Chapter 32: The River of Magic

Perhaps these spiders were not particularly strong, or perhaps it was related to my luck stat. The twenty-something spiders provided only a few materials.

【Spider Poison Sac】
【Grade: White】
【Effect: Applying the fluid from the sac to a weapon may cause slight paralysis upon attack; the effect intensifies with more hits.】
【Introduction: A fairly decent biological anesthetic.】
【Recycle Value: 80 points】

……

【Soft Silk Sac】
【Grade: White】
【Effect: Solidifies rapidly upon contact with air; possesses extreme flexibility.】
【Introduction: If you had a suitable launcher, you could even cosplay as Spider-Man with this.】
【Recycle Value: 70 points】

Then there were the valuables that the Temple had highlighted for me.

【Mithril Ring】
【Grade: Green (Ultimate)】
【Origin: The Lord of the Rings - Mines of Moria】
【Durability: 50/50】
【Shimmering Silver: Magic Conductivity +1】
【Elven Blessing: Intelligence +1】
【Introduction: Mithril! Everyone in the world would fight to the death for it. — Gandalf】
【Recycle Value: 1500 points】

Li Xia held the faintly glowing ring, feeling a strange sensation in his heart.
This high-value item was not quite what he had imagined. Was green-tier gear... really considered high-value?
But when he looked at his current balance, he suddenly realized.
For his current rank, the Mithril Ring was undoubtedly a precious item; just as a hundred dollars is very important to someone who only has a thousand, but less significant to someone with ten thousand.
Hmm... that made sense.
He just didn't quite understand what the "Magic Conductivity +1" attribute meant; he would have to wait until he reached the Hall of Light to ask someone about it.

……

Time spent weaving through the dense forest felt exceptionally long. The Old Forest Road seemed to be maintained by someone; even though it was narrow, it was at least passable.
After walking for several hours, Li Xia couldn't help but feel an intense longing for the sunlight and the sky, yearning for the feeling of a cool breeze against his face.
Beneath the canopy of the forest, the air was stagnant; it seemed forever still, dark, and suffocating.
Perhaps this was another trial of crossing the forest—loneliness.
Fortunately, Li Xia had long been accustomed to being alone, and he was used to distracting himself by thinking about various things.
He discovered that the Dark Forest was not completely devoid of life; at the very least, he had spotted black squirrels, moths the size of palms, and bats larger than washbasins.
Li Xia tried using the magnesium rod from his emergency kit to start a fire, but he immediately extinguished it, as those moths and bats would swarm toward it frantically.
They came in wave after wave, countless in number.
Fortunately, the Scott Combat Assistance System he carried was as reliable as ever. This combat power detector seemed to do a good job at everything—except for detecting combat power.
The night-vision mode allowed Li Xia to at least use one eye to penetrate the darkness and see what was in the forest.

……

*Swish.* The tip of his spear sliced through the air with a faint sound, retracted quickly after just a light tap.
The moth seemed to be petrified, falling to the ground, flapping its wings feebly before lying still.
Li Xia held his breath and focused, utilizing the techniques of his "End of Skill" inner energy to lower his respiratory frequency as much as possible.
Along the path behind him, the corpses of moths and bats were scattered.
This Old Forest Road was unexpectedly safe. Bored, Li Xia turned off the night-vision system, leaving only the path guidance active, relying on his senses to perceive the surrounding environment.
He then used his long spear to pierce every palm-sized moth or bat that flew past him.

"35% already?"
Li Xia glanced at the proficiency in his panel, feeling surprised.
In just two or three hours of practice, the proficiency of "End of Skill" had risen from 30% to 35%. It could be called rapid progress.
As a skill-based ability, every point of proficiency meant an improvement in the mastery of the technique; its bonuses might not be intuitively displayed on the panel.
But as the Temple of Transcendence had hinted at the beginning, the panel was ultimately just an auxiliary tool and could not reflect changes with 100% accuracy.
On the contrary, treating the panel as a record of one's state and seeing every small bit of progress as a reward for hard work—that was the true meaning of the panel.
Having received strong positive feedback, Li Xia no longer felt any restlessness or anxiety about the pitch-black forest.
Instead, he treated this as a rare training opportunity and threw himself into it wholeheartedly.

*Swish, swish.*
*Swish.*
The spear tip became increasingly agile, darting in and out like a snake's tongue.

Until he was blocked by a small river, Li Xia suddenly realized that he had already walked more than halfway through the forest.
The river flowed fast and fierce, though it wasn't very wide, only about ten meters across. The color of the water was black, at least it appeared so in the dim forest.
There had originally been a wooden bridge over the river, but it had rotted and fallen into the water, leaving only broken bridge piers on both banks.

"If I were you, I wouldn't touch the water in this river."
A somewhat muffled voice came from above.

"Thanks for the warning, though I didn't intend to touch it anyway."
Li Xia didn't even look up as he replied coolly. His monocle was displaying the presence of a biological reaction in a tree.
The combat power wasn't low—a bit higher than the idiot he had encountered when he first landed.

"I was just giving a friendly warning." On a nearby tree, a figure jumped down, landing softly on the ground like a nimble cat.
His legs bent slightly to absorb the force of the fall.
"Let's get acquainted, Arthur." The blond young man in front of him wore a black leather jacket and didn't look particularly sturdy.
However, the two short swords crossed behind his back were more eye-catching.
"That spear is nice. At least Green-Ultimate, right?"

Focusing on dexterity? An agility-based assassin?
Li Xia guessed his intentions and replied flatly:
"Xia. Your twin blades are not bad either."

Arthur waved his hand, signaling Li Xia to relax:
"Don't be nervous. We are both people who dare to take on challenges, unlike those idiots who huddle together to take shortcuts."
He seemed to have no tension or hostility, continuing on his own:
"I'm just trapped here like you, and I hope someone can give me a hand. You know, mutual benefit."
Arthur pointed to the other side of the river: "See that? There's a boat over there. I happen to have a grappling hook, but I don't know who tied that boat down; I can't pull it over by my own strength alone. So, you know, I need a partner to join me!"

Li Xia looked in the direction he pointed, and Scott automatically switched to night-vision mode and zoomed in.
Just as Arthur said, a small boat was tied to the opposite bank.

"Fine."