Chapter 423: Shirleyas's Service

The night grew deeper.

Lin Mo had returned to his room early. Since he couldn't meditate or expand his portable space, he felt somewhat bored, so he lay on the bed flipping through some books. He had already read many books about the continent's customs and landscapes and was getting a bit tired of them, so now he was reading stories compiled by bards.

In other words, those knight novels.

To be fair, they were actually quite interesting. Although they certainly couldn't compare to the richly detailed, diverse novels of Blue Star, the bards had the advantage of being locals, possessing some strengths that Blue Star authors lacked—for example, their portrayal of the world's social nuances. For these seasoned bards, this was an incredibly simple task.

Compared to pure imagination, these depictions were clearly more authentic and detailed, so although the content and highlights were somewhat lacking, overall they were still fairly entertaining.

After reading for a while, Lin Mo tucked a bookmark between the pages and looked somewhat puzzled toward the direction of the door.

Normally, at this hour, someone should have already arrived.

Although it was still a few minutes short of the actual agreed-upon time, generally speaking, no one would be exactly punctual; they would usually come a bit early.

Even Sherfilia, with her relatively rigid way of thinking, was no exception.

And she had a very good reason—to attend to her master's bath.

Today happened to be Sherfilia and Finnie's early shift. Logically, Sherfilia should have knocked and entered five minutes ago to prepare in the bathroom and adjust the water temperature.

Yet she hadn't.

This was clearly somewhat abnormal.

And as time drew closer, Lin Mo grew more and more confused.

No one had ever been late for this before...

Just as the time was about to reach exactly eight o'clock and he was about to get up and go check, the sound of knocking finally came from outside the door.

"Come in."

Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

Putting the knight novel he had been reading back on the bookshelf, he said without turning his head, "Go prepare some hot water first."

</path>ReadBestsellers

"Yes, my esteemed master."

The reply from behind made Lin Mo freeze mid-motion. Turning to look, he realized that the visitor was not Sherfilia but Shirleyas.

Before he could voice his confusion, Shirleyas walked straight into the bathroom.

Sherfilia had already taught her everything without reservation and in great detail. Although Shirleyas's ability in household chores was quite terrible, she wasn't so bad that she couldn't even handle something as simple as preparing hot water. After going through thousands of practice sessions, she was now very proficient, able to precisely adjust the hot water to Lin Mo's favorite temperature.

Shirleyas was immensely proud of this, while Sherfilia had no idea what she was so proud about.

Although Lin Mo was somewhat surprised, he didn't dwell on it for long and soon walked into the bathroom.

By then, Shirleyas had already made all the preparations and was waiting for him.

Seeing Lin Mo walk in, Shirleyas immediately stepped forward and helped him remove his clothes with fairly nimble movements.

How to put it... Since Sherfilia had always been the one handling these daily tasks, Lin Mo felt a bit unaccustomed.

To be fair, by Shirleyas's standards, she had really done quite well. It was clear she had put in a lot of effort. But compared to Sherfilia, there was still a considerable gap.

After all, Sherfilia herself had an exceptionally high talent for maid work, and she had also been by Lin Mo's side for quite some time, making her very skilled.

Moreover, Lin Mo had grown accustomed to Sherfilia's service. Even if Shirleyas could reach the same level as Sherfilia, he would still find it strange at first.

Of course, these things weren't too important.

Whether it was good or bad, as long as it was passable.

In comparison, Shirleyas also had qualities that Sherfilia lacked.

And these qualities were something no amount of effort could change.

That was her outrageously good figure!

When Lin Mo first met this maid, he had been immediately drawn to her stunning body curves. But at that time, he and Nuolun's master-servant pair weren't close yet, his strength wasn't as good as theirs, and he didn't know their attitude toward him and Finnie, so he was a bit cautious for a while and naturally didn't dare to look too much.

Now, there was no need for those concerns. He could freely and boldly admire, or even...

Lin Mo wasn't the type to be very restrained—he used to be, but now, after a long period of "training," the girls had completely changed his perspective.

Shirleyas's movements stiffened for a moment, then she continued with her work.

"Please allow me to attend to your bath, my proud master."

Shirleyas finally finished her task with difficulty, then looked at Lin Mo with utmost reverence, her eyes full of submission and daze.

This didn't quite match her usual demeanor... or rather, the image she had previously shown in front of Lin Mo.

But Lin Mo wasn't very surprised by this.

Shirleyas's loyalty was in no way inferior to Sherfilia's, and she was even more stubborn and fanatical.

This was evident from her previous attitude toward Nuolun.

During this time, while doing maid work by Lin Mo's side, she had also shown a more devout and humble attitude than Sherfilia.

This wasn't to say Sherfilia wasn't loyal enough; it was just a matter of personality.

Sherfilia had always had a somewhat twisted personality. Even after serving by Lin Mo's side for a long time, she would still often say some tsundere, sharp-tongued words at many times.

Especially during some special moments.

But Shirleyas was different.

She had a very serious personality. On ordinary days, she appeared as a stern and valiant warrior, but when she applied that serious personality and attitude to other things, the behavior she displayed would seem... somewhat exaggerated.

Simply put, Sherfilia was like a tsundere cat, while Shirleyas was more like a loyal dog.

When Shirleyas demonstrated the bath-serving techniques she had learned from Sherfilia, Lin Mo soon relaxed.

Today was time uniquely belonging to Shirleyas.

One night passed in a flash.

That night, Lin Mo gained a great deal.

One finger skill.

Now, the level of [Life Contract] had also risen to a fairly high tier, reaching level 5. Its effects had improved significantly compared to when he first obtained this skill.

