Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

[Dash Punch]!

As they gradually delved deeper into the forest, the monsters encountered along the way were much stronger than before.

For instance, the Mutated Pooji that now appeared before them was over a person's height and possessed a row of sharp teeth.

Lin Mo didn't waste words, going straight up with a Dash Punch that left a deep fist print on its body.

From the sensation, it was probably around Threat Level 1.5?

In short, it was an instant kill with one punch.

However, since they were all soft-bodied creatures, these fungal monsters were much more appealing than slimes, and fighting them wasn't as disgusting.

Stewed into soup, it would probably be quite delicious?

Never mind...

Thinking about how it was still brandishing its claws and teeth at him half a minute ago, it always felt somewhat unsettling.

[Dash Punch] Proficiency +11

With the proficiency gained, Lin Mo's Dash Punch skill immediately leveled up.

"Skill [Dash Punch] Lv2 (20/20) leveled up!"

"Current Skill [Dash Punch] Lv3 (6/40)"

"Gained Attribute Point: Strength +1!"

His Base Strength had already reached 35 points, halfway to Level 4.

For the immediate future, he would still focus his main efforts on practicing [Ice Shard].

Currently, this skill still needed 51 proficiency points to level up.

Most of the morning was spent traveling.

They encountered many monsters along the way: goblins, minotaurs, Pooji, and even slimes.

Even slimes, Lin Mo didn't spare. Anyway, now he only needed to use [Ice Shard] to deal with them from a distance, so they weren't as annoying.

When they were finally about to reach the target area, Lin Mo's [Ice Shard] proficiency had already reached (77/100).

Only 23 points left.

"Let's rest for a bit."

Landon stopped in a relatively open area.

The next battle might be quite difficult, so they needed to adjust their condition to its peak and respond cautiously.

For adventurers, encountering monsters beyond the scope of a mission was simply commonplace.

The distribution of monsters was inherently unpredictable; the Guild's intelligence personnel could only provide a somewhat vague scope. Actual monster numbers increasing or decreasing, or their locations shifting to some extent, were all very normal occurrences.

Just like their previous mission, the intelligence personnel found one Flame Cat Demon; another might have stayed in the cave for a long time and wasn't sighted, so the mission information would only record one Flame Cat Demon.

If they encountered an unsolvable situation, they could choose to abandon the mission, return to the Guild to help update the intelligence, and receive a small compensatory reward.

As for the losses or casualties incurred, the Guild could only help bear a portion of them. After all, adventuring wasn't child's play; it was inherently risky.

After resting for a while and adjusting their condition to its best, everyone mustered their full attention and raised their guard to the maximum before stepping into the area of the final mission.

As mentioned before, because undead creatures' movements were highly unpredictable, the mission-designated area was also very large. After walking for half an hour within it, let alone skeletons and decaying corpses, they hadn't even seen a single monster.

But it was precisely this abnormal situation that better indicated this area had indeed been occupied by undead creatures, making the surrounding monsters dare not approach.

Sure enough, before long, Ellie, who had been diligently discerning the surrounding scents, made a discovery.

"This way!"

She pointed to the front-right and immediately took the lead, walking forward.

Lin Mo quickly followed, shielding her from behind.

Ellie's strength was not weak, but this was already deep within the Loran Forest's inner region, and a dangerous area overrun by undead. Lin Mo naturally couldn't feel at ease letting her lead the way.

Guided by Ellie, soon, Lin Mo and the others also caught a whiff of a foul, putrid smell. Continuing onward, they quickly discovered the source of the smell.

It was a decaying corpse, followed by several skeletons, and they seemed to be...

Patrolling?

Lin Mo hadn't forgotten that behind these undead creatures, there might very well be a Necromancer controlling everything!

So, was he stationing these undead here, treating the Loran Forest as his base of operations? Or was he plotting something here...

Troublesome matters were truly piling up.

