Chapter 448 Follow-up Plans and Channel Contacts

The menu at the Three-Legged Sea Dog Tavern did not feature "creamy mushroom soup."

Xia Nan had known this since his first day in Barracuda Bay.

Fortunately, a craving had prompted him to ask anyway. Catching a momentary hesitation from the tavern owner, Hera, he had immediately gone on the offensive with his "financial superpowers," successfully persuading the kitchen to make a special exception.

After so many days, the tavern's chef was naturally well aware of his preference and kept the relevant ingredients on hand.

But since it wasn't an official menu item, it lacked a fixed recipe. While the delicious essence of the "cream" and "mushrooms" remained unchanged, the "seafood"—added to highlight the local flair of Barracuda Bay—varied depending on the fresh catch purchased each morning.

Xia Nan still remembered the first bowl of creamy mushroom soup he had ordered in Barracuda Bay. It contained two palm-sized, shelled fresh shrimp, and the broth was mixed with wonderfully chewy clam meat.

But today's bowl... the presentation was downright exaggerated.

Before the server even drew close, he spotted the massive, orange-red crab shell draped over the plate.

"A silver shuttle crab from the bay's front waters, just caught this morning. A single one cost me two whole silver coins."

"Unfortunately, we haven't had any customers with a good eye for it today. No one has ordered it."

"It wouldn't survive the night in the kitchen's water tank. It can't wait until tomorrow."

"I was originally planning to boil it for myself, but now... it's your lucky day."

Behind the counter, Hera wore a faint smile as she grabbed a glass to wipe, pretending to be casual.

"Try it. These last few months are the perfect season for crab. The taste won't disappoint."

Favorability skyrocketed!

He had to admit, for Xia Nan, this kind of food-related surprise—especially involving creamy mushroom soup—brought an instant rush of joy second only to being handed the exact coordinates of a Goblin Lair.

He nodded in thanks, his eyes already locked tightly onto the plate placed on the table.

She had observed him very carefully. Knowing that Xia Nan hated having to peel shells while eating, the chef had left the massive crab shell on the plate purely for decoration. The crab meat, roe, and tomalley inside had already been extracted during preparation and folded into the mushroom soup.

The thick broth was no longer its original milky white; the crab roe had dyed it a warm, inviting pale gold. A lustrous layer of oil floated on the surface, and the rich soup flowed sluggishly.

Unable to hold back any longer, Xia Nan scooped up a large spoonful and brought it to his mouth.

Instantly, the rich aroma of cream, mushrooms, crab roe, and tomalley—brought out by the high-temperature stewing—filled his mouth.

The tomalley had melted completely into the broth, creating an utterly plump and silky texture. The fine, sandy granules of the crab roe yielded to a gentle press of his tongue, causing their concentrated, savory umami to burst forth. Finally, the natural sweetness of the crab meat swept away any lingering heaviness from the rich fats, leaving behind only a complex, indescribably wonderful flavor.

Compared to his everyday creamy mushroom soup, this special bowl—gathering the full essence of several silver shuttle crabs—was undeniably much richer.

If he drank it every day, at every meal, no matter how much he loved the flavor, he would inevitably grow sick of it.

But spacing it out by a week or two before having another bowl like this? It was, without a doubt, a worldly delicacy.

He had just finished a battle and returned from a mission.

Getting to drink a bowl of seafood creamy mushroom soup like this was the ultimate enjoyment for Xia Nan.

Under the spell of the delicious food, it felt as though time itself had quietly sped up.

By the time he snapped out of it, the soup bowl on the table was completely empty. Beside him, the Halfling Alton had also finished dinner and was curiously studying the orange-red crab shell, which was larger than his own head.

Hera kept her eyes on the young adventurer, her mind unconsciously recalling the intelligence her subordinates had just delivered.

As the true master of the Three-Legged Sea Dog—Barracuda Bay's intelligence hub—she was almost certainly the first person in the entire town, aside from the adventurers who had been standing on the shore, to hear of Xia Nan's exploits.

Upon verifying the accuracy of the news, her first reaction was to marvel at her own wisdom.

She hadn't misjudged him after all. Taking the initiative to show Xia Nan goodwill had undeniably been the right—and highly prescient—move.

After all, not just anyone could easily wipe out the Horned Shark Gang, a faction anchored by multiple veteran Class Holders.

