Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Chapter 234: This is Level 8?

I still need to buy one more...

Lin Mo didn't agonize over it for long and quickly made a decision.

Although learning another skill and continuing to increase his mana would force him to be even more careful about managing his spell levels later, the benefits it would bring were immense.

Through his earlier testing with the assassin and ranger professions, Lin Mo had already confirmed that the skill quantity restriction only affected breakthrough levels. His mage profession had already reached level 10, while his priest profession was stuck at level 5 due to the restriction. This meant that if he learned another priest skill, his priest profession could jump five levels straight to level 10!

The attribute bonuses from five profession levels would undoubtedly raise his strength to another tier.

Such gains were completely worth compressing his margin for error later. At worst, he could only use spells during critical moments, or use already maxed-out spells without worrying about wasting proficiency - that would be sufficient.

They were about to take on a C-rank mission next. Compared to D-rank missions, C-rank missions were significantly more difficult. Although Lin Mo's current strength should theoretically handle them easily, unexpected things could always happen. Sherfilia couldn't provide the same safety net she did back in Roland Forest, so they needed to remain vigilant and cautious.

Of course, there was no need to go out again now. They were going to the association tomorrow morning to accept the mission anyway, so he could just buy it then.

Lin Mo opened his eyes and stretched his body.

It was still early, so today would be a good day to have dinner earlier and return to his room to rest sooner.That way he could help Ellie improve her strength earlier too, without delaying tomorrow's mission.

After the [Joint Cultivation] skill evolved into [Shared Cultivation], its effects had improved significantly compared to before. Through recent practice, it had already reached level 2 and wasn't far from level 3.

Each level-up of the skill itself would further enhance its effects.

At this rate, with some effort tonight, he could probably get Ellie to level 4.

As for Sherfilia... since Lin Mo's base agility attribute still hadn't surpassed hers, he was currently still receiving agility attributes from her and couldn't help her level up yet.

However, during this period, Sherfilia had gained considerable strength and constitution attributes, making her more well-rounded than before and significantly improving her combat power.

Especially the constitution attribute gains allowed the naturally fragile assassin to have higher error tolerance.

Imagine if you were a ranger facing an ordinary assassin - if you had sharp perception and quick reactions, after dodging the first wave of attacks, you'd have a decent chance of turning the tables. But what if you encountered an assassin with a knight's durability?

That would be utterly despairing...

Currently, Ellie and Sherfilia had reached a subtle understanding.

Since it was the little maid's turn last night, today naturally fell to Ellie.

They didn't go out to eat, but Breeze Residence's dishes were quite good anyway. After a lavish dinner, it was time for everyone to return to their rooms and do their own things.

Finnie practiced magic in her room, diligently studying meditation techniques. Sherfilia did basic physical training to quickly adapt to her enhanced body. Lena read books, especially those about planting techniques.

As for Dirk...

The brief eye contact during dinner had already conveyed the message, so he soon rang the "doorbell" to Ellie's room.

It was time for improvement again.

Early morning, around eight o'clock, the Silver Glory team arrived at the Adventurers' Association.

Pushing open the large doors, the association was already bustling with noise.

Many adventurers had come to the association early to select and accept missions. Even those not planning to take missions today habitually came to the association, ordered a mug of ale, and sat in the hall chatting and boasting with companions and acquaintances.

"Here they come..."

They had come quite early, but Dirk from the Lion Adventuring Company had arrived even earlier.

He came forward with a group of brothers behind him, smiling as he introduced: "This is Lin Mo, who fought our captain to a draw."

"Hello, Brother Lin Mo!"

The group behind him spoke in unison, making Lin Mo startle before his mouth twitched involuntarily.

What was this all about?

"Hello everyone..." He waved in greeting and politely asked: "And these gentlemen are?"

"Brother Lin Mo, I'm Luke, level 5 warrior."

"Brother Lin Mo, I'm Hahn, level 7 ranger."

"......"

Everyone introduced themselves one by one. Since they would be working together on the mission later, they needed to understand each other's approximate strength for tactical arrangements and coordination.

Overall, Dirk's people were quite capable, with the lowest level being 5, and two or three at levels 7-8. As for Dirk himself, he was a level 10 warrior, just one step away from the Elite level.

If not for this, he wouldn't have considered challenging a C-rank mission.

After all, the opponents in C-rank missions were basically Elite-level monsters.

After the other side finished their introductions, Lin Mo's team naturally did the same.

"Ellie, level 4 warrior."