Shaking his head, for now, it was better to focus on the mission and not think too far ahead.

Lin Mo immediately made his move; an ice shard rapidly formed and flew towards the undead creature in front, accurately hitting a skeleton soldier's skull and shattering its cranium instantly.

Common skeletons were the weakest of all undead creatures, also categorized as low-level monsters, their strength only slightly surpassing that of a goblin, by about half a slime's worth.

Monsters of this level, Lin Mo naturally dealt with in a single strike.

[Ice Shard] Proficiency +1

Lin Mo raised his right hand, and another ice shard shot forth, killing another skeleton.

At this moment, the undead creatures had also discovered their enemies and charged towards them.

Hake and Benny immediately rushed forward, chopping down the remaining skeletons as if they were vegetables.

As for the decaying corpse... it was only at Threat Level 1, and Lin Mo unceremoniously claimed it with [Ice Shard].

Thus, a total of 10 proficiency points were gained.

As the saying goes, when you see one cockroach in your house, it means there's already a swarm of them.

After discovering the first batch of undead creatures, Ellie continuously detected the scent of these dead beings.

The others followed, clearing them out in waves.

Soon, as [Ice Shard] killed another skeleton, a series of messages floated before Lin Mo's eyes.

[Ice Shard] Proficiency +1

"Skill [Ice Shard] Lv4 (100/100) leveled up!"

"Current Skill [Ice Shard] Lv5 (Max)"

"Gained Attribute Points: Spirit +1, Magic Power +1!"

"Automatically evolved into a new skill—[Crystalfall]!"

"Comprehended Skill [Crystalfall]! Magic Power +2!"

[Crystalfall]: Uses Magic Power to condense ice crystals, continuously dealing ice elemental damage to enemies within a designated area ahead!

Area-of-effect skill!

Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up. Unlike [Explosive Flame Ball], which only had a slight area-of-effect damage from its explosion, this was a genuine AoE skill!

Although as an Excellent-grade skill it likely wasn't as fierce as Landon's [Wind Vortex], at least he now had a proper area-damage skill, so in the future, when encountering miscellaneous monsters, he wouldn't have to deal with them one by one.

Mages really needed AoE skills, preferably violent AoE spells with super-large ranges, where one spell would turn all the cannon fodder into ashes!

This was also the biggest advantage mages held over classes like warriors.

[Crystalfall] was an excellent start.

With [Ice Shard] reaching max level and the acquisition of [Crystalfall], Lin Mo's Base Magic Power attribute had reached 28 points, just 2 points shy of leveling up.

At the same time, his Base Spirit attribute had also reached 10 points, reaching the Professional level.

However, Lin Mo hadn't really paid attention to the professions corresponding to the Spirit attribute.

The Priest profession also seemed to be primarily Magic Power-based.

Among the six mainstream professions, there didn't seem to be any profession primarily focused on the Spirit attribute.

So, Spirit-based professions corresponded to some rarer special professions... or perhaps certain crafting professions?

Lin Mo had heard that alchemists had very high Spirit requirements, and this was probably why.

Whether it was alchemists or other hidden special professions, Lin Mo didn't have the energy to delve into them for now, as quickly increasing his strength and earning money were the most important things.

"Let's keep going, keep going..."

Lin Mo was still full of vigor, and Ellie quickly found the next target.

"In this direction."

The others followed behind her to search; this time finding two decaying corpses and five skeleton soldiers, a slightly larger scale than before.

Without another word, Lin Mo immediately unleashed a [Crystalfall] as his opening move to test out his new skill.

In an instant, ice crystals condensed from ice elemental energy continuously rained down from above the heads of those undead creatures, lasting for about 2 seconds.

But those few monsters were already nearly dead after just one second.

With the strength of a nearly 3rd-level Mage, dealing with monsters no higher than Level 2 was still too easy.

