Chapter Summaries

After the Church quietly released Jeff and no one investigated Ingram’s death, Xia Nan reflected on the danger of living without strength in a world ruled by powerful people. Jeff retired to Newm, while Xia Nan safeguarded the Fate Coin and gained a modest reputation among River Valley Town’s Adventurers.

• At the Church, a priest ordered the release of a merchant after the negative energy in his body dissipated, while a shadowed old man mocked the priest’s faith.
• Three days later, Jeff announced his retirement at the White Tit Tavern, explaining that he would sell his caravan and open a Tailor Shop in Newm.
• Xia Nan wondered why Ingram’s disappearance had caused no investigation and concluded that he needed strength to protect himself and the people he valued.
• Jeff thanked Xia Nan for helping him survive, invited him to visit in Newm, and said he would not pay to heal his severed leg.
• Xia Nan examined the Fate Coin, considered its ability to trigger miracles, and carefully put it away after recalling its protective power.
• Adventurers praised Xia Nan’s combat skill at the tavern, giving him his first story among River Valley Town’s lowest-ranking adventurers.

Xia Nan sold the graveyard spoils and visited Barn to have his damaged chainmail repaired. Barn waived the repair fee out of gratitude for Xia Nan saving Jeff, then offered him the completed arm shield.

• Xia Nan sold the undead palm bone to Lady Edwina for 20 gold and reflected on the rewards he had gained from the mission.
• Xia Nan brought his damaged chainmail to Barn at Rock Hammer and asked whether it could be repaired.
• Barn said the chainmail could be repaired for ten gold without much loss of defensive strength.
• Barn waived the fee because Xia Nan had helped Jeff survive the mission.
• Barn told Xia Nan that his customized arm shield was finished and asked if he wanted to take it.

Xia Nan received a snake-scale arm shield from Barn and tested its durability in the blacksmith’s courtyard. He left the shop planning to lie low in River Valley Town until the Half-Elf’s hired Professional arrived and taught him a Combat Skill.

• Barn finished a lightweight arm shield using Xia Nan’s snake scale, and Xia Nan equipped it and inspected its attributes.
• Barn invited Xia Nan to test the shield, then led him to the courtyard behind the blacksmith shop.
• Xia Nan tried sword stances and blocked Barn’s powerful sword strike, which the shield dispersed.
• Barn struck the shield with a Short Axe, and the blow sent the broken axe blade spinning away without scratching it.
• Barn charged Xia Nan only seven gold for materials, waiving the labor cost, and Xia Nan left the shop.
• Xia Nan decided to avoid new tasks, keep Ingram’s plate armor stored for now, and wait in River Valley Town for the Half-Elf’s hired Professional.

On Midsummer Festival, Molly left the Adventurers Association early, while Xia Nan spent the day training in his newly refitted armor and joined River Valley Town’s bonfire customs. As he left the square, he spotted a fearsome Barbarian whose presence reminded him of a Winter Wolf.

• Molly realized the Adventurers Association had closed early for Midsummer Festival and went home looking forward to her time off.
• Xia Nan passed Molly, reflected on his recent routine and equipment, and continued focusing on improving his combat strength.
• Xia Nan trained all afternoon in his armor despite the summer heat, then went to the town square to see the Midsummer bonfire.
• Xia Nan tossed Ingram’s empty money pouch into the fire and touched his Lucky Coin for reassurance.
• Xia Nan noticed a tall Barbarian wearing a wolfskin cloak and left for the tavern after the man’s presence reminded him of a Winter Wolf.

On Midsummer Day, Xia Nan watched a drinking contest at the White Tit Tavern expose a Calimshanite’s cheating, which led to a brawl with a Dwarf. The fight stopped when an imposing Barbarian entered and approached Xia Nan, asking if he was Xia Nan.

• Xia Nan declined Chapton’s drinking contest and ordered a meal while a Calimshanite successfully finished the special liquor.
• A red-bearded Dwarf accused the Calimshanite of drinking a sobering potion, and the Calimshanite denied it before leaving.
• The Calimshanite insulted the Dwarf with a slur, prompting the Dwarf to attack him and start a tavern brawl.
• The two men escalated the fight by drawing weapons and preparing for violence as the crowd watched.
• A towering Barbarian entered, silencing the tavern and causing both men to put away their weapons.
• The Barbarian approached Xia Nan and asked if he was Xia Nan.

