Chapter 48: Gratified

[Avery Rose Combo]

[Dancing Step Slash]

[Royal Cross]

[...]

Xia Nan stared at the skill books in his hands, his eyes wide as if he could discern something special from those dust-covered covers.

"Wait, where's my cheat code?"

"Give me something to work with!"

He focused intently, concentrating all of his attention.

But those familiar translucent characters did not manifest before his eyes as they had in the past.

Even though he had basically confirmed after many days in this world that his "Attribute Panel" cheat only worked on changes to weapons, equipment, and his own specialty attributes...

When he actually came to the general store with the hope of finding a bargain, attempting to use his cheat to find a few usable skill books, only to come up empty-handed...

He couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"Maybe it's because these are all knock-offs, so the attributes don't show up?"

Xia Nan muttered to himself, trying to find some comfort.

The air in the general store fell into silence.

Beside him, Kukunur, who was very tactfully pretending to be busy with his own tasks while actually observing Xia Nan with his peripheral vision for a long time, showed a hint of hesitation on his neatly groomed face.

His emerald eyes glanced toward the empty entrance of the shop. Seeing that there were no people around, he figured his next words wouldn't offend the black-haired youth before him.

After organizing his wording in his mind, he spoke slowly

"Customer, judging by your attire, you should be a respected adventurer."

"I mean no offense, but... looking at the prices I've quoted, you should be able to guess that the quality of these cheap goods is indeed hit-or-miss."

"If you are just taking them back for reference or as a pastime, buying a few is perfectly fine."

"But if you truly want to dig out the kind of 'combat skills' required as prerequisites for a professional class, even with the best luck, it will be quite difficult."

As he spoke, he seemed to feel he was being too blunt.

The gnome Kukunur nervously touched the buttons on his vest and added

"My main concern is that you might get injured. After all, many of the training methods in these skill books are not very standard."

"If you don't mind, I can give you a few for free, but please, whatever you do, do not practice them as if they were real 'combat skills'."

Xia Nan naturally felt no strange emotions regarding the shopkeeper's warning.

He simply smiled and shook his head, declining while signaling that he was fine.

A few days ago, he had already learned some basic knowledge regarding "combat skills" in this world from Wood and the half-elf.

In the absence of a way to accurately distinguish truth from falsehood, ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of the massive amount of so-called "combat skills" circulating on the market were traps that merely wasted an adventurer's time and energy.

The cost of trial and error was too high.

One could easily waste months or even a year.

Without other fortuitous encounters or the help of a relevant professional, trying to master a formal combat skill using nothing but a skill book bought from a roadside general store was undoubtedly a pipe dream.

The reason Xia Nan asked Kukunur for the price was partly to test if his cheat would work, and partly to see if he could get lucky.

Now, he had his answer.

But leaving without buying even a single one seemed a bit of a waste.

After a moment's thought, Xia Nan crouched down and picked two skill books from a cardboard box.

He gripped their spines and shook them in the air to brush off the dust.

"I'll take these two. How much?"

"No need, customer. Consider them a gift from me."

"It's fine."

He had no intention of owing such a favor, nor did he want to take advantage of a few copper coins.

Xia Nan stuffed the copper coins into Kukunur's hands and walked straight out of the general store.

The experience of protagonists finding bargains in the countless novels he had read in his past life allowed him to instinctively avoid skill books with flashy names and thicknesses exceeding half a knuckle.

He chose the two thinnest ones that looked the most straightforward

[Frontal Thrust] and [Parry Uppercut].

He casually stacked them and shoved them into his backpack.

Looking at the bustling, crowded street ahead, Xia Nan thought to himself

"Hmm, next..."

"I should head to the blacksmith shop."

...

...

As a highly acclaimed blacksmith shop in Valley Town that had even been featured in the [Adventurer's Handbook], "Rock Hammer" naturally never lacked business.

When Xia Nan arrived at the entrance with his backpack, the shop owner, "Barn Steelbeard," was attending to a thickset, honest-looking middle-aged man dressed in simple clothes.

The man was holding a two-handed polearm, his gaze carefully inspecting it from the end of the grip to the tip of the spearhead.

He occasionally swung it a couple of times, seemingly testing if the weight and feel were appropriate.

After haggling with Barn for a few moments, he pulled four gold coins, along with some miscellaneous silver and copper coins, from his pouch with a look of heartache, and handed them over with both hands.

Of course, once the transaction was complete, the look of slight joy beneath his heartache revealed that this honest-looking man was very satisfied with the polearm in his hands.

As he passed Xia Nan, he even nodded somewhat bashfully, as if apologizing for delaying him.

Treating him as just a passerby, Xia Nan returned a nod and stopped paying attention, walking straight toward Barn, the owner of "Rock Hammer."

"Eh?"

With just one glance, this burly man—who claimed to have dwarven blood but stood a head taller than a Bugbear—recognized Xia Nan.

However, compared to the changes in the youth, his focus was slightly different.

"That mission of yours was quite dangerous!"

Barn remarked meaningfully as he sized up the tattered leather armor on Xia Nan, which was still stained with blood.

After all, he had personally sold that leather armor to the youth not long ago. To see a piece of "Fine" quality gear that cost 10 gold pieces end up in such a state, how could he not notice?

"I did run into a troublesome fellow. It's thanks to your leather armor that I'm even able to come back."

Xia Nan didn't reveal any specific details, merely laughing it off with a compliment.

As if this sentence had hit the spot, Barn's hearty laughter suddenly echoed through the blacksmith shop.

"Hahaha, that's good!"

"You probably can't wear it anymore. Take it off; I'll give you three silver for it!"

His expression was one of gratification mixed with a profound sense of achievement.

As an ambitious blacksmith, selling forged equipment at a high price might prove others' recognition of his skill.

But what moved him most was the feedback from a buyer after the equipment had been tested in actual combat.

Even if the equipment he had painstakingly forged had been reduced to scrap metal, as long as it had fulfilled its mission and allowed its owner to stand safely before him...

That made Barn happier than selling goods worth hundreds or even thousands of gold.

(End of Chapter)