Finnie blinked, watching the two who had just struck each other, sensing the atmosphere was a bit off.

But she didn't know what to say, so she could only wear an expression full of difficulty, momentarily unable to speak.

However, the two parties involved didn't take it to heart at all. After Lin Mo "got his revenge," he eagerly looked at his status panel.

He had just learned two new skills, so naturally there was a series of messages.

"Skill [Backstab] learned, gained attribute point Agility+1!"

"Skill [Shadow Strike] learned, gained attribute point Agility+2!"

First were the prompts for learning the two skills. It was worth mentioning that [Shadow Strike] was actually an Excellent-grade skill.

Although she seemed to have some inexplicable "hostility" toward him, this maid was actually quite nice at heart and very obedient to Finnie.

When Finnie told her to teach, she really taught generously!

Looking at his base Agility reaching 21 points, Lin Mo chuckled happily and continued reading.

"Promotion conditions met, profession Assassin (lv1) promoted — current profession Assassin (lv2)"

"Gained profession attribute bonuses: Strength+1, Agility+2!"

Like Warrior and Knight, the level 2 Assassin provided 3 additional attribute points.

He wondered how many points level 3 would give?

Probably not many. Lin Mo estimated he'd have to wait until level 6, when promoted to Veteran-level professional, for a qualitative change.

The tiers in this world weren't randomly assigned. The significant difference between adventurers of different levels was largely due to the qualitative changes brought by attribute bonuses.

For example, when first becoming a professional, he instantly gained 6 attribute points, immediately creating a gap with non-professionals.

So when reaching level 6 and becoming a Veteran-level professional, it would likely be the same, with one major change.

As for how much improvement exactly, he'd have to wait until then to know.

"Alright, let's hurry back now... they should be getting impatient."

Mainly Ellie was probably getting impatient.

Lin Mo returned to the association with Finnie and Sherfilia. Sure enough, when they pushed the door open, Ellie was already frowning and preparing to come look for them.

"You're back."

Landon nodded to Lin Mo, then noticed Sherfilia following behind him and Finnie, his pupils instantly contracting.

"Who is this?"

Although dressed in standard maid attire, with Landon's years of adventuring experience and keen eye, this was definitely an expert!

"This is Finnie's... friend."

Lin Mo briefly introduced her: "Also a key person in our upcoming plans."

Landon then understood they had gone to seek external help.

But... friend?

She didn't really look like one.

Landon wasn't foolish and immediately guessed that either Lin Mo or Finnie had an unusual identity.

From the introduction just now, it was probably the priestess.

This wasn't hard to guess, since just that staff alone spoke volumes.

As a level 4 mage, Landon's mithril staff had taken who knows how long to afford, while this level 1 priestess could possess a mithril staff, and of higher specifications than his—this was clearly unreasonable.

Now the reason was obvious.

With such a powerful attendant, her background must be from at least one of Silverstream City's top families, possibly even...

Landon didn't continue that thought. Some things were better left unclear.

"Now that we have a powerful assassin professional, everyone should have no doubts. How about we proceed with the division of labor and cooperation we discussed earlier tonight?"

The association president asked.

"I have no objections."

Landon was the first to nod.

The other adventurers agreed one by one.

Since Lin Mo wasn't present earlier, he inquired a bit.

After last night's plan failed, the probability of goblins gathering heavy forces to attack that area again was very low.

On one hand, mobilizing large numbers required time;

on the other hand, such surprise tactics worked best when the enemy was unaware. Since they were already exposed and prepared, even if they repeated the tactic—having failed the first time—the second attempt would be even less effective.

But regardless, they still needed to take precautions.

So tonight's personnel were divided into three groups: some less powerful adventurers would guard the mountain pass;

mid-level adventurers would patrol the area from last night.

The few stronger adventurers would go with the association president to the front lines to help and try to achieve a breakthrough to change the current stalemate.

"Sigh..."

After explaining this, the association president sighed helplessly: "If we had a powerful mage stationed here, we wouldn't be in this situation."

As the branch president of a small town, his strength was certainly not weak—he was a warrior professional who had reached Veteran-level years ago. But warriors' effectiveness in large-scale battles was far inferior to mages.

Even inferior to assassins.

