Chapter 108: Demonic Web

"Drip."

Foul-smelling, murky droplets gathered and fell from overhead, splashing up scattered sprays on the ground mixed with dung and muddy wet earth.

The cramped, narrow stone walls refracted a cold, dim light, occasionally catching the half-exposed blade that rose and fell gently with his movement—a flash of iron-grey sharpness, gone in an instant.

The Zhan Shou Chang Jian, long since mastered and now his main weapon, was firmly strapped to his back.

In his hand was a single-handed Wooden Sword, slightly less sharp but better suited to the present scene—【Green Pine】.

His pitch-black eyes reflected the pus-green of the moss growing in the cracks of the stone wall.

His gaze was fixed on the dim depths of the corridor ahead, attention highly concentrated, alert to any suspicious movement.

Xia Nan held his buckler loosely before him with his left hand, his right palm pressed tight to the hilt, the tip angled downward.

While making as little sound as possible, he kept himself ready to engage at any moment.

This was already the second day since he had accepted the quest at the Adventurer Association and set out.

No matter how much he looked forward to 【Tooth Hunt】, itching to cut down hundreds or thousands of Goblins for a furious grind—

The encounters of his previous quests, and those Adventurers in the tavern who vanished after only a single meeting—

Still forced him to rein in his impatience and make thorough preparations in River Valley Town.

Provisions to last a week in the wild—enough to support him well beyond the expected quest duration of just over two days—a sleeping bag and blanket, a water flask, a coil of hemp rope…

He had even spared half a night to run a small experiment.

Only at dawn the next day did he leave River Valley Town, fresh and full of energy.

Moving cautiously the whole way, following the rough bearings given by the Association, he had made his way to the Goblin Cave now lying on the outer fringe of Mist Forest.

Advancing slowly, the only sounds in the air were his own faint, long breaths and the slight rasp of Leather Armor against the inner lining of his Chain Mail.

His gaze swept the narrow stone walls on either side of the cave.

"The entrance's cramped—doesn't look like any Bugbears are around."

"One corridor straight in, no traps or side passages—probably no Hobgoblins either."

But considering what might happen—other entrances, perhaps, or the lair itself not yet fully built out, or other elite green-skinned sub-species…

"Still have to be careful."

Xia Nan shifted his feet lightly, while in his mind estimating the distance to the cave mouth and how long a full-speed retreat would take to get clear.

"If I run into an enemy I can't handle, or one I can't fight in this terrain, I can consider tossing a Fire Oil Bomb to seal the path and buy time to pull back."

Crackle—

The brittle pop of a bursting spark.

Xia Nan pressed sideways against the stone wall, hiding in the shadows, and looked into the cave.

The campfire had already gone out, leaving only the Ember of the logs, still faintly glowing;

A rust-flecked iron pot sat over the firewood; he couldn't make out what was inside, but there was probably only some dregs left.

And then there were those hunched, scrawny, ugly, disgusting green skins.

His gaze swept over them as he quickly counted.

"Two, four, six…"

"Twelve?"

A bit more than he'd imagined, but still well within what he could handle.

A flash of pallor suddenly caught the corner of his eye.

—A Human skull, its surface webbed with cracks, lying on the muddy ground.

Xia Nan's expression darkened without his meaning to.

The brutal scene from his very first time stepping into a Goblin Lair rose again in his mind.

But there was no longer any fear or hesitation.

In their place, a deep disgust and loathing churned and roiled within him.

Confirming the cave had no other exits, and no enemies beyond the twelve Goblins before him—

Xia Nan stopped concealing his movements, deliberately let his footsteps sound, and walked out of the corridor.

"Squee-rah!"

As if taking him for food delivered to their door, the green skins shrieked with excitement.

Without a Hobgoblin to command them or a Bugbear to bolster their morale—

A dozen-odd Goblins jostled together in a messy mob, twig-thin arms raised high, brandishing crudely made black-brown wooden clubs, and surged forward in a rush.

Battle intent, ignited by killing intent, seethed and boiled in his chest and belly.

Yet his mind was utterly calm.

Xia Nan kept reminding himself: clearing a Goblin Lair was just something done in passing, to earn a little extra coin.

The main objective of this trip was not those few dozen Gold Coins.

He stood his ground.

"Huu…"

A deep breath.

The bone-deep, biting cold that had once seeped into his very sinews welled up once more from the muscles of his waist, belly, and legs.

Utterly unremarkable, seemingly no different from usual.

He lifted his leg slightly and took a step forward.

【Tooth Hunt】!

Hiss-bang—

The scene before his eyes blurred and froze in an instant; the muscle fibers beneath his skin were wrenched and torn by the force erupting in that split second.

The air, viscous as water from the high-speed movement, emitted a faint and drawn-out howl under the compression of colliding flesh.

