10: Chapter 10, The Slaughter Feast Begins

As Lin Mo walked towards the sentry post, two soldiers on duty looked over at the same time.

It was already completely dark; going out at this hour, was he looking for death?

"Name, post, reason for going out," the soldier on the left said.

"Lin Mo, Mobile Bait Post. I'm going to familiarize myself with the surrounding terrain."

Lin Mo's answer was watertight.

The two soldiers glanced at each other and said nothing.

The older one on the right stared at Lin Mo for a full five seconds.

"The Battalion Commander said I could move freely to familiarize myself with the environment," Lin Mo said calmly.

The older soldier fell silent for a few more seconds; Lin Mo could feel him weighing the options...

Should he stop this reckless student, or stay out of it and let this unlucky guy from the bait post fend for himself?

"Be back before 12 o'clock. Be careful; the camp won't arrange a rescue if you run into danger."

"Understood."

Lin Mo nodded and passed through the checkpoint.

As he stepped out of the outer gate, he could still hear the faint conversation behind him:

"Are we really letting him out?"

"What else? He's from the bait post... he has to go out sooner or later. There's not much difference between dying early or late."

"A pity, he looks like a good kid."

"Fat lot of good that does. The beasts in the mountains specialize in eating good kids..."

Lin Mo didn't stop, walking along the dirt road outside the camp toward the forest to the north.

He had observed earlier that the vicinity of the camp must have been cleared several times already, as there were no traces of fierce beasts at all. Only that forest to the north might have fierce beasts hiding inside.

The terrain north of the camp gradually rose, and the dirt road soon turned into a gravel path.

Lin Mo stopped here and crouched down to observe the ground.

"There are claw prints!"

"Three-toed!"

"And this smell—"

Lin Mo touched the soil on the ground and sniffed it carefully.

"It's a Web-clawed Beast!"

"It belongs to the unranked fierce beasts, just right for practice!"

Lin Mo stood up and followed the tracks deeper.

Three minutes later, he saw his first prey.

The thing was lying on a fallen tree trunk, about 1.5 meters long, covered in wart-like protrusions, its mouth split to the roots of its ears, revealing fine, needle-like teeth. Most striking were the wide webs on its forelimbs—it was indeed a Web-clawed Beast.

This Web-clawed Beast also spotted Lin Mo. It slowly raised its upper body, emitting a "gurgle-gurgle" low growl from its throat.

Lin Mo's eyes were full of excitement as he immediately charged forward with his saber.

At the same time, the Web-clawed Beast moved.

It sprang from the tree trunk with unexpected agility, its forelimb claws lunging straight for Lin Mo's face!

For an ordinary student, this pounce would be enough to cause panic.

But Lin Mo simply stepped aside.

A simple side step, the timing so precise it was as if it had been practiced thousands of times.

The Web-clawed Beast lunged past his side, its sharp claws brushing against his lapel and striking empty air.

At the moment they crossed paths, Lin Mo drew his saber.

"Clang—"

The blade sliced into the Web-clawed Beast's flank, cutting through its leathery skin and emerging from under the ribs on the other side.

"Pfft!"

Blood splattered.

The Web-clawed Beast let out a shrill shriek and collapsed to the ground, its internal organs gushing out from the massive wound.

It struggled to get up, but its hindquarters were no longer responding.

Lin Mo stepped forward and delivered a finishing blow, his movements clean and efficient.

[Ding~ Killed unranked fierce beast Swamp Webbed-Claw Beast, slaughter value +1]

[Ding~ Basic Saber Technique proficiency +1]

[Ding~ Congratulations to the host for completing the achievement — First Blood, achievement points +1]

Pale blue translucent text quickly appeared at the edge of his vision and then faded away.

Lin Mo flicked the blood off his blade, crouched down to check the corpse, and confirmed it was dead!

"Too weak."

"I need some more substantial prey!"

He whispered to himself.

After going deeper for a while, the traces of fierce beasts significantly increased.

Lin Mo successively encountered over a dozen solitary fierce beasts: Cave Badgers, Spine-backed Lynxs, Venomous Decay Spiders...

However, his luck wasn't great; those he encountered were all unranked fierce beasts, dispatched with a single strike.

His slaughter value slowly increased to 12 points, while his Basic Saber Technique proficiency rose by more than twenty points, and his Basic Movement Technique proficiency increased by over thirty points.

Until Lin Mo stepped into a clearing in the forest.

Three pairs of eerie green eyes lit up in the jungle.

They were wolves, but different from ordinary wild wolves.

They were larger, with shoulder heights nearly a meter, and their fur was grayish-black with many festering and oozing sores, emitting a strong stench of decay.

"This is..."

"A Rotten Wolf!"

Lin Mo finally felt a hint of interest.

Although Rotten Wolves were still unranked fierce beasts, their strength was very close to Tier 1. Moreover, because they were pack animals, they moved in groups of at least three to five, occasionally even forming packs of hundreds.

The three Rotten Wolves fanned out, emitting low growls from their throats.

They didn't attack immediately but kept testing him, seemingly wanting to take down this human, who looked difficult to deal with, at the lowest possible cost.

Lin Mo gripped his hilt tightly and didn't strike first either.

He wanted to practice his saber skills.

The first Rotten Wolf moved, circling around and pouncing from the left.

Lin Mo slid back, his blade slashing diagonally, leaving a shallow wound on the Rotten Wolf's forelimb.

The Rotten Wolf retreated in pain, while the other two pounced simultaneously.

Lin Mo's figure flickered as he slipped through the pincer attack of the two Rotten Wolves. The saber's light fluttered like butterfly wings, leaving several wounds on each of the two wolves.

The wounds weren't fatal, but the pain would enrage them.

Sure enough, the injured Rotten Wolves became more frenzied, their attacks growing more frequent.

Lin Mo drifted through the pack's lunges. Every dodge precisely timed the gaps between attacks, and every strike was just right—not fatal, but always providing effective containment.

[Basic Saber Technique proficiency +1]

[Basic Movement Technique proficiency +1]

[Basic Saber Technique proficiency +1]

...

The notification sounds rang in his ears one after another.

Lin Mo's mind was completely immersed in the battle, feeling every movement of his body and every trajectory of his blade.

He constantly adjusted the trajectory of his strikes and optimized his dodge timing, integrating the theories learned at school with his physical instincts.

The battle lasted for three or four minutes.

It wasn't long, but the three Rotten Wolves were already covered in wounds, their movements noticeably sluggish.

Lin Mo knew it was time to end it.

He took a deep breath, and his figure suddenly accelerated!

Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash!!

Three flashes of saber light lit up almost simultaneously, their speed exceeding the limits of the naked eye's perception.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Three wolf heads flew into the air, blood erupting into the sky like fountains.

The headless corpses stumbled a few steps before crashing to the ground.

[Killed unranked fierce beast Rotten Wolf ×3, slaughter value +15]

[Aurora Flowing Cloud Slash proficiency +1]

[Basic Movement Technique proficiency +45]

[Basic Saber Technique proficiency +36, level increased to Lv6]

...