Of course, the City Lord's residence provided meals.

Ellie had already returned, and Lin Mo walked with her toward the dining hall under the guidance of an attendant.

The City Lord's residence had more than one dining hall.

The larger one, which accommodated more people, was more work-oriented, primarily serving visiting officials and guests.

Lin Mo was originally supposed to eat there, but on the way, he happened to run into an acquaintance.

"Mr. Lin Mo?"

The girl who appeared before him wore a small white dress, her golden hair flowing naturally down her back.

Even so, it was difficult to conceal her lovely appearance. With her hat removed, Finnie looked even more adorable. Her face didn't seem as round as when she wore the hat, her delicate features like exquisitely carved works of art. Her snow-white skin was flawless, paired with a kind, innocent gaze and an elegance that seemed etched into her bones.

She was practically a born nun... no, a saint!

Although Lin Mo wasn't sure if the church in this world had a concept like "saint," if it did, Finnie would be perfectly suited for the position.

"Mr. Lin Mo, what brings you here?"

Seeing her companion, Finnie happily jogged over.

Behind her, around the corner, Lin Mo seemed to catch a glimpse of Sherfilia's figure.

They really are inseparable.

"Here to take care of some business..."

Since Finnie hadn't participated in this ceremony, Lin Mo gave a brief explanation.

"I see."

Finnie nodded, then revealed a delighted expression: "So you'll be staying here for a few days?"

"Probably just one or two days... then we have a mission to attend to."

Lin Mo didn't quite understand why she was so happy, to the point she moved even closer, reducing the distance between them to less than twenty centimeters.

"You two, would you like to dine together?"

Sherfilia no longer hid and stepped out directly.

Finnie also nodded: "Yes, yes, let's eat together. Come over here..."

As she spoke, she very naturally took Lin Mo's arm and led him in another direction.

This left the attendant who had been guiding them utterly dumbfounded.

Just what background does this person have? How does he know the young lady? And they seem quite close at that...

Setting aside the attendant's astonishment, Lin Mo and Ellie followed Finnie to where she usually ate.

This was a relatively small room, likely the family's private dining area.

However, the dining table was still quite large - the long rectangular kind, exuding a noble atmosphere.

The three of them took their seats one by one, while Sherfilia stood attentively beside Finnie, apparently not planning to join them.

Lin Mo was actually quite curious. Given Sherfilia's strength, by all reasoning she shouldn't be an ordinary maid. And judging by her relationship with Finnie, it was clearly not simply that of master and servant.

This young lady who performed her duties impeccably most of the time might have some unknown identity?

Sherfilia had already notified the kitchen to send two additional meals. Before long, someone knocked and entered, carrying plate after plate of exquisite dishes.

Nobles are nobles after all. Although Lady Lavelle didn't like extravagance and waste, and usually didn't splurge on food, this only meant not using rare and expensive ingredients. Within ordinary limits, this table was still quite lavish.

Among the dishes were shrimp. Sherfilia used very practiced movements to help Finnie shell the shrimp, looking as if she did this kind of work regularly.

Not only powerful in strength, this beautiful maid was equally proficient - even perfect - in her actual duties.

Aside from the regrettable aspects of her height and figure, she had almost no flaws.

Sherfilia suddenly glared at Lin Mo, seeming to sense he was mentally criticizing her.

"Oh, right, Mr. Lin Mo, the reward for this mission."

While eating, Finnie suddenly remembered something and reached for her purse.

"Young lady Finnie, please don't do other things while eating. Those matters can wait until after the meal."

Sherfilia reminded her expressionlessly.

"Alright..."

Finnie was quite obedient to her, immediately sitting properly back in her seat and eating at a leisurely pace.

Her movements were elegant, carrying noble grace, yet very natural, not appearing affected.

In comparison, Lin Mo and Ellie were much more casual.

A thirty-centimeter lobster was directly cracked open, picked up and gnawed on, and their eating speed was noticeably faster.

And their appetites were substantial... The food the attendant had brought was already considerable, but it was quickly finished.

With no other choice, Sherfilia had to ask the kitchen to send more.

Speaking of which, Ellie's strength had been advancing by leaps and bounds recently.

If described in "Bern" style terms, she was now roughly a level 1.7 warrior.

The reason for such rapid progress could only be that Ellie was indeed working very hard and eager to improve...

As strength increases, so does appetite. Fortunately, the ingredients used in the City Lord's residence were generally of good quality. Although there wasn't much magical beast meat, the energy content was generally high, so they were full soon enough.

Only then did Finnie bring her small purse, counting out 9 Crystal Coins and 3 Gold Coins from it.

Lin Mo accepted the money. "Let's divide the mission reward now."

