Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Chapter 209: An unexpected reunion

Now, it's time.

Lin Mo looked at the people behind him and first greeted them: "I've found those villagers and the goblins. Head in this direction, all the way to the edge of the village. There's a small hill over there, and the villagers are probably trapped on that hill."

"I'll head over first. You all come as quickly as possible."

"Okay."

Although unsure how he planned to get there, Landon still nodded: "We've already killed many of the goblins left in the village. We can deal with the rest later;

saving people is more important right now."

As he spoke, he led the group towards the direction Lin Mo indicated.

Indeed, you can always trust Landon.

This mage, who was technically still a young man, possessed not only decent strength but also outstanding intelligence and a reliable, steady character.

Seeing this, Lin Mo could rest assured and use the swap effect of his [Shadow Split] skill. Using the last bit of his clone's duration, he swapped his main body to the edge of the village, near that small hill.

Moving closer, he could clearly see the goblins surrounding the hill climbing towards the summit from all directions.Lin Mo activated his [Eagle Eye] skill and looked up. Sure enough, he saw some figures on the hilltop, most likely the villagers who had fled.

Somewhat unexpectedly, perhaps because they held the terrain advantage, the villagers' situation didn't seem as dire as Lin Mo had anticipated.

The goblins attacking from all sides weren't making easy progress;

both sides seemed to have reached a stalemate.

If that was the case, Lin Mo didn't need to rush. He could patiently start clearing the goblins from the bottom of the hill, eliminating as many as possible.

He quickly advanced, the Frost Dragon Scale Sword already in his hand, and opened with a [Jumping Slash].

Having learned a new skill, it was natural to practice it, especially when facing these lower-level goblins. Using these common-grade or excellent-grade skills to kill monsters wouldn't suffer from proficiency decay, making it perfect.

With ferocious momentum and terrifying power, the moment Lin Mo landed, the surrounding goblins were all affected by the force of this sudden sword strike from above.

Because, compared to before, these goblins were more numerous and densely packed, so this single [Jumping Slash] actually killed seven or eight goblins outright.

Immediately after, Lin Mo quickly rose and delivered a [Whip Kick], sending several goblins flying. Before they even hit the ground, their bodies were torn apart by the immense force!

The goblins near them were also hit by these unfortunate flying comrades, causing them to vomit blood and crash into other nearby goblins.

When strength reaches a certain level, although it still can't compare to magic, seemingly single-target warrior skills can unleash power far beyond their descriptions.

[Jumping Slash] proficiency +7

[Whip Kick] proficiency +11

Lin Mo hadn't used the [Jumping Slash] skill much before, so these two skills leveled up almost simultaneously.

But now wasn't the time to check that information. Lin Mo kept moving, thrusting with his sword in his left hand, using a [Consecutive Thrusts] to skewer three or four goblins like candied haws on a stick.

In his right hand, he condensed a crystal shield.

This was the first time Lin Mo had used the [Crystal Shield Technique] skill since obtaining it.

Compared to the previous Earthen Shield and Rock Shield, the crystal shield, as an Exceptional-Grade skill, looked undoubtedly much more refined. The entire shield sparkled brightly, as if embedded with gems.

The patterns on the shield were also more intricate and beautiful, giving it a somewhat dreamlike feeling.

If there was any drawback, it was that compared to the Rock Shield, it seemed to lack a sense of solidity. But in fact, this was just an illusion from its appearance. In reality, this crystal-composed shield was far sturdier than the Rock Shield.

Lin Mo gripped the crystal shield, his internal Qi and Blood rapidly circulating, and suddenly charged towards an area densely packed with goblins. He leaped high and then brought the shield down forcefully.

Although the movement looked somewhat similar to [Jumping Slash], it was completely different.

[Earth-Rending Slam]!

The violent impact made the mountain slope before him seem to tremble. A powerful shockwave instantly spread out, tearing all the surrounding goblins to pieces.

After getting up, Lin Mo immediately followed with a [Flame Chain Star]. Countless fireballs flew towards the surrounding goblins, followed by continuous explosions mixed with the goblins' screams and cries.

Lin Mo was like a wolf that had charged into a flock of sheep, using whatever skill came to mind, wantonly unleashing his destructive power.

[Earth-Rending Slam] proficiency +16

This was an Exceptional-Grade skill, so the proficiency gained from killing ordinary goblins would be significantly reduced.

[Flame Chain Star] proficiency +13

"Skill [Flame Chain Star] Lv3 (40/40) has leveled up!"

