Chapter 266 A Small Request and Special Training

"Swish!"

The slightly rusted one-handed sword chopped downward, its passably sharp blade cutting the air with a high-pitched whistle.

Sweat dripped down his cheeks, splashing onto the meadow in crystalline droplets.

The youth with short brown hair kept his gaze firm. Even though his arms were trembling from overexertion, he maintained a flawless posture, relying on sheer willpower to swing the longsword again and again.

Sitting by the stream a short distance away, Xia Nan withdrew his gaze from the brown-haired youth.

Three days had passed since he first arrived in Ash Valley Village.

Compared to his previous, danger-filled adventure quests, life in the village was nowhere near as vibrant and exciting as in Rivervale Town, but the wheat fields and streams offered him a long-lost sense of peace.

The small request Verol had made before their parting was actually very simple.

On the way back to Rivervale Town, he was to stop by a small settlement called Ash Valley Village and find a boy named Leon.

He needed to help the boy master basic combat techniques and gain the courage to face three goblins head-on while equipped with ordinary armor and weapons.

In truth, this request wasn't difficult; it could even be considered easy.

After all, if it came down to ordinary green-skinned goblins, even an untrained farmer could grit his teeth, grab a hoe, fight for his life, and probably take down three of them.

Furthermore, her request was specifically about building the "courage" to face goblins while fully equipped.

Xia Nan had already confirmed her exact requirements in detail that day.

All he had to do was help the boy gain some combat experience so he wouldn't panic when facing goblins in the future.

He didn't need to teach him any combat techniques or put him through any rigorous special training.

Verol's attitude had even been exceptionally casual when she made the request. She had said that if the situation didn't permit it, or if something unexpected happened, giving up halfway wouldn't matter.

He didn't know what the mage girl's intentions were with this request. After arriving in Ash Valley Village, he had asked many people, including Leon and the village chief, but they all claimed to have never met any mage. They clearly didn't know Verol.

He couldn't help but feel puzzled.

But Verol had always been secretive, as if she were hiding many things in her heart.

Unable to figure it out after a brief moment of thought, Xia Nan let his concerns go.

It was just a convenient favor on his way past anyway.

While exploring the village for whatever Verol had mentioned might help him, he also followed her request to provide Leon with targeted training.

"Splash..."

The stream flowed gently. Through the crystal-clear water, one could see the smooth pebbles piled at the bottom and the finger-sized fish swimming among them.

Xia Nan held no fishing rod, nor did he have any intention of entering the water.

He simply sat quietly on a dark brown boulder by the bank.

His eyes focused, his mind concentrated.

Splash—

An invisible force quietly took effect, and the naturally flowing stream suddenly underwent an unusual change.

The currents collided, sending up fine, pale white splashes.

They swirled and twisted.

Like an undercurrent rising out of nowhere, a palm-sized vortex suddenly materialized in the middle of the stream amid the sound of rushing water, trapping a tiny, bewildered fish inside.

The fish's tail whipped hard, seemingly trying to use a burst of explosive strength to break free in an instant.

But strangely, the vortex seemed alive. With just a gentle shift in its rotation, it engulfed the small fish once more.

Back and forth, this went on for dozens of seconds.

It wasn't until the fish stopped struggling, circling within the vortex like a fallen leaf until its belly nearly turned upward, that the whirlpool abruptly dissolved back into the clear stream, just as suddenly as it had formed.

His dark eyes reflected the small fish, which swam crookedly as if it were drunk.

Xia Nan's breathing remained long and steady.

Even though no translucent text reading "Proficiency +1" appeared in the empty air before him, he wasn't discouraged. He just silently pondered.

Now that he had trained [Fang Hunt] to its max at Level 5, his daily training plan naturally shifted.

Because of the usage limits on [Gravity Etching], its training volume was fixed and regular; spending extra time to improve it was useless.

Therefore, the energy he had previously devoted to [Fang Hunt] naturally fell upon [Gravity Control].

It was a drop in the bucket.

In Xia Nan's eyes, this ability, which involved the operational rules of the physical world, had already exceeded the scope of what ordinary people understood as a "combat technique."

Its inherent grade and the maximum limit it could reach in the future were simply too exaggerated.

The time and energy required to gain every single point of proficiency far exceeded ordinary imagination.

Many times, even if he trained vigorously on and off for an entire day, or even a week, while simultaneously recovering his mental strength, he still might not gain even a single point of proficiency.

The sense of frustration was overwhelming.

A combat technique of this level wasn't something he should be mastering right now, having just become a Level 2 Class Holder.

Of course, he had to put in the effort, but when he recalled his previous experiences of gaining multiple proficiency points at once, he knew the right opportunity was also indispensable.

