The night passed in a flash.

Lin Mo had a very fulfilling night.

After this night, Lin Mo felt quite empty.

In any case, through his diligent efforts, Ellie's strength had finally reached level 2.

And Lin Mo's [Joint Cultivation] skill had also gained considerable proficiency.

The skill's progress had now reached Lv3 (12/40).

Moreover, if nothing unexpected happened, the skill's proficiency would continue to grow steadily over the next few days.

Around ten in the morning, Lin Mo finished washing up, covered Ellie who was still sound asleep with the blanket, got up to eat something, prepared some breakfast to leave in the room, then left the inn and headed toward the Association.

Today was the day he would be promoted to Bronze-rank adventurer.

Calculating the time, it should have been over a month since he came to this world. After more than a month of adventuring, he had finally gathered enough missions required for promotion to Bronze-rank adventurer. Thinking about it, it really hadn't been easy.

Pushing open the Adventurers' Association door, Lena was as usual at her counter working.

Although determined to develop other professions, she didn't seem to plan on giving up her receptionist job at the Association, at most just working fewer days per week.

"Mr. Lin Mo, you're here!"

Every time Lena saw Lin Mo, she would show such a bright smile. She hardly wore her hat anymore these days, her furry ears twitching and the tail behind her gently swaying.

Last night, the three completed missions had already been recorded in Lin Mo's record, but it was quite late then, and most Association staff had already gotten off work, so he didn't immediately receive the Bronze-rank adventurer badge.

Lin Mo handed his adventurer identification badge to Lena. The cat-eared girl nodded, looking quite excited: "Please wait a moment, it should be ready soon!"

Then she hurried into the guild area.

As she said, he didn't have to wait long. Shortly after, Lena came jogging back with a brand new identification badge.

She carefully handed the badge to Lin Mo: "Here, Mr. Lin Mo. Starting today, you're a Bronze-rank adventurer!"

Even though it was Lin Mo's promotion, she seemed even happier than Lin Mo himself.

Lin Mo couldn't resist rubbing her ears—this time not secretly, but Lena clearly didn't resist.

"Mr. Lin Mo, that's a bit ticklish..."

But since they were in public, after a few seconds Lena still blushed and dodged his mischievous hand.

Lin Mo smiled, waved his hand, and headed toward the guild's second floor.

The guild's second and third floors both sold weapons, equipment, including alchemical potions and other adventuring supplies. Lin Mo rarely came here, so he looked around curiously. The quality was indeed quite good and reliable, but the prices were definitely more expensive than at the dwarf's forge, with differences ranging from 20% to 50%.

For adventurers with poor judgment but plenty of money, the Association was indeed a good choice.

Speaking of which, Bronze-rank adventurers got certain discounts when purchasing at the Association, though not substantial—only 5%—so it was still more expensive than outside.

If promoted to Silver-rank adventurer, the discount would become 10%, and Gold-rank was impressive—a full 20%!

After reaching Gold-rank, some Association items became quite cost-effective.

But those were still distant for him now.

Not staying too long, Lin Mo soon continued upward to the 4th floor.

At the 4th floor entrance, Adventurers' Association staff stood guard. Seeing the identification badge hanging on Lin Mo's chest, they nodded in acknowledgment and made way for him to pass.

This was the rest area exclusively provided for Bronze-rank and above adventurers.

When he was still a novice—though only just over a month ago—one reason Lin Mo particularly envied Bronze-rank adventurers back then was because they had access to the Association's exclusive lounge.

Although this small benefit was now unimportant and he no longer felt that initial envy, Lin Mo still wanted to see it for himself, as he might use it in the future.

In the rest area's hall, there was a magical energy device—a huge "screen" with many small squares, some red and some green.

Red meant vacant, green meant occupied.

Since many adventurers from other places had recently come to Silverstream City, including quite capable ones, there were quite a few green squares—about half.

Lin Mo selected an unoccupied room, clicked on it, and the square opened to reveal a key.

Taking the key, he followed the directions, unlocked the door, pushed it open, and revealed before him was an approximately 80-square-meter room.

This area was certainly not small—at least larger than most inn rooms.

The furnishings were relatively simple, but the furniture quality was excellent. Sitting on the sofa, Lin Mo felt its softness could rival even Finnie's home.

Besides the sofa, there was a table, a roughly two-meter large bed, with two small cabinets on either side of the bed holding magical energy lamps.

A translucent shelf stood nearby with some snacks and pastries—all complimentary.

"Quite comfortable..."

Lin Mo was overall very satisfied with this lounge.

If not for considering Ellie and Lena, he could have moved in directly.

Since he was just here to see it, after touring the lounge, Lin Mo left, returned the key, and went downstairs.

"Mr. Lin Mo, wait a moment."

After reaching the main hall, he saw Lena waving to him. Approaching the cat-eared girl, she handed him a small box: "You forgot to take something earlier. This is the promotion congratulatory gift from Silverstream City's branch Association."

"There's a congratulatory gift too?"

Lin Mo's eyes lit up—this was a pleasant surprise.

"Yes, this was specially established after Chairman Vic took office. All professionals promoted in Silverstream City can receive one."

A kind of marketing and retention strategy?

Not bad...

Lin Mo opened the small box. Inside was a crystal coin engraved with his name and today's date.

A meaningful little keepsake with decent value—one crystal coin equivalent to 100 gold coins.

But this money would likely not be spent unless he was really short.

Admittedly, Chairman Vic's move was quite clever. People sometimes really fell for this kind of thing.

A small gift that provided both a sense of ceremony and satisfied vanity, creating positive word-of-mouth that naturally formed an "advertising" effect.

Simply genius.

Lin Mo closed the lid, smiled and waved to Lena: "See you tonight."

"Yes, see you tonight..."

