Chapter 205: Poison Coating, Veteran-Level Assassin

Chapter 205: Poison Coating, Veteran-Level Assassin

Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Before long, the vial of poison Lin Mo had bought was delivered to the private room.

Lin Mo paid, then placed the vial into his Spatial Ring.

The auction was nearing its end, and Lin Mo had little interest in the remaining items... so he left the auction house directly.

But he did not go straight home; he stopped by the Adventurers' Association once more before returning to the manor.

It was nearly noon. Lena was in the courtyard of the manor, watering the plants she was growing, inspecting and tending each clump carefully—she looked very meticulous.

Ellie sat beside Lena, talking with her.

She was sweaty, looking as if she had just practiced for a while. This was a short break, so she’d come to chat with her good friend.

“Ah, Mr. Lin Mo is back!”

Lena looked up and, upon seeing Lin Mo, let out an exclamation and stood up.

Maybe because the day was bright and the sun strong, Lena’s face looked a little flushed to Lin Mo.

“I’ll keep practicing my skills then.”

Ellie said this and hurriedly turned to leave.

It was like she was avoiding him...

From Lin Mo’s understanding of this little wolf-girl, that was clearly unusual.

And it didn’t seem to be anger over last night’s events; it looked more like guilty embarrassment.

Lin Mo shifted his gaze to Lena again. The cat-eared girl was visibly nervous, lightly biting her lip, her ears trembling.

Without ceremony, Lin Mo reached out and gave those furry ears a rub.

They felt warm and soft; the sensation under his palm made his hand tingle.

“Mew~”

The cat-eared girl let out a small, sorrowful sound, lowered her head, her body trembling lightly, yet obediently she did not move.

This revealed personality differences: if it had been Ellie, she would have already been rubbing against his hand eagerly.

“How’s your progress recently?”

“Not bad... in a while, when this batch of plants matures I can harvest and sell them... I won’t make much, but I can return part of it to you and Ellie.”

“Return money?”

Lin Mo rubbed her head helplessly. “Didn’t I say it? That was our investment in you. You don’t have to pay us back. Just give us a small portion of what you earn.”

“Just give it all to you then. I don’t really spend money in the city. If you two go out adventuring, you should buy better equipment to stay safer.”

“Don’t you have anywhere to spend money? New seeds aren’t free... the fertilizers you use to care for these plants aren’t free either.”

“As far as I know, planters later need to buy special materials and make special fertilizers themselves; that all requires money...”

Lena bowed her head and fell silent.

Lin Mo sighed softly and half-squatted. “Don’t overthink it. Just do what you want, okay?”

The cat-eared girl was silent for a long time. Her eyes flickered, and she finally seemed to understand. She nodded firmly.

“That’s better...”

Lin Mo’s smile froze at the corners of his mouth.

Suddenly Lena wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in.

Her soft touch carried a faint sweet scent; the clumsy motion hid deep shyness.

The cat-eared girl’s body trembled with tension, but her hug was resolute.

Finally, she blushed and bolted away. At the corner she looked back and whispered, “Mr. Lin Mo, this... this is what I want to do most.”

Lin Mo stood there, stunned for a full minute or two before slowly coming to his senses.

He’d been kissed out of nowhere?

By the usually soft, shy cat-eared girl who would get embarrassed for a long time if he looked at her—she had ambushed and kissed him?

Was it the half-orc nature awakening, or...

Lin Mo remembered how guilty-looking Ellie had been earlier.

Ah—case closed. It was definitely that big-tailed wolf’s idea.

What exactly did you teach the pure, cute cat-eared girl!

But to be fair, that jelly-like feeling really was different from Sherfilia or Ellie.

When he entered the house, the smell of food hit him.

Sherfilia was cooking in the kitchen. Ellie seemed to want to help, but with her careless personality she couldn’t be of much assistance and instead clumsily broke a plate. Through Sherfilia’s still-calm expression, Lin Mo could clearly see her helplessness.

Having spent so much time together, they naturally understood each other better.

Even when Sherfilia showed no expression, Lin Mo could roughly judge her mood.

