Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Chapter 356: Heading to the Nasadok Dungeon?

After waiting for quite a while, the manager finally returned, bringing with him the completion documents for the few tasks Lin Mo had finished, as well as the mission sheet and reward for the newly designated A-rank task "Investigate Disappearance Incident" that had just been promised.

Of course, this was only the reward according to the standard specifications of the A-rank task itself. The Adventurers' Association's additional "gratitude" still had to wait for confirmation and implementation from the headquarters.

The rewards for the tasks themselves weren't particularly high, totaling only around 400,000 gold coins. Adding the 200,000 gold coins from the newly added A-rank task, it came to a total of 600,000 gold coins.

To be honest, this was still a huge sum of money. However, Lin Mo had already grown accustomed to having ample funds at hand, and having just splurged millions of gold coins not long ago, he naturally didn't think these 600,000 gold coins were that much.

Of course, the gains from this trip weren't limited to just the task rewards. Besides the task rewards themselves, they had also obtained many materials from magical creatures. The materials from those relatively powerful magical creatures were still quite valuable. Aside from the core materials, the meat could also be used as daily ingredients.

After some back-and-forth haggling, Lin Mo also sold those valuable materials to the Association, earning an additional income of around 200,000 gold coins...

It was a bit less than Lin Mo had anticipated. There was no helping it. Although the magical creatures he had killed along the way weren't low-level, they also weren't particularly high-level either.

The most valuable were the materials from that Phantom Snow Fox. Due to the scarcity and difficulty of capturing this type of magical creature, its material price was several times that of magical creatures of the same level. Even so, it only sold for 40,000 gold coins.

As for the remaining materials, even though there were many in quantity, their combined value was still somewhat limited.

There was no helping it. The most valuable material obtained from this trip, the Mountain Giant's materials, Lin Mo couldn't possibly sell.Once the reward settlement was complete, they could leave directly. As for the Association's additional gift of gratitude, they could collect it at any relatively large branch once the Adventurers' Association headquarters had discussed and processed it.

Although Lin Mo really wanted to return to the Doria Kingdom immediately, it was already nighttime now. He didn't fancy traveling through the night, so he simply decided to stay overnight in the Association's lounge and set off again tomorrow.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several more days had passed. After a journey of constant travel and trekking, Lin Mo and the others finally returned to the capital of the Doria Kingdom.

Along the way, the skills [Meditation] and [Spatial Creation] naturally made excellent progress again. However, Ellie and the others' strength improvements weren't as fast as before. After all, in terms of level and basic attributes, these girls were already quite close to Lin Mo now.

The mechanism of the [Dual Cultivation] skill was that the greater the gap in basic attributes between the two parties, the more pronounced the improvement it could bring. As the gap grew smaller and smaller, even if the skill's level was raised quite high, the improvement would slow down considerably.

Even so, by practicing this skill, they could still increase the skill's proficiency and learn some new skills from each other.

This method was much faster and more comfortable than constant practice.

It's worth mentioning that Lin Mo's current strength had grown increasingly powerful, especially after obtaining the Ice Dragon King's bloodline. His combat power had once again nearly doubled. Now, even when fighting as a team, it was still difficult to withstand him. The gap between them was like a chasm. Consequently, they had no choice but to split the practice sessions into two parts, upper and lower. In a way, this actually greatly increased the efficiency of their cultivation.

Lin Mo glanced at his status panel.

The level of [Intermediate Meditation Technique] had already risen to Level 4.

"Skill [Intermediate Meditation Technique] Lv3 (80/80) has leveled up!"

"Current skill [Intermediate Meditation Technique] Lv4 (29/200)"

[Dual Cultivation] was still far from leveling up, and so was [Spatial Creation].

Those two skills hadn't yet reached a relatively low level. Especially Spatial Creation, an Epic Level skill. Going from Level 6 to Level 7 required a full 600 points of proficiency. Even though they had already improved a lot over those few days, they were still quite a distance away from leveling up.

However, progress in expanding the Portable Space was proceeding very smoothly. From the previous 150×240×240, it had once again increased significantly to 200×500×500!

