novelraw Chapter 338: Hogging Ellie's Coolness
Chapter 338: Hogging Ellie's Coolness
Early the next morning, as the sky was just beginning to lighten, everyone got up, washed up, ate, and continued their journey.
After accumulating experience over the past few days, Ellie's level was now a solid level 16, starting to advance towards level 17.
Sherfilia and Finnie were both level 13, and Lena's mana level had reached level 9.
Seeing everyone's strength increasing day by day, the two newcomers grew increasingly restless.
However, Lin Mo was very busy every day, so even if they were eager, they had no opportunity. They could only think about waiting until they arrived at the Lonia Kingdom.
Today was different from the previous days. The group did not continue hiding inside the Portable Space but came out to the carriage, vigilantly watching their surroundings.
After all, they had entered an adventure zone, and a relatively dangerous one at that—the Tamirat Desert. The necessary caution was still required.
Although nothing would happen to them if they hid inside the Portable Space, if a powerful monster attacked and they reacted too slowly, and the horses pulling their carriage were killed, that would also be a troublesome matter.
So it was better to keep watch outside.
Of course, Lena was an exception; she was not a combatant.Lin Mo had already helped her set up that experimental field, and she was currently inside, farming.
An adventure zone was, after all, an adventure zone, completely different from the wastelands outside. Just ten minutes after entering the Tamirat Desert, Lin Mo sensed an aura approaching their location.
He lifted the carriage curtain to look around but saw no movement. He then shifted his gaze to the sandy ground beneath them.
The Tamirat Desert was astonishingly vast, and the depth of the sand beneath their feet was also considerable, averaging over 15 meters, with many places even reaching a hundred meters or several hundred meters!
Therefore, in this area, enemies didn't just attack from the surroundings; monsters could emerge from the sandy ground beneath them at any moment.
For example, the monster currently approaching them was doing just that.
An ordinary adventurer might be unable to detect the monster's movement trajectory until it burst from the sand, but Lin Mo was different. His Spirit attribute was very high, even surpassing that of magic-based professions by a significant margin. This high Spirit attribute also granted him powerful insight, allowing him to easily detect the location of this monster.
Thus, a few seconds later, when that monster suddenly erupted from beneath the sand, ready to ambush, a sharp arrow had already pierced its body the moment it broke through the soil.
Lin Mo lowered the bow in his hand and watched with interest as the monster emerged from beneath the sand.
Along the way, he had read many materials about this desert and naturally learned about the monsters commonly found in the Tamirat Desert.
This huge, white proboscis worm before him, about one meter wide and three to four meters long, was likely called a "Gravel Proboscis Worm." Their levels generally ranged from 5 to 8. In the Silent Forest, this level would be considered mid-tier or even upper-mid-tier, but in the Tamirat Desert, it was only slightly above the lowest-tier monsters, not even qualifying as a middle-layer monster.
The basic danger coefficient of the Tamirat Desert was extremely high. The lower limit of monster strength alone was enough to make the vast majority of adventurers hesitate.
Lin Mo briefly recalled the contents he had read in the book. This seemingly plump, white gravel worm gave off a feeling that it might taste quite good, but in reality, the meat of this monster was quite sour and astringent, not tasty at all. As for the most valuable material on its body...
As usual, Lin Mo used his [Shadow Split] skill to summon a clone, which cut off the worm's proboscis.
Other parts also had some value, but not much, and couldn't compare to the core material, so there was no need to carry them.
They would encounter many more monsters ahead. Carrying everything would be impossible; the warehouse in the Portable Space wouldn't hold it all.
Inside the carriage, Finnie's expression looked somewhat uncomfortable.
After all, as a girl, she instinctively felt some aversion to insects and similar creatures.
However, apart from Finnie, everyone else seemed fine. Ellie, of course, needed no explanation. Eve and Ellie were somewhat similar types in a way, so naturally, there was no fear of monsters.
Sherfilia was the same. Flora felt a little disgusted, but her reaction wasn't as strong as Finnie's.
The carriage continued to travel through the desert. As time passed, the sun in the sky gradually rose higher, and the temperature outside soared at an extremely rapid pace.
"So hot..."
Although, logically, it was still winter, the desert was different from the outside.
