The moment he made his move, the Slacking Off skill naturally deactivated.
With no time to carefully review the notification, Lin Mo only felt his body instantly become much lighter and more agile. He quickly yanked his sword free and dodged to the side, evading the attack of another Goblin.
The moment the iron-studded wooden club brushed past his shoulder, the blade in his hand sliced upward at a perfect angle—moving at a speed so fast that even Lin Mo himself barely registered it. A tragic scream rang out, followed immediately by muffled whimpers.
The blade, which lacked Sharpness, failed to completely sever the creature's head, but it accurately sliced open its windpipe. Dark red blood sprayed out, splashing onto him, and a wave of putrid stench hit his face. Lin Mo's mind went blank for a brief second before the hideous visage in front of him jolted him awake. He forced the blade deeper, thoroughly finishing off the struggling Goblin.
Catching movement in his peripheral vision, Lin Mo kicked the corpse in front of him away. It crashed right into another Goblin nearby. He followed closely behind, rushing up to the creature and delivering another slash with his sword.
With a flash of the blade, an oval-shaped object flew into the air. Fueled by the momentum of his running start, this strike finally cleanly severed the Goblin's head.
Larry, who had been locked in a bitter struggle with the Goblins just moments ago, froze in place. He stared at the flying head with a face full of astonishment. Just half a minute ago, he had been struggling to hold his ground under the siege of two Goblins. In the blink of an eye, were they almost all dead? He swallowed hard and looked at Lin Mo, who was slowly walking over. He thought, "This kid..."
Meanwhile, on the other side, the first youth who had charged forward, Rhein, finally finished off his opponent. Larry didn't continue spacing out; he grabbed his weapon to help his neighbor, and together they took care of the last Goblin.
The battle concluded, leaving the forest thick with the stench of blood. No one spoke. They each found a tree to sit against for a brief rest. Leaning against a trunk, Lin Mo panted heavily. His eyes were somewhat bloodshot, and the hand gripping his sword trembled slightly.
This was his first battle. Before this, he had never even killed a chicken. Perhaps it was because the hideous monsters in front of him didn't burden his conscience, or maybe he was naturally mentally resilient, but aside from a slight sense of nausea, he didn't feel too uncomfortable. On the contrary, he was excited!
Lin Mo looked at the translucent panel in front of him, noting that his Agility had reached 6. An increase of two attribute points in Agility was a far greater boost than he had imagined!
For example, if an average person exercised regularly, their 100-meter dash would typically be around 12 or 13 seconds. Usain Bolt, the world record holder, ran it in 9.58 seconds—an improvement of less than 30%. But Lin Mo's 2-point increase in Agility represented a massive 50% boost! It was as if he had been completely reborn, instantly transforming from an out-of-shape homebody into a top-tier sprinter, or perhaps even something more exaggerated than that.
The moment he started running, he even had the illusion that the ground beneath his feet had turned into springs. His whole body felt as if it were about to take flight. Furthermore, the enhancement brought by Agility wasn't limited solely to speed—this was evident from the sword strike he had just delivered. As a certain dance-loving Marine Admiral once said, speed is Strength. The increase in speed also made his attacks fiercer, making it easier for him to exert Strength that approached or even exceeded his own limits.
Of course, this did not come without a price. Lin Mo's arm was still trembling slightly, feeling sore, swollen, and carrying a faint sensation of tearing. The human body was like a precision instrument; forcing it to perform beyond its own "specifications" inevitably resulted in some wear and tear. Fortunately, it wasn't serious. He should be able to recover after resting for a while.
Lin Mo continued reading down the panel.
[Skills]:
Stealth Level 1 (1/10): Having mastered Slacking Off, you have begun to learn how to lower your presence in any situation. Staying out of the enemy's line of sight for a period of time allows you to enter the Stealth state. While in Stealth, you will not be targeted as the enemy's primary objective. Launching an attack from Stealth will break the state and grant your next attack a 5% physical damage bonus.
Just as the previous notification had stated, his original Slacking Off skill had disappeared, or rather, evolved. It had become a New Skill, one that was far more powerful. Unlike the previous [Slacking Off], the newly acquired Stealth skill wasn't displayed in white text, but in green. Focusing his attention on the skill name revealed an annotation below it—Grade: Excellent.
Based on the available information, Lin Mo made a reasonable deduction about his Golden Finger.
During the battle just now, the New Skill, Stealth, gained 1 point in Skill Level. In other words, a skill's Skill Level should be increased through use—or more accurately, through use in practical scenarios like combat. Once a skill reached Full Level, it would likely grant attribute points and automatically undergo an Evolution into a New Skill.
This was completely absurd...
Back when he was still in the town, Lin Mo had overheard several Guards chatting about Skills. Acquiring Professional Skills was incredibly difficult for commoners. It usually required a massive amount of practice and real combat, along with a certain degree of talent, just to have a chance at comprehending one. Some untalented Adventurers spent their entire lives fighting Goblins without ever obtaining a single skill.
The alternative was to be like the wealthy and purchase a Skill Scroll. By reading a Skill Scroll, one could practice the skills pioneered by powerful Professionals. This could greatly shorten the time needed to learn a skill, but the trade-off was that the learned skill might not necessarily suit the user. Furthermore, the price of a Skill Book was incredibly steep. If an average merchant wanted to buy one, they would likely have to empty their savings and risk bankruptcy. Even Nobles had to carefully consider such a purchase.
And this was only for the lowest Level Ordinary Skills. For High Level skills, the requirements would only be even harsher.
Even if someone managed to learn a skill, mastering it and fully unleashing its power required years, or even decades, of consistent daily practice. Only then could a skill be pushed to its ultimate limit. During this process, there would often be long periods of stagnation, commonly known as bottlenecks, where no amount of practice seemed to bring any improvement.
But Lin Mo had none of these worries. He only needed to continuously use his skills in battle to see a concrete increase in his Skill Level. Once his Skill Level was high enough, the skill would naturally Level up and exert an even stronger effect. And once he grinded a skill to Full Level, his skill would experience an Evolution, automatically granting him a completely superior, much more powerful New Skill!
After catching his breath, Larry leaned against the tree trunk and stood up. "We shouldn't stay here for long. Let's quickly gather the loot and hurry up and leave."
Though he said they were gathering loot, these Goblins were absolutely penniless. Their body parts weren't valuable, so there really wasn't much to take. Holding a knife, Lin Mo sliced off a Goblin's left ear. Once they returned to town, they would use these to claim their bounties.
With a total of five Goblins and four people, it was obviously impossible to divide the spoils evenly. Although Lin Mo had killed three Goblins, Larry had participated in fighting two of them by helping to draw their attention, so it wasn't fair for Lin Mo to monopolize three trophies.
After everyone had acquired one ear, Larry didn't hesitate much before handing the final Goblin's ear to Lin Mo. "Lin Mo contributed the most this time, so it's only right that he takes the extra one."