In terms of total volume, it had expanded by another three to four times in size.

Now, whether it was Lena's Experimental Field or the previously planned practice grounds, everything had been constructed quite perfectly.

Lin Mo's next plan was to start arranging the environment, turning this Portable Space completely into a small world.

They could also raise some pets inside, like kittens, puppies, or rabbits—in fact, they had already bought a few cats and dogs and started raising them.

Lena really liked cats, while Ellie preferred dogs. However, watching this pair of a cat-eared girl and a half-orc girl petting cats and dogs was somewhat... bizarre.

Lin Mo used to also like pets very much, especially cats, but now he didn't have much feeling for cats anymore.

What's the fun in petting a cat compared to petting a cat-eared girl?

The cat-eared girl pets the cat, and he pets the cat-eared girl. That's the real truth.

In short, after a journey that felt quite long to them, the Silver Radiance Team had returned to the Doria Kingdom once again.

On the day they returned, Lin Mo couldn't wait to find that Preston Smithy he had visited before.

Walking inside, he arrived at the forging area, pushed the door open, and saw that kid Edgar swinging a hammer, forging iron.

If nothing else, this kid was quite diligent in forging and indeed had some talent. In the future, he might very well become a forging master like his father.

Seeing Lin Mo enter, Edgar's eyes immediately lit up. He hurriedly took a few quick steps over, a "sucking up" smile appearing on his face.

After that battle during the Academy Grand Competition, Lin Mo had become thoroughly famous throughout the entire empire's sphere of influence.

Now, if you randomly stopped someone on the street, there was a high probability they had heard of his story. For Edgar, this was truly a jackpot.

Recently, he had been diligently studying and honing his forging skills. Once his skills were sufficiently mature, he planned to go straight to the Violet Empire and open a smithy. At that time, without needing any strange marketing tactics, he just needed to take out those little amusing incidents that happened between him and Lin Mo for promotion, and his smithy would immediately become famous.

This was truly a deal successful beyond belief, to the point that even his father's attitude towards this kid had improved a lot recently.

After exchanging pleasantries with Edgar, it happened that his old man had just finished forging. Lin Mo once again met this one of the few forging masters in the Doria Kingdom—Andre—in a somewhat cramped furnace room.

"You're back..."

Compared to last time, Andre's attitude was clearly much more enthusiastic. His face immediately broke into a smile, the wrinkles on his face bunching together like an old chrysanthemum.

"This place isn't suitable for talking. Let's go outside. Edgar, quickly get some tea for our guest..."

"Got it!"

Edgar responded and, with a playful grin, turned and left.

A few minutes later, in the smithy's reception room, Andre, having changed his clothes, appeared before them again.

After a few polite exchanges, Lin Mo directly stated his purpose: "Regarding the plan Master Andre proposed last time, there's now some progress..."

"Could it be?"

Andre's eyes immediately lit up.

"That's right. The Mountain Giant's Heart, I got it. However..."

A somewhat troubled expression appeared on Lin Mo's face.

"However what?"

Andre was an impatient person by nature. Seeing Lin Mo beating around the bush like this, he immediately became so anxious he was scratching his ears and cheeks.

"However, the Mountain Giant's Heart I got my hands on might be a bit different from a normal one..."

Andre's expression immediately turned serious, as if he was carefully pondering: "Is the quality slightly lower? But that should be fine. After all, the strength of that Spirit Vein Mithril is sufficient."

"No, it's not like that."

Lin Mo waved his hand, no longer beating around the bush, and directly took out that Mountain Giant's Heart from his Portable Space: "Actually, it's like this..."

The huge and heavy Mountain Giant's Heart was placed by Lin Mo on the table in the reception room. The radiant light emanating from it made Andre's eyes widen instantly.

Lin Mo had never seen such large eyes before, truly the literal meaning of "eyes wide as brass bells."

"This... is..."

Andre stared dumbfounded at this Mountain Giant's Heart placed on the table, momentarily too excited to speak.

"This size, these patterns, the aura contained on it..."

