Chapter 668 [Reset], [Cycle], and [Cancel]

Forgan truly lived up to his reputation as a veteran adventurer whose power neared the "Legendary" rank.

He might have lacked extensive teaching experience, but an adventuring career spanning more than half the Aifala Continent, combined with a grounded, step-by-step climb to his current Class Level, granted him exceptional insight that ordinary adventurers lacked.

Even without a Golden Finger like Xia Nan's Attribute Panel, Forgan could clearly and accurately deduce the outstanding qualities of this exceptionally talented young adventurer just by observing his performance in battle.

Ever since he suggested that Xia Nan develop a custom combat technique to fill the final gap before acquiring a new class, Forgan had repeatedly advised him to maximize his advantage in Perception.

Don't hole up in one place thinking aimlessly.

Observe more, fight more.

Once profound accumulation finally sparked in a collision with inspiration, everything would naturally fall into place.

Although Xia Nan usually had his own ideas, he was neither stubborn nor inflexible.

He reviewed every battle to analyze his shortcomings. Faced with friendly advice from his mentor on the professional path, he naturally adapted and applied it to his own situation.

He had always been self-aware and perfectly clear about his advantages.

His base attributes far exceeded the norm, with Perception being particularly outstanding. His physical talent was solid, and his otherworldly soul granted him a completely new perspective to perceive this world, distinct from any other creature on the Aifala Continent.

Ever since he decided to develop a custom combat technique at Forgan's suggestion, Xia Nan had strictly adhered to the principle of pushing his personal advantages to the absolute limit.

Even when his thoughts stagnated and development saw no progress, he did not grow discouraged. Instead, he observed and felt with even greater patience.

Until just now.

When Xia Nan, accompanied by the winter wolf Fanny, followed the sounds of battle and squeezed out of the dimly lit tunnel.

He watched the noble youth from the "Shield of the Silver Lake" family face a ghoul's claw strike. With his shield already knocked aside, the boy executed a combat technique whose name Xia Nan did not know.

The shield had been knocked away by the sheer force of the ghoul's claw and should have continued deflecting outward under the residual momentum. Yet it seemingly broke free from its own inertia, snapping back to center in an instant and restoring its defensive stance.

The experience accumulated from countless battles over his two years on the Aifala Continent, channeled through his Perception and intellect, finally achieved the beautiful convergence he had long hoped for with the precious memories retained from the information age of his past life.

A spark of inspiration erupted deep in his brain, rising and burning into a spiritual flame.

In a fleeting instant, the motion of that round shield snapping back from its deflected state, wrapped in a fluorescent glow, seemed to replay a thousand times before Xia Nan's eyes.

Of course, this alone could not directly complete the development of his combat technique.

But it genuinely allowed Xia Nan to accomplish the most crucial and precious first step, achieving a breakthrough from zero to one.

It gave him a development direction that, while still vague, tangibly existed.

To sum it up, Xia Nan could roughly use three terms to describe the nature of this new combat technique:

[Reset], [Cycle], and [Cancel]!

To others, this might sound abstract and somewhat incomprehensible.

But for Xia Nan, the ensuing burst of inspiration was already gushing endlessly like a spring in his mind.

He only needed a few more battles of sufficient intensity to string these inspirations together, transforming them into a true combat technique that could be displayed on his Attribute Panel!

"Thud!"

In front of him, the muffled sound of a corpse hitting the ground pulled Xia Nan's attention back to reality.

Facing the Sunfire damage bonus that the wooden sword [Azure Pine] dealt to undead creatures, the already heavily wounded ghoul had absolutely no ability to resist.

As half its skull was sent flying by a single sword strike, the once-ferocious body twitched and completely lost its vitality, collapsing to the ground under its forward momentum.

Against this targeted type of demonic enemy, the weapon required little maintenance after battle. The residual filth on the blade's surface was scorched and purified by the Sunfire, transforming into wisps of white smoke that rose and dissipated.

Sheathing his sword in one smooth motion, Xia Nan swept his gaze over Zanfrey, who was slumped on the ground, taking in the noble youth's pale, exhausted face and the metal round shield in his hand.

"Why are you guys here?"

"Mr. Xia Nan, am I going to die?"

His blond hair a mess, the noble youth lay on the ground in a daze, mumbling defeatist words with the dejected look of someone whose grand ambitions had been cut short.