Continuing to practice blindly like this would actually lower his efficiency, wasting time and energy for nothing.

Perhaps... he should find a new combat technique as soon as possible.

He thought over his plans for the future.

Looking up at the sky, he saw that the sun had already sunk to the other side, decorating the horizon with sunset clouds.

He stood up and clapped his hands in the direction of Leon a short distance away.

"It's about time. Let's stop here for today."

The youth, however, clearly cherished this hard-won, precious opportunity.

He gripped the "best sword in the village" tightly. Panting heavily, he pleaded, "Mr. Xia Nan, I'm not tired!"

"I can still keep going!"

Xia Nan didn't reply immediately. Instead, he glanced at the boy's uncontrollably trembling arms and the hair plastered to his sweaty forehead in clumps.

Only then did he speak slowly: "The distribution and control of stamina is also a necessary lesson for an adventurer."

"Even when you're in a safe town, you must maintain the mental preparation to fight in the very next second."

"So, unless absolutely necessary, never let yourself reach a state of total exhaustion."

Children who grew up in bitter poverty were always mature for their age. There wasn't the slightest trace of adolescent rebellion in the youth before him.

Without a single word of complaint, Leon nodded obediently and said, "Okay, I understand!"

"Thank you, Mr. Xia Nan!"

He then went to pack up his things briskly.

Their location wasn't too far from the village. After winding through the woods for about twenty minutes, a small, secluded, and peaceful settlement nestled deep in the forest came into view.

Curling smoke from cooking fires rose straight into the sky. The colorful sunset clouds framed several simple, rustic wooden cabins and the silhouettes of houses farther away, while the faint shouts of villagers drifted in on the refreshing breeze.

Footsteps sounded from behind; it was a farmer returning from the fields, having just finished a day's labor.

He was a middle-aged man, looking to be in his forties.

'Was his name... Mike?'

Xia Nan had a good memory and retained some impression of him.

"Mr. Xia Nan." The middle-aged man first bowed respectfully to Xia Nan. Along with his reverent expression, a lingering trace of fear remained—after that night, he had been one of those responsible for clearing the battlefield. Everyone present had been terrified by the mangled, grotesque goblin corpses.

Only then did he look at Leon behind Xia Nan, his tone carrying undisguised envy as he said, "Little Leon, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Learn well from the mister. It's only for these few days, so don't you slack off."

Under normal circumstances, a youth of his age being lectured in front of others would, if not outright argue, at least talk back a little.

Right now, however, Leon merely nodded with a serious expression and said, "I will definitely take it seriously, Uncle Mike."

Perhaps the trauma from cleaning up the battlefield that day still lingered. Mike only exchanged a few pleasantries while walking beside them and tentatively invited Xia Nan over to his house for dinner tonight. After being politely refused, he said his goodbyes and left without bothering them further.

Speaking of which, although Xia Nan had only stayed in the village for three days, he had distinctly felt the change in the villagers' attitudes toward him.

At the very beginning, while they were grateful to him for helping the village deal with the goblins, they were also afraid and terrified of a powerful adventurer.

Later, after discovering that Xia Nan was friendly and completely unwilling to rely on his strength to bully or humiliate them, they gradually began to interact with him more, becoming increasingly enthusiastic.

Now, even the little ones in the village—who previously only dared to hide behind walls and poke their heads out to watch him from afar—dared to sneak a bit closer when their parents weren't looking, or ask Leon about the details of his training when Xia Nan wasn't around.

Xia Nan had even heard a woman washing clothes by the stream bragging to someone else from a distance, "Oh my gods, when I ran into Mr. Xia Nan this morning, he actually stepped aside for me!"

As she spoke, the woman's eyebrows looked as if they were going to fly up into the sky.

In response to all this, he felt a peculiar sensation in his heart.

He naturally understood the villagers' behavior.

After all, to the ordinary commoners of this world—especially the farmers living in remote villages far away from large towns—adventurers were, more often than not, far more terrifying than the lords in their castles.

An adventurer like him, who helped the village solve its troubles without demanding any reward, and who treated the villagers like actual human beings in daily life, was absolutely exceedingly rare.

Xia Nan stayed at Leon's house.

This youth, who was no more than fifteen years old, had lost both his parents in a goblin attack six years ago. His only living relative was a married older sister who lived right next door.

So he generally ate his three daily meals at his sister and brother-in-law's house, only returning to that empty wooden cabin that was left solely to him at night.

Three consecutive days of training, despite Xia Nan's supervision and timely adjustments to the intensity, still took too heavy a toll on the youth's underdeveloped body. Because of this, the two returned a bit earlier than the previous days.

