Chapter 223 Tears of Spring Breath

"So it's meant for chumming the water, huh?"

Xia Nan's gaze swept over the text-heavy Attribute Panel in front of him, a rather odd expression on his face.

During their adventures, Cash and Veris had mentioned that magic items with practically useless effects and extremely harsh trigger conditions did exist in this world. Without knowing the exact details, a user might not trigger such an item once in their entire life.

But seeing it with his own eyes—a weapon that looked like a spear but was actually better suited for chumming the water, the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole]—he still found it hard to keep a straight face.

He only knew because he possessed the golden finger of the Attribute Panel, which was equivalent to having a supreme-grade Identify spell with infinite uses, zero cost, no quality limit, and zero cooldown.

That was the only reason he could uncover the stone spear's effects.

An ordinary person, or even a high-level adventurer, really might not have discovered anything special about it.

Xia Nan even suspected that Cash himself, the former owner of this equipment, had no idea about its true effects.

However, even if he knew the detailed attributes of the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole]...

It seemed... pretty useless?

The Misty Forest was located inland. Even the nearest coastline was a considerable distance away.

Xia Nan couldn't possibly spend dozens or even hundreds of days traveling to the sea just to fish, purely to let the stone spear fulfill its chumming purpose.

There were quite a few large lakes nearby, but the trigger condition for the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole]—a healthy, living cetacean creature—obviously couldn't be met in a lake.

The most useless of chicken ribs.

It held basically no practical value for him.

Of course, there was a bright side.

Although the effects of the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole] were obscure and its trigger conditions were harsh, it was still a proper piece of magic equipment.

In this world, the price of anything even remotely connected to "adventurers" or "Transcendent Tier" power would skyrocket exponentially.

Bearing the title of an "enchanted weapon" made the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole] far more valuable than selling it as an ordinary stone spear or some random collectible.

If he was lucky enough to find the right buyer—for instance, a fishing enthusiast with lacking skills who desperately needed to improve their "angling technique," eager for a catch or simply wanting to show off...

He might be able to sell it for an unimaginably high price.

An automatic chumming artifact that could last for six hours would surely be in high demand, right?

All in all, if the [Tide-Surge Lure Pole] really could be sold as magic equipment, this single item would be enough to cover his losses for this mission.

And Xia Nan's gains didn't stop there.

Barring any surprises, the most valuable and useful item of all was still waiting for him on the nearby meadow.

"Squelch."

His thick leather boots, caked in blood, mud, and grass clippings, left a deep footprint in the soft soil.

After the slaughter, his blood-scented figure stood against the bright moonlight, casting a quiet shadow over the grass.

His pitch-black eyes reflected a pale, bloodstained body.

Xia Nan stood in the clearing. In front of him lay Mint's corpse, which had reverted to human form and was utterly devoid of life.

The motionless, blood-drenched, and frail little figure looked nothing like the ferocious and burly lycanthrope from moments ago—a beast that seemed capable of tearing through iron plates like paper.

Unlike Cash and Veris, her only piece of clothing—a plain robe—had been torn apart when she transformed, ripped off and tossed aside like a used napkin.

Right now, this saved Xia Nan the trouble of frisking her.

There was only one piece of loot he needed to retrieve.

He crouched down, his fingers brushing past Mint's cheek as he unclasped the teardrop-shaped emerald earring from her left earlobe.

He rubbed it between his fingers; the surface was smooth and flawless, both warm and cool to the touch.

He focused his attention and stared.

A second later, translucent characters that only he could see materialized in the empty air.

[Tears of Spring Breath]

Type: Accessory | Grade: Rare (Blue)

Effects:

1. Lesser Healing (Active / 1st Circle): Uses natural energy to restore a small amount of health to a creature you touch (3 times/day);

2. Spring Pulse Cleansing Heal (Active / Fourth Circle): Releases a surge of healing energy to wash over the body, restoring a set amount of health to the wearer (1 time/week).

Description:

Hailing from the wilderness and jungles, a rare accessory capable of providing decent healing effects.

Note:

"Healing is like an exquisite lie: it makes the flesh forget the pain, yet lets the agony take root in the soul."

Spring Pulse in the Rotting Soil, Volume 3, Section 17: "Give thanks to magic! Now you have plenty of time to regret why you didn't die in that moment."

—Postscript of an anonymous adventurer's will.

