novelraw Chapter 216: Advancement to Level 10 Mage, Excellent Skill "Provocation"
Chapter 216: Advancement to Level 10 Mage, Excellent Skill "Provocation"
The hippogriff was faster than expected.
It took only about two hours before they arrived at a point not far from Lania City.
By now it was already morning, but the sun was nowhere to be seen. Heavy clouds blanketed the land, and the oppressive feeling in the air was even more pronounced in the sky.
From a great distance, the fierce sounds of battle from Lania City could already be heard.
Obviously, the fighting on that side was still ongoing.
Goblins usually choose to attack under cover of night, so this battle had been raging for the entire night.
With Lania City’s original forces alone, they could never have held out that long.
It was only because officers and main forces from the two neighboring cities arrived mid-battle to reinforce them that Lania City was able to temporarily stabilize the situation.
After a whole night of fighting, it was clear both sides had taken heavy losses.
Especially on Lania City’s side—once they drew near the main city, it was obvious that the soldiers fighting on the field were in terrible shape.Many were wounded, drenched in blood, yet still swinging their blades with everything they had to battle the goblins before them.
Let alone the nobles, even these ordinary soldiers of Lania City, when faced with the foreign invasion and the goblins’ continuous assaults, held their ground and refused to retreat,
because they knew behind them were their families and their homeland.
That was also why Silverstream City chose to send reinforcements. Although Lania City and Silverstream City had developed some friction recently because of the Lawrence Family’s repeated blunders, fundamentally these two cities’ citizens were not to blame.
The commoners of Lania City had never actively helped or supported the Lawrence Family. Whenever they mentioned the Lawrences, their faces showed resentment. They didn’t dare to openly curse them, but their inner displeasure was great.
Those who lost their families and homes to the goblin disaster were mostly innocent.
Lady Behira could clearly distinguish this, and it was precisely this kindness and sense of responsibility that allowed her to govern Silverstream City so well, winning so much support and affection from the populace.
It was time to act.
The hippogriff slowly descended onto the battlefield’s flank. Lin Mo released Flora’s slender waist;
they exchanged a look and nodded in tacit agreement, then, from two directions, dashed toward the battlefield.
Compared to Flora, Lin Mo’s speed was noticeably faster.
He quickly charged into the fray and did not stop, pushing forward as usual straight into the heart of the goblin forces—the most densely packed area.
At the same time, ice element energy in his hands began to rapidly gather.
Although Lin Mo had deliberately held back the mage profession’s level to avoid advancing too fast toward elite rank, the reason for capping his level early was precisely so he wouldn’t be hamstrung when using magic.
And now was clearly a moment when magic needed to play its part.
So use it he did.
[Taunt]
[Frost Storm]!
Given Frost Storm’s huge area, the Taunt skill hardly mattered much here;
it was used more to practice than to block Silverstream from employing a skill out of unfamiliarity.
As an epic-level skill, Frost Storm’s power and effects were beyond doubt. Numerous shards of ice element fell from the sky like sharp blades, piercing goblin after goblin.
The shards struck the ground, leaving behind wide melted patches that slowly turned red with goblin blood.
For a moment, Lin Mo seemed to become a slaughterhouse, reaping these green-skinned shorties’ lives at shocking speed.
Among them were also some mutated goblins.
This batch of goblin forces outside Lania City was clearly of higher quality than the ones outside Roland Town,
even slightly stronger than those that had attacked Silverstream City before.
[Taunt] Proficiency +53
[Frost Storm] Proficiency +27
No wonder it was an epic skill: even mutated goblins yielded very little proficiency gain after attenuation.
Lin Mo glanced at his status panel. Frost Storm’s proficiency was about to level up.
But it would only reach Level 3, pushing him to a Level 10 Mage, which was completely under control. To reach Level 11 and upgrade to Elite Mage required 120 base attribute points, not 110, and because Lin Mo had been thinking about job transfer early on, his margin for error was still high.
