Nuolun's rambling continued without pause; judging by her outward appearance, no one would ever guess she could utter such wild and unbridled words. Lin Mo was momentarily stunned. This girl was just too... unrestrained.
Well, to put it nicely, she was forthright. To put it bluntly, she was just crude.
But this wasn't the time to dwell on such matters. The situation hadn't fully stabilized yet, and as one of the few who had mastered Holy Light power, Lin Mo still had plenty of work ahead.
So, after a brief reply, he had Sherfilia take her away.
Compared to Nuolun, the "master," Sherfilia the maid was clearly more normal and reliable.
Maybe it was precisely because she had grown up following a "divine being" like Nuolun that she had developed such a steady personality.
Lin Mo couldn't help thinking this.
Sherfilia nodded, bowed respectfully, and then led Nuolun away.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Lin Mo felt she had glanced at him when she turned around.
And that look... how should he put it? It was a bit strange.
He couldn't describe it exactly, but it was definitely odd.
But he didn't dwell on it. Soon enough, he cast aside that trivial matter, shifted his focus to the battlefield ahead, and quickly rushed toward another area where Dark Tide power had gathered.
At the same time, he used the Shadow Split skill to create clones, sending them to other directions. He could then use the same method as before, switching positions with his clones for rapid movement.
The cleanup work dragged on for nearly another day.
After all, the entire battlefield was enormous. Although the goblins had fallen into chaos after the Gnome Emperor was sealed and their command structure collapsed, turning into scattered grains of sand, there were still billions of goblins. At that scale, even fleeing took an incredibly long time, and they still caused considerable trouble along the way.
Even more critical was the Dark Tide power. Although the Gnome Emperor had only left this trouble as a final nuisance before being sealed, the sheer number of goblins had allowed a massive amount of Dark Tide power to multiply in that brief window.
The real problem was that only three people could actually handle and purify the Dark Tide. The other experts could only help control the situation. And among those three, both Lin Mo and the Holy Son had depleted most of their Holy Light power earlier, while Princess Lily wasn't strong enough and had very little Holy Light power in her to begin with.
But regardless, after a full day of effort, they finally managed to deal with all the Dark Tide.
And so, this massive war finally came to an end, with the matter resolved reasonably well.
Although considerable costs had been paid along the way, that was the nature of war. Compared to the enemy they had faced, such losses were minimal.
However, even though the war had ended, the whole affair was far from over.
After all, the powerful Dark Tide power, along with the Gnome Emperor, had only been temporarily sealed.
Once the seal failed, they would rise again.
Moreover, due to the unfavorable situation at the time, the seal was a rushed last resort, so it couldn't achieve the expected results.
According to the original plan, based on the calculations of the little elven priestess, Lin Mo should have been able to seal both the Dark Tide power and the Gnome Emperor for up to five years. But since the seal was performed under such pressure, it was hard to say how long it would actually hold.
Because the little elven priestess hadn't been able to leave detailed data, they could only guess based on limited experience.
After a long discussion among the many magic-oriented experts, the final conclusion was that it probably wouldn't exceed two years.
That was an extremely short amount of time.
In two years, even if they went all out in their preparations, how much could they really accomplish?
Two years would be enough to train many soldiers, but the effect those soldiers could have was ultimately very limited.
When the time came, the real solution would have to come from the powerful experts.
But for professionals, two years simply wasn't enough to make significant progress.
For young geniuses, two years of growth would only allow them to rise a few levels at most. And for experts who had already reached Transcendent Level or even Heroic Realm, they might not even be able to advance a single level.
Even more troublesome was that completely eradicating the Dark Tide required Holy Light power.
But those who could wield Holy Light power were so scarce...
Throughout the long history, the Church had always been searching for such people. Especially in recent years, as the Dark Tide gradually began to stir, the Church's efforts had increased many times over. Yet even so, the talents they had discovered were still very limited.
Therefore, although the war had temporarily ended and a series of celebrations would follow, for those at the top who truly needed to think about these issues, it was hard to feel happy.
Of course, Lin Mo wasn't among them.
After learning that the seal could hold for nearly two years, he had already stopped viewing the Dark Tide here as any real threat.
If the seal really could last two years, or even just one...
That was enough time for him to grow to a height others couldn't imagine. By then, whether it was the Gnome Emperor or the sealed Dark Tide, they would only be speed bumps in his way.
During the subsequent cleanup, Lin Mo also gained some skill proficiency. But since the skills he had left were mostly high-tier, and their levels were already quite high, he didn't gain many basic attribute points, and his level didn't change.
After this, he would need to quickly find a batch of new low-tier skills.
To maintain such fast leveling speed, he needed enough skills.
But besides the number of skills, the way to gain proficiency was also crucial.
Through this war, Lin Mo had come to understand one thing: the fastest way to farm proficiency was undoubtedly to participate in large-scale wars.
Before this war, Lin Mo was still very far from the Heroic Realm. But now, he had to consider controlling the levels of a few high-tier professions to let the slower Knight profession catch up.
However, such large-scale wars were rare and hard to come by. So, the next best option was to go to large, high-level adventure zones.
The proficiency gained from Magical Creatures at the Heroic Realm was astonishing. Especially if that proficiency went to low-tier skills, it could even result in a single creature maxing out the skill...
