Chapter 131: Chapter 131

Watching the goblins retreat, the adventurers didn't erupt in enthusiastic celebration.

It wasn't that they weren't happy, but they simply had no energy left.

The prolonged battle, facing opponents that outnumbered them dozens of times over, had completely exhausted them.

Landon leaned his forehead on his hand and let out a long sigh.

Even as a level 4 mage, after that continuous barrage of magical bombardment, his mana was nearly depleted, and the mental strain was even more severe. It would take quite some rest to recover.

Recalling that assassin goblin that suddenly charged in front of him, he still felt lingering fear.

Thinking of this, Landon turned his admiring gaze toward Lin Mo.

Knows magic, is a warrior, fast speed...

And he almost effortlessly took down an assassin goblin with a threat level possibly approaching level 3.

This young man is incredibly strong!

Landon had been in Silverstream City for so many years and had seen some talented geniuses from the royal capital who came for training, but none of them impressed him as much as Lin Mo.

Not even that so-called once-in-a-century magical genius from the kingdom.

If purely comparing magical talent, she might be slightly superior, but when considering overall abilities, Landon still felt this young man named Lin Mo surpassed her!

He walked up to Lin Mo and initiated conversation: "Thank you for earlier, young brother."

Lin Mo smiled: "Don't mention it. I just suddenly considered the possibility of assassins. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to hold this position either."

Although he took down the enemy's strongest commander, in terms of overall contribution, Landon had contributed more than him.

This was the power of a mage - a level 4 mage was like a magical artillery platform, each strike taking down at least a dozen goblins.

Of course, Lin Mo's performance in the earlier battle was also quite remarkable.

His initial series of spells had significant effect, and his subsequent close combat took down numerous goblins. Plus, protecting the team's main damage dealer was itself a contribution.

The messy battlefield didn't need them to clean up - the townspeople would come later to help clear it.

As for kill counts, they could only make rough estimates based on battle performance and mutual descriptions.

However, adventurers were generally quite practical about this sort of thing, and lies were easily exposed, so overall there wouldn't be major discrepancies.

It was already deep into the night, and the main battlefield fighting continued, but given their condition, it wasn't appropriate to rush to another battle. Better to rest properly and wait until tomorrow.

This battle wasn't over yet...

Their interception here only thwarted one goblin assault and depleted some of their "troops."

Making the entire goblin army retreat wouldn't be that simple.

Many adventurers were either severely exhausted or injured, so they simply chose to rest somewhere nearby, waiting for Silvermoon Town residents to clear the battlefield and take them back.

Lin Mo still had some stamina left and wasn't injured, so he wasn't in such a sorry state.

Ellie had initially exhausted her stamina and taken some injuries, but after retreating to protect Finnie, she had recovered somewhat, and her injuries were healed with some life potion.

This girl had pushed herself too hard. Earlier she drank two mana potions to help treat the adventurers, overloading her mentally, and had already fallen into deep sleep leaning against a tree.

Lin Mo walked over and gently picked her up, heading toward the town.

Time to go back and rest properly.

After being out of combat for a while, Lin Mo's stamina gradually began recovering.

Although he was still walking and carrying Finnie, her weight was no burden at all to the current Lin Mo. Instead, this priestess's soft body gave him quite a healing feeling.

Feeling somewhat better and considering there shouldn't be any immediate danger, Lin Mo checked his proficiency panel to tally the gains from the recent battle.

The more he looked, the more his brows relaxed. Although it had been difficult, the proficiency gained was substantial.

Besides the earlier skill upgrades and evolutions, Lin Mo hadn't forgotten to use his defensive skill - Fortitude - when fighting slightly stronger monsters, gaining some experience.

"Skill 【Fortitude】Lv2 (20/20) upgraded!"

"Current skill 【Fortitude】Lv3 (11/40)"

This skill improved quickly only when facing relatively strong enemies. For example, when Lin Mo fought that assassin goblin earlier, it gained several proficiency points.

As for dealing with weaker monsters, even adult mutated goblins, the effect wasn't very good now.

Lin Mo recalled when he was improving 【Fortitude】before. If he could find relatively strong individuals now, like level 3 or above professionals, he could probably practice and improve using the same method.

But hiring level 3 professionals wouldn't be the same price - he'd need to consider funding issues.

As for this skill's additional damage reflection effect...

Well, they wouldn't know anyway, they'd just think it was recoil force.

That bit of reflected damage, as long as it wasn't too frequent, probably wouldn't harm a level 3 professional.