Xia Nan met the Barbarian Fugan Frostthroat, the Combat Skill instructor arranged by Hai An, who arrived in River Valley Town early. After Xia Nan struggled to choose among four skills, Fugan told him to meet at dawn with his equipment, leaving Xia Nan with his training set to begin.

• Xia Nan tried to avoid the Barbarian when he entered the tavern, but the man approached and asked if he was Xia Nan.
• Fugan said Hai An had sent him and that he had arrived early because he had business.
• Fugan offered Xia Nan a choice among [Frilan Spear Thrust], [Broken Blade Block], [Heavy Shield Bash], and [Iron Wall Spin].
• Xia Nan asked Fugan to explain the skills or recommend one, but Fugan stood up without answering.
• Fugan told Xia Nan to meet him at the tavern entrance at dawn with his equipment, then introduced himself as Fugan Frostthroat.

Xia Nan followed Fugan into Thin Mist Forest, learning how easily the powerful Barbarian pushed through its dangers. They reached a goblin cave, where Fugan’s sudden reduction in presence suggested he was preparing for what came next.

• Xia Nan prepared supplies and met Fugan before dawn outside White Tit Tavern.
• Fugan led Xia Nan toward Thin Mist Forest, and Xia Nan wondered whether the Combat Skill Fugan might teach belonged to the same profession path as his [Whirlwind Slash].
• Fugan charged through the forest at high speed, crushing thorns and driving away its dangerous creatures with his fearsome aura.
• Fugan’s aura abruptly weakened, and after another twenty minutes he led Xia Nan to a cave that Xia Nan recognized as a goblin lair.

Xia Nan entered a Goblin Cave with Fugan watching from behind and confronted the fear left by his first encounter with Goblins. He fought through the nest alone, killing all fifteen Goblins and testing his combat skills under real battle conditions.

• Fugan led Xia Nan to a Goblin Nest and silently positioned himself behind him as Xia Nan entered the cave.
• Xia Nan’s memories of his earlier Goblin Cave ordeal stirred as he advanced, but he pushed through and found fifteen Goblins gathered around a bonfire.
• Xia Nan charged the Goblins with the Beheading Longsword and killed several with Whirlwind Slash while using his arm shield to block their counterattacks.
• After slipping on the moss, Xia Nan threw his Beheading Longsword at an attacker, drew Green Pine, and used Whirlwind Slash to cut down two more Goblins.
• Xia Nan killed the final two Goblins, leaving the cave silent and completing his first real combat test.

After testing Xia Nan's fighting style, Fugan decided the Combat Skills he had first offered did not suit him and demonstrated a different technique, [Tooth Hunt]. Xia Nan agreed to learn it after Fugan single-handedly destroyed the Goblin community blocking the cave exit.

• Xia Nan finished killing fifteen Goblins, and Fugan told him that [Iron Wall Spin], [Frilan Spear Thrust], [Heavy Shield Bash], and [Broken Blade Block] were all unsuitable.
• Fugan said another Combat Skill might suit Xia Nan better, but a Bear Goblin and more than twenty Goblins returned to the cave.
• Fugan told Xia Nan to watch, then unleashed a freezing attack that smashed the Bear Goblin and obliterated the Goblins around it.
• Fugan named the technique [Tooth Hunt] and asked Xia Nan if he wanted to learn it, and Xia Nan eagerly agreed.

Xia Nan continued training in Tooth Hunt under Fugan’s guidance and asked him what class Whirlwind Slash belonged to, but Fugan could not identify it. Fugan then brought Xia Nan to a Goblin cave, where he incapacitated the goblins and left a Bear Goblin wounded for Xia Nan to fight.

• Xia Nan practiced Tooth Hunt in the forest and returned to camp when the cold energy fueling his training ran out.
• Xia Nan asked Fugan which class Whirlwind Slash belonged to, and Fugan said it was difficult to tell but likely belonged to a melee Basic Class.
• Fugan explained that Tooth Hunt could belong to both Warrior and Barbarian, then led Xia Nan to a Goblin cave.
• Fugan used a wolf howl to knock out nearly thirty Goblins and frightened a Bear Goblin into the corner of the cave.
• Fugan threw a frost-coated stick that severed the Bear Goblin’s right hand, sealed the wound with frost, and told Xia Nan to fight it.

