Renn was born into a poor family.
Due to poverty, he had lived a life of irregular meals since childhood, often going hungry while helping with household chores and simple farm work.
Yet even so, he still had his own happiness.
His loving parents, and the life that came after him in this family - his younger sister Phili.
Phili was two years younger than him. Because their parents always had endless work to do, taking care of his sister became part of his life from the age of five or six.
Waking her up every day, teaching her to speak, watching over her while doing chores to prevent her from breaking the family's precious jars and pots. Convincing her to eat the barely edible rice bran porridge, carefully breaking the inedible black bread into small pieces for her...
During bedtime stories, he often fantasized about becoming a powerful adventurer, a valiant knight who could bring home soft, sweet white bread and creamy soup with meat slices every day.
He told these imagined adventure stories to Phili, assuring her their poverty wouldn't last forever. If they kept believing and working hard, one day they too could live comfortably like the wealthy lords.
But all these hopes for a better future were gradually crushed as he grew older, until they were completely shattered one afternoon a few days ago.
Fresh red bloodstains remained on the floor, and his vision seemed dyed red by them. Grabbing the family's only blunt axe, he chased for kilometers but ultimately failed to find any trace of those damned goblins. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel(ꜰ)ire.net
And now, his sister Phili finally reappeared before him.
Torn clothes, wounds covering her body, and a forcibly twisted ankle...
Her eyes were dull and unfocused, staring blankly at the ground, her faint breathing barely visible from the slight rise and fall of her chest.
When Renn looked again at the scattered white bones on the ground, something surged from his abdomen to his chest and finally erupted, overwhelming his entire mind.
Without the slightest hesitation, he roared and abandoned his current opponent, charging toward the muscular figure nearly half a meter taller than him.
Larry quickly snapped back to reality, kicking away the goblin before him as his mind raced.
Should they flee or stay?
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in that instant, leaving him indecisive.
Then a sword gleam flashed past as another charging goblin was decapitated, and Lin Mo's voice rang in his ears:
"Uncle Larry, Uncle Leo, go help Renn! I'll handle these goblins!"
That big guy clearly wasn't easy to deal with - defeating it quickly would be impossible. If they had to simultaneously face sneak attacks from other goblins, their chances of victory would be nearly zero.
The best approach was to stall the mutated goblin while eliminating the remaining ones as quickly as possible.
And among them, only Lin Mo could accomplish the latter.
Larry gave him a deep look, suddenly regaining remarkable calm: "Alright, we'll follow your plan... That mutated goblin sounds scary, but it's only about a head and a half taller than us. Maybe it's not as strong as it seems. If we attack together, we might actually take it down!"
"Exactly! At the end of the day, it's still just a goblin - same race as those fragile, cowardly green midgets!" Leo chimed in enthusiastically after exchanging glances with Larry.
"Charge!" Larry shouted, as if bolstering his own courage, rushing toward the mutated goblin alongside Leo.
Meanwhile, Lin Mo intercepted the three ordinary goblins they had been fighting earlier.
Including the one Renn had abandoned, four goblins remained on the battlefield.
They needed to eliminate them as quickly as possible!
Despite the critical situation, Lin Mo grew strangely calmer. Watching his opponents intently, he sidestepped a goblin's attack, grabbed its wrist, and twisted hard.
Though his strength wasn't exceptional, it still surpassed a goblin's. The creature screamed as its weapon fell, then Lin Mo hurled it into two other goblins.
In the next moment, Lin Mo dashed forward, his sword flashing as he beheaded the previously abandoned, severely injured goblin.
The three remaining goblins scrambled up, seemingly emboldened by the mutated goblin's presence, and attacked Lin Mo again instead of retreating.
Lin Mo coldly observed them, gripping his sword with both hands, focusing his breath and spirit.
For an instant, he seemed to see a fleeting line in his vision.
Tensing his legs, Lin Mo exploded forward, pushing his 6 points of agility to the limit. His sword moved like an extension of his arm, following that invisible line in a horizontal slash!
With a crisp sound cutting through air, the rusted sword swiftly reached the first goblin's neck. After slight resistance, an ugly green head flew upward.
The sword's momentum barely diminished as it completed a perfect arc, unleashing a magnificent spray of blood.
Time seemed to slow as crimson droplets scattered across the sky before falling...
"Comprehension Skill [Slash] obtained! Strength +1!"
As these words appeared in his vision, the three goblins' heads thudded to the ground simultaneously.
Delight flashed in Lin Mo's eyes. For ordinary adventurers, comprehending a skill meant surpassing most peers and gaining reliable means of survival - already a tremendous boon.
But for Lin Mo, it meant more.
A new skill meant its evolved versions, and more attribute points!
The two agility points' massive combat boost had already shown Lin Mo how powerful attributes could be.
Without exaggeration, those two agility points alone had increased his combat ability by over half!
Otherwise, with his previously untrained body, he could have performed only slightly better than the malnourished Renn at best.
But now wasn't the time for celebration.
Lin Mo took a deep breath to steady himself before turning to the other battle.
That mutated goblin looked fierce, but with three against one, they should at least stand a chance, right?
The next moment, Lin Mo's slight smile vanished completely.