That's right - through Lin Mo's efforts last night, Ellie had successfully broken through to level 4. Although this was lower than Dirk's companions, she had advantages in other attributes, making her more well-rounded. Her overall combat power might not be worse than that level 5 warrior, and was likely even stronger.

"Finnie... level 1 priest."

Although her level was slightly low, the priest profession was different from others. A priest who could heal and provide support was a treasure that needed careful protection in any team.

"Sherfilia, level 9 assassin."

Sherfilia's cool voice rang out. As Finnie's half-sister, her talent wasn't actually worse than Finnie's. Reaching level 9 at this age was quite impressive.

Finally, it was Lin Mo's turn.

Everyone looked at him with expectant eyes. They had all heard that Lin Mo had almost fought their captain to a draw, but none had witnessed it personally, so they were very curious about how strong Lin Mo actually was.

"Lin Mo, level 8 warrior."

After Lin Mo finished speaking, he noticed everyone looking at him with strange expressions.

Level 8?

The most shocked was actually Dirk, who had personally witnessed that match.

He had seen Lin Mo's performance in that battle - that kind of power, that kind of speed - he admitted he couldn't achieve it himself.

And now he was claiming to be level 8? How the hell could this be level 8?!

Lin Mo realized the situation, cleared his throat, and added: "And level 10 mage."

The others then showed understanding expressions, while also full of surprise.

After all, being able to develop two professions simultaneously, with both reaching such heights, went beyond their common sense.

What's more, he was so young.

But Dirk still couldn't wrap his head around it.

Setting aside what level Lin Mo's mage profession was, in that battle, Lin Mo hadn't used any spells yet still displayed astonishing comprehensive abilities. That performance really didn't seem like a level 8 warrior at all.

But since this involved personal secrets, he couldn't press too much. He quickly put it aside and moved on to business.

"Well, since everyone's here, let me introduce the mission we'll be undertaking."

As he spoke, he took out that C-rank mission sheet.

Lin Mo looked closely—

【Trade Route Escort】

Mission Number: C-5547

Mission Type: Guard/Escort

Mission Rank: C-rank

Client: Emerald Merchant Group

Reward: Base salary 3000 gold coins, additional rewards based on dangers and difficulties encountered en route (reward increase standards and evaluation guaranteed by Adventurers' Association)

Mission Brief:

Escort merchant caravan from Fargard City to Royal Capital, passing through parts of Blackwater Swamp (approximately 40% of journey).

An escort mission?

Lin Mo was somewhat surprised. In fact, since becoming an adventurer, most missions he'd taken were material collection or monster subjugation types, rarely choosing other mission categories.

Because material collection and monster subjugation missions were straightforward - the difficulty might not be low, some missions were even very challenging, but they didn't require much thinking. You could just charge in and fight, with relatively high efficiency.

"Among all the C-rank missions currently issued by the association, this should be the least difficult one. If we're lucky, we might only encounter some Low-tier Lord-level monsters."

Dirk explained: "And the Royal Capital isn't too far from Fargard City. The entire mission should take about 2-3 days. When we reach the Royal Capital, we can pick up another mission there and complete it on the return trip."

"Really?"

Lin Mo was startled.

"Yes... Since the Royal Capital and Fargard City are close, with frequent exchanges and dense commercial traffic, many adventurers travel between them. So the adventurer associations of these two cities integrated their mission systems - missions accepted in one city can be submitted and completed in the other."

"That's good."

Lin Mo nodded. The mission duration wasn't too long either - 2-3 days was completely acceptable. They could take another mission on the return trip, making the efficiency quite good.

Most importantly, according to Dirk, this mission was relatively low difficulty among C-rank missions.

Although Lin Mo's strength had been growing rapidly since coming to this world, he never forgot the accident on his first day here.

He had decent confidence against Elite-level monsters, but it wasn't 100%. The wilderness held many unpredictable surprises.

He could only handle monsters that had just reached Elite level. Levels 11-12 were manageable, but levels 13-14 would be different.

After level 10, each level difference meant 20 attribute points, with higher attribute gains per level. Lin Mo didn't think he could defeat opponents 3-4 levels higher than him.

If they encountered such special circumstances, if the opponent wasn't an agility-type monster, he might be able to escape using his speed advantage along with [Shadow Split] and [Flash] skills. But what about the others?

Comparatively, if they didn't have to face Elite-level monsters directly, that would undoubtedly be the best outcome.

"I've compiled detailed information about potential dangers along the route..."

