Chapter 1301: Unreached Spring (Part 2)

Winter Wolf… Mother… Snowy Plains…

Although Sarah didn’t explicitly say it, the reading experience accumulated from various entertainment works in the previous life barely allows Xia Nan to guess why the young girl in front of him is so interested in Fanny, to the extent of taking the risk to enter the room.

It was originally just a casual question, and he wasn’t interested in delving into it further.

In contrast, another piece of information revealed in Sarah’s words caught his attention.

“Hunting?”

Xia Nan suddenly asked.

“Your father is the Hunter in the village?”

Sarah nodded.

“Is he the one who was the guide for the adventurer team attacked by the Banshee?”

It seems that some keywords were mentioned, as Sarah’s expression, originally intently listening, suddenly paused upon hearing the word “Banshee”.

Then she hesitated and nodded.

“Yes, Mr. Xia Nan.”

Xia Nan’s eyes flickered, he didn’t expect to find the key person with just a casual question.

“What do you know about that Banshee?” he pursued.

But Sarah didn’t answer as directly as before.

The sincere smile that originally radiated from her face gradually faded, replaced by an indescribable tangle.

She maintained a squatting posture on the ground, but the focus in her eyes that was originally on Fanny gradually drifted away.

Her fingers instinctively pulled at her cuff, before slowly speaking:

“I, I don’t know… Mr. Xia Nan.”

“Dad… Dad was injured when he came back, lay in bed for many days, and hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

The concealment in the words doesn’t require extraordinary perception; just a little life experience is enough to notice it clearly.

Thinking back to the village chief’s reaction when asked previously.

Xia Nan’s brow furrowed slightly.

He intended to ask a few more questions, but looking at Sarah in front of him, who had at some point lowered her head again, silently gazing at the ground.

After thinking for a moment, he decided not to press her.

According to the village chief, Sarah’s father, the Hunter who had close contact with the Banshee and the attacked adventurer team, will return to the village tomorrow.

By then, he can confirm any questions directly with the involved party, without unnecessarily complicating matters.

“It’s late, you should go home yourself. I won’t see you off.”

He only needed four to six hours of rest daily; even though night had fallen, it was still early for his sleep time.

Xia Nan planned to take this opportunity to familiarize himself with the terrain near the village once more, and go to the location found earlier during the afternoon hunt for some pre-sleep training.

Seeing he wasn’t keen on delving into related topics, Sarah visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

She stood up, a sincere smile appeared on her face, thanking before leaving:

“Thank you for your help today, Mr. Xia Nan.”

“You’re a respectable adventurer, better than those in the house or those from half a month ago!”

Sarah finished speaking and turned to leave.

But after walking two steps forward, she suddenly stopped as if she thought of something.

Even just looking at her back, one could feel the girl’s conflict.

After pausing for a moment, she seemed to make up her mind, stomped her foot in place, and hurriedly ran back.

“Here… for you.”

Looking at Xia Nan, who appeared puzzled, Sarah took out something from her clothes and directly shoved it into his hand.

When handing over the item to Xia Nan, the hesitation and conflict on her face turned into a relief.

She hurried away, not waiting for Xia Nan to respond.

He withdrew his gaze from her silhouette gradually disappearing into the night.

Xia Nan looked towards his palm.

In his view was a simply designed handmade bracelet.

The main body was a sturdy fine rope made of plant fibers, with a deep brown color and apparent signs of wear on the surface;

The only decoration were seven thumb-sized, whole body thumb-sized, crystalline small flowers, like ice sculptures, dotted within the fiber textures.

Having formed a muscle memory for analyzing unknown equipment and tools, Xia Nan instinctively focused his attention.

In the next second, semi-transparent characters appeared before him.

…

[Unreached Spring]

Type: Bracelet

Introduction:

A carefully woven ordinary bracelet with no magical effects, yet still holding someone’s memory of that long and quiet winter.

Note:

“Mother said, the Ice Crystal Flower absorbed all the chill of winter, thus allowing spring to bloom.”

…

The Golden Finger Xia Nan possessed theoretically allows him to see the attribute panels of all items and tools around him.

Even just an old grass fork a farmer uses daily, or a cheap coarse cloth patched numerous times.

As long as he focuses his attention, he can summon their information panels.

Regarding this, Xia Nan was aware very early when he transmigrated to this world and attempted to use his Golden Finger to find bargains in a shop.

Consequently, these most ordinary items weren’t even the lowest-level ordinary White Equipment, let alone possessing any special effects.

Xia Nan didn’t have the time or energy to understand the past of an ordinary person he might never come into contact with, whose current existences or life activities are unknown.

Summoning their attribute panels was completely meaningless.

But now, as the task stagnated and the villagers’ behavior grew increasingly puzzling.

A bracelet that seemed ordinary, and indeed lacked any special effects, but was somehow related to his task.

The information revealed on its attribute panel might provide a bit of insight.

“Ice Crystal Flower?”

Xia Nan’s gaze passed over the bracelet’s Note section.

Before departing, he heard about the name when gathering information about the destination in the Blood Castle.

It’s a type of plant unique to the Frost Forest.

Its characteristic is that once bloomed, it will never wither.

In some sense, it possesses a lifespan comparable to the giant dragon species.

However, one condition must be met.

——The environmental temperature surrounding the flower should not exceed the normal temperature of the Frost Forest.

About minus 3 degrees.

If the air temperature around the Ice Crystal Flower exceeds this limit, even for just 0.1 seconds, it will dissolve into ice water like snow.

Honestly, this condition isn’t particularly stringent in this world with extraordinary power.

Not even requiring outstanding arcane magic mastery, even a Mage Apprentice could manage to preserve it with myriad methods.

But the Ice Crystal Flower is ultimately just an ordinary flower type.

It doesn’t have any special effects, nor has any Alchemist ever chosen it for a Potion Recipe; even its exterior, aside from the crystal-clear ice-like texture, lacks anything noteworthy.

Preserving it and leaving it, or researching its cultivation in warmer regions, holds no significance.

Thus, these flowers are limited to the vicinity of Frost Hill, becoming a specialty plant of this area.

Even Xia Nan only learned its name and characteristics because some notable Demons use it as food.

Could this Frost Hill’s specialty flower be related to the Banshee he’s tracking?

And how does this Ice Crystal Flower Bracelet given by Sarah relate to the villagers’ inexplicable concealment?

Xia Nan’s thoughts were racing.

After pondering for a moment, he decided to trust his intuition and wore the bracelet named [Unreached Spring]on his left wrist, hoping it might offer some help in the near future.