Chapter 526: Chapter 267: The Ascending Steps and Unexpected Visitor
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The night has just begun, and the sky still holds a lingering twilight.
So even though Grey Valley Village doesn’t have streetlights, visibility is still quite decent, enough to see the road clearly.
Following Tom, who is leading the way for him, Xia Nan casually observes the surroundings.
Under the night sky, the blurred outlines of dilapidated buildings line the muddy road.
Amidst the cool night breeze, there are sounds of insects and rustling leaves, along with intermittent conversations of villagers from both sides of the houses.
After advancing to Level 2, Xia Nan once again felt his physical qualities improved.
Now, after so many days have passed, he can certainly sense the changes in his body.
But it’s not just about having greater strength or running faster in a simple sense.
As a whole, the barrel effect in the six dimensional attributes isn’t entirely applicable.
Outstanding long planks inevitably lengthen the short planks in the six dimensional attributes imperceptibly to a matched level.
Take the simplest example: a human with a Constitution Attribute as high as 20 points undoubtedly has life force and endurance at the extreme reach of an ordinary professional, and simultaneously under such exaggerated life force, his Strength Attribute can’t be too low either, which defies natural laws.
Similarly, a person whose Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Sensitivity five dimensional attributes exceed fifteen points cannot have a Charm attribute below a certain lower limit.
After all, the "Charm" attribute is not just simply "good-looking, speaking pleasantly," but related to aspects such as "Leadership" and "affinity."
To some degree, an extremely ugly creature might have a Charm attribute higher than those handsome and beautiful on the outside, considering "Intimidation" is also part of the Charm attribute.
Currently, Xia Nan’s six dimensional comprehensive range is at "47" points, which is 17 points higher than the average "30" for ordinary people.
In his previous life, calling him a "Little Superman" wouldn’t be excessive.
This is evident in his current daily life.
Take now as an example, Xia Nan is 100% confident that his sight, hearing, and smell have undergone drastic changes compared to when he first crossed into this world.
Those textures of objects usually impossible to see, overlooked tiny sounds, and complex faint smells in the air are now incredibly clear.
Even the taste of food is more sensitive; in the modern world, he could potentially be a gourmet critic.
Besides this, his physical improvements include some night vision abilities.
Although limited by human lineage, and not as exaggerated as those subterranean creatures in the Dark Territory, it’s still beyond ordinary people.
It’s worth mentioning that the previous increase in strength and two points of agility were entirely rewards given after reaching Full Level with [Teeth Hunting].
His own [Fallen Blade Hunting] advanced from Level 1 to Level 2, apart from numerical changes, there were no other corresponding improvements.
But considering that with each increase in Professional Level, there must be an advancement to Master level Battle Skill, saying each Level raises the overall physical qualities isn’t inaccurate.
According to what Xia Nan learned from the Association Second Floor, "Profession" is more like a deep system consolidating scattered Battle Skills practiced, an ascending pathway or cornerstone.
If Battle Skills are stones of various sizes, colors, and shapes, then Profession is the staircase cobbling them together forcibly for climbing upward.
Once you ascend to the highest point of the current stair-step with Full Level Battle Skill, naturally, you seek out other higher quality "stones," seeking a more excellent "stair blueprint" to continue upward—that’s job transition.
Of course, professional upgrades aren’t entirely useless.
At least, according to that book Xia Nan read, most professions give specialties, Battle Skills, or even extra attribute points as rewards during advancement.
Like the [Gravity Etching] he currently possesses, which is a companion Battle Skill gained passively from the profession.
And from over a year of experience enhancing various Battle Skill levels, he judged.
Professions like [Fallen Blade Hunting] which likely have an upper limit of Level 5, may have crucial points similar to Battle Skills at "Level 3" and "Level 5."
Whether specialty or Battle Skill, there should be gains.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Thinking about it, Tom, who is leading the way, has stopped by a similarly simple house on the roadside, knocking lightly on the door.
Accompanied by slightly hurried footsteps.
Creak—
The wooden door slowly opens from inside.
Revealing Clapam, the village chief of Grey Valley Village, with a face full of wrinkles.
"Tom, why do you..."
Appearing surprised by Tom’s visit at this hour, Clapam frowns.
But before finishing the sentence, noticing the dark figure behind Tom blending into the night, his expression pauses.
Immediately realizing Xia Nan must be looking for him, he quickly opens the door wide.
"Come in, come in, whatever it is, let’s talk inside."
Though the village chief of Grey Valley Village and having significant prestige among villagers,
Clapam’s hut inside doesn’t match his "chief" identity at all.
The furnishings here are even less than those in Tom’s and Janice’s house, appearing sparse and simple.
Upon entering, Xia Nan’s gaze instinctively swept over the wooden dining table.
It seemed to be dinner time, with steam rising from a small bowl of stew, and the table only had two hard black breads, a big bowl of beans, and half a charred smoked fish.
More crucially, the table setups—only one set.
Wearing a thoughtful expression, Xia Nan spoke politely:
"Sorry for interrupting your dinner."
"It’s not really urgent, I just wanted to ask you a few questions."
"Also..."
Speaking, Xia Nan handed over the basket he brought from Tom’s house, containing some fresh meat of Axe-beaked Bird.
Though helping the village from goblin siege, he was a benefactor to Grey Valley Village, still, visiting suddenly at this time brought with him unconsciously the habit from his previous life, taking along something.
Clapam was quite surprised, taking the basket with an unexpected expression, then warmly inviting both to sit on the wooden chairs beside.
Originally thinking he could wait till Clapam finished having dinner, it was no rush to talk, the latter expressed being old with a small appetite, already full.
So Xia Nan decided not to waste their time and directly asked Clapam about remaining buildings, mist, and information about "Dampening" and "Ashen Church" within Grey Valley.
"Ashen Church?" Clapam frowned thoughtfully and shook his head, "Regarding Grey Valley issues, I might indeed offer you some information unknown to other villagers, as I accompanied the merchant and his guards when the quarry was inspected, heard some bits."
"But about Churches, I really don’t know."
"I followed them almost exploring every corner of Grey Valley, never saw ruins or strange dense fog described by you, along exposed avenues."
Seeing that villagers couldn’t provide any useful information, it seems I’ll have to explore alone tomorrow.
Xia Nan thought, intending to further inquire about the terrain inside Grey Valley and any potential Demons existence information.
Just then, rushed footsteps suddenly sounded from outside.
Even before anyone appeared, the voice already penetrated through the walls.
"Village, village chief... Whew, adventurers..."
"Another group of adventurers has arrived!"