A blade-like, biting gale carrying filthy mud and a choking stench exploded through the air.

In a single breath—or even less!

Xia Nan, who had just been standing at the lair's entrance, his tall frame became a phantom, crossing the barrier of space amid the wolf-beast's howl and the raging wind, arriving before the pile of green skins squashed together like corpses.

His motion didn't pause for even a moment.

Drawing on the impact force and bodily momentum brought by 【Fang Shou】, 【Xuan Zhan】, long since maxed and fused with his body, poured forth amid the thin, short tearing of air from the wooden sword.

Hum—

It was an arc of dark-brown light, more complete and thinner, more forceful than its usual state.

The might of the two battle arts was, in an instant, layered together.

Becoming a sword-gleam far swifter and keener than before.

He didn't even feel, in the hand gripping the wooden sword—its sharpness a notch less—the slightest catch of a blade slicing through flesh.

Just a step, a lunge, a swing.

The next second, the excited, ugly expression on the green skins before him froze.

Like a fountain in a plaza surging on a timer.

Smooth-edged shattered skulls, twitching thin limbs, steaming fresh-red entrails… were lifted up and away from the bodies by a sticky red-and-white "fountain."

A whole row of pus-green flesh-paddy toppled over.

Eight goblins, killed in an instant.

"Proficiency +1"

A translucent character flickered past in the void before his eyes.

With no Bugbear to grant a morale boost, and no Hobgoblin overseeing the battle from behind.

That single sword-strike from Xia Nan was enough to scare the wits out of the remaining four green skins.

They threw down their wooden clubs and fled in shrieking panic.

Enemies who had lost their fighting spirit held no value for honing battle arts.

Wooden sword in hand, he strode after them—slash, thrust, chop, cleave—finishing off the last four cowardly low-tier monsters one by one, sending them to Hell to reunite with their dead companions.

The goblin lair, originally filled with shrill, chaotic cries, fell silent in an instant.

Only Xia Nan's steady, long breaths remained.

He turned around, confirming every goblin was dead.

Xia Nan drew the Zhan Shou Chang Jian from his back, and by the faint glow of the luminous moss seeping from the folds of the stone wall, stared at his reflection on the blade's surface.

【Fang Shou】 lv1: (3/100)

A look of satisfaction surfaced on his face.

"As expected!"

"Using battle arts in real combat gains proficiency far faster than practicing alone against empty air!"

As early as last night, after finishing all his pre-departure supplies, Xia Nan—

Using the time saved by his mere six hours of sleep, had been practicing 【Fang Shou】 outside River Valley Town deep into the night.

By his rough estimate, he had practiced for about eight hours in total.

Only then had he dragged the skill's progress bar up to (2/100).

Now, even counting the time he'd spent carefully picking his way through the narrow passage, at most a dozen or so minutes had passed since he entered the cave.

Yet he had likewise gained a precious point of proficiency.

And the reason for the difference between the two could not possibly be a change in surroundings, or the difference between day and night.

Just as Xia Nan had originally anticipated.

Possessing the Attribute Panel, through real combat he could greatly boost the speed at which he gained proficiency.

Moreover, even those high-intensity battles still had a decent effect on battle arts already raised to a high level.

His slightly uneasy heart immediately relaxed.

He felt only that the road ahead was bright.

Xia Nan sheathed his long sword.

His gaze swept past the corpses and pus-blood scattered on the ground, scanning across the lair.

He'd cut off the goblins' ears later.

Once cleaned up, the 25 gold from the Association's Reward would be in hand.

With profit-maximization in mind, he naturally wouldn't mind the filth—planning to search the cave once more, carefully, to see if there was any loot worth selling.

After all, it was only a short mission; he'd be back in town soon, so carrying a bit more weight didn't matter.

Jingle—

A flash of brilliant golden light, there and gone, beneath the cover of the muddy soil.

"Oh?"

Xia Nan immediately stepped forward, bent down, and fished a Gold Coin out of the dirt.

It wasn't much of a surprise.

Without Bugbears and Hobgoblins around, ordinary green skins rarely made a habit of actively collecting loot—they simply followed their instincts, hunting and filling their bellies.

In such cases, those unlucky souls who became food, if they happened to carry coin on them, would end up benefiting whoever came after.

One coin, two coins—perfectly normal.

Xia Nan had thought the same.

Until the Gold Coins he picked up grew more and more numerous—and he even discovered a finely crafted pearl necklace.

A doubt rose unbidden in his heart:

"That adds up to nearly 30 Gold Coins."

"That doesn't make sense — just a dozen or so Goblins, weaker than any ordinary caravan. How could they have plundered so much money?"

As he puzzled over it, his gaze suddenly froze.

He saw, in a corner of the cave ahead, beside white bones and severed limbs, a small box lying quietly, dusted with ash and stained with blood.

