Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

The battle ended, and Velesia lowered her weapon, looking relaxed.

Lin Mo approached from afar, clapping as he smiled, “As expected of the Elven Princess, truly formidable.”

Velesia, suddenly praised, didn’t know how to respond, so she gave a slight smile and remained silent.

Lin Mo instead looked at the corpse on the ground.

With that, the trickiest material was ready. Everything needed to forge the mithril gloves had now been gathered.

“I’m going to forge a piece of equipment next, which may take a few days. Princess Velesia, would you like to wait here a few more days or return to your people first?”

Velesia opened her mouth, hesitated, and seemed at a loss for words.

“I...”

“It’s okay.”

Velesia nodded, relieved inwardly.

Such a large-scale war, although foreshadowed, would not erupt completely out of nowhere.

According to the elders’ estimates, the goblins so far had only been probing; it takes time for them to gather forces. The formal offensive would most likely begin in about half a month.

So waiting a few extra days here was fine.

Lin Mo was too important to risk losing.

Whether he changed his mind and didn’t go, or encountered danger—no matter how small the probability—she could not be at ease.

“However, about the things we discussed earlier, you can send a message back now to get them to start leaking information. News needs time to spread and take effect.”

“All right.”

Velesia nodded. If Lin Mo hadn’t reminded her, she might not have thought of it so quickly.

“You’re welcome.”

Lin Mo waved, “It’s a cooperation. Everyone should get what they need and do their part, right?”

In truth, his trip to the Barbarian Forest wasn’t only because of the deal with Velesia; there were multiple reasons.

For example, the gnomes appeared to be using the Dark Tide’s power... that could not be ignored. Once the Dark Tide developed, its complications would grow exponentially. It had to be discovered and handled early.

Even without that factor, if Velesia hadn’t come but learned about what was happening in the south, Lin Mo would still go stir up trouble.

After all, a massive goblin army was the best source of proficiency and level-up opportunities for him.

As his level climbed, leveling became harder. Now each level required 50 base attribute points. That might be okay for a single profession, but for someone developing multiple professions like Lin Mo, it was hellish.

An Exceptional-Grade skill evolving to Epic, including base attribute gains from acquiring the Epic skill, only added up to 16 points. Even training three Exceptional-Grade skills to full could not raise a level.

No wonder many people in this world without outstanding talent and resources couldn’t level up even after years.

Later on, weak talents, enough skill variety, and all kinds of attribute-boosting resources were each indispensable. Missing any one would cause level stagnation.

Even Xiya—who wasn’t “cheating”—felt the difficulty.

Although since crossing over he had risen to his current strength in just a few months, at the current pace, grinding proficiency in the Nasadok Dungeon might still take half a year to reach the Heroic Realm.

But a large-scale war changed that entirely.

Hundreds of billions of goblins, even if each gave only a small amount of proficiency, the sheer numbers were overwhelming—practically a goblin buffet where you could grind as much as you liked.

If the war lasted half a month, it might be comparable to Lin Mo spending three to four months farming monsters in the Nasadok Dungeon!

Everything had already been collected, so staying here longer had no meaning. After properly gathering the Sunflame Tiger King’s carcass, they went straight to the nearby teleportation array and returned to the dungeon entrance.

This trip was efficient and didn’t take long; everything was done within a day.

Tomorrow morning, they would go to the Master Craftsman Forge to find Xavier and formally begin forging the new mithril gloves.

Lin Mo was very much looking forward to this new piece of equipment.

Naturally, with something this exciting, they would celebrate properly tonight.

The main ingredient was still that Epic-level magical creature; it hadn’t been finished yet. When it was, they could use more of the Sunflame Tiger King to continue.

The forge only required the Tiger King’s most core materials; the rest could be used for cooking later.

However, compared to the previously reached Epic-level beast, the Sunflame Tiger King was a significantly higher level, so everyone had to be careful not to eat too much. Especially the three magic-oriented girls—too much could cause energy overflow and make them uncomfortable.

Head chef Lena began her work, Sherfilia assisted at her side, and the others didn’t cause trouble, sitting in the living room waiting for food.

Speaking of meals, Lin Mo had always assumed Elves didn’t eat meat and only consumed fruits and vegetables, since many works from his previous life described them that way. In reality, Elves didn’t refuse meat.

Thinking about it, the reasoning was simple—if you want to get stronger, you need sources of energy and attributes. Not eating magical creature meat would mean one less source, and slower leveling.

As for the Goddess of Nature...

Who said not eating meat protected nature? The food chain is part of nature. What matters is cherishing and properly enjoying food.

When Velesia said these things with a serious face, Lin Mo was surprised but agreed; it made sense.

Tonight’s meal was especially abundant, varied and plentiful. Everyone ate until they were more than full.

A full stomach and warmth...

Plus, there was no need to head out on an adventure the next day, no need to save energy, so tonight they could train skills without restraint.

Yes, another exhausting night awaited.

The next morning, despite last night’s hard work, Lin Mo got up early, washed, ate, and eagerly headed to the Master Craftsman Forge.

