Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 260 Two conditions awaiting answers

What are my goals? And how should I achieve them?
Violet never resisted asking herself these kinds of questions.

Her father was a steward of a fallen noble family's estate.

Although they were often very busy and rarely saw anyone all day, the generous pay for working for the noble "masters" allowed their family to live a fairly decent life in the not-so-prosperous town.

As a child, Vera was very curious about her father’s work and couldn’t understand why he could earn far more than farmers and laborers who toiled in the sun and wind, just by sitting in his study.

In response, the father, who was only in his early forties at the time but whose temples were already gray, naturally did not complain to his most beloved youngest daughter about what he, his father, his father's father, and their entire family had sacrificed for this job.

Instead, he explained his current work in a humorous and interesting way.

That is a management plan for essential things on the estate, such as land, forests, livestock, farm tools, and grain. It arranges agricultural activities for the whole year through detailed records and forward-looking planning.

When to plow the land, what crops to plant, harvest time, storage location, how to deal with various weather conditions, and even the food supply for the lord and his tenants...

The girl watched her father from a young age how he managed the estate like a sophisticated machine, how he meticulously and continuously planned the operation of such a large land and a system of hundreds of people.

Through constant exposure, I naturally and profoundly realized the necessity and power of "planning".

Violet is passionate about setting realistic goals for herself at every stage of her life and achieving them step by step through hard work.

Before she was an adult, she diligently studied the basics of the Common Language and simple arithmetic, copied anything with writing on it, and proactively helped her father organize parchment scrolls and calculate the harvest and inventory—her goal was to reduce her father's stress and at least allow him to sleep a few more hours at night.

As she grew older and learned more about the world and society, she gradually used her literacy skills to participate in church activities, try to access the church library, and study basic astronomy, geometry, history, and theology in depth—her goal was to become a nun, reduce the burden on her family, and also plan for her own future.

Later, as a mentor passing through the town discovered her talent and had her learn magic, Violet's goals became clearer.

Memorizing your first spell model, completing your first magical experiment, gaining a class level, casting a fireball, acquiring your own mage tower...

Some of these have already been completed, while others are still a long way off.

But the habit of "making plans and achieving goals" has always permeated her life.

After being reborn, the once abundant magic power vanished into nothingness, and countless magical equipment used for self-defense disappeared.

She certainly felt panicked and uneasy.

The immense pressure of "saving the world" left her breathless.

They even began to doubt whether they were truly capable of completing this epic and arduous task.

Fortunately, this habit, which she had maintained since childhood and never forgot even after advancing to the extraordinary level, gradually calmed her down.

Just like countless times before, in the cramped dressing table of my own bedroom, in the cold corner of the library, on the messy desk in the laboratory...

The quill pen swished and wrote lines of elegant text, and the thoughts in my mind gradually became clearer through meticulous planning and summarization.

As an academic spellcaster, she may not be particularly skilled in combat, but devising feasible plans and executing them is something she is very adept at.

Why did she join the escort team in Hai'an?
The goal is to kill the dragonborn Sava and to find the opportunity that changed the other person's life path in their past life.

For what?
The former is because Sava later became a traitor to the Alliance, directly leading to the fall of Newme and the collapse of the Alliance front; the latter is to use this opportunity to increase his growth rate and recover his strength as quickly as possible.

What is the root cause?
In short, it all comes down to those three words:
—Offset rate!

Whether it's killing Sava, increasing her strength, or even "rebirth" itself, Violet's ultimate goal is to increase the world line offset rate in order to avoid, or rather, to delay the fall of the continent of Aefara as much as possible.

Has Violet achieved her goal yet?
Although Sava did not die by his own hand, he was indeed gone;

However, the "opportunity" that she was seeking, which the other party should have obtained in this mission, did not come to fruition.

It seems that only half of it is completed.

However, if we start from the fundamental "offset rate", it is a perfect and successful plan.

She achieved her goals perfectly and exceeded expectations.

The expected value of the original 0.05% offset rate has been directly increased to the current 0.3%!

It was an absolute success.

As for why such results were achieved...

The girl's amber eyes suddenly seemed somewhat dazed.

The reason for the change in "offset rate" may be difficult for others to perceive.

