Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

The discovery of a fragment of a cardinal's soul left Charles bewildered; he didn't even know why the other party had died so easily.

Given the other party's status, dealing with a goblin like himself shouldn't have required lifting a finger. Yet, this is the result: the green orb is still in his hand. It has some elasticity, but it's clearly fragile. If he wanted to crush it, he could probably do it without much trouble.

"Could it be you?" Charles looked up at the thick, towering black obelisk beside him. "Is it your power?"

The archbishop had been talking about "miracles, miracles" all along, so it was hard for Charles not to re-examine the obelisk.

He even recalled the strange words the bishop uttered before his death, when the gray mist enveloped his ankles: "powerful divinity," "the creator god."

"What exactly are you?" Charles walked to the side of the obelisk and slowly stroked it. This was the second time he had examined the obelisk so carefully. The first time was when he came here and discovered this thing, but at that time he did not think the obelisk was that powerful.

But this time, Charles personally experienced the obelisk's power. "Creator God? Do you live inside the obelisk?"

He bent his knuckles and gently tapped the black monument, as if knocking on a door. But unlike what he had imagined, there was no divine light descending from the sky, no towering figure, not even a gust of wind. The surroundings remained quiet. The only difference was that Charles had an unlucky soul fragment in his hand.

"I don't know if I've succeeded. Shui Yumo even hinted that the transformation happened after Sophia asked for help," he said, kneading the green orb of light. He was surprised by how nice it felt, and pondered what to do next.

Anyway, as I continue to explore, these mysteries will eventually be solved. Right now, the most urgent thing is to meet the master of the elephant.

"As for the divinity enhanced by Shuiyu Mo," Xia Er looked down at his entire body. He was still the same person, still a goblin, and his hair hadn't even grown back.

Do gods also have a fondness for baldness?

"Oh right," he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten, and slapped his forehead, "I still don't know how Sophia is."

But he didn't know how to contact the other party. Ciel frowned and began to think about what to do.

"Logically speaking, that archbishop should be an intruder, but why did he intrude into my consciousness space?" Charles looked at the soul fragment in his hand. "Could it be that soul link that the evil book mentioned before?"

"But I didn't feel anything special." With that, Charles took a few steps around, but found nothing.

"If it was this cardinal who wanted to harm Sophia, then she should be out of danger now."

After searching for a while, Charles had no choice but to give up. "Um, Sophia, can you hear me?"

Charles shouted a few times, but there wasn't even an echo in this space.

"This soul link is useless anyway." Charles shook his head, preparing to give up trying, but just as he was about to leave the consciousness space, he suddenly heard a very faint heartbeat in his ear.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

It was very subtle, yet powerful and rhythmic.

It's like someone who was on the verge of death being brought back to life.

"This heartbeat... could it mean Sophia is out of danger?" Charles's face lit up with joy. If that were the case, then he hadn't failed to live up to the "Chosen One" title she had given him.

"That's good. I wonder how things are now." He smiled and prepared to leave the consciousness space.

But just as he was about to make that decision, a faint voice drifted into his ear, "I am recovering."

The sound was like the wind blowing, directly entering his ears and gently tapping on his eardrums. Moreover, the sound was old and ethereal, like a low murmur.

Charles frowned. He had heard this sound before; it was the whisper of the forest. But in the past, it had always conveyed some vague hints. This time, however, the content of the whisper left him feeling taken aback.

"Who are you?" he shouted at the obelisk, but even after he asked three times, there was no other sound in the space, as if the whisperer had fallen into isolation once again.

After waiting for almost a minute, and confirming that there would be no more "hints," Charles had no choice but to give up asking.

"Could it really be what that cardinal said, the creator god?"

"But according to the Church of the Four Gods, wasn't the Creator God asleep? How could he have revived?"

Charles stroked his chin, glanced one last time at the black obelisk behind him, and left his consciousness space with a suspicious look on his face.

After he left, the tiny cracks on the obelisk healed very slowly, with a small section of them "healing".

…………

"It's been too long. This is completely different from the spell's effects described in the scriptures," a bishop muttered, moving closer to Archbishop Morrison. "Could it be that our plan has failed?"

Archbishop Morrison gave the other person a cold glance, and that one look was enough to make the other person immediately take a step back and slowly lower their head.

"The person being treated was unharmed, and there were no magical fluctuations at the ritual site, so it cannot be said to have failed." After saying that, he turned and looked around the not-so-large room, and everyone else lowered their heads to avoid eye contact with the archbishop.

For this conversion ceremony, the church leadership deliberately chose a secluded corner of the Cathedral of Life, where no one would disturb them, and even ordinary church staff were not allowed to approach.

Almost everyone who actually knows about this has gathered in this small room.

"This is a secret technique from the ancient texts, and it was also a plan personally devised by His Majesty. There's no way anything could go wrong. As for..." He glanced at Sophia, who was lying quietly on the stone platform, and a contemptuous smile appeared on his lips. "She's just a little druid with a bit of potential, who only talks nonsense all day long. There won't be any problems with her."

"We should simply continue to pray silently and refrain from any unexpected actions that might disrupt His Majesty's current plans."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Archbishop," those present bowed their heads again and said respectfully.

Time ticked by, and the small room was unusually quiet. Even Sister Alina, who wanted to cough, covered her mouth tightly with her hand, afraid of making a sound.

After a while, a rapid breathing sound suddenly came from the stone platform.

"Ah—" With a soft sound, as if suddenly reviving from drowning, Sophia's body arched up, followed by heavy breathing. (Author's note: The author, Kapibala, personally recommends: "I hope you enjoy the story of 'The Forest Doesn't Keep Idle Goblins'.") This caused everyone present to nervously crane their necks to look over.

