The Siege

"Then what's in these secret realms?"

Compared with the cause of a secret realm's formation, that was the real key.

"Anything is possible."

Bern continued recalling the secrets he had once heard in taverns. "In the words of bards, the other side of a secret realm could hold dazzling, resplendent jewels, or it could be a hell of eternal damnation. Before anyone truly enters, no one can know."

"There are quite a few titled nobles in the kingdom who first made their fortunes from costly treasures or powerful scrolls obtained in secret realms."

Cody, at the side, added, "I've heard similar stories too. They say even the famous Sword Genius, Miss Eve, only rose so quickly from common birth and became the current top student of Kingdom Sword Academy because she once strayed into a secret realm and obtained an Epic Rank Sword Skill Scroll!"

"But in the end, that's only a rumor. Some people also say Eve is simply an extremely hardworking genius, and that rumor is nothing but a malicious smear against her talent and effort. Plenty of people believe both versions. As for the actual truth, I'm afraid only she herself knows..."

Bern glanced at Evan, whose face showed clear interest, and stepped on the brakes in time. "But compared with those widely circulated stories of people entering secret realms and rising to the heavens in a single step, the ones who enter or accidentally stray in and are never heard from again are the majority."

Survivorship bias.

Lin Mo nodded in understanding. Compared with those who had never managed to walk out of secret realms again, people were always more inclined to place their eyes on the lucky few, hoping they could have that same luck, only to then become the cold denominator in the statistics.

"The dangers within secret realms punish every person who looks down on them equally. Even someone once as powerful as the Legendary Adventurer Lorenz Varania entered a secret realm twenty years ago and never appeared again."

Calling it a disappearance was putting it nicely. After twenty years, even her bones had probably weathered and rotted away long ago.

"So, put away your greed, Evan. We cannot gamble with our lives on one tiny possibility."

The reason Bern said these words afterward, and brought up that Legendary Adventurer's "disappearance," was to warn the restless Evan and make him give up those unrealistic thoughts.

"I know, Uncle Bern."

Evan nodded a little unwillingly. He had already been an adventurer for almost two years, growing from an initial rookie into someone at the bottom rung.

Without skills, he would never be able to take another step forward. He would forever only be able to wrestle with Goblins and be an adventurer at the very, very bottom.

Young and reckless, unwilling to settle for plain mediocrity, he wanted to be like Uncle Bern, or even surpass him, become a professional, earn more money, and buy a beautiful big house for himself and Miriam...

Young people's excessive self-awareness and still-shallow experience always gave them an unfounded confidence.

Surely I won't be that unlucky, right? Maybe I'm the chosen one? This time will be different...

Yet it was often precisely when they held such thoughts that reality would deliver a heavy blow they would remember in their bones.

Fortunately, he was not, in the end, an unreasonable troublemaker. He could listen to Bern's advice, so he put away those fantasies and showed a somewhat forced smile.

Miriam lightly touched the back of his hand with her finger without leaving a trace, sending him warm comfort with her eyes.

Lin Mo likewise had no intention of entering this secret realm.

There were too many uncertain factors in such an unknown region. Just as Bern had said, they could not gamble on that tiny possibility.

Besides, possessing the Proficiency System, he did not need to take such a risk either. As long as he followed the proper steps, did missions, killed monsters, his strength would naturally continue to rise.

"Let's go. It's time to head out and look for the cat demons."

As Bern spoke, he took out the map and, based on his memory of the route they had taken, judged their approximate current position.

"Come to think of it, are there monsters in secret realms too?"

Lin Mo suddenly thought of something and asked Bern.

"Of course. According to those Archmages, the secret realms in our eyes are themselves parts of other worlds, so in the vast majority of secret realms, monsters exist. Some monsters on the continent today even originally came out of secret realms."

"In other words... secret realms are actually two-way?"

Lin Mo suddenly frowned, feeling a bad premonition.

"That's right..."

Bern finally confirmed their approximate location on the map. Sure enough, they had already entered the Deep Forest Area of Lorraine Forest.

But since they had only just entered, it was actually not much different from the outskirts.

He raised his head, noticed Lin Mo's grave expression, and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Lin Mo glanced at the Tattooed Cat Demon corpse on the ground. "When that cat demon tried to escape at the end just now, it seemed to be heading in the direction of the secret realm's entrance."

Bern immediately understood what he meant.

In other words, those two Tattooed Cat Demons might have run out from the secret realm.

At first, that did not seem like much, but...

"Do you remember? We chased them all the way here and barely encountered any monsters."

Lin Mo's voice was somewhat low. "At the time, we thought it was because this area was the territory of those two Tattooed Cat Demons, so other monsters didn't dare enter. But if they really did run out of the secret realm..."

"Then whose territory is this place, exactly?"

As his words fell, everyone felt a chill crawl up their spines.

It had already been two hours since sunrise. The temperature gradually rose, and the forest was utterly silent, without even the sound of birdsong.

A murderous atmosphere was quietly spreading.

"Rustle, rustle—"

When everything fell silent, faint rustling sounds finally drifted into their ears. Not just from one direction, but...

From all sides!

Under the cover of the tall grass, those green-skinned things had almost completely blended into their surroundings.

Goblins.

As an adventurer party with two experienced adventurers, plus Lin Mo, a newcomer of considerable ability, they should not have feared such weak monsters. They should even have been pleased that this trip's haul would now include a few more silver coins.

That was assuming the number of these half-human-height, ugly monsters had not reached such an absurd degree.

With just one glance, they could spot at least a dozen goblins closing in on them. As if sensing their vigilance as well, the goblins stopped hiding and openly walked out. Their total number exceeded a hundred.

If that were all, there might still have been a chance to break through the encirclement, or even win.

Goblins were, after all, extremely weak monsters... but Mutated Goblins were not.

Tall figures appeared within sight, looking especially out of place compared to their short kin.

Three whole Mutated Goblins! They were flanking them from different directions.

Lin Mo's gaze shifted to the Mutated Goblin directly in front of them.

He clearly remembered what the Mutated Goblin he had killed back then looked like. It had been a little more than twice as tall as an ordinary goblin, roughly around one meter ninety to two meters tall.

But the one before him...

Though it was still very far away, by comparing it to the goblins beside it, he could still clearly tell that it was a full two heads taller than the one he had seen before!

Regarding the issue of the harem tag: because I really do intend to write multiple female leads, I added it. Perhaps because the early part focuses more on the adventure story and laying out the worldbuilding, there has been too little related content, which has made it seem somewhat misleading.

Please rest assured, the female leads' roles will gradually increase later on. This is actually one of the areas I'm relatively good at, so I won't disappoint everyone going forward. I ask for your understanding.