Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 321 Feathered Gills
"Ding……"

The crisp sound of a bell, mixed with the clatter of hinges as the wooden door closed, echoed through the street.

Through the gap in the gradually closing shop door behind him, one could vaguely see the enthusiastic smile on the face of the grocery store owner, "Kukunur," whose dwarf race was characterized by being both "old and young."

Xia Nan stood at the door, and it was obvious that his backpack, which had been stuffed full, was now slightly deflated.

The crystals from the goblin's lair, along with other miscellaneous items, have all been converted into cash.

As expected, including the coins he collected in the lair, he had a total of 36 gold, 5 silver, and 7 copper.

As a well-regarded general store in town, Kukunur offered him a good price.

Seeing that the other party's offer was within an acceptable range, and with too many things to take care of, Xia Nan didn't haggle much and quickly completed the transaction.

"Next... I need to go to the Grass Cauldron to see if I can process the loot materials from the Thorn Demon and the Armored Monster."

It was midday, and the scorching summer sun relentlessly poured its terrifying heat onto the earth.

Even though he wasn't wearing armor, he was still wearing his dark shirt, which was badly damaged after the battle and was much cooler than usual, due to the time constraints.

But after walking just a few steps on the street, sweat was already beading on his forehead.

The flow of people on the streets remained unchanged, still filled with all sorts of strange and unusual adventurers as before.

The carefree attitude brought about by the immense pressure of their profession means that most of these adventurers who live on the edge don't care about the opinions of others, especially in safe places like this during mission breaks.

At least from what Xia Nan observed along the way, there were quite a few people who were shirtless or bare-chested, and some even wore only a single piece of armor without any padding inside, for reasons unknown.

"Perhaps they want to show off their identity as adventurers?"

"Is it due to mental illness? Does he feel insecure without wearing a bra?"

Xia Nan guessed to himself.

Heading towards the herbalist's shop, he gazed at the adventurers passing by on the road ahead, his thoughts drifting.

Currently, his job level is lv2.

The three combat skills that still have room for improvement are [Gravity Etching], [Gravity Control], and [Echoes of Ember].

Judging from the quantity alone, it seems that he has already raised [Meteor Blade Hunter] to level 5, reaching the bottleneck of part-time/job change.

But Xia Nan himself knew the truth.

Relying on these three combat skills to reach level 5 is almost impossible.

Putting aside [Gravity Etching], let's take [Gravity Control] as an example. He's had this combat skill for several hundred days now. How much proficiency has he increased in total?
15 points.

Moreover, it should be the fastest to increase speed, 15 points at level 1.

This was even after I had been training every day, and I even wanted to use gravity to help stir my soup instead of a spoon.

If we really pin our hopes for upgrading on this combat skill, then given the lifespan of our human race, we might not live to see the day we reach level 5.

【Ember Echoes】 is progressing slightly faster, but only slightly faster, much slower than 【Fang Hunt】 and similar methods.

Given this premise, if Xia Nan wants to continue improving more efficiently, he will definitely need to find other types of combat skills to learn and train.

And that's the problem.

Which ones should he look for?
The path to learning combat skills is clear: simply go to the second floor of the guild and exchange points for them. If you can't find suitable ones, you can even search and review them at adventurer guilds in other regions.

However, the career advancement/job change system is a relatively rigorous process that requires careful planning.

For professionals from prominent families with deep backgrounds, there are already detailed and meticulous plans for them, including when to learn which combat skill first, which direction to pursue in the future, and even before they have mastered their first combat skill.

Returning to Xia Nan, the [Meteor Blade Hunter] is such an obscure profession that it's probably impossible to find another person in the entire world who can obtain it. There are absolutely no reference points for its advancement path or job change direction.

When he first went up to the second floor of the association, he tried to find combat skills related to "gravity", but the results were not satisfactory.

However, Xia Nan was unwilling to sacrifice his future potential if he were to learn those common combat skills that were widely applicable, quick to improve, but significantly weaker.

So, we got stuck here in an awkward situation.

[Echoes of the Ashes] might seem like a completely different fit with [Meteor Blade Hunter]...

