A Hint of Edge (Part 2)

Romon finished his training for the day and returned to his inn.

Once inside his room, he suddenly remembered the set of books left behind by the thieves and took them out of Shennong Space to browse through. Ever since bringing them back, he had never seriously read them.

The moment he did, Romon treated them like priceless treasures and repeatedly regretted not looking through them sooner. Because of the nature of their profession, thieves mainly trained in strange techniques and assassination. They emphasized using speed and unexpected angles to launch surprise attacks and escape.

The swordsmanship Romon had practiced before, on the other hand, was proper, orthodox swordsmanship that emphasized stability and balance. For someone as physically weak as Romon, the thieves' techniques were far more suitable for him at this stage.

Romon first flipped through a book on assassination. It contained not only sword-based Assassination Techniques, but also techniques for daggers and blades. It even explained how to subdue an enemy in a single strike while unarmed.

Even though a long time had passed, Romon still broke out in a cold sweat when he saw this. He secretly thanked his luck. Judging from the contents alone, anyone who had mastered the book could easily deal with several ordinary people alone. Back then, he and Fafier had taken down four thieves between them. It truly had to be said that those four men had been incredibly unlucky to encounter someone like him, who had crossed over from another world and wielded a powerful crossbow.

It could only be said that Romon and the others had been truly fortunate, while those thieves had been truly unlucky.

As he read through the book, Romon began calculating. He could learn from these thieves' techniques. Although the book was rather simple, the fundamentals were all there.

Once he thought of something, he acted on it. That was Romon's current rule of life. Because he had been studying Druid Divine Spells, his memory had improved greatly. Especially in a place surrounded by plants, all five of his senses became increasingly sharp.

Thus, for the next stretch of time, Romon secretly practiced thief combat skills every day after training at the military camp. He had originally planned to bring Fafier along, but Fafier's House had been busy with some matters lately, so Romon could only hide here and practice alone.

The few booklets collected from Shennong Space, which recorded poisonous plants and methods of making poisons, also caught Romon's interest.

Although he had learned about many plants at the Temple, the varieties he knew were limited to medicinal plants.

As for plants that could be used to make poison or were inherently highly toxic, not only were they not cultivated at the Temple, but not a single book in the Temple library recorded them either.

However, since Romon came from another world, he had no particular reservations about making or using poisons.

In his view, even if he never used such poisons, knowing one more poisonous substance meant one less chance of being harmed by someone else in the future.

At a remote clearing in the forest, he took out the small box from Shennong Space. When he opened it, he found that it actually had five layers of compartments. Each layer contained a hundred small sections, and every section held a tiny pile of seeds. The countless varieties of colorful seeds nearly dazzled Romon's eyes.

Following the contents of the booklet on poisonous seeds that he had read beforehand, Romon examined the seeds in the compartments one by one. In the end, he confirmed that these were the seeds of the poisonous plants recorded in those booklets.

"I never expected thieves to know how to grow herbs too." Romon shook his head and put the box away again. Shennong Space was still growing and had not yet upgraded, so it could not accept new seeds. They could only remain in the box for now.

And so, Romon trained and practiced martial skills every day. His life was simple yet fulfilling. Nick's body also recovered day by day. Though some aftereffects would remain, at least outwardly, he was no different from an ordinary person.

One day, Rika Town welcomed its first snowfall since the beginning of winter. And along with the snow came the Barnel Caravan once more.

Barnel came to town every month, and this was also Romon's opportunity. He planned to travel to the city with the caravan and earn enough money there.

The heavy snow covering the sky brought trouble to the residents of Rika Town, but it also brought joy. Children laughed as they chased one another through the streets, built snowmen, and fought snowball battles.

Motte Inn's business became even better because of the snowy weather.

Many people sat together, drinking steaming hot spirits. As they watched the snow outside the windows, they sighed that next year would surely be a bountiful one.

Yet in a room on the second floor, Romon, waiting for Barnel to finish drinking, seemed rather bored.

Because of the heavy snow, he had not gone into the forest to practice that day. After eating something downstairs, he simply stared blankly out the window.

It could be said that this was the first time he had seen heavy snow since coming to this world.

Back in his original world, he had grown up in the south and rarely saw snow. Later, after he began working, he often traveled to places with lush vegetation and warm climates. So this thick, sweeping snowfall could even be called the first truly heavy snow he had ever seen with his own eyes.

Romon carefully watched the snow outside. In the end, a childish impulse suddenly rose within him. He stood up, walked to the window, and extended one hand outside.

Icy snowflakes landed on his hand. He raised it before his eyes and studied them closely, chuckling as he watched the snowflakes gradually melt in his palm.

