Chapter 88: Shock

The next day, before dawn.

Xia Nan, fully armed and in high spirits, was already standing at the entrance of the White Sparrow Tavern.

The improved constitution after his advancement allowed him to restore his body and mind to perfect condition even with only a few hours of sleep.

The only thing that made him feel slightly uncertain was that, although there were no gaps in his weapon equipment, the incident had happened so suddenly that there had been no time to prepare extra supply items.

It was still midsummer night, and the shops on the street had closed early; there was nowhere to go even if he wanted to buy things.

In the end, he used the leftovers from previous quests as supplies, and spent money to buy some easy-to-carry, long-lasting food from the tavern owner Chapton, which finally completed his preparations before departure.

“Tap, tap.”

Heavy yet crisp footsteps came from behind him.

Xia Nan suddenly felt a cold wind sweep through the air.

He looked toward it.

At the end of the street, framed by the slowly rising morning sun on the horizon, in the intertwining glow of brilliant dawn clouds and gentle first light, a burly figure wrapped in a cold wind walked out slowly from the receding night.

His high brow ridges cast a shadow, and his eyes were like two flickering, swirling flames of ghostly blue.

He cast a glance at Xia Nan, who was already prepared by the roadside.

He gave an almost imperceptible slight nod.

He did not speak, only walked silently toward the town’s exit.

Xia Nan tightened the heavy backpack on his back and hurried to follow.

But his expression was faintly strange.

Normally, as a fairly thorough adventurer, before departing on a quest, he would prepare supplies two to three times the expected travel duration in advance.

Now, although Barbarian Foggon had not revealed the exact number of days, considering that Foggon was only passing through and resting briefly in Valley Town, even if he intended to teach him combat techniques, he should not stay too long.

Within the limits that would not affect his movements, Xia Nan had still tried to prepare enough supplies to survive seven days in the wilderness.

If he was frugal, he could even last more than ten days.

By contrast, Foggon looked extremely light.

He did not carry a heavy burlap bundle like the one on Xia Nan’s back; this barbarian had only a few small animal hide pouches on him, barely counting as storage items.

Xia Nan did not know whether he had some kind of storage-type magic item, or whether this was simply his habit.

Considering the other’s barbarian race and the impression he had left last night, Xia Nan leaned more toward the latter.

……

The two walked in silence along the streets of Valley Town, one in front and one behind.

The sky grew brighter, and the buildings along the road became more sparse.

The familiar street scene allowed Xia Nan to make a judgment.

Their destination should be the Misty Forest.

While they were still within the human settlement and did not need to focus all their attention on watching for dangers as in the forest, his thoughts drifted slightly.

Thinking about it, his choice regarding combat techniques last night still had many oversights.

Many days ago, on the way during a quest, Wood had mentioned to him that obtaining a class level was not simply a matter of mastering three combat techniques and raising the proficiency of one of them to Mastery （lv5）.

The three combat techniques must all belong to the same class category in order to complete a promotion.

Otherwise, it would fail.

Or, with an almost impossibly small probability, he might take on some obscure niche job class.

He did not currently know which class category his 【Whirl Slash】 at lv5 belonged to.

If he rashly chose combat techniques aligned with another promotion path, it would be a complete waste of this precious opportunity.

Maybe… he should find a chance to ask?

As he was pondering this in his heart, the barbarian Foggon ahead seemed to sense what he was thinking.

With that same heavily accented, ambiguous voice, he said:

“I heard from Haian that you have already mastered one combat technique.”

His heart stirred, and Xia Nan quickly picked up the topic.

“Yes, but I don’t know its exact category. I only heard them say it might come from 【warrior】 or 【paladin】.”

Then, silence.

The barbarian did not respond at all; he just kept walking.

Their conversation came to an abrupt end.

Xia Nan opened his mouth soundlessly.

Looking at the sturdy figure ahead, draped in a wolf skin cloak, he felt a bit depressed.

……

……

The Misty Forest,

for Xia Nan, who had already completed two quests there, was not unfamiliar.

But this time, following behind the barbarian, it became an unforgettable, even slightly shocking experience.

It was as if, before entering the forest, Foggon had already fixed the final destination in advance.

Barbarian Fogon followed the principle that “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line,” and led Xia Nan forward almost by charging straight through.

The annoying thorns along the way that had previously required a great deal of energy to barely hack apart

did not even need the obsidian axe hanging at his waist this time.

He only had to let his body crash into them, and like waves pounding the reefs on the shore, they were mercilessly crushed by the barbarian.

He did not care about any potential dangers hidden in the forest.

Foggon made no effort to hide the noise he caused as he moved, and his speed was even faster than it had been in town.

It clearly looked like an ordinary brisk walk, yet Xia Nan had to jog to keep up.

And under such conditions, for the whole morning, let alone monsters,

they did not see even a single one of those disgusting, troublesome venomous creatures lurking among the shrubs.

The dangerous aura on the barbarian, comparable to that of a top predator at the apex of the food chain, was a natural “bug repellent” for those wild animals with extremely keen perception ability.

Like a lantern shining with radiance in the dark of night, just the portion of wolf body revealed under its light was enough to drive away those frail creatures that were not even worthy of being called prey.

In the Outer Forest of the Misty Forest, with a high-level professional like Foggon, the level of danger was, in some sense, perhaps even lower than that of Valley Town.

After all, in the latter, if you casually sat down in a tavern where adventurers gathered, you might bump into a few drunk, troublemaking class holders.

Closely following in his footsteps, Xia Nan observed this forbidden land that had buried countless low-level adventurers from a completely new perspective.

Suddenly, for some reason,

the momentum around the barbarian ahead dropped sharply.

Along with it, his previously overwhelming presence diminished significantly.

Puzzled, Xia Nan did not ask since Foggon did not offer an explanation; he simply kept following.

After walking for about another twenty minutes,

as Foggon’s pace gradually slowed, a cave located on a small hillside in the forest came into Xia Nan’s view.

Thin threads of stench lingering in the air, and the simple, vaguely familiar style of the Mudstone Cave,

made him recognize the lair’s owners at a glance.

“Goblins?”