River Valley Town, an ordinary town on the southeastern border of the Sevia Kingdom.
Located inland, far from the sea, the few rivers nearby are blocked by mountains, making it difficult to develop maritime trade.
In addition, there are no special products here, and the terrain is complex with difficult paths, so no legitimate merchants would consider this a transit point.
Usually, this small human settlement would remain as unknown as the countless villages within the kingdom's domain.
Forget about the kingdom's history or epic heroes; even if it were completely overrun due to war with neighboring countries or a Demon invasion, it would probably only be mentioned briefly by some responsible official at the weekly council meeting.
But right now, it is one of the important towns in the southern part of Pan Yun Province.
The reason is actually quite simple—
Mist Forest.
The perpetual gray-white mist within the forest is not a peculiar natural phenomenon, but is caused by an excessive abundance of Magic Power in the air.
Although many powerful Demons that threaten human life have emerged from this, countless precious Magic Potions and Secret Realms have also appeared as a result, attracting waves of professionals to venture here.
With this as a premise, River Valley Town, surrounded by mountains on three sides and easy to defend, naturally became the top choice for adventurers to prepare and rest.
The adventurer association branch established here many years ago has further attracted adventurers from the southeastern border of the kingdom like a landmark.
Just like the "university cities" centered around multiple higher education institutions in the previous world, or the numerous industries supporting tourist spots nearby.
River Valley Town also has such a bustling street dedicated to serving adventurers.
Bang—
A middle-aged man, drunk beyond measure and spewing obscenities, was thrown onto the street by two guards in leather armor; the scent of alcohol mingled with noise flowed out from the half-open wooden door.
On the street, a richly dressed plump woman clutched a zircon necklace, arguing fiercely with a vendor in front of her; the small boy beside her curiously watched the burly men in the roadside Blacksmith Shop sweating profusely.
"Hey there, young man, come and play~"
A sickly sweet feminine voice came from beside his ear.
Looking around, he saw two scantily clad, voluptuous women leaning against a wall, beckoning to him with inviting gestures.
Xia Nan wasn't shy either, smiling and nodding in greeting.
Apparently considered a potential customer, his response immediately triggered a flurry of flirtatious chattering.
But he had no intention of approaching and continued walking along the main road.
Seeing this, the women also felt bored and turned to solicit other passersby.
As he gradually moved away, the intense scent of perfume slowly dissipated from the air.
Xia Nan tightened the backpack on his back, his gaze calm.
To say he had no thoughts would be impossible.
After all, this body was in the most energetic period of human life, if not for the memories from his past life in a modern society flooded with information from the internet.
The original owner of this body, who grew up in the fields and had barely seen a few peers of the opposite sex, was so simple.
Meeting those "Service Industry Elites" just now, a simple gesture from others could have already captured his soul.
He had just crossed into this world not long ago and hadn't even settled down, so naturally he couldn't think about these things.
Instead, he was more curious whether this world also had the same "unspeakable" diseases as in his previous life, and under the existence of supernatural powers, whether people's preventive measures were the same as in his world.
"I wonder if Healing Potions would work?"
Having left the dangerous environment, everything in this Otherworld piqued his immense curiosity.
Even a random food stall by the roadside could set his thoughts wandering.
Walking and stopping like this, about twenty minutes passed.
Finally, Xia Nan arrived at his destination.
It was a building of unique style.
Four stories high, not particularly eye-catching on this street, yet it seemed to be the center of the entire area, bustling with people.
Different from the brick houses seen all along, the building was made entirely of some kind of dark wood, its intricate wood grain naturally forming its distinctive decor, with clusters of Green tree branches even decorating the eaves.
From a distance, it looked like a massive treehouse.
For some reason, standing at the entrance, Xia Nan felt a vague sense of returning to Mist Forest.
The building itself had no sign, but just observing the adventurers coming and going at its entrance was enough to know its name—
Adventurer Association (River Valley Town Branch).
Xia Nan shook his head to rid himself of the unnecessary thoughts.
He entered the main door.
What came into view was a particularly spacious hall, its decor equally natural and filled with the atmosphere of a forest, with adventurers of all kinds passing by in front of him.
Based on the memories left by the former self, he searched among the crowd, finally stopping at a counter-like position on the right side of the hall.
Inside the counter, sat a short-haired girl dressed in association work attire, possessing pleasant features yet appearing utterly listless.
Seemingly working, but with her eyes half-closed, as if on the verge of dozing off in the next moment.
Xia Nan stepped forward and placed a coarse cloth bag packed with goblin and Bear Goblins ears onto the counter.
"Hello, I'd like to submit a task."
The short-haired girl raised her eyelids slightly, not touching the bag, and her lips moved:
"Group badge."
"Oh, oh." Xia Nan immediately reacted, retrieving a palm-sized black iron plate from his chest and handed it to her.
This was the identification of the Magi small group, distributed by the association, with the group's number recorded on it.
The front desk staff needed this number to find the tasks the group had taken.
Fortunately, he remembered to bring this small piece from the battlefield clean-up; otherwise, he would suffer a big loss this time.
"Mountain Bow?"
"Uh... yes."
Upon hearing this, Xia Nan couldn't help but be taken aback, then realized that "Mountain Bow" was the Magi small group's official registered name.
Having called it "Stinky Fish and Shrimp Group" so often in his mind, it nearly slipped by without recognition.
In response, the short-haired girl simply glanced at him, showing no intention of questioning why other team members weren't present, as if this sort of thing was commonplace.
The counter was slightly elevated, preventing Xia Nan from seeing the girl's operation clearly.
Although he was a bit curious about how this world, technologically undeveloped yet possessing supernatural powers, handled tasks that would require flipping through a lot of files.
He maintained his patience nonetheless.
He merely watched as the short-haired girl's hands moved a few times in his blind spot, mumbling a few unknown characters.
"Bang."
In no more than five seconds, a money pouch was tossed onto the counter in front of Xia Nan.