At that hour the shop was still busy, but once they arrived, Xavier immediately passed the work to his son and grandson and hurried them into his forging room.

“How’s it going? Have you gathered all the materials?”

He asked impatiently.

“Of course.”

Lin Mo smiled and took out one by one from his Portable Space the materials that Master Xavier had mentioned earlier.

“G-good...!”

Xavier looked at the materials and his old face flushed with excitement.

“My other materials are ready too. Wait a moment while I make preparations. After the morning rush, I’ll close the shop and shut the doors. I won’t operate for a few days and will concentrate on forging this piece!”

“Is that necessary?”

Lin Mo paused, “You could have Edgar and the others help watch the shop, right?”

“No, no...”

Xavier shook his head, “For a project this big, I might not handle it alone. I need my dumb son to assist, and Edgar can do odd jobs and learn in the process.”

Lin Mo immediately understood. This opportunity didn’t come often. For blacksmiths, observing and learning during a master’s forging was invaluable for their future careers.

Compared to that, closing the shop for a few days and losing a little profit was nothing.

For adventurers, though, this would be inconvenient.

Nasadok Town did have other forges, many in fact, but none matched the Master Craftsman Forge in quality and quantity. Most adventurers were used to coming here, some visiting before and after each expedition even if they didn’t buy anything—just to look around.

These next few days would be uncomfortable for those adventurers...

After the morning rush, customers thinned out. Xavier organized Edgar and the others to prepare to close the shop. Edgar put up a sign at the door with a few large characters—This shop is temporarily closed for several days—then they shut the shop doors and hurried to the forging room without tidying up.

At this point, Master Xavier was ready to begin forging.

As unrelated onlookers, Lin Mo and the others didn’t disturb him; they stood by the door of the forging room at a distance.

None of them forged or intended to develop in that area; they were purely watching the spectacle.

Once Edgar arrived, the forging officially began. Master Xavier closed his eyes to center himself for a few seconds, then suddenly opened them, ignited the furnace, and a roaring blaze surged upward.

This was not ordinary flame. For lower-level blacksmiths, ordinary fire sufficed, but at higher ranks many materials couldn’t be refined by normal flames. Masters would arrange magic arrays and use magic crystal stones to power magi-furnaces.

As a Grandmaster of forging, Xavier’s furnace was top-tier.

Rumor had it his flame array was personally set up by Samuel, the Violet Empire’s chief court mage and royal astrologer, a legendary-level fire mage. Theoretically, the furnace’s temperature could melt Legendary-level materials.

—Provided there were enough magic crystal stones of sufficient quality.

Melting that level of material consumed huge amounts of magic crystals, explaining why Legendary equipment costs so much.

At current market prices, Upper Epic-level equipment sells for roughly 800,000 to 2,000,000 Gold Coins; some special magical gear can be pricier—three million or even 3.5 million.

Quasi-Legendary equipment varies widely in price. Some cost similar to Upper Epic gear, around three to four million Gold Coins; others can reach tens of millions, with the highest exceeding fifteen million!

That’s already absurd...

So what about Legendary equipment?

From Lin Mo’s understanding, at minimum they cost about thirty million! Most Legendary gear exceeds fifty million Gold Coins.

Legendary items circulating on the market are extremely rare and usually only appear at large auctions.

This time, Master Xavier was forging a Quasi-Legendary piece.

That said, the difficulty surpassed typical Quasi-Legendary items for a simple reason...

The “Titan Heart” had essentially reached the threshold for Legendary materials. Refining, shaping, and imbuing this material would be the most difficult and crucial part of the forging.

Lin Mo didn’t know much about forging. He only saw Xavier perform a series of operations that looked highly advanced, apparently intending to tackle the hardest part right away.

This was undoubtedly the right choice. If no accidents occurred, the forging would last several days. Later on, even a Grandmaster’s stamina and spirit would wane, and leaving the complex work for later would increase the chance of mistakes.

So they had to chew the toughest bone first.

Lin Mo and Ellie stood quietly aside, watching Xavier’s movements without speaking.

The magic array beneath the magi-furnace was pushed to its limits. Magic crystal stones were consumed at a shocking rate, and the blistering flames made Edgar feel some burning pain, forcing him to step back.

Dwarves normally have decent fire elemental resistance, yet even they couldn’t withstand that terrifying heat.

Those farther away, including Lin Mo, were similarly affected.

Lin Mo fared a bit better. He carried the Ice Dragon King Bloodline, which granted some fire elemental resistance. Though not as extreme as his ice resistance, thirty percent resistance still helped.

The others began feeling uncomfortable. Lily was the exception.

Her armor seemed tempered with special materials that could insulate heat to some extent.

So she didn’t mind wearing that heavy armor all day.

Soon Finnie couldn’t bear the temperature and retreated into her Portable Space.

She had only come to watch the spectacle, but since it was so torturous she chose not to watch anymore.

After one person went back, the others gradually left as well, Lily included.

She wasn’t very afraid of the heat, but forging didn’t interest her; she went back to practice skills.

In the end, only Lin Mo remained on site.

Sherfilia, however, often came out to bring him ice water and fruit.

The forging continued, fierce as ever...

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