Chapter 223

【Task Number】: t-12031

【Type】: Collection

【Reward】: 50-300 Gold

【Task Brief】:

Need idea polymers/emotional solidifiers or other items of similar nature; specific remuneration is negotiable.

Sitting in the corner of the White Tit Tavern hall.

Xia Nan leaned back, relaxing against the chair, straightened his legs, and stretched.

On the table in front of him were scattered plates with only a few food scraps left, and the air above could faintly smell of sweet, fragrant cream.

Yet his mind was pondering the encounter in the appraisal room that afternoon.

Regarding the Resonance Relic in his hand, which was the broken yew staff from Bo He, the advice the appraiser "Tang Si" gave him was to keep it for the time being and not send it to the association or any other organization for consignment.

Because just a few days ago, the Hegu Town Adventurer Association had just received a commission to collect similar items.

And the Resonance Relic in Xia Nan's hand had a high probability of meeting the task requirements.

According to Tang Si, considering the scarcity of Resonance Relics and the rarity of similar idea/emotional polymers, Xia Nan should be able to receive a good offer when negotiating in person.

It would be much more profitable than consigning it at the association, and he wouldn't have to wait indefinitely for potential buyers; he could sell it right away.

Hearing the appraiser explain the pros and cons, Xia Nan considered it and agreed to the other party's plan.

And he made an appointment to meet the buyer three days later when he went to the association to receive the reward for the Beastman investigation task.

The association would also take advantage of these few days to contact the other party and make corresponding preparations.

"Speaking of which..."

The happy, satisfied feeling of fullness and the lingering fragrance of the cream mushroom soup on his tongue made Xia Nan narrow his eyes involuntarily.

Subconsciously, the scene of Tang Si appraising the items for him flashed through his mind.

After all, not all magic equipment can have obvious differences in appearance from ordinary equipment.

Like the 【Ring of Dead Line】 and 【Bone-Binding Iron Greaves】 on Xia Nan's body, even when the abilities are activated, it is difficult to see obvious changes in the main body, let alone at ordinary times.

And for weapons with harsh usage conditions like the 【Tide-Calling Lure Rod】, if he didn't have the attribute panel, it might be hundreds of years before anyone could discover its bizarre characteristics.

In this case, for ordinary people who have not mastered identification spells, wanting to perceive the special features of an object naturally requires extensive and profound knowledge accumulation.

Just like those treasure appraisal masters in his previous life, with just one glance, they could perform a comprehensive appraisal and judgment based on the item's design style, raw material origin, and craftsmanship characteristics.

This also made Xia Nan completely dispel the idea of using his attribute panel to impersonate an appraiser to make some quick money.

On one hand, he did not possess spellcasting abilities, so naturally, he could not master "Identification";

On the other hand, his understanding of this world and his accumulation of various related knowledge were too lacking, making it easy to reveal flaws and arouse suspicion.

If someone discovered the clues and caused his golden finger attribute panel to be exposed, it would be ten thousand times more dangerous than having the 【Tears of Spring Breath】 discovered.

There was no need to face such great risks for some gold coins that could be earned at any time.

In this regard, it was better for him to be cautious.

At this point, the spoils of this mission had basically been processed; there was nothing of special value, and everything that could be liquidated had been exchanged for gold coins.

Excluding the 【Tears of Spring Breath】 that he didn't intend to sell, the 【Tide-Calling Lure Rod】 had been left at the association waiting for the consignment process, and the broken staff was also about to be sold.

Xia Nan's originally tense heart finally relaxed.

"Then let's rest for three days first."

"After the investigation task reward comes down and the Resonance Relic is sold, I'll decide based on the gold coins I have whether to rest for a few more days to relax a bit, or to hurry up and earn money to try and save enough gold coins for the arm shield upgrade as soon as possible."

Since joining the Green Blood Squad nearly two months ago, he hadn't had a good rest. Xia Nan thought about using this recent free time, after clearing the hidden dangers of Beastification Syndrome with a Remove Curse scroll.

To find a few Goblin Lairs to relax, which could also be considered earning some extra money.

Eating, sleeping, training—a regular life always makes time pass quickly.

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

Adventurer Association Hegu Town branch, a small conference room on the second floor.

