Farewell

"Crackle."

The dark-green Thorns curled and twitched as though alive beneath the scorching flames, while black scorch marks flecked with sparks rapidly spread across their surfaces.

Wood yanked the dagger embedded in his enemy's chest free, his expression cold and weary.

Before him stood several humanoid thorn Monsters, gradually being devoured by fire.

They seemed to possess some corrosive property specifically targeting plants, turning even the grass over a large nearby area an unnatural dark green.

"Rustle."

The branches of a towering Oak Tree behind them swayed, and the Half-Elf carrying a Longbow landed lightly below.

The two had just gone through a fierce encounter.

Their enemies were five Withered Needle Monsters disguised as shrubs.

Honestly, these Monsters were not particularly strong in combat, perhaps even weaker than the Rust Monsters they had encountered a few days ago.

Yet amid the Thorns and tall grass that filled the Thin Mist Forest, their limited ability to manipulate plants made them exceptionally troublesome.

In the end, Wood had used up his last few fire bombs to barely bring the fight to an end.

And these were merely some of the most common Monsters they had encountered after leaving the "outer region" of the Thin Mist Forest.

"Young master, we should leave."

His chest visibly heaving, Wood spoke between breaths.

Even for a Wanderer who had obtained a Profession Level, remaining deep within the Thin Mist Forest for an extended period was no easy matter—especially when he also had to divide his attention to protect the Half-Elf.

Hai An understood that perfectly well.

In such a dangerous area, blindly searching for their missing companion like headless flies would only drag the two of them into danger as well.

It was time to give up.

A flicker of struggle crossed his face. He nodded at Wood and said, "Then let's retreat to the outer region first, and then—"

Screech—

Before he could finish, a sudden disturbance sounded nearby, startling the birds and beasts in the forest into flight.

And that seemed to be where Xia Nan's trail had last appeared.

The two exchanged a knowing glance, then immediately ran toward the source of the sound.

As the crystal-clear Dewdrop merged into his body, Xia Nan felt a cool, gentle current surge from his palm and spread through his entire body.

He felt as though he were floating amid clouds and mist, weightless enough that even his toes might leave the ground.

His muscles, nearly pushed beyond their limit by the intense exertion, recovered beneath the nourishment of that current and silently became firmer and tougher.

Even his heart seemed to beat more powerfully. Scalding blood surged through his veins, driven by the current, carrying an even more vigorous vitality.

The petrified remnants on his fingertips turned into scattered gray dust and blew away in the wind, revealing perfectly intact fingertips beneath.

The bones in his right forearm were reset and restored by an invisible force within his body. The stabbing pain in his ribs vanished, and even the small cuts on his calves, which had stopped bleeding and begun to scab over, seemed to have been erased with an eraser, leaving behind only smooth skin.

At the same time, a long string of translucent characters flashed before Xia Nan's eyes:

"Constitution +3"

"Feat [Bronze Sinew, Iron Bone] unlocked"

[Bronze Sinew, Iron Bone]

Category: Feat

Effects:

10% physical damage reduction

0.5% chance to become immune to received physical damage

Description:

Having absorbed the essence of an otherworldly plant, your body has become tougher and gained a measure of protection from the rules.

Note:

"Grandfather..."

Xia Nan stood among the trees, staring thoughtfully at his fully restored right arm.

Right now, he felt like he had worked overtime all night in his Previous Life, then slept a solid twelve hours the next day.

His entire body felt incomparably relaxed. All his previous exhaustion and injuries had been swept away, replaced by overwhelming energy and abundant stamina.

It was practically the peak physical condition he had experienced since crossing into this world.

"So what exactly was that thing?"

He recalled the dewdrop that had merged into his body earlier and wondered inwardly.

It had the same otherworldly style, yet unlike the other things, the dewdrop gave him an indescribable sense of reality.

As if it itself were the source that had brought the countless surrounding buildings into this world.

And as though confirming his guess, after he absorbed the golden Dewdrop, the cave he had been in vanished like an illusion.

Before him remained only the familiar trees and grass of the Thin Mist Forest.

He subconsciously reached back to touch the Wooden Sword behind him, feeling its solid hardness beneath his fingertips.

Xia Nan relaxed slightly.

Though he was still confused, the outcome had been perfect.

That Dewdrop had not only healed his injuries and given him an outrageous three Constitution Attribute Points, but had also granted him a defensive Feat called Bronze Sinew, Iron Bone. Its effects on the Attribute Panel looked rather powerful.