However, as a reborn person with memories of her past life and knowledge of the development of the world line, she only needs to compare the differences between the events themselves and those of her past life to easily detect the changes.

She didn't know whether Lawson and Terry William had died in this mission in their previous lives.

But considering that she had never heard of these two people, they were obviously not important figures who could influence the timeline, so their lives or deaths were insignificant.

The real change was the red dragon she had banished to another dimension using her trump card, and...

“Omen of Death” Xia Nan.

To this day, Violet still can't understand why this person who once left a deep shadow in her heart would associate with the half-elf Haian.

And at this wrong time, when the other party should still be in the Misty Forest dealing with low-level monsters like goblins, he joined the wrong team, which he shouldn't have been in, with a professional level and even considerable strength.

The red dragon "Krogbari" is powerful, but its impact on the timeline is definitely not as significant as that of the dragonborn Sava. Whether he is banished or dies, it makes little difference.

In this way, some low-probability events are eliminated.

The source of that extra 0.25% world line then becomes clear.

Violet stood under the shade of a tree, lost in deep thought.

Although she already had some guesses, she tried her best to recall the differences between Xia Nan and before on the way back after the battle.

His breathing became more refined, his physique underwent subtle changes, and his daily movements initially appeared slightly uncoordinated, but he quickly recovered...

This is clearly a manifestation of gradually adapting to the enhanced physical attributes after the professional level has been improved.

Undoubtedly, the battles with Lawson and Terry William led to a breakthrough for the latter, raising a combat skill that was nearing its critical value to "Mastery".

But can that alone bring about a 0.25% offset rate?
But that's not all.

Violet's eyes flickered, her thoughts racing.

Just then, a gaze that made his body instinctively stiffen and tense came from behind.

"Why choose such a remote place? The tavern looks so-so, but the private rooms are quite clean."

A familiar male voice came from beside my ear, and goosebumps involuntarily rose on the delicate skin on the back of my neck.

Without giving a direct reply, her chest heaving, Violet stood there, taking a few deep breaths.

Only then did she muster her courage and, with unwavering conviction, slowly turn around to face the black-haired youth behind her.

Xia Nan crossed his arms over his chest, and reflected in his dark eyes was the awkward and stiff turning motion of the mage girl, which resembled a robot at a technology exhibition in his previous life.

She was already used to it, but looked at him with a helpless expression. The moment their eyes met, Violet looked away as if she had been electrocuted, unable to meet his gaze.

With a silent sigh, Xia Nan decided to skip the pointless small talk that might waste a lot of time for both sides under these circumstances and get straight to the point:
"If you have any questions, just say so."

The escort mission is over, and the team was only temporarily formed, so it's time to disband it.

All the compensation owed to him by Hai'an has been settled.

However, Xia Nan and Wei Rou'er clearly still need to discuss the distribution of the spoils.

From his perspective, although the mage girl did not participate in the final battle against Lawson and Terry William, her contribution was equally, or even greater.

Judging from her behavior at the time, she must have paid a considerable price to banish that adult red dragon to another dimension.

"I received a total of 130 gold from Hai'an for Sava's armor and weapons."

"Lawson's rapier and Terry William's greatsword are both in my hotel room. The former is fine, but if I want to sell the latter, I may have to wait for a while until the storm has passed with the Morton family."

"in addition……"

As he spoke, Xia Nan raised his right hand to Wei Rou'er, his fingers slightly apart, the silver rings on his index and ring fingers reflecting a faint light in the sunlight.

"Regarding the metal piece Luca found in Molten Scale Town, you should have guessed by now that it's most likely the lost heirloom of the Morton family, from the battle seven days ago..."

He was interrupted by Violet halfway through his sentence:
"I know everything you said."

Those few pieces of equipment loot, added together, amounted to only a few hundred gold coins, which can't be called "small change".

However, for reborn individuals with clear goals and well-defined plans for the future, there is no urgent need for money in the short term.

It doesn't matter.

She already had an idea about the identity of the lost treasure of the Morton family, as the red dragon had deliberately landed there for this purpose.

Even before her return, Violet had already guessed what had happened on the field.

First, Xia Nan was promoted in battle, killing two powerful enemies; the dragonborn Sava's past life gained an opportunity in this mission, and his strength began to soar at an abnormal rate.

