novelraw Chapter 197: Advancing to Level 7 Mage, Crystal Shield Technique!
Chapter 197: Advancing to Level 7 Mage, Crystal Shield Technique!
Chapter 197: Advancing to Level 7 Mage, Crystal Shield Technique!The battles that followed no longer required Lin Mo to bear any significant pressure. He had already done more than enough earlier, and what remained was simply time to clear monsters and grind skill proficiency!
However, the Rock Shield technique he had previously coordinated with Earth-Rending Slam required mana to activate, and it would be safer to go to the battlefield after recovering some mana. So before that, it was best to rest for a little while longer.
Lin Mo returned below the watchtower, found a clean spot to sit cross-legged, and entered a meditative state.
Primary Meditation Technique proficiency +1
.......
He didn't meditate for too long, opening his eyes after about half an hour.
Moreover, thanks to the accumulated practice during previous days, the Primary Meditation Technique skill had conveniently leveled up.
"Skill Primary Meditation Technique Lv2 (20/20) has leveled up!"
"Current skill Primary Meditation Technique Lv3 (0/40)"
About half an hour of meditation didn't restore much mana, only less than 1/10 of his total, but Lin Mo had also received three additional supplies of Primary Mana Potions from logistics, which combined should be sufficient.Chugging down one Primary Mana Potion in one go, Lin Mo stretched his body a bit, first greeting Sherfilia and Ellie to explain the situation.
"Please be careful, my master."
Sherfilia didn't stop him but reminded him very seriously.
Her physical stamina and qi and blood were severely depleted and wouldn't recover easily.
Ellie's situation was similar, looking at him with full of worry.
"Don't worry, I won't go too far."
Lin Mo smiled, waved his hand, and headed straight for the battlefield.
After half an hour, the battle situation before him remained at a white-hot stage.
The goblin side had suffered heavy losses, but Silverstream City's defensive lines were also retreating step by step. If they continued retreating, they would soon reach the camp area.
Commander Joel had already begun organizing the evacuation of logistics personnel and wounded from the camp, preparing to abandon the first line of defense.
As for the undead creatures on the flank, just as Commander Joel had previously mentioned, the strength of those adventure groups shouldn't be underestimated. With the addition of two elite guard units, they had completely blocked the advance of the undead creatures and even helped relieve some pressure on the flank battlefield. ℝаΝօВΕꞨ
As usual, Lin Mo quickly charged straight into the goblin army.
To avoid accidentally injuring allies, he needed to maintain some distance from the battle line.
But he didn't need to go too far, soon stopping.
The surrounding goblins swarmed toward him all at once. Lin Mo raised his hand and silently chanted: "Rock Shield."
A thick rock shield instantly appeared in his hand. Holding the rock shield, Lin Mo pushed off with his feet, his entire body suddenly leaping into the air, then smashing the rock shield heavily forward.
Earth-Rending Slam!
As a knight profession skill, its killing power wasn't actually considered particularly great. When used against opponents of the same level, it might not be very effective.
But it wasn't without advantages either - its main feature was its large area of effect, making it very useful when facing numerous weaker enemies.
The reason Lin Mo hadn't used it before was because his main targets at that time were the stronger Bronze Goblins and Giant Goblins. Now his targets had changed. Although there were still many Bronze Goblins and Giant Goblins around, compared to before the cleanup, the situation had improved considerably. With Lin Mo not in optimal condition, he wouldn't risk specifically hunting them anymore.
If he saw them, he'd kill them incidentally, but his main focus was to clear out these ordinary goblins as much as possible, both to relieve pressure on the front lines and to improve his skill proficiency.
As Lin Mo landed heavily, the surrounding ground immediately cracked, with powerful shockwaves sending goblins in a large area tumbling "head over heels."
Earth-Rending Slam proficiency +18!
So much?!
Lin Mo was instantly shocked. After all, Earth-Rending Slam was an Exceptional-Grade skill, and killing these ordinary goblins would normally result in reduced proficiency gains. Even if there were one or two slightly stronger individuals like Mutated Goblins mixed among these ordinary goblins, this still sufficiently demonstrated this skill's powerful performance against groups.
Not counting magic, and considering physical profession skills, this should be Lin Mo's largest area of effect, strongest AOE capability skill.
Continue, continue!
Earth-Rending Slam!
Boom—!
The tremendous sound was like an explosion. A large area of goblins around had their internal organs shattered by the powerful shockwave. Those who were slightly closer had their entire bodies shattered into countless fragments that splattered outward.
For a moment, it was as if blood rain was falling all around Lin Mo.
Earth-Rending Slam proficiency +31!
This time Earth-Rending Slam affected several Mutated Goblins, so the proficiency gained was even greater.
Earth-Rending Slam proficiency +24!
Earth-Rending Slam proficiency +34!
....
The rapid growth in proficiency made Lin Mo somewhat addicted for a moment, releasing the skill repeatedly one after another. This also caused his qi and blood to deplete quickly. Originally with less than a quarter remaining, now he only had about one-tenth left.
But such consumption brought quite considerable rewards.
Earth-Rending Slam's proficiency rapidly increased, soon leveling up directly.
"Skill Earth-Rending Slam Lv5 (180/180) has leveled up!"
"Current skill Earth-Rending Slam Lv6 (13/300)"
"Exhilarating!"
However, after reaching level 6, it required over 200 more proficiency points to level up again. Given Lin Mo's current qi and blood situation, this was clearly unrealistic.
Moreover, he couldn't completely immerse himself in the joy of grinding proficiency. After all, this was a battlefield and still somewhat dangerous. He couldn't completely exhaust his qi and blood, needing to retain at least some to deal with possible emergencies.
But going forward, Lin Mo already had a very clear plan.
