Through his thin shirt, the hard, cold sensation of the scabbard pressed against his back.
Walking alone through the streets, Xia Nan's gaze was slightly vacant as he pondered.
The trip to the second floor of the Association had given him a general understanding of the deepening relationship between adventurers and the Association after obtaining a professional level, and he had figured out some of the operational mechanics.
To summarize, it boiled down to one point
—Take missions $\rightarrow$ earn points $\rightarrow$ exchange for resources $\rightarrow$ increase strength $\rightarrow$ take missions with richer rewards...
Simple and efficient. Whether for the Association or the adventurer, both parties gained from the process; it was a win-win situation.
Xia Nan had no negative thoughts or additional objections to this.
He thought it was quite good.
With his attribute panel and a relatively solid foundation, he only needed a clear and stable environment for growth. Even if it took a long time, he could eventually climb up step by step.
The Association's relatively loose management of its professionals also suited his preferences, as he didn't have to fret over pointless disputes.
On the other hand, and most crucially, through this trip, he finally learned how to increase his professional level and what factors were involved in the so-called "Class Change" later on.
According to the middle-aged adventurer named "Kash," who used a spear as his weapon.
To increase one's professional level, one must raise the proficiency of combat skills within that professional category to "Mastery," which was level 5.
As a reference, based on Xia Nan's current mastery—excluding [Whirlwind Slash], which he had already trained to max level shortly after crossing over—his remaining combat skills were
[Fang Hunt] lv3, [Gravity Control] and [Gravity Etching] were both still lv1.
If he could train these three skills to "Mastery," his professional level would reach lv4.
Of course, as it stood, this was a distant goal.
Among them, [Gravity Control] progressed extremely slowly due to its own exaggerated ceiling of capability.
Even now, its proficiency was only (5/100), not even reaching double digits, let alone leveling up or reaching lv5.
The one closest to max level was the second combat skill he had acquired, [Fang Hunt], which came from the Transcendent-rank barbarian "Fogan" and was very useful.
Now that he knew the upgrade conditions, this skill would become the focus of Xia Nan's training for the coming period until it reached max level.
Then, if he wanted to move further up, he would have to find new combat skills.
But...
*Tap.*
Heavy leather boots stepped steadily onto the ground, the soles colliding and rubbing against the stone bricks with a dull sound.
Xia Nan frowned slightly, feeling a sense of trouble.
According to Kash, combat skills that could increase professional levels had to belong to the professional's category.
Otherwise, they would only slow down progress and waste time and energy.
Regarding this point, common basic professions like "Rangers" or "Rogues" were unaffected.
The Association's combat skill catalog spanned over a hundred pages; one could simply pick a few from there, and if they found nothing they liked, they could even search for them at Association branches in other regions.
But for his own profession, "Meteor Blade Stalker"...
Considering the mandatory [Gravity Control], Xia Nan suspected that there were simply no peers of his kind in this world.
And if there truly were no predecessors, where would his subsequent combat skills come from?
Xia Nan couldn't help but feel lost.
Perhaps after handling things over the next couple of days, he could go to the Association and ask Molly for the "Combat Skill Catalog" again to carefully check the "Miscellaneous" category.
He would look for any skills involving "Gravity" or "Weight" to see if he could hit the jackpot.
However, thinking more simply, of the three skills that formed the "Meteor Blade Stalker," besides [Gravity Control], [Fang Hunt] and [Whirlwind Slash] involved the "Barbarian" and "Warrior" professions respectively.
Did that mean that in the future, when choosing combat skills, he could select from those two professions?
Yet, the combat skills he learned during this pre-Transcendent stage would determine his advanced profession during the future Class Change.
Should he have a plan?
But he had no leads; even "Meteor Blade Stalker" had been cobbled together by the system. What was there to plan with?
Xia Nan couldn't entrust his entire future to the attribute panel, hoping it would provide viable professional options just as it had during his promotion.
For now, all he could do was hone the proficiency of the skills he had on hand and see if there were any channels to obtain a decent advanced professional Class Change plan.
Even if he hit a bottleneck in the future and had to learn new skills to increase his strength...
