Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 108 Magic Network
"Tick."

Turbid water droplets filled with a foul stench dripped from the top of his head, splashing sporadically on the ground mixed with feces and muddy soil.

The narrow and cramped stone wall reflected the cold dark light, which occasionally shone on the half-exposed sword body that rose and fell gently as it moved, and the iron-gray sharp light was fleeting.

The beheading sword, which he had already mastered and had become his main weapon, was tied firmly behind his back.

In his hand is a one-handed wooden sword [Green Pine] which is less sharp but more suitable for the current scene.

The dark eyes reflected the pus-green color of the fungus moss in the cracks of the stone wall.

His eyes were fixed on the dimly lit corridor ahead, with his attention highly concentrated, alert to any suspicious movements.

Xia Nan held his left arm as a shield in front of him, with his right palm pressed against the hilt of the sword, with the tip of the sword slanted downward.

While making as little noise as possible, remain ready to engage in battle at any time.

Right now, it was already the second day since he had received the mission from the Adventurer's Guild.

No matter how much you look forward to [Tooth Hunting], you can't wait to chop down hundreds or thousands of goblins.

But the encounters in the previous missions and the adventurers in the tavern who were only seen once and then disappeared.

He forced himself to be patient and made full preparations in River Valley Town.

Compared to the expected mission duration of a little more than two days, the food supplies, sleeping bags and blankets, water bottles, and a roll of hemp rope were enough to support him to survive in the wild for a week...

I even took half an evening to do a little experiment.

It was not until dawn the next day that he left River Valley Town full of energy.

They moved cautiously along the way, following the approximate direction given by the association, and groped their way to the Goblin Cave, which is now located on the outer edge of the Misty Forest.

Moving forward slowly, the only sounds in the air were the barely perceptible sound of long breathing and the slight friction between the tough surface of the leather armor and the lining of the chain mail shirt.

His eyes swept across the narrow stone walls on both sides of the cave.

"The entrance is narrow, it doesn't look like there are bugbears there."

"A corridor leads directly inside. There are no traps or forks in the road. There should be no hobgoblins."

But considering the possibility that there are other entrances, the nest itself has not been completely built, or another elite subspecies of greenskins...

"You still have to be careful."

Xia Nan moved his feet lightly, but in his mind he was estimating the distance between himself and the cave entrance, and how long it would take him to escape if he turned around and evacuated at full speed.

"If you encounter an enemy that is difficult to fight, or it is difficult to fight in the current environment, you can consider throwing kerosene bombs to block the road and delay time for your retreat."

crackling——

It was the crisp sound of sparks exploding.

Xia Nan leaned against the stone wall, hiding in the shadows, and looked into the cave.

The bonfire had gone out, leaving only the faintly glowing embers of wood;
The iron pot with rust on the surface was placed on the firewood. It was difficult to see what was inside, but there should be only some residue left.

Then, there were those disgusting green-skinned creatures who were hunched over, skinny and ugly.

He glanced over and quickly estimated the number in his mind.

"Two, four, six..."

"Twelve?"

It's a little more than I imagined, but it's still well within my ability to handle.

A hint of paleness suddenly flashed from the corner of his eye.

——A human skull with cracks on its surface, lying on the muddy ground.

Xia Nan's expression sank.

The tragic scene when he first stepped into the goblin's lair once again emerged in his mind.

But there is no more fear or retreat.

Instead, there was a deep disgust and loathing that surged in my heart.

Confirm that there are no other exits in the cave, and there are no other enemies besides the twelve goblins in front of you.

Xia Nan no longer concealed his movements, and took the initiative to walk out of the corridor.

"Hiss!"

The greenskins screamed excitedly, as if they were treating him as food that had been delivered to their doorstep.

Lost the command of the hobgoblins and the morale bonus of the bugbears.

A dozen goblins huddled together in a mess, with their slender arms like dead branches raised high, holding crudely made black-brown wooden sticks, and rushed over all at once.

The surging fighting spirit ignited by the murderous intent boiled in his chest and abdomen.

The brain is extremely calm.

Xia Nan always reminded himself that cleaning out the goblin nests was just a side job to make some extra money.

The main purpose of his trip was not for these dozens of gold coins.

Stand still.

"call……"

Take a deep breath.

The chill that once penetrated into his bones and muscles once again surged out from the muscles of his waist, abdomen, and legs.

It was ordinary and seemed no different from usual.

He raised his leg slightly and took a step forward.

【Tooth Hunting】!
Sizzle, bang—

The scene in front of my eyes blurred and solidified in an instant, and the muscle fibers beneath my skin were pulled and torn by the sudden burst of force.

