After Gauss killed the last two goblins meeting the conditions, he took several big leaps and quickly put some distance between himself and the goblins.

Drawing his magic wand, he then nimbly crossed over a wall, jumping out of the goblin village. Using the simple defense of the low wall as cover, his figure temporarily vanished from the goblins’ sight.

Left alone in the square, the goblins who had just been gathering courage to shout and fight stared confusedly at the suddenly “fleeing” enemy, unsure what to do, glancing at their leader, the Redcap Goblin.

The Redcap was also puzzled at this moment.

Among the non-elite goblins, it was one of the few high-intelligence individuals.

It could sense the hostile intent of the enemy, who had killed over a dozen skilled fighters from their tribe in an extremely short time.

Especially those archers—hard-earned elites the tribe had painstakingly trained—were all dead now.

Though still filled with anger, the Redcap was even more overwhelmed by fear and anxiety facing this unknown powerful enemy, so it did not command the now trembling goblins to give chase.

Perhaps in its mind, it preferred to see the strong human male continue fighting or, after slaying a dozen of their kind, leave on his own accord.

Gauss, having temporarily left the goblin village, looked at the Adventurer’s Manual.

“Total monster kills reached 200.”

“Reward obtained: Strength +1.”

“Reward obtained: Sub-Core Skill Slot *1.”

“Next stage: Total monster kills accumulate to 500.”

The text briefly flashed before Gauss’s eyes.

A familiar heat flow coursed through his body.

He knew this was the effect of Strength +1;

after all, this wasn’t his first time experiencing an attribute point increase.

But to be honest, the feeling was somewhat different this time.

Last time, he increased from an average of 5 points to 6, but now it rose from 6 to 7, meaning he was elevating himself beyond an already superhuman baseline.

After the heat flow surged, it quickly integrated into every muscle across Gauss’s body.

He could feel his muscles slightly swelling—a solid, tight sensation without any soreness.

Under the influence of the heat flow, muscle fibers condensed more tightly, like a bowstring full of tension and power.

“Dumb dumb!”

Not long after, his bones and joints began to emit faint cracking sounds. The mysterious heat flowing into his skeleton seemed to rapidly harden and strengthen it in a very short time.

After several breaths, Gauss exhaled deeply.

Having temporarily absorbed the physical changes brought by the attribute increase, he straightened up.

“Stupid dumb!”

A series of cracking sounds echoed from his muscles and bones all over his body.

I tightened my grip on the sword,

Feeling a massive power surge within me, the whole world seemed to grow lighter.

The most obvious change came from the sword in his hand, which felt as if it had become weightless.

This stark sensory contrast made Gauss deeply realize that 7 points of strength was a completely different tier from 6 points.

If an ordinary person from a common family might reach 6 points through sheer hard training, 7 points was almost impossible without extraordinary luck.

Specifically for strength: 5 points meant a healthy human, 6 points a strong human, and 7 points could preliminarily be considered superhuman.

A person with such strength, when both sides were unarmed, could easily handle a dozen adult males. If they mastered skilled techniques and weapons, that efficiency would multiply several times.

“Strength: 7.”

Previously, when Gauss was promoted to Magician, his strength attribute hadn’t increased, but the Adventurer’s Manual now compensated for that.

Gauss now had all six attributes at 7 points except for Intelligence, which was 8 points.

From this, Gauss could preliminarily conclude:

The attribute points gained from monster kills via the Adventurer’s Manual weren’t random but prioritized to supplement his weaker attributes, striving for balanced stats overall.

Understanding this, Gauss had no complaints.

Compared to other professionals, he was already naturally far ahead.

Besides the attribute points gained from leveling up like others, the manual gave him extra boosts to his weaker stats, meaning his total six-attribute value would widen the gap with others over time.

The greatest advantage of the “Hexagonal Warrior” was that there were no weak points. Even facing many enemies weaker than him, he was unlikely to lose.

This was the main reason he remained calm when facing numerous goblins earlier;

his strong six-attribute foundation gave him full confidence.

Besides the strength attribute boost, the second reward this time was another new thing he had never seen before—a sub-core skill slot.

Gauss focused his mind and quickly understood its effect.

It was somewhat similar to his current core skill, Mage Armor.

A sub-core skill slot, as the name implies, allowed him to designate any one skill he had learned as a secondary core skill.

Once a skill became a sub-core skill, it would receive benefits similar to a core skill, though the effects were weaker and the bonuses less obvious.