After sitting back down, Romon suddenly felt bored again, so he shifted his attention back into Shennong Space.

Though it was winter outside, Shennong Horn Space seemed unaffected.

Golden radiance shone down from the sky, bathing all things in light. It came from a Light Orb hanging dozens of meters overhead, and the entire place was filled with a fragrance even fresher than rain.

The whole sky was enveloped in a beautiful halo. The stream still rushed swiftly, its water slightly cool yet crystal clear, with several fish swimming within it.

A month had already passed. The one mu of Bluegrass planted that day had sprouted and grown thickly, unaffected by insects or the weather. A faint mist lingered above it, carrying a fresh fragrance. This was the unique ten-percent quality enhancement effect brought by Shennong Space's upgrade.

In another two months, this batch of Bluegrass could be harvested. At a yield of three hundred kilograms of dried grass per mu, this plot could produce three hundred kilograms. After all, the market price was one silver coin per kilogram.

The scenery within Shennong Space truly looked like a painting. Looking upward, Romon saw that the space's number had nearly reached the two-thousand mark.

The healthy state of Shennong Space immediately improved Romon's mood. In this season when all things lay dormant, most Low-Level Druids who relied on the forest's aura progressed at their slowest. Yet because Romon possessed Shennong Horn Space, his situation was completely the opposite.

Romon smiled smugly. Just then, someone downstairs called again, "Romon!"

"Coming!" Romon quickly answered.

Romon went downstairs and reached the inn's ground floor in a few steps, confirming his suspicions. A large group of adventurers was making noise in the inn. The familiar captain of Haiwavi's mercenary team was greeting them, and beside him stood a group of relatively unfamiliar adventurers.

Why had more and more adventurers been coming to town lately? Could Thorn Forest have some other treasure? Romon muttered to himself.

"Burke, this is Romon, a Druid. One healing costs five silver coins—half the price of the Temple!" Although many townspeople had distanced themselves from Romon because tax officer Bakasi had openly displayed hostility toward him and they did not want trouble, adventurers had far fewer such concerns.

The moment Haiwavi saw Romon come downstairs, he immediately called out.

"Oh, you're a Druid? Are you any good?" Burke was a captain in his thirties. His sharp gaze swept over Romon.

"Whether I'm good or not, you'll find out after one healing, won't you?" Romon smiled faintly. His gaze swept across the room, and he spotted three adventurers with wounds.

"Heh, Romon's pretty good. He knows his way around healing!" Haiwavi said in a slightly exaggerated tone.

Romon's face reddened slightly. He had the three men remove their clothes, then told each of them to buy a cup of strong liquor.

Haiwavi helped with a grin, pouring the liquor over their wounds. The three men immediately shuddered all over.

Burke watched for a moment, then asked, "What's that for?"

"Heh, I don't know either, but Romon seems to think letting the wounds have a little drink helps them recover." Haiwavi teased, "Who knows? Maybe he just wants to boost the inn's business. Hahaha!"

"It's for disinfection. The wounds have some infection, and strong liquor works quite well." Romon smiled and replied quietly. After disinfecting them, he applied a thin layer of medicinal paste. Once he had finished, he extended his hand, and a faint green glow immediately appeared in his palm.

The green light vanished in an instant, but centered around the paste, a thin layer of flesh regenerated and wrapped around the wound. Romon said, "All done. Don't drink alcohol, and rest for three days. It should be mostly healed by then."

The man examined it, moved around a little, then smiled at Romon. "It really is good!"

Divine Spells, or a Druid's natural spells, could stimulate cell division and healing. After disinfection, using the medicinal paste as a core to form a scab allowed for the greatest degree of recovery at Romon's current level while also conserving as much power as possible.

After treating all three men, Romon accepted fifteen silver coins and handed five to the innkeeper. Motte would naturally help him pay it to tax officer Bakasi.

Tax officer Bakasi could forbid the sale of wild cattle, but he could not forbid a Druid from casting spells. Besides, as more adventurers arrived, more people were injured. The Temple only had two priests, and each priest only possessed three or four Healing Spells per day, nowhere near enough to meet demand. Thus, Romon's business met the adventurers' needs—banning it would mean offending them. Even tax officer Bakasi did not dare take that risk. He could only charge heavily, taking one-third of the income!

Of course, Romon himself only had three Healing Spells each day. Looking at the money, he narrowed his eyes slightly. Sooner or later, this matter would have to be resolved.

"Well done, Romon. If you want to go to the city, then even if Barnel won't take you, I will." Seeing this, Haiwavi smiled. Others feared tax officer Bakasi, but after weighing the pros and cons, he felt that the risk of offending Bakasi was worth taking.

Romon smiled and nodded. This was strength and profit!