Experienced veteran adventurers like Dirk clearly gave thorough consideration before accepting missions: "First, naturally, are the monsters in Blackwater Swamp... but according to the mission route, we won't need to pass through the swamp's core area this time. We'll be operating entirely in the shallow zones of Blackwater Swamp. The closest we get to the core area is this section—"

He took out a map with the route marked and pointed to a small section: "Around noon on the second day after the mission starts, we'll pass through Route 11 of Blackwater Swamp. For about an hour, we'll be relatively close to the core area, but even at the closest point, we'll still be about one kilometer away."

Lin Mo nodded. Having read many relevant books on the way to Fargard City, he was quite familiar with the dangerous areas near Fargard City.

The massive Silent Forest was divided into over a hundred monster regions of varying sizes, each inhabited by different monster races.

Blackwater Swamp was a rather special area with muddy paths and widespread swamps where one could easily get trapped.

However, since Blackwater Swamp was the shortest route to many cities, especially including the Royal Capital - saving at least two days compared to detours - the City Lord of Fargard City had spent considerable effort in the past to establish relatively safe official roads through this swamp area.

Traveling along these official roads significantly reduced the risk of getting trapped in swamps. Through long-term testing and improvements, the probability of encountering swamps was now very small. Those unfortunate enough to get trapped while on official roads mostly had bad luck encountering newly formed swamp areas.

Among these established roads, there were three routes to the Royal Capital.

Numbered 1, 5, and the newest 11.

Route 1 was the initially established path, taking the safest approach by following the border between the side mountains and Blackwater Swamp. It now had stone pavement and served as the main trade route with extremely low danger.

However, firstly, the number of merchant caravans using this route daily was extremely high, requiring reservations and queuing. Secondly, this safe route meant some detouring - while it saved about 40% distance compared to going around the other side of the mountains, it was still quite long. At normal carriage speed, reaching the Royal Capital would take at least 5 days.

The second route, Route 5, mostly passed through Blackwater Swamp's periphery until two-thirds of the journey, then turned inward when reaching the dense swamp area, passing through Blackwater Swamp's middle zone.

The final third of this route was relatively dangerous, but it saved 1-1.5 days compared to Route 1 and was less congested than the main trade route, making it the choice for many mid-to-high-end merchant groups.

Finally, there was Route 11, which was just completed this year.

This route was the boldest, going straight into Blackwater Swamp's middle area in a direct line. When approaching the Royal Capital and encountering dense swamp areas, it even turned toward Blackwater Swamp's core area, curving inward to maximize distance reduction.

The advantage was reaching the Royal Capital in 3 days or even 2 days. The disadvantage, naturally, was greater danger.

Blackwater Swamp's core area contained many Middle-tier Lord-level monsters, equivalent to Elite level.

Additionally, as a chaotic area, Blackwater Swamp had many bandit groups operating within. To avoid suppression from the main city, these bandits often established bases in Blackwater Swamp's middle zone or even deeper areas.

So taking Route 11 meant significant possibility of encountering bandit attacks along the way.

And bandit groups capable of surviving in such places shouldn't be underestimated.

Hence, a merchant caravan escort mission was rated C-rank.

But even so, among C-rank missions, this was considered relatively low risk.

Potentially encountering Elite-level monsters was undoubtedly much better than directly facing Elite-level monsters along with their possible numerous minions.

If they were lucky and didn't encounter Elite-level monsters, that would be a great deal.

Even if unlucky and they did encounter them, it would be similar to ordinary C-rank missions, with additional rewards.

The mission Dirk chose was indeed quite good.

"By the way, since Blackwater Swamp has many toxic fogs and miasmas, we need to prepare some poison resistance and antidote potions. We've prepared quite a few - take a look, and if it's not enough, we can purchase more at the association."

As he spoke, Dirk opened his backpack, revealing dozens of carefully packaged potions inside.

"That should be enough."

Lin Mo nodded. Just these potions probably cost over a thousand gold coins. Although they might not use them all, it showed Dirk's sincerity.

Under normal circumstances, these potions would be more than sufficient, definitely not all used.

Even if something unexpected happened, there was no need to worry. Before leaving Silverstream City, Lady Shachel had given them a batch of alchemical potions, including poison resistance and antidote potions of high quality.

Even purchasing potions at the association probably couldn't match Lady Shachel's.

"However, I do need to buy something..."

Lin Mo hadn't forgotten that he still needed to buy another priest profession skill to level up his priest profession.

"Okay, no hurry."

Dirk nodded: "We can also take this time to review the mission route further and identify higher-risk areas. The merchant caravan isn't ready yet either - the scheduled departure time is nine o'clock, so we have plenty of time..."