Considering that from lv1 to lv10, there were ten combat skills in total, each one was precious and required careful deliberation.
To some extent, they determined the ceiling he could reach in the future.
Therefore, he had to save as many points as possible. Unless a skill was exceptionally suitable, he wouldn't consider those around 100 points.
He absolutely could not settle; he had to find types that were compatible and had higher development potential.
He pondered this all the way.
It wasn't until Xia Nan reached his destination that he snapped back to reality.
What came into view was a small storefront with a simple yet tasteful decoration style.
It seemed that at this hour, not many people were visiting; it looked somewhat desolate.
The wooden sign standing in front of the door bore the shop's name
"Fairy Wind" General Store.
Standing at the entrance, a flicker of hesitation crossed Xia Nan's eyes, and he felt a sense of trepidation.
He had to admit that his previous encounter with the [Sheep-Deer Statue] inside the shop, and the experience within the mirror-world-like secret realm, had left a small shadow in his heart.
He felt some resistance to stepping into this general store again.
Fortunately, the bustling noise of the crowds on the surrounding streets and the reflections of figures inside the shop seen through the glass gave him a bit more courage.
Taking a deep breath.
He pushed the door open.
*Ding-ling~*
The metal bell hanging at the door rang lightly.
Xia Nan's first reaction upon entering the general store was not to greet the shopkeeper, "Farrio," who was sitting behind the counter looking at him.
Instead, he whipped around, his gaze darting toward the shelves.
He saw that the spot where the [Sheep-Deer Statue] had originally been placed was now empty.
He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
In his ear came the regretful voice of the shopkeeper, Farrio.
"Looking for that statue?" As if remembering Xia Nan's previous visit, he explained, "Unfortunately, just after you left that day, someone else bought it."
Of course, the regret in Farrio's tone wasn't because Xia Nan missed out, but because...
He had sold it for too little at the time.
"You really should have bought it that day." Farrio shook his head slightly, the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose reflecting a glimmer of light. "Later on, the price for statues of that style went crazy."
"Forget ten gold; even if the price was raised to three digits, people were willing to pay. They say it's very popular over in Neum."
"A few days ago, I was thinking of stocking up more from the caravans, but then I heard something went wrong with the statues, and they've been banned from circulation by the Neum officials and are being urgently recalled."
"Sigh, I'll never make that kind of windfall in my life."
Looking at the sighing Farrio in front of him, Xia Nan muttered inwardly.
Ordinary merchants in town, while having their own intelligence channels and being relatively well-informed, were not the Adventurers Association. They lacked specialized intelligence transmission methods. With such a great distance between River Valley Town and Neum City, the spread of various news had a certain lag.
When he first learned that the [Sheep-Deer Statue] was circulating in Neum, the statues had actually already become extremely hot among the city's upper class, and the prices had been driven sky-high.
By the time the high market price of the [Sheep-Deer Statue] reached River Valley Town via the caravans, making Farrio regret selling the wooden carving so cheaply and wanting to stock up in bulk, the news about the "evil object" in Neum had already hit the newspapers.
As for now... half a month had passed; the recall in the city was likely almost complete, and he had probably only just received news that the wooden carvings were problematic.
It was only because the number of statues was small that large-scale stocking wasn't possible.
Otherwise, if Xia Nan had seen shelves full of [Sheep-Deer Statues] upon entering, he probably would have turned around and run to Karanfor, or even further, to avoid the trouble.
He didn't respond.
His gaze swept carefully across the shelves, confirming there were no anomalies.
Xia Nan took out a small cloth bag from his waist pouch—which made a crisp clinking sound when shaken—and handed it to the other man.
Inside were several crystals with good luster.
These were part of the reward the Grey Badger Gang had proactively given him for helping them repel the rat swarm.
Speaking of which, the Grey Badger Gang had already been wiped out; several core members of the gang had died under the claws of the beastman Buck.
He wondered if other forces would emerge to take over the few streets they controlled, and what "Iron Head," the lucky thug leader who had survived by bumping into him, would be up to.
"Five obsidians, quality is fairly average. I'll take them at market price; that's 40 gold in total."
Setting aside the statue he had misjudged, Farrio was quite professional when it came to these sparkling little stones.
