novelraw Chapter 214: Actually, I Like You
Chapter 214: Actually, I Like You
If the warrior and mage professions both completed a generic rank-up at nearly the same time, then logically the chance of obtaining a special class change would be much higher than if only one did.
So next, Lin Mo seemed to have to shift his upgrade focus from the mage profession back to the warrior profession...
He even had to slightly restrain the mage profession’s level, trying to bring the two as close together as possible so they might rank up simultaneously. After all, opportunities for special class advancement only come when you raise a major tier.
If he missed this window—from Veteran to Elite—then the next chance would be when Elite advanced to Transcendent. Who knew how long that would take...
With that thought, Lin Mo suppressed the mana flowing inside him;
the mana potion he had been about to use was abandoned.
Hold back. No more magic.
He needed to grind the warrior level a bit.
Lin Mo glanced at the info that had just flashed by.
[Frost Storm] Proficiency +29
"Skill [Frost Storm] Lv1 (20/20) upgraded!" "Current skill [Frost Storm] Lv2 (9/40)"
Good... Although the epic-level skill was powerful—just now it had killed at least two or three hundred goblins—the proficiency decay was serious, so the skill only reached level 2. If it had jumped straight to level 3, it would have gained the mana attribute and instantly advanced toward level 10.
Of course, only at level 10 does it open the path to level 11 and then advance toward Elite, but everything needs tolerance for error. Lin Mo couldn't realistically avoid using magic in future fights. If his mana attribute had been stacked up to, say, 106 or 108 points, and some skill leveled up unexpectedly, that could be disastrous.
Leaving about 12 base mana spare like now meant that when he really needed to use magic, he wouldn't be crippled by fear.
After Lin Mo killed that quasi-Silver Goblin who had been commanding the goblin army, the goblin forces before him noticeably fell into greater disarray.
The goblins, already shaken in morale, lost command and grew even more bewildered and helpless.
Although some mid-level goblins tried to issue regional orders, once their leader was taken out they panicked and could not keep their composure.
Coupled with the heavy, visible losses, the many goblins collapsed into scattered chaos.
At this point they no longer posed any real threat to Roland Town;
many goblins began to flee like mad, jostling and trampling one another, with collisions and stampedes happening frequently.
On Roland Town’s side, reinforcements that had just arrived from neighboring cities entered the stage of mercilessly finishing off the defeated.
But the town’s original guards had long since reached their limits, and once the goblin assault waned they relaxed and completely lost the ability to act.
Lin Mo, of course, was among those pursuing;
he still needed to grind proficiency in warrior skills.
To quickly raise attributes, one naturally starts with low-tier skills. These skills have less worry about proficiency decay and level up quickly. Although they grant few attribute points, evolved skills will solve that problem later.
[Jumping Slash]!
[Whip Kick]!
[Swift Rushing Punch]!
With Lin Mo’s current physical stats and weakened qi-and-blood fragility, even special skills could only produce very slight effects. When he charged out of the goblin pile, it was like flipping on a particularly sharp blade, mowing everything down.
[Jumping Slash] Proficiency +8
[Whip Kick] Proficiency +6
...
In an instant, the proficiencies of these ordinary and excellent-grade skills skyrocketed rapidly.
Before long, both [Jumping Slash] and [Whip Kick] were pushed from level 1 to level 3.
"Skill [Jumping Slash] Lv1 (10/10) upgraded!"
"Skill [Jumping Slash] Lv2 (20/20) upgraded!"
...
"Current skill [Jumping Slash] Lv3 (4/40)"
"Attribute point gained: Strength +1!"
"Skill [Whip Kick] Lv1 (10/10) upgraded!"
"Skill [Whip Kick] Lv2 (20/20) upgraded!"
...
"Current skill [Whip Kick] Lv3 (7/40)"
"Attribute point gained: Strength +2!"
Although the attribute gains weren’t large, they were still growth—accumulating bit by bit.
[Swift Rushing Punch]!
[Swift Rushing Punch] Proficiency +11
Lin Mo suddenly threw a punch that crushed the goblin in front of him into fragments;
broken limbs flew everywhere like shrapnel, and the flying pieces pierced through other goblins as if they were grenade fragments.
"Skill [Swift Rushing Punch] Lv3 (40/40) upgraded!"
"Current skill [Swift Rushing Punch] Lv4 (3/100)"
This skill should’ve been single-target, but with Lin Mo’s terrifying strength and qi-and-blood bonuses, he forcibly turned the shredded goblin corpses into weapons, giving the skill a bit of area damage in that way.
The more Lin Mo fought, the more excited he became, and the faster skill proficiency rose. But the goblins were already beginning to rout, and after grinding a while longer, the number of goblins before him rapidly dwindled.
After finishing off a dozen or so goblins nearby, Lin Mo looked toward the goblins that had fled into the distance and decided not to pursue further.
Back in Roland Town, Landon had already run into Flora;
the two were chatting and didn’t look like strangers at all.
"Finally back..."
Landon noticed Lin Mo and waved to him. "You're chasing them a little too deep. Miss Flora has been waiting on you for a while."
