"Alright, be extremely careful!"

Without asking for too many reasons, Bern chose to trust Lin Mo and turned to enter the secret realm.

Lin Mo took a deep breath and looked ahead.

Because the group had entered the secret realm one after another, the three mutated goblins that originally weren't in a hurry were now rushing toward him at their fastest speed, wanting to at least keep Lin Mo, the last one, outside.

The time left for him was limited, at most five seconds.

But it was already enough!

The surrounding goblins closed in. Lin Mo stepped half a pace forward, the Wolf Bone Sword in his hand suddenly slashing out, drawing a perfect sword arc.

[Slash]!

For this strike, Lin Mo used twelve-tenths of his strength. The sharp blade instantly touched the goblin's neck, as if encountering no resistance at all, and a head flew into the air.

The sword's momentum didn't diminish; the blade continued sweeping forward with an unstoppable force, finally slowing down in the fifth goblin's neck bone.

Lin Mo didn't stop his movements, immediately following up with another swing—different angle, same force. The overly concentrated surrounding goblins instead became connected targets, greatly improving his monster-clearing efficiency.

This sword strike decapitated five more goblins!

The exceptionally tall adult mutated goblin roared and charged toward him, its speed indeed not slower than his at all.

Lin Mo watched the distance between them, seized the final opportunity, and swung two more times, harvesting ten more goblin lives.

Immediately after, he quickly sheathed his sword and turned to enter the secret realm's rift.

"Boom—"

The next moment, a massive iron axe smashed violently before the secret realm's entrance, leaving fine cracks on the ground.

However, Lin Mo's figure had already disappeared within.

"Roar—!"

The mutated goblin that missed its target roared angrily, punching the tree before it with a fist the size of a sandbag, but was blocked half a meter away from the tree. Rippling waves appeared and dissipated in the air.

It stared unwillingly at the rift before it but ultimately lacked the courage to enter, only able to vent its helpless rage for a while before turning away dejectedly.

...

The moment Lin Mo entered the rift, he felt his vision go black—not literally black, but more like the feeling of one eye being open at night while the other is closed. Rather than darkness, it felt more like nothingness.

Not just vision, all senses seemed completely sealed off. That extreme emptiness, lasting only an instant, was enough to make one breathless.

Fortunately, it was only that instant. The next moment, Lin Mo felt a weightless dizziness; he couldn't determine his body's state, only feeling the surrounding gravity abruptly disappear, reappear, then flip...

When he regained his senses, familiar faces were before him.

"Strange feeling."

"Right?"

Evan nodded deeply in agreement: "For a moment I almost thought I was dead. That feeling... I really don't want to experience it a second time."

Lin Mo didn't answer, instead looking up ahead.

The secret realm before them wasn't as dangerous or absurd as imagined—it looked more like a castle, or perhaps a dungeon?

The surroundings were walls built from blue stone bricks, the lighting somewhat dim. Torches burned on both side walls, providing faint illumination.

"This is my first time entering a secret realm..."

Cody examined everything around him with wary yet curious eyes. His words were essentially meaningless, as everyone present was in the same situation. Even Bern, the oldest with the most adventure experience, had never seen a secret realm before, let alone entered one.

"This place looks a bit eerie."

Bern similarly didn't dare let his guard down, keeping his sword and shield tightly gripped.

"Don't be so tense... At least we just escaped danger, right?"

Whether Evan's words were meant to lighten the mood or self-comfort, or whether he harbored some secret delight in his heart, remained unclear.

Though it happened by accident, regardless, they had entered the secret realm!

Wealth, equipment, skills!

A young heart couldn't resist craving these material things. He looked ahead, eager to proceed.

Lin Mo temporarily had no time to concern himself with these matters. After confirming no immediate danger surrounded them, he focused his attention on the small text appearing before his eyes.

[Slash] proficiency +5!

[Slash] proficiency +5!

Two messages appeared consecutively before him. In the brief time before entering the secret realm, Lin Mo had coincidentally killed twenty goblins, earning the final 20 proficiency points for the [Slash] skill.

"Skill [Slash] Lv4 (100/100) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Slash] Lv5 (max)"

"Gained attribute points: Strength +2!"

The [Slash] skill successfully reached max level, granting Lin Mo 2 strength points, bringing his strength attribute to 8 points and further enhancing his power.

But that wasn't all...

"Automatically evolved into new skill—Cross Slash!"

Indeed!

After a skill reached max level, evolution followed closely, and evolution meant obtaining new skills.

Coupled with the newly maxed [Slash], if Lin Mo's previous speculation wasn't wrong, he had already met the necessary conditions to become a professional!

Sure enough, he didn't have to wait long before another line of semi-transparent text appeared before his eyes.

"Promotion conditions met. Obtained profession—Warrior (lv1)"

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

"Obtained class skill—Warrior's Heart!"

Looking at the information before him, Lin Mo finally understood why the gap between professionals and non-professionals was said to be enormous.

Advancing to professional directly gifted a full 6 attribute points—how could the gap not be huge?

Lin Mo glanced at his status panel. After receiving the profession attribute bonuses, his attributes had reached a completely new level.

[Profession]: Warrior lv1

[Attributes]:

Strength: 12

Agility: 10

Spirit: 5

Magic: 0

This panel was already quite impressive compared to when he first arrived in this world just a few days ago.

As for skills...

Lin Mo first looked at the [Cross Slash] obtained from evolution earlier. Like the previous [Stealth], this was a green-quality excellent skill.

[Cross Slash] Lv1 (0/10): After mastering [Slash], you're no longer satisfied with such simple, plain techniques and begin attempting to break through limits with new attempts. Quickly slash twice in a specified direction, creating a cross-shaped [Slash]!

The description was simple and concise, yet extremely valuable.

Cross Slash essentially meant Lin Mo could deliver two [Slash] attacks instantly!

Skill power far exceeded basic attacks. The burst damage potential from two consecutive [Slash] attacks was almost unimaginable...

But another problem emerged: the higher the burst damage and power, the more one faced a particular issue.

It consumed too much stamina; his constitution couldn't keep up.

Although advancing to professional granted 2 constitution points, slightly improving the situation, it still seemed like a drop in the bucket compared to his doubled strength.

Shaking his head helplessly, Lin Mo turned his attention to the second skill he just obtained, the special class skill called—Warrior's Heart.

"Holy crap...?"