"Professional?!"

Evan's shock came belatedly.

He stared at Lin Mo with an astonished expression, as if looking at some rare exotic creature.

Though he had always operated under his uncle's protection, Evan had been crawling through the adventuring world for nearly two years now. He was no longer a rookie and had long since shed the novice tendency of aiming too high while lacking corresponding skills.

Even his uncle Bern, who jokingly called himself a level 0.8 professional, was already an unattainable goal in his eyes, let alone a true professional.

And now, this youth he'd just met a few days ago, younger than himself, had actually achieved the goal he dreamed of but found so difficult to reach?

Evan felt momentarily dazed.

While he wouldn't call it jealousy, he was certainly quite envious, which deepened his yearning for skill scrolls.

If he could find a warrior skill scroll in this secret realm, he too could officially embark on his own professional path and have hope of becoming a true professional in the future!

After gathering the loot and continuing forward, Bern still took the lead with Lin Mo close behind, holding a torch snatched from the wall outside.

Under the torchlight, what appeared before them was a relatively spacious chamber, approximately a thousand square meters.

The walls remained bluish-gray, but compared to the passage at the entrance outside, this place appeared much more disorderly.

Debris lay scattered across the floor, a large garbage pile sat in the corner alongside some animal skeletons, and an extinguished fire pit in the room's center still radiated residual heat. Clearly, this was where those goblins had been living.

After a brief search that yielded nothing valuable, they quickly passed through this foul-smelling place and continued forward.

At the chamber's other end was a black-gray door identical to the entrance they'd come through.

Bern cautiously pushed the door open as before, revealing a narrow passageway similar to when they first entered the secret realm.

But...

"There are two paths?"

Evan paused, "What should we do?"

Bern similarly found himself in a dilemma. After all, these two paths appeared completely identical from the outside, and no one knew what might lie behind each one.

What consequences might follow if they chose wrong?

The ever-cautious Bern couldn't make a decision immediately.

After some discussion, the group found it difficult to gather any useful information.

"If there's really no other way, let's leave it to fate."

Cody said while pulling a silver coin from his pocket.

"Heads we take the left path, tails we go right."

"Alright."

Everyone nodded almost simultaneously—there really was no better alternative.

Cody tossed the coin. Under the torchlight, the gleaming coin fell to the ground, its tulip pattern shining brightly.

The tulip pattern was the reverse side of the coin—meaning right.

The team entered the right passage, proceeding as carefully as before.

This stretch of the journey had far fewer traps, but they encountered numerous insects, scorpions, and rats. Occasionally they could see holes dug by these creatures beneath cracks in the wall corners... This dungeon seemed to maintain its own ecosystem.

Soon, they reached the path's end—another black-gray door.

Bern pushed the door open with practiced ease. With a creaking sound, a sharp claw extended from the darkness, slashing viciously at his shield.

Cat demon.

Lin Mo's eyes lit up. While encountering cat demons in this dungeon had been anticipated, actually meeting them still brought a slight thrill.

After all, their cat demon quest remained unfinished. This was actually the perfect opportunity to complete their mission objectives, saving them from having to search all over the forest later.

The cat demon screeched but appeared unharmed, charging forward again.

Behind it followed six full companions.

Previously, simultaneously fighting seven cat demons would have been undoubtedly difficult for the team, with high probability of casualties.

But now, with Lin Mo's advancement to professional, their combat power had become completely incomparable to before.

Bern and Lin Mo exchanged glances, nodded, then charged forward.

The previously repelled cat demon, along with two companions, attacked Bern together. Facing three cat demons simultaneously, Bern showed no fear. A "Shield Bash" sent the foremost cat demon flying again.

Then he wielded his sword with one hand and held his shield with the other, exerting force simultaneously to perfectly block the other two charging cat demons.

The remaining four cat demons attacked the other four team members.

Evan swung his sword with full force, intercepting one charging cat demon while firmly protecting Miriam behind him.

Cody had already moved, actively attacking another cat demon. Just before engaging in direct combat with the cat demon, he suddenly dodged, evading the attack and brushing past it.

As for the final two cat demons...

Long before they moved, Lin Mo had already taken action first. His ghost-like figure vanished from their sight in an instant. The next moment, sharp sword edges sliced through flesh and severed bone, effortlessly eliminating both cat demons.

Lin Mo continued without pause, entering "Concealment" state again, circling behind the two cat demons engaged with Bern. A "Cross Slash" easily finished them off.

After officially advancing to professional, Lin Mo's attributes had achieved overwhelming superiority against these ordinary monsters, making fights mere insta-kills.

As he eliminated these four cat demons, Cross Slash's proficiency reached 10 points.

"Skill 【Cross Slash】Lv1 (10/10) leveled up!"

"Current skill 【Cross Slash】Lv2 (0/20)"

Meanwhile, the cat demon previously knocked away by Bern received a finishing blow from Cody who now had free hands. Over at Evan's side, though somewhat disheveled, they successfully defeated one cat demon with Miriam's assistance.

The secret realm's terrain proved relatively narrow, unsuitable for these cat demons to fight at their best. Their greatest advantage—speed—could hardly be displayed. Additionally, they were foolish enough to initiate attacks in the passageway against them.

After gathering the loot, including these seven cat demons, their quest progress reached 21/30. Just nine more remained for completion.

Similar to the previous goblin chamber in size and layout, though somewhat different was the discovery of human skeletons within this room.

Though disassembled quite scattered—skulls here, leg bones there—they clearly belonged to humans. Judging by the bones' condition, this likely occurred recently, within half a month or even less.

It appeared that before them, other adventurers had entered this secret realm and become denominators among the few fortunate ones.

"Come quick, look over here! There's something!"

Evan's excited voice suddenly rang in their ears.