Xia Nan leaned back in an oak chair, his fingertips tapping the armrest neither lightly nor heavily.

There was no obvious change in his expression, but through his relaxed sitting posture and naturally slightly upturned corners of his mouth, it could be seen that he was in a good mood.

And the facts were indeed so.

The reward for the Beastman investigation task had all been deposited into his account.

Considering the expenses for the Snake Scale Arm Shield and magic scrolls, the demand for cash was huge, so he did not choose to exchange part of it for points, but instead exchanged it all for gold coins.

A full 300 gold!

Making his net worth soar directly to 853 gold, 3 silver, and 7 copper!

Buying a Remove Curse scroll worth 500 gold could be said to be more than enough.

And the 200g of Bone-Erosion Pattern Steel in the task reward was currently placed in the deepest part of his backpack.

Today he could hand it over to Ba En of Rock Hammer to start the upgrade and forging of the Snake Scale Arm Shield.

Regarding this, Xia Nan's biggest feeling was...

"Lone wolf, money really comes fast!"

No need to share money with teammates, no need to worry about whether others can adapt to his rhythm, and no need to be vigilant against backstabbing during combat.

Like this E-rank task, if the reward is fully obtained, he can directly get 300 gold coins, which is worth more than I don't know how many Goblin Lairs.

If every adventure in the future can have a harvest like this one, his promotion speed will also soar like a rocket, and he will soon be able to save enough points for advanced combat techniques.

Thinking of this, he also began to look forward to his future, wishing he could rush into the forest right now and find a few Goblins to vent his fire.

Of course, no matter how his emotions fluctuated in his heart.

Right now, he still had to sit here.

Because the meeting time Xia Nan and the association agreed upon for the yew staff transaction was about to arrive.

He subconsciously glanced at the clock on the wall.

【9:29】

There was one minute left until the agreed meeting time of 9:30 AM.

Yet he was still the only one in the conference room.

He thought to himself that the buyer should be late.

It didn't matter; he had just returned to town anyway and didn't have many urgent matters.

As long as the transaction could be completed in the end, allowing him to add a few hundred more gold coins to his account, he wouldn't mind waiting here for a whole day.

And just as the second hand of the clock turned more than half a circle in the last minute before the agreed time, falling to the mark symbolizing "11".

When it was only five seconds away from 9:30.

A short, inexplicably steady, and light footstep suddenly came from outside the door.

As if it were specifically timed to the agreed point, not a second more, not a second less.

The moment the second hand returned to zero.

"Creak." The conference room door was gently pushed open from the outside.

Revealing a young girl with a slim figure, wearing a robe.

Her long chestnut hair was tied up with a leather cord, forming a neat and lively high ponytail, but the strands falling from her cheeks and the fluffy bangs on her forehead did not look messy at all, clearly carefully groomed before going out;

A pair of clear amber eyes were crystal clear, and the flowing light in them revealed a depth and steadiness that a girl of her age should not have, vaguely carrying a trace of deeply hidden fatigue.

The beige robe looked like it had been worn for a long time, and some parts were even washed white, but the surface was not stained with a single speck of dirt; it was clean and tidy, and she was also wearing a practical dark brown cloak over her shoulders.

"Mage?"

High perception silently took effect, and many pieces of information that ordinary people could not capture were summarized into Xia Nan's brain the moment he saw the girl in front of him.

The fair fingers stained with ink and slight scorch marks faintly revealed from the sleeves hanging from the end of the robe, the magic particles in the air around her body that became slightly active as she moved, and the small leather bag at her waist that was different from the style commonly used by adventurers...

Coupled with some credible intuition of unknown origin, he was convinced that the girl who pushed open the door in front of him should be a proper spellcaster.

Definitely not a fake like Bo He who used her own abilities and equipment effects to disguise herself.

Out of politeness and respect for the upcoming transaction, Xia Nan stood up and greeted the other party:

"Hello, I am Xia Nan. You should be the client for the collection task, right?"

"Hello, yes, I..."

A soft female voice, carrying a trace of fatigue, came from the front, as if she were about to introduce herself.

But just as she started speaking, the originally smooth voice paused abruptly, as if it had jammed.

