Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

At dusk, Lin Mo brought the girls to the Imperial Palace of the Lockesetz Empire.

By now the place was packed, various factions gathered here, everyone waiting for the final results of that Genius Gathering.

But looking closely, many of the young people showed a certain listlessness on their faces, after all most of them clearly understood that while the lower rankings still held a bit of suspense, the first place was beyond doubt.

And the biggest prizes of this Genius Gathering, the reason most had come, all belonged to the first place.

If you couldn't claim first, the other rewards were not meaningless, but they were nowhere near as good as those for first.

After all, which person here didn't have a mid-to-large faction backing them?

With their talent and potential, these factions would spare no effort to nurture them. Weapons, equipment, potions — they never lacked those.

That said, there still had to be the formalities.

The Elven Queen and the Elven Princess arrived shortly after, accompanied by the emperor of the Lockesetz Empire, with several Lockesetz ministers and elven elders following behind them.

To resolve this crisis, the Elven race had been quite generous. Even the later rankings received decent rewards.

Lin Mo listened to the lists, scores and corresponding rewards with little interest. At that pace, it would be a while before his name was read.

His gaze drifted around and then settled on Velesia.

Unlike the last time they met, this time the Elven Princess was not wearing battle armor. She wore a light green dress.

Her attire was not luxurious, rather plain, which matched and emphasized the Elven elegance she embodied. That simplicity contrasted sharply with her flawless, exquisite face, creating a particularly striking impact.

There was no denying that the Elven race’s beauty was unmatched on the continent; she was the most beautiful girl Lin Mo had seen so far.

Velesia seemed to notice his stare. Their eyes met briefly, then she quickly looked away, a touch of nervousness on her face.

Velesia’s heart was a mess. As promised before, the winner of this Genius Gathering — Lin Mo — would become the Elven race’s Honorary Prince, her husband.

Neither the Elven race nor Velesia herself intended to renege.

Now the High Priest had paid with his life to temporarily seal the Dark Tide. It was a heroic act, but it also meant the Elven race had lost a pillar-strength powerhouse.

There were still many elven elders with formidable strength — several at the peak of the Heroic Realm — but without even a single Legendary-level fighter, they couldn't project enough power externally. In short, the Elven race was somewhat precarious.

Because of the previous wartime cooperation and the ongoing threat of the Dark Tide, Lockesetz Empire and other human powers would not rashly attack the Elves for now; they would treat them with respect. But that situation couldn't last forever, and it was uncertain how long such restraint would hold.

Once the Dark Tide threat was resolved, attacks might come immediately.

After all, the Elven race’s generational wealth and their dazzling beauty were too tempting...

Therefore, for the remaining Elves, they had to be vigilant. Once Princess Velesia fully matured, they needed a suitable powerhouse ally to help them through that dangerous period.

At present, the one who had shone slightly in the following war, showing some nascent strength and potential and who became the Genius Gathering’s first-place winner — Lin Mo — was exactly the right candidate.

My current strength isn't enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the weakest elven elder, and my growth rate is visibly slow. In the long run, after the Dark Tide crisis is solved, I might still not reach the strength to match even a weak Legendary. More importantly, in the entire small continent, aside from the relatively dangerous necromancers, basically no force would choose to oppose Velesia.

So once Velesia became our Honorary Prince and Lin Mo’s husband, in a sense I would effectively gain the Elven race as my backing. With me around, any force considering attacking the Elves would have to weigh the cost of standing against Velesia.

Is there a better “backer” than that?

Nothing else we could rack our brains to find would be as fitting.

Moreover, Velesia herself did not seem opposed to it.

The Elven Queen clearly saw her daughter’s feelings; this was perfect from her perspective.

As the Elven Queen continued announcing the ranks and corresponding points, prepared rewards were claimed one by one. As dusk fell, the announcements finally reached the top contenders.

There were simply too many factions and talents participating in this Genius Gathering, so the front ranks carried immense prestige. Each name read aloud was a top-tier genius renowned in their domain.

Apart from Lin Mo himself, the other girls with him did not score very high.

They weren’t weak, but compared to these top geniuses there was a noticeable gap.

Early in the war their scores had even placed them near the front, but as opponents grew stronger later, they lagged behind.

Flora had barely managed to stay around tenth at first, nearly falling out of the top twenty later, and finally landed at eighteenth.

Lily could have ranked higher, but later in the fighting she, as one of the very few who could wield Holy Light Power, rarely acted to conserve her inner Holy Light, so her final result was not great.

Their rewards were decent in value, though some items were of limited use to them.

For the top five, the rewards got a notable boost.

"Fifth place: Solan Yass. Reward: one Upper Epic Level equipment, 20,000 Crystal Coins, and a vial of Life’s Breath potion..."

