Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 485 Pocket Watch Research and Regression
Seven days later.

The Blade of Vengeance, cabin, a simply furnished single room.

【Ember】 and 【Green Pine】 leaned against the wall, their bodies crossed.

The plate chain composite armor I bought in Harbor Bay was first hit hard by the Shark Beast, and then washed away by the embers. It was completely ruined and could not be recycled. It was lying quietly on the seabed near Twin Valley in the distance.

Wearing a thin, dark-colored shirt, Xia Nan sat alone at the small wooden table in the room. On the table in front of her was a large plate full of food, including cured meat, flatbread, and cheese.

His right hand was placed flat on the table as if taking a blood pressure reading, with his palm facing up, revealing a delicate platinum pocket watch with a warm luster.
He slowly extended his left hand forward, using his index finger and thumb to pick up a small piece of cured meat from the plate.

With a slight thought, he gently pressed his right thumb on a small, inconspicuous button on the side of the watch.

There was a crisp "click" sound from the mechanism.

The hands of the platinum pocket watch in my palm seemed to be stimulated by something, and began to spin at an abnormally fast speed.

After about a breath, the thicker hand on the pocket watch spun around quickly and completely.

hum-

Space distorted in an instant.

The cured meat that Xia Nan had been holding between his left index finger and thumb suddenly disappeared, leaving only the oil residue on his fingertips.

On the other side, below the "1:00/13:00" markings on the pristine white dial of the pocket watch, there is a small, miniature pattern.

The pattern itself is jet black, the same color as the scale, which makes it stand out against the clean white dial below. The outline is clear, and you can vaguely see the shape of a small piece of vertical cured meat.

Clearly, Xia Nan had repeated this many times, and his movements were exceptionally skillful.

He examined the miniature pattern of cured meat slices on the watch face, then focused his attention slightly and pressed the mechanical button on the side of the pocket watch.

"Click".

The hands of the clock, which had already returned to normal, started spinning again as if counting down.

However, compared to before, Xia Nan seemed to have a new connection with the pocket watch in his hand, and could use his mental power to sense the things stored inside.

It was still just the time it takes to breathe.

When the pocket watch hands completed a full rotation and returned to their original positions, the piece of cured meat that had disappeared earlier returned to the left hand, and the pattern of the cured meat on the watch face also disappeared without leaving a trace.

It didn't end there.

Xia Nan gently released his left thumb and forefinger, letting the marinated meat fall back onto the plate.

With a flick of the wrist, the entire plate was held in the palm of the hand.

"Click".

The hands of the clock spun rapidly.

The entire plate, along with the cheese, flatbread, and the piece of cured meat he had put back on it, disappeared. In its place was a small plate filled with food on the right-hand dial.

Seeing this, Xia Nan had a thoughtful expression on his face. He pressed the button to take the plate out of the pocket watch's internal space, looked at the plate on the table, and the piece of cured meat lying quietly among the food, and pondered in his heart.

A week has passed since the great battle in Twin Valleys.

The Blade of Vengeance is about to finish its mission and return to Barracuda Bay.

In contrast, the journey back was fraught with storms and schools of sharks, but the return voyage was as smooth as ever, without even the slightest mishap, and the weather was clear.

Of course, this is precisely why life at sea remains so dull and uninteresting.

Especially given Xia Nan's poor luck in fishing, he felt somewhat disheartened about this newly cultivated interest.

However, this long stretch of free time also gave Xia Nan the opportunity to study his new equipment during his training.

For seven whole days, he thoroughly explored his newly acquired spatial storage item, the [White Pot] pocket watch.

The usage method is very simple, and he has already experienced it completely once.

To store an item in the pocket watch, simply press the button on the side of the watch while keeping it in physical contact with your body, and wait three seconds for the hands to quickly complete one revolution. The item you touched will then be stored inside the pocket watch.

Below the corresponding storage space scale, the items stored there will be displayed as mini black icons.

To remove the items from the pocket watch, follow the same steps: press the button, wait three seconds, and mentally recite the command.