As a forging master, Andre naturally had broad knowledge. He cautiously approached this Mountain Giant's Heart, carefully observing it for a while, reaching out his hand several times but not daring to touch it.

After a long while, he finally plopped down on the sofa, letting out a long sigh.

"You say this thing is a Mountain Giant's Heart?"

"Yes."

"I say it's not a Mountain Giant's Heart!"

"It's not?"

"Right, it's not!"

"I also think it's not."

Actually, before this, Lin Mo had also pondered this question. That Mountain Giant was clearly not an ordinary Mountain Giant, so could his "heart" really be considered a Mountain Giant's Heart?

Now it seemed the answer was indeed negative.

"This damn thing is a Titan's Heart!"

Andre was so excited he nearly fainted.

Although it was incomplete, a substandard product among substandard products, even a counterfeit and inferior product, the aura of ancient antiquity contained on it was undeniably real!

Andre said, gesticulating animatedly: "A Titan's Heart, do you know what that is? That's a material surpassing the Legendary Level, a true divine object!"

Even this pseudo-Titan's Heart before our eyes, only tainted with a tiny bit of bloodline and power, is enough to half-step into the threshold of Legendary Level materials. And because of its special nature, this is even rarer and more precious than ordinary Legendary Level materials!"

So, the current question was...

"So, can this thing be used as an ordinary Mountain Giant's Heart to forge the mithril gloves Master Andre planned previously?"

"Of course not!"

Andre rolled his eyes: "This level of material has long since exceeded my capabilities. Don't say a forging master, even among forging grandmasters, few can handle it."

Lin Mo spread his hands helplessly: "Then what should we do?"

This thing was good, alright, but if it couldn't be forged, couldn't be converted into combat power, keeping it in hand was just a valuable treasure.

A forging grandmaster? He didn't know any. This level of person probably had to be sought in the Violet Empire.

With his current fame, although he definitely had ways to find one, it would still require spending quite a bit of time.

In short, another troublesome matter.

Andre pondered for a moment, then suddenly looked at Edgar beside him: "Kid, pack your things. We're preparing to leave."

"Huh?"

Edgar was stunned: "Go where?"

"Where else? To the Violet Empire, to find your grandfather!"

Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up. From the sound of it, Edgar's grandfather, that is, Master Andre's father, was a forging grandmaster?

That was great then. This would save a lot of trouble.

However, upon hearing Andre's words, Edgar scratched his head: "Go find Grandpa? Dad, aren't you afraid of getting beaten to death..."

Andre choked, glaring at him fiercely: "Those old stories, your grandpa has probably long forgotten them."

"Hard to say..."

Edgar muttered. Seeing Andre puffing up his beard and glaring, he quickly hid behind Lin Mo.

Whether his old man would get beaten or not was one thing, but if he continued talking, he would definitely get beaten first.

It seemed Andre also had a story with his father?

This grandfather, father, and son trio really were of the same lineage...

However, judging by Andre's tone, it probably wasn't anything major. Besides, it was someone else's family matter, so Lin Mo didn't inquire further.

After a brief discussion, it was decided they would stay here tonight. Early tomorrow morning, Andre would go ask the Preston Family for leave and directly leave with them for the Violet Empire.

At the same time, Lin Mo also learned the location of Andre's father.

The largest adventure holy land in the Violet Empire, and also one of the most famous super-large secret realms on the continent—the Nasadok Dungeon!

Lin Mo had long heard of this dungeon. Not long after he became an adventurer, he often heard news about this adventure holy land.

Later, out of interest, Lin Mo specifically looked into this super-large secret realm.

Based on current information, the size of this secret realm was astonishing. Rather than calling it a secret realm, it was more like another world.

The Nasadok Dungeon, as the name suggests, was an incredibly huge underground city.

Just the currently explored areas alone had a full 46 floors!

At the same time, the existence of the 47th floor could also be confirmed. As for further down...

After a Legendary Realm adventurer died tragically on the 47th floor, no one dared to explore further.

It could be said that this dungeon was one of the top-tier secret realms on the entire continent, a true, well-deserved adventure holy land!