Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Chapter 408 The Road Ahead

Ciel had heard Agatha mention the Awakening of the Gods over the centuries. For ordinary people who didn't know much about the magical world, he had heard a little bit about it before.

Now that he knows the transformation curse only appeared around that time, he finds it strange. Why would the creator god awaken and give magicians such strange spells, which turn people into goblins, hags, or other "lower" intelligent beings?

Arcane mages already have spells like Polymorph, so why go to such lengths? Is it just a perverse sense of humor?

In truth, the transformation curse is nowhere near as powerful as runic magic.

With a sigh, Charles had no choice but to think of a solution again.

Seeking help from the Church of Light and Justice to remove the spell is unlikely to be a successful path. According to Cunningham, Agatha could have a bishop from the church cast a purification spell on her, but as for herself, "Heh, I'm afflicted with a high-level transformation curse, so I can only seek help from the God of Light."

But this is not something that can be done just by talking. Not to mention that he is currently in the form of a goblin, even if we consider his family's faith, he is a believer in the Church of Night and Fate. He has hardly ever entered the church of the Church of Light since birth, let alone prayed to the God of Light and Justice.

"Could it be that we're going to play the same game as the Church of Life again?" Sharmo stroked his chin, a smirk playing on his lips. "We'll find a way to develop our own tribe, and then when we get to the next opportunity to choose a god's blessing, we'll choose the blessing of the God of Justice, and then pray that a naive priest like Sophia will come to the forest and claim to be the chosen one of the Church of Light?"

But there's not much way to get in touch with the God of Light. At most, you can fool the naive girl, and whether the people in the Church of Light are actually stupid is another matter.

"It seems there's only one more reliable path," Charles muttered to himself. "Go to that cold wasteland, find the 'headquarters' of the cursed faction, and then find the name of the mage who cast the spell on me there."

Once you know the name, you can search the whole world for this high-ranking mage.

Unlike apprentices and low-level mages, high-level archmages like Cunningham should be relatively easy to find, as long as they aren't wanted by the Spell Union.

"At least this is a reliable route." Charles sighed. "It's just that the Frozen Wasteland is north of the Kingdom of Argon, too far from the Kingdom of Fran, and our own forest area is not adjacent to Argon. If we want to make contact with that country, we have to expand to the east of the forest at the very least."

On the territory map, the Sharl currently only occupies the southern region, and has only glimpsed a small part of the eastern region. If it wants to extend its "tentacles" to Argon, the eastern neighbor of the Kingdom of Fran, it must develop its power to the east.

"Expand eastward?" Charles thought for a moment, then shook his head. Not to mention that he had peeked at the map and seen a huge twin-sword battle symbol, the fact that the Kingdom of Argon had often fought with the Kingdom of Fran in the past, almost causing a demon invasion, gave him a headache. The Argonians didn't like the Franians very much, and the accents of the two countries were easy to distinguish. Although both countries spoke the common language, the Argonians' tone was flatter and their pronunciation was harder, which led the Franians to call Argon the land of barbarians.

Moreover, it wasn't just their tone of voice; the Argonians also loved fur, and they often wore fur clothing. The Shire's father had a cloak made of fox fur, which was from the Argonians.

"Now I not only don't know how the Argonians view goblins, but if I rashly enter a foreign land, I might be mistaken for a spy and killed by the Argonian adventurers just because I'm a goblin with a Fran accent."

Thinking of this, Charles narrowed his eyes, as if he could already see a group of adventurers dressed in fur, wielding great axes and longswords, excitedly chasing after him.

While chasing, he shouted in a stern tone, "It's all my doing, don't run away!"

What should I do?

Charles felt a headache coming on. Although going to the cold wasteland was more feasible than the path of the God of Light, it was still not an easy journey.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the bone cell beside him. Cunningham's soul orb was no longer floating, but had landed directly at the bottom of the bone cell, as if the several electric shocks just now had left him completely powerless.

"Seriously, you bunch of dark magicians, why are you hiding so far away?" With that, Charles gripped the "Cunningham Pleasure Stick" and thrust it in again.

The Soul Orb immediately trembled and rapidly contracted. All Charles could hear were hissing sounds and the crackling of electricity. It seemed the Archmage no longer had the strength to wail.

