Wooden Tower

Just tonight alone, Xia Nan had learned more from the Half-Elf and Wood than he had in all the previous days combined.

Out in the wilderness, neither the time nor the space allowed him to truly begin training and learning new Combat Skills.

But now, he at least had a goal to work toward—

Learn two more Combat Skills and gain a Profession Level.

Even if he stopped being an adventurer someday, the status of a "Professional" would be like a "technical certificate" in his Previous Life, allowing him to live comfortably in this world.

The Half-Elf, Hai An, had also made an agreement with Xia Nan. Once the mission was over and they returned to Newm, he would try to help Xia Nan find a suitable mentor to assist him in learning Combat Skills.

From the cold perspective of self-interest, one favor had bought Xia Nan—who had only just crossed into this world—connections he lacked, as well as the enormous funds needed to hire a Professional.

Though he himself had not considered it from that angle, there was no doubt that this exchange was not a bad deal for him at present.

Wanting to absorb as much relevant knowledge as possible, Xia Nan sat beside the campfire and asked the two of them more about "Professions," "Combat Skills," "adventurers," and other matters concerning this world's supernatural powers.

Only when the moon hung deep in the sky and the mist grew thicker did they reluctantly end the conversation.

This was no warm, safe tavern. They were still in the danger-filled Thin Mist Forest, and there was still a long journey ahead of them tomorrow.

So they left someone on watch while the rest turned in early.

They were about to reach the place where the Wooden Token had been found.

At first light the next day, the group packed their belongings and pressed onward into the forest through the mist.

Unexpectedly, although they had gradually pushed deeper into the outskirts of the Thin Mist Forest, where dangerous encounters should have become increasingly frequent—

They did not encounter even a single Monster throughout the entire morning.

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

Its entire body was pitch-black, its fur sleek and glossy, and its paws made no sound as they stepped across the grass.

No fight broke out. It merely looked at the party from afar, determined that they were not prey it could hunt, then slowly retreated into the shadows of the dense forest.

Had it not been for Wood's warning, Xia Nan and the others would not even have noticed that little incident along the way.

Wood later explained that the four Rust Monsters from yesterday had probably driven the weaker Monsters from the surrounding area away, which was why their journey had gone so smoothly.

"Hiss!"

A long snake with pale yellow circular markings on its scales was driven out of the grass by a battered One-handed Hammer. Its slender body wound through the undergrowth before vanishing into the depths of the bushes in an instant.

"Another one! Did we wander into some kind of snake nest?"

Larry wiped the sweat beading across his forehead and muttered.

His One-handed Hammer had been splashed with Rust Monster venom and could no longer be used in battle, so he used it instead as a probing stick to drive away snakes and insects.

But the weight of the metal hammer seemed to have drained too much of Larry's stamina as he swung it from time to time.

By now, he was panting heavily.

Yet he did not suggest stopping to rest.

Because compared with before, the entire party had slowed down considerably.

Just as sandy soil grew wetter and more fertile the closer one came to an oasis, and Water Vapor in the air became thicker near a lake—

As they gradually approached their destination, strange things like the carriage they had encountered earlier appeared more and more often.

Xia Nan alone had seen half a thatched hut, a collapsed mud-brick house, and even a five-story Wooden Tower.

Though all of them had become ruined walls and broken remnants, the details remaining amid the rubble still made it easy to recognize the intensely Eastern style they shared with the token and the carriage—Same Origin.

Under Wood's guidance, they had cautiously entered the ruins and inspected them carefully.

Although they found many traces of intelligent creatures having lived there, they did not find a single corpse.

Likewise, while these heavily damaged buildings looked like lost ruins, their construction materials were all quite new, showing almost no signs of weathering by time.

Crack.

Branches and leaves snapped.

Walking through the mist in the dense forest, Xia Nan stared straight ahead, his mind focused as he kept watch over the thick shrubs and tall grass around him.

Yet in the palm of his naturally lowered left hand, he held a smooth, cool, hard object.

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

It was difficult to imagine that, after crossing into this fantasy world, he could still see such a traditional object, with its thin body and warm, lustrous glaze.

He had been so surprised at the time that he had instinctively picked it up from among the broken bricks and tiles.

Feeling the gentle texture beneath his fingertips, he could not help recalling Wood's assessment when they had faced that towering Wooden Tower, over ten meters high but more than half collapsed:

"Judging by how much these wooden materials have been affected by the forest mist, this building was probably constructed in the Thin Mist Forest only a month or two ago."

"Of course, considering the resources and manpower it would require, as well as the dangerous surroundings, I don't think anyone would actually settle here."

The moment he said that, Hai An and the others argued back.

After all, the building stood right in front of them. If no one lived there, what was the point of building it?

Xia Nan had his own view on the matter.

Unlike the others in the party, who were natives born and raised in this world—

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

The knowledge and memories of modern society from his Previous Life, combined with the many familiar details in the ruins, had allowed him to recognize the purpose of that towering wooden structure at a glance—

It was a restaurant!

The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

Who would patronize a restaurant built deep in a forest filled with dangerous Monsters?

And judging by the density of buildings along the way, even if every ruined hut and tiled house had been packed with people, the population could never have supported an establishment of that scale offering food and lodging.

What was more, in Xia Nan's view, anyone with even the slightest concept of urban planning would not arrange buildings as he had seen along the way: a ramshackle grass shed from the Slums here, then just a few steps away, an exquisite tiled residence fit for nobles and dignitaries.

One after another, without any pattern whatsoever.

Rather than people having come deep into the forest specifically to build these structures for settlement, it felt more like an invisible hand had crossed the barriers of space and time, reached into another world with an entirely different style from this fantasy world—

Randomly selected a town, plucked out several buildings, and casually tossed them into the Thin Mist Forest.