Chapter 516: Chapter 248: Level Up, Level 10 Warrior

"BOOM—"

With a sound like an explosion, the heavy punch shot out. The fierce Fist Gang tore through the Shattered Rock Puppet’s body as if it were rotten wood, leaving a massive hole in its torso.

Shattered stone fragments flew everywhere. The Shattered Rock Puppet’s body slammed into the mountain wall behind it, instantly spiderwebbing it with cracks.

[Mountain-Shaking Fist] Skill Level +25

’Such incredible power!’

Lin Mo’s eyes lit up, quite satisfied with this New Skill.

As for the other, even stronger one...

Lin Mo glanced at the fractured mountain wall and decided against it for now.

In a place as relatively narrow and unstable as a mine, it was best not to use skills that were too powerful.

If the cave collapsed, that would be bad.

Lin Mo turned his attention to a message he had set aside for a while.

After the test just now, Lin Mo finally knew what to choose.

Please select an Evolutionary Direction—

Evolutionary Path 1: Diffusion Fist I: Fist Gang range +30%

Evolutionary Path 2: Piercing Fist I: Fist Gang piercing power +30%

When he had first seen these two Evolutionary Paths, Lin Mo couldn’t make a choice right away because he wasn’t sure of the Skill’s specific effects and form.

But now, it was clear that [Mountain-Shaking Fist] was a Skill with strong piercing power and focused might.

For a Skill like this, Lin Mo’s choice was always to double down on its strengths. As for the bit of extra range from Evolutionary Path 1, it wasn’t important to him.

Lin Mo had plenty of other area-of-effect attacks.

Therefore, he unhesitatingly chose the "Piercing Fist" Evolutionary Direction.

While Lin Mo was making his choice, the Shattered Rock Puppets were certainly not idle. Enraged by the loss of their companion, they all charged at him at once.

However, to Lin Mo, the movements of these hulking figures seemed to be in slow motion and posed no threat whatsoever.

So, he casually sidestepped the Demons’ attacks as if taking a leisurely stroll, all while selecting the Skill’s Evolutionary Path.

"Time to settle this, don’t you think?"

Having chosen the Skill’s path, Lin Mo refocused his attention on the current battle.

[Blood Qi Blade]

This Skill was now a veteran among his Warrior Profession Skills.

It was once one of Lin Mo’s primary offensive skills for dealing with powerful opponents. But later, as his Mage Level rose and he acquired more and more powerful Skills, he used this one less and less, to the point that it still hadn’t evolved.

Fortunately, it had already reached Level 6, and its Skill Level progress was at 221/300, very close to evolving.

The blood-red Sword Qi sliced through the Shattered Rock Puppet’s body as easily as cutting tofu.

With Lin Mo’s current strength, dealing with Demons that weren’t even Lord Level was simply too easy.

[Blood Qi Blade] Skill Level +30

Just as this notification appeared in his mind, Ali, Deke, and the others finally arrived from outside and joined the fray.

Ali swung her Heavy Sword, her arm instantly covered in blue ice, which also coated the blade with a layer of Frost.

[Frost Slash]!

An ice-blue Sword Qi shot out, carrying a biting chill as it struck its opponent.

A clearly visible sword gash immediately appeared on the Shattered Rock Puppet, which was Threat Level 4, the same as Ali’s own level.

The gash glowed ice-blue. A powerful chill enveloped the Demon, causing its movements to become noticeably more sluggish.

Lin Mo watched with great interest as Ali unleashed the move.

This power originated from her bloodline, so for Ali, using it was simple and completely natural.

By the same logic, as long as Lin Mo could overcome the greatest challenge—combining Magic Power and Qi and Blood—and follow his previous line of thought to spirally compress these two energies in a balanced state to form "Demonic Qi," he too would be able to gradually master such powerful techniques, just like Ali.

The effects he could produce might even be more powerful than this kind of power derived from a bloodline talent.