Especially a high-energy area like the Tamirat Desert.
Everyone inside the carriage, except for Ellie, Flora, and Lin Mo, felt somewhat unaccustomed to this sudden high temperature. After all, just a few days ago in the Doria Kingdom, the weather had been quite cold, and during the past few days inside the Portable Space, the temperature had been very comfortable.
As an ice-element mage, Flora naturally had a higher adaptability to heat. Lin Mo was the same.
Ellie, due to the powerful Ice Element energy within her bloodline, wasn't just unaffected by this level of heat; even being engulfed in flames would hardly injure her.
Inside the carriage now, she was like a moving block of ice. Everyone couldn't help but shift closer to her.
Lin Mo never stood on ceremony at times like this. Although he wasn't particularly afraid of heat, he straightforwardly and unapologetically picked up Ellie and placed her on his lap.
Now the other girls also had a reason to stop hesitating. They directly pressed close, leaning against Lin Mo, taking the opportunity to hog some of Ellie's "coolness."
Due to the harsh environment and dangerous monsters in the Tamirat Desert, the number of adventurers entering this area wasn't high. Traveling merchant caravans also tried to avoid routes passing through here. Combined with its vast expanse, the frequency of monsters in this desert encountering humans wasn't very high.
Therefore, once someone appeared within it, it was easy to attract monsters seeking them out. After all, compared to the strenuous effort of searching for prey, humans' blatant, completely unconcealed way of moving seemed, in the eyes of many monsters, like a free meal delivered to their doorstep.
Not to mention that Lin Mo and the others were riding in a carriage; the horses pulling it were also a tempting treat in the eyes of monsters.
Of course, Lin Mo was happy about this. Killing a few more monsters meant earning some proficiency and materials.
However, Ellie and the others, watching Lin Mo shoot down the monsters they encountered along the way with arrow after arrow, felt eager to try themselves. But for the sake of travel progress, they couldn't stop the carriage to let them fight the monsters. Bored, Ellie's hands began to get restless. In front of so many people, she started getting handsy with Lin Mo.
Lin Mo helplessly rolled his eyes and swatted her hand away.
Ellie immediately pouted with grievance but stopped fidgeting, obediently leaning against Lin Mo's chest.
Mischievous, but obedient.
Time reached noon. By then, the temperature in the desert had risen to a level unbearable for ordinary people. In terms of perceived temperature, it now exceeded 50 degrees Celsius!
An ordinary person in such an environment would soon suffer heatstroke and dehydration. But Lin Mo and the others were, after all, adventurers. The carriage they rode in also blocked the sunlight. With plenty of water to drink and Ellie, the mobile air conditioner, they were doing okay.
However, Finnie, with her weaker constitution, now looked rather unwell.
Lin Mo considered letting her rest inside the Portable Space, but upon careful thought, he gave up on the idea.
If no one else went in, and Finnie went in alone, she probably wouldn't agree. Even if he suggested it, she wouldn't listen.
Despite her soft appearance and personality, this kind of girl could be surprisingly stubborn at times.
So he just pulled her to sit closer, took some ice cubes from the warehouse, and gave them to her to chew on to cool down.
The carriage continued moving. Soon, Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes, placed the Ellie in his arms to the side, and instinctively prepared to take out his bow. However, his movements quickly paused, and he put the bow away again.
"The monsters coming aren't just one; there's a whole group... Girls, time to get up and stretch your legs."
"Great!"
Ellie was the first to react, immediately cheering happily, pulling out her weapon from her Spatial Ring, and eagerly getting off the carriage.
The other girls also disembarked one after another, vigilantly surveying their surroundings.
The temperature outside was scorching. Soon after stepping out, they began to sweat.
In the past, this situation would have been truly annoying. After all, they had to travel through the desert for a long time. Sweating this much without being able to bathe would be very uncomfortable.
But now...
Since they could take a bath in the Portable Space after the fight anyway, it didn't matter.
Soon, the source of the commotion Lin Mo had heard earlier appeared before them.
From the surrounding sandy ground, countless monsters clad in black carapaces emerged from beneath the surface one after another. They were about two meters long, with a pair of large pincers and a tail stinger that gleamed with a metallic sheen.