"Current skill [Flame Chain Star] Lv4 (0/100)"

"Gained attribute point Mana +3!"

Please choose evolution direction -

Evolution Route 1: Range II: Increases the explosion range after Flame Chain Star hits by 45%

Evolution Route 2: Power I: Increases the power of Flame Chain Star by 15%

This was the second time choosing the evolution route for this skill. Last time, Lin Mo had chosen "Range," which increased the explosion range after Flame Chain Star hit by 30%. This time, if he chose to continue strengthening the range, the improvement would only be from 30% to 45%, a mere 15% increase. Judging by the initial 30% explosion range corresponding to 15% power, this was clearly a poor trade-off.

So Lin Mo chose Evolution Route 2 to enhance the skill's power.

Making the choice didn't take much time. Lin Mo's movements barely stopped as he raised the crystal shield in his hand again, leaped high, and slammed down forcefully.

Another powerful shockwave sent the surrounding goblins tumbling head over heels.

[Earth-Rending Slam] proficiency +16

This Exceptional-Grade skill, which Lin Mo had obtained relatively early, was getting closer and closer to its maximum level of 7.

Of course, leveling from 6 to 7 required a full 300 proficiency points, so it wouldn't evolve that quickly.

Even so, Lin Mo continued using this skill.

After all, the current situation was perfect for it. Skill proficiency was accumulated bit by bit;

it wouldn't disappear once gained. There would be plenty of opportunities later, and he was sure to max out this skill during this operation.

[Earth-Rending Slam]!

Another slam. Lin Mo specifically targeted densely packed groups of goblins, each time with outstanding results.

This time, he even took out several Mutated Goblins, causing his proficiency to increase significantly.

The villagers on the hill had long since noticed this commotion. It wasn't that they weren't focused on the battle before them, but Lin Mo's actions were simply too conspicuous to miss.

Especially the occasional bursts of flame, which were particularly eye-catching in the darkness.

Alone, he was like a powerful army, beating the goblins until they cried for their parents and scattered in disarray.

"Where did this expert come from? He's so fierce!"

On the hilltop, Evan watched the exaggerated scene, his mouth agape.

"With such a formidable person helping us, we're saved!"

A young man dressed as an assassin nearby said excitedly.

"Focus on your own tasks first..."

A young woman's voice sounded as an arrow flew from behind them, accurately piercing a goblin's head.

"Don't get distracted. Concentrate on holding off this wave of attacks!"

Bern, holding a torch nearby, also reminded them sternly.

But his tone clearly carried a note of relief.

After all, without this sudden rescue, continuing to be besieged by the goblins would eventually lead to them being torn apart by the goblin horde...

Even though he had now become a Professional, facing thousands of goblins was still beyond his capabilities.

The situation on the hill seemed to be getting slightly urgent.

While killing the goblins before him, Lin Mo had actually been keeping an eye on the situation atop the hill.

To avoid any accidents, he first used his [Shadow Split] skill, controlling the clone to head towards the hilltop,

while his main body temporarily stayed behind to continue killing the goblins in front of him.

A considerable amount of time had passed since he arrived. Soon after, Landon arrived with the remaining people.

By now, Lin Mo had already killed over one-third of the goblins here.

The ground was littered with goblin corpses. Rather than attacking, the goblins now seemed more like they were fleeing towards the hill.

"Truly fierce!"

Even though he already had some understanding of Lin Mo's strength, Solan couldn't help but click his tongue in astonishment.

"Let's go too! Kill all these damned goblins!"

Huck, on the other hand, got directly excited, brandishing his weapon and charging forward.

His strength wasn't weak;

he was a Level 2 Warrior, very close to Level 3. While he might not play a huge role in high-level battles, against these ordinary goblins, he was like a monster himself.

The remaining people also joined the fight. Immediately, the goblins began dying even faster.

Lin Mo estimated the timing was about right. His clone had already reached the hill, and the goblins were almost at the summit.

So the next moment, with a thought, he swapped positions with his clone.

The [Shadow Split] skill's duration had about 10 seconds left. The clone hadn't been idle either, having killed many surrounding goblins with its sword. In its final moments, it charged headlong into a densely packed area of goblins.

"BOOM—!"

A deafening explosion sounded, sending a large group of surrounding goblins flying into the air.

.....

"We can't hold on any longer!"

"Everyone, hold on a little longer. The experts from below the hill will be here soon. If we can just hold out a bit more..."

"But it's not like we can just hold on by wanting to!"

