Chapter 124: Chapter 124

"By the way, there's also this axe."

Lin Mo suddenly remembered something and took out the Minotaur Chieftain's axe from his Magic Storage Bag.

Ross took it and placed it on the counter, carefully examined it for a while, felt it with his hands, then picked up a hammer and tapped it a couple of times.

"The material is decent, but it's just common stuff. Normally it would be worth around 10-12 gold coins, but if you're selling, I'll give you 14 gold coins to make it a round number - 500 gold coins total."

After leaving Ross's shop, they went to a restaurant where Lin Mo tallied up their gains from this mission.

"The mission reward is 101 gold coins, plus 500 gold coins from selling materials, that's 601 gold coins total!"

Finnie took out her wallet and retrieved 6 Crystal Coins plus 1 gold coin.

"Here you go, Mr. Lin Mo."

Although previous missions seemed to include material values, this time was different because materials weren't part of the mission submission requirements, so strictly speaking, they shouldn't count toward the mission. Plus, they had killed so many this time - 16 Half-Orc level Minotaurs in one go, and coincidentally, these monster materials were quite valuable.

Finnie blinked in confusion: "They don't count?"

She thought seriously for a moment: "Mother didn't specify in detail, but they should count. Mr. Lin Mo, don't worry about it, this amount isn't that much anyway."

Lin Mo could tell she wasn't being deceptive. 600 gold coins was a fortune to most people, even to professional adventurers, but to people at higher levels like Flora, it probably wasn't significant.

And for the Lavelle family, who ruled an entire city, their wealth would be exponentially greater than Flora's.

Since she put it that way, Lin Mo naturally wouldn't refuse - after all, this was a full 601 gold coins!

Combined, their total income from this mission reached a staggering 1,202 gold coins!

Lin Mo began considering how to distribute the earnings.

Since they were all familiar with each other now, this should be discussed properly.

"How about I take half, and Ellie and Finnie each take a quarter?"

"You don't need to give us that much..."

Finnie waved her hand dismissively: "Mr. Lin Mo did most of the work for this mission."

Ellie also nodded: "I didn't really do anything, I'll just take ten percent, or even less would be fine..."

"Then how about this - you each get twenty percent."

Although in terms of contribution it might be true, Lin Mo certainly couldn't actually hog eighty to ninety percent of the reward. If nothing else, half of these gold coins came from Finnie herself anyway.

The final interpretation of the double mission reward completely belonged to City Lord Lavelle, and if he appeared too greedy... it wasn't like Finnie had to stay with their team.

Sixty percent was already plenty. Giving Ellie more money would let her upgrade her equipment too.

Finally, the mission reward distribution was settled.

Lin Mo received 60% of the reward, roughly 720 gold coins - a huge sum.

Added to his remaining 253+ gold coins, his total assets now approached 1,000 gold coins - enough to buy those mithril gloves!

Tomorrow was a rest day anyway - perfect timing to visit the alchemy shop.

As it was getting late, after finishing their meal, Finnie needed to head home.

The same short-haired maid came to pick her up. Previously Lin Mo hadn't paid much attention, but now looking carefully, this maid's movements were crisp and efficient, definitely giving off an expert vibe.

Judging by the weapon she used before, she was probably an assassin?

Lin Mo greeted this quite capable maid, who slightly bowed in return before taking Finnie away.

Lin Mo and Ellie brought some food for Lena, then went to the Association to pick her up after work.

Along the way, Ellie was far less lively than previous days, seeming preoccupied with something.

Lin Mo probably knew why she was unhappy, but didn't know how to comfort her just yet.

As night deepened, Lin Mo didn't turn off the lights to rest, but instead sat on the bed waiting. Sure enough, after a while, Ellie opened his door and came in.

"Lena's already asleep?"

Ellie nodded, walked to the bedside, and threw herself onto him.

Lin Mo gently stroked her back, comforting her.

"Lin Mo, am I useless?"

Ellie buried her face in the blanket, her voice sounding more dejected than ever before.

"How could you be..."

Lin Mo softly caressed her hair, "Without Ellie, we wouldn't have caught that Mutated Giant Rat so easily. And at the end, if Ellie hadn't spotted that Rotted Corpse in time, we might not have escaped safely either."

"But I don't want to only be able to help you in such small ways."

Ellie lifted her head, her eyes shimmering with complex emotions.

Inferiority, sorrow, sadness...

Lin Mo was very familiar with these emotions - when he first met Ellie, such feelings often appeared in her eyes, but they had gradually disappeared as their relationship deepened, and he hadn't seen them for a while.

"I want to become stronger, I want to fight alongside Lin Mo, I want to always follow behind you..."

