Chapter 2 Ambush

Xia Nan was a farmer, and dealing with the golden wheat in the fields was his true profession.

The so-called “adventures” that often only appeared in the mouths of bards and old men at the edge of the village would probably never have anything to do with him in his entire life.

But at this very moment, to be able to sit in this rudimentary campsite as a member of the bottom-of-the-barrel party, Xia Nan naturally had his own extraordinary quality.

According to the memories left behind by the original owner of this body, the matter could be traced back to five years ago, which was when he was thirteen years old.

At that time, a destitute bard had stayed overnight at his family’s home.

Aside from performing tricks in front of the children of the village and opening the gates of a fantasy world for the young Xia Nan.

Thanks to his mother’s stingy nature, which was famous for ten miles around for pulling feathers from a passing goose, the bard was forced to leave a single page of a skill book for their family when he departed the village.

To call it a “book” was actually a bit of a stretch.

From its appearance, it was just half a page of paper recording a certain training technique.

But regardless, it had once been a component of a genuine professional skill book.

The whole family treated it like a priceless treasure.

Even the youngest daughter of the house, Beatrice, who was only seven years old at the time, practiced along with them for a while.

Unfortunately, perhaps that half page of a skill book was just a scrap piece of paper the bard had scribbled randomly to escape, or perhaps none of their family possessed any talent related to it.

More than half a year passed, and not a single person made any noticeable progress.

Coupled with the king increasing taxes and the farming season becoming busy, this matter was eventually dropped and forgotten.

However, the original owner of this body was straightforward by nature, and the tricks shown by the bard back then had left too deep an impression on him.

So even during the autumn harvest when he was so busy that he could not straighten his back, he would still, after finishing a whole day of hard labor, support his body which was so tired it was about to collapse, and swing a rudimentary wooden sword that he had spent three days carving against the straw on the ridge of the field.

Just like this, day after day, year after year, he broke an unknown number of wooden swords from swinging them.

No one knew where this farm boy got such perseverance, but he had actually never rested for even a single day, as if swinging the sword had already become a part of his life.

Finally, on an afternoon three months ago.

When Xia Nan, just like those thousands of previous days and nights, was slashing his wooden sword against a scarecrow he had woven himself on the ridge near his home.

It was a marvelous sensation that he had never experienced before.

An inexplicable power suddenly erupted from his legs, which were firmly planted in the mud, and traveled all the way up.

His waist, chest and abdomen, shoulders and arms… finally passing through his fingertips onto the wooden sword in his hand.

It was as if the strength of his entire body and his complete focus were twisted into a single knot in an instant, pouring out in a flash.

Buzz—

The broken wooden sword spun and tumbled to the ground, as tiny, chaotic bits of straw danced wildly in the air.

The scarecrow, sliced clean into two halves, slowly fell over.

The cut was perfectly neat.

Whirlwind Slash

At that moment, Xia Nan knew its name.

…

Xia Nan had completely mastered a technique that only noble knights could utilize.

The subsequent development of events was only natural.

An ordinary farming family whose total assets amounted to no more than a mill and a few meager fields.

Raising three sons and a young daughter.

Among them, the eldest and the second son happened to reach the age to marry and establish their own careers.

Naturally, the fight over that pitifully small inheritance of family property began both openly and secretly.

From the distribution of profits produced by the mill to the usage time of the kitchen stove…

All kinds of petty, miserable arguments and disputes filled almost every inch of air in that small wooden cabin.

Watching his two respected older brothers arguing endlessly over a single candle made the youth, who had just reached adulthood, feel a deep sense of doubt.

Moreover, thinking that in another two years, when he also reached the age to marry, this kind of thing would happen to him all over again.

Xia Nan could not help but develop a desire to retreat.

It just so happened that he had learned the professional skill Whirlwind Slash, and driven by the recklessness and pride peculiar to young men.

The original owner of this body registered his name at the Adventurer’s Guild in a nearby town, and subsequently joined the bottom-of-the-barrel party.

“Sigh…”

Recalling the rash actions of the original owner of this body, Xia Nan could not help but sigh.

When he transmigrated into this world, the original owner was already part of the team.

And by the time he dazedly finished absorbing the memories and realized what he was doing, they had already entered the Misty Forest with the squad, leaving no chance to back out.

Since things had reached this point, complaining would only increase internal friction.

Lowering his head, he used a cotton cloth to wipe the blade on his knees once more.

Speaking of which, although the two older brothers of this body were deeply mired in the dispute over the family property, they were extremely good to him, their youngest brother.

This one-handed sword was put together for him by his two older brothers taking out their respective savings.

The original owner of this body cherished it immensely and maintained it frequently.

To the extent that even though it had long reached the age to be scrapped, the blade still maintained a considerable degree of sharpness.

Perhaps it could still hold out through a few tough battles?

“Hey, kid?”

Perhaps Xia Nan’s long silence made the leader Maji mistakenly think he was overly nervous, as he opened his mouth to comfort him:

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, just a few goblins.”

“With those kinds of things, even two or three of them together can’t beat a stray dog in the town.”

Xia Nan did not speak, but just grinned at the hunter to show he was fine.

Nervous?

Of course he was.

After all, this was his first time going out on an adventure in the capacity of an adventurer.

The glorious achievements on the one-handed sword’s attribute panel were left behind by the previous owners of this sword and had nothing to do with him.

And the fact that this longsword, which had experienced many battles, could land in his hands might to some extent foretell the end of its previous masters.

Hoo—

A blast of cold air brushed past the back of Xia Nan’s neck, making him shudder involuntarily.

The Misty Forest was exactly like its name.

Even during the scorching noon when the sun was fierce, a thin layer of mist always permeated the air.

Let alone now that the sun had set, the thin moonlight almost melted into the mist, making visibility extremely low.

Even while sitting right next to the campfire, he could only barely distinguish the blurry outlines of the surrounding weeds and shrubs.

“Farm boy, first time coming to the Misty Forest?”

A slightly amused voice sounded by his ear.

Looking over, he saw that on the other side of the camp, about five or six meters away, the gnome Erki was looking at him with a teasing expression.

“Have you been here many times?” Xia Nan nodded and replied.

“Of course!”

Seemingly just waiting for him to say this, Erki immediately became radiant with joy.

“You have no idea, I have a distant cousin who once served as an attendant to an Arcanist for two years, tsk, that was a big shot who genuinely graduated from the Hawthorn Royal Academy and registered with the Spellcaster Association!”

“Hey, don’t tell me you haven’t even heard of the Hawthorn Royal Academy? Let me tell you—”

The voice stopped abruptly.

Even if it contained a bit of boasting, Xia Nan was still very interested in the gnome’s topic.

Having just transmigrated into this world, anything involving supernatural powers possessed an extraordinary attraction for him.

However, at least for today, he would probably not get any more information regarding the Hawthorn Royal Academy.

Because just a second ago, Xia Nan watched with his own eyes as a crooked wooden club embedded with many iron nails stirred the thin mist, emerging from the darkness behind Erki’s head.

Then it swung down violently, smashing hard onto that joyful face of the gnome that was brimming with immense enthusiasm.

The rust-red metal nails instantly pierced through the fragile flesh on the side of his skull.

Like a watermelon accidentally dropped on the ground, striking blood mixed with a sickening white thick fluid splattered out from the wound.

“Enemy ambush!”

[End of Chapter]