[Crystalfall] Proficiency +5

[Crystalfall] Proficiency +13

A total of 18 proficiency points were acquired, which was naturally enough to level up the Level 1 skill [Crystalfall] immediately.

"Skill [Crystalfall] Lv1 (10/10) leveled up!"

"Current Skill [Crystalfall] Lv2 (8/20)"

Crystalfall was an Excellent-grade skill, meaning that he would gain Magic Power simply by leveling it up to Lv3.

And it was precisely 2 points of Magic Power!

"Not enough, not enough... Ellie, continue searching for the next batch of monsters!"

Landon vaguely had a guess.

Combat itself was a way for people to rapidly improve, and it was said that some geniuses were especially adept at improving themselves in battle; the gains they achieved in combat were double or even more than what they got from daily practice.

Lin Mo was probably one of these people? That's why he was so passionate about combat.

However, the 'combat' those geniuses referred to meant facing opponents of equal strength, or at least not too far off; farming ordinary monsters was useless.

And given Lin Mo's demonstrated rate of progress, let alone double, it was more exaggerated than tenfold improvement!

Sure enough, he still couldn't understand...

Every time he tried to understand the secret of Lin Mo's strength and search for possible explanations within his own understanding, he ultimately failed completely.

Shaking his head, Landon gave up thinking, quickened his pace, and caught up with the team.

Ellie searched around for a moment, but seemed to have found nothing new for the time being.

Meanwhile, the time had already reached 3 PM.

So far, they had only encountered small fry, and hadn't even seen a single monster with a Threat Level exceeding 2.

At this rate, it seemed unlikely they would complete the mission today.

Just as Landon was thinking this, Ellie suddenly frowned and her tail shot straight up.

"Something is approaching..."

She looked forward, then shifted her gaze to the left, then to the right.

"Not good!"

Ellie realized something and hastily said, "Quickly, leave here, or we'll be surrounded! Go to that mountain from before!"

Landon's reaction was swift: "At the very least, we can't be attacked from both sides."

Everyone quickly withdrew; meanwhile, Lin Mo also observed his surroundings.

Sure enough, soon, the figures of undead creatures gradually appeared at the edge of their vision.

"It seems they are organized..."

The several batches of undead creatures encountered earlier also seemed to be patrolling.

Clearly, these undead creatures were not loose entities, but a coordinated whole, controlled by something.

They just didn't know if what was controlling them was their mission target for this trip, the Threat Level 4 Frost-corpse, or the Necromancer hidden behind the scenes!

If it was the latter, it would probably be quite troublesome...

After quickly retreating to the mountain Landon had mentioned, everyone formed a formation, protecting the Mage Landon and Priestess Fini in the very center.

The frontline melee combatants then lined up in a pyramid shape to maximize protection for the backline and share the pressure.

Lin Mo was positioned in the front ranks of the 'pyramid', standing to the side and slightly behind Knight Benny.

This position allowed him to maximize the use of his multi-profession abilities.

The undead creatures soon caught up.

Landon calmly observed the number of enemies before them, while also glancing at the mountain behind them.

If the situation exceeded their capabilities, the mountain behind them would be their retreat route.

Undead creatures' bodies were relatively stiffer compared to most monsters, their movement speed was slower, and some of their actions were more restricted.

Especially the common skeleton small fry, they were utterly incapable of climbing.

They only needed to climb the mountain in front of them and retreat through the valley on the other side.

However, judging by the current situation, it shouldn't be to the point where they couldn't handle it.

"A total of about two or three hundred... with quite a few decaying corpses among them. No higher-level targets discovered for now."

Assassin Sid was highly proficient in reconnaissance, had amazing eyesight, and excellent statistical abilities, quickly assessing the general situation of the enemy.

"If it's just this much," Hake declared, "there's nothing to fear!"

Hake brandished the greatsword in his hand, and it seemed he was the wilder type of warrior.

Large numbers of undead creatures approached, with the foremost skeletons attacking the group.