If he were a Veteran-level assassin, he'd have a chance to infiltrate alone using stealth and eliminate the enemy leader.

"Powerful mages wouldn't stay in a small town like this."

An adventurer nearby responded.

"That's true too..."

If he were a Veteran-level mage instead of a warrior, he wouldn't be working in such a small town but would have been transferred to a big city.

"It's getting late, we should set off soon."

Although it was only before 4 PM, when the goblins would attack was uncertain. The front lines were already on high alert, so it was better to head over early.

Lin Mo's Silver Radiance Team and Landon's Azure Orchid Team would naturally go to the front lines.

Including the several level 3 assassin professionals from the town, they would all go too.

They had actually been at the front lines for the past few days, but as assassins, their role wasn't significant—they could only deal with some mutated goblins approaching the battle lines to prevent these powerful individuals from causing excessive casualties to ordinary soldiers.

There was a wide official road to the front lines, so they could take carriages and arrived at their destination in less than an hour.

Pulling open the carriage curtain revealed a lifeless scene.

After days of fighting, the soldiers had suffered heavy losses. Their morale was no longer as high as initially, with many soldiers' eyes filled with confusion or numbness.

They had witnessed too many comrades die horribly at the hands of goblins, were injured to varying degrees themselves, or had experienced dangerous situations. With each day of battle, their fear deepened.

Most importantly, after fighting for so long and taking many goblin heads, it seemed completely ineffective—the number of goblins appearing daily remained the same, as if they could never be wiped out.

This was the most frustrating aspect of facing the goblin race. The first few days of killing felt great, but when the numbers didn't decrease no matter how many they killed, they soon couldn't laugh anymore. The further it went, the stronger the sense of defeat, gradually causing loss of fighting spirit.

"This battle can't drag on like this anymore..."

Landon looked at the soldiers' condition with deep feeling.

Otherwise, in a few days, their side's morale would completely collapse.

"They're coming!"

The sound of the goblin army advancing in full force came from not far away. Various positions instantly went on alert, and listless soldiers forced themselves to become alert under orders, preparing to engage.

The support personnel who had just arrived were quickly assigned positions.

As a mage, Landon was placed at the core of the battle line to maximize his magical effectiveness, with his team members accompanying him.

Finnie stayed in the rear, responsible for treating combat personnel in urgent need.

Lin Mo joined the "assassin squad"—totaling 7 people including the 5 level 3 professional assassins and Sherfilia as the main force—responsible for scouting behind enemy lines and waiting for opportunities to carry out assassination missions.

But unlike other adventurers joining the battle directly, they needed to hold a brief meeting first to exchange intelligence.

"First, we still need to clarify the specific situation behind enemy lines. We've been trying this for the past few days and obtained some intelligence."

One of the assassins said: "Based on current reconnaissance, we can confirm there are at least 20+ Bronze Goblins on their side!"

"That many?!"

Lin Mo was shocked.

"Including quasi-Bronze level, the actual Bronze level should only be about half."

"That's better..."

Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief, since actual Bronze-level goblins were basically at least level 3.

If there really were 20+ goblins with threat levels above 3...

He glanced at Sherfilia who hadn't spoken beside him.

Well, with her here, it didn't seem too difficult.

"Specific types?"

"We've sighted 6 different warrior-type individuals and 4 primarily defense-oriented knight-type individuals at actual Bronze level."

"And assassin-type individuals."

Lin Mo remembered the Bronze Goblin he killed yesterday: "This type looks very similar to ordinary goblins, almost impossible to spot among them."

As for whether there was only one of this type like yesterday, that was hard to say.

"Target?"

Sherfilia, who had remained silent, finally spoke. Her target naturally referred to the mastermind behind this goblin army—the Goblin Spellcaster.

"That guy is too cunning;

we haven't found its traces yet."

"None found near the defensive Bronze Goblins?"

Lin Mo asked.

According to normal logic, these defense-oriented goblins' duty was to protect the core.

"We searched thoroughly, even nearly suffered casualties because of it, but still found nothing."

It seemed the enemy was completely prepared, even using reverse logic.

As expected of a goblin that uses "military tactics"!

"Finding that guy probably won't be easy..."

An assassin sighed, his heart filled with frustration after days of unsuccessful attempts.