The principle was the same as that between a Holy Knight and a "Pseudo-Saint Knight." In essence, one was true power originating from oneself, while the other was a special energy from an external force.

Which one was superior mainly depended on just how strong that "special energy" was.

For example, the Power of Holy Light of a "Pseudo-Saint Knight" originates from the life worshipped by the Holy Light Church. That kind of power would be, at the very least, no weaker than that of a true Holy Knight.

But not every bloodline, not every blessing, could be that powerful...

Especially Ali’s Ice Wolf Race bloodline, which wasn’t particularly potent.

’I wonder if there’s a way to enhance her Bloodline Power later on?’

Shaking his head, Lin Mo sidestepped an attack from a Shattered Rock Puppet, reached out, grabbed its head, and crushed it.

[Grasp] Skill Level +20

Everyone had now joined the battle. In such a narrow space, Lin Mo’s fighting style was somewhat restricted.

He might as well practice this Ordinary Level Skill then. Skills like this were easy to level up and showed results quickly.

Lin Mo was now just 1 point of Basic Strength Attribute away from reaching 100, which was the level of a Level 10 Warrior.

’I’ll just get this Skill to Level 3 and raise my level first.’

As for [Blood Qi Blade], there would be plenty of combat opportunities in the Giant Stone Mine. There was no rush.

And so, Lin Mo’s fighting style became a bit strange.

He used no Sword, no Magic, and no fists. Instead, he would "intimately" go and "touch" the Shattered Rock Puppets’ faces, and then crush them with a single squeeze.

Regardless of whether the Demon opposite him was Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5, it made no difference to Lin Mo. Each one went down in a single move.

[Grasp] Skill Level +20

"Skill [Grasp] Lv3 (40/40) has leveled up!"

"Current Skill: [Grasp] Lv4 (2/100)"

[Grasp] Skill Level +30

...

The thirteen Demons in total were quickly slaughtered.

And because Lin Mo was actively kill-stealing, his [Grasp] Skill successfully accumulated enough Skill Level to reach Max Level.

"Skill [Grasp] Lv4 (100/100) has leveled up!"

"Current Skill: [Grasp] Lv5 (Max)"

"Received Basic Attribute Points: Strength +1"

"Has automatically evolved into a New Skill—Strong Assault and Capture!"

"Skill Comprehension: [Strong Assault and Capture]! Received Basic Attribute Points: Strength +2!"

[Strong Assault and Capture]: Rapidly strike and capture an opponent. If a specific body part (the neck) is grabbed, it applies an interrupt effect, which can stop the target’s skill casting (only effective on units of a lower level than the user).

How should I put this... More important than the Skill’s power was its attached interrupt effect.

What did it mean to interrupt skill casting?

For example, if facing a Mage, in an ideal situation, once their spellcasting was interrupted, they would be like a lamb to the slaughter before a Warrior Class Professional.

But this was, after all, an "ideal situation."

In actual combat, Mages often had self-preservation skills and weren’t so easily approached.

Moreover, Warrior Class Professionals, even Rangers, didn’t have the absurd speed of an Assassin. So this was a Skill that looked good on paper and could indeed produce unexpected results at critical moments, but wasn’t that easy to execute effectively.

Of course, for Lin Mo, making this Skill effective was much simpler.

First, he possessed Assassin Level speed.

Second, he had Flash.

’All in all, it’s a good Skill.’

Lin Mo continued reading the subsequent messages.

With [Grasp] reaching Max Level and learning the New Skill [Strong Assault and Capture], Lin Mo’s Basic Strength Attribute had increased by 3 points, reaching 102.

He had met the requirements to become a Level 10 Warrior.

And with the Warrior Profession being his old trade, he naturally didn’t have a problem with an insufficient number of skills.

So...

"Promotion conditions met. Professional Warrior (Lv9) has been promoted—Current: Professional Warrior (Lv10)."

"Received Professional Attribute Amplification: Strength +6, Constitution +3, Agility +2!"

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