A warrior adventurer looked at the broken iron sword in his hand: "My weapon is already destroyed."

"My sword's edge is completely rolled too."

And the goblins before them seemed to have become even more frenzied than before.

Evan gripped his sword tightly, panting heavily.

Although he had comprehended his own skill before, he had only just begun his journey to become a Professional. He was still far from being a true Professional. The intense battle had almost completely drained his stamina.

But he couldn't give up...

He gritted his teeth. Victory was already right before their eyes.

If they could just hold on a little longer...

Perhaps it was an illusion, but the figure of that person suddenly appeared in his mind.

Even though some time had passed since they parted, the words spoken during their adventures together and his deeds were still deeply engraved in Evan's memory.

He wanted to become someone who shone like that too.

Even if it was the difference between a firefly and the sun, it was still better than being a rat in the gutter, living a barely surviving life in darkness.

So, his body, already pushed to its limits, seemed to find strength again. Roaring inwardly, he raised his sword once more and killed two goblins that had reached him.

Completely overdrawn stamina made him collapse weakly, but a slender arm suddenly supported him from behind.

"Don't push yourself too hard, you idiot."

Miriam said with a frown.

"But, those goblins..."

Evan was about to say something when he noticed that the goblins had, for some reason, changed direction. They were no longer advancing upwards but were clearly converging towards a specific location.

He focused his gaze. In the dim torchlight, amidst the chaotic battlefield, a figure wearing white and blue mage robes stood motionless ahead.

It seemed the goblins posed no threat to him whatsoever.

And that was indeed the case. He merely raised his hand lightly, and a chilling aura arose.

The next moment, countless hailstones poured down, instantly riddling the goblins surging towards him.

Strangely, even though the goblins within the range were in such a miserable state, those outside still crammed their way in as if their heads were sharpened...

Lin Mo looked at the goblins continuously pouring into the [Blizzard] range and nodded with satisfaction.

Indeed, this method worked.

Using the [Taunt] skill to pull aggro, then releasing a large-area spell – the goblins affected by the [Taunt] skill would walk into the spell's range themselves.

This was actually one of the common tactics used by mature adventurer teams.

But this tactic required extremely high coordination between the corresponding Mage and Knight professions.

If the Knight was too far from the spell's range, the effect might not work well. If too close, they might get hit by the spell. So it wasn't easy to coordinate.

At the very least, for teams that weren't long-established but temporarily formed, using this tactic was almost impossible.

But Lin Mo didn't need coordination;

he could execute this combo alone.

Moreover, due to the unique proficiency gain method of the [Taunt] skill, he could increase the proficiency of two skills simultaneously.

The blizzard finally ended. The battlefield before him was a complete mess, littered with goblin corpses. The goblins that hadn't been affected now wore expressions of terror.

They wanted to turn and run, but now, behind them, a group of "Kings of Hell" was also approaching.

Landon's signature "Wind Cyclone" sent a large group of goblins flying into the air. Several physical damage dealers also charged forward en masse, hacking and slashing.

For a moment, the goblins were stuck, unable to advance or retreat.

Lin Mo took the opportunity to find the most important target.

The commander of this batch of goblins, a Quasi-Bronze Level goblin.

This was similar to the previous situation in Falling Leaves Village.

The goblins invading these small villages didn't have any particularly strong individuals. The number of Mutated Goblins wasn't high, and the commander was just a Quasi-Bronze Level goblin not even Level 3.

But still, it was proficiency. Even a mosquito's leg is still meat, and this was hardly just a mosquito's leg;

it could at least be considered a pigeon's leg.

Lin Mo immediately advanced, charging towards it.

The Quasi-Bronze Level goblin also seemed to realize something. But before it could prepare to defend itself, Lin Mo's figure suddenly vanished.

The next moment, he appeared at its side. A blood-red sword energy shot out, instantly slicing its head off.

As the saying goes, the Flash skill is just too useful.

[Flash] proficiency +15

[Blood Qi Blade] proficiency +15

"Skill [Flash] Lv3 (40/40) has leveled up!"

"Current skill [Flash] Lv4 (5/100)"

"Gained attribute point Mana +3!"

It leveled up just then?

Lin Mo's face immediately showed delight.

[Flash], as an Exceptional-Grade skill, upon reaching Level 4, could once again choose an evolution route.

Please choose evolution direction ———

Evolution Route 1: Distance II: Increases flash distance, maximum distance becomes 15 meters.

Evolution Route 2: Carry I: Flash can carry one additional target.