"You two knew each other before?" Lin Mo asked curiously.
"Sort of." Landon nodded. "Miss Flora operated around Silverstream City for a time;
back then we cooperated briefly."
"I see..."
Lin Mo thought back;
it made sense. Silverstream City was where Flora had taken her graduation assessment and had stayed for a while—she even got familiar with the city lord. As a well-known adventurer in that city, Landon knowing her was natural.
"So where are those elite mages who just helped earlier?" Flora looked puzzled at Lin Mo. "They came and helped so much—you should thank them properly."
"What elite mages?" Lin Mo was instantly dumbfounded. Where did elite mages come from in Roland Town? Several of them... if they really existed, they wouldn’t have needed to worry about that small group of goblins.
"The ones who cast magic on the battlefield just now." Flora seemed more bewildered than Lin Mo. "There was a fire elementalist, a wind elementalist, and an ice elementalist;
that ice mage even cast an epic-level spell!"
"Uh..." Lin Mo didn’t know how to answer.
How to put it? He felt a bit proud, but he was afraid Flora would smack him if she knew the truth. So he thought for a moment and used a more tactful phrasing: "Well, actually... I haven't reached Elite yet..."
When Flora heard that, it seemed her brain briefly stalled. She stared for a solid half-minute before blinking and asking in a daze, "So... the magic just now was cast by you?"
There wasn’t the excitement Lin Mo expected—she was unexpectedly calm.
"Uh... yes."
Lin Mo looked at her face and felt an odd fear. Is she okay?
"All three elements?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Phew—" Flora slowly exhaled, massaging the bridge of her nose. "I'm tired. I need to rest a bit."
She sat down on the spot, hugged her knees, and buried her face in them.
Did she just shut down?
Lin Mo scratched his head, unsure whether to speak. Nothing he could say felt quite right—to comfort or not to comfort—so he silently kept her company.
Landon, beside them, couldn’t help but grin. Although he was surprised by Lin Mo’s significant growth, seeing a genius he once idolized become speechless at someone else’s talent was a great consolation for Landon’s own recent embarrassments. See? Even the century-rare magic prodigy of the kingdom could be left like this!
After a while—about ten minutes—Flora slowly lifted her head and fixed Lin Mo with a serious gaze. "Are you really human? Not some strange powerful race disguised as human?"
"Maybe the illegitimate child of a god, or the reincarnation of a dragon?"
Lin Mo twitched at the corner of his mouth, speechless. Tell her to stop reading those bards’ ridiculous stories.
Of course, Flora was only venting;
she really had wondered if Lin Mo might have already broken through to Veteran-level warrior, since she had personally witnessed his astonishing rate of growth before. That rate far exceeded even Eve’s natural talent and was not weaker than his talent as a mage. But she never expected Lin Mo to have become a Veteran-level mage so quickly. Compared to warrior or assassin professions, the mage profession is far harder to level: skills are more difficult to learn and master, requiring longer practice, and the rewards are often partially distributed to Spirit rather than entirely into Mana. So his Spirit might clearly be higher, but his rank lower than Shaya’s—how did he manage it?
You can’t blame Flora for having bard-novel fantasies seeping into her mind;
otherwise she couldn't think of any reasonable explanation.
"Let's go check out the town," Flora stood up, looking relieved.
Landon was very familiar with that feeling—this was his path.
They walked into Roland Town, a once-familiar village now completely transformed: everywhere bore the marks of goblin destruction. Buildings were tattered and shattered, and the scene was full of broken walls and ruins.
But if they moved inward, conditions improved somewhat. Goblins had only partly invaded the town;
they hadn’t fully occupied it, and the residents did resist. Even ordinary people, when enraged, could still beat ordinary goblins. Without extraordinary power, size and weight become the main measures of combat capability, and humans had more agile and coordinated bodies than goblins.
Goblin corpses littered the ground—human corpses too, and not a small number. Occasionally a live goblin could be seen in the streets fighting with residents or guards—technically fleeing but simply captured. Once these green beasts lost their numerical advantage, they reverted to cowardly nature like sewer rats: fierce in dark corners, but the moment they saw light they fled.
Although much work remained, the town’s foundation was intact. Unlike some devastated villages, Roland Town was saved.
Lin Mo continued along the town’s dilapidated streets. The town’s preserved buildings brought back familiar scenes. Ellie and Finnie walked behind him;
Ellie’s eyes showed nostalgia—she had lived in this town for a long time. Finnie looked curious. She had never left Silverstream City’s influence, only visiting nearby villages;
she had never seen a village under another city’s jurisdiction.
"How does it feel?" Lin Mo noticed her glance and asked with a smile.
"It feels..." Finnie seemed a bit shy to speak, but her thoughts were obvious. Compared to Silverstream City, Lania City and its surrounding villages lagged significantly in infrastructure. Roland Town was decent within Lania City’s sphere, but in facilities it couldn’t compete with Silverstream City’s villages. That was a governance gap—and Lady Behira had plenty of resources. But even if the Lawrence family had the same resources, could they truly build Lania City better? Most of the money probably ended up in noble pockets!
