Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 386 Fish Bay

It's like a geographical dividing line.

Since Xia Nan left Yangjiao Town, he has truly ventured deep into Subin Province, located at the southernmost tip of the mainland.

The surrounding environment is changing rapidly in a way that makes the differences readily apparent.

The terrain gradually transitions from hills and basins to open, low-lying plains where the horizon is visible at a glance; large forests and fertile farmlands gradually disappear, replaced by ponds, marshes and wetlands that can be seen everywhere.

The air is filled with moisture, and waterbirds such as egrets and storks are frequent visitors to the sky, while various insects are also increasing in number.

Walking in the wilderness, Xia Nan always felt that his skin was covered with a layer of moisture, making it feel damp and sticky.

Fortunately, he was physically strong and adaptable to environmental changes, and did not show any signs of acclimatization problems.

"So...you really don't plan to become an adventurer anymore?"

Walking deep into the dimly lit tunnel, holding a torch in one hand, Xia Nan asked the boy beside him.

Now, more than ten days have passed since he helped the villagers solve the goblin threat.

After receiving supplies from the villagers as payment, he did not linger any longer and left the village to continue his journey.

It's worth mentioning that this time, he had a companion—Colin.

I learned from the other party that the boy has an uncle named Paddy who does business in the local area of ​​Barracuda Bay, and that he had planned to travel far away from home a couple of days ago, with the same destination as Xia Nan, but the appearance of the goblins made him postpone his travel plans.

I was hoping to use Colin's uncle's connections in Barracuda Bay to learn about the local situation so I could adapt to this completely unfamiliar environment more quickly.

After communicating and negotiating with the boy's family, in exchange for ensuring the boy's safety on the road, Colin would introduce his uncle to him upon arrival at Fish Bay.

To be honest, given the village's remoteness and the world's ecosystem teeming with monsters and beasts, without a powerful adventurer like Xia Nan to accompany and protect them, ordinary people who want to travel far can only pay a caravan passing through the village to take them for a while.

Otherwise, if you travel alone, you might encounter a few goblins or other wild beasts or monsters along the way. If you're unlucky and can't escape, you might just perish there. The risk is too great.

No matter how carefree one is, it's impossible to just let a young child go out like that.

This is precisely why, despite Colin's previous pleas and the fact that his family members, even though they had begun to waver, refused to let him go out until they discovered the goblin colony surrounding the village.

Now that Xia Nan, a powerful adventurer capable of single-handedly helping the village overcome the goblin crisis, is protecting them, and with the boy's insistence, his family has no reason to stop him.

Meanwhile, along the way, Xia Nan made a discovery.

Unexpected, yet also reasonable.

The boy, who had high hopes for the future, seemed to feel extremely disappointed because of his poor performance in the battle against the goblins.

Disheartened, he even began to doubt whether he could truly become an adventurer in the future.

Xia Nan casually offered a couple of words of comfort on the way.

After all, when he first transmigrated, his performance wasn't much better than the other party's.

One second he's a white-collar worker in a peaceful and stable modern society, the next he's suddenly fighting a life-or-death battle with a ferocious goblin, wielding a sword.

It's inevitable to feel uncomfortable.

After the entire rotten fish and shrimp squad was wiped out, and he killed the bear goblin, he returned to River Valley Town alone before gradually accepting his identity as an adventurer and getting used to fighting and killing.

The transformation from an "ordinary person" to a true "adventurer" always requires a process of change.

The only difference lies in the speed of change due to variations in individual psychological qualities and personality traits.

Whether you truly possess the potential to become a qualified adventurer, time will tell.

But even though that's the logic, not everyone realizes it.

Full of passion, he was a naive sixteen-year-old boy whose interests came and went quickly, and who was always prone to getting stuck on trivial matters.

Xia Nan could sense the other person's inner turmoil and disappointment.

When they set up camp for the night, they stopped asking each other to tell adventure stories they had personally experienced or heard about, and instead began to consider whether it would be more suitable for them to be a sailor or to start a small business.

Xia Nan didn't say much about it, simply acting as a listener.

Just like when they met for the second time, he would clearly point out the differences between the adventurers and Colin's expectations, based on his own thoughts.

