Chapter 291 Steelbeard Heritage, Custom Greatsword, and the Petrification Lizard

The outskirts of the Misty Forest.

Early morning. The sky gradually brightened.

The sun had not yet fully crested, casting only a faint glimmer over the distant horizon behind the dense canopy and painting the sky in a gradient of color.

From brightness at the edge, to a mottled purple haze, and finally to the residual black of the fading night.

"Pop."

A remarkably faint popping sound.

The charred firewood lay stacked in a messy pile, still holding residual heat. Rising hot air gently disturbed the thin mist, yet the fire itself was lifeless.

A light breeze blew past, quietly awakening a hint of dark red curled deep within the charcoal. It burst forth with its final heat, transforming into a spark that shot fiercely from the embers and carved a brief, violent scarlet trajectory through the freezing air.

Strangely, this flying ember was not swiftly extinguished by the surrounding moisture as one might expect.

Instead, as if bolstered by some invisible force, it hovered and swayed in midair.

It burned, the minuscule heat at the ember's core pushed to its absolute limit, sending microscopic, ripple-like thermal currents through the mist.

This bizarre phenomenon, entirely defying the laws of nature, lasted for three full seconds.

Finally, with another barely audible pop, it burned out completely, turning into a snowflake-like speck of pale ash.

It drifted down lazily, coming to rest upon a pitch-black object as pristine as glass.

Xia Nan raised his hand and blew the ash off the surface of his Snake-Scale Arm Shield.

A thoughtful expression surfaced on his face.

Three days had passed since he accepted the quest to hunt the Petrification Lizard on the Association Second Floor.

Having set out well in advance, he was now deep within the Misty Forest.

To guard against unexpected ambushes during the mission, he had significantly reduced his normal training intensity.

Fortunately, both [Spinning Slash] and [Fang Hunt] were already at Mastery, and [Gravity Etching] had a usage limit, so the vast majority of his energy was reserved for [Gravity Control] and the [Ember Echoes] combat technique, which he had yet to even reach Novice in.

As for the latter, this heritage combat technique from an alien secret realm was clearly of extraordinary quality.

On one hand, the fact that Xia Nan—already a Level 2 Class Holder—had trained so bitterly for so long without reaching Novice spoke to the sheer difficulty of the practice, proving the technique's value.

On the other hand, there was the information he had gradually uncovered while practicing it.

Previously, Xia Nan had assumed [Ember Echoes] was simply a status-type combat technique that provided a comprehensive boost to the user's physical attributes.

Now, as his understanding gradually deepened, he had developed a different perspective.

Defining it as a "status type" wasn't wrong per se, but the label was too broad to fully and accurately describe the ability's function.

It was a power like sparks and ash, igniting firewood to erupt like a blazing flame.

To put it more vividly, it was similar to the "Stage 2" of those troublesome elite enemies in the video games of his past life.

'Did I become the "boss"?'

Xia Nan joked inwardly.

It was a good thing, of course.

After all, not only was [Ember Echoes] of incredibly high quality, its combat technique type didn't overlap with the other techniques he currently possessed. Although it didn't patch up his few glaring weaknesses, it was an absolute, across-the-board enhancement.

Once he truly reached Novice, it would undoubtedly elevate his overall strength to another level, granting him a powerful trump card capable of turning the tide of a battle.

After so many days of grueling training, he had faintly touched that invisible bottleneck.

At this rate, barring any accidents, he was confident he could reach Novice in [Ember Echoes] within ten days.

He looked up at the sky and saw that the night had almost completely receded.

Xia Nan stood up and strapped his two longswords to his back.

One was naturally the wooden sword [Green Pine], and the other was the "two-handed greatsword" he had purchased from Rockhammer Smithy to use as a transitional weapon while his Decapitating Longsword was being reforged.

Or, if he went by Barn's words, he should call it the "Steelbeard Heritage Craft - Rockhammer Special - Two-Handed Greatsword".