"Your Majesty?" The elderly Sister Alina, who was closest, asked directly, but she was met with Sophia's cold gaze as she sat up.

Upon meeting her gaze, the old nun was startled and abruptly lowered her head. She had never seen such a look on the young girl's face before, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of fear. Could it be that the secret technique had really succeeded?

Seeing the old nun Alina's actions, the others who were watching also slowly lowered their heads. However, not everyone was familiar with Sophia, and quite a few people still secretly raised their eyelids and tried to look at the "little druid" who had sat up.

"Your Majesty, welcome back." Morrison bowed respectfully to Sophia on the stone platform, his voice no longer cold, but revealing a hint of joy.

"Hmm." Sophia snorted coldly, without saying anything else. She simply scanned everyone present with icy eyes, as if she wanted to freeze them.

"Please come this way, the outer robe made for you is ready." Morrison bent over, extending one hand to guide the way, without even looking up at Sophia's eyes.

With a rustling sound of robes, Sophia stepped down from the stone platform. Instead of leaving immediately, she stood there and stretched her body.

Since being "knocked down" by the old nun last night, she has been lying here, which makes her feel a little stiff, but her face is expressionless, still with that cold look.

"Is she really Her Majesty?" A whisper came from behind, the voice was very soft, but it was still easy to hear in the quiet little room.

Moreover, this question lingered in everyone's mind. This secret technique of soul swapping was only recorded in ancient books and had not been used in the last few thousand years. Now that Sophia had only said one word, how could it prove that she was now the soul of His Majesty Willid?

"Shut up, you've overstepped your bounds!" Morrison immediately straightened up, turned around and angrily rebuked everyone. He was extremely angry, and his expression of rage was completely undisguised.

"It's nothing." Sophia stood still, her gaze sweeping over the church leaders present again. This time, although everyone had their heads down, they did not avoid her gaze. Although there was not much hostility in their eyes, they were not exactly respectful either.

Sophia, who was standing still, just frowned, as if she wanted to say something.

But in the end she didn't say anything, instead clenching her fists a few times.

Immediately afterwards, a magical fluctuation occurred in the small room, making everyone feel a little strange again.

But soon, their eyes widened, and they looked at Sofia with some fear.

As if breaking through some kind of restriction, a ripple that could be clearly seen in the surrounding space was generated. Then, to everyone's horror, Sophia's robes began to move without wind. Then her body began to change. Her eyes turned into golden vertical pupils as she blinked, and white scales began to grow on her body. In just half a minute, the originally aloof girl turned into a "bipedal dragon" with its forelimbs planted on the ground and its head held high.

"Roar—" A dragon's roar shattered the glass of the small room, and everyone present took several steps back, staring in horror at the flying dragon in front of them.

"Yes, it's dragon transformation magic..." a voice murmured, these words striking a chord in everyone's hearts. As high-ranking members of the church, they all knew that only those blessed by God could learn this transformation magic.

That little druid couldn't possibly possess such power.

With a "whoosh," the sound of a sharp claw slicing through flesh was heard. Everyone saw that "Your Majesty," who had transformed into a flying dragon, had actually sliced ​​the old nun Alina to pieces with a single claw.

Such an explosive action was like a reprimand, and the church leaders present immediately knelt down, half-crouched on the ground, and bowed their heads, saying, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger and forgive our overstepping."

"Hmph," Sophia quickly shrank her body and returned to human form, while Archbishop Morrison, who was standing by the door, maintained his gesture of leading with his hand, never straightening his back or glancing at anyone else.

Instead, he looked at Sophia with even more fervor, as if he were looking at his long-lost "daughter".

Sophia ignored the church leaders squatting on the ground and walked straight toward the door without looking to the side.

Behind him, Morrison loudly ordered, "Clean this place up completely, leave no trace. As for Alina, find a reason to bury her." After saying that, he immediately followed Sophia's footsteps, his voice completely different from before, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, the previous target encountered some unexpected circumstances, so we had to choose a new body for you. However, it is a female body, and you may need some time to adapt."

"It's alright," Sofia managed to say, continuing to walk ahead without stopping.

In the small room, joy returned to everyone's faces. They looked at each other, and many began to talk to themselves.

"We're about to succeed! With His Majesty leading us in this divine war, we will win the final victory."

"Hahaha, turning back the clock!"

"I can return to being eighteen years old, even with an eighteen-year-old body."

Everyone was celebrating, even though they were all old, but that didn't stop them from celebrating. Some even had a drink in advance to celebrate the "victory" that was to come.

No one paid any attention to the old nun Alina lying in a pool of blood; not a single person even glanced at her, as if she were a dead stray dog ​​lying on the roadside.

No, it should be a rat, or a maggot.

Even though the maggot stared with resentful eyes.

…………

"Is this all you need?"

Charles frowned as he looked at the paper in front of him. He had just used a lot of Watery Ink to write down all his experiences in the consciousness space, and even added his own imagination and various qualifiers. In the end, Watery Ink's answer was only a few words - "It's okay."

This left Charles completely bewildered; he couldn't be sure whether he had acquired "some kind of divinity."

Logically speaking, the divinity of the God of Life should have something to do with planting, but even though he cast [Natural Wind] twice on a "Red Bull" plant, the effect was still not as good as Yunxia's single cast.

"Brother, your magic isn't very good." Shan Xiao started to pour cold water on him, but what awaited him was Xia Er's cold gaze and a sentence he said to Yun Xia, "I know this kid is planning to talk to the frogmen and wants to put himself in a bubble ball to tour the underwater kingdom of the Naga."

After that, he ignored the little demon hanging under the wall hut and cursing incessantly, and returned to his stone house, where he found the evil book.

"Can you sense anything different about me?" Charles asked, opening the evil book.

"My Lord God, you... you've become even more handsome," the evil book complimented as always.