Regardless, these matters could wait until after everything was settled. For now, he'd let the goblin "instructors" serve as sparring partners.

After checking his skills, Lin Mo reviewed his current attributes.

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

Constitution: 21 (31)

Fire Element Affinity: 25%

Including profession bonuses, 36 points in strength and 31 points in constitution were undoubtedly excellent, while 24 points in agility was quite good.

15 points in mana meant he was on the right track, while 7 points in spirit...

Well, it was serviceable.

The main focus going forward, besides continuing magic practice, could be on reaching level 3 warrior and level 2 assassin.

These two basic attributes were only 1 and 2 points away respectively, likely the fastest improvements to obtain.

In terms of specific skills, 【Accumulated Sword Combo】 would take a while to level up, while Consecutive Thrusts would be somewhat easier, but not by much.

After all, it was only approaching level 4 now, with levels 5 and 6 still to go.

For assassin skills, 【Vanish】 wasn't far from level 6 now, but exceptional-grade skills still had level 7 remaining.

Thinking about it this way, leveling up in the short term was quite difficult unless he could learn new skills.

Lin Mo planned to check back in town. He still had money anyway, and if necessary, he could buy one or two.

But skill scrolls were indeed quite expensive - the prices were too high, making purchases not very cost-effective.

If only someone could teach him...

Come to think of it, Lin Mo hadn't tried learning skills through instruction alone without using scrolls.

He heard the efficiency was far inferior to learning through scrolls, but it was hard to say.

Normal people took months to learn even with scrolls, while Lin Mo could manage in a short while.

Thinking about these things, he unconsciously returned to Silvermoon Town.

Going directly back to the inn room arranged by the association president, Lin Mo gently placed Finnie on the bed.

Vague dream murmurs came from her mouth, her brows still slightly furrowed, looking uncomfortable.

Lin Mo prepared to turn and leave when she suddenly grabbed the corner of his clothes.

Lin Mo looked back, somewhat awkwardly glancing at her.

Finnie continued murmuring in her sleep: "Don't leave me alone..."

Gently rubbing Finnie's hair and pulling the covers over her, her expression gradually relaxed, and her hand slowly released.

Lin Mo turned and left, closing the door, going to rest next door.

A moment later, a figure suddenly appeared by Finnie's bedside, quietly watching her with those light golden pupils.

"Sherfilia sister..."

Finnie called out this name in her dazed state. The maid standing by the bed slightly started, her eyes growing softer.

"I'm here, young lady."

Whether responding or talking to herself, she spoke softly, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

In the adjacent room, Ellie, who had naturally followed Lin Mo into the room, took off her armor and went directly to bathe.

After finishing her bath shortly after, she directly lay on the bed and patted the spot beside her.

Lin Mo smiled somewhat helplessly: "Don't you have your own room?"

"That one, even dogs wouldn't use it..."

Ellie pouted, then looked at him full of anticipation: "Let's sleep together!"

What could Lin Mo say? He couldn't just kick her out, so he entered the bathroom, took a shower, couldn't be bothered with pajamas, dried off, and got into bed.

The already drowsy Ellie immediately pressed against him, wrapped her arms around his waist, buried her head in his chest and nuzzled, showing a silly, happy expression.

If he weren't genuinely tired, Lin Mo definitely wouldn't let her sleep - he'd definitely pull the little wolf-girl into some physical exercise.

But today, he'd let it go - he really needed proper sleep...

Holding the soft body, sleepiness quickly overcame him. Lin Mo closed his eyes and fell into peaceful slumber.

By the time they returned, it was nearly dawn. When they woke from this sleep, it was already afternoon. Newest update provıded by novel~fire~net

Lin Mo opened his eyes, moved the arm and leg pressing on him aside, sat up, and stretched.

It felt like those times he stayed up all night gaming and slept through the day.

But his current constitution was nothing like back then - waking from this sleep wouldn't bring dizziness, headaches, or body aches.

I wonder if Finnie is up yet?

Poking Ellie's cheek with his finger, the little wolf-girl impatiently flicked her tail and snorted through her nose.

Lin Mo continued poking. The ears on Ellie's head kept twitching with his movements until she finally half-opened her eyes dazedly and bit down.

After a slight pain came a warm sensation.

Ellie gently gnawed with her teeth, her lips enveloping his finger, then bit down slightly harder before releasing and starting to suck.

This feeling... why did it seem somewhat familiar?