Benny held up his heavy knight's shield with both hands, blocking the attacks, then, with a roar, he exerted sudden force, sending the skeletons flying back.

Hake also swung the blade in his hand, cutting several skeletons clean in two like scything grass.

Serra drew her bowstring, with Chi and Blood flowing around her arrow, and shot it rapidly. The arrow's angle was tricky, directly hitting a decaying corpse's head and piercing through several skeletons behind it, killing them as well.

Sid's figure was like a phantom, making quick strikes occasionally to kill a monster, then returning to the two backliners to maintain the formation.

Ellie's strength was slightly lesser, so she was placed towards the rear of the 'pyramid', casually slaying the approaching skeletons without much pressure.

For now, no one was injured. Fini waved her staff and cast [Light's Aid] on Lin Mo.

Lin Mo glanced at his interface and was pleasantly surprised to find that the skill's buffs seemed to have increased.

Previously, it was 1 point of Strength, 1 point of Constitution, and 1 point of Agility, but now it had become 2 points of Strength, 1 point of Constitution, and 2 points of Agility.

That's two more attribute points!

It seemed Fini had practiced a lot recently, and her mastery of this skill had greatly improved. Her strength was also not far from Level 2.

Landon didn't rush to make his move, instead waiting until the undead creatures gathered before raising the staff in his hand, and a powerful force of wind elements rapidly converged.

"Wind Vortex."

This skill was still so effective, appearing directly in the most densely packed area of undead creatures ahead, sweeping up numerous nearby skeletons and decaying corpses and tearing them into scattered fragments.

Truly powerful!

Even though Landon deliberately cast this skill at its maximum range, he could still feel powerful gusts of wind rushing towards him.

This was an Exceptional-grade spell!

Lin Mo cast aside his wandering thoughts. Everyone else had already made their move, so he naturally couldn't stand idly by. His left hand, clad in Mithril Gloves, rose, and ice elements rapidly converged upon it.

[Crystalfall]!

As countless ice crystals rained down, all the skeletons and decaying corpses within the magic's area of effect were instantly slain.

Of course, it was, after all, only an Excellent-grade skill, and its range was still significantly smaller compared to Landon's Wind Vortex.

[Crystalfall] Proficiency +13!

With the proficiency gained, Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up as a series of messages appeared before him.

"Skill [Crystalfall] Lv2 (20/20) leveled up!"

"Current Skill [Crystalfall] Lv3 (1/40)"

"Gained Attribute Point: Magic Power +2!"

Lin Mo's Base Magic Power had now reached 30 points.

"Promotion conditions met. Profession Mage (Lv2) promoted—Current Profession Mage (Lv3)"

"Gained Professional Attribute Boost: Magic Power +2, Spirit +2!"

Finally Level 3!

Lin Mo instantly felt his Magic Power receive another significant boost, so he struck while the iron was hot and unleashed another [Crystalfall].

Compared to before, this time's [Crystalfall] seemed to have received a slight boost in both range and power.

Though spells had varying grades of quality, ultimately, it still depended on Magic Power, and even common-grade spells could unleash great power in the hands of a powerful Mage.

Naturally, a powerful Mage using powerful spells would be even stronger.

After consecutively using three [Crystalfall] spells, this skill also successfully advanced from Lv3 to Lv4.

"Skill [Crystalfall] Lv3 (40/40) leveled up!"

"Current Skill [Crystalfall] Lv4 (1/100)"

However, after Lv4, the proficiency required for leveling up directly jumped to 100 points, making further improvement quite difficult.

The skeletons and decaying corpses before them, under the combined slashes and strikes of Lin Mo, Landon, and the others, had begun to decrease significantly in number.

The fellow hiding behind the scenes naturally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Careful!"

Besides casting spells, Landon had also been constantly observing the battlefield and immediately noticed an anomaly.

An ice arrow suddenly shot from the front, aiming straight for Lin Mo!