He walked into the kitchen and grabbed Ellie by the collar, dragging the big-tailed wolf out.

“Hehe...” Ellie scratched her head sheepishly. “I... I’ll go back to my room first.”

Lin Mo’s reflexes were quick; he caught her tail in one motion.

Ellie instantly stiffened, and then instinctively...

“Ahem—”

Lin Mo pretended not to see and lightly cleared his throat. “Tell me, what did you just say to Lena?”

“I... I didn’t say anything...”

Ellie was clearly bad at lying, her eyes darting around.

“You’d better not have said anything!”

Lin Mo smirked. “Be honest—no talking means punishment; talking means reward.”

Ellie’s eyes lit up. “Is there really punishment?”

“Of course, I mean what I say...”

Lin Mo’s words trailed off as he realized something.

Wasn’t she his buddy?

Lunch was simple and no different from usual, except Lena blushed the whole time and didn’t dare look at Lin Mo.

After finishing quickly, she hurried away.

Ellie shook her head helplessly.

This won’t do; she needs more training and coaching!

After lunch back in his room, Lin Mo took out the various bottles and jars he'd bought earlier on Adventurer Street.

Yes, these were all prepared poisons—some worse, some better. In total Lin Mo had spent over a thousand gold coins on them. Of course, they still couldn’t compare to the vial he’d just purchased at the auction, but they were sufficient for practice.

He took out from the Spatial Ring the arrows that came with the Bow of Hurricane he’d bought earlier. First, he chose the cheapest poison, carefully opened the bottle.

A strong odor immediately spread.

Low-grade poisons smelled like this: the toxicity wasn’t overwhelming, but the scent was obvious, easily raising one’s guard.

Lin Mo circulated his qi and blood and attempted to use the Poison Coating skill.

A moment later, a droplet of the vial’s poison, wrapped in his qi and blood, slowly flew out and landed on the arrow’s tip.

The poison then became formless, as if it had fully integrated into the arrowhead.

Convenient.

Lin Mo examined the arrow. It didn’t seem to have obvious changes; the strong smell had faded somewhat. But in fact, with Poison Coating applied, the poison’s lethality did not weaken—instead, it had been enhanced.

But a problem arose... the Poison Coating skill’s proficiency did not increase.

Did he have to use a poisoned weapon to kill enemies in order to raise proficiency?

That didn’t seem quite reasonable.

Lin Mo frowned, not making a conclusion yet, and continued using Poison Coating.

One arrow, two arrows, three...

Finally, after completing ten poison coatings, a notification appeared before his eyes.

Poison Coating proficiency +1

That was really not easy. At least proficiency could increase solely by using Poison Coating—good news. From past experience, those poisoned arrows would likely increase the skill’s proficiency further when used to kill monsters.

So there were two ways to raise proficiency now, which made leveling the skill somewhat easier.

But did poison quality affect the proficiency gained?

Lin Mo switched to a slightly better poison.

One, two, three...

This time, after five coatings, the notification popped up:

Poison Coating proficiency +1!

The proficiency gained was related to poison quality—this matched Lin Mo’s guess.

There was even better.

One, two.

Poison Coating proficiency +1!

This bottle was the highest-quality poison sold on Adventurer Street.

From proficiency results it was clear: only two coatings were needed to gain one point.

However, this poison was actually somewhat redundant for Lin Mo.

At best, it would significantly affect monsters newly reaching veteran-level—around level 5 or 6—temporarily disrupting their actions. Against higher-level monsters with stronger qi and blood, the effect would worsen.

Against level 8 or 9 monsters it would only have a weak interference effect, so its usefulness was limited.

And it wasn’t cheap—400 gold coins per bottle!

A bottle could cover about ten Poison Coating uses, so each coating cost 40 gold coins!

Even for grinding proficiency, that wasn’t cost-effective compared to cheaper poisons.

After all, Lin Mo’s primary way of improving skills was still monster-slaying. The gains from using the skill itself were relatively modest—just a small bonus.

As for the vial he’d spent over two thousand gold coins on at the auction, it was obviously not for ordinary arrows.