"Venom-Tail Sand Scorpions..."
Flora was the first to name this type of monster.
In the Tamirat Desert, this was one of the most common monsters.
The individual strength of these monsters wasn't particularly high, generally only around levels 5-7, with occasional individuals above level 8 that typically became the "leaders" of the group.
That's right, the most troublesome aspect of these monsters was their social nature.
They often appeared in groups, with smaller groups having twenty or thirty individuals, and larger swarms potentially reaching up to a hundred.
The batch that had come knocking now appeared to be a medium-sized group, with a total number of about fifty.
For the current Silver Radiance Team, this didn't pose much of a threat and wouldn't provide much training effect. But at least it could help them move their bodies a bit and accumulate some combat experience.
Although, in truth, those present didn't lack practical combat experience much.
Apart from Finnie, the one with the least actual combat experience was actually Lin Mo, the newcomer who had only become a Professional a few months ago.
However, sometimes, combat experience wasn't just about solo fights. Since they had formed an adventurer team, coordination was also very important.
Especially now that the team had two new members, Lin Mo intended to use this opportunity to let them practice coordination.
So he wasn't in a hurry to act, choosing to observe for a while first.
As for proficiency... he definitely wanted to farm it, but he wasn't short of just these few kills.
Ellie looked very excited. She charged forward, brandishing her sword, and with one swing, a chilling Sword Energy instantly cleaved several Venom-Tail Sand Scorpions in two.
Finnie applied buffs to everyone. Sherfilia also quickly joined the fight, cooperating seamlessly with Ellie.
After all, they had been adventuring together for some time now.
In contrast, Eve and Flora seemed somewhat unaccustomed.
Eve was slightly better. They had cooperated a few times before, and as a Warrior, even if coordination wasn't perfect, they wouldn't interfere with each other much.
Flora was in a more difficult position. She wasn't very familiar with everyone's fighting styles, so she couldn't casually use magic, as it could easily cause friendly fire.
However, she was, after all, a talented mage with strong control over her spells and exceptional observational and learning abilities. So gradually, she began to adapt to the team-based combat style.
Seeing that things were progressing well, Lin Mo didn't draw his sword or nock an arrow. Instead, he used the Crystal Shield Technique to create a shield. He wanted to practice the Knight class skills he had recently acquired.
Currently, his Knight profession level was the lowest, which wasn't good... the Constitution attribute was very important, especially now that his pressures were increasing. He needed to hurry up and improve.
But to be serious, although the team had more and more people and was getting livelier, in terms of "combat power," apart from Ellie, the strength-type warrior, the rest were essentially "combat weaklings."
Eve might be slightly better? But she hadn't officially joined yet.
Others like Finnie and Lena couldn't withstand a single blow. This included Sherfilia; although her technique was precise and she had skill, her numerical stats were simply insufficient.
In the face of absolute numerical superiority, any technique ultimately became just flashy.
Was the team perhaps lacking a Knight profession?
Lin Mo couldn't help but think this way.
The feeling of a crushing victory was satisfying, but occasionally, he still wanted an evenly matched opponent...
These miscellaneous thoughts flashed through his mind for only an instant. The next moment, Lin Mo snapped back to reality, gripped his shield, stepped forward, joined the battle, and began farming proficiency.
He didn't choose to urgently use the offensive skills from the Knight class. Instead, he took a beating for a while.
Because the [Unyielding Body] skill was only 1 point of proficiency away from leveling up.
Although these monsters' attack strength wasn't particularly high, accumulating enough hits could still increase proficiency.
Sure enough, after a while, a prompt appeared before Lin Mo's eyes.
"Skill [Unyielding Body] Lv2 (40/40) upgraded!"
"Current skill [Unyielding Body] Lv3 (0/80)"
"Gained +5 basic attribute points in Constitution!"
It finally leveled up.
The progress of this skill was really a bit slow. Mainly, this skill required constantly taking hits or being in very intense clashes to accumulate proficiency.
And most of the time, Lin Mo didn't encounter suitable opponents.
The proficiency he had accumulated mainly came from the more intense battles at the end of the Hunting Competition and the Academy Grand Competition.
He hoped that during this trip to the snowy mountains, he would encounter some suitable opponents...