Chapter 144 Melting Clouds

"Screech!"

A filthy, dark-brown wooden club smashed against the surface of the iron pot, adding another small dent to a deformed bottom that had already endured countless blows.

Fortunately, the club was made of ordinary wood and the swing lacked real force. The pot, freshly taken off the stove, managed to hold its shape.

"Hold on! Everyone hold the line!"

"The adventurers from Rivervale Town will be here any second! Just hold on a few more minutes, and we'll all survive!"

"For the village, for your wives and children, hold them back!"

The old man's voice, weathered by time, had long since gone hoarse. Sweat soaked his clothes. His stamina was utterly spent; just standing upright took every ounce of strength he had left.

Yet as the village chief of Emerald Creek Village, the stooped old man remained on the most dangerous front line, cheering on the villagers fighting the goblins.

His youth spent serving in the Kingdom Army had taught him the vital importance of morale and formation.

Because of this, even though their defensive line had been obliterated by the Bugbear and the goblins had bypassed their trenches and traps, the village chief continued to lead a large number of villagers in a fighting retreat. They drew the attention of a massive horde pouring into the village, buying precious time for the other residents to escape.

In truth, the old man never expected those passing adventurers to risk their lives for a strange village, nor did he believe for a second that a group of poorly equipped farmers could handle an adult Bugbear.

In reality, the dozens of goblins directly in front of them had already pushed the villagers into a desperate corner.

But he still refused to give up.

The thought that holding out for just one more second might allow another villager to escape brought an inexplicable surge of strength to his heart, propping up his aging, crumbling body.

Of course, he could have just ignored everyone, turned around, and fled.

With the prestige he had accumulated over the years, a few random excuses would have easily convinced the honest villagers to escort him safely away from the front line.

But if he actually did that, the formation they were fighting so hard to maintain would instantly collapse. The fleeing villagers would scatter like a flock of sheep hunted by wolves, completely defenseless against the savage goblins.

"Ah!"

An agonized scream suddenly rang out from the front.

A middle-aged man in heavily patched clothes fell backward into the dirt, his face twisted in pain.

His right arm was bent at a grotesque angle, clearly snapped by a massive blow.

A large iron pot lay at his feet, completely smashed open with a gaping hole in its bottom.

The defensive formation, already trembling under the goblin assault, instantly tore open.

The goblins' high-pitched, excited shrieks spiked in volume as they scrambled over each other, swarming toward the breach.

The last line of defense was on the verge of complete collapse.

A resolute light suddenly flashed in the village chief's eyes. A burst of strength that absolutely did not belong to a man of his age erupted from his frail body.

He snatched up a pitchfork from the ground, ready to throw his life away to plug the gap.

And right at this critical juncture...

A sharp whistling sound tore through the air from overhead.

The old man continued stepping forward, but his head instinctively tilted up, eyes squinting at the sky.

Set against a gloomy sky thick with leaden clouds, shrouded by a silver curtain of rain, a human figure plummeted downward, blurred by the sheer speed of his fall.

He seemed somewhat familiar...

The old man had never interacted with this person, nor did he know his name.

What truly made the village chief recognize him was the sharp, iron-gray glint that almost blended perfectly with the rain.

"Isn't that the adventurer who was with 'Greenblood' Adeline earlier? How—"

"Boom!!!"

In the next second, a blast wave rattled his eardrums like an explosion, accompanied by a splatter of flying goblin limbs that interrupted his thoughts.

Xia Nan had not slowed down.

After manipulating his own gravity to leap high into the air, he didn't use [Gravity Control] to weaken the earth's pull and reduce his fall damage as he had done before.

Instead, he carefully controlled the area of effect, slightly increasing his weight to maximize the impact of his landing.

Since it was his first time trying this, he was exceptionally cautious, afraid of causing unnecessary damage to his own body.

In reality, Xia Nan had underestimated the effects of [Tidal Stabilization]'s passive fall-damage reduction, along with his newly enhanced physical constitution after advancing in class.

Crashing into the goblin pack like a missile, he stomped a goblin's head into a bloody mist beneath his thick leather boots. The resulting shockwave sent the surrounding monsters flying.

His legs, planted firmly on the ground and the crushed corpses, felt absolutely no discomfort.

