On the way back with Sherfilia, we bought some better quality ingredients. Dinner was once again prepared by the maid. Sherfilia's skills in maid-related duties were basically upper-tier - not the absolute top level, but fundamentally flawless.

After dinner, it was naturally time for Ellie's additional training again.

Lin Mo also casually asked her about her gains from practicing skills during the day. It seemed that because she had accumulated enough combat experience during this period, her progress was very smooth, and she was almost completely mastering the skills in her hands.

This was something worth celebrating, but it was also a problem....

Lin Mo naturally didn't lack skills. Not to mention his monstrous learning speed, every skill only needed to be trained to max level to automatically evolve into a new skill, but Ellie couldn't do that.

Lin Mo had also thought about teaching his skills to Ellie, but firstly, Ellie's comprehension wasn't that strong, and secondly, his own strength wasn't sufficient enough. Although he had completely mastered the skills, it was limited to perfect "mastery" and "usage" - compared to those grandmasters who could create skill scrolls, he still lacked thousands of years of accumulation and understanding.

Forget it, let's not think too much for now and take it step by step.

Ellie was already busy, so Lin Mo withdrew his distracting thoughts and began focusing on matters at hand.

.....

Days passed in such a peaceful rhythm, and in the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

During these two days, Lin Mo would complete a daily mission of killing 100 goblins every day.

This caused his skill proficiency to improve by leaps and bounds.

First was 【Rushing Punch】 - without any suspense, that skill had already reached max level and completed its evolution.

"Skill 【Rushing Punch】 Lv4 (100/100) leveled up!"

"Current skill 【Rushing Punch】 Lv5 (Max)"

"Gained attribute points Strength+2!"

"Automatically evolved into new skill - Swift Rushing Punch!"

"Learned skill 【Swift Rushing Punch】! Strength+1, Constitution+1!"

【Swift Rushing Punch】：Channel qi and blood to gather at the fist, launch a swift punch attack. Can additionally consume qi and blood to enhance the skill. The more qi and blood concentrated, the faster the punch speed and the greater the power.

This skill was quite interesting.

Although it was an Excellent-grade skill, it had distinctive characteristics.

On the surface, this skill seemed to be just an enhanced version of 【Rushing Punch】 with greater power and faster speed, but it had an additional effect similar to 【Charged Sword Slash】.

And unlike 【Charged Sword Slash】 which required fixed time to accumulate sword energy, the charging speed of this move only depended on the circulation speed of one's own qi and blood.

If your qi and blood intensity was high enough and circulated fast enough, then the charging would be faster.

This perfectly matched Ellie's own "stat monster"-like basic attributes.

After obtaining this skill, Lin Mo conducted multiple attempts. When used normally, this was just an unremarkable Excellent-grade warrior skill, with both power and practicality being quite ordinary.

But it was different after additionally concentrating qi and blood.

With Lin Mo's current qi and blood intensity, charging 【Swift Rushing Punch】 to its limit took less than 1 second, and 【Swift Rushing Punch】 charged to its limit possessed power comparable to Outstanding-grade skills!

Roughly speaking, it had slightly lower total damage than a fully charged 【Charged Sword Slash】 but slightly stronger breakthrough capability, though still inferior to 【Blood Qi Blade】.

But as an Excellent-grade skill, even with additional consumption maxed out, it was still lower than 【Blood Qi Blade】.

Overall, it was quite a cost-effective skill.

Currently, it had already been trained by Lin Mo to Lv2 (5/20).

Next was Backstab - this skill had also been trained to max level and completed its evolution.

"Skill 【Backstab】 Lv4 (100/100) leveled up!"

"Current skill 【Backstab】 Lv5 (Max)"

"Gained attribute points Agility+2!"

"Automatically evolved into new skill - Bone-Piercing Heavy Stab!"

"Learned skill 【Bone-Piercing Heavy Stab】! Agility+2!"

【Bone-Piercing Heavy Stab】：Launch a powerful piercing attack from behind against the enemy's vital areas. If hitting vital or key areas (such as heart, spine, brain, etc.), it will inflict additional interruption effect, interrupting the enemy's ongoing attack or spellcasting. (Effective even if not completely penetrated, as long as defense is breached)

This skill was also quite interesting.

It was a skill with relatively high operational potential.

Compared to the ordinary 【Backstab】 before, it additionally gained a minor control-like interruption effect that would activate as long as it hit a vital point and broke through defense.