"Actually, we don't necessarily have to find it... making it come out itself works too."

Lin Mo suddenly said.

"Come out itself?"

The other assassins looked at him with puzzled expressions.

How would an opponent they couldn't even find come out on its own?

"Kill its subordinates, and it will naturally become anxious."

Sherfilia was the first to understand his meaning. "So no need to overthink it, just start killing."

"This..."

The assassins found this both amusing and frustrating: "Young lady, and this brother... Bronze-level goblins aren't that easy to kill."

Especially since the ones showing themselves were the warrior and knight types—the hardest to assassinate.

"That's true, but not impossible to kill, right?"

For ordinary assassins, assassinating warriors or even knights of the same level was indeed very difficult, almost impossible. But Lin Mo was different.

Although he was only a level 2 warrior and level 2 assassin—one level lower than those Bronze Goblins—he actually possessed the strength of a level 3 warrior and agility close to a level 3 assassin.

Plus his high-burst skill [Charged Sword Slash], his killing power was much higher than ordinary level 3 assassins. Defensive knight types might be hard to say, but killing a warrior was definitely achievable.

As for Sherfilia, even less needed to be said—a Veteran-level assassin killing level 3 warriors was like child's play.

"This..."

The assassins looked at each other. Since this profession generally wasn't good with words, no one spoke for a moment, but they all wore doubtful expressions.

Due to time constraints, there was no proper introduction, so they didn't know these two newcomers well. Although they seemed somewhat capable, how strong could they be... could they be Veteran-level assassins?

"The battle has already started. Anyway, let's continue scouting according to our approach from previous days... As for the method you two mentioned, if you can actually do it, you can proceed with your own approach first. We'll coordinate based on the situation."

Finally, an older assassin stepped forward to smooth things over.

Lin Mo nodded and said nothing more.

This operation mainly relied on him and Sherfilia anyway.

If these assassins could solve the problem, they would have acted days ago.

They only needed them to scout and provide enemy location information, which was enough.

So without further delay, everyone entered from the battlefield flank.

Lin Mo's speed was still somewhat slower than proper level 3 assassins, so he fell slightly behind.

Sherfilia wasn't in a hurry to act either, staying by his side.

The assassins ahead saw this and felt even more doubtful.

Looking at this, they didn't seem more capable than them. Could they really assassinate those Bronze Goblins?

But since they were already on the battlefield, they had no time to think about this and soon immersed themselves in scouting and incidentally decapitating mutated goblins along the way.

Sherfilia closely followed Lin Mo, her gaze fixed on him.

On one hand, she was curious. Although she had seen this multi-profession genius fight many times, observing so closely was still novel.

And he had just learned two assassin skills and would likely use them in the upcoming battle.

Sherfilia wanted to see how fast he could practice and master skills.

Moreover, Lin Mo was also one of the protection targets assigned by her mistress. Compared to assassination, she had to prioritize his safety.

With newly acquired skills, of course he was eager to try them, and newly obtained skills were also the easiest to bring improvement, so Lin Mo naturally planned to test those two assassin skills.

They moved through the battlefield flank and soon found a target.

An adult mutated goblin—though no threat to current Lin Mo—still provided the same proficiency.

So he activated [Vanish], his figure instantly disappearing, then quickly circled behind the goblin and directly stabbed its heart with the Black Sword.

An unquestionable one-hit kill. The mutated goblin didn't even know who killed it before falling in a pool of blood.

[Vanish] proficiency +8

[Backstab] proficiency +8

Indeed, although they were assassin skills, weapon restrictions didn't apply—using a one-handed sword still worked and gained proficiency.

Strange fighting style.

Sherfilia, who witnessed everything, curled her lips.

Using swords to execute assassin skills felt weird to her as an orthodox assassin.

Like eating barbecue without salt but dipped in milk instead.

But his skill usage was quite good.

That stealth skill went without saying—when she first saw it, Sherfilia was quite startled;

it was probably an exceptional-grade skill.

The newly learned [Backstab] was also used very standardly, with clean and neat movements. Although nothing outstanding and clearly not highly proficient, the execution itself was basically flawless.

Completely unlike someone who had just learned it an hour or two ago...

Continue, continue!

Getting proficiency boosted Lin Mo's spirits, and he continued searching for the next target.

