24-Skills Learned, Jaws Dropped!

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With a light squeeze, Su Mo crushed both skill scrolls. Instantly, a yellow and a white beam shot into his body.

As the light faded, two skill names finally appeared on his panel.

"Hahaha! I'm a skill guy now—no more mindless slashing!

Hahaha, check this out—Mountain Collapse!"

**Boom!**

He swung his Zhanmadao forward, unleashing a conical shockwave that rippled outward. The ground cracked inch by inch, stretching 20 meters before stopping.

After firing the skill, Su Mo's stamina dipped noticeably. With 87 constitution, he figured he could chain it eight times tops in a short burst.

But eyeing the damage he'd dealt, he felt it fell short.

Others might chase cone-shaped AoE for team play, but as a lone wolf, he craved wider coverage.

A circular blast—stand still, slash the ground, and wipe out everything around him—that's what he wanted!

After testing the first skill, he moved to the second: Devastating Strike!

A white glow flared over him, spiking his 1,008 strength to 3,024 in an instant.

One slash tore the earth apart, leaving a 300-meter-long, 100-meter-deep fissure before him.

Su Mo, plagued by output deficiency phobia, finally lifted his head high.

Next time he ran this instance, one hit could cripple the Furious Tusk Duke—or even kill it outright.

Using this on bosses? Pure bliss!

Tests done, he hefted the Zhanmadao in his left hand, the Duke's War Axe in his right, stashed the leather armor in his inventory, and slung the eight-meter tusk over his shoulder. Then he left the instance.

Outside, two hours had passed since Su Mo entered. The crowd that saw him go in had mostly written him off as dead, their chatter dying down.

Plenty of folks came and went—dying in instances wasn't rare, so attention had drifted.

But when Su Mo emerged—left hand with a blade, right with an axe, and an eight-meter tusk on his shoulder—the Boar Forest onlookers froze in shock.

An awakener hawking services by the roadside nearly got smacked by the tusk's tip. Stumbling back, he yelped, "W-What the hell is that?!"

"No clue—he just popped up. Did he come out of the instance?"

"Looks like an instance prop, but why's he not stashing it? Sure, it's long, but it'd fit, right?"

In their minds, anyone here was at least level 18 or 19—20 wasn't uncommon.

Past level 10, the one-cubic-meter system inventory expanded to 10 cubic meters—plenty for that tusk.

"He looks familiar…"

"You were just talking about him—that's the guy who soloed the Hell difficulty instance!"

The speaker paused, then shrieked, "He soloed Hell difficulty and made it out?!"

Heads whipped around from those who'd ignored the commotion.

"Who? Who soloed a Hell instance?!"

"No way—you're saying this kid cleared Hell-mode Boar Forest?!"

"He's in a Tianfu High uniform—this year's batch just awakened, right? A fresh awakener…"

"Shut it! Who says a uniform means fresh? Don't you know some—"

The voice dropped, whispering something in the other's ear. Realization dawned on their face.

"Holy crap, who's this badass soloing a Hell instance?!"

"That's the promotion instance Boar Forest! I hear Hell mode has a golden boss—some Wild Boar Duke with insane stats!"

"Is that for real? I've never even seen a golden boss!"

"You're asking me like I have! Want to see one? There—Hell difficulty. Go look yourself."

"You want me to face a golden boss? That's a death sentence!"

"Big shot, did you really clear Hell-mode Boar Forest?!"

"Bro, you picked Hell difficulty, right? I saw it clear as day!"

"Boss, take me with you! I'll pay 1 million to tag along for a Hell clear!"

…

Fresh out of the instance, Su Mo was dazed by the sudden clamor.

Once he sorted his thoughts, he roughly grasped the situation.

But he had no time for this crowd—he needed to offload his loot.

The leather armor could be sold, but it was small, fit in his inventory, no rush there.

The tusk and axe, though? Total hassle.

Ignoring everyone, he shouldered the giant tusk and headed for Tianfu City.

A throng trailed him, offering water or trying to wipe his sweat—all brushed off.

Su Mo marched on, the eight-meter tusk towering, a mob in his wake.

Barely a kilometer out, word of someone soloing Hell-mode Boar Forest spread like wildfire into Tianfu City.

At Tianfu High's gate, two white-haired elders and eight sharply dressed youths chatted with Principal Wang in the security booth.

A phone rang. One elder flashed an apologetic smile, pulled it out, and stepped aside to answer.

After the call, his face darkened briefly before softening into a grin as he turned to the other elder. "Well played, Old Lin—you've kept this quiet!"

Old Lin blinked, baffled. "Huh? Old Zhang, what're you on about? Spit it out—what'd I hide?"

"Still playing dumb? Pretty convincing, too! I just got word—

A kid in a Tianfu High uniform soloed Hell-mode Boar Forest!

If he's not from your Lin family, what, he's one of ours from the Zhangs?!"

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