Chapter 554: Chapter 281: Recharge, [Melted Ash Silver Ingot] and [Embers Resonance]
The orange-red firelight flickered like glowing fireflies, dancing around Xia Nan.
It did not scorch, nor did it feel burning hot.
He felt a warm flow enveloping his entire body, like soaking in a hot spring, even soothing his somewhat weary spirit.
In his mind, intermittent images flashed by silently:
A flame about to extinguish, yet tenaciously maintaining itself amidst the tremors;
The last spark erupting from a burned-out log, turned to charcoal, as the wind blew over;
Ashes drifting down like snowflakes, carrying traces of warmth.
Decay, hope, desolation, embers... The vast information in his mind stirred emotions, making Xia Nan feel as if he were in a despairing world on the brink of losing its fire.
At that moment, he finally knew the name of the battle skill called "Fire Spark" by the exotic Priest—
[Embers Resonance]
Unexpectedly, it was not a battle skill Xia Nan urgently needed right now, representing the last two corners of the "Hexagon Warrior": "Ranged" or "Defense."
Based on the information in his mind, the type of the battle skill [Embers Resonance] seemed to be... "State Type"?
Significant enhancement of physical attributes in a short time, with additional effects?
Most of the information accompanying the influx of the orange-red flames had sunk deep into his mind, to be unearthed gradually in the future.
Just like the former [Vortex Slash] and [Teeth Hunting], Xia Nan had already mastered the training method of this battle skill, and even due to the information infusion, knew its crucial points.
Yet he had not even begun to learn it, lacking any display of proficiency on the attribute panel, the information he possessed was quite limited.
To truly understand the specific effects of this battle skill and its potential role in combat, it would have to wait for further training and comprehension as skill level increased.
His mind couldn’t help but recall the encounters in the Secret Realm.
To be honest, Xia Nan didn’t think that such a single battle skill, no matter how high the quality level, could shoulder the duty of saving the world and become the "Fire Spark" that reignites the light.
Furthermore, the ruins in his memory, which represented the small town behind him, were not some grand Royal City, but rather a small town isolated in the wilderness, with a church that was not the so-called main hall of the "Ashen Church."
Referencing the dialogue between "me" in the Secret Realm and that Priest, those vague utterances.
Perhaps the "Fire Spark" they mentioned was not just the one he obtained.
But rather countless sparks from different places, gathered and brought by priests and characters like "me" to the "Royal City," aiming to fulfill the grand goal of reigniting the world’s flame as the world’s fire was about to go out.
Rushing along, the information Xia Nan obtained was too fragmented; this was just his guess.
After all, it’s something that happened in another time and space, another world, and until he encounters another Secret Realm with the same world view, no one knows what actually happened.
Therefore, even though he truly yearned to deepen his understanding of [Embers Resonance] through this way of world exploration, he had no clue.
With a slight pause in thought, Xia Nan temporarily set aside his newly acquired battle skill and turned his gaze to his right ring finger.
There, the silver ring, transformed from the [Dream Weaving Corridor], shimmered with a faint light.
He clearly remembered that a large part of the flame, from when he crushed the Flame Crystal earlier, was absorbed by it.
A thought arose in his mind.
Carefully controlling his mind, he gently touched the glowing surface of the ring.
"Ding!"
"Charging material detected, automatically supplementing..."
"Charging successful!"
"[Remaining Energy]: 0%→2%"
Indeed!
Xia Nan felt his emotions stir.
Although the energy obtained wasn’t much, only 2%.
But the most crucial thing was that he found a method to charge, no longer groping in the dark as before.
The Secret Realm is the energy source for [Dream Weaving Corridor]!
And on the other hand, this 2% might seem very little, but remember when [Teeth Hunting] broke through the limit, gaining almost fifty skill level points, thus increasing to lv5 at full level, in that dream simulation.
The energy consumed was only about 3%.
This means that Xia Nan just needs to find another Secret Realm and slightly increase the remaining energy of [Dream Weaving Corridor] to satisfy the energy conditions for activating the terminal.
Of course, if he doesn’t want to use the last chance of the [Destiny Coin] here, he’ll need to find the key to activate the terminal elsewhere.
Nonetheless, he took a solid step forward in this regard.
Ultimately, Xia Nan felt immensely satisfied in his heart.
While pondering, he felt a sudden heat from behind.
