Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

After visiting the imperial palace of the Lockesetz Empire, Lin Mo didn't really lack for skills at this stage.

But he still needed to go to the Adventurers' Association. This time, besides the vice chairman stationed in the Lockesetz Empire's capital, the Association's headquarters had also sent an additional vice chairman.

This vice chairman was permanently stationed at headquarters, so although he held the same title, he clearly had more sway over headquarters' decisions than those posted abroad. He was also much more familiar with the Association's internal operations.

The Lockesetz Empire had already provided this batch of skills, and they probably wouldn't help much further. Even if Lin Mo approached them again, all they'd offer would be slightly rarer skills from the same tier—rare, but not exceptionally so.

As an empire, this was their limit, and they'd already been quite generous.

But cooperation with the Adventurers' Association could obviously go much deeper.

So, the best way to acquire skills from other professions going forward was to negotiate with the Association.

While he might not get those rare skills completely for free, this was still an excellent channel—perhaps the best Lin Mo could think of at the moment.

After all, as a top-tier organization spanning the entire continent, the Adventurers' Association had the richest resources in this regard. The empire couldn't compare, and the Church had no interest or need to collect such skills.

As soon as he walked in, a staff member approached and bowed slightly. "Mr. Lin Mo, please follow me. The chairman and others are already waiting for you..."

Oh?

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. He hadn't arranged any meeting or appointment with the Association.

Had they guessed he'd come after learning about his movements today?

Following the staff member upstairs to the top floor, just as the employee had said, the capital's Association chairman—one of the vice chairmen from headquarters—was already chatting with another vice chairman who'd temporarily arrived from headquarters.

When they saw Lin Mo, they greeted him with warm smiles. "Welcome, welcome! After this incident, Mr. Lin Mo has become quite the name. I'm sure plenty of young people will hear your story and aspire to become adventurers..."

Lin Mo responded with a smile, exchanging a few pleasantries.

Then he got to the point, asking directly, "Did you two know I was coming?"

"Just a guess... In fact, if you hadn't come, we would have sent someone to invite you."

"Oh? So there's something you need from me."

"Indeed."

The vice chairman in front nodded. "All the information from here has been synced with headquarters. The chairman heard about your deeds, is very interested, and wants to meet you."

The chairman?

Lin Mo didn't know much about the Adventurers' Association's supreme chairman. He only knew that the man had once been an adventurer in his youth, had made a big name for himself thanks to his talent and strength, and later formally joined the Association. His power and status had risen steadily until he finally became the supreme chairman.

Of course, his strength was naturally at the Legendary Realm.

"But that's for later, as it won't affect his schedule. It's just that if he happens to pass by your area, he'd like to visit the Association. Besides that..."

Clearly, the "besides that" was the real reason he wanted to see Lin Mo.

"Furthermore, I'd like to know if you're interested in a partnership with the Association."

"Please, go on."

Lin Mo neither agreed nor refused, opting to ask for details first.

"It's like this. The Association recently discovered a new Secret Realm. Based on current intel, its rank is marked as SS-level. The Association plans to explore it more thoroughly before opening it up, but we're a bit short-handed right now..."

An SS-level Secret Realm?

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. Now this was interesting.

You see, Secret Realm ranks generally correlated with adventure mission ranks. For example, an A-rank Secret Realm meant the highest missions associated with it would reach A-rank, while an SS-rank Secret Realm meant missions could go up to SS-rank.

And as far as Lin Mo knew, S-rank and SS-rank missions mostly corresponded to Epic-level targets.

In other words, to take on S-rank or even SS-rank missions, one needed at least Heroic-level strength.

S-rank mission targets were typically between levels 31-36, while SS-rank missions meant targets at levels 37-40.

The Association had currently rated this Secret Realm as SS-level, meaning they believed the strongest Magical Creature inside could be above level 37.

"What's the specific arrangement?"

"Whatever Mr. Lin Mo discovers and finds, naturally belongs to you."

The vice chairman across from him said only this brief sentence.

Lin Mo immediately understood his meaning.

Calling it a "partnership" was just a way to give him early access to a Secret Realm of this caliber.

Secret Realms at this level usually held some good treasures. Normally, if the discoverer was strong enough, those treasures would naturally fall into their hands.

Clearly, the Adventurers' Association had more than enough strength.

The so-called "short-handed" was probably just an excuse.

In reality, they wanted to deepen their connection with Lin Mo through this cooperation. Once this partnership was established, future collaborations would naturally follow.

"So, what do you think, Mr. Lin Mo? Are you interested?"

"Yes, of course."

Lin Mo wasn't about to be modest. As the saying goes, "Only a fool turns down a good deal." He couldn't miss out on such an opportunity.

"Great. Then let me first give you the detailed information about this Secret Realm..."

The vice chairman began his introduction. "First, this Secret Realm is located in the northern reaches of the continent, deep within the Endless Snowfield."

Lin Mo nodded. He had some understanding of the Endless Snowfield, having read quite a few books on continental geography and natural history recently, which included descriptions of it.

As its name suggested, it was an incredibly vast snowfield. It occupied the northernmost part of the entire continent, even farther north than the Orc Empire.

The Endless Snowfield covered nearly half of the continent's northern territory, its size rivaling the combined area of two empires.

This vast snowfield also had a very long history. No one knew when it first appeared, but according to human historical records, it had already existed for a very long time.

Carrying such a heavy weight of time, the snowfield held many traces left behind by that long history.

For instance, numerous Secret Realms.