It may sound complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it's actually very simple to operate. Even an ordinary person who has never used similar equipment before can master it in a very short time.

Because of this method of use, if he wants to store or retrieve multiple items, he must do so one by one, waiting for the clock hands to complete their rotation; he cannot store or retrieve a large number of items simultaneously.

Regarding storage volume, although he lacked professional equipment, Xia Nan conducted tests using his own simple methods.

The White Pot pocket watch has twelve markings, corresponding to its twelve storage spaces.

He experimented with seawater and calculated that each individual space could hold one cubic meter of liquid.

However, this does not mean that the structure of the space is a "1m*1m*1m" cube.

Xia Nan tested it with his own fishing rod; it was nearly 5 meters long, yet the [White Pot] could swallow it safely.

Clearly, the storage space is not a fixed form, but rather a dynamic one, with a maximum volume of 1 cubic meter, like clay that can change freely depending on the items stored.

Compared to its strict storage volume regulations, the storage quantity limit for the twelve items in the [White Pot] was much more lenient than Xia Nan had imagined.

Just as he had just tested.

A small piece of cured meat can be considered an item; a whole plate of food can also be considered an item.

The idea of ​​stuffing a tent, food supplies, and survival tools into a backpack and treating it as a "travel kit" was successfully tested and proved to be a perfect success.

As long as the volume does not exceed one cubic meter and can fit inside the backpack, it will only occupy one slot.

Xia Nan even made further attempts with gold coins and found that "one", "a stack" or even "a bag" could all be counted as "one piece" in the definition of [White Pot].

The criteria are very lenient.

Based on this premise, he also tested the quantity and scale limitations during storage and placement. For example...

For example, if Xia Nan fills a compartment with drinking water and wants to take some out to use, in most cases he will only take out a portion of it, rather than releasing all of the one cubic meter of fresh water at once.

After testing, he discovered that this operation could be performed simply by concentrating his mind and mentally directing the movement while the hands of the clock were turning.

However, if the object is a combination of multiple items, such as a so-called "travel kit" backpack, it is not possible to take the tent out of the backpack individually.

Instead, one must remove the entire backpack from the pocket watch and then retrieve the necessary items from the backpack oneself.

These are some minor limitations in terms of usage.

Regarding the storage weight, due to the marine environment, Xia Nan could not find a high-density object that could fit within a cubic meter, so it was impossible to test. However, it should be fine; as long as it could fit, weight should not be a problem.

Access is relatively limited and requires contact with one's own body.

Regarding how long each item can be stored inside, Xia Nan only had seven days with the pocket watch, so he couldn't do any tests. But like the weight, there shouldn't be too many restrictions.

If you really want to test it in detail, you can just put a random stone in and see how long it lasts.

Then there's the limit on the number of attempts—none.

The pocket watch has no limit on the number of times it can be used. To test this, Xia Nan repeatedly used the pocket watch to store and retrieve items in a short period of time.

In the end, all that happened was that my head was slightly dizzy from the excessive consumption of mental energy; the [White Pot] itself did not change.

Of course, Xia Nan was using its storage function at this frequency for testing purposes.

In reality, the [White Pot] consumes very little mental energy to store and retrieve items, and normal use will not put any burden on his body.

Next is the type of items that can be stored.

There are basically no restrictions on this; anything that isn't a living thing can be put into the pocket watch's markings.

Within the storage space, time should be frozen, or flow so slowly that even Xia Nan's perception cannot detect it.

He once tried storing a bowl of freshly made stew in his pocket watch, and when he took it out two days later, it was still piping hot.

Xia Nan felt satisfied and began to imagine the wonderful scene of going on an adventure with a big pot of cream of mushroom soup.

Furthermore, each grid cell is independent and does not interfere with the others.

It's unlikely that the torch he stored at "6 o'clock" would ignite the monster materials in the "7 o'clock" slot.

The above is Xia Nan's exploration and research on the [White Pot] over the past week.

While I wouldn't say I fully understand this spatial storage device, I at least have a clear understanding of its limitations and scope of use.