"By the way..." Lin Mo suddenly remembered something and quickened his pace. He soon arrived at a street and followed his memory straight to a blacksmith shop.
"Closed?" Lin Mo still remembered the dwarf blacksmith Edgar who had invested in him. He’d worried Edgar might have been lost in the disaster, but the shop’s state suggested it had been closed for a while—at least half a month. So did Edgar sense danger early and leave town, or simply choose to move to a larger city for development? He didn’t know when they would meet again. He shook his head and told the others, "Let’s go rest for a while."
Although Lania City’s situation remained unknown and likely grim, other reinforcements had already gone that way. They had just fought a big battle and couldn’t depart immediately;
they needed rest to recover stamina and mana and reset their condition. A few inns remained intact in town, mainly along Flowerbed Street.
Walking onto that street, Lin Mo recalled how clueless he’d once been when he accidentally wandered into a certain shop. That original shop was still perfectly preserved, so the Adventurers' Association president put them there to rest.
They entered and found the innkeeper still the broad-shouldered middle-aged woman, though the composure was gone;
her face now showed the gratefulness of a survivor. Surviving a goblin disaster with the inn intact was truly fortunate.
"Wel...welcome, guests..." A young girl holding a tray approached carefully. "The owner has already arranged your rooms. I'll take you to your rooms to rest." She dared not raise her eyes to the honored guests. Lin Mo recognized the girl—she had once knocked on his door at night... the memory still made him a little embarrassed.
"Ah—!" As Lin Mo recalled those early days in this world, the girl suddenly cried out, "It's you!" When she turned, her peripheral vision spotted a familiar figure and she finally mustered the courage to look up. That guest who had once wandered into the inn had left a deep impression on her.
Lin Mo smiled and was about to wave hello when he felt one... two... three gazes focus on him simultaneously. He froze and lowered his hand, offering only a nod. "Mm, hi."
Is something up? Landon and the others immediately switched to spectator mode, but Lin Mo didn’t intend to explain here. Ellie and the others stayed quiet, and the group calmly went upstairs.
Once inside the room, Lin Mo spread his hands and explained, "You’ve got it wrong. It’s not what you think."
"No one asked you, my master." Sherfilia's teasing hit the nail on the head and left Lin Mo awkward.
"I learned that in human language, that's called unintentionally confessing!" Ellie put her hands on her hips, the ice-blue in her eyes full of "wisdom."
At this point Finnie opened her mouth to say something, but she suddenly couldn’t find words. Then she slowly reacted...
"Master?" She looked at Sherfilia, shocked. "Why would Sister Sherfilia call Mr. Lin Mo... that?"
...
A deathly silence fell over the room.
Lin Mo glanced between Finnie and Sherfilia. Apparently Finnie didn’t know about the matter between him and Sherfilia—previous exchanges had always been while Finnie was at work at the church. Finnie didn’t even know she had been “sold” by her mother, who had arranged her life’s major affair.
Sherfilia remained expressionless, though this time it was obviously awkward rather than calm. How to explain this...
I already let you taste it;
wasn't it delicious?
Although it was natural, it still felt odd. How should he handle this situation? Lin Mo’s mind raced. Just as Finnie was about to speak the next line, he cut her off: "Finnie, listen to me. I have something important to tell you!"
"What is it?" She was startled by his serious tone and asked nervously.
"Actually..." Lin Mo slowly moved closer, looked at her delicate, cute face, took a deep breath, steeled himself, and finally spoke the line straight from the heart: "Actually, I like you."
"Plop—" Something dropped to the floor. The others turned to look;
Flora, who had just entered and was stunned and embarrassed, saw Lin Mo, then Finnie, and then swept her gaze over Ellie and Sherfilia.
"Sorry to intrude... carry on." Flora quickly picked up her things and left the room, not forgetting to shut the door behind her.
...
The room fell into silence.
Lin Mo’s eyes returned to Finnie. Shyness and embarrassment flooded her;
the adorable girl seemed mentally frozen. Her face flushed as if it could leak water, steam practically rising from her head.
Ellie was stunned. In her impression, Lin Mo had always been passive in matters of affection—both when getting close and during deeper interactions. But after gaining some experience, he’d grown more assertive lately, and now he had suddenly thrown a direct fastball. Ellie quietly stuck out her thumb in approval. As a half-orc, she admitted she liked men who showed a little dominance.
Sherfilia kept a calm face but couldn’t look away;
her eyes clearly held a look of quiet satisfaction.
Lin Mo didn’t notice their reactions;
his gaze remained locked on Finnie. Good—this seemed to be working! Whether Sherfilia had acted intentionally or not, since she already said "master," the best way to prevent Finnie from imagining something worse was to tear down that thin veil and lay everything out plainly. Just like when Lady Behira questioned him earlier, Lin Mo’s answer would be the same: of course he liked Finnie. And likewise, everything in ordinary words, demeanor, and behavior indicated Finnie liked him too. They had spent a fair amount of time together;
the warm, ambiguous feelings needed to end.
"So, what does Finnie think?" Lin Mo asked next. "How do you see me, Finnie?"