When dealing with targets much weaker than oneself, this skill was useless because they would be one-shot killed anyway, so control didn't matter.

But when facing evenly matched opponents or those stronger than oneself, this skill's potential was very high.

Some assassins, especially when assassinating targets of the same level, might fail to kill with one strike and could be counterattacked in return. Assassins themselves had relatively fragile constitutions and could easily be killed in retaliation or mutually destroyed.

But with this skill, as long as operated properly, there was no need to worry about this problem - after attacking, it would also interrupt your skill, not allowing retaliation. A pure cheater skill.

When facing opponents with relatively strong constitutions and exceptional defensive capabilities, it could even be used as a control skill.

It's just a pity that there were currently no opponents for Lin Mo to test it on. When used to kill those low-level goblins, it was basically no different from 【Backstab】, so it remained at level 1 for now.

Additionally, because of 【Backstab】 reaching max level and learning 【Bone-Piercing Heavy Stab】, Lin Mo gained another 4 points of Agility, bringing his Agility attribute directly from the original 39 points to 43 points.

This simultaneously fulfilled the promotion conditions required for Level 4 Assassin.

"Promotion conditions met, profession Assassin (lv3) promoted - current profession Assassin (lv4)"

"Gained profession attribute bonuses: Strength+2, Agility+3!"

Just like Level 4 Warrior, reaching Level 4 Assassin gave 5 bonus attribute points. Lin Mo's stats once again received a significant boost.

But it wasn't over yet!

Besides these two skills, Lin Mo had also directly trained 【Wind Blade】 from level 3 to level 5 max level!

"Skill 【Wind Blade】 Lv4 (100/100) leveled up!"

"Current skill 【Wind Blade】 Lv5 (Max)"

"Gained attribute points Magic+1, Spirit+1!"

"Automatically evolved into new skill - Wind-Binding Blade!"

"Learned skill 【Wind-Binding Blade】! Magic+2!"

【Wind-Binding Blade】：Use magic power to form "wind-binding blades" entwined with special air currents. After hitting the target, the "wind-binding blades" transform into entangling air currents, reducing the target's movement speed and continuously inflicting severe cutting damage, lasting 3 seconds.

This was also a skill focused on functionality.

In terms of damage, it probably wouldn't be much stronger than 【Wind Blade】, but it additionally included a slowing effect.

Overall, Lin Mo was quite satisfied with these newly acquired skills. Although they were all Excellent-grade skills, each had its own characteristics and possessed certain functionality, which was exactly what he currently needed.

He had some means in both offense and defense, but previously he had been relatively lacking in control-type skills. After obtaining 【Blizzard】 earlier, plus the current 【Wind-Binding Blade】 and 【Bone-Piercing Heavy Stab】, this deficiency was somewhat compensated for.

Of course, what was even more pleasantly surprising was that with 【Wind Blade】 reaching max level and obtaining 【Wind-Binding Blade】, Lin Mo's Magic had also increased by 3 points, reaching 42 points!

This also meant that after the assassin, he would also become a Level 4 Mage.

"Promotion conditions met, profession Mage (lv3) promoted - current profession Mage (lv4)"

"Gained profession attribute bonuses: Spirit+2, Magic+3!"

In just two or three days, Lin Mo's strength had once again made a significant leap. Now he was Level 4 Warrior plus Level 4 Assassin plus Level 4 Mage and Level 3 Knight!

With this configuration, if he encountered that Level 5 Giant Goblin from a few days ago again, he could completely dominate it with ease!

Even a Level 6 Giant Goblin would just require a bit more time and slightly more careful domination.

This was the benefit of simultaneously having multiple professions and comprehensive attribute development.

Of course, besides Lin Mo, almost no one in this world could parallel multiple professions like him. Even if they could, compared to him, they would lack many profession bonus attributes.

"About time to head back...."

It was currently evening. After reading the messages before him, Lin Mo prepared to start his return journey.

Come to think of it, he seemed to have ventured quite deep today.

He had reached the edge of the outer area, almost within the range of the Deep Forest Area.

But for the current Lin Mo, entering the Deep Forest Area was like going home - almost no pressure.

Just that the return journey might be slightly longer.

Starting his return journey, he hadn't gone far when Lin Mo's expression suddenly darkened.

"Why did I run into this thing?"

That's right, what appeared before him was a green, over two-meter-tall Slime.