She connected these two events with the metal block.

Perhaps, it was this item that made the later possibilities possible for Sava in his previous life.

If, before all this happened, before Xia Nan realized the function of the metal block, she would have chosen to wait until after the mission was completed, and then, based on the highest bid or further resource exchange, obtain the item from Luca, as previously agreed.

But now, things have changed.

How could Xia Nan possibly hide the ring that suddenly appeared on his right hand from his teammates who had been traveling together for so many days?

Not only himself, but Wood probably also noticed it, but he just didn't bring it up.

In addition, there was the metal block that disappeared after the battle...

Clearly, the lost heirloom of the Morton family has most likely been activated in some way and bound to Xia Nan in the form of a ring.

Xia Nan himself must have witnessed the effects of the items.

In this situation, any normal person who wants to continue to advance in their career would not hand over the items or sell them to others.

Violet was very clear-headed and had no way of antagonizing this future bigwig.

This was not part of her plan.

Furthermore, the fundamental objective set in the plan has already been exceeded in terms of deviation rate.

Therefore, in order to maximize her benefits and avoid giving the other party a negative impression of her, she stopped even trying to test the waters.

Instead, they directly presented their own solution:
"First of all, this item was first discovered by Luca. After Haian and Wood offered to relinquish ownership, we agreed to discuss it in detail with Luca after the mission was completed."

Xia Nan nodded, her attitude serious, indicating her agreement.

“Now that Luca is dead, this item, according to the previously established distribution rules, has become a shared trophy for both of us in this mission. In the previous battle, you killed Lawson and Terry William of the attack squad, which was your contribution; but in return, I also paid a considerable price for driving out the red dragon.”

Contrary to her previous fearful demeanor, these words seemed to have been brewing in her mind for a long time, and Violet spoke them very fluently.

“It seems this thing is already bound to you, and you’ve experienced its abilities. It’s unrealistic to force you to hand it over. Therefore, after careful consideration, I’ve decided to give up the right to claim ownership of the item.”

"But there are two conditions."

"Go ahead," Xia Nan said, her face expressionless.

Upon hearing this, Violet took a deep breath, raised her right hand, and extended her index finger:

"First, while reserving some information that may involve your privacy, I need to know the general function of this item."

"Two," the girl held up her second finger, "a favor."

"This favor will be used at least three years from now. At that time, I may launch a mission targeting the Red Dragon Treasury in the Molten Scale Mountains. I will contact you in advance to make preparations. Well, the treasury's profits are separate and not part of the favor."

The red dragon "Krogbarry" has been permanently banished, and the time it will take to return to the material world will be measured in "ten years".

In this situation, the dragon's nest, which had accumulated countless treasures over the years, naturally became ownerless.

How could Violet forget?

However, dragon nests are usually equipped with a large number of magical traps and guarded by their own kind.

Having just experienced the loss of treasure, the Red Dragon's Nest will only be more heavily guarded than before.

With my current strength, entering the dragon's lair would be virtually impossible unless I spend a lot of time preparing or use another trump card.

Regarding the former, time is the most important thing in the world to her right now, so how could she possibly waste it on something outside of her plans that doesn't affect the world line offset rate?

The trump card from the river of time is a consumable item that can reverse the situation, and it is a key item to save lives in emergencies.

She doesn't even have level 5 yet, and she's already using two cards. How is she supposed to carry out her plans after that?

Therefore, the safest plan is...

Taking advantage of the time that the red dragon was banished and returned, and utilizing its long lifespan and the racial characteristic of sleeping for several years at a time, it aimed to increase its strength as much as possible before others noticed its disappearance.

We'll take action once we're fully prepared.

She cannot reach the extraordinary level in a short period of time, so she will need the help of others.

In this situation, Xia Nan, who already has experience in forming teams, has considered strength and level improvement speed, and whose future is destined to be bright, naturally becomes the most suitable target at present.

His amber eyes were fixed on the black-haired figure in front of him.

His expression seemed resolute, but his trembling lips and eyelashes revealed the fear that was rapidly spreading within him, a fear fueled by the shadows of the past.

Violet is waiting for Xia Nan's reply.

　It's almost the end of the month! Does anyone have any extra monthly passes? (peeks in)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)