But it's very strong!

This kind of state-type ability, which can be described as a second stage, is something that even a "supernatural" or "legendary" level expert would not hesitate for more than half a second if given the opportunity to learn and master it. That would be disrespectful to all the hard work they have put in along the way.

There's no way I won't learn it!

But in doing so, the so-called career planning becomes nothing but empty talk.

Scattered, unrelated combat skills, no matter how strong they are, are just empty talk if they are not systematic and cannot find a direction for advancement or job change among the billions of professions in this world. There is no possibility of advancement.

Fortunately, Xia Nan has the advantage of having an attribute panel. Based on his experience when he advanced from level 1, if he really has the opportunity to collect all five level 5 combat skills in the future, it might be able to provide him with some help.

Even in the worst-case scenario, if his various combat skills fail to form a cohesive system, he still has room for error.

During the level 6-10 stage, just find another level 5 profession with a clear progression path.

Without the experience of predecessors to refer to, every step had to be explored slowly on one's own.

He can only take one step at a time.

Fortunately, the intensity is high enough. Even if the job level is slightly lower on the surface and the improvement speed is slower, the actual increase in combat ability is not slow.

So there's really no need to be too pessimistic.

While pondering the direction of his future path, he unknowingly arrived at the herbal medicine shop called "Green Grass Crucible," which resembled the bushes and shrubs in a misty forest.

"Ding, ding."

The doorbell rang crisply.

The moment I pushed open the door, a particularly refreshing fragrance wafted out.

Like mint, but even cooler, it flowed into my nasal cavity and down my throat, making the unbearable heat from the sweltering heat outside seem to lessen at that moment.

My gaze passed over the brown counter that divided the shop in two and the shelves on both sides, and looked toward the back of the room.

A plump woman with curly hair was intently stirring a long-handled spoon in a crucible in front of her.

The cool scent in the air emanates from the translucent, pale blue, viscous liquid inside the crucible.

"Just a moment, it'll be ready soon!"

Hearing the bell, Ms. Edwina looked up and saw Xia Nan. She greeted him apologetically. Having the patience, and not in a hurry to urge him, seeing that he was at a crucial stage in the potion-making process, Xia Nan simply waved his hand, not wanting to disturb him, and turned to casually browse the goods on the nearby shelf.

I waited for about five minutes.

Edwina carefully poured the completed potion from the crucible into a pre-prepared container on the other side and let it stand.

He finally let out a long sigh of relief, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, and gently adjusted his frameless glasses with his knuckles, then spoke first:

"Sorry, I've been a bit busy lately and can't keep up with the orders."

They were all old acquaintances, so naturally they wouldn't get emotional over such a small matter. With a hint of curiosity, Xia Nan glanced towards the crucible and asked:

"This medicine smells quite nice. I've never seen it before. Is it a new product?"

"Hehe, it's very refreshing, isn't it?" Edwina's eyes narrowed with a smile as she received the customer's approval of the potion. "It is indeed a newly made potion in my shop. It's almost finished with research, and it will be on the shelves in a couple of days."

"It doesn't have any special effects; it's just a peppermint remedy for relieving summer heat. I figured it's almost the season now, so there should be a market for it. I made a batch to test the waters."

"If you're interested, you can come back in a few days, and I'll sell you a few bottles at cost price as a perk for regular customers."

"Okay, I'll come visit again in a few days."

Xia Nan nodded slightly, stopped exchanging pleasantries, and took out the spoils and materials that had already been sorted and arranged in his backpack, placing them neatly on the counter.

"I brought back some loot from this mission. Do you think it's worth anything?"

“Okay.” Nodding gently, Ms. Edwina first carefully untied the bundle located on the left side of the counter with both hands.

What came into view was a large bundle of dark brown bone spurs of varying lengths, tightly bound together with thin rope.
And two fist-sized, reddish-brown, somewhat shriveled hearts.

"This is... a Thorn Demon?"

Before Xia Nan could even begin to introduce her, this gentle lady, who had been running a shop in the adventure town for many years, had already recognized the source of the materials.