So he repositioned and again entered the dense goblin area, unleashing another Taunt plus Frost Storm combo.
[Taunt] Proficiency +46
[Frost Storm] Proficiency +24
“Skill [Frost Storm] Lv2 (40/40) upgraded!”
“Current skill [Frost Storm] Lv3 (20/80)”
“Gained attribute points: Mana +3, Spirit +2!”
With three mana and two spirit added, Lin Mo’s base mana reached 101, meeting the requirement to become a Level 10 Mage.
“Promotion condition met. Profession Mage (lv9) promoted — current profession Mage (lv10).”
“Gained professional attribute boosts: Constitution +2, Agility +2, Spirit +3, Mana +5!”
Lin Mo guessed that epic skills, after reaching Level 3 and gaining the first attribute point, would next grant attributes at Level 6.
Epic-level skill proficiency requirements were double those of exceptional-grade and below, so going from Level 3 to Level 6 wouldn’t be easy. That made him less worried and allowed him to keep using the skill boldly.
Although Lin Mo could have used previous maxed skills—like Blizzard, the prerequisite to Frost Storm—to clear mobs, that wouldn’t grant proficiency, making it a waste.
Level-capping the mage profession was important, but tossing away proficiency handed right to him would be a pity.
So being frugal with leveling while greedy for proficiency was the correct choice.
After Frost Storm reached Level 3, it unlocked another evolution choice.
Evolution Route 1: Freezing Current II: During its duration, enemies in range take increasing damage per hit, stacking up to a 45% maximum.
Evolution Route 2: Bone-Chilling I: The “Frost” effect additionally reduces the enemy’s qi and mana recovery speed by 10%.
Last time, Lin Mo had chosen Route 1 to boost raw numbers because Route 2’s Bone-Chilling effect seemed functionally powerful and he hesitated. The second evolution Freezing Current only added an extra 15% stacking cap, so this time he naturally picked Bone-Chilling for its special effect.
[Frost Storm]!
After leveling to 10, the skill’s power and area noticeably increased along with Lin Mo’s mana.
Meanwhile, Flora had already begun to act.
Booming explosions launched countless goblins into the air.
When it came to spectacle and destructive force, fire elemental magic was indeed stronger.
Among elemental magics, only rare and harder-to-learn lightning element could rival it.
Lin Mo glanced and returned to his casting.
[Taunt]
[Frost Storm]!
[Taunt]
[Frost Storm]!
No denying it: epic skills were mighty and wide-ranging, but their cost was truly high.
Casting one epic skill consumed mana equivalent to sixty or seventy normal spells.
Yet on the battlefield, their impact far exceeded the ordinary spells.
With several successive spells, Lin Mo killed no fewer than two thousand goblins.
[Frost Storm] also gained over a hundred proficiency and rose to Level 4.
“Skill [Frost Storm] Lv3 (80/80) upgraded!”
“Current skill [Frost Storm] Lv4 (79/200)”
As for [Taunt], being an excellent-grade skill, it didn’t cover as much range, but its proficiency gain wasn’t attenuated, so it already reached max level.
“Skill [Taunt] Lv5 (180/180) upgraded!”
“Current skill [Taunt] Lv6 (Max)”
“Gained attribute point: Constitution +3!”
Excellent-grade skill maxed out;
three constitution points arrived, followed by the skill’s evolution.
“Automatically evolved into new skill — Provoke!”
“Learned skill [Provoke]! Gained attribute point: Constitution +3!”
[Provoke]: An enhanced version of Taunt. It challenges the enemy, attracting attention and probabilistically forcing the enemy to target you as their primary focus. Success rate and duration depend on level difference and the enemy’s spirit attribute. When used on a single target, effects are strengthened by an additional 50%, and the target’s damage to you is reduced by 7%.
This was powerful.
Although its early description resembled Taunt, it clearly stated it was a strengthened version. Undoubtedly, both effect and range were improved.
It also added a special effect for single-target use.
Not only did the skill’s effect get a 50% boost—making it easier to draw aggro—but it also granted damage reduction against the provoked target, which was extremely useful.