Xia Nan's first reaction was that he had seemingly wasted that half bottle of Healing Potion just now.

Twenty-five gold down the drain.

But thinking back carefully, he had just finished a bitter fight. He was in terrible condition, his combat strength had plummeted, and he still had to face the beasts glaring at him from the surroundings. It had been an emergency; naturally, he couldn't think that far ahead.

Those twenty-five gold coins had at least helped him drive off the surrounding pack of beasts, so it wasn't too bad.

Besides, compared to the Rare blue-grade magic accessory now in his hands, what were a few gold coins that couldn't even fill a small pouch?

Xia Nan carefully examined this piece of equipment named [Tears of Spring Breath], his eyes meticulously sweeping over its attributes and effects.

First was the 1st Circle "Lesser Healing" that could be used three times a day.

With a flicker of thought, the teardrop-shaped earring in his palm suddenly burst with a soft, emerald glow brimming with life energy.

Like soaking in a hot spring, waves of comfort radiated from his hand.

Xia Nan smoothly pressed his palm against the scratch Mint had left on his right arm.

The soft, non-glaring emerald light rippled gently over the surface of the wound. Barely perceptible, tiny motes of light could faintly be seen seeping into the injury.

The stinging pain from the scratch was immediately replaced by a refreshing, comfortable sensation.

The wound gradually healed.

Xia Nan felt incredibly satisfied. Unconsciously, his mind recalled the scene of Mint casting a healing spell to treat Veris earlier.

The emerald orb of light glowing from her palm back then was almost identical to the "Lesser Healing" he was now releasing through the equipment.

Suddenly, he understood.

'No wonder... Clearly a lycanthrope, she disguised herself as a spellcasting Druid.'

So her so-called "healing spells" were actually cast relying on this piece of equipment.

This way, when necessary, he might be able to pull off the same trick and play the part of a "weak" spellcaster.

By disguising his [Gravity Control] and [Gravity Etching]—two skills that leaned toward spellcasting—and pairing them with the healing spell from this equipment, he could actually make it look pretty convincing.

Of course, the prerequisite was that he needed acting skills on par with a professional actor, just like she had.

Next was the Fourth Circle spell, "Spring Pulse Cleansing Heal," which sounded quite extraordinary just from its name and could only be used once every seven days.

Most likely because Mint had already used it during the battle just now, the effect was currently on cooldown, so he couldn't test it out.

But just witnessing how her massive, arm-severing wound had quickly stopped bleeding earlier—how the superficial injuries across her body had recovered at a visible rate with writhing, intertwining tissue that made Xia Nan anxious—was enough to demonstrate how powerful its effects were.

It was entirely qualified to serve as his third trump card, right after the [Deathline] ring and the [Fate Coin].

He could even imagine a scenario during an evenly matched battle, fiercely clashing with an enemy who was similarly locked in a bitter struggle: both sides in terrible condition, and then him using "Spring Pulse Cleansing Heal" right to their face to rapidly heal himself, leaving the enemy staring in dumbfounded shock.

On the other hand, its spell tier reaching as high as the Fourth Circle also proved the potency of this effect.

One had to know that even the famous Fireball, which had left countless myths among spellcasters in the Material Plane, was only a 3rd Circle Spell.

Yet "Spring Pulse Cleansing Heal" was an entire circle higher—a tier that only spellcasters who had reached class Level 7 were qualified to memorize and cast.

As the core ability of a blue-grade magic accessory, it was more than enough.

It was just a pity that, looking at the description on the Attribute Panel, this ability could only be used on oneself and couldn't heal others. That was a slight limitation.

After examining it in his palm for a moment longer, Xia Nan carefully and solemnly tucked it into his breast pocket, keeping it close to his body.

Although he didn't care much about fashion, wearing an earring was no big deal as long as it was practical.

But [Tears of Spring Breath] wasn't as plain and simple as the [Deathline] ring; it looked quite conspicuous.

Wearing it openly wouldn't be very appropriate, as it would easily give him away.

Recalling Mint's fake body from before, she had seemingly strung it up with thorns and worn it as a necklace over her chest, which meant it didn't necessarily have to be worn as an earring to take effect.

Xia Nan figured that after returning to Rivervale Town, he would study it himself or ask Rockhammer Barn to help design a slight modification, turning [Tears of Spring Breath] into a pendant, an armlet, a bracelet, or some other easily hidden accessory.

"Roar!!!"