The advantage was that this sub-core skill slot could be swapped out. Each time it was changed successfully, it would enter a cooldown period before the next swap.

Without much hesitation, Gauss assigned his Magic Missile to the sub-core skill slot.

Just after setting it, he suddenly noticed that the mental image of Magic Missile in his will seemed to have changed slightly.

The sub-core skill’s blessing appeared to temporarily optimize this spell in its current state.

“I seem to be able to fire triple missiles? And the mana cost for casting is further reduced.”

Gauss raised an eyebrow. A faint intuitive feeling told him this information.

Previously, without replenishing mana, he could only cast about twenty downgraded missiles, but now this number might be raised to around thirty in one go.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Gauss was very satisfied with the sub-core skill slot’s effect.

Even if it only added a few more missiles, mana was something you could never have too much of. The mana saved from Magic Missile could be used for other spells.

Having briefly adapted to his bodily changes, Gauss reentered the goblin village.

He stepped through the gate, glancing at the still murky and foul-smelling village.

Gauss again came face to face with the goblins who had just been preparing to collect their fallen tribe members’ bodies.

“Wah wah wah!!!”

The goblins emitted frantic, urgent warning cries, their faces visibly tightening with tension.

The Redcap Goblin, having just left the group, jumped lightly several times and quickly slipped back into the goblin formation.

At the same time, a fierce yet confused look appeared in its eyes directed at Gauss.

It was somewhat unable to understand this human’s behavior patterns.

It had just been preparing to give a victorious speech to the tribe, using the enemy’s inexplicable retreat as a “victory” to further solidify its authority in the tribe. Before it could implement the plan, Gauss had come back.

“Wah wah wah!!”

Seeing the trembling tribe members, the Redcap shouted loudly again, using its strong authority to stabilize the anxious goblins.

It then issued a hunting command.

A group of goblins, overwhelmed by fear and anxiety, could only continue following its orders out of habit.

“Magic Missile!”

Gauss gripped the Unbreaking Scepter tightly.

Three blue flashes appeared like stars floating in front of him, then suddenly brightened and shot out in rapid succession.

“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

Gauss cast his spell.

With Magic Missile as his sub-core skill, it was much easier to use.

It felt as natural as breathing.

An indescribable smoothness lingered in Gauss’s mind.

Though not instant like Mage Armor, its speed was still fast, and because there was a bit of preparation time, it gave a stronger sense of involvement, making him feel that casting spells was truly enjoyable.

The three goblins locked on in the front line were hit by the downgraded yet powerful Magic Missiles, blasted away like rags, dying midair and shattering on the ground.

Several goblins behind them were also knocked back and injured.

Unfortunately, the goblins were not standing too densely;

otherwise, the Magic Missiles could have hit even more.

“Killed Goblin *3.”

“Total monster kills: 203.”

But that was enough.

Another use of magic was its intimidation factor.

Especially for these low-intelligence goblins,

Gauss could already feel the growing confusion and unease spreading among the dozens of goblins further away.

He looked at the faint red in the formation.

He really wanted to know if the goblin’s leadership could truly overcome the magic in his hand.

As if hearing Gauss’s thoughts or sensing the tribe’s retreating intention, the Redcap Goblin let out a dry shout again, pushing the four larger goblins beside it to press the tribe forward from behind.

So the briefly halted goblin formation launched another charge.

After a brief pause, Gauss, expressionless, continued to cast magic.

“Magic Missile!”

Three flashes lit up in a triangular formation before him.

The goblins, who had started moving under the Redcap’s urging, slowed their pace upon seeing the blue light that meant death.

Especially the few goblins in front, dark yellow liquid quietly dripped down their thighs—terrified to the point of involuntary urination.

“Whoosh!”

But magic was merciless.

It would not halt its release simply because the goblins were breaking down emotionally.

“Boom!”

This time the impact seemed even louder than before.

“Killed Goblin *3.”

“Total monster kills: 206.”

The goblins’ flesh was as fragile and putrid as rotten tofu, blasted to pieces the moment the missiles struck.

Wet, sticky chunks of meat and dirty blood splattered everywhere, soaking goblins within several meters around from head to toe.

“Thud!”

“Thud!”

Seven or eight goblins, already exhausted and weak from diarrhea caused by laxatives, were scared senseless by the carnage, their will shattered and legs suddenly giving out, collapsing to the ground with a thud.

Faced with such utterly unresistable enemies,

Some goblins had already lost their fighting spirit first.

Why should they face enemies they could never win against?