Chapter 283 Recharging, [Molten Ash Silver Ingot] and [Ember Echoes]

Tangerine flames danced around Xia Nan like clusters of faintly glowing fireflies.

They weren't scorching, nor did they feel scalding hot.

He felt only waves of comforting warmth flow through his body, as if he were bathing in a hot spring, soothing away his mental fatigue.

Disjointed scenes quietly flashed through his mind:

A flickering ember on the verge of going out, yet stubbornly keeping itself alight as it wavered;

A single spark bursting to life in the wind above firewood that had burned entirely to charcoal;

Ash drifting down through the air like snow, carrying the last traces of residual heat.

Ruin, hope, desolation, embers—the sheer volume of information surging through his mind stirred his emotions, making Xia Nan feel as if he were truly standing in that despairing world where the fire was about to die.

In this moment, he finally learned the name of the combat technique the foreign cleric had called a "Fire Seed"—[Ember Echoes].

Unexpectedly, it wasn't a "ranged" or "defensive" combat technique, the two areas Xia Nan urgently lacked to round out his build as a versatile fighter.

According to the information in his mind, the category for [Ember Echoes] seemed to be—"status"?

A temporary, massive boost to physical attributes, granting additional effects on top of that?

The vast majority of the information that had flooded his mind along with the tangerine flames had sunk into his subconscious, waiting to be slowly uncovered later.

And just like with [Spinning Slash] and [Fang Hunt], Xia Nan had acquired the training method for this combat technique, even grasping its most critical points thanks to the knowledge transfer.

But since he hadn't yet reached the Novice tier, he didn't even have enough proficiency for it to show up on his Attribute Panel, so the information he could access was quite limited.

If he truly wanted to figure out the technique's specific effects and how it could be used in combat, he would likely have to wait until he began training it, gradually comprehending it as his proficiency increased.

His thoughts drifted back to his experience in the Secret Realm.

To be honest, Xia Nan didn't believe that a single combat technique, no matter how high its quality, could shoulder the burden of saving the world and become the "Fire Seed" that restored the light.

Furthermore, the ruined town behind him in his memories wasn't the Imperial Capital or some massive city. It was just an isolated, remote town out in the Wilderness, and the Church there likely wasn't the main headquarters of the so-called Ash Blaze Church.

Judging by the vague, fragmented conversation between "himself" and the cleric in the Secret Realm, perhaps the "Fire Seed" they spoke of wasn't limited to just the one he had received.

Instead, there might be thousands upon thousands of them from all over. As the world's fire was on the verge of dying out, clerics and people like "him" would carry them to the "royal city," pooling them together to achieve the grand goal of rekindling the world's flame.

His brief trip had yielded information that was far too fragmented, so this was only his guess.

After all, this was an event from another timeline, another world. Until he encountered another Secret Realm with the same background, no one would know what had truly happened.

Therefore, even though he genuinely wanted to explore this world's lore to deepen his understanding of [Ember Echoes], he had no leads whatsoever.

Pausing for a moment, Xia Nan set aside thoughts of his newly acquired combat technique and shifted his gaze to his right ring finger.

There, the silvery-white ring formed by the [Dream Weaving Corridor] was glowing faintly.

He clearly remembered that after he crushed the Flame Crystal, a large portion of the fire had been absorbed by it.

A thought struck him.

Carefully controlling his intent, he lightly brushed his mind against the surface of the glowing ring.

"Ding!"

"Energy substance detected. Commencing automatic recharge..."

"Recharge successful!"

"[Remaining Energy]: 0% → 2%"

Just as he expected!

Emotions stirred within Xia Nan.

The energy he had gained wasn't much—only 2%.

But the crucial part was that he had finally found a way to recharge it. He was no longer stumbling around blindly in the dark.

Secret Realms were the power source for the [Dream Weaving Corridor]!

On the other hand, 2% might seem like a pitiful amount, but he had to remember that the dream simulation which broke [Fang Hunt]'s limits—directly granting nearly fifty proficiency points and pushing it to the max of Level 5—had only consumed 3% energy.

This meant Xia Nan only needed to find one more Secret Realm to bump up the [Dream Weaving Corridor]'s remaining energy just a little bit more, and he would meet the energy requirement to activate the terminal.

Of course, unless he wanted to burn his last use of the [Fate Coin] here, he would still need to find the terminal's activation key.

Regardless, he had taken a solid step forward in this regard.

Xia Nan was immensely satisfied.

Amid his thoughts, a sudden burst of scorching heat came from behind him.