The lock mechanism on the box seemed to have already been opened; a narrow gap gaped between the lid and the base.

He picked it up and opened it.

What met his eyes was a thin book with a pale red cover.

Rather surprised, he drew it out of its case.

He opened it.

……

Arcane Calendar, Year 712, Blaze Moon, 21st Day.

Huan Cai Cheng is terribly expensive — housing costs far more than even in Niumu.

Relying on the Gold Coins I'd earned performing Cantrips on the road, and Lia's savings, we rented a small room in the city.

The landlord was a Calishite, but a decent sort — he only made us pay three months' deposit.

Still, I don't think we'll be staying that long.

Next month is the new-student examination at Huosuoe Huangjia Xueyuan, and I've been preparing for it for three years.

If I can become an official student of the Academy, I can move into the dormitory with Lia.

I have to admit, I'm a little nervous.

I'll make it. I have to make it.

……

Arcane Calendar, Year 712, Wither Moon, 7th Day.

The examination is over. I didn't pass.

……

Arcane Calendar, Year 712, Wither Moon, 26th Day.

Lia found work as a jewelry-appraisal apprentice at a workshop — it's her family's trade.

The Academy's next entrance examination is in two years.

By then I'll be twenty-nine, still within the Academy's thirty-year age limit.

Lia urged me to try again.

Yes — after preparing this long, I couldn't bear to just give up.

Then I'll try once more.

……

Arcane Calendar, Year 712, Falling-Leaf Moon, 5th Day.

The Academy's examination was far harder than I'd imagined.

Just holing up in our room and waiting two years out won't work.

There's a Mage Tower in the city taking on apprentices. They say its master is a great Mage who has Mastered Gravity Magic — I want to give it a try.

……

Arcane Calendar, Year 712, Falling-Leaf Moon, 28th Day.

Wonderful — I made it!

I seem to have some talent for Gravity Magic. The young Mage who handled my reception even picked out a room for me in the Mage Tower, one close to the laboratory.

Lia was happy for me too.

Tonight, for the first time in ages, we went to a tavern in the city and had a proper feast.

On the way home, we were both drunk.

……

Arcane Calendar, Year 713, Maoxua Yue, 3rd Day.

It's been nearly half a year since I entered the Mage Tower.

Every day buried in the laboratory, unshaven — when I saw Lia today, she got quite a shock.

Ha.

I told her not to worry, that I was doing well and learning a great deal.

By next year, I'll pass the examination and become a student of the Royal Academy.

……

Arcane Calendar, Year 713, Maoxua Yue, 30th Day.

During today's routine experiment, Jieli mistook sulphur powder for meteorite iron filings and dumped it into the Gravity array.

The color and weight are nothing alike — I have no idea how that careless fool could have mixed them up.

The mentor flew into a terrible rage; none of us dared speak.

Poor Jieli was kicked out of the Mage Tower.

As his roommate, I was kept behind by the mentor to clean the laboratory.

And then… guess what I saw?

The experiment actually succeeded!

……

Arcane Calendar Year 713, Windclaw Month, Day 1.

Jieli was kicked out of the Mage Tower, so I was the only one left in the dormitory.

We'd lived together for over half a year, and suddenly not hearing his snoring left me unable to sleep.

At night, it's also easy for the mind to wander.

I suddenly recalled the scene of cleaning the laboratory the day before yesterday.

Why did it succeed?

Clearly, the meteorite iron filings used as the spellcasting material had been swapped out for sulfur powder, yet the gravitational field within the magic circle still changed.

Was it because of the runes on the enchanted steel plate?

If it could succeed without spellcasting materials, then why bother with the extra step?

Tomorrow is a rest day,

I want to verify my own hypothesis.

……

Arcane Calendar Year 713, Windclaw Month, Day 2.

The experiment succeeded again!

Not just sulfur powder—I tried replacing the spellcasting material with silver-iron filings, talcum powder, and finally even tossed in a handful of laundry detergent from the dormitory.

Why?

Why?

I suddenly remembered what our mentor once told us.

The essence of spellcasting is to mobilize Primal Essence through the "Magic Net" of 【Shen Mi Nv Shi】, allowing raw magical power to be safely and steadily controlled by the Mage.

The role of "spellcasting materials" within this is to serve as a physical medium to stabilize the spell's structure.

Without suitable and appropriate amounts of spellcasting materials, many spells are simply difficult to take shape.

I couldn't help but feel puzzled.

If the spellcasting materials in the rune array can be swapped out at will, does that also mean a stable Spell Model is actually not important?

But if there is no Spell Model, even if I can use spiritual force to connect with the Magic Net, how should the magical power within be released?

Or perhaps, the Magic Net is actually just a temporary… (the handwriting grows increasingly scrawled, the last few characters crossed out)

(End of Chapter)