One by one, he held them in his hand and inspected them carefully with a magnifying glass.
"Two blue quartz, 30 gold."
"Oh, and a small piece of red carnelian, the quality is quite good. I can give you 52 gold."
"That's 122 gold in total. How does that sound?"
The income from this small bag of spoils had already exceeded expectations, and he had never been good at bargaining.
He had intended to close the deal just like that.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, a smile appeared on Xia Nan's face, and he forced back the agreement that had already reached his throat.
Instead, he asked for more
"I'm practically a regular customer here. One price: 135 gold."
...
*Ding-ling.*
The door of the general store was slowly pushed open from the inside.
The cold wind slipped through his collar into his shirt, and the characteristic chill of winter air seeped into his body through his pores.
For a professional with strong physical attributes, this bit of frost wouldn't cause a cold, but the sensation of freezing wouldn't be diminished much either.
Xia Nan stepped out of the "Fairy Wind" general store and tightened his cuffs.
His face was expressionless.
The reason he had acted out of character and proactively bargained with Farrio just now was actually to further test the influence of that 1 point of Charisma attribute bonus.
As for the result...
In his waist pouch, one crystal card worth 100 gold and twenty-five sparkling gold coins were evidence enough.
It could only be said that Farrio was indeed as described in the [Adventurer's Handbook].
His professional ability was outstanding, but his offers were often stingy.
Compared to the initial quote of 122 gold, he only gave an extra 3 gold coins after the bargaining.
"Perhaps my Charisma bonus doesn't manifest in this way?"
"Or perhaps these extra 3 gold coins are actually the result of the Charisma bonus, but the other party's personality is just like that, so the effect seems weak?"
Xia Nan pondered in his heart.
Regardless, being able to earn a bit more money was definitely a good thing.
3 gold was enough for him to live lavishly in White Sparrow for a week.
He stopped thinking about it, oriented himself, and strode away, disappearing into the crowd.
...
Although it didn't look like there were many spoils.
But adding everything up, the income from this mission was actually quite decent.
A few sparkling little stones—125 gold;
The reward given by the Grey Badger Gang along with the crystals—53 gold, 2 silver;
The money earned from selling the equipment and horses of the bandits he repelled on the way to Neum—36 gold, 1 silver, 6 copper.
In total, it was 214 gold, 3 silver, 6 copper.
And this was without adding the potential increase in rewards for the promotion mission after Molly filed the report.
This gave a massive blood transfusion to the small treasury that had spent a full five hundred gold on custom equipment.
His net worth returned to 526 gold, 7 silver, 3 copper.
Though far from the nearly four-digit peak he once had.
It still gave Xia Nan, standing at the door of the "Rock Hammer" blacksmith shop, a bit more confidence.
At least he could afford a few pieces of ordinary equipment.
"Boss, not many customers today, huh."
Xia Nan entered the blacksmith shop and waved from a distance, greeting the owner of "Rock Hammer," Barn.
This middle-aged man, who claimed to have dwarven blood but was actually as burly as a bear-goblin, was currently holding a piece of gauze, standing behind the counter wiping a dagger.
Hearing the voice and seeing it was Xia Nan, a smile appeared on his face.
He put down the object in his hand and opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to joke around with this old acquaintance who hadn't visited the shop in nearly two months.
Suddenly, he noticed the thin shirt Xia Nan was wearing on his upper body.
As if realizing something, his expression suddenly became subtle.
"What happened to the two pieces of armor you bought before? Both scrapped?"
"Heh." Xia Nan scratched his head, his expression slightly awkward. "Something went wrong during this mission."
"The quality of the equipment wasn't the problem, right?"
"No, it was great."
Barn didn't ask why he hadn't brought the scrapped armor back for recycling.
Barn had gradually grown accustomed to Xia Nan's exaggerated equipment scrap rate, which almost eliminated the need for routine maintenance.
He turned around, beckoned to him, and walked toward the inner room.
"A new batch of Maran Pattern Steel just came into the shop. I made a few pieces of armor; you can try them in a moment."
"The enchanted armor you ordered was finished last week."
"It's right inside, follow me."
(End of Chapter)