Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

The situation had progressed to this point, and at least in general, it was still within Eugene Dunlow's expectations and plans.

He had long considered the Gnome Emperor's choice and even welcomed it.

After all, these ordinary Goblins couldn't put any pressure on them at all.

And without pressure or danger, that meant they had enough leeway to do things beyond the fighting...

Humans had never relied solely on their own strength, but also on wisdom and powerful creativity.

It was time to show these filthy creatures what they were made of!

"Have the supplies been transported here?"

"Yes, just after His Eminence the Holy Son erected the barrier, news reached the Imperial Capital. His Majesty issued the order for approval, and immediately arranged for them to be sent over. They just arrived."

"Then set up the magic arrays immediately, prepare for deployment, tighten the formation, and protect with full force!"

Then, several mages sat in a circle and began constructing magic arrays, apparently preparing something.

The same scene was unfolding in many places across the battlefield.

It seemed the Lockesetz Empire still had a trick up its sleeve?

That wasn't surprising. As the empire of arcane arts and magic, the Lockesetz Empire's mastery in magical research stood at the top of the continent, representing the continent's—at least humanity's—most advanced magical energy technology.

The various magical energy devices that people now took for granted in their daily lives were all initially developed by the Lockesetz Empire.

Such an empire was bound to have deep reserves.

It was just that the intensity of the war hadn't reached a sufficient level before, so some things had yet to be brought out.

But now that the Dark Tide had appeared, the situation had escalated to another level, and some treasures naturally had to be used.

Although he wasn't sure what exactly they were planning, such an elaborate preparation couldn't be anything simple.

Therefore, Lin Mo also began subconsciously protecting these areas, arranging his Shadow Splits to help, while his main body chose a temporary position to assist with defense.

The other wandering powerful experts also spontaneously started gathering toward these positions, to prevent the Goblins from interfering.

The people from the Lockesetz Empire seemed to need quite a few hands for their preparations. If it had still been the previous situation, they probably wouldn't have had enough people to build the magic arrays and defenses. But after the Goblin Emperor withdrew those powerful Gnomes, the ordinary Goblins before them posed hardly any threat, so the preparation work went very smoothly.

Using this time, Lin Mo, while casually killing Goblins, checked the rewards from earlier.

Mainly the gains from killing that Epic-Level Gnome. Over a thousand proficiency points at once directly maxed out Lin Mo's Space Slash.

Lin Mo eagerly looked at the message before him.

He was finally getting an Epic-Level offensive space magic!

"Skill [Space Slash] Lv6 (300/300) Level Up!"

"Current skill [Space Slash] Lv7 (Max)"

"Gained base attribute point: Mana +5!"

"Auto-evolved into new skill—Space Cut!"

"Learned skill [Space Cut]! Gained base attribute point: Mana +5!"

[Space Cut] Lv1 (0/20): Cut through space.

That's... it?

Lin Mo blinked. That was all?

The skill description was way too simple... You couldn't tell its specific effects or power at all.

Looked like he'd have to wait to test it out in actual combat.

...

Before long, complex and intricate magic arrays were fully constructed.

Lin Mo didn't have much research on magic arrays. With his shallow understanding, he couldn't tell the specific function of these arrays, but he could roughly see that they seemed to be a type of energy conversion array.

"Duke Dunlow, everything is ready!"

"Good!"

Eugene Dunlow's eyes lit up, and he immediately said, "Then bring out the Demon-Slaying Cannons!"

With his command, massive "cannons" were placed onto the constructed magic arrays.

"This is?"

Lin Mo was stunned. They had cannons?

The Demon-Slaying Cannons that had just been taken out from storage equipment still needed time for calibration. Normally, these stages would have to endure a lot of pressure, but because of the Goblin Emperor's overconfident choice, everything was going too smoothly.

"Cannon Platform 1 calibration complete!"

"Cannon Platform 2 calibration complete!"

"..."

By now, the Goblin Emperor finally realized something was wrong. Several powerful Gnomes were dispatched again, attempting to assault these positions.