But that won't stop the young man from entering this industry.

Now that Colin has changed his mind, Xia Nan will not insist that he must stick to his decision and become an adventurer.

Everyone chooses their own path.

He also lacks the experience and knowledge to give others life advice.

At this moment, after leaving the village and traveling for half a month, the two are about to reach their destination.

Following the route marked on Xia Nan's map, they would be very close to Suoyu Bay after crossing just one more mountain.

But halfway through their journey, the two suddenly discovered a man-made tunnel with a fairly spacious entrance halfway up the mountain.

Under normal circumstances, and since it wasn't a goblin lair, Xia Nan had no reason to deviate from the pre-planned route and venture into this unknown cave.

If there's a high-level monster lurking inside, recklessly barging in would just be asking for trouble.

However, after carefully observing the cave entrance, Xia Nan noticed a large amount of human activity in the vicinity of the cave.

And the clearest one was probably left just yesterday, with a very close time interval.

Even on the soft ground, many deep tire tracks could be seen, indicating that a large convoy had passed by.

This made him start to have an idea.

"Could it be some kind of shortcut?"

If the tunnel in front of them could truly lead directly to the other side of the mountain, it would undoubtedly save them a great deal of time and energy.

After a moment's thought, he used his mental energy to carefully sense and observe the potential dangers lurking in the cave, confirming that there was no suspicious smell of blood or the aura of monsters.

Xia Nan then lit a torch and led the boy into the tunnel.

“Mr. Xia Nan, have you ever seen the sea? I heard a bard who passed through the village say that its color is the same as the sky, and its area is millions or even millions of times larger than the pond behind the mountain. Any one of its waves is higher than our most dangerous mountain.”

Perhaps excited about their impending arrival at their destination, Colin cautiously followed beside Xia Nan, becoming increasingly talkative, his tone tinged with a sense of helplessness regarding the uncertainty of the future.

“Mr. Xia Nan, I still think ‘sailor’ suits me better.”

“You’re right, my uncle does business there, and if I become his apprentice, I won’t starve.” “But just thinking about how vast and boundless that ocean is… I can’t help but imagine what a majestic scene it would be to sail on the sea in a sailboat.”

"But a ship must be quite expensive, I think I'll become a sailor first, save some money, and then..."

The young male voice that had been echoing in my ears suddenly stopped.

Xia Nan knew why the other person had suddenly stopped talking.

Because just ahead, beyond the torchlight, lies the pitch-black depths of the tunnel.

A particularly dazzling ray of sunlight, like a flickering lamp in the depths of the night, suddenly fell upon the two of them after turning a corner.

We've arrived at the export point.

Unable to contain his excitement, Colin suddenly quickened his pace and sprinted towards the direction of the sunlight.

Then...they suddenly stopped, as if stunned.

Xia Nan could even see the boy's arms trembling slightly from excitement, and the muscle contours of his face contracting and pulling when his mouth opened unconsciously.

A thought suddenly struck him, and he followed.

Buzz-boom——

suddenly see the light!
The oppressive and depressing feeling that had been lingering in my heart due to the dark and damp environment inside the tunnel, where I could only hear footsteps and dripping water, vanished in an instant.

The bright, dazzling midday sun poured down without any pause.

The previously narrow and confined field of vision suddenly opened up.

Standing at the cave entrance halfway up the mountain, there was no further shelter beneath your feet.

Fish Bay, their destination.

It's like a huge, dynamic panoramic view that unfolds before your eyes in an instant, bringing a strong visual shock.

The first thing that catches the eye is the vast blue sea that fills almost every inch of the field of vision, stretching all the way to the edge of the sky, where it connects with the sky with only a hazy arc.

Like an enormous, faceted, dazzling sapphire, its shimmering light dances and sparkles as the undulating waves of the sea crush the sun's brilliance on its surface into streaks of dazzling gold.

Then, against the backdrop of the white waves, there is a perfect arc embraced by verdant mountains.

Nestled within the bay, a forest of masts and sails swayed and undulated with the waves. Countless ships of all sizes and styles filled the entire bay, displaying a variety of colors: faded brown, freshly dyed bright red, caravan indigo, ominous black, and even silver-gray, reminiscent of starlight, found only on exotic vessels. Layer upon layer of flags linked together painted the seawater a vibrant tapestry.