The 6 Gold Coins could basically be ignored, making a total of 18 Crystal Coins.

Lin Mo thought for a moment: "How about this: Sherfilia and I get 6 each, and you two get 3 each?"

Finnie repeatedly waved her hands: "Not that much, I didn't really do anything this time..."

Ellie also shook her head: "Just give Finnie 3, she helped treat many soldiers and adventers... I didn't really help you, Lin Mo."

Sherfilia was momentarily stunned - she was included too?

After some back-and-forth refusal, Finnie and Ellie each ended up accepting 2 Crystal Coins. The young maid repeatedly refused, but finally couldn't withstand their insistence and accepted the money, then very naturally placed it into Finnie's purse.

And this didn't seem to be the first time this had happened, because Finnie didn't look particularly surprised, immediately saying: "Sister Sherfilia, if you ever need money for anything, you must remember to tell me."

Calculating it this way, Finnie plus Sherfilia received a total of 8 Crystal Coins. Any more than this, and it wouldn't be paid work but rather paying to work.

Lin Mo looked at the 8 Crystal Coins he'd received and began considering how to use this money.

Adding this to the three hundred-plus Gold Coins he originally had, plus the income from the [Ice Spike] scroll that should have been auctioned off (also three to four hundred Gold Coins)...

All together, this amounted to about 1500 Gold.

Such a large sum of money - what should he use it for?

His weapons and armor had just been replaced, so there was no immediate need for upgrades.

The mithril gloves had already been purchased... Should he continue buying skill scrolls?

Lin Mo shook his head. The skills he had were enough for him to practice for a while. If he just bought skills without practicing them, spending two to three hundred or even more Gold Coins for just 1 attribute point wasn't very cost-effective, at least for Lin Mo who was still in a rapid improvement phase.

Saving it was out of the question. Lin Mo didn't currently have any goals requiring large expenditures. The correct approach was to convert earned money into combat power.

That left only alchemical potions.

Or, more luxuriously, buying a Magic Storage Bag?

To buy that thing, 1500 Gold might not even be enough. Besides, with Finnie on the team, he could just use hers - no need for that.

Lin Mo scanned his status panel once more, and his eyes suddenly lit up - he had a target.

But before spending, he needed to first master the remaining two skills.

After briefly saying goodbye to Finnie, Lin Mo returned to his room and picked up the last two Excellent-grade skill scrolls.

As for Ellie, not wanting to disturb Lin Mo, she didn't choose to follow him. Instead, she asked Sherfilia for a practice area and requested her help in honing her skills.

While there were methods to quickly improve attributes, skills didn't have many shortcuts - they relied on one's own comprehension and continuous practice.

Fortunately, having someone as powerful as Sherfilia as a sparring partner was definitely beneficial for Ellie.

Lin Mo thought of his [Fortitude] skill, which had reached level 3 during the battle a couple of days ago, but progress was still slow. During these two free days, he could also ask Sherfilia for help improving it.

Though at that time, she'd probably "settle personal scores under the guise of public duty" again.

Returning his focus to the present, Lin Mo looked at the skill scroll in his hand.

[Blood Qi Blade]

This was actually Lin Mo's first attempt at learning an Excellent-grade skill.

Currently, the several Excellent-grade skills he possessed had all evolved from Superior-grade skills, so mastering them came naturally.

As for learning skills... most of the skills he'd learned previously were Common-grade, with a few being Superior-grade. He didn't know if learning an Excellent-grade skill would proceed as smoothly.

Lin Mo opened the scroll and studied it carefully.

The content structure wasn't very different from what he'd seen before, but Excellent-grade skills truly lived up to their name. Whether in complexity or the difficulty of Qi and Blood circulation, they were far beyond previous Common and Superior-grade skills.

When he learned the Common-grade skill [Fortitude] back then, Lin Mo had grasped it almost instantly. But this time, learning [Blood Qi Blade] was noticeably much slower.

That said, warrior-type skills were still much simpler than magic. In less than half an hour, he had it figured out.

"Learned skill [Blood Qi Blade], gained attribute points: Strength +3!"

[Blood Qi Blade] LV1 (0/10): Consumes a large amount of Qi and Blood, condensing and compressing it to form a "blood-colored" energy blade to attack enemies. Powerful.

Note: Using this skill will cause minor damage to the user!

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. Interesting, it actually comes with a bit of a "self-harm" effect?

But in exchange, it earned the description "powerful."

Clearly, compared to [Accumulating Sword Progressive Strike] which had high total damage but was dispersed across numerous blades with weak actual breakthrough capability, [Blood Qi Blade] undoubtedly had much stronger burst power.