

Too much work, couldn't handle it all.

After struggling for a while, finally completing all tasks like tents and traps, Lin Mo couldn't be bothered hunting, directly taking out ingredients to make several little burgers to make do.

Finnie also took out pastries she brought to share, even tasting Lin Mo's little burgers.

The taste wasn't great for her, but it was novel, so she gave positive feedback.

With only three people for night watch, each person's watch time became longer...

Lin Mo took first watch, adding firewood to the campfire while staring blankly at his panel.

High-tier skills were harder to improve. Actually, ideally, he should first get another low-tier assassin profession skill to raise assassin to Level 2.

And the knight profession only needed 4 more basic attributes.

【Shield Bash】 was still Level 3—reaching Level 5 would give 2 constitution points, plus learning new skill rewards, should be just enough.

And magic couldn't fall behind either—so far his magic still couldn't serve as main combat method.

Really needed to practice everything...

Fortunately, he currently had no major external pressures—Lawrence's influence clearly couldn't reach Silverstream City well. Just take it step by step slowly.

Tomorrow's minotaur settlement should bring him considerable gains.

Lin Mo hadn't forgotten—one minotaur gave a full 8 proficiency points!

And tomorrow awaited an entire minotaur settlement, even including a minotaur chieftain...