Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

With a powerful upward push of his hands, Ciel lifted the glass tank covering his body.

He carried the glass tank and entered the underground chamber filled with slimes.

This morning, he led his men to meet with John Jr., and they tested the tangled fruit with the iron shell on the spot. The effect was good, with a kill radius of about 5 meters.

Without the metal shell, the blasting fruit could fly farther, but its destructive power would be nowhere near as great as when it was encased in the shell.

His subordinates could throw the "Grenade Fruit" about 25 meters, which was higher than Xia Er had expected. He originally thought that the goblins' physical condition was such that they could only throw it a dozen meters, but he did not expect that after eating their fill these days, they would be even stronger.

If the power potion is added, Xia Er thinks they can throw it 30 meters.

This will be a great weapon for him to deal with the Devil Claw Bear or adventurers. He can throw 30 grenade fruits at them as soon as they meet, which is safe and efficient.

After testing the results, he instructed Little John to purchase another 50 iron shells at 30 silver coins each, so that the blacksmith shop owner wouldn't lose money, though he didn't make much profit either.

Having dealt with the grenade fruit, Ciel rushed to the slime's hideout.

He first had Red Eyes throw five torches into the secret room, then Charles turned the large glass jar upside down and climbed into it himself.

Holding the vat upright, they slowly moved towards the innermost part.

When Nine Fingers came in last time, he noticed a reflective object in the corner.

It must be something good to survive around so many slimes rich in strong acids. I'm going to catch slimes anyway, so I'll just take it while I'm at it.

With a "thud," a slime fell from the ceiling, smashed onto the top of the glass tank, and exploded, scattering everywhere. Inside, the acid had no effect on Ciel.

He carefully chose his route, avoiding the slimes that swarmed everywhere on the ground.

Fortunately, these lumps of stuff moved very slowly. Although they sensed something passing by, they couldn't keep up with Ciel's speed.

I made it to the innermost part without any major incidents. I was hit by falling slimes three times along the way, but none of them were dangerous.

Charles put down the glass jar, picked up the object on the ground—a green ring.

[Item: Magic Green Glass Ring]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Purpose: To be worn on the finger]

[Special Effect: Grants immunity to mental attacks when worn, until the ring can no longer withstand them.]

[Note: The captain said this thing is too brittle to engrave runes on; I'll have to use a different material next time.]

"A ring." Ciel examined it carefully by the light of the torch. Finding nothing special about it, he put it in his pocket, looked around, and seeing nothing else of interest, immediately propped up the glass tank and headed back.

Several slimes had already crawled past the spot where I had just stopped.

"Don't rush, I'll get you all out of here later," Charles said confidently.

After leaving, he prepared to start raising slimes as a biological weapon to deal with the Deinonychus, believing it would be surprisingly effective.

As long as you don't damage the core, you can put any food near the core and it will grow in no time. If you want it to grow faster, you can also give it some water.

Since joining forces with Agatha, his need for resources in the forest has grown. Although he has a map to see the distribution of resources, the threat of the Devilclaw Bear is always there. He doesn't want to be gathering herbs when a gray-black beast head suddenly appears in front of him.

He has already devised a battle plan for the Deinonychus and is very confident that he can kill it.

Furthermore, they also need to take action to obtain the beast core inside the other party's body.

Xia Er knew very well about the beast core. It was the main ingredient in the various secret medicines made by the kingdom and was strictly controlled. Ordinary people could not obtain it. If he were still in human form, he would definitely be the same.

When he was working as a political assistant in the City of Plantagenet, he learned that members of the National Knights were taking secret medicines to enhance their physical abilities, and that the old nobles were also using secret medicines to slow down aging. This was a means for the royal family to control the privileged class.

Ordinary people can only improve their skills through physical training to a limited extent and cannot break through their physical limits, while knights rely on drugs to enhance their strength, agility, and endurance.

Although taking too much of the secret medicine can cause irreversible damage to the body and even turn you into a monster, the feeling of being filled with power is still irresistible.

Charles was also invited to watch the Knights' martial arts demonstration in the capital. Those guys, fully armored, could cut down three bound goblins along with the wooden posts they were using to tie them up with a single sword strike.

He asked the Knights if they really had to kill goblins. They said it wasn't necessarily goblins, but nothing was better than these green-skinned dwarves. First, their height was just right, and second, they were the best for the spectacle. They would scream and howl before being cut, and then wail everywhere as soon as the sword passed over them. Plus, you could watch the goblins dragging their upper bodies on the ground in agony, their internal organs spilling out everywhere. The visual effect was perfect.

Ciel didn't like watching it; it was too bloody and brutal. But some people did enjoy it, and the audience often erupted in applause.

This led skilled adventurers to frequently attempt to capture live goblins, cut off their ears, and sell them to merchants for 15 silver each, who then resold them to various knightly orders.

Now that he had become a goblin, Ciel only hoped that neither he nor his men would ever meet that day.

Although monsters occasionally appear in other places, they are more concentrated in Nightmare Forest. He felt like he had built a house next to a monster spawn point, so he wouldn't have to worry about not having enough monster cores in the future.

Ciel carefully and quickly avoided the slimes scattered all over the ground, carrying the glass tank on his head, and moved step by step toward the door.

The flickering torchlight illuminated a strange pattern on the wall beside the stone gate.

He kicked a torch toward that spot, then slowly approached to investigate.

This is a picture. Judging from the general outline, it seems to be a nightmare forest. There is a square in the middle, and a black dot on the left, right and bottom of the picture. The common word "Location" is written next to the black border at the bottom.

Below the drawing were some blurry words, which Charles leaned closer to examine.

"Watchtower...you should know."

"24/7 on duty, shift work..."

"One team leader...members, equipment...report..."

"Encountered monsters... Fortress, immediately..."

"...The fire...needs immediate attention..."

"Equipment maintenance...every seven days..."

Even after Xia Er tried his best to decipher the characters, he could only make out these words, but that was enough to deduce the location of the building.

It's unclear when this watchtower was built. Its purpose was probably to monitor the presence of monsters and fires in the forest, but the above-ground part has long been destroyed. The remaining stone chamber should be the underground part of the watchtower.

What truly attracted Charles was the word "fortress".

"The square in the middle should be the fortress. Judging from the situation, it's very close to this watchtower, but a bit far from the two points on the left and right."

"If the fortress is built underground in the forest, it would be a giant natural cave, perfect for goblins to use as a nest."

"I have to get it, I absolutely must get it, so I won't have to move anymore."

Charles was overjoyed and quickly memorized the map.

Then he carried the glass tank out of the stone chamber and ordered his men to catch three slimes.