The moment he took action, his Slacking skill naturally deactivated.

Without time to carefully examine the information, Lin Mo only felt his body become significantly lighter. He swiftly drew his sword and dodged to the side, avoiding another goblin's attack.

Just as the spiked club grazed past his shoulder, his blade - moving faster than even Lin Mo could react - traced a perfect arc from below.

A pained shriek sounded, quickly fading into incoherent gurgles.

Though not particularly sharp, the sword still cleanly severed the goblin's windpipe if not its entire head. Blood sprayed out in a crimson fountain, splattering onto his clothes as the stench of iron filled the air.

Lin Mo's mind blanked momentarily before the grotesque visage before him snapped him back to focus. His blade thrust forward decisively, ending the twitching goblin's suffering.

Spotting movement in his periphery, Lin Mo kicked the corpse into another approaching goblin before charging forward himself. With one fluid motion, his sword flashed - sending an oval-shaped object tumbling through the air.

This time, with the added momentum from his charge, the blade cleanly decapitated its target.

Larry, who had been struggling against the goblins moments earlier, froze in shock at the sight of the flying head.

Just half a minute ago, he'd been barely holding his own against two goblins. Now they were nearly all dead?

He swallowed hard, watching as Lin Mo approached calmly.

This kid...

Meanwhile, Renn - the first to charge into battle - finally finished off his own opponent. Shaking himself from his daze, Larry moved to assist his neighbor in dispatching the last remaining goblin.

With the battle concluded, the forest reeked of blood. The group sat against various trees in exhausted silence, catching their breath.

Lin Mo leaned against a trunk, panting heavily with bloodshot eyes, his sword hand trembling slightly.

This was his first real battle - he'd never even killed a chicken before. Perhaps the grotesque nature of the monsters eased his conscience, or maybe he simply possessed mental fortitude. Aside from slight nausea, he felt remarkably composed.

If anything, he felt exhilarated!

His gaze fell upon the translucent panel displaying his Agility stat - now at 6.

Those two points made a far greater difference than he'd imagined.

Not merely a numerical increase, but a qualitative leap beyond simple arithmetic.

It felt like his entire body had been reborn - transforming from an out-of-shape shut-in to a world-class sprinter in an instant, perhaps even more extreme.

When he'd run earlier, the ground beneath his feet seemed to turn springy, his body nearly lifting into flight.

And agility's benefits weren't limited to speed alone - as evidenced by his earlier sword strikes.

As a certain dancing navy admiral once said: speed is power. Increased velocity made his attacks sharper, allowing him to approach - even surpass - his physical limits.

Of course, there were costs -

Lin Mo's arms still trembled faintly, muscles aching with slight tearing sensations.

The human body was a precision instrument. Forcing performance beyond its specifications inevitably caused wear.

Fortunately, the damage seemed minor - some rest should suffice.

Lin Mo continued examining his panel:

[Skills]:

Stealth Lv1 (1/10): Having mastered slacking, you now learn to reduce your presence in any situation. Remaining out of enemy sight for a period enters stealth mode. While stealthed, you won't be prioritized as a target. Attacking breaks stealth but grants +5% physical damage on your next strike.

As the earlier message indicated, his original Slacking skill had disappeared - or rather, evolved.

Into a new, more powerful ability.

Unlike the white-text [Slacking], this new Stealth skill appeared in green. Focusing on the name revealed an annotation: Grade: Excellent.

Based on available information, Lin Mo made reasonable deductions about his cheat-like ability.

During the battle, his new Stealth skill had gained 1 proficiency point.

Meaning skill progression came through practical use - specifically combat applications.

And once maxed, a skill should grant attribute points before evolving into an upgraded version.

This was insane...

Back in town, Lin Mo had overheard guards discussing skills.

For commoners, obtaining combat skills was incredibly difficult - requiring extensive training, real combat experience, and innate talent.

Some less-gifted adventurers fought goblins their entire lives without learning a single skill.

The wealthy could purchase skill scrolls - studying techniques created by powerful professionals.

This dramatically reduced learning time, but the skills might not suit the learner, and scrolls were prohibitively expensive. Common merchants would bankrupt themselves buying one, while nobles deliberated carefully.

And these were just basic skills - advanced ones had even stricter requirements.

Even after learning a skill, mastering it to full potential required years, even decades of practice to reach peak performance.

Progress often plateaued for long periods - so-called bottleneck phases where no amount of training produced improvement.

Lin Mo faced none of these limitations. Simply using skills in combat visibly increased proficiency. Once full, the skill leveled up naturally, growing stronger.

And when fully maxed? The skill would evolve into a strictly superior version!

Having recovered somewhat, Larry pushed off his tree: "We shouldn't linger. Gather the loot and move out quickly."

"Loot" was generous - these goblins were penniless, their parts nearly worthless.

Lin Mo used his blade to sever a goblin's left ear - the proof needed to claim bounties back in town.

Five goblins among four people made equal distribution impossible.

Though Lin Mo had killed three, Larry had assisted with two by drawing their attention, making it unfair to claim all three prizes.

After each took one ear, Larry handed the last to Lin Mo without hesitation.

"Lin Mo contributed most today - he deserves the extra share."