Even though Xia Nan hadn't acted alone, the intelligence clearly detailed his absolutely outstanding performance in the battle.

Not to mention, he was so young...

If she could forge a tight enough relationship with this black-haired adventurer now, even if he didn't stay in Barracuda Bay or the Southern Archipelagos and returned inland...

A minor investment would earn her a friend at the Transcendent Tier, or perhaps even higher. No matter what, she wouldn't lose out!

At the thought of this, the smile on Hera's lips unconsciously grew wider.

Meanwhile, sitting across from her, Xia Nan naturally had no idea what the tavern owner was thinking.

Having just filled his stomach, he was currently mulling over his plans for the near future:

1. The reward promised by Baron Farrow and the distribution of the remaining loot from the Horned Shark Gang.

Regarding this, Hein and the others had already mentioned it when they said goodbye earlier. They would rest for a few days and wait for the Baron to finish the clean-up work before meeting to discuss it. There was no need to rush.

2. His two enchanted items were still being crafted at Pearl Spun Yarn.

Considering the half-elf tailor shop owner's perfectionist, almost obsessive-compulsive nature, it would probably take a while longer before she even advanced to the actual crafting process.

Since she was making two enchanted items at once—and their quality would definitely not be low—Xia Nan could accept the delay.

3. The renovation and retrofitting of the pirate ship, the Flying Fish Oil Barrel.

As Xia Nan spent more time in Barracuda Bay, he increasingly felt the importance of owning a ship in the Southern Archipelagos.

He might be able to achieve short bursts of running on the ocean surface using [Fang Hunt] and [Gravity Control], but his stamina was ultimately limited.

Even though his Constitution attribute was already quite high, it was still far from reaching the level of his Agility and Perception.

His endurance might be sufficient for normal combat, but trying to rely on [Fang Hunt] to cross vast oceans and shuttle between islands was undoubtedly a pipe dream.

Not to mention, if he encountered an accident midway that forced him to slow down and drop into the sea, he would likely end up in the awkward predicament of treading water again.

To avoid being at the mercy of others and travel freely through the Southern Archipelagos, a sea vessel was a necessity.

Previously, the Flying Fish Oil Barrel's renovation plan had been temporarily shelved due to Xia Nan's limited funds.

Now, with the Baron's reward on the way, he could put it on the agenda, find a reliable shipwright, and try to recruit experienced crew members.

4. [Tide-Surge Lure Pole].

Speaking of which, he had been waiting a long time regarding this chumming artifact, but the buyer had yet to show up.

They supposedly went deep-sea fishing at the outer islands. Given how long they had been gone, Xia Nan was starting to suspect they might have met with some accident.

If that were truly the case, he could only count himself unlucky.

But then again, the trip to Cliff Rock Island had sparked quite a bit of interest in fishing for Xia Nan.

If everything in the Southern Archipelagos wrapped up and there was still no word from the buyer, he might consider taking the equipment off the market and keeping it for his own use.

Of course, to meet its usage conditions, he would still have to find a suitable cetacean creature.

Hmm... there was still plenty of time. He would deal with that when the time came.

5. [Dream Weaving Corridor] key.

This was the primary reason Xia Nan had come to Barracuda Bay. Clues found in the evil druid's diary had led him to guess that the [Dream Weaving Corridor] key had been brought to the Southern Archipelagos by a scion of the Morton Family.

And now, according to the information he had gathered, this noble scion had already died in an attack by the pirate Algae Scale, meaning the key he carried had most likely been looted by Algae Scale as well.

To make contact with this pirate, Xia Nan needed to attend the Lunar Tide Banquet in three months. Hera had promised to introduce him to a channel for attending the banquet, which should happen in the next few days. He still needed to wait.

Originally, Xia Nan's plans for the near future stopped there.

But after today's battle with the Horned Shark Gang, a sixth point was added:

—The secret realm.

He hadn't forgotten the Scalpel he'd found on Jerry, the Bloody-Nosed Rat, which was suspected to have originated from a foreign secret realm.

According to Jerry, the Scalpel was left to him as a token by the people from the Horned Shark Gang.

In the beginning, Xia Nan had actually planned to hold back slightly, to see if he could keep one or two of the gang's higher-ups alive to interrogate them about the Scalpel's origin.

But once the battle officially started, he realized he had been overthinking.

[Purgatory Pulse] had been ruined, and even its scraps had been sold to Pearl Spun Yarn.

