CHAPTER 164: UNEXPECTED ATTRIBUTES AND EVOLUTION

From this level up, one could roughly see the future progression of this skill.

If each level increased attributes by 5%, then when finally reaching the maximum level 8 of an Epic Level skill, the clone would inherit 85% of Lin Mo's original attributes.

This value was already quite impressive.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Lin Mo struck while the iron was hot, releasing [Shadow Split] again to hunt nearby.

This skill required the user to multitask, and to use it well, one needed to make delicate operations and decisions on both sides.

To put it bluntly, it was somewhat like drawing a circle with the left hand and a square with the right hand, but much more difficult than that.

Thanks to his powerful mental energy, Lin Mo was able to accomplish this.

But with his current proficiency, there would probably still be many flaws in actual combat, requiring more practice.

[Shadow Split] proficiency +11

[Shadow Split] proficiency +3

......

Huh?

Lin Mo suddenly froze, carefully looking at the message before him.

That's right, it was indeed 11 points and 3 points, but the clones had just killed a level 2 and a level 1 magical creature respectively.

Previously, level 2 magical creatures provided at least 12 points or more, and this hadn't changed when [Shadow Split] was at level 1 either.

But after the skill level increased to level 2, it seemed to have slightly decreased.

Indeed, compared to Excellent Level skills, Epic Level skills had higher requirements for leveling up, and these requirements increased with skill level.

As for level 1 magical creatures, they changed from 8 points during the Excellent Level to 3 points.

This probably wasn't related to skill level but was already significantly reduced on its own.

As the team continued moving forward, Lin Mo kept testing.

Level 1 magical creatures were now confirmed to be 3 points;

those below level 1 like sub-adult goblins provided even less, only 1 point, while common goblins and similar miscellaneous monsters...

No display appeared, but "Lin Mo" encountered and eliminated over a dozen goblins, and the proficiency only increased by 1 point.

Level 2 magical creatures were still okay for now;

the proficiency seemed to have only slightly decreased, not much different from before...

The key lay in the subsequent changes.

After killing along the way, Lin Mo finally gathered enough proficiency to level up this skill to level 3.

"Skill [Shadow Split] Lv2 (40/40) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Shadow Split] Lv3 (0/80)"

From level 3 to level 4 already required 80 proficiency points, so difficult...

What about the level-up effect? It should be the same as before, right?

Just as Lin Mo was about to check the skill's effect after leveling up, the next line of text made him freeze instantly.

"Gained attribute points Agility+4, Strength+1!"

"Ah?!"

This... this can't be right?

Previous Excellent Level skills only gave attribute points when reaching level 4, so why did the Epic Level skill give them at level 3 instead?

Could it be that Epic Level skills provide attribute points more than three times?

Lin Mo clearly remembered that Uncle Bern had told him before that skill improvements would come three times in total.

Once when learning the skill, once when skillfully using the skill, and once after completely mastering the skill.

But skills at Epic Level and above might break this convention, changing three to four times?

If that were the case, then it would be roughly: gain once, level 3 once, level 5 or 6 once, and level 8 (maximum level) once...

Not bad, not bad.

This immediately alleviated much of Lin Mo's frustration about the skill becoming increasingly difficult to train.

The level 3 Shadow Split's effect was enhanced again.

[Shadow Split] Lv3 (0/80): Transforms shadow into a clone to fight together! The shadow inherits 60% of the original body's attributes but cannot use skills. The clone continuously consumes Qi and Blood while existing, with a maximum duration of 420 seconds.

Indeed, each level increased the inherited attributes by 5%, exactly as Lin Mo had previously guessed.

However, the maximum duration was different.

It was 300 seconds at level 1, 350 seconds at level 2, increasing by 50 seconds. Logically, level 3 should be 400 seconds, but it was actually 420 seconds, an additional 20 seconds.

Not sure what the pattern is, or if there is no pattern?

Apart from gaining points and the skill's own improvement, the next step naturally involved choosing the skill evolution path.

Please select evolution direction -

Evolution Path 1: Swap Position Ⅱ: Exchange positions with the clone, limited to 2 times during duration.

Evolution Path 2: Self-Destruct I: The clone self-destructs when receiving fatal damage, about to disappear, or by choice, dealing massive damage.

Same as before, the second evolution choice could continue strengthening the previous path or add an additional second path.

Level Ⅱ "Swap Position" increased the usage count by one compared to level 1, which was a decent improvement, but compared to having nothing, Lin Mo still preferred to choose Evolution Path 2.