It was said to employ the special forging techniques passed down by his Dwarven Clan, making it far sturdier than weapons made of the exact same materials. Though it wasn't custom-made, but rather a mass-produced, templated type, its overall quality was excellent—the cream of the crop among standard boutique items.

Xia Nan had checked it with the Attribute Panel; the dwarf hadn't lied.

Compared to the ordinary weapons on the shelves, the attribute column for this Custom Greatsword had two extra modifiers: "Durability +10%" and "Sharpness +3%".

It was definitely more than enough for a simple transition.

That was exactly why he had been willing to spend 75 gold coins to buy it.

As for its appearance, since it was mass-produced gear, it couldn't be customized to fit every single user's habits and physique, so it adopted a fairly standard, orthodox design.

It was simply a silvery-white iron sword, slightly shorter and lighter than the Decapitating Longsword.

Over the past three days, through repeated practice, Xia Nan had gradually grown accustomed to how it handled, ensuring it wouldn't impact his actual combat strength.

Speaking of which, purely in terms of durability, [Green Pine] was actually superior.

Despite being a wooden sword, its overall sturdiness was greater than that of ordinary standard-issue weapons, and its sharpness was quite respectable.

However, if it were accidentally damaged, this world likely wouldn't have the corresponding wood to repair it.

Thus, unless he encountered an enemy that could trigger its sunflare damage bonus, Xia Nan was generally too reluctant to use it.

The same held true right now.

Taking advantage of the last few minutes before the sun fully crested the horizon, he packed up his camp, repeatedly confirming that he hadn't left anything behind.

With that, he prepared to set off and continue his quest.

Interestingly enough, the spot Xia Nan had chosen to camp last night wasn't one of the slightly elevated clearings in the forest he usually favored.

Instead, it was a ruin.

A ruin with a very unique architectural style.

The gray bricks were severely weathered, the white mortar between them completely flaked away to reveal the yellowish-brown adobe within. Several dilapidated walls leaned at slanted angles, looking as if a single gust of wind would bring them crashing down, yet they stubbornly held on. Amidst the swaying weeds at the base of the walls, one could faintly glimpse a few broken black roof tiles of an unusual design.

Further back lay a massive hall that was similarly reduced to ruined walls and shattered rubble. A fallen, thick wooden beam lay horizontally across the bluestone slabs; half of it was rotted away, but the other half—as if exploiting a "bug"—passed through a gap in the debris and naturally fused into the trunk of an oak tree in the adjacent forest, radiating vitality and sprouting fresh buds on its surface.

The vast majority of intact items in the ruins had already been scavenged, but one could still perceive a distinct Eastern aesthetic through the delicate, complex patterns remaining around the window frames, as well as the deeply classical flying eaves at the corners of the roof.

After his past journey to the Snake Den Secret Realm concluded, those buildings—which had been randomly teleported to this world along with the secret realm's core—had not vanished, but remained right where they were.

Xia Nan had later heard many adventurers discussing them in the taverns, saying that these inexplicable, wildly exotic abandoned buildings were quite popular among the locals.

The few well-preserved pieces of furniture and decorations excavated from the depths of the ruins had fetched high prices on the market.

Following the Hunting Day, the massive movement of adventurers had spread this trend to the surrounding regions centered around Rivervale Town. Even a major metropolis like Nym City had been influenced, leading many nobles to show off the novelties they had purchased at exorbitant prices during their banquets.

However, the number of ruins was limited after all, and the sensitivity and initiative of adventurers were downright exaggerated when gold coins were involved.

By the time such topics began circulating in the taverns, the valuable items within the ruins had long since been picked clean.

With no new supply, the existing items on the market instantly became one-of-a-kind treasures. Bolstered by their inherent aesthetic appeal and aggressively hyped up by merchants and adventurers alike, their prices skyrocketed in the blink of an eye.

On the night before his departure, Xia Nan had heard someone mention that at a recent high-end auction in Nym City, half of a relatively well-preserved folding screen carved with exquisite openwork patterns had been won by a marchioness for nearly eight hundred gold coins after rounds of fierce bidding.

This had stirred some thoughts in his mind.

'Nobody told me this stuff was worth so much money!'

