Chapter 480 Healing Wounds and the Secret Realm's Core

"Proficiency +2"

"[Heavy Tide] lv2 (3/100) → [Heavy Tide] lv2 (5/100)"

"..."

"Proficiency +3"

"[Gravity Control] lv1 (40/100) → [Gravity Control] lv1 (43/100)"

"..."

"Proficiency +9"

"[Ember Echoes] lv1 (92/100) → [Ember Echoes] lv2 (1/100)"

"..."

The crimson flames, bearing an inexplicable sense of desolation, gradually died out amid the wind-scattered ashes. Their molten glow quietly faded as the sparks in the air ceased to pop.

Gripping the straight sword [Ember Fall], which had returned to its night-like pitch-black hue, Xia Nan stood in place, looking down at the completely lifeless, headless corpse of the monster collapsed before him.

In his empty field of vision, translucent characters from his Attribute Panel cascaded past in a screen-filling blur.

Xia Nan felt mildly surprised by this, but it brought him no real astonishment.

He had expected it.

Having been in this world for so long, he had long since worked out some fairly clear conclusions regarding the rules for acquiring "combat technique proficiency."

The efficiency of leveling up combat technique proficiency in actual combat was much higher than in daily training.

This was especially true in highly dangerous situations against a powerful enemy, like just now. The intense pressure of death during combat highly accelerated the proficiency growth of the combat techniques used.

This applied perfectly to techniques like [Gravity Control] and [Ember Echoes], which were notoriously difficult to train during routine practice.

Often, a single flash of insight mid-battle could yield proficiency equivalent to dozens of days of hard work.

In contrast, a combat technique like [Heavy Tide], which leveled up quickly during routine training, seemed to show less relative progress here.

Still, he was perfectly satisfied to gain two points of proficiency at once.

Among the streams of information flashing before his eyes, what naturally caught Xia Nan's attention the most was [Ember Echoes], which had gained an exaggerated 9 points in one go, instantly pushing it to Level 2.

Come to think of it, he had possessed this combat technique for a while now; when he first reached the Novice tier, [Ember Fall] had not even been forged yet.

It had only just leveled up to Level 2. Its progression was certainly much faster than [Gravity Control], but compared to the likes of [Fang Hunt] and [Gravity Etching], it was more than a step slower.

As for the reason...

First, and most importantly, it was naturally due to its massive one-month cooldown.

Since reaching Novice, over the long period from last year until now, Xia Nan had only used it three times in total.

To improve its proficiency on ordinary days, he could only sit on his inn bed and control the circulation of Ember energy in his body like a meditating spellcaster. This was his daily training method.

Though it did yield results, the efficiency was incredibly low, and it often ate up massive amounts of precious training time.

He certainly wanted to speed up its progression, but as his ultimate trump card, he never knew when he might need it to turn the tide of a battle. The thirty-day cooldown meant Xia Nan dared not waste it in everyday life, terrified it would be unavailable when desperately needed. Therefore, he could only let [Ember Echoes] sit unused once its cooldown refreshed.

This also meant he had not yet accumulated enough experience regarding the proficiency growth rules for this combat technique.

He remembered that after using it for the first time upon reaching Novice, it had given him 4 points of proficiency. He had assumed it would be about that much every time, but to his surprise, he gained nearly 10 points this time around. He figured he just didn't understand it well enough yet—perhaps the intensity of the battle and the actual pressure he faced also influenced the proficiency gained.

On the other hand, the reason [Ember Echoes] leveled up so slowly was also due to the combat technique's inherent quality tier.

Xia Nan estimated that, among the combat techniques he currently grasped, its quality was second only to [Gravity Control].

As such, it was understandable that its proficiency growth was only slightly faster than the latter's.

Speaking of which, the fundamental reason he managed to acquire this combat technique in the first place was his encounter within the Ash Valley Ruins Secret Realm.

Currently being in a Secret Realm again—although he deduced from the scattered ruined architecture that it was not the same type as Ash Valley—it presumably had its own unique characteristics.

Thinking of this, Xia Nan couldn't help but look back. His gaze bypassed the fishman corpses on the messy ground and moved toward the towering altar built of sea rocks and fish bones, landing on the half-operating room fused into it.

The small, portable briefcase—suspected to be the Secret Realm's core—still lay quietly on the leather resting sofa.

"Ugh..."

