The Misty Forest lay deep in the heartland of Aifala Continent.
Ancient secrets left behind since antiquity, combined with the forest’s naturally unusual terrain, filled the region with a concentration of magic far denser than most other places.
And where magic flourished, monsters followed.
After spending generations immersed in such an environment, constantly nourished by abundant magic, some monsters developed bodies far stronger than ordinary creatures.
Others were born with the ability to manipulate the laws of nature themselves.
They stood at the top of the forest’s food chain.
But even the top of a pyramid needed a base beneath it.
And the Misty Forest had no shortage of one.
Beneath the monsters lived countless ordinary creatures, animals too mundane to ever earn a place in a monster compendium.
“Rustle.”
A light breeze passed through the trees.
A leaf spun slowly downward.
The brown bark of an oak branch was rough and cracked, its deep grooves resembling a dried riverbed.
From a distance, there was nothing remarkable about it.
Just another branch in an endless forest.
But with a little patience and a closer look, something else slowly became visible.
A scarlet forked tongue flashed through the air.
Then came the faint outline of a long, slender body rising from the bark.
A Rosalind Sharp-Snouted Viper.
Its fine scales were covered in mottled light-brown markings, blending almost perfectly with the tree.
Combined with the unnatural patience of a cold-blooded predator, the camouflage made it nearly invisible.
Its long, narrow, triangular head was warning enough.
This was a highly venomous snake.
It waited.
The Misty Forest never lacked prey.
At nearly five feet long, with a body capable of swallowing creatures several times thicker than itself and two venomous fangs hidden beneath its skull, ready to inject venom at any moment, the viper hunted far more than frogs and lizards.
Small and medium-sized mammals were also fair game.
And if something too large approached?
The instincts carved into generations of prey animals would warn them away from the dangerous creature carrying death in its fangs.
“Squeak.”
A Long-Eared Mouse covered in soft fur crept through the fallen leaves.
Its clear, foolish little eyes did not seem to notice the danger at all.
Closer.
Closer.
The viper’s vertical pupils remained cold and emotionless.
Its neck drew back.
Muscles tightened beneath its scales.
It needed less than a second.
One explosive strike to sink its fangs into the mouse and inject venom.
Then it would coil around the prey, squeeze tight, and wait.
The tiny brown scales along its body trembled as the muscles beneath them swelled.
It was about to strike.
Then…
Hum…
An iron-gray flash cut through the air.
Wood chips burst from the trunk.
The Long-Eared Mouse squealed and vanished into the undergrowth.
The viper’s body remained frozen in its coiled striking posture.
Its head, however, was gone.
A cold blade had severed it cleanly from the neck.
“Fuck! That scared the hell out of me!”
Xia Nan’s voice carried obvious lingering fear as he tightened his grip and yanked the Decapitating Longsword out of the tree.
This was already his second day back in the Misty Forest.
Things had gone less smoothly than expected.
The forest was filled with fog, dense undergrowth, and countless trees that looked almost identical. Even with a proper compass bought from a general store and a crude map in hand, keeping track of direction was surprisingly difficult.
Being alone made things worse.
Every rustle in the bushes put Xia Nan on edge.
Every movement in the corner of his vision made him slow down and check his surroundings.
His progress was actually slower than it had been with the ragtag party.
He had not noticed anything unusual at the time.
But thinking back now, Maji had probably possessed some kind of class skill related to exploration or navigation.
Fortunately, the Glowgarlic Vine he remembered was not too far from Rivervale Town.
After one afternoon and another half a morning of wandering through the forest, he should be getting close.
Xia Nan dug a small hole in the ground, then used the tip of his sword to pick up the severed snake head.
His face twisted in disgust as he dropped it inside.
A bit of trivia from his previous life told him that even after decapitation, a snake’s jaws could still open and close through muscle reflexes.
Those fangs could still inject venom.
So, just to be safe, burying the head was better than leaving it lying around.
As far as Xia Nan was concerned, the most dangerous things in the Misty Forest were obviously the bizarre monsters lurking within it.
But the most disgusting?
That honor belonged to the endless snakes, insects, and crawling things he encountered along the way.
He had antidotes.
He had insect repellent.
That did not mean he wanted to test either of them.
A careless bite from something small could still become a very serious problem.