Xia Nan trained [Tooth Hunt] under Fugan’s watch and showed strikingly rapid progress. He combined it with [Whirlwind Slash] to kill the Bear Goblin, discovering a new way to link the two combat skills.

• Xia Nan dodged the Bear Goblin’s attacks and wounded it while Fugan watched and subtly guided his movements with frost-cold mist.
• Fugan reflected that [Tooth Hunt] had great potential and judged Xia Nan’s combat talent and growth unusually impressive.
• As the Bear Goblin slowed, Xia Nan used [Tooth Hunt] to rush behind it, then followed with [Whirlwind Slash].
• Xia Nan beheaded the Bear Goblin and realized he could link [Tooth Hunt] with [Whirlwind Slash] by following his rush with a sweeping strike.

Xia Nan killed a Bear Goblin and learned from Fugan how feats could help determine the class gained from combining Combat Skills. He began to worry about what profession his mismatched feats and skills might produce.

• Xia Nan killed the Bear Goblin and finished off the unconscious goblins, while Fugan searched the cave with an illusory Winter Wolf.
• Xia Nan noticed frost on the Bear Goblin's severed head and heard a voice recite a rule of the Snow Plains.
• On the way back to camp, Fugan felled a wild boar with a wary glance, and the two ate by the fire.
• Xia Nan asked whether his Combat Skills could meet the requirements for a profession, and Fugan explained that feats could increase the chance of gaining a Profession Level and affect its category.
• Xia Nan considered how Slicing Master, Light Bather, Bronze Sinew, and Iron Bone might combine with Whirlwind Slash and Tooth Hunt to shape his future profession.

Xia Nan killed a Hobgoblin in its cave while practicing [Tooth Hunt] and discovered a hidden cache of coins and gemstones. As a strange fungus grew from the corpse, Fugan sensed danger and ordered them back to the city.

• Xia Nan fought and killed the Hobgoblin, using [Whirlwind Slash] after nearly mastering [Tooth Hunt].
• Xia Nan found two Worgs in the cave, but Fugan froze them before Xia Nan could approach them.
• Xia Nan gathered the cave’s spoils while Fugan searched with the Wolf Spirit, and they found a hidden box containing at least thirty gold and several gemstones.
• Xia Nan and Fugan noticed a pale-green mushroom growing from the Hobgoblin corpse, and Fugan changed their plan and ordered them back to the city.

Fugan remembered leaving the Frostthroat Clan, receiving its blessing, and losing his people to a corrupting blight. He awoke beside Xia Nan’s campfire, where the cold he had unleashed had frozen an oak tree, and dismissed Xia Nan’s concern.

• As a young man, Fugan left the Frostthroat Clan despite his mother’s worries, receiving Mammoth Ivory and a blessing from the clan chief before departing.
• A girl offered Fugan a handmade necklace, but time seemed to stop before a dark-purple blight and plant spores spread through the tribe, draining the clanspeople’s lives.
• Fugan later returned to find the clan in ruins, buried his people beneath Ice Steles, and preserved the Winter Wolf’s pelt, the damaged totem, and the girl’s necklace.
• Remembering the loss, Fugan understood the meaning of his name, “flame beneath the ice,” and then awoke beside a campfire as the surrounding cold began to recede.
• Xia Nan noticed the frozen oak and asked Fugan whether something had happened, but Fugan said it was nothing.

Xia Nan questioned Fugan about why goblins seemed to appear in endless numbers without females, and Fugan revealed an ancient secret about Maglubiyet and the goblinoids’ disappearance during a continent-wide war. Fugan planned to take Xia Nan to Kalanfu'er before pursuing his own business.

• Fugan reflected on his past and the trophies on his necklace, which commemorated the creatures he had hunted and the losses he had suffered.
• Xia Nan examined the Gold Coins taken from the Hobgoblin’s hoard and wondered why the Goblin Caves he had cleared contained no captive women or juvenile goblins.
• Xia Nan asked Fugan about goblin reproduction, and Fugan explained that goblinoids once had males and females and reproduced normally.
• Fugan recounted how Maglubiyet vanished with the last surviving goblinoids during an ancient war and returned centuries later with goblins that had lost the concept of sex.
• Fugan told Xia Nan he would take him to Kalanfu'er before going to handle his own business.