Of course, the damage reduction required a successful provoke. If the opponent’s level and spirit were high, even with single-target enhancement, the provoke might still fail, and the damage reduction would not apply.
In any case, this was a very impressive skill.
There were still evolution options left to choose:
Please select evolution route —
Evolution Route 1: Powerful Provoke I: Provoke duration increases by 20%
Evolution Route 2: Damage Reduction I: Single-target provoke damage reduction increases by an additional 3%
Frankly, these evolutions were mediocre...
Increasing duration didn’t matter much.
For a typical Knight professional, it might be helpful, but Lin Mo’s spirit attribute was already high;
Provoke’s duration was long enough to complete a kill on provokable targets without extending it.
The second option, extra damage reduction, was slightly useful, but the value was stingy—only an additional 3%.
It was better than nothing.
Lin Mo still chose Evolution Route 2.
After successive Frost Storms, Lin Mo’s mana wasn’t abundant anymore;
he needed to conserve what remained for emergencies. After all, so far they were still facing mostly cannon-fodder goblins.
The truly dangerous goblins were lurking unseen.
Moreover, after his epic bombardment and Flora’s own output, while the total casualties hadn’t crippled the goblins, they had created a gap, greatly slowing their attack tempo.
Next, it was time to properly grind warrior skills.
Solely capping the mage profession without improving the warrior profession was pointless.
It was like accumulating wealth: capping the mage was conserving funds;
raising the warrior profession was the more important income source.
Among Lin Mo’s current warrior sub-skills, [Consecutive Thrusts], [Swift Rushing Punch], [Jumping Slash], and [Whip Kick] were relatively easy to train.
These skills were low in grade and didn’t suffer proficiency attenuation, so in this goblin horde, leveling them was blisteringly fast.
Lin Mo held his sword in his right hand and clenched his left fist, striking from both sides. For a moment he resembled an avenger among humans.
Proficiency increase notices kept popping up during his wanton slaughter.
[Consecutive Thrusts] Proficiency +2
[Swift Rushing Punch] Proficiency +5
[Whip Kick] Proficiency +6
...
“Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived!”
At that moment on Lania City’s walls, seeing the magical bombardment from Lin Mo and Flora, the defenders rallied.
The overwhelming power and spectacle of the magic not only destroyed enemies but also greatly boosted allied morale.
Some soldiers whose spirits had been sagging regained their resolve, mustering their remaining strength to fight the goblins again.
“That’s that little girl from Saint Antonius Academy... who’s the other one?”
“I—I don’t know, daughter.”
Standing by the city wall, Yunis, who had once lorded over Roland Town, tensed with anxiety.
Behind her stood her fiancé, Baron Rahl, the lord of Roland Town.
“Hmph.”
Viscount Caroline Lawrence snorted coldly. “Forget it. No matter who came, the most important thing now is to get through this crisis.”
The loss of the Golden Egg, the necromancer’s disappearance, the goblins’ sudden rebellion...
This string of events had thrown her off guard;
at one point she had considered fleeing Lania City.
But in the end she didn’t. Not because of duty as a lord, nor out of concern for her subjects, but because she did not want to give up her status and position.
Once a fallen noble, Caroline’s childhood life had been almost indistinguishable from that of commoners.
She had clawed and schemed for half her life—poisoning her husband by her own hand—to finally climb into the duke’s circle and regain a city’s lordship.
How could she bear to let it go?
How could she let go of her viscount title to live as a commoner or exile?
So she would defend Lania City at all costs. If the territory was lost to goblins, she could never bear the blame.
As for everything else, she trusted the duke to sort out later.
Those past hardships had taught Caroline Lawrence to endure in silence: as long as she kept the lordship, under the duke’s protection, Silverstream City and that brat from Saint Antonius Academy would eventually be dealt with!
She didn’t know that her blunders had already harmed her patron;
Duke Side had long since given up on her.
Now, no one would tell her that.