At the door, they happened to run into Leon's sister, Janice, who was also just returning home, along with Janice's eldest daughter, nine-year-old Lily.

Seeing Xia Nan, Lily appeared extremely happy.

If she hadn't been carrying a small basket in her hands, she probably would have thrown herself right at him.

This naturally lively and adorable little girl adapted to the presence of Xia Nan, a stranger in the village, very quickly because of his connection with Leon.

By the second day, she had already taken to grabbing the hem of his clothes and calling him "Big Brother, Big Brother."

Seeing Xia Nan now, she immediately trotted over with quick, pattering little steps.

She pulled back half of the coarse cloth covering her basket, revealing a patch of brown and white inside.

"Big Brother Xia Nan, look! These are the best and freshest mushrooms!"

"Mom and I spent all afternoon picking them in the woods. We're going to have delicious mushroom soup tonight!"

The girl smiled happily, revealing a mouth full of small white teeth. There was even a bit of dirt smudged on her face.

Xia Nan naturally wouldn't spoil the mood. With a smile on his lips, he raised his hand to pat her little head while nodding at Janice, who was looking at him somewhat nervously from ahead.

During dinner yesterday, when asked if he had any favorite foods, he had simply mentioned mushroom soup in passing.

He hadn't expected her to actually take her child into the woods to forage for them today.

It took Xia Nan slightly by surprise.

Of course, inevitably, he also found himself looking forward to tonight's dinner.

...

Janice's cooking skills were quite good.

She certainly couldn't compare to the professional chefs at taverns like the White Chickadee or the Resting Dragon Lair, but she was at least above average.

And mushrooms were a type of food that, as long as one knew how to cook them and didn't try any of their own "clever tricks" during the process, were very hard to mess up.

Limited by the environmental conditions of a remote village, Janice couldn't make the creamy mushroom soup whose flavor Xia Nan hadn't tasted in a long time. Instead, she used the most basic and pure method to stew a large pot of clear mushroom soup.

Supplemented with precious salt, wild cilantro, onions, and a little bit of mixed-in lard, the natural umami and fragrance of the mushrooms were fully brought out.

She couldn't afford the expensive spices used to adjust flavors in towns, nor did she have an appetizing restaurant environment or fancy plating.

She could only use the most rustic method to thank Xia Nan, the man who had saved the village from the goblin siege, spared her husband from an almost certain death in battle, and helped her own younger brother with combat training.

There were even more mushrooms in that pot of soup than there was broth.

The pillar of this small family, Janice's husband Tom, was also present. Right now, taking advantage of the time Xia Nan spent eating dinner, he was outside the house advising his brother-in-law, Leon.

"People like us might not even run into an opportunity like this once in a lifetime. You absolutely must learn well."

"Your brother Tom might be stuck like this for the rest of his life, but Leon, you're still young. If you can learn everything that Mr. Xia Nan teaches you... Trust me, Uncle Mike mentioned the scene in the woods a couple of days ago. Someone who could single-handedly take care of so many goblins, and even a hobgoblin along with them, is absolutely not an ordinary person!"

"We wouldn't dare dream of becoming adventurers—it's too dangerous, and your sister would worry."

"But becoming a guard or a militiaman in Vergrove? There just might be a real chance of that."

"When the time comes, our whole family can move out of this small place, and we'll never have to worry about those damned green-skinned goblins ever again."

With the fate of his parents vivid in his mind, the youth—who was normally clever, mischievous, and sometimes exceptionally stubborn—listened to his brother-in-law's instructions with an incredibly serious expression and nodded heavily.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Xia Nan ate his mushroom soup while thinking about his upcoming plans.

Verol had told him before that there might be something in Ash Valley Village capable of helping him, but she had been completely cryptic and offered no specific details.

He had thought about it these past few days. The things that could actually help him right now were only a few:

1. The encryption keys and charging method for the [Dream Weaving Corridor]—urgently needed.

Its special effect of allowing one to rapidly increase proficiency by large margins made the current Xia Nan feel as if he were sitting on a mountain of gold, only to be blocked outside by a thin door, left with nothing to do but stare.

2. Combat techniques, equipment, or other enchanted items.

This point naturally went without saying; every adventurer needed these.

But over the past few days, during the time outside of training, he had already explored the entire village and hadn't found anything special in the slightest.

'Could it be that the timing of my arrival was wrong, and I need to wait a while longer?'

'Or... is it simply not in the village at all?'

He pondered carefully, planning to use the next few days to conduct a thorough investigation.

In addition, Leon's training plan had also reached the stage of practical combat.

Tomorrow, he could perhaps find a couple of goblins or some other ordinary monsters to give him some hands-on practice.