He looked over.

He saw the girl with the chestnut high ponytail staring at him in a daze.

And on her fair face with exquisite features was an inexplicable expression that Xia Nan had never seen since he crossed over.

To give an inappropriate example, it was like an ordinary person in his previous life who didn't chase stars much, finally agreeing to a blind date after being persuaded by relatives.

After arriving at the meeting place, he unexpectedly discovered that the blind date sitting across the table had a familiar face that often appeared on television screens.

That momentary surprise and trance, the complex expression of shock mixed with suspicion, could never be acted out.

And after the shock, although the other party covered it up very quickly, Xia Nan still keenly sensed that—which surged instinctively from the depths of her eyes—

Fear.

"What does this mean?" He couldn't help but feel suspicious in his heart, "Does she know me?"

Xia Nan frowned slightly, searching through all the memories in his mind, but he never found any image similar to her face.

The pause was only for an instant.

The mage girl's reaction was very fast. All changes in her expression were restrained in an instant, and a polite but not distant smile bloomed on her face, and she continued:

"Hello, I heard from the association that you have a Resonance Relic in your hand?"

"To tell you the truth, I happen to need some similar items to assist in my experiments recently. I wonder if you could let me take a look."

"Of course, I will definitely give you a quote that will satisfy you!"

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself, how rude."

"You can just call me 'Weirouer', Mr. Xia Nan."

Seeing the other party acting so enthusiastically, Xia Nan also suppressed the doubts in his heart, nodded in response, and shook hands with Weirouer, who took the initiative to step forward.

Excellent perception ability took effect once again.

He clearly felt that the warmth in her palm stiffened unnaturally the moment it touched him, as if she wanted to pull away like an electric shock, but she was forced to restrain it by her will, and she completed the entire handshake process while trembling slightly.

His gaze couldn't help but move upward, looking at the girl in front of him.

Then he saw Weirouer instinctively shrink her chin, hiding her fragile neck behind her jaw.

"Strange, do I know her?"

The other party's strange performance made Xia Nan feel even more confused, but he had already let go of her palm, turned around, took the yew staff out of his backpack, and handed it to the table.

Knowing that her unnaturalness had already been noticed by the sharp-eyed black-haired young man in front of her, Weirouer didn't dare to make any more small talk or say any meaningless nonsense. She went straight to the point, took the staff, and began to examine it carefully.

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Xia Nan."

She said very politely.

After about five minutes, she nodded gently.

Her fair, slender index finger drew a few times in the air around the staff.

Whoosh—

In the conference room with closed doors and windows, a soft breeze suddenly blew past.

Touching the staff, a magic glow flashed across her fingertips.

Weirouer's crystal-clear amber eyes also became dazed for a moment.

The next second, they returned to normal.

She smiled and replied to Xia Nan:

"It is indeed a rare Resonance Relic. May I ask if Mr. Xia Nan has a price in mind? It doesn't matter if it's a bit higher; I can negotiate."

So honest?

This is the first time I've seen someone willing to take the initiative to raise the price.

Hearing the other party say this, Xia Nan couldn't help but mutter in his heart.

In front of Ba'en, Xia Nan rummaged through his backpack for a while.

He handed the broken purple yew staff from Bo He to the other party.

"Hmm?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 221 =====

"I don't know if it's offensive, but before that, I have a question."

"Please go ahead."

"What you just cast on the yew staff... was it Identification?"

"Yes, Mr. Xia Nan." Weirouer smiled and nodded, patiently and politely explaining to him, "This is an improved variant version of Identification, specifically used for identifying materials like Resonance Relics, and the spellcasting process has also been greatly simplified."

"But I am very sorry, Mr. Xia Nan, limited by the school oath, I am afraid I cannot provide you with the corresponding spell model. If you are interested, I..."

"No need, no need."

Xia Nan waved his hands repeatedly.

After meeting, the mage girl's inexplicable enthusiasm made him feel a bit uneasy in his heart.

Naturally, it couldn't be a cliché plot like "love at first sight." The other party's performance must have a reason.

But in his memory, he had no impression of Weirouer at all, and he was sure that neither the original owner nor himself after crossing over had ever seen her.

Then... why?

(End of chapter)