Chapter 2: Raid

Xia Nan was a farmer; dealing with the golden wheat in the fields was his primary job.

The so-called "adventures" that often only appeared in the mouths of bards and village elders might never have anything to do with him in his entire life.

But at this very moment, being able to sit in this rudimentary campsite as a member of the "Scum" squad, Xia Nan naturally had his own merits.

According to the memories left by the original owner, the matter could be traced back to five years ago, when he was thirteen.

At that time, a down-and-out bard had stayed at the original owner's home.

In addition to performing tricks in front of a group of children in the village, opening the door to the fantasy world for the young Xia Nan.

Thanks to the original owner's mother's stingy personality, which was famous for ten miles around.

When the bard left the village, he had to leave behind a page of a skill book for their family.

Calling it a "book" was actually a bit of a stretch.

From its appearance, it was actually half a page of paper recording some kind of training technique.

But regardless, it had once been a part of a real professional skill book.

The whole family treated it like a treasure.

Even the youngest daughter in the family, "Beicuisi," who was only seven years old at the time, practiced it for a while.

It was a pity that perhaps that half-page of the skill book was just waste paper written randomly by the bard to escape, or perhaps their family had no talent related to it.

More than half a year passed, and no one made any obvious progress.

Coupled with the King's tax increase and busy farm work, this matter was left unsettled.

It was also because the original owner had a straightforward personality, and the tricks shown by the bard at the beginning left too deep an impression on him.

So even during the autumn harvest when he was too busy to straighten his back, he would still, after finishing a whole day of hard work, stand on the ridge of the field with a body that was almost exhausted, waving the rudimentary wooden sword he had spent three days carving at the straw.

Just like that, day after day, year after year, he didn't even know how many wooden swords he had broken.

He didn't know where this field boy got his perseverance; he hadn't rested for even a single day, as if swinging the sword had become a part of his life.

Finally, one afternoon three months ago.

When Xia Nan, like the thousands of days and nights before, was swinging his wooden sword at the scarecrow he had made on the ridge near his home.

It was a wonderful feeling he had never experienced before.

An inexplicable force suddenly arose from his legs, which were firmly planted in the mud, and traveled all the way up.

Waist, chest, abdomen, arms... finally passing through his fingertips to the wooden sword in his hand.

It was as if all the strength and spirit of his whole body were twisted into one in an instant, pouring out in a flash.

Hum—

The broken wooden sword spun and fell to the ground, and small, messy grass clippings danced wantonly in the air.

The scarecrow, split in two, slowly fell over.

The cut was neat.

【Spinning Slash】

At that moment, Xia Nan knew its name.

……

Xia Nan had completely mastered the technique that only "Knight Lords" could use.

The subsequent development of events was a matter of course.

An ordinary farmer family whose entire assets were just a mill and a few thin fields.

Raising three sons and one little daughter.

Among them, the eldest and the second eldest happened to be at the age to get married and start a career.

Naturally, the struggle for the pitiful inheritance rights of the family property began, both openly and secretly.

From the distribution of the mill's profits to the usage time of the kitchen stove...

All kinds of messy quarrels and disputes almost filled every inch of air in that small wooden house.

Watching his two respected brothers arguing endlessly over a candle made the original owner, who had just come of age, feel deeply suspicious.

Thinking that in two years, when he also reached the age to get married, this kind of thing would happen to him again.

Xia Nan couldn't help but want to retreat.

Coincidentally, having learned the professional skill 【Spinning Slash】, driven by the recklessness and spirit unique to a youth.

The original owner registered his name at the Adventurer Association in a nearby town and then joined the "Scum" squad.

"Sigh..."

Recalling the original owner's reckless behavior, Xia Nan couldn't help but sigh.

When he transmigrated into this world, the original owner was already in the team.

And by the time he had muddled through absorbing the memories and realized what he was doing, he had already entered the Mist Forest with the squad, and there was no chance to go back.

Things had come to this; complaining was just a waste of energy.

Lowering his head, he wiped the blade on his knees with a cotton cloth again.

Speaking of which, although the two brothers of this body were deeply involved in the family property dispute, they were extremely good to their little brother.

This one-handed sword was put together by the two brothers using their respective savings.

The original owner cherished it immensely and maintained it often.

So much so that even though it had long since reached the age of being scrapped, the blade still maintained a considerable degree of sharpness.

Perhaps, it could still survive a few hard battles?

"Hey, kid?"

Perhaps it was Xia Nan's long silence that made Captain Maji mistakenly think he was too nervous, so he opened his mouth to comfort him:

"Nothing to be afraid of, just a few Goblins."

"Things like this, two or three of them, can't even beat the stray dogs in the town."

Xia Nan didn't speak, just grinned at the hunter, signaling that he was fine.

Nervous?

Of course he was.

After all, this was his first time going out on an adventure as an "Adventurer."

The "glorious record" on the one-handed sword's attribute panel was left by the previous owners of this sword and had nothing to do with him.

And the fact that this battle-hardened longsword could fall into his hands perhaps, to some extent, foreshadowed the fate of its previous owners.

Whoosh—

A chill brushed past the back of Xia Nan's neck, making him shiver.

Mist Forest, just like its name.

Even at high noon when the sun was fierce, a thin layer of mist always permeated the air.

Not to mention that the sun had already set, and the thin moonlight almost merged with the mist, resulting in extremely low visibility.

Even sitting by the campfire, he could barely distinguish the blurry outlines of the weeds and shrubs around him.

"Farm boy, first time in the Mist Forest?"

A voice with a hint of a smile sounded in his ear.

Looking over, he saw the Halfling Erji looking at him jokingly from the other side of the campsite, about five or six meters away.

"Have you been here many times?" Xia Nan nodded and replied.

"Of course!"

Seeming to have been waiting for him to open his mouth, Erji immediately became high-spirited.

"You don't know, I have a distant cousin who once served as an attendant for an Arcanist for two years. Tsk, that was a big shot who truly graduated from the Huosuoe Royal Academy and was registered in the Spellcaster Association!"

"Hey, you haven't even heard of the Huosuoe Royal Academy, have you? Let me tell you—"

The voice stopped abruptly.

Even if there was a bit of bragging, Xia Nan was still very interested in the Halfling's topic.

Having just transmigrated into this world, anything involving supernatural powers had an extraordinary attraction to him.

However, at least today, he shouldn't be able to get more information about the "Huosuoe Royal Academy."

Because just a second ago, Xia Nan watched with his own eyes as a crooked wooden club embedded with many iron nails stirred the mist and emerged from the darkness behind Erji's head.

Then it swung down fiercely, smashing hard onto the Halfling's face, which was full of excitement and enthusiasm.

The rusty red metal spikes instantly pierced through the fragile skin on the side of the opponent's head.

Like a watermelon accidentally dropped on the ground, bright red blood mixed with some disgusting white viscous liquid splashed out from the wound.

"Enemy attack!!!!!!!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3 =====