The moment he attacked, the Slacking Off skill naturally deactivated.
With no time to examine the information in detail, Lin Mo felt his body become instantly lighter. He quickly pulled his sword free, dodged to the side, and evaded another Goblin's attack.
The iron-studded club brushed past his shoulder. In that same instant, almost faster than Lin Mo could consciously react, the sword in his hand traced a perfect arc upward from below.
A scream rang out, then devolved into nothing more than a muffled gurgle.
The less-than-sharp blade couldn't take its head clean off, but it did slice precisely through its throat. Crimson blood spurted out, splashing onto him as the foul stench assaulted his senses.
Lin Mo's mind went blank for a moment before the hideous face before him jolted him back to his senses. He put more force into his sword, finishing off the struggling Goblin for good.
Catching movement from the corner of his eye, Lin Mo kicked the corpse in front of him away, sending it crashing into another Goblin nearby. He followed close behind, rushing up to the creature and swinging his sword once more.
The sword flashed, and an oblong shape went flying.
Empowered by the momentum of his charge, this strike finally lopped the Goblin's head off cleanly.
Larry, who had been locked in a bitter struggle with the Goblins just moments before, froze on the spot, his face a mask of utter disbelief as he watched the head fly through the air.
'Just thirty seconds ago, I was barely holding on against two Goblins,' he thought. 'And in the blink of an eye, they're almost all dead?'
He swallowed hard and looked at the slowly approaching Lin Mo.
'This kid...'
Meanwhile, the young man named Rhein, the first to charge in, had finally dispatched his own opponent. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Larry gripped his weapon and went to help the man next to him, and together they finished off the last Goblin.
The battle was over. The forest air hung thick with the scent of blood. No one spoke; each person found a tree and sat down for a brief rest.
Lin Mo leaned against a tree, panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot, the hand holding the sword trembling slightly.
'This is my first battle,' he thought. 'Before this, I'd never even killed a chicken. But maybe it's because these monsters are so hideous that I don't feel any guilt, or maybe I'm just naturally strong-willed. Aside from a slight queasiness, I don't feel too bad.'
'In fact, I'm thrilled!'
Lin Mo looked at the translucent panel before him. His Agility had reached 6.
'The two-point increase in Agility is far more significant than I imagined!'
'For example, an average person who exercises regularly might run the 100-meter dash in 12 or 13 seconds. The world record holder, Usain Bolt, is at 9.58 seconds—an improvement of less than 30%.'
'But my two-point increase in Agility represents a 50% boost!'
'It's like my whole body has been completely transformed. I've gone from an out-of-shape shut-in to a top-tier sprinter in an instant—no, it's even more dramatic than that.'
'The moment I started running, I almost had the illusion that the ground had turned into a springboard, and my whole body felt like it was about to take flight.'
'And the boost from Agility isn't just limited to raw speed, either. That much was clear from the strike I just landed.'
'A certain admiral once said that speed is power. The increase in speed would also make my attacks more incisive, allowing me to more easily unleash power approaching, or even surpassing, my own limits.'
'Of course, it wasn't without a cost—'
Lin Mo's arm was still trembling, the muscles aching with a faint tearing sensation.
The human body is like a precision instrument; forcing it to perform beyond its normal capabilities inevitably leads to some wear and tear.
'Fortunately, it's not serious. It should heal after a little rest.'
Lin Mo continued to read down the panel.
[Skills]:
Stealth Level 1 (1/10): Having mastered Slacking Off, you are beginning to learn how to reduce your presence in any situation. After remaining out of the enemy's line of sight for a period of time, you can enter a state of Stealth. While in Stealth, you will not be treated as a primary target. Attacking will break Stealth and grant your next attack a 5% physical damage bonus.
Just as the notification had indicated, his original skill, Slacking Off, had disappeared—or rather, evolved.
It had transformed into a new, more powerful Skill.
Unlike Slacking Off, the newly acquired Stealth Skill wasn't displayed in white text, but in small green letters. When he focused on the skill's name, a note appeared beneath it—Grade: Excellent.
'Based on the information I have, I can make some reasonable deductions about my Golden Finger.'
'During that last battle, my new Stealth Skill gained 1 point of Skill Level.'
'In other words, Skill Level seems to increase through use—specifically, through use in practical applications like combat.'
'And once a Skill reaches Full Level, I should get attribute points, and the Skill itself will automatically evolve into a New Skill.'
'This is just insane...'
Back when he was still in town, Lin Mo had overheard some Guards talking about Skills.
For a commoner, acquiring a Professional Skill was an incredibly difficult feat. It often required immense amounts of practice and real-world combat experience, and even then, one needed a certain degree of talent just for a chance to grasp it.
Some less-talented Adventurers could fight Goblins their entire lives and never acquire a single Skill.
The alternative was to be wealthy enough to buy a Skill Scroll and practice the Skills created by powerful Professionals.
That method could drastically shorten the time needed to learn a Skill, but the drawback was that the Skill might not be a good fit for the individual. Furthermore, Skill Books were exorbitantly expensive. An average merchant would likely have to empty their savings and risk bankruptcy to afford one. Even noble lords had to think twice.
And that was just for the lowest-level Ordinary Skills. For High Level Skills, the requirements were even more stringent.
Even after acquiring a Skill, mastering it and unleashing its full potential required years, sometimes decades, of daily practice to perfect.
This process often involved long periods of stagnation—plateaus where no amount of practice seemed to yield any improvement.
'But I don't have those problems. I just have to keep using my Skills in combat, and I can see my Skill Level tangibly increase. Once it's high enough, the Skill will naturally level up and become more powerful.'
'And once I max out a Skill's Level, it will evolve, automatically granting me a completely superior and more powerful Skill!'
After catching his breath, Larry used a hand to push himself up from the tree trunk. "We shouldn't linger here. Let's gather the spoils and leave quickly."
They called it gathering spoils, but in reality, these Goblins were dirt-poor. The materials on their bodies were worthless, so there was practically nothing to take.
Lin Mo took his blade and cut off a Goblin's left ear.
This was what they would use to claim the bounty money back in town.
There were five Goblins in total and four people, so an even split was impossible.
Although Lin Mo had finished off three Goblins, Larry had been involved with two of them, helping to keep them occupied. Therefore, Lin Mo couldn't claim all three trophies for himself.
After everyone had taken one ear, Larry handed the last Goblin ear to Lin Mo without much hesitation.
"Lin Mo contributed the most this time," Larry said. "It's only right that he gets the extra one."