He was clearly still far from his limit.

While silently gauging his current physical strength against the goblins swarming toward him like a tide, Xia Nan suddenly focused his gaze, a flash of gray light darting through the depths of his dark eyes.

The vibrant, colorful world instantly faded into pure black and white.

Although it was far less detailed than the microscopic view he had experienced during his class advancement, it still revealed the dense, ripple-like gravitational waves flowing through the surrounding space.

[Heart-Guided Vision]

Type: Feat Effect:

1. Greatly increases gravity affinity 2. Perceive gravitational radiation (Active)

Description:

Under the radiation of gravitational waves, you are like a fish in water.

Note:

"Space—is warping. Time—will also stagnate. I—witness eternity."

—Star-Weaver, Epoch, Primordial Time Dragon, Zechariah. Having obtained the ability barely tens of minutes ago, Xia Nan had not yet fully grasped the exact functions of the [Heart-Guided Vision] feat before attempting to use it in battle.

As for its specific effects—

He found it hard to describe.

He only felt that under this bizarre, black-and-white perspective, the gravitational waves in the space around him became much clearer, making his use of [Gravity Control] far easier and less strenuous.

With a gentle downward press of his sword tip, the surrounding circle of Green-Skinned Goblins wailed and fell to their knees in the dirt.

[Spinning Slash]!

An iron-gray arc of light flashed and vanished.

Severed limbs and decapitated heads instantly flew into the air.

As he pondered, the surface of the Decapitating Longsword in Xia Nan's hand was suddenly coated in a layer of ochre-red light.

The hue was similar to the "Deflection Field" of the Deathline ring, but the energy itself was far more condensed, looking like a series of constantly shifting and flowing runes.

This was the sole combat technique granted to him after advancing to the "Meteor Blade Hunter" class:

[Gravity Etching].

Unlike his previous two feats, its ability and effects were quite simple and easy to understand.

It added force field damage to his attacks.

3/3 (can be used 3 times consecutively under normal conditions), recharging one use every six hours.

"Boom!"

The blade tore through the goblin's fragile flesh, and the condensed, rune-like red light on the sword's surface violently detonated.

To test the combat technique, Xia Nan had intentionally lowered the angle of his slash, shifting his aim from the neck down to the waist.

Under the effects of [Gravity Etching], the ochre-red force field energy erupted like a miniature firework. It almost instantly swallowed the goblin's pelvis, torso, and half of its shoulder.

Only its head and limbs were left, sent flying away by the energy wave like broken toy blocks tossed aside.

'Hmm—single-target damage, the effect is pretty good,' Xia Nan thought.

Naturally, the exact lethal potential of [Gravity Etching] couldn't be fully tested on these frail goblins.

But from that single strike alone, he could roughly estimate that this combat technique was hardly any weaker than his [Spinning Slash], which had already been trained to Lv5.

Of course, in comparison, the latter could be used endlessly as long as his stamina held out, and it allowed for wide-area attacks.

The former, however, was limited to three uses.

Once all three were exhausted, he would have to wait eighteen hours for it to fully recharge.

'I suppose it counts as a minor trump card I can use frequently in battle.'

As he considered this, a sudden spark of inspiration crossed his mind.

He recalled his trick of alternating between [Fang Hunt] and [Spinning Slash]. The core effect of [Gravity Etching] was merely appending extra damage to an attack, which didn't conflict at all with [Spinning Slash] or even [Fang Hunt].

Did that mean it could also be combined with the other two combat techniques, a true "1+1+1," unleashing the power of all three skills in a single instant?

Xia Nan's mind stirred, firmly memorizing this idea.

His body shifted. The howl of a wolf echoed through the air before abruptly dissipating.

Glancing at the villagers a short distance away, then sweeping his gaze over the numerous goblins still lingering in the area, he dismissed the thought of testing it on the spot.

After all, he had just acquired his Class Level. He wasn't even proficient with his core class ability, [Gravity Control], yet.

If combining all three combat techniques triggered some unforeseen reaction that accidentally injured the villagers, or disrupted his plan to clear out the remaining goblins and caused the battlefield situation to spiral out of control, that would be bad.

It was better to be cautious. There was no rush; he could slowly experiment and train once they returned to Rivervale Town.

