Upon entering the village, a sense of desolation immediately greeted the eye.
The entire village was not large; one could see all the houses at a glance, totaling only about 30.
A small portion of the ground was covered with a layer of gravel, which was relatively clean, but most areas were overgrown with weeds.
Judging from the varying heights of these weeds in different areas, it seemed someone was clearing them periodically.
All the houses were single-story, low-rise buildings. A few of the better ones appeared to be built from stone bricks, but from their greyish-white walls, it was clear these better houses were also quite old.
"Our village is quite small, but we do have a few empty houses. If you don't mind, you can rest in the house up ahead."
The village chief's thick greyish-brown beard on his cheeks and chin quivered as he spoke.
"Thank you, Village Chief," Nolan said, glancing at the house the chief pointed to, then expressed his gratitude.
"Heh heh, it's just a small matter. It's been a long time since we've had guests in our village," the village chief chuckled gently.
As the two spoke,
many curious gazes and heads peered out from the doorways and windows of the surrounding villagers' houses.
Karn Village was not large, so any stir was naturally quickly noticed.
Nolan simply thanked him and, under the gaze of many eyes, entered the vacant house in the village.
Karn Village was actually very ordinary, with nothing particularly noteworthy for Nolan.
If he had to say,
it was only the girl named Enri.
She was the girl who, with the help of an ordinary magic item, the "Goblin General's Horn," managed to summon an army.
Nolan strongly suspected whether she had a natural ability similar to "extremely high goblin affinity."
However, at present, she was just an ordinary girl.
Creak!
Pushing open the wooden door, an old sound emanated from where it connected to the frame.
Nolan walked into the vacant house. It was very spacious inside, with only a wooden bed, and a thin layer of dust on the floor.
There were also some broken cobwebs on the ceiling beams and in the four corners of the roof.
At the base of the walls, where the wooden planks met the ground, the color was slightly darker, likely due to dampness.
In such a poor border village, Nolan didn't expect excellent accommodation. The reason he came to Karn Village was that it was the closest village to the Great Forest of Tob.
And because it belonged to the territory of the Forest Sage King, it was actually very safe.
From "E-Rantel" to Karn Village took about a day's journey, so a round trip would require at least two days.
Although Nolan had already replenished his supplies, he still needed to prepare for unexpected situations, requiring him to leave the forest early.
Or situations where supplies were depleted too much and insufficient.
At this time, it was natural to have a place specifically for rest.
Karn Village was perfect.
"I should have prepared a 'Clean' magic scroll," Nolan mused, looking at the dust in the room and the cobwebs on the beams, shaking his head slightly.
Indeed.
Even after learning a lot about the preparations adventurers made when going out from the "Rock" team, there were still things overlooked.
Nolan could only clean the room himself, clearing out a clean area.
He then took out a basketball-sized ceramic pot from his toolbox, placed it on the ground, then took out a piece of cured meat, broke it into small, uneven pieces, put them in, and poured water from his water skin.
"Heat up."
Nolan pointed a finger at the ceramic pot.
In less than half a minute, the clear water in the ceramic pot began to boil, gradually turning into a pot of meat soup, emitting a meaty aroma.
"Putting aside other things for now, this magic is at least very convenient for heating food," Nolan said, a faint smile appearing on his face as he sniffed the savory aroma in the air.
A minute passed in a flash, and the simple meat soup was ready.
Nolan took out a bowl, served himself a spoonful, then picked up the black bread and began to eat.
Even after being boiled, the cured meat still had a strong salty taste, but it paired well with the dry, hard black bread.
Cured meat was one of the staple foods adventurers carried in the wilderness. Due to its very salty curing, it was almost impossible to eat directly.
It was often used to make meat soup or as a substitute for salt, which was an important way for adventurers, who were physical laborers, to replenish their salt intake.
The aroma of the lightly salted meat soup wafted out through the window.
It immediately caused a small stir in Karn Village.
The main economic source of Karn Village was mainly wheat cultivation and gathering some medicinal herbs on the forest's edge.
Hunting wild beasts?
This was quite dangerous for villagers whose average level was only 1.
Nolan remembered there should be a hunter in Karn Village with the basic profession of "Skirmisher," but he was at most level 2.
He glanced at his status panel.
Prodigy 1LV + Sword Saint 6LV = Total Level 7LV
The remaining experience from killing the two Eight Fingers members, plus the goblins and small magical beasts he had slain along the way, had allowed Nolan to level up again.
His progress was not too slow.
Nolan felt it wouldn't take many days to max out the intermediate profession "Sword Saint," after which his main focus would be on leveling up "Prodigy."
Shalltear and Zesshi Zetsumei's "Priest" professions were both 10LV.
Although Nolan was unsure if this was the "Priest" level requirement for the prerequisite of "Valkyrie," leveling up to this level to maintain consistency was always correct.
The next day, June 2nd.
At dawn.
Nolan packed up and left Karn Village.
Before leaving, he specifically went to the village chief and paid 5 copper coins for the lodging fee.
The people of Karn Village were quite simple; the village chief didn't intend to accept it, but Nolan insisted on putting it into his hand.
He would very likely return to Karn Village later, so increasing goodwill beforehand was a way of building relationships.
He could afford five copper coins.
...
The air was filled with the mixed, unique scent of branches, leaves, earth, and decay, wafting from within the Great Forest of Tob.
Rustle—
Nolan stepped on thick layers of branches and moss, each step making a "shush" sound as branches collided and crunched.
From the depths of the jungle, various animal and bird calls occasionally echoed.
Nolan held his iron sword and advanced along the outer perimeter, heading towards the eastern direction of the Great Forest of Tob.
Among the three forest dominators, the strongest and most difficult to deal with was the Forest Sage King. With Nolan's strength, if he encountered him, he wouldn't even be able to escape.
Don't let his cute appearance in the anime fool you; that's because it's from the perspective of the Skeleton King. In reality, the Forest Sage King is a very terrifying magical beast!
The other two forest dominators.
The Western Demon Snake Naga was highly intelligent and also a magic caster, posing a high degree of danger.
Only the other one, the Ogre, although equally powerful, had low intelligence and was a single-minded type!
Most importantly, he was a warrior profession. Besides possessing super strong recovery abilities and physical attack methods, he had no other attack methods.
In the event of an accidental encounter, the chance of escaping from an Ogre was clearly much higher than encountering the Western Demon Snake Naga or the Forest Sage King.
Lush, towering trees covered the surroundings. Sunlight passed through layers of obstruction, filtering through the dense canopy, dappling the ground.