novelraw Chapter 311: Are You Guys Training Extra at Night Too?
Chapter 311: Are You Guys Training Extra at Night Too?
Under everyone's stunned gaze, Eve nodded. "Besides students, the Academy Grand Competition also includes young instructors under the age of 30."
"What does that mean... students and instructors fight together? How could we possibly win?"
Ellie pouted.
That's not necessarily true...
Eve glanced at Lin Mo before answering her question. "Students and teachers are mostly not together; they are in different tracks, and both will have their scores recorded... Only after advancing to the elimination rounds will there be a format where students and instructors team up to fight."
"That's quite interesting..."
Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. So it seemed this Grand Competition was still quite challenging.
"However, generally speaking, based on the experience of previous years, for our Doria Kingdom, let alone advancing, just surviving the first three rounds of the preliminary qualifiers is already considered a very good result."
Eve added.
"Mmm..."Lin Mo nodded, not finding this surprising.
During the Hunting Competition, he had also gained some understanding of the level of participants from other kingdoms. Those who weren't the top in their respective kingdoms actually weren't bad in strength; the strongest among them was not much different from Eve.
It was evident that among those primary kingdoms... especially the top geniuses from the large primary kingdom of Lonia, they probably had levels around 13 or 14.
And the geniuses from the Empires were even stronger, likely reaching Level 15 or above.
The gap in foundation between small kingdoms and large kingdoms was still quite apparent.
Based on the strength of Doria Kingdom's younger generation, it was indeed difficult to compare.
Of course, this time was different.
Lin Mo had even felt at one point that this Grand Competition wouldn't be very difficult, but now with the addition of instructors, it was different again.
There weren't many people who could become academy instructors before the age of 30. Those who could achieve this were basically former geniuses themselves, like Flora.
Moreover, Flora was still very young, only in her early twenties. Those instructors approaching 30, especially those within the Empires, wouldn't be strange at all even if they reached the Transcendent Level.
Wanting to secure the rewards probably wouldn't be as easy as imagined!
After finishing the meal, Lin Mo began tinkering with his new skill again.
That's right, it was the skill he obtained last in the Secret Realm — 【Spatial Creation】.
This skill was different from the ones he had learned before; it was a very special skill.
Other skills, once learned, were learned; you could just take them out and use them directly. It was just a matter of proficiency level and power strength.
But this skill, which could create and open up one's own space, required slow research and refinement.
Opening up a space itself was a process, like a farming simulation game, requiring gradual expansion and construction.
It was a relatively intricate process, but also quite interesting.
For those two days, Ellie had been busy with that matter.
......
"Whew~"
After working hard all afternoon, Lin Mo let out a long sigh of relief.
This way, this space belonging to him now had a full 200 cubic meters.
You know, the Spatial Ring he had acquired previously only had 100 cubic meters.
200 cubic meters was roughly a 10×10×2 space. The area was passable, but the 2-meter height felt somewhat cramped, which was also the direction of Lin Mo's future efforts.
He planned to first widen the height of this space to about 4 meters, which would then be a more comfortable living environment.
The space opened up by the 【Spatial Creation】 skill had two forms. One was a completely independent space similar to a storage pouch or a Spatial Ring.
The difficulty of opening this type of space was relatively greater because it couldn't rely on the user's own mana, making it much more complex, and the space that could be opened was also relatively limited.
If Lin Mo opened this type of space, he could currently only manage about 5 cubic meters.
The other type was somewhat different. It wasn't completely independent but was a "portable space" that relied on his own mana for existence.
Because mana served as a link for a continuous connection, the difficulty of opening this type of space was relatively smaller, and it could also be made larger.
This "portable space" only required a tiny bit of mana for connection to exist continuously and could be opened and entered at any time.
Therefore, Lin Mo planned to develop a suitable portable space to serve as a living place.
This way, when going out on adventures in the future, he wouldn't have to rough it outdoors but could also have a home-like place to stay.
Expanding the space's height to 4 meters was just a beginning. Due to the special nature of the portable space, the current size had not yet reached his limit.
Later, he could even create a three-bedroom, one-living-room layout inside, or even turn it into a villa mansion!
And incidentally, open up a courtyard to grow flowers and plants...
If this succeeded, Lin Mo couldn't even imagine how enjoyable future adventure life would be.
Amidst this continuous expansion, the proficiency growth rate of this skill wasn't slow either.