Unfortunately, using the [White Pot] requires waiting for the clock hands to turn, and you have to wait three seconds to store or take it out, and it also needs to be in contact with the items.

Given the intensity and frequency of Xia Nan's current combat, a three-second cooldown would probably be enough for him to chop off double-digit numbers of heads.

Such restrictions essentially prevent the [White Pot] pocket watch from becoming a "combat item," significantly reducing its impact on combat strategy.

Considering the need for backup weapons during battle, and just to be on the safe side, Xia Nan didn't even plan to store the [Green Pine] in his pocket watch, but instead chose to continue carrying it on his person.

Otherwise, if he were to encounter a situation where he had to use a second weapon after losing control of [Ember], he couldn't very well make the enemy stand still for three seconds while he took out his spare weapon.

Moreover, the [Green Pine]'s Yang Flame Inflicts on snakes and scorpions make this wooden sword like a radar targeting specific creatures, allowing Xia Nan to be wary of potential enemies during his adventure.

However, as for spare armor... considering my ridiculously high armor drop rate, which far exceeds that of adventurers of the same level, I might as well bring a few more sets.

You can also store some survival supplies in the [White Pot] pocket watch on ordinary days, so that you don't have to carry a lot of things when you go out on adventures. Even if you encounter special circumstances that are not planned, you will not have to face the predicament of "wilderness survival".

Overall, even disregarding its 25% bonus to healing speed, the White Jar is an invaluable storage item, solely based on its storage attributes.

It's considered quite high-end in the market.

Xia Nan was very satisfied.

"Tap, tap, tap."

Just as he was thinking about whether he should find a good chef to cook several more meals for him after returning to Suoyu Bay and put them in his pocket watch, there was a gentle knock on the door behind him.

“Mr. Xia Nan, we are about to arrive at the port of Suoyu Bay. I came to inform you.”

"I see."

Xia Nan replied.

He carefully placed the White Pot close to his body, re-tied the two longswords leaning against the wall behind him, pushed open the door, and walked out of the room onto the deck.

Perhaps because they were finally returning to Barracuda Bay, the core members of the Oath of Vengeance squad had all gathered on the ship's deck.

Renn, who was previously the most seriously injured, was still wrapped in bandages and was clearly not fully recovered.

The barbarian Arken and the spotted cat Sasha were not in much better physical condition.

The former has barely recovered, as the barbarian's inherently strong physique endows him with outstanding self-healing abilities; the latter had his arm and leg bones broken by the shark beast's attack, and even though the broken bones have been forcibly straightened and put back in place, he still walks with a limp and obviously needs some time to recover.

Of the entire team, the ones who have recovered the best right now are Alton, who wasn't seriously injured in the battle, and Xia Nan, whose injuries were healed by [Echoes of Ember], as well as Hein and Lorraine.

The druid was only hit by the water jets spewed by the shark and fell from the sky, breaking his leg. It was a minor injury, and he recovered almost completely in a few days. Captain Lorraine, on the other hand, was much stronger than the other members of the team except for Xia Nan because of her level 7 profession. Even though she used combat skills to the extreme, a week was enough for her to recover from the exhaustion.

In any case, the Blade of Vengeance fleet is unlikely to take on any more missions in the near future.

A few days ago, I heard Lorraine and their plans. I estimated that they would need to recuperate in Barracuda Bay for at least a month, giving the crew a long vacation while they recovered from their injuries.

Xia Nan didn't have any particular thoughts on this.

Right now, gazing at the approaching Broken Wave Wharf in the distance, I can feel the increasingly bustling atmosphere in the air.

What he was considering was the commission Ellison had given him before he set off: to refurbish and renovate the Flying Fish Oil Barrel at the Blue Clam Shipyard, and when to find two goblin lairs to vent his anger.

It was estimated to be finished, and it was now lying quietly in the pearl spinning tailor shop, waiting for him to pay the final payment for that exquisite enchanted armor made from shark beast materials.

(End of this chapter)