The two evolution routes for the Flash skill: the first increased the current 10-meter flash range further to 15 meters. The other allowed Lin Mo to carry one additional target when flashing, a functional expansion.

There was nothing more to say. Back when he first chose the evolution route, Lin Mo had already decided to pick up Evolution Route 2 the second time.

Although increasing the flash range by another 5 meters was also very tempting, comparatively, gaining an additional "mechanic" was slightly more beneficial.

After the Flash skill's upgrade provided Lin Mo with another 3 base Mana attribute points, his base Mana attribute increased from the original 88 to 91. This also meant his already far-leading Mage profession would level up again!

"Promotion conditions met. Profession Mage (lv8) promoted — Current profession Mage (lv9)"

"Gained profession attribute bonuses: Constitution +2, Agility +2, Spirit +2, Mana +4!"

The total bonus attributes were 10 points, 2 points more than last time, completely consistent with the pattern Lin Mo had previously deduced.

With the leader dealt with, the remaining goblins were even less of a threat.

What followed was purely slaughter time for Lin Mo and the other adventurers.

Lin Mo took the opportunity to grind proficiency for those skills he had just learned. He even took out the Bow of Hurricane from his Spatial Ring to try some practical shooting.

Regarding archery, Lin Mo had practiced on his own after obtaining the Bow of Hurricane, and had even specifically asked Sheila, the ranger in Landon's team, for guidance. So he wasn't a complete novice.

But practice shooting and actual combat were still somewhat different. Fortunately, these low-level goblins were essentially living targets for him, so Lin Mo basically hit every shot.

After a few attempts, Lin Mo was almost certain of his previous feeling: archery wasn't particularly difficult.

This was partly because his base attributes were high, providing excellent physical control and strength, which formed a very good foundation for shooting.

Additionally, Lin Mo's Spirit attribute was also very high, giving him powerful concentration. He even had skills like [Eagle Eye] that enhanced vision as assistance, so aiming wasn't affected even at night.

While he couldn't be called a master archer, his archery skills were completely sufficient for most situations.

The leveling speed for new skills was fast. In a short while, Lin Mo raised the [Spiral Arrow] skill to Level 3.

"Skill [Spiral Arrow] Lv1 (10/10) has leveled up!"

....

"Current skill [Spiral Arrow] Lv3 (1/40)"

"Gained attribute point Strength +1, Agility +1!"

Spiral Arrow was a skill that relatively relied on Strength, so the attribute points gained were 1 Strength and 1 Agility.

Furthermore, after multiple uses, the [Eagle Eye] skill was also raised to Level 2 by Lin Mo, further increasing his field of view and visual acuity.

Putting down the Bow of Hurricane, Lin Mo directly stored it back into his Spatial Ring.

The goblins before him were almost all killed. Post-battle cleanup could wait. Lin Mo turned around, preparing to check on the situation of the villagers on the hill.

Only then did he notice that on this hilltop, besides the residents from the village below, there seemed to be some adventurers as well.

And moreover...

"I told you that figure looked just like him!"

Evan's voice sounded particularly excited as he jogged over, then slowed his pace about four or five meters away from Lin Mo, looking at him with joyful yet somewhat restrained eyes.

Lin Mo's expression also showed some surprise. Seeing Evan's reserved manner, he smiled slightly and directly walked forward, patting his shoulder.

He wasn't the type who, after gaining power, liked to put on an air of superiority. For him, friends were friends, regardless of status or strength.

Moreover, Bern Uncle had helped him tremendously when he first started his adventurer career.

Lin Mo turned his head and indeed saw Bern Uncle walking over with a smile, followed by Miriam, and finally that young man at the back who looked stunned and at a loss.

"Is this a new member of the team?"

"Yes, he's quite a good guy, and his strength is decent too. He joined our team about half a month ago."

Evan introduced him.

"I see..."

Lin Mo nodded towards the young man, which made him nervously return the greeting repeatedly, unable to speak for a moment.

Lin Mo also noticed the somewhat different feeling emanating from Bern Uncle.

So, while shaking his hand, he said: "Congratulations, Bern Uncle."

Bern nodded, momentarily unsure how to respond.

Becoming a Professional had always been his dream. Now that it was finally realized, he had also witnessed a broader world...

Before those truly powerful experts, being a Professional was merely an insignificant starting point.

But soon, he let it go.

People were inherently different. There was no need to blindly chase comparisons. For him, being able to become a Professional and live a relatively prosperous life was already very good.

"Thank you, and congratulations to you too..."