"Perfect timing!"

Eugene Dunlow laughed heartily: "Fire, dammit! Blast those bastards to hell!"

With his excellent vision, Lin Mo saw clearly that the Lockesetz mages took out a crystal stone shimmering with brilliant colors and placed it into the cannon.

The magical energy contained in that crystal stone was extremely powerful, far surpassing any magic crystal stone Lin Mo had ever seen before.

He seemed to understand...

These magic crystal stones were most likely made from the precious S-grade magic crystal stones. Only stones of that grade could withstand the complex mana circuits of Epic-Level and above magic.

Simply put, it involved inscribing Epic-Level magic circuits into the powerful S-grade magic crystal stones as an energy source, loading them into the Demon-Slaying Cannons, and then using the energy conversion arrays to release those spells through the cannons.

It sounded like overcomplicating things, since the magic crystal stones could be used directly on their own. But there was actually a method to it...

Spells sealed within magic crystal stones were significantly weaker than those cast directly by a mage of the same level, and they caused energy waste. These drawbacks could be greatly reduced through amplification arrays.

However, the magic crystal stones already had the Epic-Level spell's mana circuits inscribed in them, so they couldn't accommodate anything else.

So they needed a carrier, and the Demon-Slaying Cannon was that excellent carrier.

"Boom—!"

With a deafening roar, the crystal-colored cannon muzzle glowed red, heated by powerful fire elements. The violent magical energy that poured out smoothly formed into well-structured spells thanks to the mana circuits, and their power was in no way inferior to that of a real Epic-Level mage!

Deploying one Demon-Slaying Cannon was equivalent to having an extra Epic-Level mage appearing out of nowhere on the battlefield!

And the positions they had just set up numbered dozens!

That meant they suddenly had dozens of additional Epic-Level combatants, and they were all magic-oriented combatants with powerful destructive and lethal range.

However, it was easy to imagine that the consumption of these Demon-Slaying Cannons must be terrifying. After all, they were releasing Epic-Level magic. Even with S-grade magic crystal stones, the energy contained within them could probably only support one battle.

In other words, the appearance of these dozens of cannons meant the consumption of dozens of S-grade magic crystal stones!

And one S-grade magic crystal stone was worth millions of gold coins. This one battle alone would directly burn through several hundred million gold coins.

And it wasn't just a money issue. The difficulty of inscribing mana circuits into S-grade magic crystal stones was also extremely exaggerated. Very few even among Heroic-Level mages could do it. So once these resources were consumed, they were very hard to replenish. No wonder they were reluctant to use them unless absolutely necessary.

Once the Demon-Slaying Cannons were deployed, their terrifying power immediately became apparent.

The powerful Gnomes that the Goblin Emperor had just sent to destroy these things ended up becoming perfect test subjects for the cannons' power.

These guys who actively charged toward the cannons practically took an Epic-Level spell right to the face. Even though they were strong, they got blasted into a daze. Some died on the spot, while the luckier ones fell to the ground severely wounded.

Lin Mo's eyes lit up. He immediately used the space nodes he had left on the battlefield earlier to teleport, then flashed right into their faces to finish them off.

In just two or three minutes, he had harvested the proficiency from seven or eight Epic-Level Gnomes!

Hell yeah!

Not to mention anything else, even the Flash skill was forcibly grinded to max level.

"Skill [Flash] Lv8 (2000/2000) Level Up!"

"Current skill [Flash] Lv9 (Max)"

"Gained base attribute point: Mana +10!"

"Auto-evolved into new skill—Flash!"

"Learned skill [Flash]! Gained base attribute point: Mana +10!"

The Flash skill was really consistent. Its name had never changed from start to finish. Even though it was now a Legendary-Level skill, it was still this simple and unpretentious.

So, how far could the Legendary-Level Flash go?

[Flash] Lv1 (0/60): Use mana fluctuations to affect space, instantly teleporting yourself to any location within 1500 meters.

"Holy crap..."