Xia Nan remained still for a moment and carefully scanned the surroundings.
Only after confirming that nothing else seemed unusual did he relax.
He slipped off his backpack, opened it, and pulled out a piece of gauze.
Then, while resting and recovering his strength, he began wiping down his newly purchased sword.
According to Barn, the shopkeeper at Rockhammer, unless the weapon went through a major battle, maintenance once every three days was enough.
Xia Nan knew that.
He also knew that after enough fighting, the sword would inevitably accumulate scratches, stains, and marks that no amount of careful cleaning could fully erase.
Still…
It was new.
He could not help wanting to keep it looking fresh from the forge for a little longer.
The soft gauze moved gently along the blade, wiping away the few specks of dirt clinging to the metal.
Feeling the firm, cool grip in his hand, Xia Nan’s thoughts wandered.
For an adventurer, a good weapon was practically a second life.
That meant choosing one should never be casual.
Balance, weight, grip, handling, fighting style.
All of it mattered.
Back at Rockhammer, Xia Nan had not considered those things carefully enough.
He had seen the attribute panel, realized he had found a bargain, and bought the sword with almost no hesitation.
Looking back, that had been somewhat reckless.
Fortunately, after a day and a half of getting used to it, Xia Nan could say with confidence that the Decapitating Longsword suited him extremely well.
It was heavier than an ordinary two-handed sword, but still well within what his current Strength could control.
The four-foot, double-edged blade worked perfectly with Spinning Slash.
And even the understated iron-gray color matched his tastes.
At this point, Xia Nan almost wished a few goblins would show up just so he could properly test the blade.
[Uh…]
[Maybe not a bugbear.]
He amused himself with the thought.
After resting, Xia Nan stood and hoisted the slightly heavy pack onto his back.
He was just about to leave when the snake’s body caught his eye.
He paused.
Then, as if remembering something, he pulled the somewhat wrinkled Adventurer’s Handbook from inside his clothes.
…
21. [An Adventurer Should Get Some Blood on Their Hands]
Come on! What’s there to be squeamish about? Those are shiny, lovely coins!
21.3 [On Creepy-Crawlies]
… Remember to remove their gallbladders. Herbal shops and alchemy shops will usually pay a decent price for them. The exact price depends on their size and species.
Certain parts from special species can also fetch a good price, such as the horn atop a Frost-Marked Horned Snake’s head or the shed skin of a Tube Python.
Of course, all of the above applies only to ordinary creatures. As for monsters…
…
“Sure enough. I almost missed out on a few more coins.”
Xia Nan pulled a dagger from his waist.
Following the illustration in the handbook, he clumsily cut open the viper’s scale-covered body.
“Got it!”
A dark, saclike organ lay in his hand, slick with mucus and blood.
[A viper gallbladder this size from the Misty Forest should sell for about three silver, right?]
He estimated the price based on the list he had seen while buying supplies at an herbal shop.
In his previous life, Xia Nan had once heard someone ask an interesting question.
If two people both earned five thousand a month, why could living in the countryside and living in a city feel like two completely different worlds?
Prices were part of it, naturally.
But in Xia Nan’s opinion, temptation mattered just as much.
When he had first transmigrated here, all he possessed were his predecessor’s simple memories of eighteen years spent among fields of wheat.
Back then, ten gold and a hundred gold had not seemed all that different.
Both were enormous sums of money.
Then Xia Nan had walked through Rivervale Town with more than a hundred gold in loot.
He had seen potions priced at five hundred gold.
Armor priced in the four figures.
After that, his understanding of money in this world had changed very quickly.
So now, as he pinned down the still-writhing snake and pulled its gallbladder free from a mess of blood and mucus, disgust was no longer the only thing he felt.
There was also the pleasant thought of earning a few more coins once he returned to town.
Especially considering that he currently had only twenty-four gold, two silver, and seven copper left.
Yes.
Xia Nan, who had once possessed more than one hundred and thirty gold, now had barely a fraction of that fortune remaining.
The thirty-five-gold Decapitating Longsword and ten-gold leather armor were only part of the reason.
The true culprit behind the sudden collapse of his savings lay quietly in the safest, easiest-to-reach section of his belt pouch.
Fifty gold.
One full bottle.
Unopened.
A faint glow shimmered inside whenever the liquid moved.
A Healing Potion.