Before finding the real mission targets, he'd use these "appetizers" to level up his skills.

Soon, he targeted his second mark.

This time it was a sub-adult mutated goblin—inferior but better than nothing.

Lin Mo quickly approached, repeating the method to eliminate it.

[Vanish] proficiency +3

[Backstab] proficiency +5

...

Sherfilia followed behind him, quietly observing his actions.

When eliminating the first three monsters, there seemed no difference. But when discovering and attacking the fourth monster—

Sherfilia's gaze suddenly sharpened, noticing Lin Mo's proficiency had clearly improved.

His movements were more fierce than before, positioning more precise, and even the skill's power had slightly increased.

So fast?!!

After just a few uses?

Sherfilia looked astonished, recalling her own hellish training from childhood, feeling mixed emotions.

This short while equaled several days of her past efforts!

Perhaps this was what a true genius looked like...

Recalling how she had once been called a "genius" herself, Sherfilia felt like laughing.

Compared to someone like this, she seemed like an idiot.

Meanwhile, Lin Mo looked at the prompts before him, his killing desire growing stronger.

"Skill [Backstab] Lv1 (10/10) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Backstab] Lv2 (9/20)"

Newly acquired skills were easy to train. Just two more monsters, and it would reach level 3, granting attributes.

But it seemed his monster-farming journey needed to pause temporarily.

Because the real work had arrived!

Lin Mo's figure suddenly vanished on the spot. The next moment, a short knife plunged into where he had just stood, deeply embedded in the ground.

A small-statured goblin emerged from the monster group, pulled out the short knife, then quickly blended back among its kind, hiding.

Indeed, there were still assassin goblins!

According to the earlier descriptions from those assassins, they hadn't encountered assassin-type Bronze Goblins in the past few days.

But today one directly appeared on the battlefield...

Had they accumulated enough strength to launch a full-scale attack, or lost patience after yesterday's failure, becoming desperate?

Lin Mo didn't know the reason behind it, nor was he interested.

He just wanted to turn all these goblins into his proficiency.

Lin Mo, in [Vanish] state, chased in the direction the assassin goblin had left.

Being invisible now, their roles had reversed—Lin Mo was in the dark, while the assassin goblin was exposed.

Lin Mo quickly found the target, now showing shock and unease.

It anxiously watched its surroundings, heavy pressure flooding in like tide, causing it to lose its usual calm and composure.

This uneasy emotion further weakened its defense and judgment.

So—

When the sharp blade appeared before its eyes, its confused thoughts made it act on instinct, subconsciously turning around, trying to defend against attacks from behind.

But this time, Lin Mo didn't choose to use [Backstab], but the more powerful, faster [Shadow Strike]!

"Shhh—!"

With the sound of a blade piercing flesh, Lin Mo's Black Sword easily pierced its chest.

Some powerful monsters had attributes much higher than humans of the same level—not just main attributes but secondary ones too. Some with very powerful bloodlines, like dragons, had almost no weaknesses.

But mere Bronze-level goblins clearly didn't qualify.

The disadvantages of their small stature and weak constitution were fully revealed at this moment. Even though Lin Mo didn't hit a weak point, it still instantly lost resistance, only able to emit blurred screams from its throat. The next moment, Lin Mo swept his sword horizontally, easily cutting it in half.

[Vanish] proficiency +20

[Shadow Strike] proficiency +20

Easily dealt with!

Lin Mo sheathed his sword, casually casting Ice Spike to pick off nearby approaching goblins one by one.

When opportunities arose, he wouldn't forget to farm magic proficiency too.

[Ice Spike] proficiency +1

...

And the Bronze Goblin assassin he just killed gave a double reward, directly leveling up both skills!

"Skill [Shadow Strike] Lv1 (10/10) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Shadow Strike] Lv2 (10/20)"

Low-level skills were easier to level up anyway, so this was expected and not surprising.

The important thing was that Lin Mo's long-stalled [Vanish] finally reached level 6.

"Skill [Vanish] Lv5 (180/180) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Vanish] Lv6 (3/300)"

According to Lin Mo's estimation, exceptional-grade skills only had 7 levels total. Meaning, if it leveled up once more, this skill would evolve into Lin Mo's first epic-level skill!