The air became as sticky as water due to the high-speed movement, and under the compression of the collision of flesh, it emitted a faint and long wolf howl.

Filled with dirty mud and pungent stench, a sharp wind as sharp as a knife exploded in the air.

In just a breath, or even shorter!
Xia Nan, who was standing at the entrance of the lair just now, turned his tall body into a phantom. Amid the howling of wolves and the sound of strong winds, he crossed the barrier of space and came to the pile of greenskins that were huddled together like corpses.

The action never stops.

With the help of the impact force brought by [Tooth Hunting] and the body inertia, [Spin Slash], which had long been trained to the maximum level and integrated with the body, poured out with the thin and short sound of the wooden sword breaking through the air.

hum-

It was a dark brown arc of light that was more complete, thin and powerful than usual.

The power of the two fighting skills were superimposed together in an instant.

It transformed into a sword light that was far more swift and sharper than before.

He didn't even feel the sluggish feeling of the less sharp wooden sword in his hand cutting through his flesh.

Just step, rush forward, and swing the sword.

The next second, the excited and ugly expression of the greenskin in front of him stopped.

It's like a fountain that bursts regularly in the square.

The shattered skull with smooth edges, the thin limbs that were sporadically shaking, the bright red internal organs that were emitting heat... were lifted up and away from the body by the red and white sticky "fountain".

A whole row of pus-green rice fell down.

Eight goblins, killed instantly.

"Proficiency +1"

The translucent characters flashed before my eyes.

There are no bugbears to provide morale bonuses, and no hobgoblins to supervise the battle from behind.

With just this one strike of Xia Nan's sword, the other four greenskins were frightened out of their wits.

He threw away the stick in his hand and ran away screaming.

There is no point in honing your fighting skills against an enemy who has lost his will to fight.

Holding a wooden sword, he strode after them, slashing, stabbing, hacking and chopping, killing the last four cowardly low-level monsters one by one and sending them to hell to reunite with their dead companions.

The goblin nest, which was originally filled with sharp and chaotic cries, suddenly became quiet.

The only sound left was Xia Nan's steady and long breathing.

Turning around, he confirmed that all the goblins were dead.

Xia Nan drew out the beheading sword behind him, and with the help of the glowing firefly moss between the folds of the stone wall, he stared at his own reflection on the surface of the sword.

[Tooth Hunter] lv1: (3/100)

A look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

"really!"

"Using combat skills in battle will increase your proficiency much faster than practicing hard in the air by yourself!"

As early as last night, Xia Nan had prepared all the supplies before the trip.

Using the time he saved from only needing 6 hours of sleep, he practiced [Tooth Hunting] in the outskirts of River Valley Town until late at night.

I estimate that I practiced for about eight hours in total.

Only then did the progress bar of the combat skill upgrade reach (2/100).
At this moment, even if one counts the time it takes him to move carefully in the narrow corridor, it would only take him a dozen minutes at most to enter the cave.

But at the same time, I gained some valuable proficiency.

The reason for the difference between the two cannot be the change in the surrounding environment or the difference between day and night.

Just as Xia Nan had expected.

With the attribute panel, you can greatly improve the speed of acquiring proficiency through actual combat.

Even those high-intensity battles still have a good effect on combat skills that have been upgraded to a high level.

My heart, which had been a little nervous, suddenly felt relaxed.

I just feel that the future is bright. Xia Nan put away his sword.

His eyes swept across the corpses and pus and blood scattered on the ground, and glanced through the nest.

I will cut off the goblins' ears later.

The cleanup was completed and the 25 gold reward for the association mission was obtained.

With the idea of maximizing profits in mind, he naturally wouldn't mind the dirtiness and planned to search the cave carefully again to see if there were any spoils that could be sold at a high price.

After all, it's just a short mission and we'll be back in the city soon, so it doesn't matter if we carry more weight.

jingle--

There seemed to be a brilliant golden light, which disappeared in an instant under the cover of muddy soil.

"Oh?"

Xia Nan immediately stepped forward, bent down, and picked out a gold coin from the soil.

It's not that surprising.

Without the existence of bugbears and hobgoblins, ordinary greenskins rarely have the habit of actively collecting spoils of war. They just instinctively follow their desires to hunt and fill their stomachs.

In this case, those unlucky people who become food, if they carry coins with them, will become cheaper to those who come later.

One or two gold coins is normal.

Xia Nan originally thought so too.

Until he picked up more and more gold coins, and even found a finely crafted pearl necklace.

I couldn't help wondering:

"This will cost 30 gold in total."

"That shouldn't be the case. They are just a dozen goblins. They can't even defeat an ordinary caravan. How could they possibly have looted so much money?"

Puzzled, his eyes paused.