The gaze continues downwards.

After nearly fifty days of travel, the important port in the southern part of the Kingdom of Servia, Harbor Bay, finally came into view before Xia Nan.

Close to the water and the port, and also at the lowest point of the terrain, are countless dark wooden buildings that cling tightly to the coastline like barnacles.

There was no detailed planning, and the overall style was completely lacking.

Dark red, dark gray, and dark green roofs are densely packed together with almost no gaps, below which are maze-like, winding, and narrow streets. Countless figures can be vaguely seen wriggling and shuttling through them, carrying goods between the port and the city like ants. Even the air seems to be slightly distorted by the noisy heat.

Looking upwards, the outlines of buildings and roads become clearer. The main building materials have changed from the original wood to light-colored stone and stucco, and the buildings are arranged in a more orderly manner. The streets are wide and clean, with signs and flags on both sides that are unclear in meaning, but I guess they are probably signs for banks, chambers of commerce, shops, or the like.

Even the way pedestrians moved on the road suddenly became relaxed and eased, as if it were a different world from the port below.

And then, going further up, we reach the highest point...

The scene is completely different.

The building's overall appearance is almost invisible, as it is used for landscaping. The lush tropical plants keep out any prying eyes, leaving only a few "accidentally" exposed white marble columns and painted glazed tiles reflecting a soft fluorescence under the sunlight.

Tranquil and distant, riches and power.

Looking down at this bustling port below.

For Xia Nan, in addition to the visual impact, there was also the shock.

Even more so, the enormous sound wave that greeted us as we emerged from the cold, dark cave:
The dockworkers' neat and powerful chants, the crisp and rhythmic hammering of the blacksmiths, the off-key piano music drifting from the tavern, the noisy cries of seagulls circling in the sky, the horns sounding as ships enter and leave the harbor, the roar of waves crashing against the shore...

It transforms into a unique sound that never stops, known as "Shuyu Bay".

My chest rose and fell slightly, and the slightly salty sea breeze entered my nasal cavity with each breath.

Quietly appreciating the magnificent and beautiful scenery before him, Xia Nan stood still, finally feeling the reality of his long journey of more than a month.

Having come from modern society in his previous life, he had seen countless landscapes far more spectacular than the bay before him, thanks to advanced technology and productivity. Whether it was a steel forest made of reinforced concrete or a pristine landscape that had been untouched by humans for thousands of years, he could take it all in the blink of an eye with just a glance out the window or a click of the mouse.

He should no longer be affected by this scene.

But one must admit that after experiencing such a long journey, which he had never experienced in two lifetimes combined, he emerged from the dark tunnel and saw the scene before him.

A feeling inexplicably welled up from the bottom of my heart.

"Suoyu Bay... We've finally arrived."

If this was the case for Xia Nan, then the immature boy beside him, who had grown up in a remote village surrounded by forests and whose only sight was trees and the sky, could only be described as “unbearable” in his behavior.

He stood there, frozen in place, completely motionless.

His pupils trembled, and his mouth opened involuntarily.

It seems they wanted to say something to express, or perhaps vent, their shock and astonishment.

At this moment, however, he seemed to have lost the ability to organize his thoughts, only uttering incoherent words that didn't form sentences:
“Mr. Xia Nan… the sea… the ocean…”

"It's so big...it's all houses...and so many people..."

Xia Nan understood the boy's behavior and didn't urge him. Instead, he stood beside him, admiring the magnificent scenery below the cliff.

It took Colin several minutes to recover from the impact of Barracuda Bay.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he wanted to lower his head, but couldn't bear to tear his gaze from the beautiful scenery below, thus displaying a stiff and awkward posture as he apologized to Xia Nan:

“I’m sorry, Mr. Xia Nan, I…”

He waved his hand, indicating that the other party didn't need to worry about it.

Xia Nan looked down at the mountain path beside him that stretched downwards and eventually merged with countless roads into the city.

"Let's go find your Uncle Paddy first."

(End of this chapter)