Ambush

Xia Nan was a farmer. His proper work was dealing with the golden rice stalks in the fields.

Those so-called "adventures," which usually appeared only in the tales of Bards and old men at the village entrance, might have nothing to do with him for his entire life.

Yet at this very moment, Xia Nan had his own exceptional qualities that allowed him to sit in this crude camp as a member of the Stinky Fish Rotten Shrimp party.

According to the memories left behind by the previous owner of this body, it all began five years ago, when he was thirteen.

Back then, a down-and-out Bard had once stayed at his home.

Besides performing tricks before the village children and opening the door to a fantastical world for the young Xia Nan.

Thanks to the previous owner's mother, whose miserly nature was renowned throughout the surrounding villages for squeezing every last drop from anything that passed through her hands.

When the Bard left the village, he had no choice but to leave their family a page from a Skill Book.

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

In appearance, it was really just half a sheet of paper recording some kind of training technique.

But no matter what, it had once been part of a genuine professional Skill Book.

The whole family treated it like a priceless treasure.

Even the youngest daughter of the family, seven-year-old Beatrice, practiced with it for a while.

Unfortunately, perhaps that half-page Skill Book was merely worthless paper the Bard had scribbled together to get away, or perhaps no one in the family possessed any talent related to it.

More than half a year passed, yet none of them made any noticeable progress.

Then the king raised taxes, farm work became busy, and the matter was gradually forgotten.

But the previous owner had been straightforward by nature, and the tricks the Bard had displayed had left far too deep an impression on him.

So even during the autumn harvest, when he was so busy he could barely straighten his back, he would still force his nearly exhausted body to stand after a full day of hard labor and swing the crude Wooden Sword he had spent three days carving at straw along the field ridges.

Day after day, year after year, he broke who knew how many Wooden Swords.

No one knew where this farm boy found such perseverance. He never rested for even a single day, as though sword swinging had become part of his life.

Finally, one afternoon three months ago.

As Xia Nan, just as he had on countless days and nights before, stood on a field ridge near his home and slashed at a straw man he had woven himself with his Wooden Sword.

He experienced a wondrous sensation unlike anything he had ever felt.

An inexplicable power suddenly arose from his legs, firmly planted in the mud, and surged upward.

His waist, chest, abdomen, arms... until it finally passed through his fingertips into the Wooden Sword in his hand.

It was as if all the strength in his body and all his focus had been twisted into one, pouring forth in an instant.

Buzz—

The broken Wooden Sword spun through the air and fell to the ground, while tiny, scattered bits of straw danced wildly in the air.

The straw man, split into two, slowly toppled over.

The cut was clean.

[Whirlwind Slash]

At that moment, Xia Nan learned its name.

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

What followed was only natural.

An ordinary farming family whose entire fortune consisted of little more than a mill and a few meager plots of land.

They raised three sons and one young daughter.

The eldest and second eldest had also happened to reach the age of starting families and careers.

Naturally, a struggle for the pitifully small inheritance began, both openly and in secret.

From the division of profits from the mill to the amount of time each person could use the kitchen stove...

All sorts of ridiculous quarrels and disputes filled every inch of air in that Small Wooden House.

Watching the two older brothers he respected argue fiercely over a single candle made the previous owner, who had only just come of age, deeply doubtful.

When he thought about how, in another two years, once he too reached the age to start a family, the same thing would happen to him all over again.

Xia Nan could not help but begin to think of leaving.

By chance, he had learned the professional skill [Whirlwind Slash], and driven by the recklessness and passion unique to youth.

The previous owner registered his name at the Adventurers Association in a nearby town, then joined the Stinky Fish Rotten Shrimp party.

"Sigh..."

Thinking back on the previous owner's rash actions, Xia Nan could not help sighing.

When he had transmigrated into this world, the previous owner had already been in the party.

By the time he had muddleheadedly absorbed the memories and realized what he was doing, he had already entered Thin Mist Forest with the party. There was no chance to regret it.

Since things had come to this, complaining would only drain his energy.

Lowering his head, he wiped the blade resting on his knee with a piece of cotton cloth again.

Come to think of it, although the two older brothers of this body had been deeply embroiled in the family inheritance dispute, they had treated their younger brother very well.

This One-handed Sword had been bought with the savings the two brothers had pooled together for him.

The previous owner had treasured it dearly and maintained it often.

As a result, although it had long passed the age when it should have been scrapped, the blade remained remarkably sharp.

Perhaps it could still endure a few hard battles?

"Hey, kid?"

Perhaps Xia Nan's prolonged silence had made the party leader, Maji, think he was too nervous, so he opened his mouth to reassure him.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. They're only a few Goblins."

"Two or three of those things can't even beat the stray dogs in town."

Xia Nan said nothing. He merely 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 had been left behind by its previous owners. It had nothing to do with him.

And the fact that this battle-worn Longsword had ended up in his hands perhaps foretold, to some extent, the fates of its former owners.

Whoosh—

A chill brushed across the back of Xia Nan's neck, making him shudder.

Thin Mist Forest was just like its name.

Even at noon, when the sunlight was at its fiercest, a faint mist constantly hung in the air.

Not to mention that the sun had already set. The thin Moonlight had nearly blended into the mist, leaving visibility extremely low.

Even sitting beside the campfire, he could barely make out the vague outlines of the weeds and bushes around them.

"Farm boy, is this your first time in Thin Mist Forest?"

A faintly amused voice sounded by his ear.

Looking over, Xia Nan saw Elki the Gnome sitting on the other side of the camp, about five or six meters away, looking at him teasingly.

"You've been here many times?" Xia Nan nodded and replied.

"Of course!"

As though he had been waiting for Xia Nan to ask, Elki immediately became animated.

"You have no idea—I have a distant cousin who once served an Archanist for two years. Tsk, that was a genuine Big Shot who graduated from Hawthorne Royal Academy and registered with the Spellcaster Association!"

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

His voice cut off abruptly.

Even if Elki's words contained a bit of boasting, Xia Nan was still very interested in the Gnome's topic.

Having only just transmigrated into this world, anything involving supernatural power held an extraordinary attraction for him.

But at least today, he would not be getting any more information about Hawthorne Royal Academy.

Because just a second earlier, Xia Nan had watched with his own eyes as a crooked Wooden Stick studded with iron nails stirred the mist and emerged from the darkness behind Elki's head.

Then it swung down viciously, smashing directly into the Gnome's eager, delighted face.

The rust-red metal spikes instantly pierced the fragile flesh at the side of his head.

Like a watermelon accidentally dropped onto the ground, blinding blood mixed with some nauseating white fluid burst from the wound.

"Enemy attack!!!!!!"