Chapter 267 [Faded Fire Old Coin (Fragment)]

Xia Nan was not a good teacher—at least, that was what he thought.

As an adventurer who had already obtained a Class Level and possessed rather impressive combat prowess, to the ordinary folk of the villages and towns he was perhaps a "big shot" straight out of tavern rumors.

If one judged solely by his battle record and strength, comparing him to those half-baked novices who had just crossed the threshold of being an adventurer and had to exhaust all their strength just to barely handle the lowest-level goblins, then perhaps that was true.

But if he were truly put in the position of a "teacher" and asked to systematically and completely summarize his combat logic and on-the-spot response strategies in a way that was easy for a student to digest and learn, he really wouldn't be able to do it.

After so many battles, he had certainly accumulated plenty of experience, but the combat instincts ingrained in his body, mind, and soul still played the dominant role.

He was the complete opposite of the theory-focused Academy Faction; he belonged to the muscle faction that relied purely on practice.

Such was his premise.

When Xia Nan received the commission to help a fifteen-year-old boy gain the courage to face multiple goblins head-on...

He naturally chose not to waste his breath explaining the habits and characteristics of these monsters, nor did he form some meticulously detailed plan.

The best way to overcome fear was to face its source.

Do not run away.

If you were worried your cooking tasted bad, you cooked it over and over until you were satisfied.

If you were terrified of falling into the water and drowning, you threw yourself into a pool and swallowed water until you completely eradicated the fear of drowning from your heart.

Afraid of goblins?

Kill one, and you wouldn't be afraid anymore.

If one wasn't enough, then ten, a hundred, a thousand—

Kill until you grew numb, until you were in a trance.

When you truly witnessed the ridiculous sight of those filthy, short, green-skinned goblins wailing miserably with snot and tears running down their faces in the face of death, how could you ever feel fear again?

His time in Ash Valley Village was short, so Xia Nan decided to use the most direct method to conduct desensitization training for the young Leon.

This was to ensure that within these few short days, he could completely eliminate his fear of goblins and never let it grow back.

"Screee!"

Shrill, miserable wails echoed faintly through the dimly lit lair.

The thick, overpowering stench of blood seemed ready to coagulate into a visible red mist in the air.

Fragments of organs, severed limbs like dead branches, bone splinters jutting out from pus-green skin, and half-severed, frozen heads littered the ground. Reeking blood dyed the filthy soil an ominous dark reddish-brown, and an indescribable aura of death hung heavy between the stone walls.

It was like a Purgatory on earth.

And right in the very center of this cave stood two figures, one tall and one short.

"Don't be fooled by their numbers, or how it seems like you can never kill them all and they have tenacious vitality." Xia Nan's Decapitating Longsword was already sheathed; he held only a small dagger typically used for carving up spoils as he focused on explaining to Leon beside him. "In reality, their physical structure is extremely fragile. Find the vital spot, and one sword strike will kill them dead."

His expression was natural, as if they weren't currently standing in a purgatorial lair littered with blood, flesh, and severed limbs, but in a bright classroom at the academy.

Coupled with his serious demeanor, which looked much like a "Professor of Goblin Studies," it was as if the matte black armor he wore—splattered with scarlet blood and draped with bits of minced meat in places—had become his academic uniform.

"Look here." He half-crouched, lightly tapping the left side of a goblin's chest on the ground with the tip of his blade. "This is where their heart is. It's a vital spot, yes, but in the middle of actual combat, it's actually very hard to pinpoint. So—"

The cold, sharp blade tip traced lightly across the deep green skin that was as fragile as thin paper, leaving a long, bleeding red scratch.

This goblin clearly wasn't completely dead, and its body was still intact. It was only due to the effect of some invisible force that it was suppressed and bound to the ground, entirely unable to move.

Right now, it could only wail miserably while shivering violently as the blade glided over it.

"From here on up, anywhere works." The sharp, icy blade paused at the goblin's slender neck, the tip sinking slightly into the skin. "Although they are monsters, their skulls are nowhere near as hard as you imagine."

"Even at your age, holding an iron sword, a little bit of force is enough to easily crack their skulls open."

"If you face a siege from multiple goblins at once, you can choose to take the initiative. Let your armor absorb the first wave of damage while you use this method to thin their numbers."