“There are two in total.” Xia Nan nodded gently in response. “I was thinking of cutting off their wings and bringing them back as well, but they were too heavy and manpower was limited, so I left their spines, the bone spurs on their tails, and their hearts.”

Even with Margaret and the dwarf included, there were only three of them in total. They also needed to carry a lot of camping and supply items, and they didn't have any means of transportation. The two pairs of huge bat wings were too heavy for them and took up too much space. Carrying them in the forest would greatly slow down their return journey and increase the danger, so they had no choice but to give up.

Xia Nan once killed a severely wounded Thorn Demon, and it was through that battle that he mastered the basics of [Fang Hunting].

However, at the time, I was worried about the erosion caused by the spores and I didn't know which parts were valuable, so I didn't collect any related loot materials.

He then returned to River Valley Town, where he had taken extra time to study the relevant knowledge, which turned out to be useful in this mission.

They took the most valuable bone spikes and heart from the Thorn Demon as spoils of war.

"Hmm... these bone spurs look to be of good quality, all above average. After grinding them into powder, there will be enough to use in the medicine."

Edwina carefully examined the materials, explaining them to Xia Nan as she pondered them.

"The only difference is that these two hearts are of slightly lower quality, so the price may drop significantly."

It was expected.

These two hearts, dug out of the Thorn Demon, don't actually need any professional appraisal. Any farmer with slaughtering experience could tell from their shriveled and wrinkled appearance that they are of poor quality.

Before setting out, Xia Nan thought it was just a regular goblin extermination mission. He couldn't have imagined that he would encounter several devils from hell, so he naturally didn't bring any loot or storage items.

After several days of travel, even with the most careful preservation, bone spurs are fine, but the quality of flesh and blood materials like the heart is inevitably affected.

I was already prepared for Edwina's explanation before I came.

"How about 60 gold? Add all of these together."

After careful consideration, Edwina made a offer to Xia Nan.

Having researched the market prices of the items beforehand, and knowing that the other party's offer was not low, but rather a discount, Xia Nan did not raise the price and nodded in agreement.

Then he pointed to the other side of the counter, to an even bigger bundle.

He was fairly familiar with the materials used to build Thorn Demons.

Xia Nan was completely clueless about which parts of the armored monster that had unfortunately run into him were valuable and which parts would offer the best value for money.

Even after questioning Margaret and the other woman, they had no relevant knowledge.

So in the end, the group could only rely on their experience as adventurers to pick some materials that looked "probably" or "roughly" valuable and bring them back to River Valley Town.

"Jia Fu Monster?"

After listening to Xia Nan's introduction, Edwina showed a hint of surprise on her face.

"This kind of monster is not common in the Misty Forest. Hmm... if you have really good quality materials, you can offer a slightly higher price."

As she spoke, she untied the bundle with both hands.

Before I could even take a closer look, an extremely strong, fishy stench surged up from it.

But this gentle lady, despite the sudden attack, didn't even flinch. Instead, she seemed pleased and began examining these rare monster materials.

"A few complete nerve fibers may not have much medicinal value, but they would be good as connecting parts in equipment or as bowstrings."

"You've got a good eye for the carapace on the lower abdomen. It's almost the hardest part of the armored monster's body. Grind it into powder; it'll make a great building material."

"Oh, there's an eyeball too? After processing, it can be used as the main ingredient in 'underwater breathing solution'."

Halfway through her sentence, Edwina suddenly frowned.

"Where are the gills? Didn't you bring back the most valuable ones?"

Feathered gills?

Xia Nan was taken aback, but his mind involuntarily turned to the gill-like organ with a delicate feather-like shape that had been squeezed and burst by the force field energy of his [Gravity Etching] during the battle.

"Uh... how much is this feathered gill worth?"

He instinctively asked a question.

"If we add all these items on the counter together and double the price, we should be able to make a decent amount."

　Thank you "yujie" for the generous donation!

　　I apologize for my limited output... but I've kept track of all the extra chapters! I'll make up for it slowly!
　　Also, there are double monthly passes at the end of the month! Does anyone have any extra?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)