Duke Side and his mouthpieces had been severely warned by the king and no longer dared to contact her. Reinforcements coming here would not dare to make trouble until after the war ended.
At least as the lord, she still had visible command of Lania’s guards;
if she caused trouble now, her forces could fall into chaos.
On the battlefield, the goblins’ advance had reached a stalemate.
After fighting all night, they had achieved impressive gains—breaking through two defensive lines and pressing the city walls, even beginning to attempt to breach gates and walls.
But Lin Mo and Flora’s arrival interrupted that tempo.
Subsequent forces became locally cut off, so the frontal attack lacked the necessary numbers. Under such circumstances, defending the wall was easier than defending a line. Using terrain and arrow volleys, Lania City killed many goblins.
A hidden Silver-level Goblin grew anxious.
At this rate, today’s attack would fail.
Although they’d killed many human soldiers, their own losses were already significant, and human reinforcements had started arriving. If they didn’t press the assault now and give the humans a breathing space, they might never break the city.
No—today the battle must end!
It focused on Lin Mo’s direction.
Through their kin’s information sharing, it instantly noticed this human.
When they had been at Silverstream City, he had obstructed their army significantly—even killing a Silver-level Goblin.
Although that had been just a low-tier Lord-level silver goblin, such kills were rare.
If he hadn’t intervened back then, the other comrade would likely have met a bad end.
Now he had come again to thwart their plans.
He had to pay!
The Silver-level Goblin concealed itself among the crowd of kin and slowly crept toward that area.
Closer, closer...
It watched Lin Mo slaughter its kin with abandon. To the goblin, those were mere fodder, but if their numbers shrank too much, their tribe’s strength would be affected.
Last time it had actually wanted to kill Lin Mo but had been thwarted by that damned human who had intruded into Roland Forest’s Core Area.
This time, it wanted to see who could save him now!
To be safe, it didn’t use magic from a distance—fearing Lin Mo might detect and dodge—so it crept nearer.
This distance should be enough.
This human’s perception seemed keen;
getting any closer risked being discovered.
The Silver-level Goblin condensed concentrated fire element energy in its hand, forming a beam to launch at Lin Mo.
It had used this move on the Silverstream battlefield to push Lin Mo and Sherfilia into life-or-death situations several times before.
Lin Mo, however, was still swinging his sword and throwing punches, cutting down goblins around him as if oblivious.
It was over;
at this range, he had no chance to dodge...
“Die!”
Just as the Silver-level Goblin thought it had guaranteed success, the beam struck Lin Mo—and an explosion followed the next moment.
A clone?
The Silver-level Goblin froze. He remembered that Lin Mo had that skill, but... when?
In fact, Lin Mo had already noticed when their distance still had a margin.
Compared to the last time at Silverstream City, his Agility and Spirit attributes had increased greatly, and he had gained [Eagle Eye], a skill that enhanced vision.
Plus, he had learned from the previous ambush on the battlefield and was far more alert now.
But when he detected the enemy, he didn’t show it.
When either humans or monsters are wholly intent on a stealthy strike, they are often least prepared.
It wasn’t until the opponent was under a hundred meters away that Lin Mo used [Shadow Split], while his main body immediately cast [Form Concealment] to go invisible. Through clever movement control and seamless transitions, everything looked almost normal.
It appeared from start to finish as if he alone had been slaughtering the surrounding goblins.
Then, remembering how the enemy had previously tracked him by his movement through the goblin ranks, Lin Mo leaped into the air toward them and used [Flash] to close the distance.
When he’d first acquired Flash, due to low proficiency and insufficient mana, the interval between flashes had been about ten seconds. Now that issue was largely solved.
Although he still couldn’t flash consecutively without pause, the gap had shrunk to under two seconds.
That timing allowed Lin Mo to flash at the start of his jump and, just before arrival, use a second flash.
He closely watched the closing distance. When they were within ten meters, with a thought he flashed behind the opponent.
At that very moment—the moment the enemy cast the spell to blast his clone—...