He had even found a piece of Blue Rare Equipment in the cave.

His gains could not have been greater.

The only thing he needed to consider now was how to safely escape the depths of the Thin Mist Forest and return to River Valley Town.

"I wonder how Hai An is doing. With Wood there, nothing should have happened."

Xia Nan pondered this as his gaze swept across the surroundings, trying to determine his direction.

Suddenly, dense shrubs beside him began to sway with a rustling sound.

He instantly drew the Beheading Longsword and went on guard.

But when he saw that the newcomers were the Half-Elf and Wood, he relaxed again.

"How are you two? Are you all right?"

Xia Nan looked at the two, who were covered in grass clippings and bore faint traces of battle, then sheathed his sword and asked.

"We're fine. For some reason, that Petrification Lizard didn't chase after us." Hai An's Silver-grey eyes watched Xia Nan before him, his concerned expression tinged with confusion. "But you..."

If anything, compared to the two who had just finished fighting and looked disheveled, Xia Nan did not look much better.

The Leather Armor on his back was torn apart, several gashes had been ripped into his trousers, and he was covered in mud. Even his hair was dusty, while several bloodstained bandages and splints lay scattered on the ground beside him.

No one would doubt it if he were said to be a severely wounded man who had just come off a battlefield.

Yet Xia Nan showed no signs of weakness or injury.

His dark eyes gleamed with vitality, clearly brimming with energy.

The Half-Elf noticed that contradiction at once.

After all, he had personally seen Xia Nan take the Petrification Lizard's charge straight to the chest, barely having the strength to flee only because a Healing Potion had kept him alive.

He could not help sounding hesitant.

"Oh..."

Noticing the other man's gaze, Xia Nan's expression paused as he realized the Half-Elf had noticed.

Everything had happened too suddenly. Having only just escaped the cave, he had had no time to conceal the changes in his body, nor had he thought of a reasonable explanation.

Though Wood beside Hai An said nothing, his gaze sweeping across the Wooden Sword on Xia Nan's back and the uninjured skin beneath his torn clothes showed that he had noticed something as well.

After thinking for a moment and arranging his words in his mind, Xia Nan omitted details such as the "Dewdrop" and the "Giant Snake," which might bring trouble to them, then gave the two before him a half-true, half-false account of everything that had happened.

To his surprise, after hearing his explanation, neither the Half-Elf nor Wood showed the astonishment he had expected.

They even displayed the restraint of true adventurers and did not ask too much about the Wooden Sword he had brought out on his back.

"You may have entered a Secret Realm."

Wood stroked his chin and spoke slowly.

"A Secret Realm?" Xia Nan was puzzled by the unfamiliar term.

"Mm." Wood nodded and explained.

"You're a local of the Servia Kingdom, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you must have heard the story of the Double Feather Lute."

"The Double Feather Lute..." Xia Nan frowned slightly as he searched through the memories left behind by the original owner of this body.

Then he finally recalled the tale he had heard countless times as a child from the old man at the village entrance.

"The legendary Bard who traveled across the entire world and even visited other realms?"

"That's right." The Wanderer nodded lightly.

"But what does that have to do with this so-called Secret Realm?"

"What does it have to do with it... What if I told you that the Abyssal Hell, Astral Realm, and Heavenly Kingdom that the Double Feather Lute visited in those stories all truly exist?"

Wood suddenly raised his head and stared at Xia Nan.

"The Material Plane where we live is merely a space like an interlayer. Around it exist countless realms of varying sizes."

"Many spaces overlap and merge with one another, and the barriers between realms are not stable. Given that, when certain conditions are met, space can undergo something like folding and contraction."

The Wanderer's gaze swept over the mist drifting lazily around them.

"For example, an area where Magic Power is extremely dense."

As Xia Nan digested the information in Wood's words, he followed his line of reasoning. "You mean the Secret Realm I entered was created by the high concentration of Magic Power within the Thin Mist Forest?"

"Yes." Wood's gaze flicked once more toward the Wooden Sword on Xia Nan's back.

"Because of their special nature, these naturally formed Secret Realms usually house powerful Monsters, and they may also conceal some precious treasure."

"Such spaces are not rare on this continent. So although they are not easily discovered and almost always emerge in Monster-infested wilderness, every year there are still rumors of some lucky adventurer stumbling upon a Secret Realm."