After all, this "Self-Destruct" could be controlled voluntarily, and its power should be considerable.

With "Self-Destruct," the progress of practicing this skill would also be faster later.

Anyway, there would be opportunities to continue choosing evolution paths later, and Epic Level skills seemed to have more evolution path choices than Excellent Level ones.

Continue!

After making the choice, Lin Mo naturally couldn't wait to try again immediately.

[Shadow Split]!

Ellie moved to the side and used the skill again.

His shadow, which had just returned not long ago, disappeared again, appearing behind a nearby tree.

That's right, with continuous use, Lin Mo discovered that this skill didn't necessarily have to be used in front of the main body but could be summoned anywhere within the shadow's coverage area.

He had deliberately moved slightly off course earlier to make his shadow cover behind the tree, thus concealing it from others.

After the main group moved away, the shadow clone immediately took action, heading into the distance.

"Lin Mo" continued forward, heading in the direction from which they had come.

He needed to find a level 2 magical creature to test first.

Since they were at the outer edge of the Deep Forest Area, this process wasn't smooth. After searching for several minutes, Lin Mo was about to give up and prepare to release the skill again when, at the last moment with less than 20 seconds remaining on the shadow's duration, he finally found a target.

20 seconds was enough!

The level 3 [Shadow Split] inherited 60% of Lin Mo's original attributes, which was already quite powerful. Dealing with such ordinary level 2 magical creatures was no problem.

In just over ten seconds, the battle ended smoothly, and a prompt floated before Lin Mo's eyes.

[Shadow Split] proficiency +10

Indeed, another point less.

But such a reduction was still acceptable.

What about level 1 and below level 1 then?

Lin Mo continued releasing the next [Shadow Split] and tried again.

[Shadow Split] proficiency +3

[Shadow Split] proficiency +1

Good, this didn't continue decreasing, same as when [Shadow Split] was at level 2.

Lin Mo breathed a slight sigh of relief. If this was the case, it was actually still okay.

They finally reached the peripheral area of Roland Forest. Here, the number of dangerous magical creatures was even fewer, but the encountered goblins were no less frequent. Every time they saw those ugly green-skinned monsters, the young girls protected in the middle turned pale.

Clearly, they had developed quite deep psychological trauma.

With goblins around, the adventurers naturally wouldn't let them go, immediately attacking and killing them. Lin Mo didn't even get to them while fresh, only managing to get two.

But it didn't matter anymore...

Soon, they would be going home.

Although this outing hadn't been very long, Lin Mo felt completely drained and exceptionally tired.

He needed to go back and rest properly, at least... well, at least rest for one day.

No choice, the current situation was truly turbulent and unpredictable. No one knew when the goblins and necromancer would cause trouble, so they had to seize the time to enhance their strength.

Along the way, they killed some more goblins. Lin Mo deliberately practiced the [Backstab] skill.

As a Common Level skill, using it to kill common goblins still gave 1 proficiency point so far, which made Lin Mo feel somewhat emotional to the point of tears.

[Backstab] Lv4 (17/100)

Next, it would be best to quickly level this skill to maximum.

With [Shadow Split] unexpectedly providing a large amount of basic attribute points again at level 3, Lin Mo's Agility attribute had reached 39 points.

Just 1 point away from leveling up again.

But since they were already approaching Silverstream City, it would have to wait until the next outing.

When approaching Silverstream City, Lin Mo noticed some damage on the city walls. After asking the guards, he learned that just yesterday when they left, powerful undead creatures had actually launched a surprise attack, causing over a dozen guard casualties.

However, after the City Lord arrived, they were quickly suppressed.

Lin Mo frowned. From this incident, much information could actually be gathered.

First, the strength of Silverstream City's City Lord, meaning Finnie's mother, was definitely not weak.

This was obvious. As the ruler of a city, even if she benefited from her husband's influence, without sufficient strength, she couldn't possibly maintain her position securely.

Moreover, it wasn't just strength. Given her current unquestionable authority within the city, the political turmoil back then must have been unusually intense.

Yet City Lord Beixi still managed to protect Finnie very well, almost completely shielding her from the effects, showing that her methods were strong and she was definitely not just superficially kind-hearted.

But this wasn't the main issue...

The sudden undead creature attack couldn't be a coincidence.

Considering various previous events, clearly, the necromancer behind it was testing.