A teammate's soft, pained groan reaching his ears yanked Xia Nan's consciousness back to reality.

Knowing this wasn't the time to think about such things, he sheathed his straight sword and hurried toward his heavily injured teammates.

...

The mutated Shark Beast that had ambushed them from the pool undoubtedly possessed strength far exceeding what they could normally handle.

Even though Xia Nan had ultimately relied on his "Stage 2" trump card to slay the heavily injured, mangled enemy, the Blade of Vengeance Squad was nearly wiped out.

The injuries of Aken the Barbarian and Sasha the Tabaxi went without saying; both had suffered extreme wounds that would leave them unable to stand up anytime soon.

Lorraine had collided violently in midair with Xia Nan after he took a direct hit from the Shark Beast, injuring her vitals.

Her injuries were perhaps slightly lighter than the former two, as she hadn't lost consciousness on the spot—she had even managed to forcefully push herself up to face the enemy through sheer willpower—but she was completely exhausted.

Furthermore, the special combat technique she used at the end—compressing a high-temperature domain onto her body's surface—had severely overdrawn her stamina and carried immense side effects.

Seeing the Shark Beast decapitated by Xia Nan, she finally let go of her tension and went completely limp on the ground, struggling to move even a single finger.

Although Hein hadn't engaged the Shark Beast in close combat, she had taken a direct hit from its water jet while in her albatross form. Her fragile body, typical of a ranged Spellcaster, was severely injured. She plummeted from the sky with fluttering wings, breaking her leg by the time she reverted to her human form.

Alton the Halfling was in slightly better condition. Xia Nan had seen him get sent flying by the shockwave of the Shark Beast's attack, landing far away in the exotic architectural ruins with only minor injuries.

Right now, out of everyone on the field, the most severely injured was actually Ryan, who had arrived at the very end to provide backup.

Seeing his close teammates in such a desperate situation upon arrival, this pragmatic, usually stoic human Warrior had gone all out to carve out a sliver of survival for them.

Unfortunately, his Level 3 Class Level strength was indeed limited. Following Xia Nan and Lorraine being swatted away, he had taken a direct punch to the chest from the Shark Beast.

Even with his iron-studded wooden shield providing slight resistance, the overwhelming physical force from the monster instantly twisted his shield-bearing left arm. With who knew how many ribs broken, he now lay far away on the ground, his breathing faint.

The only thing to be thankful for was that out of the six of them—including Ryan who came later—no one had actually died.

No matter how severe their injuries were, they were at least all alive.

It meant Xia Nan's efforts in combat—controlling gravity and helping draw the Shark Beast's attention—had not been in vain.

Strangely enough, though his combat style leaned toward a lone wolf approach, he never held others back during teamwork. He was also willing to make reasonable sacrifices and concessions for his teammates, provided it didn't seriously threaten his own life.

Among the Adventurers of this world, he could even be considered a very good teammate.

Yet a large portion of the Adventurers he had cooperated with in the past... did not seem to end up with very wonderful fates.

Xia Nan didn't think this was his fault, and the current state of the Blade of Vengeance Squad proved just that.

Thoughts raced through his mind, but his feet did not stop moving.

Almost the second he confirmed the Shark Beast was dead, Xia Nan rushed over to where the most critically injured person, Ryan, lay.

They were teammates who had fought side by side and experienced life and death together.

Just as the people in the Blade of Vengeance Squad acknowledged Xia Nan, Xia Nan himself viewed these teammates as trustworthy individuals.

There was no need to overthink things right now.

Reaching out with both hands, a clump of emerald light brimming with life aura coalesced in his palms.

—"Lesser Healing", a healing spell attached to [Tears of Spring Breath], which could be used three times a day.

Although it was only a 1st Circle Spell with limited healing properties and lacked the potent effects of "Spring Pulse Cleansing Heal".

But after all, the latter could only be used by the wearer on themselves, while the former could be cast on others.

"Hum..."

Xia Nan's palms hovered over Ryan's injured areas. Accompanied by the hum of surging energy, the bleeding gashes on the surface of his skin rapidly healed, and Ryan's increasingly faint breathing grew steady once more.

Even though there were no signs of his broken bones healing, he had at least been pulled back from the brink of death.

Seeing Ryan's breathing stabilize, Xia Nan finally dispersed the emerald light from his hands.