The Rock Shield skill could previously be combined with the knight profession's Great Shield Charge to grind proficiency together.
But ever since Great Shield Charge evolved into Earth-Rending Slam and Lin Mo started using the latter, because the killing power came from shockwaves rather than direct shield impact, Rock Shield could no longer gain proficiency simultaneously.
However, this skill had already accumulated considerable proficiency previously, with current progress at Lv5 (103/180), not far from leveling up and evolving.
So after his qi and blood was nearly depleted, Lin Mo simply held the shield and smashed it into the faces of surrounding goblins.
The size of the rock shield created by Rock Shield could be altered to some extent through mana control. Lin Mo expanded the shield to its maximum size, over a meter in length and width. With one smash, he easily crushed several goblins to pieces.
Some were even directly flattened into meat patties.
Moreover, Rock Shield wasn't Exceptional-Grade but Excellent-Grade, with no reduction in monster-killing proficiency gains.
And so—
Rock Shield proficiency +18
Rock Shield proficiency +15
Every time Lin Mo swung his shield down, a large wave of proficiency was gained. After just a short while, this skill's proficiency directly maxed out.
"Skill Rock Shield Lv5 (180/180) has leveled up!"
"Current skill Rock Shield Lv6 (Max)"
"Gained attribute points: Mana +2, Spirit +1!"
"Automatically evolved into new skill—Crystal Shield Technique!"
"Comprehended skill Crystal Shield Technique! Gained attribute points: Mana +3!"
Crystal Shield Technique: Condense and compress earth elements to form an extremely sturdy prism-shaped "crystal shield." The crystal shield has 5% physical damage reduction effect and 10% all-element resistance effect!
Damn, so awesome?
Lin Mo was instantly shocked. Previously, whether it was Earthen Shield or Rock Shield, they were just earth-element constructed shields. Although their hardness was decent, they didn't have any additional effects.
But this time, after evolution, Crystal Shield Technique had two additional effects!
5% physical damage reduction effect and 10% all-element resistance, especially the latter being quite significant when facing mages... and this value should likely increase as the skill level improves.
Combined with Crystal Shield Technique's inherently much higher sturdiness compared to Rock Shield, with Lin Mo's current mana value, even against another level 6... no, now level 7 mage, it would probably be difficult to break through his crystal shield, requiring at least several powerful magic spells.
Excellent, Lin Mo was very satisfied with this skill.
And next, there was information about the mage profession advancing again.
Lin Mo's base mana attribute had previously reached 68 points. Just now, Rock Shield skill maxing out and gaining Crystal Shield Technique together added 5 base mana points, reaching 73 points, meeting the level 7 mage standard.
When he advanced to Veteran Level mage, Lin Mo received a large wave of attribute increases. He wondered how much the attribute increase magnitude would be this time with continued leveling?
"Gained profession attribute increases: Constitution +1, Agility +1, Spirit +1, Mana +3!"
A total of 6 attribute points?
That's half of what was gained when advancing to Veteran Level Professional, similar to the increase difference when first becoming a Professional to level 2 Professional.
Lin Mo remembered clearly—at that time, advancing to Professional provided 6 increase attributes, while from level 1 Professional to level 2 Professional provided 3 increase attributes.
If following that pattern, then from level 7 to level 8 should provide 8 increase attributes, and from level 8 to level 9 should provide 10 increase attributes.
Come to think of it, after reaching Veteran Level and above, the attribute increases provided by profession levels seem to consciously develop toward compensating for shortcomings, ensuring that mage professionals' constitution and agility attributes aren't too low. Similarly, it would likely increase some knight professionals' agility and strength attributes, assassin and ranger professionals' strength and constitution attributes, etc.
Commander Joel, standing on the watchtower, was constantly monitoring developments in the battlefield situation.
As an experienced guard commander, he was very keen to subtle changes in battlefield conditions.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the "gray mist" representing the undead army also seemed to be gradually receding...
This made Commander Joel immediately show a pleased expression, then promptly relayed this message downward.
The soldiers and adventurers, originally on the verge of collapse, heard good news for the first time since the battle began. Their long-numbed emotions were instantly reinvigorated, and Silverstream City's morale saw a rare boost.
He then immediately issued orders, controlling those undead creatures to begin withdrawing from the battlefield.
Since that was the case, he had no need to needlessly sacrifice his own combat strength.
However, having schemed for so long, he wouldn't let this farce end so simply.
Silverstream City seemed difficult to attack, but another city might not be so fortunate...
A cold smile curled at the corner of Cress's lips: "My apologies, Lady Caroline, it seems our alliance is about to formally break."
The goblin army began to withdraw.
Being within the battlefield, Lin Mo could clearly sense this change.
Previously, these goblins had been desperately pushing forward, squeezing through at all costs. But now, their momentum had noticeably weakened significantly, more often than not just moving out of inertia, being pushed forward by their kin from behind.
An army of this scale couldn't retreat at will,
Swift Rushing Punch!
Shadow Strike!
Bone-Piercing Heavy Stab!
By this point, there was no need to worry about qi and blood consumption anymore. Lin Mo directly used his Shadow Split skill, controlling the clone to kill goblins from a relatively safe distance, while his main body charged forward more aggressively, using a variety of skills all at once on the goblins.
Of course, Lin Mo didn't forget to activate the Swiftness skill either.
This type of status skill improved quickly during combat, and since its base level was low, the proficiency required for leveling wasn't much. In no time, it successfully leveled up.
"Current skill Swiftness Lv3 (0/40)"
"Gained attribute points: Agility +2!"
For an Excellent-Grade skill, reaching level 3 could grant attributes. Lin Mo's original base agility attribute had reached 49 points. Adding these 2 agility points brought it to the level 5 standard.
And so—
"Promotion conditions met..."