【Spatial Expansion】Lv2 (27/40)
In these two days, it had already increased by over forty proficiency points. At this rate, by tomorrow night, it would probably reach Level 3 and grant the basic mana attribute.
Lin Mo stood up. Working hard all afternoon had left him somewhat fatigued.
Eve was still at his house and hadn't left. She was nearing graduation, so she didn't have many classes left later. After coming over these past few days, she would basically stay here, occasionally sparring with Ellie and the others.
Lin Mo stood up and stretched his body.
It was a pity the little maid also seemed to be cultivating; otherwise, she could have given him a massage.
Forget it, tonight is fine too.
Tonight, it's her and Finnie's turn anyway...
Walking out of the room and into the living room, Finnie was sitting on the sofa, holding a book in her hands, seemingly a church scripture.
Besides her work as an adventurer, Finnie hadn't forgotten her identity as a church Sister. In her spare time, she often studied these religious texts.
Sometimes Ellie would tease her about it, calling her the future Archbishop — Finnie I.
Lin Mo didn't disturb her and instead went to the backyard.
The owner of this courtyard, Flora, was still busy with various tasks: dealing with the aftermath of the previous Hunting Competition and preparing for the upcoming Academy Grand Competition. She left early and returned late every day.
Lena was still in class... The remaining three people were now practicing in the yard.
Logically, Eve's strength seemed to be somewhat higher than the other two, but that wasn't actually the case.
It was true that Eve was a sword genius, but Sherfilia's talent wasn't necessarily much worse than hers. With Lin Mo's help, she had now reached Level 10, the same as Eve. Moreover, with Lin Mo's assistance, Sherfilia's attributes were much more well-rounded than Eve's. Coupled with solid fundamentals and rich combat experience, Eve was actually at a disadvantage when fighting her.
Although Ellie's level was 1 lower than theirs, her actual combat power was not lacking at all...
After they parted ways in the forest that day and met again, Ellie had told him about what happened to her.
At first, she was very uneasy, but after the battle ended, she discovered that the fur that had grown on her body seemed to disappear once she was out of combat.
After trying a few times later, she found that when entering combat, her Orc features would become more pronounced, but when out of combat, she could consciously control and retract them.
So she immediately felt relieved and could more freely develop the bloodline within her body without restraint.
Lin Mo remembered the "Mist Crystal Flower" he had obtained from the deep pool in the Secret Realm.
This flower had the function of stimulating ice element bloodlines, which was perfect for Ellie. So Lin Mo didn't have any thoughts of selling it or using it for other purposes. It was just that Ellie's current strength wasn't sufficient yet; she probably couldn't withstand the medicinal power of the Mist Crystal Flower. So they had to wait until she advanced to the Elite Level before attempting it.
"Lin Mo!"
It was getting late, and just as the fight over there ended, Ellie noticed Lin Mo approaching. She immediately threw down the sword in her hand and quickly ran over.
Lin Mo opened his arms and, not minding her sweat-covered body, hugged the girl in his embrace.
Ellie rubbed her face against his chest. The ears on top of her head also rubbed back and forth against Lin Mo's chin, ticklish yet very comfortable.
Lin Mo ruffled her hair and asked with a smile, "How's the training going?"
"Great!"
Ellie looked very happy. After stimulating her bloodline in the Silent Forest, her strength had suddenly increased by a large margin. Although her level was 1 lower, in actual combat, whether facing Eve or Sherfilia, she could have a slight advantage.
Regarding this, Sherfilia felt relatively fine, just determined to work even harder to "improve her strength" later.
But Eve was very frustrated.
She distinctly remembered that when they first met, this Half-Orc young lady's strength couldn't even compare to the weakest student in her team.
But now, she seemed to have a tendency to surpass her.
The maid young lady next to her was the same. Although not as exaggerated as Ellie, her improvement speed was also quite astonishing.
How on earth was this achieved?
This question had been in her heart for several days.
Especially during these past few days of sparring, she noticed they were clearly getting stronger day by day. Every time they practiced fine yesterday with no changes, the next day they suddenly became a notch stronger, leaving Eve utterly puzzled.
Today, she finally couldn't hold back and asked, "You guys... are you training extra at night too?"
"Uh..."
This question instantly made the atmosphere on the scene somewhat delicate.
Ellie and Sherfilia looked at each other, blinked their eyes, and then very tacitly looked at Lin Mo together.
So Eve's gaze naturally followed.