If he had known earlier, he would have brought more loot back home on the return trip after that mission ended. If he could have held onto it until now, he wouldn't have to worry about the reforging fee for the Decapitating Longsword anymore.

Of course, this was all just belated hindsight.

Back then, he barely knew a few locals and was scared half to death just chopping down a few goblins. How would he have had the time or energy to consider all of this?

Afterward, between training [Fang Hunt] with the Barbarian Forgan and the Hunting Day, his mind had been entirely focused on improving his own strength.

Even when he heard the relevant rumors, he hadn't thought much of them.

However, Xia Nan's train of thought suddenly paused.

He had entered a total of three secret realms so far.

Aside from the initial Snake Den, there was the mirror world of the Sheep-Deer Figurine in Nym City, as well as the Church town in Ash Valley.

The former went without saying; there was nothing else in that Nym City realm besides the statue.

But when he left Ash Valley, even though the Church had vanished, all the buildings in the small town remained right where they were.

Considering Ash Valley Village's dread of Ash Valley, he was currently the only person in this world who knew about the remains of that secret realm.

If he found himself in desperate need of cash in the near future and couldn't find another way to make money—perhaps he could use those things to do a little business and earn a small fortune?

Of course, he didn't understand the rules of commercial operations in this world, nor did he have any relevant channels. The risks involved would require comprehensive consideration.

So it would be best to plan this out in the long run.

Pondering inwardly, Xia Nan finished packing his luggage, stepped over the threshold, and walked out of the dilapidated courtyard, his figure vanishing into the depths of the bushes and tree shade.

Xia Nan had made ample preparations for this mission.

The two bottles of [Petrification Resistance Potion]—deliberately kept separate, with one in his waist pouch and the other stowed in his backpack—went without saying.

Advancing to a Class Holder and gaining access to the information repository on the Association Second Floor had further allowed him to master a massive amount of useful intelligence regarding the Petrification Lizard, compiled by countless adventurers and hunters, well before the mission even began.

It had everything he needed: from the initial tracking, to the hunt, all the way to the final processing methods for the loot and materials.

It even included formulated contingency plans detailing exactly how to respond when encountering this creature at specific times and locations to maximize his win rate.

He was brimming with confidence.

The Association hadn't provided a specific location, but rather a general territorial range where the Petrification Lizard was known to be active.

When Xia Nan spotted the iconic landmark—a thick, sturdy oak tree that had been snapped in half upon impact—

Without hesitation, he pulled a [Petrification Resistance Potion] from his backpack, tilted his head back, and chugged it down. The bottle in his waist pouch was easier to draw, so he saved it for later use during the actual operation.

It was colorless and odorless, but it felt like chugging an entire bottle of ice-cold carbonated soda in one breath. As it stimulated his mouth and throat, a stream of icy coldness flowed down his neck into his chest, rapidly spreading throughout his body.

Xia Nan felt some invisible substance seeping out from the depths of his pores, working its way from the inside out to coat the surface of his skin in an unseen film.

Knowing the potion had taken effect, he lightly stretched his body. Seeing that there were no adverse side effects, he pressed forward, venturing deeper into the dense forest.

When tracking monsters with such extremely dangerous abilities, a smart hunter never relied purely on their vision, lest they plunge themselves into a perilous situation.

Even though he had gained petrification resistance through the potion, Xia Nan, out of an abundance of caution, naturally still wanted to strike first if at all possible.

He wanted to chop off the head of that bloated, clumsy, eight-legged lizard before it could even react.

Therefore, figuring out how to search for the beast's tracks as covertly as possible became the absolute top priority.

The first method was through the feces left on the ground.

Unlike other monsters, a Petrification Lizard's feces contained massive amounts of indigestible crushed gravel and minerals. This was completely distinct from the excrement of ordinary carnivores, making it an effective way to confirm the lizard's presence and how much time had passed since it was there.

Secondly, as a solitary monster with extremely strong territorial instincts, it habitually left marks on the rock walls and trees near its territory, which would point out its patrol path for Xia Nan.