So the speed at which he gained attributes and skills through this skill had also become much faster than before.

This was also the important reason why Nuolun, the main course, had to be pushed back a bit.

Although Nuolun's mana attribute certainly wasn't as high as Lin Mo's, the skills obtained from her could potentially increase the base mana attribute.

But with Shirleyas, there was no such concern. Shirleyas's profession was Swift Warrior, so the skills obtained from her increased Strength and Agility, maybe with a bit of Constitution thrown in. These had little impact.

Lin Mo had some "margin for error" in these attributes.

Similarly, what Shirleyas gained from Lin Mo was much more.

In addition to several skills, she also received a considerable number of base attributes.

Back when they first met Nuolun and Shirleyas, Shirleyas's strength was still quite advanced, reaching Transcendent Level.

But now, Lin Mo's progress was simply too exaggerated. Shirleyas's Transcendent-level strength had fallen far behind his. And the greater the attribute gap, the more attributes could be obtained through the Life Contract, and the faster the speed.

Those few hours yesterday directly raised Shirleyas's level by one.

Shirleyas was also quite shocked by this. Although Lin Mo had already told them about the Life Contract during this time, hearing about it and experiencing it firsthand were still vastly different.

In any case, after that night, the admiration and reverence in Shirleyas's eyes when she looked at Lin Mo had grown even stronger.

Lin Mo even felt that the way she looked at him seemed somewhat "burning."

He was very familiar with this kind of look. He often saw it in Ellie and Flora, but Shirleyas was clearly even more intense than them.

He felt like life was going to be even harder from now on.

Shirleyas helped Lin Mo finish washing up and changing clothes with clearly still-awkward movements. When they arrived at the living room, Lena had already prepared breakfast.

Everything was ready. They returned to the carriage. By now, they were also very close to the Endless Snowfield.

Lin Mo stepped outside the carriage and looked into the distance. He could already see a vast expanse of white.

This was the northernmost part of the continent. The temperature was very low. Although they hadn't yet entered the snowfield, the temperature had already dropped below zero.

But Lin Mo didn't feel cold at all. On the contrary, it was very comfortable.

This wasn't because of his physique, but because the bloodline of the Ice Dragon King flowed within him.

Forget a mere sub-zero temperature; even at two hundred degrees below zero, it would still be a "livable" temperature for him.

But others weren't so lucky. Although everyone's physique was now decent enough that they wouldn't get sick from the cold, they still put on cotton jackets to block the cold wind.

Lin Mo looked at the seemingly endless snowfield in the distance. Such a monotonous scene could easily make one feel depressed.

But as long as he looked at the girls by his side, those faint negative emotions would immediately vanish.

"Mr. Lin Mo, we'll be there soon."

From the other carriage beside them, a member of the Association reminded him.

Lin Mo nodded and looked ahead along the road. He could indeed see a place resembling a village. That was the temporary gathering point established by the Adventurers' Association outside the snowfield.

In this gathering point lived many adventurers. According to incomplete statistics, the number was at least over 100,000. Among these people, there were almost no bottom-tier adventurers. Their strength was at least level 3 to 5. More than half were Bronze-rank adventurers. There were also many Silver- and Gold-level adventurers, and even several Epic-level adventurers were permanently stationed here.

After all, the snowfield before them was far too vast. It contained a large number of magical creatures and various resources. Although in terms of distribution density, it was far inferior to the Barbarian Forest in the south or adventurer holy lands like Nasadok Dungeon, precisely for this reason, the value of magical creature materials and various natural treasures in the Endless Snowfield was much higher than elsewhere.

This was the so-called scarcity increases value.

Especially some irreplaceable materials that could only be found in this snowfield and couldn't be obtained anywhere else.

Moreover, there were many secret realms of various sizes within this snowfield. Some were old, and many new ones were emerging.

Although those high-level large secret realms had nothing to do with most ordinary adventurers—they didn't have the strength to explore such realms, and these secret realms were often quickly contested and controlled by major powers—when it came to some newly discovered small secret realms, they could still get a "piece of the meat."

Therefore, in this gathering point, some adventurer teams were keen on this, specializing in trying to find small secret realms that hadn't been discovered on the snowfield.

Once found, they would directly enter for concentrated exploration. There was a chance they could make a big profit. If they were lucky enough to accidentally discover a previously undiscovered large secret realm, even if they couldn't enter and explore it themselves, they could sell this intelligence to those major powers and get a decent reward.

Led by several members of the Adventurers' Association, Lin Mo and the others walked into this large adventurer gathering point.

Like other places where adventurers gathered, this place looked relatively crude compared to Nasadok Town. After all, Nasadok Town was within the Empire's territory, surrounded by many other imperial cities, making material transport and town construction relatively convenient.

But this place was a relatively barren area. Within a radius of several hundred kilometers, there were no cities at all. Building such a gathering point in this kind of place was already no easy feat.

"After the long journey, Mr. Lin Mo and all the ladies can first go to the Adventurers' Association to rest. We'll also connect with the personnel here, do some preparatory work, and then set off into the Endless Snowfield in a little while."

Lin Mo nodded at this, but instead of choosing to go directly to the Association, he decided to take a walk around the area first, to see this gathering point that looked like a large village.

He had to admit, after all, this was a place gathered by many adventurers. Although it looked somewhat crude on the outside, a closer look revealed that the stall owners on the roadside had items of considerable value on display.

There were taverns on the street, but compared to the taverns in the cities, they did look rather shabby.

Lin Mo walked along the street for a while. Besides a large number of human adventurers, he also encountered quite a few half-orcs and dwarves.