Earlier at Adventurer Street he had also bought some better arrows.

For a Ranger, besides bows and crossbows, the quality of arrows is another dimension of equipment improvement.

This gave Rangers an advantage compared to Warriors and Knights; in raw output, Assassins and Rangers were undoubtedly superior among physical professions.

Assassins excelled at burst damage, but for sustained damage, Ranger held the top spot.

When levels were similar, in an adventuring party without a Mage, the Ranger often became the main source of damage.

High output plus range made them essential.

But if there was a Mage, that changed things.

Mages dealt higher damage than Rangers and had large-area destructive skills; a well-rounded Mage could outperform a Ranger in self-protection and utility—except against enemies with corresponding magic resistance.

Returning to the point: special arrows for Rangers fall into two categories.

The first category is elementally enchanted arrows crafted by alchemists—elemental arrows imbued with elemental traits. Paired with bows that strengthen the same element, they can unleash especially powerful effects.

These arrows didn’t suit Lin Mo, because elemental enchantments and Poison Coating would conflict—elemental traits could negate or interfere with the poison’s effect.

The second category of special arrow is reinforced arrows made from monster bones, metals, or plant materials.

These arrows are sturdier, more powerful, and sometimes increase flight speed and penetration.

Lin Mo chose this second type.

He bought ten special arrows: nine crafted from elite monster bones, and one bone arrow made from a lord-level monster’s skeleton—an incredibly valuable arrow.

These arrows cost him a few hundred gold coins.

So if a Ranger pursued top-tier gear, the profession could be the most expensive among physical classes.

Of course, ordinary Rangers wouldn’t dare to splurge like Lin Mo; most used common arrows, occasionally buying a special arrow with extra money. Those were kept as trump cards, saved for truly desperate moments.

Lin Mo first took out an elite-bone special arrow, then retrieved the two-thousand-plus-gold poison from his Spatial Ring and used Poison Coating, carefully refining a droplet onto the arrow.

Poison Coating proficiency +5!

So much?!

Lin Mo was startled—indeed, you get what you pay for. One coating gave 5 proficiency points.

Having conducted enough experiments, Lin Mo didn’t plan to use up that expensive vial further. He instead took the ordinary poisons and standard arrows and mechanically repeated Poison Coating.

Poison Coating proficiency +1

...

After spending about half a day working, he’d coated all the bought poisons—enough to poison four to five hundred arrows—gaining over eighty proficiency points combined.

The Poison Coating skill also rose to Level 4.

“Skill Poison Coating Lv1 (10/10) upgraded!”

“Skill Poison Coating Lv2 (20/20) upgraded!”

“Skill Poison Coating Lv3 (40/40) upgraded!”

“Current skill Poison Coating Lv4 (18/100)”

“Gained attribute points: Agility +3!”

As an Assassin skill, reaching Level 4 granted 3 base agility points.

That meant Lin Mo’s Assassin profession was finally approaching level 6—promoting to Veteran rank!

But Lin Mo didn’t immediately check promotion details; he first examined Poison Coating’s Level 4 effects.

Poison Coating Lv4: Rapidly coat toxins onto weapons and increase poison potency by 18%.

This was the base effect. Additionally, evolution routes offered extra bonuses, and at Level 4 he could choose the second evolution path.

Please choose an evolution direction—

Evolution Path 1: Toxin Enhancement III: Poison Coating’s toxicity increase gains an additional 15%!

Evolution Path 2: Quick Coating I: Poison Coating speed increased by 50%!

As before, Evolution Path 2’s speed boost held little meaning for Lin Mo, so he unsurprisingly chose Evolution Path 1.

Eighteen percent plus fifteen percent equaled thirty-three percent—roughly one-third extra poison potency!

At that point, further leveling of Poison Coating would be hard; even if it leveled, the base increase per level would be only one percent—hardly worth fussing over.

Lin Mo then used the expensive poison again, coating the remaining nine special arrows one by one.

Poison Coating proficiency +5

...

Even the bone arrow made from the lord-level monster gave +5 proficiency; it proved proficiency gains were unrelated to the weapon used for coating.

