Chapter 153: Invitation From The Adventure Party
After listening to the staff member’s description, Xilutiya took the booklet handed over by the other party and flipped through it. It detailed several resource points near the Fir Black Forest, as well as three secret realms.
The first secret realm「Gravel Riverbank」, follow the small river downstream, where shrubs along the way occasionally yield Fruit-eating Mouse, Astringent Beehive, and Green Red Berry.
Among them, the Fruit-eating Mouse has some attack capability. Their incisors can bite powerfully 1-3 times, each time able to shatter steel, but they become ineffective after three times and take about a week to recover.
The Astringent Beehive breeds astringent venomous bees. Their tail stings can easily poison ordinary creatures, but against Transcendents, the effect is not as strong. As long as handled properly, they are not dangerous.
The Green Red Berry is a special berry with Emerald Honey Nature. If handed to locals, it can be combined with other ingredients to make First Order Emerald Honey Secret Fruit Jam.
The second secret realm「Deep Forest Path」, set out from the west side of the town, walk 20 kilometers, gradually entering the gray-white Shadow World, then shuttle through the dense, lightless forest. It is relatively dangerous there, with Night Cry Raven, Ghost Shadow Owl, Twisted Dead Tree, Blood Plate Python, and Ash Evil Fruit appearing.
The third secret realm「Distant Mountain Gate」, set out from the north side of the town, walk 50 kilometers to reach the depths of the continuous mountains. Dense fog surrounds the area, and the situation is dangerous. If you can find the right direction and travel 100 kilometers, you can reach a natural stone gate between two mountains. Behind the gate is a clear spring pool, where the Stone Mist Spring Water is extremely precious. It is a special resource for studying Petrification secret arts and can also be used for potion making with Mist Shadow Nature.
……
The first secret realm「Gravel Riverbank」 is the safest, but the most crowded. Sometimes you might return empty-handed after a trip. Heading to「Deep Forest Path」 is the choice of many Second Order students. As for the third secret realm「Distant Mountain Gate」, few students go there. It is said that a previous team set out to explore it, but the entire team never returned.
“Are there teams going to「Deep Forest Path」? I want to find a team to join and go together.” Xilutiya inquired.
“No problem. Register here, and when a team heads out, I’ll ask for you.”
“Okay.” Then, the maiden took the table handed over by the other party and filled in her information.
Class, Nature, specialties, what abilities, what skills she possesses—anything that might catch someone’s eye could be written down.
A few minutes later, Xilutiya finished filling out the table and handed it over.
“The bar has rooms upstairs for sleeping. As a Second Order student, you can enjoy a discount. Do you want to rest here tonight?”
“Of course.” Xilutiya nodded.
“Good. Also note down your room number. If a team heads out, I’ll have the bar’s server notify you.”
“Thank you.”
Afterward, Xilutiya took the key and went up to the third floor. The corridors on both sides here had nearly sixteen rooms, with half currently empty.
She arrived at a room, opened the door, and walked in.
Two neat wooden beds were placed by the window. The room also had a small table and chair, with an overall simple and cozy style.
She set down the compound bow on her back, temporarily unfastened the longsword and placed it by the bed. Xilutiya took off her boots, her feet wrapped in black stockings stepping directly onto the floor, relaxing comfortably.
After lying down for a short while, she got up and went to the bathroom on the other side of the room. It had a brass shower device, with an integrated stone pool below for showering or bathing.
The hot water was probably boiled by the boiler device behind the bar. The technology in this world was not as backward as imagined; it was just that ordinary households couldn’t afford expensive steam equipment.
After bathing, Xilutiya changed into a lighter purple dress, leaned against the headboard, and flipped through the books she carried. Outside the window, the sky gradually shifted from sunset to night.
At night, she wrapped herself in the quilt and slept soundly.
The next morning, Xilutiya woke up early, freshened up, donned her light armor, and set out again.
Today, she planned to walk around the town and see some of the local specialties.