"......"
Lin Mo scratched his head, momentarily unsure how to answer.
So he could only change the subject: "Right, it's getting late, I'll go cook... Sherfilia, you come help."
"Yes, Master."
Sherfilia immediately nodded and followed.
"Wait a minute... I want to go too!"
Seeing the two leaving, Ellie immediately wanted to follow. Sherfilia turned her head and pressed her shoulder: "No, you don't."
If she really went, she'd wreck the kitchen again.
Who knows how she does it. Clearly, she also wants to help seriously, but every time she goes in, it's a chaotic mess. Somehow she breaks bowls, somehow she damages kitchenware... making Lin Mo suspect at one point that she wasn't of wolf bloodline but of Husky bloodline.
Ellie opened her mouth but didn't know how to refute, ultimately sitting back on the sofa dejectedly.
It's fine, Young Mistress Finnie is still here!
She glanced at Finnie beside her, only to see her directly put down the book in her hands, turn her head and say, "Sister Ellie, is it almost time to eat? Then I'll go back to my room first..."
Saying this, she got up and left.
So only a dumbfounded Ellie remained, somewhat stiffly turning her head to look at Eve.
To be fair, Ellie was actually the type with a straightforward personality. Back then, she was the one who actively pounced on Lin Mo... But this was a completely different matter.
Ellie dared to express her feelings to someone she liked, dared to take action, but that didn't mean she wouldn't feel shy, especially when talking about these things with others. After all, she was a girl; she would definitely feel awkward.
But now there was no place to hide either. Looking at Eve's curious face, she could only scratch her head: "Alright, it's actually like this..."
A moment later, Eve's face was full of shock, her mouth half-open, her brain momentarily short-circuiting.
"It... it can be like that too?"
"We were also very surprised at first."
Since it was already said, Ellie no longer felt awkward and said with relief: "But thinking that it was him after all, it didn't seem so strange anymore."
Hearing these words, Eve immediately understood: "Indeed."
No matter how strange the thing, if it happened to him, it would seem somewhat reasonable.
Ellie looked at Eve's somewhat bewildered expression and suddenly had an idea, her eyes rolling: "So, what does Young Mistress Eve think?"
Eve looked at her, tilting her head: "About what?"
"To put it bluntly, Young Mistress Eve, do you also want to improve?"
Eve understood the meaning in her words, and her calm face immediately showed a bit of embarrassment.
"That... that kind of thing...."
She had never considered such things before, even disliked them, feeling that such things were meaningless and would only hinder one's self-improvement.
But now... a shortcut was placed before her.
She recalled the progress Ellie and the others had made during this period, recalled the powerful and well-rounded performance Ellie and Young Mistress Sherfilia displayed in the fight just now, and then somehow thought again of those times she spent with Lin Mo in the Secret Realm a few days ago.
She thought of that final resting room, where they lay side by side on a bed. That feeling of being within reach, the faint body heat coming from beside her, left a vivid memory.
Eve's expression remained blank, looking somewhat dazed, but her heartbeat involuntarily accelerated.
"I don't know..."
Finally, she gave her answer, neither an affirmation nor a denial.
Ellie helplessly shook her head, thinking to herself, "As expected."
It was precisely because she had sensed this point that she had truthfully told her the truth.
Indeed, she already knew about Eve's previous encounter with Lin Mo in the Secret Realm. Being with Lin Mo for such a long time, how could she not be affected?
After all, her Lin Mo was the most outstanding man in the world.
She didn't disturb Eve's contemplation. Although Ellie was now quite open-minded, she wasn't magnanimous enough to actively promote her own man. How to choose was up to her to think about slowly.
Dinner was quickly prepared. Because there were many people at home, the dishes were also quite sumptuous.
Ellie and Finnie helped bring the food to the table. At the same time, Flora and Lena also arrived home one after another.
With everyone present, the dining table quickly became lively.
"Ah, that's the steak I wanted to eat!"
Ellie and Flora set their sights on the same steak, now locked in a confrontation.
Lena sat in the corner, her small frame curled up, silently devouring her food.
Finnie, blushing, served Lin Mo food.
Sherfilia, however, did not take a seat. She stood up behind Lin Mo and helped him put on his napkin.
Gradually, Eve's heart didn't seem so lost anymore.
Looking at this warm scene before her, the corner of her mouth gently curved into a slight arc.
It's really nice, this feeling like home...