Ellie still remembered the helpless looks in Alden and the others' eyes when they parted.

They hadn't wanted to separate either, but people of different strength levels simply weren't suited to stay in the same team. This was true for Alden and his team, and it was true for her too.

Through their journey together, Ellie had personally witnessed Lin Mo's explosive improvement in strength. Of course she was happy for him, but it also made her panic.

Because she simply couldn't keep up with Lin Mo's pace. The stronger he became, the wider the gap between them grew.

Ellie didn't want to leave Lin Mo, but she hated even more the thought of becoming his burden.

If one day she truly couldn't help at all, and staying by his side would only hold him back, then—

Ellie's thoughts were interrupted by Lin Mo's sudden movement.

Lin Mo cupped the little wolf girl's pretty face in his hands and pressed close again, using this method to stop her from overthinking.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes...

The continuous contact gradually blanked Ellie's mind, her breathing grew heavier, and those worries faded away.

"We'll find a way to handle these things, let's look for solutions together later, okay?"

Lin Mo's voice sounded by her ear. She softly acknowledged, nodded, then mischievously reached out her hand.

At times like these, Ellie was always very proactive - so proactive that Lin Mo sometimes couldn't handle it...

Some time later, Lin Mo exhaled deeply and contentedly as the room returned to quiet.

Ellie nestled against Lin Mo's side, her skin glowing with a faint blush.

Lin Mo rubbed her tail, feeling the slight tremors running through Ellie's body.

After releasing his tension, Lin Mo instead grew contemplative and began thinking about future matters.

Solo adventuring had many inconveniences, and since he wanted teammates, of course he preferred bringing this capable and attractive little wolf girl.

But his strength was increasing too rapidly - even Flora, a top-tier genius of the kingdom, lagged far behind. Although Ellie had Ice Wolf Clan bloodline, half-orc talents didn't necessarily manifest, and even if they awakened, it would take time.

Not just Ellie, but including Finnie, and potential future teammates...

Lin Mo rubbed his temples. One could only say that everything had two sides - if he kept drifting from team to team, he wouldn't have these worries.

But that would also mean he'd have to stay constantly vigilant, keeping his nerves tense even during rest.

After all, he couldn't guarantee meeting good people every time. If someone had malicious intentions and he wasn't careful, things could go badly wrong.

While lost in thought, he subconsciously glanced at his status panel and suddenly noticed some information he'd overlooked during the earlier frenzy.

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Lin Mo focused his gaze and suddenly froze.

"Comprehended Unique Special Skill [Joint Cultivation]! Constitution +1!"

[Joint Cultivation] Lv1 (0/10): Through deep exchange, create resonance between Qi and Blood or mana, improving mutual compatibility while slightly providing random corresponding attribute adjustments (i.e.: Qi and Blood exchange randomly increases Strength, Constitution, Agility; Mana exchange randomly increases Mana, Spirit).

Note: Requires "depth" and "exchange." Adjustments flow from higher to lower, with magnitude slightly positively correlated to the difference between both parties.

This was Lin Mo's second purely comprehended skill since [Slash] not long after his transmigration.

And compared to the ordinary [Slash], this "Unique Special Skill" he'd just comprehended was absolutely incredible!

Looking past the flashy description and summarizing simply - when he and Ellie "exchanged," it could slightly enhance the Qi and Blood attributes where he surpassed Ellie.

Similarly, if he "exchanged" with someone whose attributes surpassed his in certain aspects - like Flora - then it could slightly enhance his own Mana or Spirit.

But this so-called "slightly" - exactly how much was it?

Moreover, this skill had levels, and it even gave attributes when comprehended. Would the effects strengthen after leveling up, and could it continue evolving?

All these questions made Lin Mo want to experiment right away.

So the hand that had been gently stroking Ellie's tail suddenly tightened, gripping the base of her tail.

Ellie immediately gasped, her body stiffening and tensing up completely.

She gave Lin Mo a surprised glance, then smiled slightly and quickly got into the mood.

Some time later, Lin Mo looked at [Joint Cultivation] which had reached Lv1 (1/10). Okay, now he could confirm one thing - this skill's proficiency seemed to increase with frequency.

Then he looked at Ellie, who had completely curled up into a ball lying in his embrace.

"Ellie, do you feel anything different?"

Ellie looked up somewhat confused.

Lin Mo gently tapped her head: "Other aspects, changes in your body."

Ellie shook her head, not quite understanding why he was suddenly asking this.

Well, since it was a slight enhancement, it made sense that one time wouldn't be noticeable.

Then he could only work harder and conduct more experiments - after all, they didn't need to go adventuring tomorrow anyway.

Lin Mo took a deep breath.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night...