The Secret Realm the Adventurers' Association had discovered wasn't the first found in the snowfield. In fact, many organizations had personnel stationed there year-round, searching for traces of Secret Realms. On average, three to five Secret Realms were discovered in the snowfield each year.

However, most of them weren't very large—small to medium-sized ones were the most common. Some did contain "treasures," objects that had been passed down through ages, but for organizations capable of exploring the snowfield, these items weren't particularly valuable.

A Secret Realm reaching SS-level, like the one the Adventurers' Association had discovered, was extremely rare.

According to historical records of the snowfield, SS-level Secret Realms had appeared fewer than ten times in total. S-level Secret Realms were more common, numbering around a hundred.

Below that were decent A-rank Secret Realms, along with the more ordinary B-rank or even C-rank ones...

As these thoughts flashed through Lin Mo's mind, the vice chairman continued his introduction. "There's another interesting point. After careful exploration, we found that this Secret Realm seems to have formed much more recently than we initially expected."

"Hmm?"

That was rather odd. Most Secret Realms discovered in the Endless Snowfield had existed since ancient times, with very long histories.

Secret Realms from a thousand years ago could be considered "recent."

Generally speaking, the higher a Secret Realm's rank, the earlier it had formed. For example, the previously discovered SS-level Secret Realms had mostly formed tens of thousands of years ago.

"How recent?"

"Unimaginably recent... Based on the current information, it might be less than a hundred years old."

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. "So this Secret Realm could have been left behind by some predecessor from a century ago?"

"That was our initial thought. We specially looked up a lot of records to search and confirm, but we ultimately found no matching incidents."

An SS-level Secret Realm meant the energy reaction inside reached at least the late or even peak of the Heroic Realm. A powerhouse of that level couldn't possibly be unknown in history.

So, that possibility could be ruled out.

"Then it might be a Secret Realm that drifted in from another world or dimension in recent years? Or..."

Lin Mo thought of another possibility.

The vice chairman across from him blurted out, "Or, this so-called Secret Realm is actually a lair built by some powerful Magical Creature."

Lin Mo fell silent.

Endless Snowfield, SS-level Secret Realm, a Magical Creature's lair?

He asked again, "Is the energy reaction inside this Secret Realm related to the Ice Element?"

"Indeed, just like most Secret Realms on the snowfield..."

The vice chairman didn't think much of it. After all, most Secret Realms found on the icefield were connected to the Ice Element.

But seeing Lin Mo's expression, he asked curiously, "Did Mr. Lin Mo think of something?"

"No."

Lin Mo shook his head. "Not really..."

In truth, he had.

He recalled his time in the Millennium Cold Cavern not long ago. While searching for the Mountain Giant, he had unexpectedly encountered the long-dead Ice Dragon King.

As a result, Lin Mo had gained the Ice Dragon King's bloodline power, greatly increasing his strength.

And just before the Ice Dragon King's consciousness faded completely, it had spoken one final sentence.

A command to him.

"Take care of my daughter."

The Ice Dragon King's daughter...

Since he had taken the Ice Dragon King's power, Lin Mo naturally hadn't forgotten about this. But the Dragon race was extremely scarce and rarely seen. In recent years, records of dragon sightings had dwindled, with only a few accounts of dragon scale discoveries. Some had even suspected dragons were on the brink of extinction.

Even though he remembered this matter, he had no idea where to start looking, so he could only keep it in mind.

Now, the Secret Realm the vice chairman described seemed... to match in some ways.

Of course, this was just Lin Mo's guess. In reality, the chances that this Secret Realm was actually connected to the Ice Dragon King's daughter were very slim.

After all, if it truly were the Ice Dragon King's daughter, this Secret Realm wouldn't be just SS-level.

What kind of being was the Ice Dragon King?

A true powerhouse who had entered the divine realm, with strength rivaling the former Ice God.

Such a powerhouse's offspring would naturally possess an incredibly powerful bloodline. Upon reaching adulthood, they would be at least Legendary-level, and even among Legendary-level beings, they would rank among the very top.

That clearly didn't match the current information—the Secret Realm's energy intensity only reached SS-level, around the peak of the Heroic Realm.

He was probably overthinking things...

Shaking his head, Lin Mo stopped pressing for more.

He would get more details when he arrived at the location.

As for how to get there, that was also convenient.

The vice chairman had already mentioned that the Adventurers' Association's branch in the Serya Empire's capital had a teleportation matrix directly to the Endless Snowfield. So all he had to do was go to the Serya Empire's capital.

It worked out well—this was the only one of the three great empires he hadn't visited yet.

And it was convenient timing. During this incident, the Serya Empire had also sent reinforcements. Although the distance and national circumstances meant only a few had come, those few were influential figures.

These people hadn't left yet, waiting for the Elven race to finalize the reward distribution.

They would likely be happy to give him a ride back through the teleportation matrix.

Otherwise, if Lin Mo were alone, it would be hard to ask the Lockesetz Empire to activate a large teleportation matrix, and the application process with the Serya Empire would be a hassle.

Such an ultra-long-distance teleportation spanning half the continent naturally couldn't be done with a single teleportation matrix. It would require several intermediate stops and successive teleports. Without official support, getting through would be extremely troublesome, consuming massive amounts of energy and involving endless bureaucratic procedures.

Hitching a ride was the best possible option.

With the matter settled, Lin Mo chatted for a while longer before bidding farewell to the two vice chairmen. He wasn't in a hurry about the teleportation—in a couple of days, when the Elven race finished organizing data and distributed the rewards, he would naturally meet the Serya Empire's people.

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