Smoked Meat Soup, Heading to the Ogre's Territory
Entering the village, the scene that greeted the eye was one of desolation.
The entire village wasn't large; one could see all the houses at a glance, only about thirty or so in total.
A small portion of the ground was covered with a layer of gravel, which was fairly clean, but most of the area was overgrown with weeds.
Judging from the varying heights of the weeds in different areas, it seemed someone occasionally cleared them.
All the houses were low, single-story buildings. A few of the better ones appeared to be constructed of stone bricks, but judging from the grayish-white walls, even these better houses had seen many years.
"Our village is quite small, but we do have a few vacant houses. If you don't mind, you can rest in that house over there," the Village Chief said, his dense gray-brown beard on his cheeks and chin shaking with his words.
"Thank you, Village Chief." Tang Zheng glanced at the house the Village Chief indicated, then expressed his gratitude.
"Hehe, it's just a small matter. It's been a long time since our village has had any guests," the Village Chief chuckled gently.
As they spoke, curious gazes and heads peeked out from the doorways and windows of the villagers' houses all around.
Karn Village wasn't large, so any activity would naturally be noticed quickly.
Tang Zheng offered a simple thank you and, under the gaze of many eyes, entered the vacant house in the village.
Karn Village was actually very ordinary, with nothing particularly noteworthy to Tang Zheng.
If he had to say something.
It would be the girl named Anri.
The girl who, with the help of an ordinary magic item, the Goblin General Horn, managed to summon an army.
Tang Zheng strongly suspected that she had an Innate Ability similar to "extremely high Goblin affinity."
But for now, she was just an ordinary girl.
Creak!
Pushing open the wooden door, it made an old sound where it connected to the frame.
Tang Zheng walked into the vacant house. It was very empty, with only a wooden bed. There was a thin layer of dust on the ground.
At the corners where the wooden planks met the ground, the color was slightly darker, probably due to dampness.
Being a poor border village, Tang Zheng didn't expect a good accommodation. The reason he came to Karn Village was because it was the closest village to the Tove Great Forest.
And because it belonged to the Forest Sage Hamsuke's territory, the safety was very high.
It took about a day to travel from E-Rantel to Karn Village, so a round trip would take at least two days.
Although Tang Zheng had replenished his supplies, he still needed to guard against unexpected situations and needed to leave the forest early.
Or in a situation where too many supplies were consumed and not enough.
At this time, it was natural to have a place specifically for resting.
Karn Village was perfect.
"I knew I should have prepared a Clean Magic Scroll," Tang Zheng looked at the dust in the room and the cobwebs in the corners of the beams, shaking his head slightly.
Indeed.
Even after learning a lot about the preparations Adventurers made when going out from the Rock Squad, there were still things he overlooked.
Tang Zheng could only clean the room himself, clearing a clean area.
Then, he took out a basketball-sized ceramic pot from his toolbox and placed it on the ground. He also took out a piece of cured meat, broke it into small pieces of varying sizes, put them into the pot, and poured water from his water bag.
"Heating."
Tang Zheng pointed a finger at the ceramic pot.
In less than half a minute, the clear water in the ceramic pot had begun to boil, gradually turning into a pot of meat soup, emitting a meaty aroma.
"Putting aside everything else, this magic is quite convenient for heating food," Tang Zheng smelled the salty aroma in the air, a faint smile on his face.
A minute passed in the blink of an eye, and a simple broth was ready.
Tang Zheng took out a bowl, ladled a spoonful for himself, and then picked up the black bread to eat.
Even after boiling, the cured meat still had a strong salty taste, but it went well with the dry, hard black bread.
Cured meat was one of the staple foods that adventurers kept on hand when in the wild, and because it was cured very salty, it was almost impossible to eat directly.
It was often used to make broth or as a substitute for salt, which was an important way for adventurers, who were physical laborers, to replenish their salt intake.
The slightly salty aroma of the broth wafted out through the window,
immediately causing a small commotion in Karn Village.
Karn Village's main source of income was growing crops, mainly wheat, and collecting some herbs on the edge of the forest.
Hunting wild animals?
This was quite dangerous for villagers who were only level 1 on average.
Tang Zheng remembered that there should be a hunter in Karn Village with the basic class of 'Guerrilla', but the other party was at most level 2.
He glanced at the attribute panel.
Genius 1LV + Sword Saint 6LV = Overall Level 7LV. The experience left over from killing the two Eight Fingers members before, plus the goblins and small magical beasts he had killed along the way, allowed Tang Zheng to level up again.
In terms of progress, it wasn't too slow.
Tang Zheng felt that it shouldn't take too many days to raise the intermediate class 'Sword Saint' to the maximum level, and then the main focus would be on raising the level of 'Genius'.
Shalltear and Killing Death's 'Priest' classes were both 10LV.
Although Tang Zheng wasn't sure if this was a prerequisite 'Priest' level for 'Valkyrie', it was always right to raise it to this level and maintain consistency.
The next day, June 2nd.
As soon as it dawned,
Tang Zheng packed up and left Karn Village.
Before leaving, he made a special trip to the Village Chief and paid 5 Copper Coins for lodging.
The people of Karn Village were quite simple and honest, and the Village Chief didn't intend to take it, but Tang Zheng forced it into his hands.
He might have to return to Karn Village later, so he wanted to increase his favorability in advance, a little way of interpersonal communication.
He could still afford five Copper Coins.
...
The air was filled with the mixed scent of branches, leaves, soil, and decay, unique to the jungle, pouring out from within the Tove Great Forest.
Rustle—
Tang Zheng stepped on the thick branches, leaves, and moss, making a "rustling" sound like branches colliding and crushing with each step.
From the depths of the jungle, the calls of various animals and birds could be heard from time to time.
Tang Zheng held the iron sword in his hand and advanced along the outer area towards the eastern direction of the Tove Great Forest.
Among the three forest dominators, the strongest and most difficult to deal with was Forest Sage Hamsuke. With Tang Zheng's strength, he couldn't even escape if he encountered it.
Don't think it's quite cute in the anime, that's because it's from Bone King's perspective. In fact, Forest Sage Hamsuke is a quite terrifying magical beast!
The other two forest dominators.
The Western Magic Serpent Naga was very intelligent and also a Magic Caster, and also had a high degree of danger.
Only the other Ogre, although equally powerful, had a low IQ and was a one-track mind type! Most importantly, the other party belonged to the Warrior class. In addition to having super recovery ability and physical attack methods, it had no other attack methods.
In the event of an accidental encounter, the chance of escaping from an Ogre was obviously much higher than encountering the Western Magic Serpent Naga or Forest Sage Hamsuke.
Lush green, towering trees covered the surroundings, and sunlight passed through layers of barriers, through the dense canopy, dappling on the ground.
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