Chapter 45: Chapter 41: This Is a Fucking Rookie?

It all happened too fast. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

In just a single second, Lin Mo had displayed immense strength, terrifying speed, and incredibly precise judgment and combat awareness. He had easily neutralized the pincer attack from two Cat Demons and even killed one of them.

Cody had just recovered from the shock of seeing Lin Mo easily assassinate a Cat Demon when he turned to witness an even more astonishing scene.

He swore that for as long as he could remember, his eyes had never been so wide.

The youth he had scorned was now like an elegant nobleman, dancing gracefully across the battlefield.

’What the fuck? He’s a rookie?!’

Cody was questioning his entire existence, so much so that he still hadn’t snapped out of it by the time his teammates swarmed forward and finished off the remaining two Cat Demons.

"Whew~ These things are way tougher to deal with than Goblins, just as I thought."

After the battle ended, Evan flopped onto the ground and let out a long sigh.

Even though he hadn’t really done much, he still felt exhausted.

"True."

Lin Mo also nodded, feeling it deeply.

He had read in books that Cat Demons were much stronger than Goblins individually, but without actually fighting one, it was hard to have a clear concept of the difference.

His maneuvers just now had looked cool and effortless, but that wasn’t actually the case...

Those two Cat Demons had put him under considerable pressure. Demons of this type were about the same size as Goblins, but their speed and strength were far superior. If he had been facing two Goblins just now, he probably wouldn’t have even bothered to draw his Wolf Bone Sword.

Millian collected all the claws from the four Cat Demons and put them in her bag.

Her gear was the lightest in the entire party, and she didn’t need to engage in close combat, so it made the most sense for her to carry the spoils of battle.

"Twenty-six more to go. This feels so hard..."

Evan thought back to the last fight. Even with Lin Mo taking out two of them all by himself, it still hadn’t been an easy fight for the rest of them. It was a completely different feeling from when they used to fight Goblins and Slimes.

"It’s all thanks to Brother Lin Mo. It would’ve been even harder otherwise."

Bain looked at Lin Mo, making no effort to hide the shock and admiration in his eyes.

’His strength... he’s clearly gotten much stronger than he was a few days ago!’

Bain had a faint feeling. Before, if he’d fought Lin Mo, he would have had the advantage in raw power, and the main issue would have been that he couldn’t do anything about Lin Mo’s superior speed. But now, he probably wouldn’t even be able to face him head-on.

’How did he do it...? Could it be that his skills just happened to reach some kind of critical point in these few short days?’

Cody slowly walked over. He opened his mouth a few times before finally managing to force out a single word: "Impressive."

Such was the world of Adventurers; strength decided everything. Cody had previously looked down on Lin Mo because he had misjudged his abilities. But now that Lin Mo had displayed his true skill, Cody immediately changed his attitude and re-evaluated him.

Lin Mo smiled, taking it as a sign to let the previous bit of unpleasantness go.

There wasn’t much time to rest. The afternoon was the golden hour for hunting Cat Demons. No matter how hard or tiring it was, they couldn’t miss this window, or things would only get more difficult.

They continued until nearly dusk, when the edge of the sky was bathed in a layer of crimson clouds. After Millian finished collecting the Cat Demon claws again, Bain glanced at the sky and said, "Let’s call it a day. We’ll find a place to make camp and rest. We’ll continue tomorrow."

Dusk and the night that followed were the Cat Demons’ home turf.

Like felines, these creatures possessed powerful night vision. Fighting them at night was just asking for trouble.

Millian counted the claws. "We took care of 14 Cat Demons in total today."

"That’s a lot faster than I expected..."

Bain nodded. "At this rate, if our luck holds, we can finish the quest tomorrow."

He had done this same quest back when he was in an Adventurer Squad in Lania City, and that time, it had taken them a full three days to complete.

And that had been a six-person squad: one Knight, two Warriors, two Rangers, and one Assassin. Three of them had been Veteran Adventurers, making it a highly professional team.

The fact that their current group had managed to kill 14 Cat Demons in a single day—even faster than his old squad—wasn’t just due to good luck. It had a lot to do with their strength.

Every time they encountered Cat Demons, the two Assassins, Lin Mo and Cody, were able to take out one or two right away, which made the battles instantly much simpler.

Ending fights in the shortest time possible gave them more time to search for new targets, and the easier the battles, the less time they needed to rest and recover.

...

After finding a suitable spot, Bain and Cody set up traps around the perimeter while the others pitched the tents.

Lin Mo took a piece of white bread from his bag, stuck a small piece of hard cheese inside, and held it over the fire to slowly melt.

His right hand, resting on his leg, was trembling slightly. An indescribable, aching soreness lingered, refusing to fade.

His power had indeed grown quickly, just as Bain had sensed; he had already reached the level of a Level 0.8 Professional.

He possessed both speed and strength, which seemed perfect, but in reality, Lin Mo had a major weakness—a Constitution of only 4 points.

As a Blue Star Person who had originally lived in an era of peace, his constitution was already quite feeble, and his rapid increase in power only magnified this weakness.

His current Constitution was simply unable to support the full exertion of his strength and speed. Whenever he fought at full power, it placed an immense strain on his body.

After a full day of fighting, although the results were outstanding, Lin Mo’s own body felt like it was about to fall apart, aching all over.

’I have to find a way to overcome this weakness as soon as possible...’

Skills from the Knight Profession should be able to increase Constitution. And there was indeed a Knight on their team; Bain had demonstrated a Skill called "Shield Strike" on more than one occasion.

But that Skill wasn’t suitable for Lin Mo.

Shield Strike, as the name implies, required a shield. Not only did Lin Mo not have a shield, but he also didn’t like the idea of fighting with one. It completely contradicted his current style.

Besides, learning a Skill probably wasn’t that simple, and it was hard to say whether Bain would be willing to teach his signature move.

’If only I could comprehend a Skill from the Knight Profession, just like I did with "Slashing"...’

But comprehension was a matter of serendipity, not something you could force. In the end, it was just a nice thought.

’Better get some rest.’

Lin Mo stuffed the last bite of bread into his mouth, took his sleeping bag out of his backpack, and prepared to sleep.

With five people on watch tonight, he would have more time to rest. He needed to recover as much as possible; the battle would continue tomorrow.

"Same as always, I’ll take the first watch."

Bain glanced at Lin Mo, who had already gone into his tent to rest, then got up and went to check the traps one more time.

Compared to before, they were camped deeper in the territory this time, which meant they might face more danger.