After understanding the principle, everything became incredibly simple.

Through several skill activations, Lin Mo quickly grasped the so-called "Qi and Blood," and controlling and circulating it felt almost instinctual.

Once he comprehended all this, he only needed to open the skill scroll, carefully read the description, and then follow the instructions...

"Learned skill [Fortitude]! Constitution +2!"

Such information quickly appeared before his eyes.

"Excellent, succeeded!"

Lin Mo eagerly checked the effects of his new skill.

[Fortitude] Lv1 (1/10): Strengthens personal defense, reducing next two instances of physical damage taken by 10%

Note: A knight should possess a protective heart, but before protecting others, you must first learn to protect yourself.

This was actually a green excellent-grade skill!

Every profession had both offensive and defensive skills. For example, Bern's "Shield Bash" was an offensive-leaning skill, while this "Fortitude" was a defensive-leaning skill within the knight profession.

This suited Lin Mo perfectly. After all, on the offensive front, he already had the warrior profession's "Slash" and "Cross Slash," so he wasn't particularly lacking in attack methods for now.

On the defensive side, however, he had previously relied solely on dodging. When he couldn't evade or encountered situations where trading injuries was unavoidable, beyond the protection of his leather armor, he could only choose to withstand attacks with his body.

With this skill, such difficult situations would improve significantly.

When facing unavoidable attacks or injury-trading scenarios, his confidence would increase considerably.

Don't underestimate the skill's mere 10% value—the tactical worth of damage reduction skills couldn't be measured by simple numbers.

At critical moments, this 10% difference could very well determine victory or defeat, life or death!

Lin Mo tried using the skill. Just as described on the scroll, as Qi and Blood circulated, his body clearly felt a strengthening sensation that lasted approximately ten seconds.

After ten seconds, he needed to reactivate it to regain the effect.

...

Nearby, Bern watched everything unfold with complete numbness.

Geniuses required far less time to learn skills than ordinary people—not months or years, but possibly half a month, a few days, or even a few hours... but it absolutely shouldn't be seconds.

Precise control of Qi and Blood was already challenging enough, and executing the Qi and Blood circulation described on a new skill scroll would never go smoothly for normal people. Just achieving this required extensive time for practice and experimentation.

The distance from successfully executing it once to reliably mastering it without errors was vast. It was because of these various difficulties that learning a skill required such prolonged effort.

Learning a skill in mere seconds... even a thoroughly drunk bard's wildest ramblings wouldn't produce such absurd nonsense.

Yet now, this had become a reality unfolding before his eyes.

In this moment, through his daze, he suddenly had a very tangible feeling—he might be witnessing the rise of a legendary adventurer!

"Thank you, Uncle Bern."

Lin Mo smiled as he handed the scroll back. "This is a knight profession skill, so I'll leave it in your care for now."

Bern froze for a moment, then his breathing immediately became rapid. With trembling hands, he accepted the scroll.

Bern knew perfectly well that their team already owed Lin Mo greatly, but faced with a skill, he truly couldn't refuse.

On this continent, skills represented potential for growth. Without new skills, even after becoming a professional, one would eventually stagnate and struggle to advance further.

No one could resist the temptation of skills, which was precisely why skill scrolls were exceptionally expensive.

"I'll return it immediately after learning it!"

Bern declared with utmost seriousness.

"Also, though you probably don't need it..."

Bern removed his armor and carefully retrieved a yellowed scroll from his inner lining.

"Here."

Lin Mo unrolled the scroll, which clearly displayed two words: "Shield Bash."

It was exactly Bern's skill.

"I need it, how could I not need it?"

Like before, Lin Mo attempted to control his Qi and Blood, circulating it along the path described on the scroll.

This time, however, it didn't go as smoothly... something felt missing, particularly at the critical moment of releasing the Qi and Blood output, where there was a noticeable stuttering sensation.

"Uncle Bern, lend me your shield."

Bern handed him the nearby shield, seemingly already guessing what would happen next.

Lin Mo took the shield and tried again.

This time, the Qi and Blood throughout his body mobilized rapidly, pouring forth smoothly and effortlessly.

Lin Mo gripped the shield and slammed it forward violently.

"Learned skill [Shield Bash]! Constitution +1!"

So it was because he hadn't been holding a shield.

Is this human?

Bern watched nearby, utterly dumbfounded, recalling how he had painstakingly practiced for months before barely managing to successfully execute "Shield Bash" once, staying excited and unable to sleep all night because of it...

How could the gap between people be this enormous?

Lin Mo continued experimenting without the shield, using other weapons instead. He could barely release it, but it felt awkward and the power was significantly reduced.

This wasn't surprising since the skill was called "Shield Bash," not Sword Bash or Spear Bash. With sufficiently high proficiency and complete mastery of the skill, perhaps other weapons could execute it perfectly, but there was no need for that.

Lin Mo didn't lack this one attack method, nor did he have excess energy to grind this skill's proficiency.

Learning a skill didn't mean he had to practice it—the 1-point constitution increase was already the greatest value this skill provided him.

Including this 1 point from constitution and the 2 points from [Fortitude], Lin Mo's base constitution reached 7 points. Combined with the 2-point boost from his warrior profession, his total constitution reached 9 points, surpassing even Bern the knight.

From this point on, Lin Mo's constitution was at least no longer a weakness. While his defense strengthened, his endurance capability also improved dramatically compared to before.

The sky grew late. Cody had already returned to his tent to sleep, and Bern, still quite weak, exchanged brief words with Lin Mo before quickly resting.

Evan was still waiting for Miriam to wake up and didn't seem planning to sleep, so they let him take the first watch.

Lin Mo entered the tent, and sleepiness washed over him like a tidal wave.

But before sleeping...

Lin Mo took out the bluish-gray treasure chest found in the final secret room from his backpack.

He still had one chest left unopened.

The previous identical bronze chest had yielded an excellent-grade skill scroll, filling Lin Mo with anticipation for this current chest...