Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

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"Five years to find this red and blue eye in the Nightmare Forest," Charles read the contract carefully, word by word. "After the contract takes effect, the commissioning party can grant the commissioned party a magical ability. If the eye is found within the time limit, the commissioned party can have one wish within their power. If it is not found..."

Charles frowned as he looked at the following text. "If it is not found, the client has the right to take away the soul of the client."

"How about it?" The demon lord smiled at the goblin in front of him. "These are pretty good terms, aren't they? You can directly gain a magical ability, which is much more powerful than those goblins, since no goblin knows how to use magic."

Charles listened to the other person's words without changing his expression, but inwardly he was cursing several times over. "Giving me only one magical ability, and I probably can't even choose it myself. If I don't find it within five years, it will take my soul. It's a loss no matter how you look at it."

"Besides, their forced smile clearly shows they've got me cornered. If I don't agree, they'll probably put some kind of soul shackle on me and force me to work for them."

"Their magical abilities are indeed quite impressive. I've seen those human adventurers before, and the spells they cast are all very powerful." Charles showed a surprised expression at the right time. The other party had not yet realized that his soul was not actually a goblin, and seemed to still regard him as a green dwarf with a little intelligence but who had not changed his greedy nature.

"So, once you sign it, you won't be afraid of those human adventurers anymore." The clone continued to smile, its smile even deepening.

“But the forest is vast, and those human adventurers are ruthless,” Charles said with some frustration, his hand seemingly brushing against the angry horns on the table. “I probably won’t live more than five years. My predecessors all died very quickly.”

Raising its head, it sized up the goblin in front of it, a cold glint in its eyes, but the swaying horns on the table quickly brought a smile back to its face. "You're right, those guys are indeed troublesome."

Then, it raised a finger and circled it twice in the air. Charles saw a flame flash on the parchment, and the five-year term instantly became a ten-year term.

"It's taking longer," he said "delightfully," but then added somewhat dejectedly, "but I still can't beat those human adventurers; they're too strong."

Just as he caught a glimpse of the demon lord's eyes turning cold again, Charles immediately said, "If I could choose a powerful spell myself, I think I wouldn't have anything to worry about."

Hearing this, it narrowed its eyes. In the past, when it made contracts with those greedy humans, it would directly grant them one or more magical abilities. Now, this goblin actually wanted to choose. You should know that those powerful spells were all granted by it, which was consuming its power.

However, when the goblin in front of it "happily" slapped its hands on the table, its long horn swayed back and forth with the vibration, and the swaying afterimage was like its constantly beating heart.

"Splash," He simply raised his hand, and a thick book with a red cover appeared out of thin air in front of Charles. "Choose one of these spells that you need."

Charles stared wide-eyed at the floating spellbook before him, startling him the moment it appeared. Its dark red cover resembled congealed blood, while the yellowed pages inside hinted at the spellbook's antiquity.

"These pages aren't made of human skin, are they?" Charles thought to himself as he stepped forward to carefully read the spells.

"Mage's Hand? Mana Blast? Curse of Pain?... " He looked at them one by one. They only provided him with a little over twenty magic options, which is less than the number of abilities he had saved back from being stripped away.

"I can't choose a spell like Magic Burst; I don't have much mana, and I can't cast it many times," Sharl thought quickly as he looked at the spell. "The Curse of Pain looks powerful, but it also has drawbacks. It's not suitable for me as a leader of my tribe."

"The Vulnerability Curse is the same," he read through the spells one by one, discovering that most of them were mind magic, including many spells with charm and control effects. "Am I, a goblin, supposed to charm those adventurers directly?"

Just as he was carefully choosing, The clone was getting impatient. "Haven't you made your choice yet? I can just grant you a spell, how about Magic Burst?"

Hearing the other person's somewhat impatient tone, Charles narrowed his eyes slightly, then nodded heavily and said with a "delighted" smile, "I've made my choice, this is it."

Looking over, I saw the words "Mass Intelligence Degradation Curse" written in large black ink on the page of the magic book.

"Group Mind Reduction Curse: When facing an enemy, you can cast this spell actively or cast it on yourself. In this way, all targets that you perceive as 'enemies' will be affected by the mind reduction effect."

"This is it. With it, I won't be afraid of those human adventurers attacking me anymore," Charles said cheerfully, glancing at the mage's corpse on the ground beside him.

"So, are you sure you want to sign this agency agreement?" He smiled again, it seemed the goblin in front of him was about to take the bait.

"Yes, what should I do?" Charles nodded, his eyes fixed on the parchment contract on the table.

"Just sign your name." He pointed to the bottom of the parchment with his finger, and soon, Charles signed "Green Egg" on it. After he finished signing, an unreadable, blood-red signature appeared on the edge of the parchment.

'That might be demonic script,' Charles thought to himself, then looked hopefully at the demon lord's avatar before him. 'Grant me magic now?'

A red mist rose from the spellbook and slowly drifted toward the goblin on the table until it completely enveloped him.

Gradually, the fog dissipated, and Charles felt as if something in his consciousness had been pried open. Then he slowly raised his hand and said to himself, "Mind-Degrading Curse."

A wisp of red light swirled and flickered around him, then scattered in the air like starlight. "Is this what it feels like to cast a spell?"

Charles looked himself over, trying to feel the changes in his body, but after several attempts, he didn't feel much.

"Now that the contract is signed, you should start searching as soon as possible." After saying that, he carried the magic book and walked towards the mirror.