"Found it!"

Lin Mo's eyes lit up. He took out a plant guide and compared it carefully. Sure enough, this was the Qingfen Grass needed for the current mission!

Drawing his sword from its sheath, he scanned the surroundings, especially using the blade to part the grass and carefully check for any hidden venomous snakes. After confirming there was no danger, Lin Mo slowly stepped forward and carefully uprooted the Qingfen Grass, placing it into his bag.

One Qingfen Grass was worth two silver coins, equivalent to the bounty for killing two goblins. During normal times, that would be worth as much as ten goblins!

No dangerous battles, no disgusting stench from cutting goblin ears—material gathering missions were indeed the best for beginners. The payoff wasn’t high, but it was relatively stable and carried low risk.

Moreover, if luck was on his side and he found enough herbs, he could still make a decent amount of money.

Lin Mo's luck seemed pretty good.

Right after picking one Qingfen Grass, he spotted two more not far away.

That was all money! Like picking up cash scattered everywhere!

Lin Mo continued to adhere to his cautious approach, carefully picking those two Qingfen Grass plants as well.

Three Qingfen Grass plants brought in just six silver coins. Lin Mo obviously wouldn’t stop there. Within a few thousand meters ahead was a dense distribution area of Qingfen Grass.

He glanced at the sky. It was still early, with at least two hours left to gather safely. Lin Mo thought to himself that he should find at least 100 plants to make a total of 2 gold coins income.

...

A gentle breeze rustled, insect chirps mixed with bird songs. Amid the dense thickets, Lin Mo bent over, panting as he searched for a full hour and a half.

Because he was always cautious, it inevitably took some time to successfully pick each Qingfen Grass after finding it. But his luck was truly good—after more than an hour, he had found a total of 150 Qingfen Grass plants, which converted to an income of 3 gold coins.

This was almost the same income as a normal adventurer team would make on a single mission.

After searching for herbs for so long, his waist and back inevitably ached. Lin Mo rubbed his lower back and found himself a little bored.

Should he fight a couple of goblins to pass the time? That would help improve his proficiency.

Making money to upgrade better equipment would certainly increase combat power, but for Lin Mo, the best way to improve strength was undoubtedly through grinding monsters to accumulate skill proficiency. Once proficiency reached a certain standard, attributes would increase—that was real improvement.

The reason he didn’t take on extermination missions was mainly that these missions had clear targets, and obviously no one would waste time setting a target as low-level as ordinary goblins.

So extermination missions mostly required venturing deep into forests, which was very dangerous, and the minimum level requirement was at least one star.

In short, he didn’t have the strength to accept those.

But to go hunting for herbs without encountering a single goblin was something Lin Mo hadn’t expected. He wasn’t sure whether to call it good luck or bad luck.

Enough, it was getting late. He decided to prepare to return and deal with it tomorrow...

Just as Lin Mo stopped searching for Qingfen Grass and was about to set off on his return,

a discordant sound suddenly came from the forest nearby.

"Gargh—!"

That familiar cry instantly darkened Lin Mo’s face.

He quickly put everything in his hands into his backpack, drew his sword, and ducked behind the bushes, carefully moving forward.

After crawling ahead for a while, he parted some grass and peeked forward. Sure enough, six goblins were hunting.

Their target was a rabbit, surrounded by six goblins arranged in pairs, encircling the rabbit from three directions.

Lin Mo’s eyes swept the surroundings, observing for a long time but found no other goblin figures.

It seemed there were only these six.

Then it was time to act!

The rabbit, cornered by the goblins, happened to be driven toward the grass patch where Lin Mo was hiding.

Lin Mo gripped his sword hilt tightly, held his breath, and entered "Stealth" mode, waiting for the goblins to approach slowly.

20 meters, 10 meters, 5 meters...

Enough!

In the next instant, Lin Mo pushed off the ground with his foot, darting out from the grass. His long sword traced a beautiful arc in midair.

"Slash!"

With sharp and fierce speed and a clean, decisive movement, the two goblins caught completely off guard didn't even have time to react before their heads flew into the air.

Lin Mo felt the hollow sensation of the blade slicing through the air and was momentarily a bit unaccustomed.

Good weapons really were different. Although he had previously beheaded three goblins in one go using Slash, he had almost exhausted all his strength then. After cutting off the third goblin’s head, the sword’s momentum completely drained, leaving no reserve.

But this time, it was like slicing through two cucumbers—he hadn’t even used half his strength.

[Slash] Proficiency +2

[Stealth] Proficiency +2

"Skill [Slash] Lv1 (10/10) Upgraded!"

"Current Skill [Slash] Lv2 (0/20)"

With the two points of proficiency gained, Lin Mo’s Slash skill leveled up.

This upgrade didn’t increase attribute points, but Lin Mo still felt a noticeable change.

It was a feeling hard to describe in words—a mysterious and profound realization.

In simple terms, his understanding and mastery of this move had reached a new height.

"Gargh—!"

The other four goblins, seeing their companions killed, were instantly shocked. Then, spotting Lin Mo alone, the goblins, holding a numerical advantage, let out a piercing shriek and charged at him together.

Two fists could hardly contend with four hands. Lin Mo didn’t plan to fight these four goblins head-on. Even if he might not necessarily lose, if he accidentally got injured, it would be a huge loss.

Why rush into a direct clash when he could stall and create distance?

He took a step back, opened up the distance, easily dodging the goblins’ attacks, then swiftly slipped behind a tree trunk.

The goblins chased after him, but when they reached behind the tree, Lin Mo was nowhere to be seen.

The next moment, a gust of strong wind rushed down from above. The goblins felt a chill on their heads but it was already too late.

Lin Mo dived down from the tree trunk, slashing diagonally with his sword.

One goblin’s head was cleanly split in two. The goblin beside it wasn’t spared either—its neck was severed and its head flew off.

Lin Mo felt the abundant residual force of the sword strike and was delighted.

Sure enough, after the skill upgrade, the power had significantly increased.

Though there was no explicit note, from the sensation alone, the increase was at least about 10%.

This fierce strike clearly scared the remaining two goblins. They let out a strange scream, lost their will to fight, and scattered to flee.

Lin Mo certainly wouldn’t miss out on the free proficiency points and quickly chased after them, beheading another goblin.

Just as he prepared to continue chasing the last goblin and took a few steps forward, ready to catch up, he suddenly stopped.

"Shiu—!"

A piercing sound came from the side, and a feather arrow accurately pierced through the goblin’s head.