A somewhat familiar, deep roar echoed from the distant woods, startling a few unknown birds and beasts into flapping their wings and fleeing into the sky. Xia Nan snapped back to his senses.

He naturally recognized the roar; it came from that Owlbear with a Challenge Rating as high as 3, and he knew he shouldn't linger.

He carefully checked the corpse on the ground one last time to make sure he hadn't missed any valuable loot, before casting [Fang Hunt], turning into a howling wolf phantom and vanishing into the depths of the night.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Snap—

—the crisp sound of a snapped bush branch.

At the edge of the open clearing, bathed in the tranquil moonlight spilling from above, a burly, massive figure was already lurking in the shadows.

Pitch-black hooked claws dug deep into the mud. A sharp beak opened and closed silently, exhaling breath and revealing the jagged, sharp teeth within.

A pair of icy eyes, characteristic of avian creatures, swept across the quiet clearing. It wasn't until it confirmed there was no threat that the burly figure, draped in a thick layer of downy feathers, took heavy, slow steps out of the shadows and entered the clearing.

Its massive body and dense, heavy muscles meant that this adult Owlbear needed to consume a massive amount of energy every day just to satisfy its gluttonous belly and maintain its body's normal functions.

Although the corpses on the ground were already dead, they clearly hadn't been dead for long. Even the blood flowing from their wounds still held a lingering warmth.

Even though it had already devoured quite a few beast carcasses earlier, the thick stench of blood in the air still caused the Owlbear's stomach to spasm, drool unconsciously dripping from the corner of its mouth.

Including the minced meat inside that "iron tin can," the Half-Elf, and the lycanthrope's true form—all of them were torn apart bite by bite and swallowed into its belly.

It didn't even spare the two heads in the corner.

As adventurers, as intelligent creatures living in society, they had memories of countless days and nights, and relationships built with countless people along the journey of life.

Those rights and wrongs, grudges, reliefs, betrayals, and greed—all of it.

After death, all that remained were the sounds of tearing and chewing echoing in the silent air, and a few shreds of meat on the meadow.

The gray mist drifted lazily; the moonlight remained the same.

"I'm telling you, that thing outside the village wasn't your average Bugbear!"

In the bustling White Chickadee Tavern, the young man named Abi had one foot propped on a chair and a mug of ale in his hand. As he swayed, the crystal-clear liquor splashed from the rim, spilling over the back of his hand.

"Just those two arms of its were thicker than my waist! With a single wave—so fast you couldn't even see a shadow—that poor villager's head got smashed right into his chest."

Already drunk, his face was flushed red, and his tone grew increasingly impassioned.

"I wanted to run at the time, but then I thought about it—who were the two people standing in front of me?"

"'Greenblood' Adeline! 'Greysword' Xia Nan!"

"If I ran away, who in town would ever look up to me again?!"

Seemingly reaching the climax of his tale, Abi hoisted his mug high while swaying on his feet, the veins on his neck bulging.

"Killed the three Goblins in front with a single sword strike, and charged straight in the direction of the Bugbear—"

The alcohol went to his head. His consciousness blurred, his center of gravity shifted, and his right foot, which had been resting on the chair, suddenly slipped into thin air.

"Whoa!"

He fell backward onto the floor, alcohol mixing with snot and tears to cover his cheeks.

Roars of laughter suddenly erupted throughout the tavern. Teasing, banter, and mocking ridicule instantly filled the young man's ears.

Blood rushed to his head.

Abi struggled to stand up, wanting to find whichever patron was laughing the loudest and use his fists to cover up his own embarrassment and anger.

But just as he propped himself up, his arms suddenly felt weak, and his foot stepped in the liquor he had spilled on the floor.

He immediately slipped, falling flat on his back again before he could even get up.

The back of his head slammed against the hard floor. A ringing echoed in his ears, and even his consciousness blurred for a moment.

"Creak."

The tavern door was gently pushed open. The glaring sunlight hitting his face made Abi instinctively squint.

He maintained his supine position on the ground, meaning he could only see a pair of thick leather boots covered in reddish-brown blood, along with half of a light-gray bone greave.

Backlit by the brilliant light from outside, the shadow cast by the figure enveloped Abi.

Before he knew it, the roaring laughter that had filled his ears had already faded. It was as if even the air had grown quiet, leaving only an extremely familiar male voice:

"Boss, a bowl of cream of mushroom soup!"