"Additionally—" The blade tip glided again amid twitching muscles and shivers, pointing toward the goblin's spindly limbs. "These joints are even more fragile than an eighty or ninety-year-old man's. If you can't strike their vitals right away, making them lose their mobility or their ability to wield weapons is also a solid option."

"Do you understand?" Xia Nan asked Leon beside him as he sheathed the dagger back at his waist and slowly stood up.

"I-I understand!" the youth stammered, violently shuddering as he shouted loudly, as if he had been shocked.

Good news: Leon was no longer afraid of goblins.

Bad news: After this ordeal, his original fear of goblins had wholly transferred onto Xia Nan.

"As long as you understand." With a relaxed and cheerful expression from venting his frustrations through slaughter, Xia Nan smiled and patted the boy's shoulder. "Next up, it's a good time for you to put it into practice."

"Draw your sword." His gaze shifted to the green-skinned goblin on the ground, which was bound by gravity and sucked firmly to the floor like a magnet. "You have five seconds to prepare."

As soon as his voice fell, Leon's body visibly stiffened for a moment, and he subconsciously gulped.

His face, already drained of color by the gruesome scene, grew even paler.

He was, after all, just a fifteen-year-old boy.

Shouldering expectations and harboring the desire to protect his loved ones, he might have been able to rely on a surge of hot blood to face the goblins besieging the village. Fighting alongside the uncles and older brothers he knew so well, he could momentarily forget the threat of death and his fear of monsters to hold the front line.

But the current situation was completely different.

The environment, the enemy, and the fear instilled in him since childhood through the countless warnings of adults left Leon feeling utterly hollow inside, falling into a bottomless abyss.

Fortunately, Xia Nan was still standing beside him, and the hatred for his deceased parents remained buried deep in his heart, slowly burning.

Shing!

The rusty, old iron sword was abruptly drawn.

With the blade tip pointed outward, his hands gripping the hilt shook violently, but the youth's eyes gradually grew resolute.

Xia Nan stood a short distance away, carefully observing Leon's movements and expression.

Seeing this, he gave a faint nod of approval.

"Careful now," he said.

Immediately after, he released [Gravity Control]'s hold on the goblin.

"Screee!"

"Ahhhhh!"

The goblin's piercing screech and the young man's furious roar mingled together, echoing back and forth between the stone walls.

Finally, accompanied by the sound of something sharp tearing through flesh, the goblin's shriek came to an abrupt halt.

Only the youth's heavy panting remained in the cavern.

The battle ended quickly.

Having witnessed Xia Nan slaughter an entire goblin lair with his own eyes, and then receiving his guidance on combat techniques against them, the fear of goblins in Leon's heart had already quietly dissipated quite a bit.

As for that green-skinned goblin freed from the gravity restraint, it lacked the morale boost of its usual "pack hunting." Its screeching was merely a facade of bravery masking its inner weakness, driven mostly by panic and fear. Under these circumstances, even though Leon's strike went wide—aiming for the neck but ultimately landing on the shoulder—the goblin couldn't even manage a counterattack.

It was kicked over by the youth, who then yanked out his iron sword and plunged it straight through its chest and into its heart.

Seeing this, Xia Nan—who had been standing quietly to the side, ready to cast [Gravity Control] again at a moment's notice to prevent any accidents—relaxed his focused mental energy.

"Good job," he praised at the right time. "Remember that feeling just now. When facing enemies like goblins, unless you're ambushed or have exceptionally bad luck, your margin for error is very high. Even if your first strike goes wide, you'll still have the chance to swing a second time. Don't panic. Staying calm is the key to victory."

"Yes, I'll remember it, Mr. Xia Nan." Leon nodded obediently, though his eyes looked a bit dazed as he stared at the goblin corpse in front of him. It seemed he couldn't believe he had actually killed a goblin just like that.

"Alright, that's about it for today. You should head back and get some good rest." Xia Nan clapped his hands, snapping Leon out of his daze and back to reality. "Now, help me clean up the battlefield first. There's no need to cut off the ears; there isn't an Adventurers' Association nearby, so there's nowhere to sell them anyway. Just pick through and see if there are any gold or silver coins or things like that. It can help improve life for your sister and brother-in-law."

Goblins were the same all over the world and didn't vary much, but the richness of the spoils in their lairs showed obvious differences. For instance, the ones in the Misty Forest usually hunted adventurers who were training and making money in the woods, so their lairs naturally held plenty of gold coins, equipment, and similar loot.