His armor had already been unfastened and his shirt pushed up, revealing a fair-skinned abdomen with distinct muscle definition that showed clear signs of significant training.

A wound about the length of an index finger sat right there.

The wound itself was not too deep; it had only just pierced the flesh without harming the internal organs beneath.

But the flesh around the injury had taken on a purplish-black hue that was slowly spreading outward. Even the oozing blood had become incredibly thick, emitting a faint, putrid stench.

This wound had been left by the ghoul during Zanfrey's battle.

Ghouls were a type of undead creature born in rotting lands saturated with the aura of death. They fed on corpses, making their bodies incredibly filthy—they were walking hotbeds for breeding all sorts of disease-causing bacteria.

If a careless scratch from this kind of monster was not treated in time, even the slightest scrape had a high probability of rapidly deteriorating, eventually killing the victim via infection.

There were even folk rumors that if a victim was scratched by a ghoul and the environment met certain conditions, they might mutate into one of these hideous, non-human monsters.

Clearly, judging from his current behavior, Zanfrey had heard these rumors too.

"Kill me, Mr. Xia Nan!" Zanfrey said in agony. "The bloodline of the 'Shield of the Silver Lake' cannot be tainted by this filthy curse!"

He said that, yet his expression showed not a shred of resolve, only a dread of death. He was likely imitating some heroic legend he had once heard from a Bard.

Hearing this, Xia Nan curled his lip in exasperation.

He shot a glance at the young fisherman beside him, Winsor, gesturing for him to help hold down Zanfrey as the noble thrashed on the ground and spouted nonsense.

With a thought, a crystal-clear, ice-blue soft light bloomed between his palms.

The [Unarrived Spring] accessory he had obtained from the earlier banshee quest finally had a chance to prove its use:

Effect 3. [Warm Winter]: The wearer may designate a creature within touch range afflicted by poison, curses, or disease, and cleanse the negative status effect, provided its source power tier is no higher than the 3rd Circle.

"Wait! Mr. Xia Nan, I think I can hold on a bit—" Zanfrey hurriedly begged.

Seeing Xia Nan's expression and the icy light in his hand, the noble youth mistakenly believed he was actually going to fulfill the request and "mercilessly finish him off." His desire to live instantly overpowered everything else.

But he only managed to get half his words out. As the crystalline soft light of [Unarrived Spring] slowly approached the wound, Zanfrey felt an indescribable sensation—both painful and itchy—radiating from his abdomen.

His body immediately twisted and convulsed on the ground, his facial features scrunching together.

Fortunately, Winsor earnestly fulfilled his duty nearby, helping Xia Nan pin Zanfrey down so the kid's thrashing wouldn't interfere with the treatment.

Visibly, the purplish-black hue spreading near the wound was instantly suppressed by the icy light. Then, under the continuous glow, it slowly shrank back into the injury.

Finally, it transformed into a puddle of viscous black liquid reeking of severe decay. Forced out of the wound, it flowed onto the ground and emitted a bizarre, corrosive sizzle.

Only after the thick black fluid drained out did the small wound on the noble youth's abdomen return to its proper bloody red color.

"That'll do."

Glancing at his Attribute Panel, Xia Nan saw that the [Warm Winter] effect of [Unarrived Spring] had entered cooldown.

Knowing the treatment was complete, he nodded at Winsor. Only then did the fisherman release the pinned Zanfrey.

Having expended a massive amount of stamina yet again during his struggles, the noble youth lay on the ground gasping heavily, his eyes unfocused.

Yet his originally deathly pale face now had a slight hint of color since the toxins had been purged from his body.

With Winsor helping him clean the wound and wrap it in bandages, Zanfrey lay there and rested for quite a while.

Only then did Zanfrey recover enough strength to think and speak.

Realizing that Xia Nan had not only eliminated that ghoul for them but had also used some adventurer ability to cure the ghoul's poison—essentially saving his life twice over—Zanfrey hurriedly stepped forward in gratitude.

"Thank you, Mr. Xia Nan!"

"I don't even know what to say. Please rest assured, my 'Shield of the Silver Lake' family will never forget what you've done—"

Xia Nan waved his hand, signaling Zanfrey to drop the formalities.