In the end, Xia Nan had not been able to resist.
After completing all the necessary preparations for this trip, he had spent most of his remaining savings to give himself one final trump card.
He did not regret it.
Because he knew exactly what that bottle of Healing Potion could do.
Metallic light flashed before his eyes.
His reflection appeared on the iron-gray blade.
Xia Nan focused.
A translucent panel appeared.
…
[Name]: Xia Nan
[Attributes]:
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Constitution: 5
Intelligence: 5
Perception: 5
Charisma: 5
[Feat]: Slashing Expert
[Skill]: Spinning Slash Lv. 5 (Max)
[Equipment/Items]: Deathline, Sturdy Decapitating Longsword, Healing Potion x1…
…
This was Xia Nan’s second adventure.
But compared with the person he had been right after transmigrating into this world, he had changed enormously.
Mentally.
Physically.
In every meaningful way.
If the current Xia Nan were thrown back into that dark, bloody goblin cave, he could not guarantee a crushing victory.
But at the very least, by the time he finished dealing with the four goblin minions, Gagu probably would not have already been beaten out of the fight.
Xia Nan casually tossed the still-twitching snake corpse onto the ground.
Then he pulled out his compass and map.
“Mm… this way.”
As he drew closer to his destination, memories that had once seemed hazy beneath a layer of mist gradually sharpened.
His pace picked up.
Roughly two hours later, Xia Nan pushed aside a wall of dense undergrowth.
A clearing appeared before him.
It was not particularly large.
Even counting the thickening vegetation along the edges, the entire open area was only about a quarter the size of a basketball court.
But in the Misty Forest, where towering trees crowded nearly every patch of ground, the sudden empty space looked strangely conspicuous.
At the center stood a dark oak tree thick enough for roughly two people to wrap their arms around.
It was not especially tall.
Not especially majestic.
Not even especially sturdy-looking.
From the outside, only one feature distinguished it from the surrounding trees.
Clusters of pale vines hung from its branches.
Xia Nan’s eyes lit up.
He remembered passing by this place several days ago.
At night, those strangely colored vines had glowed with tiny specks of light like fireflies.
[Glowgarlic Vine!]
Excitement rose in his chest.
He did not move forward.
A clearing appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a dense forest.
A strange glowing plant.
A potentially huge profit sitting right in the open.
Any adventurer with a little common sense would hesitate.
And Xia Nan was still a novice adventurer who treated nearly everything around him as a potential threat.
He was not about to rush in blindly.
Both hands tightened around the Decapitating Longsword.
He lowered his stance and leaned slightly forward, keeping himself in a position where he could explode into motion at any moment.
Then, making as little noise as possible, he spent a full ten minutes circling the clearing.
Grass.
Bushes.
Tree canopies.
Every possible hiding place.
Only after checking everything and finding no sign of an ambush did Xia Nan look toward the oak tree again.
He still hesitated.
The dense trees of the Misty Forest often blocked his line of sight and made hidden dangers harder to spot.
But those same trees could also serve as cover.
The moment Xia Nan stepped into the clearing, he would be giving up that protection and exposing his entire body.
He considered it for a few more seconds.
Then made up his mind.
Standing here forever would accomplish nothing.
He had to take the initiative.
Xia Nan clenched his teeth.
His right foot shot forward.
He charged.
Then, just before reaching the vines, he abruptly stopped.
The longsword swept across his body.
Cold iron-gray light flashed along the blade.
One second.
Two.
Three…
A breeze moved through the clearing.
Branches swayed with a soft rustle.
Nothing happened.
Xia Nan slowly relaxed.
So he had just spent several seconds trying to outsmart the air.
Whatever.
No one saw it.
Nothing embarrassing about that.
He immediately put away the sword, pulled out his dagger, and started cutting down the Glowgarlic Vine as fast as he could.
Only he knew about this place.
And although Xia Nan had no idea how this kind of vine reproduced, he still left some of the immature branches and leaves untouched.
Why harvest once if he could potentially come back later?
In less than five minutes, thirty-two… clumps of Glowgarlic Vine had been carefully packed into the backpack he had prepared.
“Perfect!”
Xia Nan tightened the now noticeably heavier pack against his back.
He was just about to leave.
Then two sets of hurried footsteps burst from the forest to his right.
“Hm!?”