Next came the big moment!

With excitement he checked the promotion information he’d skipped earlier.

“Promotion conditions met. Profession Assassin (Lv5) promoted—Current profession Assassin (Lv6).”

“Gained profession attribute increases: Strength +3, Agility +5, Constitution +2, Spirit +2!”

From entry-level to Veteran, he gained a total of 12 attribute points instantly.

Additionally, profession-tier skills upgraded.

“Your Assassin tier skill—Assassin’s Heart—has upgraded!”

Assassin’s Heart Lv2: A serpent hidden in the dark, always seeking a killing blow. Assassins need not defend; only extreme offense pierces every iron wall!

Skill effect: Melee attack damage increased by 20%!

The Assassin’s tier skill was very useful. The melee damage boost benefited some of Lin Mo’s Warrior-like skills too, such as Consecutive Thrusts and Swift Rushing Punch.

But sword-energy attacks like Phantom Sword Dance and Blood Qi Blade could not benefit.

Promoting to Veteran added a profession-tier insignia.

“Congratulations on becoming a Veteran-level Assassin. Your understanding of assassination has deepened. Your profession rank has increased, gaining the Veteran insignia: +10% attack speed (including boosted attack-type skills)!”

This was easy to understand: boosted attack-type skills—like Bone-Piercing Heavy Stab—were still fundamentally attacks enhanced by skill, and thus received the 10% attack speed bonus.

The Ranger profession, perhaps due to fewer skills, remained at level 5. A pity...

But this was already excellent. With his Assassin profession at level 6, Lin Mo now held three Veteran-level professions!

If his previous advantage over ordinary professionals was balanced attributes and no weakness, now with multiple profession-level increases stacking, his advantage had become raw numerical dominance.

Before long, facing enemies above their level would be trivial for Ellie.

“Phew~”

After working most of the day, Ellie stood, stretching and feeling refreshed.

A voice suddenly spoke behind them: “Would you like me to help you relax?”

Lin Mo turned; it was Sherfilia.

To be honest, she seemed a bit shy around him today—probably still awkward after last night.

No matter how cold her exterior, she was still a young—well, not exactly a girl anymore.

Sherfilia was several years older than he and Finnie, but the idea was similar. After about a day to adjust, she seemed back to normal.

“All right.”

Lin Mo nodded and sat on the sofa.

Sherfilia immediately stepped behind and used her small, deft palms to gently knead his shoulders.

“Ah—comfortable!”

Lin Mo half-closed his eyes and let out a satisfying breath.

Compared to the auction house’s service staff, Sherfilia—a professional maid—was in a different league in technique and force.

She adjusted based on Lin Mo’s body, and compared to the first time she massaged him, now her touch hit the right spots with pinpoint accuracy, finding the most comfortable points every time.

Lin Mo felt his scalp tingle and his whole body lift—his day-long fatigue vanished.

When the massage ended, Sherfilia said, “Master, the City Lord’s people want you to come over.”

“Oh?”

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow. Could it be that the goblins who headed toward Laniye City were finally showing movement?

Compared to the last siege, Lin Mo had grown significantly stronger and was itching to act.

There was still time before dinner, so Lin Mo set off without delay with Sherfilia toward the City Lord’s Mansion.

Along the way, Lin Mo thought of the Joint Cultivation matter and asked, “By the way, Sherfilia, have you felt any change in yourself today?”

Sherfilia’s gaze fell on him. From her eyes the answer was already clear.

“Is this change related to you?”

Sherfilia had thought a long time and couldn’t figure out why she’d felt a sudden, noticeable increase in strength today.

Someone like Sherfilia, with such precise body control, would be especially sensitive to such changes.

She had pondered for a long time with no answer. Now with Lin Mo suddenly bringing it up—could it be?

“Kind of.”

Lin Mo gave a slight smile without too much explanation.

“I see...”

Sherfilia finally understood why that half-orc’s power had recently grown by leaps and bounds.

She didn’t know precisely how her master had done it, but it was truly an... absurdly powerful ability.