This wasn't just an ordinary Slime either - it was a "Venom Slime," a variant one step more advanced than "Large Slime," with a threat level not low, roughly around Level 2.

Why would this thing appear in the outer area?

Roland Forest was, after all, a forest, not a swamp. Even in the Deep Forest Area, high-level Slimes were rarely encountered. Even if wandering by the river, most of the time you would at most encounter "Large Slimes." Individuals one step more advanced like this were very rare.

Regardless, let's kill it first!

Slimes were among the magical creatures Lin Mo hated most - the degree of hatred was almost comparable to goblins.

Especially these large, green Slimes - just seeing them made him feel disgusted.

Fortunately, he now had magic, so he didn't need to touch such magical creatures with his own weapons.

Lin Mo raised his hand, fire elements quickly gathering in his hand.

【Flame Arrow】!

Previously, because he prioritized practicing 【Wind Blade】, the progress of Flame Arrow had been relatively slow. Now was a good opportunity to use this guy for practice.

Without any suspense, an Excellent-grade skill used by a Level 4 Mage instantly and easily one-shot killed the Slime before him.

Originally, Lin Mo didn't pay much attention to it. He used a branch to pick out and collect the Slime's core condensation, then continued on his way.

But he hadn't gone far when he suddenly encountered another completely black Cat Demon.

Compared to the Rune-marked Cat Demon Lin Mo had seen before, this one's appearance was clearly more peculiar. Obviously, this was an evolved form above the Rune-marked Cat Demon.

What was going on?

While thinking, Lin Mo raised his hand and shot a 【Flame Arrow】 at the black Cat Demon before him.

The Cat Demon realized the situation was bad and immediately dodged to the side, barely managing to evade this attack. But the blazing flames still ignited its fur and half its body, causing it to roll around in pain.

Lin Mo approached and finished it off with a sword strike.

A bit strange.

He looked in the direction the black Cat Demon had emerged from.

If once could be called coincidence, then twice was truly somewhat abnormal.

Could it be?

Lin Mo seemed to think of something. Following the path the black Cat Demon had come from, he searched nearby for a while and indeed encountered another Slime.

This time it was a "Flame Slime." Lin Mo tried attacking it with 【Flame Arrow】, but surprisingly didn't kill it.

Sure enough, as the books said, some magical creatures had magic resistance.

And Slimes, being relatively special creatures, were the most common resistant monsters that ordinary people could encounter.

A Level 4 Mage couldn't kill a Level 2 Slime, and it didn't even seem to suffer serious damage - this thing's resistance was really quite high. If an ordinary fire attribute mage encountered it, they would indeed have a headache.

But for Lin Mo, it was meaningless.

The newly learned skill 【Wind-Binding Blade】 was perfect to try out. A wind blade slightly larger than 【Wind Blade】 and slightly darker in color flew out, very accurately cutting the "Flame Slime" before him in half.

After hitting the target, the wind blade didn't disappear but transformed into an air vortex, continuously churning and stirring the Slime's body into chaos.

It allowed for a relatively intuitive observation of this skill's effects.

【Wind-Binding Blade】 proficiency +14

"Skill 【Wind-Binding Blade】 Lv1 (10/10) leveled up!"

"Current skill 【Wind-Binding Blade】 Lv2 (4/20)"

Because it was originally only level 1, after killing this "Flame Slime," Wind-Binding Blade smoothly leveled up.

Lin Mo collected the Slime's core and continued forward, encountering several more magical creatures along the way.

Their strengths varied - some below Level 1, some Level 2 or 3. All were magical creatures that appeared very strangely in this area, some of which were rarely seen even in the Deep Forest Area or Core Area.

And soon, Lin Mo found the cause of these abnormalities...

The sunset's afterglow shone on the earth. The grass before him remained lush and vigorous, but in that small clearing, there was a narrow, elongated fissure that felt very abrupt yet appeared quite natural.

Secret Realm!

Secret Realms existed within Roland Forest.

As someone who had personally set foot in one, Lin Mo had undeniable absolute authority on this matter.

Although he was forced to enter at the time, during that Secret Realm journey, he had gained many things.

These included the high-quality Flame Reagent he had consumed earlier, and the Flame Magic Stone currently embedded in his mithril gloves.

And now, the entrance to a Secret Realm was once again presented before him...

Lin Mo walked to the fissure, his footsteps pausing here as he fell into hesitation.

Should he enter?