Most of these rewards were fairly standard for those reaching top ten.

If anything stood out, it was that vial named Life’s Breath.

Records about this potion can be found in many human tomes.

This is a potion only Elven alchemists can concoct, a specialty of the Elven race.

The potion harnesses natural forces under Elven mastery, condensing many high-life-force ingredients into a very rare elixir. The Elves produce roughly three bottles a year.

Its effect is to significantly increase the user’s life vitality.

Life vitality preserved by abundant natural force can integrate perfectly into the user’s body. The massive life-force supplementation can greatly enhance the body’s activity, allowing the user to undergo a life-level “metamorphosis.”

This is abstract, but concretely it can make the user appear younger. According to joint human-elven scholarly research, drinking one bottle can make a person’s body about fifteen years younger and can also increase lifespan to some extent.

There are even recorded cases where a dramatic life-force boost triggered a second surge in potential and talent.

Although unlikely, such cases do occur.

Besides that, the potion’s baseline effects can greatly improve the user’s constitution attribute.

In short, this is an extremely precious potion. By effect alone it might be Quasi-Legendary Level.

Considering its rarity and unique powers, its overall value is arguably on par with Legendary-level treasures.

Lin Mo was quite interested; he wondered what changes he might experience after drinking it.

A vial of this potion was included in the rewards for places two through five. More precisely, places two to five each received one; first place received more than one.

Fifth place had been announced: Solan Yass, eldest son of the Yass ducal family of the Serea Empire, was thirty-three this year. In a few years he might succeed his father as head of the family and become a duke.

The fourth, third and second places were also heirs of famous continental houses.

Their performances were naturally impressive.

For example, fifth place Solan Yass had a total score of an astonishing 378,300 points!

Second place, Grant Ward, reached an even more shocking 519,300 points!

Yet even so, the gap between them and first place was like a chasm.

"Now then, next is this gathering's champion..."

As the Elven Queen spoke, every pair of eyes focused on Lin Mo.

Everyone knew who the first place was.

Lin Mo smiled and walked toward the Elven Queen.

"Lin Mo, total points... 6,934,980!"

"Hiss—!"

At those words, everyone present took a sharp breath.

That included those old-timers who had already witnessed Lin Mo’s strength.

They knew Lin Mo was very strong, able to casually kill Heroic Realm opponents, but they had not expected his point total to be so terrifying.

Remember, second place Grant Ward had under 520,000 points!

Lin Mo’s score neared seven million — a difference of more than ten times!

The other geniuses stood stunned, at a loss for words. They had known there was a huge gap between themselves and Lin Mo, but had never imagined it would be this extreme.

Before the battlefield spiraled out of control they could see others’ scores via their worn armbands.

But once the battlefield lost control, chaotic mana fluctuations and Dark Tide corruption interfered with the mana network transmitting those data. In the later stage, they could only see their own scores.

Before the collapse, Lin Mo’s lead was significant but only about twofold.

How could it have ballooned to this insane level now?

Lin Mo remained calm; he knew his own points well.

Part of the reason was that in later battles he unleashed many large-area skills, clearing countless mid- and low-level goblins.

But more importantly, he had killed many especially powerful Epic-Level gnomes.

In subsequent battles the other young geniuses, though some reached or nearly reached the Heroic Realm, were important rising stars within their factions. Their factions would not risk sending them frontline, so they didn’t have opportunity to kill Epic-Level gnomes.

Well, it's not that they had no chance — they simply didn’t have the power.

Being at the Heroic Realm and being able to kill Epic-Level gnomes are two entirely different things; they are not equivalent.

Even many elders at the mid-to-late Heroic Realm couldn't reliably kill Epic-Level gnomes.

There is a gap between being able to fight and being able to slay. Moreover, those Epic-Level gnomes, empowered by Dark Tide, were boosted another notch. For young heroes who had just reached the Heroic Realm, that exceeded their capability.

Those elders were right not to send them to the front lines; if they had, losses would have been severe.

After all, these youths have potential to reach late Heroic Realm or even the peak.

Without opportunities to kill Epic-Level gnomes, their point totals naturally lagged. The scoring rules emphasize quality over quantity.

Higher-level goblins or gnomes grant exponentially greater points when slain. After reaching Epic Level, killing one such gnome yields an astronomical point sum, which explains Lin Mo’s huge lead.

So what is the reward for first place?

The Elven Queen announced the specifics without making everyone wait long: "The first place reward is: 80,000 Crystal Coins, ten vials of Life’s Breath potion, and one Legendary Level equipment — the Nature Bow!"

At that declaration, the venue erupted in astonishment.

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