"Lin Mo! Lin Mo!"
Ellie's voice came from the side. The little wolf-girl trotted over to him. "What are you spacing out for? Everyone's waiting for you! We're about to head out!"
Lin Mo smiled and ruffled her hair.
He would leave these matters for later. For now, after fighting for so long, it was time to enjoy himself.
...
The follow-up cleanup on the battlefield had nothing to do with Lin Mo. That was for the officials of the Roxez Empire to worry about.
As for the Genius Gathering hosted by the elven race, due to all the twists and turns during the event, some participants had already withdrawn and left. For those who remained, the results still needed time to be tallied and verified, so the outcome wouldn't be announced anytime soon.
During this period, Lin Mo could take the chance to relax in the Roxez Empire, rest for a few days, spend more time with the girls, and also continue studying the Life Contract skill.
In this war, his level had risen significantly, so correspondingly, the room for improvement he could provide to them was also much greater.
And then there was Nuolun, waiting for him.
That arrogant little brat had finally fallen into his hands.
Tonight, the imperial palace of the Roxez Empire would host a grand banquet to celebrate this temporary victory.
The banquet was of the highest possible standard. Every faction, family, high-ranking officer, and adventurer who had participated in the war had received an invitation.
The elven race had also sent the Elven Princess and several elders as representatives.
As for the Oxivis Family, Nuolun would attend as the family's heir.
Lin Mo didn't really like large banquets like this. Too many people meant too much socializing.
To him, these places felt less like relaxing celebrations and more like "going to work."
But he had no choice. Even if it was just to get more skills, he had to attend, network with people from the major factions, and smooth things over for the future.
Connections like this were still very useful until his strength was enough to stand alone.
With the help of the reliable maid, Sherfilia, Lin Mo quickly changed into a proper outfit, boarded the luxurious carriage specially prepared by the empire, and headed straight for the palace.
Lin Mo arrived relatively late, though not late enough to be considered tardy. Most factions had chosen to arrive early and were already gathered in small groups, chatting away.
But as the carriage's curtains were drawn aside and Lin Mo stepped out, the venue quickly fell into a brief silence.
Then came the very situation Lin Mo had feared before arriving... nearly all the faction representatives, including the powerful adventurers and high-ranking officials and officers, all converged toward him.
Even before this war, Lin Mo's influence had already been enormous.
At the very beginning, many factions and geniuses had come specifically for his reputation.
If that was true then, it was even more so now.
In this war, the strength Lin Mo had displayed had thoroughly shocked these factions and nobles.
In truth, their evaluation and positioning of Lin Mo had already been high enough before this. They vaguely regarded him as the number one genius of the current generation, though it hadn't yet been confirmed.
But now... there was no need for confirmation at all.
Forget the current generation, even adding the previous generation, the result wouldn't be any different.
What kind of person had Heroic-level combat power before the age of twenty?
And it wasn't just ordinary Heroic-level. He was at least mid-stage Heroic Realm, maybe even late-stage!
At that age, with that kind of strength, the centuries-long debate over who was history's greatest genius had lost all suspense.
The few previous generation-defining geniuses who had competed for that title all looked dim in comparison.
He was someone destined to be recorded in history, to leave behind brilliant deeds!
Hadn't even the Holy Son of the Church been polite and respectful to him?
Lin Mo really hadn't expected Lyons to attend this kind of banquet either.
Based on his previously displayed personality, he probably didn't like such occasions... Or to put it more bluntly, the Holy Son Lyons simply didn't enjoy dealing with these nobles.
"I thought you wouldn't come," Lin Mo said, smiling and teasing after Lyons walked up to him, nodded, and greeted him.
"Didn't you come as well?"
Lyons responded with a smile to his words.
He acted very politely, which outsiders would find remarkable. But given the status of the person in front of him, it was still somewhat respectful and even humble. However, that was as they had agreed.
Lin Mo didn't like feeling too constrained, and after their discussions, they both felt that Lin Mo's identity shouldn't be revealed easily yet. So in public settings like this, Lyons would maintain the dignity befitting the Church's Holy Son.
After exchanging a few simple words with Lyons, Lin Mo went ahead to take his seat.
Once Lyons left, the other factions immediately swarmed in. Most were mid-sized factions.
Smaller factions basically hadn't participated in the war, so naturally, they couldn't get in. As for the major factions, they didn't need to show up specifically to make their presence known at times like this.
They would have plenty of time to interact with Lin Mo later when the banquet really started.
The mid-sized factions understood this very well. They knew that once the banquet officially began, they wouldn't get a chance, so they desperately tried to squeeze in now and get their faces seen.
Most of them were younger people, and there were quite a few girls...
The intentions of these factions and families were obvious.
Lin Mo felt somewhat embarrassed by this, but he understood. After all, he was always surrounded by a group of beautiful girls, so naturally, people tried to "give him what he likes."
Feeling the gazes from the girls behind him focusing on him, Lin Mo felt like needles were pricking his back. Under immense pressure, he could only politely keep turning down the approaching factions.
At least these factions were easy enough to refuse. But later, the major factions would require serious discussions and connections. Just thinking about it made Lin Mo feel a deep sense of helplessness...
He hoped it would end soon.
Chapter 412: After the War, the Banquet
11 min read