Xia Nan returned to Kalanfu'er with Fugan after the Barbarian found evidence in the Goblin Nest connected to his investigation. Fugan spotted a dark-purple mushroom near town, gave Xia Nan twenty minutes to reach River Valley Town, and headed toward Kalanfu'er himself, ordering him to run without looking back.

• Fugan escorted Xia Nan through Thin Mist Forest, where a Thorn Demon watched them from a distance before fleeing.
• Xia Nan told Fugan about Kalanfu'er's calm after Sheriff Ingram's disappearance and the suspected high-level Professionals in town, leaving out that he had killed Ingram.
• Fugan stopped outside Kalanfu'er and infused Xia Nan with cold energy to help him finish learning [Tooth Hunt].
• As Xia Nan prepared to enter town and seek a caravan to River Valley Town, Fugan noticed a dark-purple mushroom beneath roadside grass.
• Fugan gave Xia Nan twenty minutes to reach River Valley Town, then walked toward Kalanfu'er and told him not to look back and to run.

Fugan confronted Old Man Lou in his cabin and learned that Lou had experimented with Ice Crystal Flowers, sacrificing people on the icefield while trying to cultivate them. Fugan attacked as the priest beside Lou invoked Amaunator’s Holy Light, and the chapter ended with Lou addressing the enraged Barbarian by name.

• Fugan arrived at Old Man Lou’s cabin and found a priest of Amaunator waiting inside.
• Fugan demanded to know whether Lou was ready, but Lou described the Ice Crystal Flower and its short lifespan instead of answering.
• Lou admitted his experiment had nearly succeeded and said the deaths on the icefield had been necessary sacrifices.
• Fugan unleashed a bitterly cold wind and a wolf’s howl, suppressing the priest’s Holy Light as he gripped his Obsidian Hatchet.
• Lou called the enraged Barbarian “Bartholomew.”

Xia Nan fled Kalanfu'er as Fugan confronted the mysterious enemy, but a devastating blast engulfed the town and sent spores and fleeing beasts across the wilderness. A Thorn Demon crashed down in Xia Nan’s path, leaving him facing a dangerous monster as he tried to escape.

• Xia Nan ran from Kalanfu'er after Fugan told him to flee, suspecting the Barbarian’s mysterious target was hiding in town.
• A brilliant blast erupted over Kalanfu'er, melting buildings and sending a scorching shockwave and purple colony spores toward Xia Nan.
• Xia Nan kept running as animals fled the town and the air filled with thickening spores and furious wolf howls.
• A winged Thorn Demon crashed into the ground a dozen meters in front of Xia Nan.

Xia Nan confronted an injured Thorn Demon while trying to escape the battle raging behind him. After his sword strike was blocked, he used a Fire Oil Bomb, but the flames vanished against the demon’s skin, leaving him facing an enemy immune to fire.

• Xia Nan recognized the injured Thorn Demon and tried to circle around it, but it attacked and forced him to defend himself.
• Xia Nan realized he could not outrun the Thorn Demon and charged, dodging a Bone Spur aimed at his head.
• Xia Nan struck with Whirlwind Slash, but the Thorn Demon blocked his blade with the bone growth on its arm and prepared another attack with its tail.
• Xia Nan threw a Fire Oil Bomb at the Thorn Demon, but the flames sank into its skin and went out without burning it.

Xia Nan struggled to survive against a wounded Thorn Demon until Fugan's distant Wolf Howl awakened a wolf-like power in him. He killed the demon with a sudden burst of speed, gaining proficiency in [Tooth Hunt].

• Xia Nan used the [Dead Line] Ring's Deflection Field to close in and stab the Thorn Demon, but its counterattacks pierced his armor and sent him flying.
• Fugan defeated Bartholomew's helper, then sacrificed part of his finger to call on a hidden power as Bartholomew taunted him.
• Fugan's Wolf Howl reached Xia Nan, clearing his thoughts and making him feel like a Winter Wolf hunting on the snow plains.
• Xia Nan moved with explosive speed and beheaded the Thorn Demon, earning one point of proficiency in [Tooth Hunt].