Lin Mo was shocked. It directly increased to 1500 meters?

Before, Flash had only been 600 meters. Even if he added the last evolution route, it would only be 800 meters. This was practically a direct double.

Oh right, there was also the evolution route!

Lin Mo immediately looked over.

Please select an evolution direction—

Evolution Route 1: Distance 1: Increase Flash distance, maximum distance becomes 3000 meters.

Evolution Route 2: Cooldown 1: Reduce Flash usage interval by 50%.

Damn!

Lin Mo gasped sharply.

This evolution route was powerful. The boosts were really generous.

And both gave a lot—one doubled the distance, while the other directly reduced the usage interval by 50%.

This...

After much deliberation, Lin Mo ultimately chose Evolution Route 1.

After all, the increase to 1500 meters was still too significant.

As for the interval... a 50% reduction was indeed a lot, but when it came down to actual time, the improvement wasn't that much.

After all, the previously chosen interval reduction effects wouldn't disappear after the skill evolved. In fact, Lin Mo's current Flash interval was already very short.

So choosing distance was more cost-effective.

After making his choice, Lin Mo refocused his attention on the battle before him.

At this point, the deployed Demon-Slaying Cannons were continuously spitting out and pouring down firepower. One powerful spell after another landed in dense Goblin areas, each one killing hundreds of thousands of Goblins.

This was the true power of the Lockesetz Empire as a human empire. Once an empire got serious, it was this terrifying.

"Damn, damn humans!"

At this moment, the Goblin Emperor's mood was quite sour.

That wave of attacks just now had cost him quite a few powerful subordinates. These were all painstakingly born through countless reproductions and evolutions.

As for the ordinary Goblins being slaughtered in large numbers, he didn't care at all.

These ordinary Goblins, in his view, had no value whatsoever. He never considered them his kin. They were just burdens increasing the population's strain. Being consumed like this was their greatest use.

This was fine...

Go ahead and kill, kill some more, humans.

Under normal circumstances, facing this situation, the Goblin Emperor would have almost no options left. He would most likely choose to continue sacrificing some bottom-tier Goblins to alleviate population pressure, then directly withdraw his forces.

But this time was different.

Almost... almost!

He could feel that the "nutrients" coming from ahead were gradually filling the "power" inside his body.

"Hehehe, go ahead and enjoy yourselves, humans. The more you kill now, the crueler my methods will be later..."

"The Goblins don't seem to be doing anything. They're just continuing to send these cannon fodder to die."

"What could they do? They've run out of tricks. In the face of the Demon-Slaying Cannons, no matter what that Goblin Emperor does, it's meaningless!"

"But this situation is different from before. There's the Dark Tide..."

Duke Dunlow didn't let his guard down because of the current situation. He furrowed his brows, listening to his subordinates' conversations.

The Dark Tide was indeed a very troublesome thing. His understanding of it wasn't very deep. All he knew were some superficial and surface-level facts.

Even the so-called professionals, the Church people, didn't have a very detailed understanding of the Dark Tide.

After all, over the past few thousand years, the Dark Tide had been in a relatively stable state. It rarely appeared, and even when occasionally discovered, its scale was very small, unable to stir up any waves.

In a word, the Dark Tide had gone through a dormant period of several thousand years.

It was only in recent years that the Dark Tide had gradually become active, appearing more and more frequently and on larger scales.

So even the Holy Light Church people only knew about the Dark Tide from some ancient books, relying otherwise on experience accumulated from fighting against it.

And unfortunately, even the Church's Holy Son had never experienced a Dark Tide as massive as the one before them.

So if this war continued like this, no one could predict what would happen next, not even His Eminence the Holy Son.

Hopefully, things wouldn't get too bad...

Duke Dunlow had a feeling of unease, but as the overall commander, he couldn't show it. After all, talking about a baseless feeling would only undermine morale, not help anything.

So he could only comfort himself silently: It would be fine. Even if something unexpected happened, there was still the Royal Astrologer present.

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