Early morning in Roland Forest welcomed an unexpected guest.

A luxurious ink-purple robe wrapped around a slightly slender figure, with golden-edged patterns embroidered at the hem. Beneath the broad brim of a pointed hat was an exquisitely beautiful face, fiery red hair cascading down her back. A delicate snow-white neck bore an amethyst pendant, with faintly visible collarbones below and a generously full chest above.

The proportions seemed utterly mismatched with her owner's slender waist, like curves carved by a demon, carrying a deadly temptation.

A silver badge pinned to her chest bore two violet petals, prominently displayed as they were lifted high by her figure.

The young girl walked with light steps through what nearby people called the depths of Roland Forest, seemingly not worried at all about the dangers within this deep woodland.

Rustle—

A faint sound came from the bushes, where a Frostshadow Wolf hid in the shadows, observing the "prey" before it.

This dangerous elite-level magical creature was known as a professional's nightmare. Every year, many newly employed professionals fell victim to this cunning creature's ambushes, ending their recently begun career paths.

Even veteran adventurers who had been professionals for years with rich experience were extremely reluctant to provoke these fast, deadly troublesome monsters.

The distance gradually closed.

Dangerous glints shone in the wolf's emerald green eyes. The next moment, cold energy gradually enveloped its body, a thin layer of frost mist covering it, with sharp solid ice forming over its claws.

"Whoosh—!"

It burst from the grass, its figure like an afterimage with ethereal blue trailing light, attacking the young girl before it.

The girl in purple robe looked at the suddenly appearing magical creature without the slightest fluctuation in her eyes, seeming neither surprised nor panicked.

She simply waited quietly for the creature to approach, slowly raising her hand while murmuring incantations.

But with things having reached this point, like an arrow on the bowstring that must be released, it could only brace itself and strike fiercely at the barrier with its claw.

The solid ice covering its claw almost instantly melted, its snow-like fur immediately catching fire, the entire paw nearly getting cooked, yet the barrier before it didn't show even the slightest crack.

It quickly turned around and fled hobbling into the woods on its remaining three legs.

"Tsk."

The young girl parted her vermilion lips, chanting a few more spells, a fireball the size of a dinner plate appearing in her hand.

Without needing to throw it, she simply gently "pushed" the magic power outward, and the fireball chased after the fleeing Frostshadow Wolf at extreme speed, accurately hitting its vulnerable waist and abdomen.

Fierce flames burned a large hole in the magical creature's body. The Frostshadow Wolf howled as it fell, blood at the wound evaporating from the high temperature, internal organs gradually being consumed by the spreading flames...

"The local magical creatures here are really rude."

She shook her head, turned around, and continued advancing toward Roland Town.

......

"This is the last one."

Picking up the slime condensate from the ground, Lin Mo checked the quantity in his backpack. Today he had encountered and killed 21 slimes. Learning from the experience of the previous two days, he had become more proficient today—no mistakes, every slime completely preserved its condensate.

This meant that combined with the 29 slime condensates previously deposited at the association, the task was now complete.

Taking advantage of the early hour, he hurried back. After leaving Roland Forest's perimeter, Lin Mo focused his will and looked at his status panel.

【Name】: Lin Mo

【Profession】: None

【Attributes】:

Strength: 6

Agility: 8

Constitution: 4

......

【Skills】:

Concealment Lv3 (29/40)

Slash Lv4 (4/100)

Indeed, after today's battles, Lin Mo's Slash skill had successfully reached level 4. Compared to two or three days ago at level 2, its power had significantly increased.

When the squad members safely withdrew, he could leave anytime he wanted, even saving Renn's sister...

"Sigh..."

He softly sighed, shaking off these chaotic thoughts.

What happened in the past was ultimately in the past. Thinking too much was meaningless. Better to focus on the present and take each step well.

Returning to the town, he went straight to the Adventurers' Association.

This was the peak time for adventurers returning to the city, logically speaking also the busiest time for the Adventurers' Association besides mornings.

However, Lena's counter was as usual not very crowded. There was only one person ahead of Lin Mo, and they were there for consultation rather than accepting or submitting tasks, though Lena still patiently answered their questions.

After waiting about two minutes, that person left disgruntled, and Lin Mo approached the counter.

"Mr. Lin Mo, are you here to deposit slime condensate again today?"

Lena, somewhat downcast, looked up. Seeing Lin Mo, her expression noticeably brightened considerably, her voice becoming noticeably softer.

"No, I'm here to submit the task today."

As he spoke, Lin Mo took out all 21 slime condensates from his bag.

"So many..."

Lena's mouth opened slightly in surprise, but her hands didn't hesitate, quickly placing these condensates into separate small packages to prevent damage.

"Combined with the 29 condensates deposited over the past two days, your task has been completed, meow!"

As she spoke, Lena took out 5 gold coins from behind the counter and placed them on it.

"Speaking of which, when I complete tasks, do you get commission?"

Lin Mo asked curiously while putting the gold coins into his pouch.

"I do get some, meow~"

"For example, for this task, how much can you get?"

"About 5 copper coins or so."

Which was 1% of 1%, equivalent to one ten-thousandth of the task reward?

For adventurers, this amount was naturally negligible, but for ordinary people like association receptionists, 150 copper coins daily income was quite substantial.

You should know, even in relatively peaceful times before, the daily wage for low-level workers was only 5-8 copper coins.

"That's pretty good. So, Lena is actually quite wealthy?"

"Please don't tease me, meow~"

Lena smiled somewhat awkwardly, "It's just barely enough to get by. Usually very few people come to my counter to accept tasks. For a full two months before, I only got 1 silver and 50 copper in commission..."

Lin Mo turned to look, his expression freezing...