"Some powerful Spellcasters can even use their abilities, powerful enough to distort space and time, to create Secret Realm spaces of their own."

"At the smallest, they might be the size of a warehouse. At the largest..."

As he said this, Wood suddenly glanced toward the sky hidden beneath the forest canopy and lowered his voice.

"You should know that, in a sense, a Divine Realm can also count as a kind of Secret Realm."

With that said, all three fell silent.

Xia Nan carefully compared the characteristics of the "Secret Realm spaces" Wood described with the cave he had entered earlier.

He could not help frowning.

"It feels... somewhat different," he thought.

Unexpectedly, Wood, who had just been explaining the world to Xia Nan, now wore a similarly troubled and confused expression.

"That's not right." Wood suddenly stepped forward twice, coming to where Xia Nan had stood.

He bent down to inspect Xia Nan's footprints carefully, then stomped hard on the ground.

"If it really was a Secret Realm, why couldn't the two of us enter just now? And if it had already closed before we arrived, then you definitely couldn't have come back out."

"Besides, a Secret Realm is ultimately just a folded space. In the vast majority of cases, it has no ability to affect the surrounding terrain."

"All the various buildings we saw along the way do not seem like something a Secret Realm could have caused."

Wood stood there, growing more confused the more he spoke.

Xia Nan could practically see white smoke rising from the top of his head.

And just as the Wanderer said, Xia Nan himself had vaguely sensed that the vanished cave might resemble this world's Secret Realms in some respects, but was fundamentally an entirely different kind of thing.

Just then, the Half-Elf, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly asked, "Xia Nan, I hope this doesn't offend you. This should be something of a taboo among adventurers, but..."

His words were hesitant, yet his grass-speckled face held a trace of hope.

"There wasn't anything in that cave with an Elven style, was there?"

Xia Nan could not help freezing at those words.

He then began carefully and comprehensively recalling everything he had seen from the moment he entered the cave until he was transported out.

Only then did he slowly shake his head and answer solemnly, "No."

The Half-Elf was not particularly disappointed. He had long been mentally prepared.

He merely patted the Guard beside him on the shoulder.

"Now we really should leave, Wood."

"This place truly isn't safe."

Compared to the twists and dangers of their journey in, the three had an exceptionally peaceful trip back.

Not only did they encounter no dangerous Monsters, even the troublesome snakes and scorpions were far fewer, no longer densely clustered in one area—

Xia Nan suspected it was an effect of the cave space vanishing after he absorbed the Dewdrop.

Their journey in had taken two full days, as they had needed to stop frequently to rest, search for their target, or deal with battles.

Yet on the return trip, they reached the outer edge of the Thin Mist Forest in only a single day.

Looking at the scattered lights of River Valley Town on the distant horizon and the nearby single-story houses with their lamps lit,

the Half-Elf visibly relaxed. He stopped, turned to Xia Nan beside him, and said farewell.

"This time, it was all thanks to you. Otherwise, we probably couldn't have gone that far."

"We won't be returning to River Valley Town for now. Wood and I have a carriage stored at the Post Station. If there's a chance in the future, you're welcome to visit Newm."

"About Larry and Doris..." Hai An's expression suddenly froze. His face was obscured by the shadows of the night, making his exact expression impossible to discern. "Once I return to Newm, I'll explain everything to their parents personally."

Xia Nan had assumed the two of them would return with him to River Valley Town, rest for a few days, and then leave. Their sudden farewell caught him off guard.

But since they had already said so, he did not try to persuade them to stay.

He merely spoke in a somewhat tentative tone:

"If you need anything, just write to me. I might be able to help somehow."

The two had saved him once when he faced the Petrification Lizard, and during this journey, he had vaguely gathered that some sort of trouble seemed to have befallen the Half-Elf's family.

Within the limits of his ability, Xia Nan did not mind offering them a helping hand.

Hai An only chuckled and politely declined. At the same time, he took a black card from his robes.

"This Crystal Card contains 100 gold. It's your reward for this mission."

"Also, once I return to the city, I'll begin looking for a suitable Combat Skill instructor for you. However, it may take some time. I'll write to you with the details."

Night enveloped them. The Half-Elf blinked his distinctive silver-gray eyes and smiled as he waved to Xia Nan. The Guard at his side, shadowlike as ever, also gave a slight nod.

"May the stars light your path, and may the forest bless you."

"Farewell, my friend."