Thinking that there might still be some undead creatures like mummified corpses uncleaned in the ruins, prompting the [Green Pine] Wooden Sword to activate the Sun Flame again.
Instinctively, he drew his sword, only to find the blade surface cool and smooth, not even warm.
Feeling puzzled, he traced the source of the heat.
Immediately, he pulled out a metal silver ingot with a crimson molten luster from his backpack.
"This..."
He remembered that this metal ingot was a spoil found on Terry William, so how come...
The next second, as attention focused due to careful observation, translucent characters quietly appeared in the void before his eyes.
...
[Melted Ash Silver Ingot]
Type: Material
Level: /
Introduction:
This metal has undergone some unknown peculiar transformation due to the scorching energy from the Exotic Realm. You might want to try using it as a forging material.
Note:
"Most metals await to be given form, but some of them... they seem to innately know what they want to become."
—Master of Forging Arts "Iron Dance" M. Nord
...
Undoubtedly, the transformation on the silver ingot also came from the Flame Crystal Xia Nan had just crushed.
According to the introduction on the attribute panel, after the transformation, it seems to have become a pretty good forging material.
The first thing that came to his mind naturally was his old gear that might soon be scrapped, the Beheading Longsword damaged by venom corrosion in battle.
The silver ingot itself is not large in size, if used as the main material, it could probably only forge something like daggers or short blades, which doesn’t fit his combat style.
But if used as material for repairing and reforging, integrated into the Beheading Longsword...
Xia Nan couldn’t help but fantasize but feared the final disappointment would be too great, so he halted his swirling thoughts.
Carefully, he placed the silver ingot into his backpack, thinking of asking "Rock Hammer" Barn to consider it thoroughly when they return to River Valley Town, and see if they can come up with a design plan.
Thus, his journey to Grey Valley finally came to an end.
He lost his nearly scrapped Plate Chain Composite Armor and his main weapon, the "Beheading Longsword".
As for the gains...
A brand new state-type battle skill from the Exotic Realm, pending Beginner practice, 2% Energy charge for the [Dream Weaving Corridor], and valuable charging methods related to it, and a piece of [Melted Ash Silver Ingot] of unknown quality with peculiar internal changes.
Oh, and the loot [Iron Stomach Flail] from the plump knight, specially hidden in a corner of the ruins.
He was turning to retrieve the flail from the ruins when a fleeting shadow caught the corner of his eye.
He turned his head to look.
On the ground in front of him, although the core Flame Crystal atop the [Ember Teaching Staff] had been crushed by Xia Nan.
The ash-black wooden handle below still maintained a perfect state.
With a thought, he bent down to pick up the wooden handle from the ground and tucked it into his backpack.
Only then did he turn around and head deeper into the ruins.
...
...
Meanwhile, at the other end of Yuan Sha Province.
In a densely shaded forest.
Chestnut brown ponytail fluttered lightly, and the off-white robe swayed gently with her body’s movements.
Vier looked up at the sky, seeing that time was running late as the horizon faintly brewed twilight.
The Magic Wand in her hand swayed gently, as the invisible waves stimulated the mosquitoes, flies, insects, and scorpions within a radius of fifty feet from her body to flee to the periphery.
It was time to set up camp.
The tents were quickly set up, and the bright campfire flickered and soared.
The girl’s schedule was extremely tight.
Daytime needed for traveling, and nighttime had to leave ample free time for practicing spellcasting skills and memorizing spells.
Even the precious sleep was precisely controlled to just enough time to recover physical and mental health, pushing herself to the limit.
Dinner time, typically 5-10 minutes, settled with some carried dry rations, heated slightly for eating.
But during the day, due to good luck, she hadn’t encountered any demons, giving her some leeway in the travel schedule.
Giving Vier an extra twenty minutes to manage on her own.
She was pondering whether to use that twenty minutes for cooking to reward herself with a good meal or save it for a little lie-in the next morning.
"Or maybe not, if these twenty minutes are used for memorizing spells..."
Suddenly, a disturbance from the depths of her mental space interrupted the girl’s train of thought.
Her mind touched upon the river of time, sensing the changes within.
The next second, Vier’s pondering pale face suddenly froze.
A look of disbelief appeared on her face.
"0.03%!?"
"The worldline changed by 0.03% again?"
"Why!?"