Chapter 896: Chapter 447: [Scale Fire Saber] 2

Compared to those common scimitars on the racks of the Suo Yu Bay Blacksmith Shop, the curve of its blade was much more restrained, even carrying a touch of elegance, like a waning crescent moon that had been gently straightened;

The blade was a strikingly bright silver, reflecting the twilight outside the window; amid the flickering cold gleam one could vaguely glimpse the wave-like forging patterns on its surface. The hilt was made of some unknown reddish-brown wood with a warm texture, covered in scale-like grain that allowed for a steady grip.

Xia Nan examined it with extreme care, and precisely because of that, he clearly sensed the occasional faint sparks that flashed through the air around the blade, along with the subtly warped, heat-hazed air as if scorched by high temperature.

"This is..."

His attention instinctively focused, and the half-transparent attribute panel floated into view before his eyes.

...

[Scale Fire Saber]

Type: scimitar

Level: Rare (blue)

Effects:

1. +45% Durability; 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

2. +15% Flame damage;

3. +10% damage to Undead Creatures;

4. When combat time exceeds 300 seconds, the power of Flame will amplify the wielder’s Anger, igniting battle spirit and increasing Strength Attribute by 5%–15% (cap at 15 points);

5. The Flame damage you deal will inflict a searing pain on enemies and slightly reduce their healing effect over the duration.

Introduction:

Forged with Dragon Breath infused into it, the power of Flame runs along the edge—but beware the Anger that lies dormant within.

Note:

"The most dangerous Flame in this world is that one quiet spark rising in the depths of your heart."

—Heartfire Sect · Melting Eye Prophet · Doryas

...

"Nice eye."

The female voice from ahead pulled Xia Nan’s attention back to reality.

His gaze lifted.

The woman with the head of fiery red curls was arching a brow, looking at him with an amused expression.

"I’m Lorin, captain of the ’Sword of Vengeance’ fleet."

She tipped her chin at Xia Nan in greeting.

"You must be Xia Nan. I just heard your name from Hai Yin."

Obviously, before Xia Nan came upstairs, Hai Yin and the others had already reported the situation to their captain, giving Lorin a rough idea of what they’d run into that afternoon.

And as for Xia Nan, who’d performed outstandingly during the quest, there was no way he’d been glossed over; he’d even been specially highlighted by the Druid.

At this point, even though Lorin had never met him before, from Hera’s teasing tone, as well as the reactions on the faces of Hai Yin and the twin warrior brothers Rein and Gordon, she could more or less guess who he was.

"Then you two take your time chatting. I won’t get in the way."

Having personally brought Xia Nan to the room—silently making her own attitude and relationship with him clear—Hera saw that Lorin had already started talking with the young adventurer at her side, so she didn’t linger and took the initiative to excuse herself.

Before turning to leave, she even gave Xia Nan a smiling wink, hinting that he didn’t need to worry too much; if the conversation didn’t go smoothly, she’d put in a good word for him later.

Cre-eak—

The door closed softly, and the footsteps in the corridor gradually faded away.

The room fell quiet again.

Feeling the faint heat current in the air coming from the [Scale Fire Saber], Xia Nan sat down on the sofa opposite Lorin’s desk at her gesture.

To be honest, even though the atmosphere in the room looked somewhat oppressively quiet, he wasn’t particularly nervous inside; he even still carried a bit of the relaxed feeling from just having finished a bowl of cream mushroom soup.

Of course, he’d always treated the people around him with respect and politeness.

The same applied now.

He didn’t start flattering or agreeing with the casually seated red-haired woman in front of him just because he needed something from her; instead he maintained a relatively serious and proper posture and slowly sat down.

"What do you think of my saber?"

Before he came, Hera had definitely already communicated with the other side about the "Moon Tide Banquet" and explained Xia Nan’s intentions.

But right now, Lorin didn’t jump straight into that topic; instead she picked up where they’d just left off.