He pulled a Healing Potion out of Ryan's waist pouch—something nearly every Adventurer carried on them—and helped pour it into his mouth.

Then he stood up and hurried to check on the others' injuries.

...

After the battle, the only two left on the field who could still move were Xia Nan and Alton the Halfling.

The two divided the work and quickly helped pour Healing Potions down the throats of all their injured teammates, moving them together so they could monitor their injuries.

Supporting Hein—whose leg was broken and face pale, leaving her limping as she walked—he brought her to the center of the clearing, raising his arm so she could unsteadily brace herself to sit down.

Xia Nan looked to his side.

Over there, Alton was dragging Aken the Barbarian back using a crude stretcher he had hastily fashioned from vines and trees from the nearby Canyon.

Although he was quite short, he was still an Adventurer who had obtained a Class Level, so his physical constitution was definitely far stronger than an ordinary person's.

Dragging a burly man who was over two meters tall didn't seem to take much effort for him right now.

Placing Aken next to Ryan, Alton let out a slight breath, then looked at Xia Nan and took the initiative to speak:

"I'll head back to the docks to get some people to help. You stay here and keep watch for a bit. At least one of us has to stay here, otherwise... heh, it'd suck to finally take down a Shark Beast only to fall to a few fishmen drawn over by the smell of blood."

Although the Halfling seemed a bit unreliable on ordinary days, he was quite dependable in combat, making him a solid, trustworthy teammate.

Hearing him say this, Xia Nan nodded in reply:

"Leave this place to me. Be careful on your way back."

Without a doubt, being able to activate [Ember Echoes] meant Xia Nan had also suffered severe injuries during the battle.

But in the ensuing fight against the similarly mangled and heavily injured Shark Beast, he had taken no more obvious damage. His health line, which had been near the brink of death, was rapidly brought back up by the swift regeneration of the Ember state.

He might not be in prime condition right now, but he could still bring out seventy to eighty percent of his combat strength—easily enough to handle a few fishmen.

So he stayed behind to protect the heavily injured group as he and Alton had discussed, letting the latter head back to notify the crew at the docks.

In the clearing, Lorraine had yet to catch her breath.

The side effects of using [Scorching Heat Domain] under high pressure had left scorch marks all over her exposed skin. Her eyes were shut tight, and her brows were furrowed as if she were enduring immense pain.

In contrast, although Hein, whose calf was broken, lacked color in her face—making her already cold, pale skin look as ashen as a corpse's—her mind was very clear.

Right now, she sat on a soft cushion Xia Nan had dragged over from the ruins while moving everyone. Her crystalline, dark-brown eyes stared at the black-haired youth before her with a complex, subtle gaze.

Many days ago, she probably never would have imagined that a strange Adventurer she had met just once for an equipment trade would become the key figure in saving her entire team.

If Xia Nan hadn't been present today, their Blade of Vengeance Squad probably wouldn't have had the slightest chance of survival against that massive Shark Beast and its terrifying strength. It would have only been a matter of time before their team name was deregistered from the Association's roster.

But now, even Ryan, who was the most heavily injured, was lying in the clearing six meters away with his eyes closed and his breathing steady. Not a single member had died.

As for that Shark Beast...

Hein couldn't help but turn her gaze a short distance away, where the massive shark head stood quietly on the ground, much like an ornament on a dinner plate meant to showcase the origin of the ingredients.

Her mind unconsciously recalled what she had glimpsed earlier: that molten fiery glow and desolate crimson flame, that illusory black wolf with crimson sparks swaying amid its mane.

Had such a powerful Adventurer with a mysterious background come to Barracuda Bay and joined their team really just to attend the "Lunar Tide Banquet" over two months from now?

Hein couldn't be certain, but she didn't dwell on it either.

If he truly meant them harm, right now was obviously the most opportune moment, yet he hadn't made any out-of-line moves.

Through his actions during this mission, this black-haired youth had already proven his trustworthiness.

And in her heart, Hein quietly removed the word "temporary" from his status as a "temporary member," truly viewing him as a reliable teammate worthy of trust—someone to whom she could completely entrust her back.

Meanwhile, Xia Nan naturally had no idea what the young Druid behind him was thinking.

What he was pondering right now was the briefcase serving as the Secret Realm's core on the altar not far ahead, and the things that might be stored inside it.

(End of Chapter)