Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Chapter 337: The Tamirat Desert

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed.

During these five days, especially the last three, the number of monsters encountered on the road increased significantly.

Most of the time, Lin Mo used his Ranger skills to kill those monsters.

It must be said that, excluding Mages, the Ranger profession is indeed a quite excellent profession.

High damage, long range, and fast movement speed. Aside from the drawback of being fragile and the need to consume arrows, it's still very enjoyable.

The gains along this journey were also quite considerable.

Among the skills previously acquired, the Ranger-type skills, including those previously upgraded from common-grade to excellent-grade, totaled eleven. Among these eleven excellent-grade skills, three had already been maxed out during the journey over the past few days. Additionally, three exceptional-grade skills had already reached level 4, each granting a basic attribute point.

Altogether, these provided Lin Mo with 33 points of basic Agility. Besides that, eating magical beast meat these past few days also brought minor improvements, totaling one point of Strength and one point of Agility.

This was just right. Otherwise, Lin Mo's basic Agility attribute would have become 250... Now, with that extra point, it looks a bit more comfortable.

The increase in basic attributes naturally also brought about profession level upgrades."Universal promotion condition met. Profession Assassin (lv15) promoted — Current Profession Assassin (lv17)."

"Received Profession Attribute Enhancement: Strength +11, Constitution +7, Agility +24!"

"Universal promotion condition met. Profession Ranger (lv15) promoted — Current Profession Ranger (lv17)."

"Received Profession Attribute Enhancement: Strength +9, Constitution +5, Agility +24, Spirit +4!"

Both professions leveled up twice consecutively, boosting Lin Mo's Agility attribute once again.

Now, Lin Mo's total Agility attribute had surpassed his total Strength attribute!

Over the past few days, the travel progress was also slightly faster than anticipated. Now, they were less than three days away from reaching their destination, the Lonia Kingdom.

However, these final three days of travel were also the most crucial part of this journey, because they needed to pass through a large adventure zone near the Lonia Kingdom — the Tamirat Desert.

Within this desert, the number of monsters was vast, and their types were highly varied. Unlike many adventure zones with clear level partitions, it was a mixed bag where powerful and weak monsters could appear at any time.

Therefore, this desert was also known as the Novice's Grave. Many newcomers who refused to believe the warnings and thought they were lucky chose to adventure in this desert, seeking greater profits.

As for the results... naturally, most vanished without a trace, forever lost in this desert.

Before coming here, Lin Mo had naturally gathered detailed information about this desert. The recorded monsters in the Tamirat Desert currently covered danger levels from the lowest, level 3, to the highest, level 25, a remarkably wide range. Among them, the strongest monsters had already reached the Transcendent Level, especially those level 24 or 25 monsters. Even for the current Lin Mo, they were quite dangerous.

After all, his own level hadn't reached the Transcendent Level yet. Although ordinary Transcendent Level beings were no match for him, his actual combat power was roughly equivalent to around level 23. Relying on his versatility, he might be able to contend with a level 24 monster. But if he encountered a level 25 monster, he could only try to run.

If he couldn't even run away... then... then he'd hide in his Portable Space.

That's right. Besides convenience, the Portable Space had another most important function: saving one's life.

Unless the opponent also mastered Space Magic, or possessed strength sufficient to forcibly tear through space, there was absolutely nothing they could do.

Both of these were extremely difficult to achieve. Space Magic or spatial-type abilities were inherently very rare. The number of monsters that had mastered spatial-type abilities could be counted on one hand. As for relying on one's own strength to forcibly tear through space, probably not even the Heroic Realm could do it.

So now, even if he encountered a Heroic Realm opponent he couldn't defeat, Lin Mo could completely hide in his Portable Space to save his life. The opponent would have absolutely no way to deal with it.

But even so, when hiding in the Portable Space, he couldn't directly move. If the opponent waited patiently, it would also be quite troublesome. Therefore, before entering this desert, they still needed to make preparations, adjust their own condition, and at least ensure they could pass through the desert smoothly under the condition of not encountering level 25 monsters.

"No need to be too tense..."

Flora comforted him, "Although Transcendent Level monsters exist within the Tamirat Desert, their numbers are extremely scarce. Normally, even if you traverse this desert ten times, you might not necessarily encounter one. And even if we do encounter a Transcendent Level monster, it's not like we can't deal with it."

As she spoke, she glanced at Lin Mo beside her.

As for those higher-level monsters, like level 23, 24, or even 25 monsters, they were simply not within her consideration.

There were only a handful of monsters of that level. The Tamirat Desert was vast. They were just passing through a narrow area on its side, which would take about three days. Normally, you could stay in this desert for a month and not encounter a monster above level 23.

As for level 25, don't even mention it. Up to now, there was only one recorded instance of encountering a level 25 monster in the Tamirat Desert.

Although there might be others who encountered it and never returned, even adding suspected encounters that ended in annihilation, the records were still extremely scarce, merely a handful of times.

It could basically be confirmed that there was only that one level 25 creature in the entire desert.

Could they just happen to run into it?

That probability was just too low...

Lin Mo didn't know what Flora was thinking now. Otherwise, he would definitely hurry and tell her to cut off that train of thought and stop planting flags.

It was about 4 PM now. There was still some time before nightfall, so tonight's dinner could be prepared a bit more lavishly.

This time, they didn't choose to be inside the Portable Space but came outside.

After all, although comfortable inside the Portable Space, there was always a sense of still being at home. Coming outside gave more of a sense of an adventurous picnic.

They were adventurers, after all. Sometimes, they still needed a bit of that adventurous atmosphere...

Flora lit the campfire before Lin Mo could start. Sitting before the bright flames, she didn't feel hot. She took off her mage's hat, removed her boots, and used her fair, tender feet to play with the sand beneath them.