Clearly, it considered Lin Mo one of the biggest threats.

Landon was, of course, also a threat, but as a Mage, he was hidden in the back and not so easy to hit.

Without Landon needing to remind him, Lin Mo had already felt the chill. He unhesitatingly unleashed a [Rock Shield], not holding it in his hand, but directly conjuring it in front of him.

The ice arrow struck the Rock Shield, its immense power instantly creating countless cracks on the shield, which then shattered. Lin Mo, quick as a flash, unleashed an instant [Charged Sword Slash], several sword qi slashes obliterating the weakened ice arrow.

The power, needless to say, belonged to their mission target for this trip: the Threat Level 4 Frost-corpse!

Had it finally appeared?

Everyone's expression grew more solemn as they looked forward.

However, what appeared in their line of sight was not the figure they had imagined.

Instead, it was a decaying corpse, entirely crimson and enveloped in flames.

Behind it followed many skeletons that looked different... These skeletons wielded weapons, some even wore tattered armor, appearing like amateur soldiers.

Lin Mo's gaze was entirely drawn to the crimson figure at the very front.

It's it?!

This fellow, wasn't this the Flame-corpse that previously ambushed their Silver Brilliance Squad?

Its crimson figure was entirely wreathed in flames, and black-red blood, like molten lava, dripped from its body...

It was indeed it!

Lin Mo immediately grew excited. He still remembered the scene where this fellow had chased him, forcing him to flee in a sorry state. At that time, he didn't have enough strength, but that humiliation had always lingered in his heart.

Now, this was perfect! This fellow actually ran right up to him, giving him a chance for revenge!

Lin Mo immediately sent an [Ice Shard] its way, to test its mettle first.

The rapidly flying ice shard reached the decaying corpse in the blink of an eye. It raised its hand and flung out a ball of searing flames, colliding with the ice shard, the two perfectly neutralizing each other.

Lin Mo wasn't surprised by this.

After all, it was a Threat Level 3 creature, and not that easy to dispatch.

"I'll be going for a bit..."

The pressure on the front line was not high at the moment; no undead creatures could threaten the backline, but the newly appeared undead creatures looked more threatening.

"Be careful," Landon cautioned, "the Frost-corpse still hasn't shown itself!"

"I know."

Lin Mo nodded, remaining vigilant in his heart. The Level 4 Frost-corpse was indeed tricky; with his current strength, though he wasn't afraid, it wouldn't necessarily be an easy fight.

But he still had to go forward; precisely because it hadn't appeared, they needed to find a way to force it out even more.

With Lin Mo's current strength, even if the Frost-corpse also made its move, Lin Mo was confident he wouldn't suffer too great a loss.

If there truly was any unexpected situation... Shephilia should already be ready to strike.

Lin Mo's figure moved, lunging forward, straight towards the Flame-corpse.

At the same time, Fini didn't forget to reapply [Light's Aid] to him, boosting his attributes.

Lin Mo fixed his gaze on his target; the Flame-corpse also watched him, preparing for battle. However...

Mid-way, Lin Mo's figure suddenly vanished, [Vanish] activated, and he changed direction instantly.

The Flame-corpse's movements instantly froze as it fell into a momentary daze.

The next moment, a crimson sword qi already struck from its side, effortlessly slicing through half of its body!

Its severed arm dropped to the ground, emitting sizzling sounds. The black-red blood flowing from its severed body was like magma, scorching the grass beneath it black.

It's not dead yet?

Lin Mo looked at the still struggling Flame-corpse, raising an eyebrow in slight surprise.

However, it was almost there...

[Blood Qi Blade]!

Under the buff of [Lightness], Lin Mo's speed far surpassed his opponent's. He easily dodged the opponent's dying counterattack, the searing lava striking empty air, while Lin Mo had already circled behind it.

Immediately after, another crimson sword qi struck, completely cleaving it into two segments!

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