There was plenty of time, and Xia Nan didn’t mind chatting about side topics with her. He also wanted to take advantage of the conversation to carefully observe her personality, in order to increase his chances later when he asked her to take him along to the "Moon Tide Banquet."

His gaze once again fell on the scimitar on the desk, his attention focusing. On the surface it looked like he was carefully examining it, but in reality he’d already called up the attribute panel, and said:

"I can’t tell the exact forging materials, but it’s obvious that this scimitar’s Quality Level is very high, already beyond the general category of Enchanted Equipment."

He naturally wasn’t going to foolishly quote the attribute panel’s numbers word for word. Xia Nan organized his words in his head and gave a summary in his own phrasing.

"Its resilience is pretty good, and it has some Flame bonus damage, but... the Energy inside seems a bit too active. If you use it for prolonged periods in battle, it might have some impact on your body and even your emotions?"

He spoke very vaguely, and deliberately skipped over details like "damage bonus to Undead Creatures" and "healing effect suppression" that would be hard to notice through mere eyesight and Perception alone.

But even just with what he’d said, he’d already earned the red-haired woman’s approval.

Lorin gave a tiny nod; the tip of her pointed leather boot traced an arc through the air, then landed back on the floor with a crisp "tap."

Her right hand left the sofa, her body leaning forward. Pinching the front of the saber’s hilt with her fingers, she turned the blade tip toward herself and the handle outward, and directly handed the scimitar to Xia Nan, indicating he didn’t need to hold back and could just take it.

Surprised in his heart by how generous Lorin was being, Xia Nan wasn’t about to lose his nerve at a time like this.

He reached out and took it, and the scimitar was already resting in his palm.

Vwoom—

Flames burst forth!

As if it had touched some invisible accelerant, the sparks that had been flickering in the air around the scimitar suddenly exploded, turning into a mass of orange-red Flame that ignited the entire blade.

The wave-like patterns that had been faintly visible on its surface now seemed to be saturated with flowing fire, forming layers of gorgeous gold-and-red lines.

The black of his eyes reflected the firelight, and the locks of hair on his forehead whipped in the gust of heat pouring over him.

Xia Nan felt his usually calm heart being gently disturbed by the flames on the blade, ripples slowly spreading across its surface. But since he wasn’t in the middle of a fight, his emotions only fluctuated slightly before he forced them back down.

"Heh, looks like it really likes you."

Lorin watched Xia Nan on the sofa opposite her, a faint smile on her lips.

But I don’t like it...

Xia Nan replied in his heart.

No doubt about it, this Blue Quality Enchanted Weapon was rare, powerful, and expensive; out in the world, adventurers would practically kill each other over it.

Its actual values were laid out clearly on the attribute panel as well, fully matching its "Blue Rare" tier positioning.

Even if it was slightly inferior to his own [Ash Fall] Straight Sword, it was still a pretty good piece of Equipment.

But Xia Nan just wasn’t into it.

He disliked the feeling of having his inner emotions unnaturally stirred, and he didn’t want to have to constantly monitor his inner state and suppress his anger while fighting.

What’s more, his current combat style was a synthesis of intuition, battle inspiration, and muscle memory—this kind of inexplicable anger would heavily interfere with his judgment in combat.

A pure downside, through and through.

Unless he genuinely had no other suitable weapon to choose from, otherwise even if someone gave it to him for free, he’d... uh, he’d still take it, since it could be sold for money.

Thinking that to himself, Xia Nan made no obvious movement on the surface, but the raging flames on the [Scale Fire Saber] in his hand silently went out, returning completely to the state it’d been in when he first entered the room.

He gave Lorin across from him a polite nod to express his thanks for letting him handle her saber, then gently placed the [Scale Fire Saber] back on the desk.

He could tell that when the saber had just been handed to Xia Nan and Lorin saw the flames rise, she hadn’t seemed particularly surprised.

But now, seeing the fire on the blade go out, those reddish-brown eyes of hers instead showed a rare flicker of surprise.

The pointed leather boot that had just been rocking idly on her left knee also paused mid-swing, no longer tapping.

"You..."