Probably due to the Orchid Secret Medicine stationed here, there were many herb shops, and inside them were many First Order herb apprentices, all students around the same age as the maiden.
Sorting and drying herbs, grinding powder and extracting, preparing potion bases, boiling potion liquid, filtering and purifying—this was the daily routine for many students. While assisting professional apothecaries, they gradually learned potion making techniques, honed their abilities, until they stepped into Second Order and could try mixing simple potions themselves. Then they could hang them for sale in their teacher’s shop, earning some extra income.
Orchid Fragrance Healing Potion: stops bleeding, heals wounds, and slowly regulates hidden injuries. Selling price 2-4 gold coins per vial.
Compared to the common Blood Healing Potion, its effect is much better, and the price is twice as high. Ordinary Blood Healing Potion sells for 1-2 gold coins.
If able to sell 10 vials of Orchid Fragrance Healing Potion, that would be nearly 30 gold coins in income, which is about the annual income of an ordinary Second Order student. This shows how lucrative the apothecary profession is. Of course, after deducting material costs and failed batches, general apprentices might only earn 8-10 gold coins from selling 10 potions.
After seeing the daily life of these herb shop apprentices, Xilutiya’s gaze turned to the other side, a shop selling various furs and animal horns and fangs. The apprentices minding and maintaining the shop were mostly combat class.
“How much is this ram’s horn?” Xilutiya asked curiously.
【Spiral Ram’s Horn】（First Order·Beast Fangs）: Taken from the curved horn of a peculiar goat monster, solid with dense ridges, can be used to craft artifacts.
The man opposite, wearing a fur vest, heard this and looked up from inside the shop, glancing briefly at the ram’s horn.
“This ram’s horn can be yours for 3 gold coins.” The price wasn’t high, likely because it hadn’t sold for a while.
“Can I pick it up and take a look?” Xilutiya asked again.
“Go ahead and look, but if you’re planning to do anything bad, I advise caution.” He glanced at the maiden whose face was mostly hidden under her hood and replied casually.
“Thank you.” Xilutiya picked up the ram’s horn, feeling the delicate keratin texture emanating from it. It was somewhat cool, gripped solidly, giving a sense of sturdiness even more reliable than stone.
（Solid texture, can withstand strong attacks, but has no other effects. Overall quality evaluation: Good）
3 gold coins was indeed its price, and it would be hard to sell for more. If made into a small ram’s horn hoe for tending the garden, it would be very useful—lighter than iron, durable and wear-resistant.
“I’ll buy it.” Xilutiya took out three gold coins and placed them on the stall.
“Oh.” Hearing the clink of the gold coins, the other party was quite surprised. He stood up, examined the coins several times, then handed the ram’s horn to the maiden.
“If you don’t mind, I have some dried goat meat here. I can give you a pack. It’s a good choice for rations when heading out on adventures.” Feeling like he’d gotten a good deal, he was generous and directly gave the maiden a pack of dried goat meat.
【Dried Goat Meat】（Good）: Meat from goat monsters, after smoking, the pollution from Twisted Nature slowly dissipates, making it edible. Very filling, but still not recommended to eat too much.
Afterward, the maiden strolled through the shops along the street, looking at the fur armor, longbows, short blades, and various combat gear sold here.
Because the town was small, by the end of the day, she had basically walked the entire place and familiarized herself with the general situation.
At night, back at the bar, just as Xilutiya was about to eat something, several adventurer-dressed members walked over. The leader was short in stature, wearing light leather armor, with two daggers at his waist.
“You’re Xilutiya, right?”
“I’m the captain of the ‘Shaking Gold Coin’ team, nicknamed Bad Apple. I wonder if you’re interested in joining us for the next adventure task.”
This short-statured captain sat down, revealing the other team members behind him: a blond heavy swordsman in full iron armor, a cold-faced wizard in a black robe, and a girl with chestnut short hair wearing leather armor apron and carrying an iron pot on her back, looking like a chef.