Similarly, a goblin tribe like this one near Ash Valley Village mostly attacked lone, ordinary villagers at best. These green-skins primarily survived on wild animals in the forest. Xia Nan figured there would be a few bones or a handful of copper coins at most inside the lair—nothing of real value.

Letting Leon rummage through the pile of goblin corpses for a while would, to some extent, help reduce his fear of them. The results of the search were exactly as Xia Nan had expected. After turning the massive goblin lair upside down, they only found six silver and seven copper coins in total. The rest was just worthless iron fragments, torn rags, and similar junk that couldn't be sold.

To Xia Nan, this amount of money would be gone after a few meals at the White Chickadee, but to Leon's family, it was a rare bit of extra income. Without thinking much of it, he gave all the coins to the boy.

"There's also this, Mr. Xia Nan." Just as he was about to lead Leon out of the cave and back to the village, the boy suddenly called out to him again.

Pinched between Leon's bloodstained fingers was half of a coin, equally bathed in blood.

"I just found this on one of the goblins. Can a damaged coin like this still be used?"

Xia Nan casually took it, cast a glance at it, and suddenly frowned.

Although only half of the coin remained, judging by its volume, density, and feel, it was definitely not a common gold, silver, or copper coin from within the Servia Kingdom.

He took out a waterskin from his waist, rubbing the coin with his fingertips as he washed away the blood and dirt on its surface with clear water.

As the patterns on the coin's surface gradually became clear under the running water, Xia Nan subconsciously focused his attention, his eyes narrowing as he tried to get a better look in the dim environment.

Immediately after, unexpectedly, rows of familiar translucent text floated in the empty air above the coin:

[Faded Fire Old Coin (Fragment)]

Type: Currency Level: /

Description:

A damaged, old metal coin, a relic of Theocracy of Lansendom. It once circulated through countless parched palms—even if it couldn't be exchanged for half a slice of hard bread.

Note:

"Unowned wealth."

—Graffiti in the secret passage of the Zaret Ash Blaze Church

Xia Nan's pitch-black eyes carefully scanned the Attribute Panel suspended in mid-air before him.

Without a doubt, as confirmed by his golden finger, this fragmented coin had no special effects. It didn't even have a basic item level.

Yet for some reason, the terms "Faded Fire" and "Ash Church" on the panel—words he had never heard of before—combined with the increasingly clear but unfamiliar appearance of the coin itself, inexplicably made him feel strange.

'Theocracy of Lansendom? Is there such a country on the Aifala Continent?' Xia Nan wondered.

At the same time, he carefully examined the coin fragment in his palm.

The half-coin was about the size of a thumb's nail, yet it was unusually heavy, giving a weighty sensation as it rested on his palm lines. Its surface was covered in burnt-yellow verdigris and a bizarre stone-gray color, while the jagged broken edge revealed a dull, lead-gray iron core.

The engravings on the front had been nearly worn smooth by time. He could only vaguely tell from the blurred, incomplete outlines that the design was a spiraling, ascending flame.

The back was only marginally clearer; it depicted half of a sun hanging high in the sky, heavily corroded beyond recognition by black spots of oxidation.

He lightly flicked the broken coin with his fingertip and brought it to his ear. Accompanying the soft hum of vibrating metal was a faint, crackling sound of wreathed flames, almost like an auditory hallucination.

"Have you ever seen this kind of coin before?" Xia Nan asked Leon in front of him.

If this was an item that had flowed out from some ancient ruin near Ash Valley Village, the villagers who had lived here for generations should have noticed something.

Leon merely shook his head.

"I haven't," he said. "But..." His expression turned a bit hesitant, as if he were worried about misspeaking. He feared his words might send this powerful adventurer on a wild goose chase, thereby angering him. "I might know its origin."

"It's fine, I'm just asking casually. If you have any thoughts, just go ahead and speak boldly."

Hearing Xia Nan say this, Leon no longer hesitated.

He half-turned his body and reached out to point at a corner of the cave, gesturing toward the grayish-white stones the goblins had used to build their campfire and primitive furniture.

He then cast his gaze at Xia Nan's hand, looking at the strange stone-gray substance clinging to the surface of the broken coin alongside the verdigris.

The two had the exact same color.

"These stones should have all been moved here by them from over in Ash Valley," Leon said. "And the coin's surface also has the same color as the stones left on it."

His meaning was clear.

"Ash Valley?"