The [Warm Winter] effect of [Unarrived Spring] was not some one-time special ability, after all. A seven-day cooldown was not exactly short, but it was not too long either.

Using it to save this kid's life was not a waste by any means.

He had, after all, just gained precious inspiration from the combat technique the boy used; he might as well treat this as a small repayment.

Sweeping his gaze over Winsor and Zanfrey, Xia Nan asked in confusion, "Where is Ake? Why isn't he with you?"

After the battle ended a moment ago, he had already learned of their general plight from Winsor.

He knew they had unexpectedly encountered a massive horde of ghouls during their quest. While fleeing, they had the incredibly bad luck to run right into an earthquake, subsequently ending up in the Underdark in a manner similar to his own.

But Ake—the man who appeared to be a guard but whose relationship with Zanfrey was more akin to family—was nowhere to be seen, which struck Xia Nan as rather strange.

"I-I don't know—" Zanfrey's expression was worried and dejected, as if he were agonizing over his own weakness and his failure to help. "There were so many ghouls chasing us. Uncle Ake told us to run first and stayed behind on his own. And then the earthquake happened."

Compared to Zanfrey and Winsor who had fled together, Ake had been standing quite a distance away when the earthquake struck, causing him to be completely separated from the two youths after they fell into the Underdark.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. Based on the distance between us on the surface, even after falling into a place like this, he probably isn't too far from us," the usually reticent Winsor said from the side in a rare moment of comfort.

Perhaps because Zanfrey had blocked a ghoul's attack for him during the earlier battle, the noble youth had gradually earned Winsor's acknowledgment.

Hearing the two talk, Xia Nan gained a decent understanding of how things had developed.

After a moment of thought, he addressed the two before him. "The Underdark is far too dangerous. I plan to find an exit and return to the surface."

"What about you two? What are your plans?"

Zanfrey hesitated, but a second later, his expression turned unusually resolute, as if he had made a firm decision.

He reached out and gave Winsor a gentle shove toward Xia Nan.

"I'm truly sorry I can't be of any help, but if possible—Mr. Xia Nan, could I ask you to take Winsor with you?"

Hearing Zanfrey say this, Xia Nan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What about you?"

"I will stay here and wait for Uncle Ake," Zanfrey said, his expression incredibly serious. "We came to Bloodcast Keep together, and we're going back together."

In all honesty, these two youths were absolute deadweight to Xia Nan, and the Underdark was rife with danger.

But his goal was merely to find an exit; he didn't need to hunt down a specific, powerful enemy to fight.

If conditions permitted, Xia Nan did not mind bringing these two kids along.

However, from a practical standpoint, this group was not particularly close to him.

Helping to look for someone along the way while searching for an exit was fine, but Xia Nan was no Holy Mother willing to help others unconditionally. He certainly was not going to take reckless risks just for Zanfrey's "Uncle Ake."

Therefore, if Zanfrey was adamant about leaving only after finding Ake, Xia Nan would have no choice but to leave the boy behind.

However—

Truth be told, Xia Nan was deeply interested in the combat technique Zanfrey had just used.

He had finally stumbled upon some inspiration. If he could glean more related techniques from Zanfrey and figure out the underlying principles, it would obviously provide immense help in developing his own combat technique.

This made Xia Nan hesitate.

After a moment of thought, he explained his intentions to Zanfrey, who was currently sorting through his supplies.

On Xia Nan's end, his primary goal remained finding an exit. However, during their journey, he could try to help look for Ake—provided it didn't overly impact their escape progress.

Of course, if they encountered an overwhelmingly dangerous enemy along the way, or any other exceptional circumstances, Xia Nan wouldn't take excessive risks just for this.

In exchange, Xia Nan wanted Zanfrey to provide some insights and tips regarding the combat technique he had just used once they returned to the surface.

Combat techniques were the very foundation of an adventurer, especially for a prominent family like the "Shield of the Silver Lake." Xia Nan had not harbored much hope to begin with; he was merely asking in passing.

To his surprise, Zanfrey's answer exceeded his expectations.

"You mean the [Returning Wave Shield Stance]? Of course!"

"I can teach you right now!"

The blond youth's expression made it seem like the most natural thing in the world.

"Mr. Xia Nan, between everything, I don't even know how many times you've saved me. If this small favor can help you, it's my honor."