Thinking that he would stay in Barracuda Bay and wouldn't need to venture out for a while, he was currently wearing a set of transitional studded leather armor bought on short notice at the tailor shop.

Its defensive capabilities might be fine against goblin wooden clubs, but if the enemies were swapped for Level 4 or Level 5 Class Holders, it fell woefully short, offering an extremely low margin of error.

Under these circumstances, defense was already his weakness. Even though Xia Nan still had [Ember Echoes] and [Tears of Spring Breath] as trump cards, if the enemy suddenly hit him with a vicious strike that knocked him out cold or dealt a fatal blow, it would be highly troublesome.

After all, they even had a [Misty Step] magic scroll. If they really slammed a [Fireball] straight into his face, given his current physical condition, would he even have time to activate Stage 2 before dying?

Xia Nan didn't want to find out.

Therefore, during the actual battle, facing the gang's first and second-in-command—Horned Shark and Broken Brow—he hadn't held back.

In the end, judging by the results, his approach was the right one.

The good news: the deaths of these two didn't affect the intelligence regarding the Scalpel's origin.

As for the reason...

The bad news: the Scalpel had been salvaged by the Horned Shark Gang from a floating corpse they spotted at sea during a recent voyage.

Every Horned Shark Gang member who was on the ship at the time knew this piece of information. There was no need to specifically interrogate the higher-ups; asking any two peripheral gang thugs who hadn't been in the shack earlier was enough to get the story.

As for the secret realm, the only clue left for Xia Nan was the name of the maritime area where the corpse had been salvaged:

—Twin Oceans.

It was located in the outer sea, already beyond the scope of Xia Nan's current knowledge.

He didn't know how far this ocean region was from Barracuda Bay, nor did he know if there were any dangers lurking nearby.

But since it was connected to a secret realm, even if he ended up returning empty-handed, he definitely still had to make the trip.

Plus, the Lunar Tide Banquet was still a while away, giving him plenty of time.

Xia Nan figured he would ask Hera about the specifics of the Twin Oceans.

But just as he looked up, before he could speak, a uniformed young man who looked like a server hurried down the stairs and rushed over to Hera, whispering a brief report into her ear.

He saw Hera's eyes light up as she turned to look at him.

"Well, do you still want to attend the Lunar Tide Banquet?"

"Of course," Xia Nan answered decisively, having already guessed what she wanted to say from the situation.

"Then follow me."

Hera straightened her collar slightly, retied the ponytail at the back of her head, and stepped out from behind the counter, leading Xia Nan and Alton toward the stairwell.

"I believe I've explained the Lunar Tide Banquet to you before."

"For a banquet held out in the Southern Archipelagos of the outer sea, there are generally two ways to attend."

Her short boots made creaking sounds as she stepped on the stairs, explaining to Xia Nan behind her.

"The first way is to carve out a loud enough name for yourself at sea so they take the initiative to invite you."

At this point, Hera subconsciously glanced back at Xia Nan.

"With your strength, I actually think you could meet that condition very easily."

"But the banquet is being held in three months. The timeframe is too short."

"Unless you go to the Governor's Mansion right now and replicate the scene that happened at the Horned Shark Gang's headquarters this afternoon, you simply wouldn't make it in time."

"Heh, just joking."

"Anyway, if you want to attend the Lunar Tide Banquet, I recommend you take the second route—find someone who already meets the attendance conditions and have them bring you in."

"There's no shortage of people in Barracuda Bay who meet the conditions, but finding someone relatively reliable among them is very difficult."

"The person you're about to meet is one of them, and she has some ties with me."

"It's just that she was out on a mission a while ago and only returned to Barracuda Bay in the last few days, so it got delayed a bit."

"According to the terms of our previous deal, I will introduce you to her. But whether or not you can get her to agree to take you to the banquet will be entirely up to you."

Since Hera was only reciting what they had already agreed upon, Xia Nan naturally had no objections.

"Don't worry," she said, stopping in front of a door and turning back to wink at Xia Nan. "If it really doesn't work out later, I'll put in a good word for you. Given my friendship with her, she just might do me a favor."

Sensing the tavern owner's proactive goodwill, Xia Nan thanked her.

"So, the person we're about to see... how should I address her?"

Hera paused, a subtle smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"The Blade of Vengeance fleet. Ever heard of it?"