This simple sentence made Lena's heart suddenly feel fulfilled.

As if she truly had a home and family.

After leaving the Adventurers' Association, Lin Mo headed straight toward Adventurer Commercial Street.

The core bone from the Icy Rotted Corpse in his possession couldn't be used directly—it needed secondary processing by an alchemist before it could be embedded in the mithril gloves to function.

As for who to find, that was quite clear.

Lin Mo walked directly to the entrance of Shachel Alchemy Workshop.

Pushing the door open, the familiar wind chime sounded. Madam Shachel lay as usual on that comfortable-looking recliner, leisurely enjoying her morning tea.

At this hour, adventurers rarely visited, so when someone entered, she glanced up, then raised her eyebrows and sat up properly.

"Little Finnie didn't come with you?"

Seeing the undisguised disappointment on her face, Lin Mo curled his lips: "We're just teammates. Today's a rest day, it's normal not to be together..."

"I thought you two were glued together all the time."

Madam Shachel's smile was meaningful: "Well, what brings you here?"

"This thing."

Lin Mo took out the Icy Rotted Corpse's core bone from his pack. "Can you process this for me?"

Madam Shachel raised her eyebrows, put on gloves, took the bone and examined it carefully.

"You killed this?"

"You could say that, with my teammates."

Lin Mo nodded.

Madam Shachel placed the bone on soft cloth: "What a surprising young man... Leave it with me, come collect it in two days."

"The price?"

"150 gold coins."

"What if I brought Finnie along?"

"Then it's free."

...

Seeing Lin Mo's speechless expression, Shachel smiled: "Just kidding. I won't profit from you—just the cost price, 60 gold coins."

"Alright, thank you."

Lin Mo directly counted out 60 gold coins and placed them on the counter.

"Then I'll see you in two days..."

After saying this, he turned and left.

Shachel watched his retreating back, shook her head, lay back down, muttering: "Young people these days are so rushed, don't even know to chat with an old lady a bit longer."

The Bronze-rank adventurer identification badge was obtained, the Icy Rotted Corpse's core bone entrusted for processing—the more urgent matters were all done.

Next, it was time to go to the City Lord's Mansion.

Not to find Finnie, of course, but to find Sherfilia.

Time to continue having her help with training to improve [Fortitude] proficiency.

Besides that, there was the ranger profession's [Lightness] skill. This skill also increased proficiency with use—even keeping it activated in daily life had effect, though smaller, far less than the gains from combat.

Being a common-grade skill with low consumption, Lin Mo basically kept it activated all the time.

Current proficiency had reached (8/20)—progress wasn't slow. In future battles, it should improve even more.

Arriving at the City Lord's Mansion entrance, no explanation was needed. The guards naturally recognized him as an honored guest and didn't stop him.

Lin Mo walked straight into the mansion, stopped a passing maid, and asked: "Is Finnie home now?"

"Miss Finnie? She went to the church not long ago..."

As expected.

After all, Finnie was a priest profession. Besides adventure training, daily healing and assistance also contributed to growth. Plus Finnie enjoyed helping others, so on non-adventuring days, she usually chose to go to the church.

"What about Sherfilia then?"

The maid looked somewhat confused and shook her head: "Sorry, I don't know."

"Alright, my apologies."

Lin Mo nodded, somewhat helplessly beginning to search around.

He searched for quite a while, asked many people, but got no results.

This girl, does she like disappearing even at home?

Somewhat frustrated, Lin Mo sat on a stone stool in a small courtyard, drinking tea brought by a maid he'd asked, silently complaining when a voice suddenly sounded behind him:

"Looking for me for something?"

Lin Mo jumped in surprise, turning to see Sherfilia's familiar face.

Ivory-colored short hair covered one eye, the visible pale golden eye showing no emotion, quietly watching Lin Mo.

Truly a veteran-level assassin—before she spoke, Lin Mo had almost no awareness of her presence.

From this perspective, even with the powerful stealth skill [Vanish], Lin Mo still had much to learn.

Footsteps, breathing rhythm, every slight movement... Assassination was an art. Every powerful assassin was like an elegant dancer, performing where none could see, killing without a trace.

Sherfilia was undoubtedly such a master. Regardless of attribute strength, her fundamental assassin skills were terrifyingly solid.

Lin Mo wanted to learn these too, but unlike skills, these details couldn't be mastered overnight. They required years of accumulation, forming habits, even becoming instinct.

"I'd like to ask for your help with training."

With Sherfilia, there was no need for beating around the bush, so Lin Mo directly stated his purpose.

"Same as last time?"

Lin Mo shook his head: "I want to try a new approach."

"Such as?"

"Something closer to actual combat..."

Although he now held multiple professions, with warrior and mage reaching level 3, Lin Mo had after all just begun his adventuring career less than two months ago and lacked rich combat experience.

When dealing with ordinary monsters, perhaps not much finesse was needed—sufficient stats were enough.

But when facing high-level, intelligent monsters, or fighting people, victory wasn't necessarily determined by stats alone.

The interplay of offense and defense, mastery of techniques, including emergency response to various situations and strategies for countering moves...

If the strength gap was large, it was fine. But if strength was similar, these factors could influence at least 30% or even over 40% of the outcome.

There were no shortcuts for these combat experiences and techniques—besides talent, they could only be accumulated through continuous fighting and practice.

Lin Mo wasn't lacking in talent in this area either, but he lacked accumulation.

Therefore, conducting combat-like exercises with Sherfilia might help fill this gap.

"Alright."

Sherfilia nodded, agreeing quite readily.

This actually made Lin Mo somewhat embarrassed: "Won't this trouble you too much?"

"If you know it's trouble, then don't come."

"Uh..."

Lin Mo was left speechless.

"Just joking, don't mind it."

But your expression doesn't look like joking at all...