Testing Silverstream City's combat capabilities.

Throwing out "bait" to force Silverstream City to slow down investigations in Roland Forest's depths, while simultaneously attracting many military forces away from the city, followed by undead creatures attacking the city to test Silverstream City's response... interconnected steps, clearly showing the other party had achieved their objective.

Silverstream City's situation was not optimistic!

Because City Lord Beixi took action.

A small-scale undead creature attack incident actually required the City Lord to personally intervene, showing just how severely lacking Silverstream City's manpower was.

Having shown weakness this time, they probably wouldn't have peace going forward...

Lin Mo frowned, somewhat worried.

Also, during this operation, they encountered various dangers in the cavern, several close calls. Even with him and Sherfilia present, they still suffered significant losses.

What about the teams that went to other caverns... how were they faring?

If they suffered heavy losses because of this, that would be somewhat unacceptable.

Lin Mo didn't think the other party's multi-purpose strategy was particularly brilliant;

it was simply that Silverstream City's forces were too lacking, leaving no room for maneuver.

Goblin disaster, Lawrence conspiracy, now plus undead creatures...

Silverstream City faced too many problems.

Under such circumstances, wasn't the Kingdom going to do anything at all?

Although Lin Mo didn't understand political matters well, at the very least, regarding the goblin disaster alone, some measures should be taken, additional reinforcements sent, right?

Or was City Lord Jiang Yu actually holding back, preparing some small scheme?

Shaking his head, these political games weren't Lin Mo's forte. Thinking too much about them was meaningless. Better to focus on grinding proficiency and leveling up.

To forge iron, one must be strong oneself. In such a supernatural world, as long as level and strength increased, any conspiracy could be broken with pure power.

Upon arriving in the city, they first took the rescued young girls to the City Lord's Mansion. The subsequent matters would be handled by their arrangements there.

As for rewards, it wasn't time for distribution yet;

they had to wait until tomorrow when all outgoing teams returned.

It was already evening, so naturally, it was time for the much-anticipated celebration dinner.

Lin Mo took Ellie and Finnie together with Landon's "Azure Orchid Team" to Richard Grand Hotel, feasting heartily, then each went their separate ways.

Finnie was taken back by Sherfilia. Ellie brought some food for Lena, and the two went together to pick up the cat-eared girl from work.

By the way, during the meal earlier, Lin Mo incidentally mentioned the manor matter to Finnie. She needed to go back and ask her mother first;

they could discuss it conveniently tomorrow when going to the City Lord's Mansion to receive rewards.

Returning to the inn, Lin Mo finally completely cleared his mind. After taking a bath and lying on the soft large bed, he let out a comfortable long sigh.

Of course, even at such times, he definitely still couldn't rest.

Because the big bad wolf had arrived at the battlefield.

Ellie wore her "battle attire," full of confident expression. Lin Mo was afraid she might say those classic three words the next second:

"I will win."

During this period, through the [Joint Cultivation] skill, Ellie's strength improvement was like riding a rocket. Although not comparable to Lin Mo, she had already surpassed the vast majority of so-called geniuses.

Moreover, the attributes provided by [Joint Cultivation] weren't single but random.

This time it might add Strength, next time it becomes Agility, then next time becomes Constitution...

So although Ellie was a warrior profession, her Constitution and Agility weren't low either. Although still far from corresponding professions at the same level, compared to her peers, she was already much stronger.

After such a long period of adjustment... practice, Ellie had become increasingly skilled, very naturally licking her lips, starting to have extra meals...

[Joint Cultivation] proficiency +1

......

The night passed quickly, but Lin Mo, like previous rest days, slept directly until noon.

Opening his eyes, Lin Mo very naturally patted the soft object, feeling emotional for a moment.

One could only say, having good Constitution was truly self-indulgent.

With Constitution as high as 48 points, Lin Mo's endurance and recovery abilities were both very powerful.

In one night, the [Joint Cultivation] skill directly increased by 11 points.

Of course, this thing wasn't per session;

it was probably related to time?

Anyway, leveled up again.

"Skill [Joint Cultivation] Lv3 (40/40) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Joint Cultivation] Lv4 (0/100)"

After reaching level 4, [Joint Cultivation]'s effect should further enhance. Following this progress, Ellie would probably reach level 3 soon.

Currently, she was probably around level 2.3-2.4 or so?

Additionally, Finnie seemed close to level 2 too. After this training experience, probably just needing that final push, should be within these couple of days.