In the corner of the cave in front, next to the white bones and broken limbs, there lay a small box covered in dust and blood.

The lock on the box mouth seemed to have been opened, and there was a gap between the upper cover and the bottom plate.

Pick it up and open it.

What caught my eye was a thin book with a light red cover.

I took it out of the book box quite unexpectedly.

Open.

……

Year 712 of the Offa calendar, month of Sun, 21st.

Things in Huancai City are very expensive, and the housing prices are much higher than those in Neum.

With the gold coins I saved from performing tricks on the road and Leah's savings, we rented a small room in the city.

The landlord was a Karinshan, but he was a nice guy and only asked us to pay a deposit for three months.

But I don’t think I can stay that long.

Next month will be the freshman assessment for Hawthorn Royal Academy, and I have been preparing for it for three years.

As long as I can become a formal student of the academy, I can live in the dormitory with Leah.

I have to say, I was a little nervous.

Of course you can. Of course you can.

……

Year 712 of the Offaic calendar, month of Blight, day 7.

The assessment is over and I failed.

……

Year 712 of the Offaic calendar, month of Blight, day 26.

Leah found a job as a jewelry apprentice in a workshop, as that was her family's business.

The college's next entrance examination will be in two years.

At that time, I was twenty-nine years old, which was less than the college's age limit of thirty.

Leah urged me to try again.

Yes, I have been preparing for so long, I am unwilling to give up just like that.

Then try again.

……

Year 712 of the Offaic calendar, 5th of the month of Falling Leaves.

The college's assessment was much more difficult than I had expected.

It's definitely not possible to just stay in the room and wait for two years.

There is a wizard tower in the city that is recruiting apprentices. It is said that the owner of the wizard tower is a great wizard who is proficient in gravity magic. I want to give it a try.

……

Year 712 of the Offaic calendar, 28th of the month of Falling Leaves.

Great, I did it!

I seemed to have some talent in gravity magic, and the young wizard who was in charge of receiving me even chose a room for me in the wizard tower that was closer to the laboratory.

Leah was happy for me too.

Tonight we went to the city pub for a big dinner after a long absence.

When we got home, we were both drunk.

……

Year 713 of the Offaic Calendar, month of Duskclaw, day 3.

It has been almost half a year since I entered the Mage Tower.

He spends every day in the lab and has an untidy beard. When she saw Leah today, she was shocked.

Haha.

I told her not to worry, saying that I was living a fulfilling life and learning a lot.

By next year, I will definitely pass the assessment and become a student of the Royal Academy.

……

Year 713 of the Offaic Calendar, month of Duskclaw, day 30.

During the routine experiment today, Jerry accidentally mistook sulfur powder for meteorite iron filings and sprinkled it into the gravity array.

The color and weight are obviously different. I don’t know how this careless guy made a mistake.

The instructor was furious and we didn't dare to say anything.

Unlucky Jerry was kicked out of the Mage Tower.

As his roommate, I was left behind by my supervisor to clean the laboratory.

And then... guess what I saw?
The experiment was successful!
……

Year 713 of the Offaic Calendar, month of Windclaw, day 1.

Jerry was kicked out of the Mage Tower, and I was the only one left in the dormitory.

After living together for half a year, I suddenly couldn't hear his snoring and I couldn't sleep.

It is also easy to have wild thoughts at night.

I suddenly remembered the scene of cleaning the laboratory the day before yesterday.

Why is it successful?
Even though the meteorite iron filings used as spellcasting materials were replaced with sulfur powder, the gravity field within the magic circle still changed.

Is it because of the runes on the enchanted steel plate?

Why bother with materials if you can succeed without them?

Tomorrow is a day off.

I want to verify my guess.

……

Year 713 of the Offaic Calendar, month of Windclaw, day 2.

The experiment was successful again!

Not just sulfur powder, I tried replacing the spell materials with silver iron powder, talcum powder, and finally even sprinkled a handful of laundry detergent from the dormitory into it.

why?
why?
I suddenly remembered that my mentor once told us.

The essence of spellcasting is to mobilize the essence through the "magic web" of the [Mysterious Lady] so that the raw magic power can be safely and steadily controlled by the mage.

The role of "spell materials" is to serve as a material medium to stabilize the spell structure.

Without the right and appropriate amount of spellcasting materials, many spells would be difficult to cast.

I couldn't help but wonder.

If the spell materials in the talisman array can be replaced at will, it does not really matter whether it means a stable spell model.

But if there is no spell model, even if I can use my mental power to connect to the magic network, how should I release the magic power?

Or is it that the magic net is just a temporary one... (The handwriting becomes increasingly illegible, and the last few characters are crossed out)

(End of this chapter)