Chapter 36: Wooden Building

Just tonight, the amount of information Xia Nan obtained from the half-elf and Wood was more than all the previous days combined.

Being in the wild, neither time nor space allowed him to truly start training and learning new combat techniques.

But for now, he could be considered to have a goal to strive for—

Learn two more combat techniques and obtain a professional level.

Even if he didn't continue in the adventurer line of work in the future, the status of "Professional" would be like a "technical certificate" from his previous life, allowing him to live comfortably in this world.

And the half-elf Haian had also agreed with Xia Nan that after the mission was over and they returned to Niumu, he would try to help him find a suitable mentor to assist him in learning combat techniques.

From a cold interest perspective, a favor in exchange for the channels and the massive amount of funds needed to hire a Professional, which Xia Nan, who had just crossed over to this world, did not possess.

Although he hadn't considered it from this aspect himself, there was no doubt that this exchange was not a loss for him at the moment.

With the idea of absorbing as much relevant knowledge as possible, sitting by the campfire, Xia Nan asked the two some questions about "professions," "combat techniques," and "adventurers," and other information involving the supernatural power of this world.

It wasn't until the moonlight was deep and the mist grew thicker that he reluctantly ended the conversation.

It wasn't a warm and safe tavern; they were still in the dangerous Mist Forest, and there was still a long way to go tomorrow.

So they left someone to keep watch and the rest rested early.

About to arrive at the location where the wooden tablet was discovered.

The next day, just as dawn broke, the group packed their luggage and continued to move into the forest, chasing the mist.

Unexpectedly, even though they had gradually penetrated the outskirts of the Mist Forest, the frequency of various dangerous situations should have been getting higher and higher.

But after walking for the whole morning, they hadn't encountered even a single magic beast.

The only thing that could be called exciting was a Golden-eyed Black Panther the size of a calf that passed by.

Completely pitch-black, its fur oily and shiny, its claws making no sound as they stepped on the meadow.

No battle occurred; it just looked at the squad from afar, confirmed that they weren't prey it could hunt, and then slowly retreated into the shadows of the dense forest.

If it hadn't been for Wood's reminder, Xia Nan and the others wouldn't even have noticed this small episode on the road.

Later, according to Wood's explanation, it was probably because those four Rust Monsters yesterday had made the weak magic beasts in the nearby area consciously stay away, which was why they could walk so smoothly.

"Hiss!"

A long snake with pale yellow spots on its scales was driven out of the grass by a tattered single-handed hammer, its long body winding and swimming, disappearing into the depths of the shrubs in a flash.

"Another one! Did we walk into some snake nest?"

Lali reached out to wipe the dense sweat from his forehead, muttering in his mouth.

The single-handed hammer in his hand, having been contaminated with Rust Monster venom, no longer possessed combat functionality, so he used it as a probe to drive away snakes and insects.

Only the weight of the metal hammer body seemed to have consumed too much physical strength for Lali, who was waving the hammer from time to time.

He was already panting by now.

But he didn't take the initiative to suggest stopping for a rest.

Because compared to just now, the speed of the entire squad had slowed down completely.

Just like sandy soil that becomes more moist and fertile the closer it gets to an oasis; the water vapor in the air becomes increasingly rich the closer it gets to a lake.

As everyone gradually approached the destination, things as strange as the carriage before appeared more and more frequently.

Just the ones Xia Nan saw included half a thatched cottage, a collapsed mud-brick house, and even a five-story wooden building.

Although they had all become broken walls and ruins, through the remaining details in the ruins, one could still clearly identify the extremely rich Eastern style that originated from the same source as the tablet and the carriage.

They had also entered the ruins under Wood's lead, carefully checking them.

Although they found many traces of life left by intelligent creatures, they didn't find a single corpse.

And similarly, these severely damaged buildings looked like some lost ruins, but the building materials themselves were very new, basically showing no traces of erosion by time.

"Crack."

Branches broke.

Walking in the mist between the dense forests.

Xia Nan looked straight ahead, his mind focused, vigilant of the dense shrubs and long grass around him.

The palm of his left hand, hanging naturally at his side, was gripping a smooth, cold, hard object.

It was a fragment of some kind of porcelain he had just found in the ruins.

It was hard to imagine that he, having crossed over to this fantasy world, could still see such traditional objects with thin bodies and moist glazes.

At the time, he was also very surprised and picked it up from the broken bricks and tiles subconsciously.

Feeling the soft touch from his fingertips, his mind couldn't help but recall Wood's judgment of the towering wooden building, more than ten meters high but already collapsed for the most part, that he had faced just now:

"According to the degree of influence of these wooden materials by the mist in the forest, this building should have been built in the Mist Forest for only one or two months."

"Of course, considering the supplies and manpower required, as well as the dangerous environment around, I don't think anyone would really settle here."

As soon as this was said, it was refuted by Haian and the others.

After all, the building was right before their eyes; if no one lived there, what was the point of building it?

To this, Xia Nan had his own views.

Unlike the others in the squad, who were all local natives born and raised in this world.

The soul in Xia Nan's body came from another world.

And the knowledge and memories of modern society in his previous life, combined with the many familiar details in the ruins, allowed him to identify the function of that towering wooden building at a glance—

It was a restaurant!

He felt increasingly strange.

A restaurant built in the depths of a forest filled with dangerous magic beasts, who would patronize it?

And judging by the density of buildings along the way, even if those thatched huts and tiled houses that had become ruins were full of people, their population would absolutely not be able to support a food and lodging place of such scale.

Moreover, in Xia Nan's view, if there was even a slight concept of urban planning.

It wouldn't be like what he saw along the way, one moment a dilapidated thatched shed in a slum, and two steps away an exquisite tiled house where dignitaries lived.

One after another, without any regularity.

It gave him the feeling that rather than someone building these buildings in the depths of the forest for the sake of settling down,

it was more like there was a big invisible hand that crossed the barriers of space and time, in another time and space with a completely different style from the current fantasy world.

It picked a town at random, picked up a few buildings, and threw them into the Mist Forest at will.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 37 =====