Thinking there were still undead creatures like mummies left uncleared in the ruins, causing the [Azure Pine] wooden sword to ignite its sunfire once more, he instinctively drew the sword, only to find the blade cool and smooth to the touch—not even lukewarm.

Feeling confused, he searched for the source of the heat.

Soon, Xia Nan pulled a metallic silver ingot out of his backpack. Its surface was radiating a crimson, molten hue.

"This—"

He remembered looting this metal ingot from Trevelyan. Why was it... The next second, as he focused his gaze to observe it closely, translucent text quietly surfaced in the empty air before him.

++

[Molten Ash Silver Ingot]

Category: Material | Grade: /

Description:

Scorching energy from a foreign realm has induced some unknown, bizarre change within this metal. You should perhaps try using it as a forging material.

Note:

"The vast majority of metals wait to be given shape, but some of them seem to naturally know what they want to become."

— Master of Forging Arts, "Iron Dancer" M. Nord. Undoubtedly, the changes that had occurred within the silver ingot were also caused by the Flame Crystal Xia Nan had just crushed.

According to the Attribute Panel's description, it seemed to have become some kind of excellent forging material after its transformation.

The first thing that came to mind was naturally his old, battered weapon that was on the verge of being scrapped—the Decapitating Longsword, which had been corroded and damaged by venom during battle.

The silver ingot itself wasn't very large. If used as the main material, it could probably only forge a dagger or short sword at best, which didn't suit his combat style.

But if it was used as a material for repairs and reforging, fused into the Decapitating Longsword...

Xia Nan couldn't help but let his imagination run wild. Afraid of facing a massive disappointment, however, he reined in his surging thoughts.

He carefully tucked the silver ingot away in his backpack, deciding that once he returned to Rivervale Town, he would ask "Rockhammer" Barn to study it and see if he could draft a design plan.

With that, his trip to Ash Valley finally came to an end. He had lost his Plate-Chain Composite Armor, which was already nearing its breaking point, as well as his primary weapon, the Decapitating Longsword.

As for his gains—

A brand-new status combat technique from a foreign realm waiting to be trained to the Novice tier; 2% energy for the [Dream Weaving Corridor], along with the invaluable method to recharge it; and a [Molten Ash Silver Ingot] of unknown quality that had undergone a bizarre internal transformation.

Oh, and the spoils from the obese knight that he had intentionally stashed somewhere in the ruins: the [Iron Stomach Company] flail.

Just as he turned around, intending to dig the flail out of the ruins, a dark shadow suddenly flashed through the corner of his eye.

He turned his head to look.

On the ground ahead lay the [Instructor's Cane]. Although its core Flame Crystal at the top had already been crushed by Xia Nan, the ash-black wooden handle beneath it remained perfectly intact.

Following a sudden impulse, he bent down, picked the wooden handle up off the ground, and stuffed it into his backpack.

Only then did he turn and head deeper into the ruins.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Abyssal Veil Province, within a dense, gloomy forest.

A chestnut ponytail bounced lightly, and a cream-white robe swayed gently with the body's movements.

Verol looked up at the sky. Seeing that it was getting late and the horizon was already tinged with dusk, she gave the staff in her hand a light wave. Stimulated by an invisible ripple centered on her body, all the mosquitoes, flies, and scorpions within a fifty-foot radius fled outward.

It was time to set up camp.

The tent was quickly pitched, and a bright campfire danced and flared.

The young woman's schedule was extremely tight.

During the day she had to travel, and at night she still had to set aside large blocks of time to practice her spellcasting Feats and memorize spells.

Even her precious sleep was perfectly calculated to be just enough to restore her physical and mental energy, pushing herself to the absolute limit.

Dinner time was supposed to take five to ten minutes, settled with the dry rations she carried with her, ready to eat after a quick warming.

But because she had good luck during the day and hadn't run into any monsters, she had made better time on her journey than planned.

This gave Verol an extra twenty minutes of free time.

She was currently pondering whether to use these twenty minutes to cook and reward herself with a good meal, or save them for tomorrow morning to sleep in a little.

'Maybe I should just forget it. If I use these twenty minutes to memorize spells...'

Suddenly, an abnormal stirring deep within her mental space interrupted the girl's thoughts.

Her consciousness subsequently brushed against the River of Time, sensing the changes within.

The next second, Verol's fair face, which had been deep in thought, suddenly froze.

A look of sheer disbelief spread across her face.

"0.03%!?"

"The worldline shifted by another 0.03%?"

"Why!?"