"It's been a long time since I've had this feeling of being out on an adventure..."

Life at the academy, though comfortable and rich in resources, allowing steady growth in strength, also felt somewhat bland and lacked a bit of fun.

Now, returning to the life of an adventurer made her rediscover that vibrant, passionate energy she once had, as if she had become a few years younger.

Speaking of which, Flora was also the oldest among everyone, a year older than the previously oldest, Sherfilia, and a full four years older than Lin Mo.

Twenty-two years old. In Lin Mo's original world, that was still quite young, mostly just graduated university students, right in their youthful, beautiful prime.

But in this world, it was already considered somewhat old.

After all, here, it was common to marry at fifteen or sixteen, some even earlier.

Flora's current age in this world was firmly in the "big sister" category.

If she still hadn't married in another year or two, she would probably be the subject of pointing fingers and gossip...

Flora previously had no thoughts about these matters and didn't care about others' opinions. In the past, many young talents from the Kingdom, even including many outstanding youths from neighboring kingdoms, had expressed their admiration for her. But in Flora's eyes, those people were rather uninteresting, with nothing that could attract her.

Coupled with her own lack of interest in matters related to romance, she rejected them all.

As for now...

Flora secretly glanced at Lin Mo, who had sat down beside her. To be honest, her current inner feelings were still somewhat confused and uncertain.

It wasn't that she regretted following Lin Mo and the others. It was just that she still didn't understand things like feelings very well, wasn't sure if her current thoughts were the so-called "liking," and didn't know how Lin Mo viewed her. So, recently, her thoughts had been quite jumbled.

Several days had already passed. Why hadn't he done anything, or even specifically come to talk to me...

Does he think I'm too old? Does he not like me?

Thoughts like these constantly swirled in Flora's mind, making her restless and unable to calm down even during meditation.

Lin Mo, however, didn't know her inner drama was so complex. If he knew, he'd probably find it both amusing and exasperating. So, this free-spirited Teacher Flora actually had such moments of worry and insecurity.

Moreover, the problems she worried about didn't really exist. After all, in Lin Mo's view, Flora was still quite young. Who wouldn't like such a youthful, beautiful, powerful, and voluptuous big sister?

Lena and Sherfilia were handling the ingredients. Flora and Eve also went to help. Ellie originally wanted to go too but was shooed back because she was always clumsy, not only doing a poor job but sometimes causing trouble.

So, only Finnie and Ellie were left accompanying Lin Mo on either side.

At times like these, Finnie generally couldn't help either. After all, Sherfilia was originally her maid. If she went to work with Sherfilia, Sherfilia definitely wouldn't agree.

It would make her feel like she was failing in her duties, especially with messy work like handling ingredients.

Especially after meeting Shirleyas, Sherfilia became particularly mindful about these aspects.

As if doing well in maid-related work would let her see Shirleyas's look of astonishment, envy, and inferiority.

A strange competitive mentality...

But of course, Lin Mo wouldn't say anything. After all, with Sherfilia holding such a mentality, he was also a beneficiary.

Of course, those two newcomers who went to help were also rather clumsy, not knowing what to do.

Eve, as a Warrior, was good with swordsmanship and could help with some cutting work. Flora just stood there dumbly, half-reaching out, looking like she wanted to do something but didn't know what.

Fortunately, her identity as a fire mage allowed her to complete some special tasks, like taking on the role of a "flamethrower" to burn off residual hair on the ingredients' skin.

Previously, Lin Mo had to do this work. Now, with Flora here, he could rest at ease.

Lin Mo lazily lay on Finnie's lap pillow, gently stroking Ellie's big tail.

Of course, he wasn't completely idle. After resting for a bit, Lin Mo focused his mind and continued to tinker with his Portable Space.

He needed to quickly carve out a piece of land for Lena to farm, even if small, at least get it set up so she had a place to practice.

In fact, Lin Mo was almost done.

Over the past few days, because he had to deal with monsters, the time spent researching the Portable Space was a bit less. But after all, several days had passed, so progress was still relatively significant.

Currently, the size of the Portable Space had been expanded to 20×80×80. The 20-meter height allowed Lin Mo to add a third floor to the villa.

Currently, the villa covered an area of 40×40, totaling 1600 square meters. That was already plenty big and didn't need further expansion.

The remaining space, next to the villa, was a storage room specifically for storing things. Inside, a separate space was partitioned off to park the carriage.

Then, the space behind the villa was where Lin Mo planned to create the plantation for Lena to farm.

During this time, besides expanding the space, he also placed all the high-quality soil previously purchased here. It already looked quite proper and could be put to use tomorrow.

It's just that this plot of land was a bit small right now, only 10×60, an area of 600 square meters. It could only let Lena do some simple practice and experimentation. Further expansion would be needed later.

Next, a practice ground needed to be built... This required a lot of materials. Ordinary materials couldn't withstand attacks at their level; protective magic arrays also needed to be set up...

But this wasn't urgent. In a few more days, they would reach the Lonia Kingdom. Then they could go directly to the snowy mountains. At that time, they could just find monsters for actual combat.

During this period, there was no need to rush building the practice ground. Lin Mo had plenty of time to work on it slowly. If anything was troublesome, it was really just the protective magic array.

Setting this thing up was still quite complex. Lin Mo also couldn't let others enter the Portable Space to help set it up, easily exposing this method of his.

So, he had to study and learn himself, buy materials, and set up the array.

Flora could help him a bit, but mainly on the theoretical knowledge level.

The gap between her current mana and Lin Mo's was already quite large. If she set up the array, it wouldn't even withstand attacks from Ellie or even herself.

As night fell, everyone gathered around the campfire, sharing a warm dinner together.

Again...