Reining in his wandering thoughts, his heart—which had been fluttering with excitement at becoming a Class Holder—gradually settled back into calmness.

"Squelch."

The longsword in his hand swept out once again.

Blood sprayed.

Three bald goblin heads spun through the air in front of him, separated from their shoulders.

The dark gray clouds churned and rolled, but their edges appeared slightly fluffy, letting a few brilliant golden rays of sunlight bleed through.

The silver curtain of rain that blanketed the world had grown sparse. The raindrops pattered down lightly, no longer carrying the fierce, torrential momentum from earlier. It was obvious the storm would soon stop completely.

The battle did not last much longer.

Having obtained a Class Level and advanced to a [Meteor Blade Hunter], Xia Nan—even at the absolute baseline of Lv1—found that chopping off a goblin's head was hardly more difficult than kicking a stray dog to death by the roadside.

[Spinning Slash], [Fang Hunt], [Gravity Control]—

No longer holding back to test his new abilities, Xia Nan focused purely on killing, turning into a veritable green-skin harvesting machine.

Not a single goblin could survive for more than two seconds under the flashes of his blade.

Wherever he passed, only scattered chunks of goblin corpses remained.

Sweeping and purging, he meticulously checked every house and thatched shed to ensure nothing was missed.

In just tens of minutes, not a single green-skin could be seen anywhere in Emerald Creek Village.

"Tsk, tsk... is this a Class Holder?"

Holding a blood-soaked cloth sack filled with goblin ears, Abi stared ahead at the open area—an eighty-foot radius that had been completely leveled—his jaw dropping in sheer astonishment.

Even Adeline, standing beside him wrapped heavily in bandages, clicked her tongue in awe at the sight.

Having spent so many years in Rivervale Town, it was naturally impossible for her to have never seen a Class Holder before.

In fact, veteran adventurers suspected of having Class Levels could be seen drinking and bragging almost every night inside the White Titmouse tavern next to the Adventurers' Association.

However, to the town's low-ranking adventurers, that was an entirely different social circle—one they could see, but could never hope to touch.

Adeline, who exclusively took goblin-related quests, had never partied up with a Class Holder.

Therefore, although she had heard others talk about their incredible feats of strength, she had never actually witnessed them with her own eyes.

She never expected that today, during this seemingly ordinary quest, a "Class Holder" would manifest before her eyes in such a manner.

A complex expression surfaced on her filthy, goblin-blood-stained face as she turned her head, her gaze drifting toward Xia Nan, who was wiping down his longsword on the other side of the field.

The commotion had been so massive, and the changes to his body were so obvious.

Xia Nan hadn't tried to hide the fact that he had become a Class Holder during the battle from the two of them.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain how he—who had been battered and barely holding on against the Red-Mane Bugbear's attacks just moments ago—had managed to turn the tide in mere seconds and crush the monster's head.

In truth, there was nothing worth hiding. He wasn't the protagonist of some novel from his past life, feared by various factions and forced to conceal his strength against constant looming threats.

Besides, once they returned to Rivervale Town, he might still need to ask Adeline for information regarding Class Holders and the Association Second Floor.

Of course, he didn't mention the specific, minute details of the battle to them.

For example—the strange device that had abruptly materialized in the center of the battlefield because of the [Coin of Destiny], helping him upgrade his previously slow-progressing [Gravity Compression] into [Gravity Control]...

The "Titan Umbilical Cord" Type II - Gravity Core.

Thinking of this, Xia Nan's mind drifted back to the fleeting glimpse he had caught earlier—the item information panel he had accidentally triggered due to his highly concentrated focus during the fight.

"Superconducting rings, curvature parameters, spacetime continuity, stationmaster..."

These strange terms clearly did not belong in the fantasy world he knew.

He also recalled the Gravity Core's completely silver-white body, its smooth surface and textures radiating a faint blue luminescence—an appearance steeped in high-tech sci-fi aesthetics that sharply contrasted with everything around it.

For some reason, the images that flashed through Xia Nan's mind were the pitch-black cavern coiled with serpents, the blindingly golden gourd Dewdrop, and the wooden sword [Azure Pine] strapped to his back, which clearly originated from another world.