"But there is a way." Charles put down the joy stick and looked at the wooden map hanging on the wall. Uncle Musa had already sent a letter reporting the new developments in the Kingdom of Fran.

The second prince was indeed alive and had now received funding from a powerful noble family, raising a rebellion army. Meanwhile, the third prince, Theodore, had declared himself the new king of the Kingdom of Fran, and his army was said to have already entered the capital, Plantagenet City.

"Now we just wait for the two sides to fight, and then I'll take advantage of the chaos to develop my own strength. When I leave the forest," Charles clenched his fist, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips, "only then, when I've occupied a large enough territory, will I have the opportunity to communicate with the Kingdom of Argonne."

"At that time, we can send people to inquire about and explore the cold wasteland in the north until we find the magic tower of the cursed faction."

This is the most reasonable solution that Ciel can think of right now. Only by having enough strength can he have an equal dialogue with others; otherwise, Argon will not pay any attention to him, a goblin.

But if you lead a large army with a bone dragon flying overhead, the Argonians should understand the importance of dialogue.

Thinking of this, Charles reached out and tapped the evil book. "Little book, how's your research on the mushrooms of the mushroom people coming along?"

Now that war is about to begin in the Kingdom of Fran, and it happens during the spring planting season, the common people will surely flee to the outskirts of the kingdom to escape the war.

At that time, food will become the biggest factor limiting population growth.

This year, due to the war, grain production will definitely decrease, and many places may even experience a complete crop failure. However, the mushrooms of the mushroom man can grow up to ten meters tall. As long as they are cultivated in underground caves, they can feed many people.

"My Lord God," words immediately appeared on the page of the evil book, "there has been great progress. The toxicity of the mushrooms is now negligible. I think that as long as they are cooked thoroughly, poisoning can be effectively avoided."

"Oh, is that so?" Charles raised an eyebrow. He looked at the pages of the evil book and suddenly realized that it seemed to have become thinner. It seemed that conducting life experiments had consumed a lot of the evil book's "lifespan".

As mentioned before, if all of its pages disappear, it will die.

"Can we plant it now?" Xia Er asked. When they first started planting, Yunxia and Lan Luoli said that this kind of mushroom was easy to grow. It would absorb all living things to nourish itself. Useless food scraps, fallen trees, or even fallen leaves could be piled around the mushroom to nourish it.

"My lord, we're almost there." The words in the evil book became smaller, as if it were making a request. "I still have some things to finish, but the experiment will be completed in a little while. When that happens, I will definitely deliver spores that will satisfy you."

"Actually, I'm already quite satisfied that you've avoided the mushroom's toxicity." Charles waved his hand. For goblins, taste isn't a big concern; as long as it's passable and they can fill their stomachs, that's enough.

The food that the white-haired guy makes is already quite good. Although it can't compare to the skills of human chefs, it's still edible, doesn't taste strange, and doesn't give you diarrhea. This makes Xia Er very satisfied.

People like Diana, Sophia, and Spencer have all accepted eating in the forest, whereas Diana used to be adamant about not touching goblin food.

Of course, Diana can't be entirely blamed. She had brought a leaf full of white worms to Diana with a cheeky grin and was kicked several meters away.

Sharl knew that one of the main reasons these guys were eating with his tribe was that the food made by the white-haired man was something you couldn't find anywhere else.

Human society wouldn't provide the soft, sticky tree fruit or the cloying fat that has absolutely no smell of harra.

Not to mention the wild fruits and delicious mushrooms in the forest, and the fat fish in Lake Dallen, all of which are unique to the goblin tribe.

But now the Naga are starting to come ashore to freeload. At first, Pazzani brought his younger siblings to freeload beer, then they came to eat, and later they brought their own companions. If this continues, Sharl thinks he'll have to start taking care of the Naga's meals.

The Naga people have rather peculiar tastes. They particularly like sour foods, but not too sour; it's best if they have a hint of sweetness. Moreover, these guys prefer land-based foods to fish, such as dried meat, venison, and the meat of other game hunted by hunting parties.

"They're probably just tired of eating fish." That was Charles's deduction.

If they continue eating like this, the tribe will definitely face food problems again in the future. Of course, the goblins are no longer thin and emaciated; they have gained a lot of flesh and become stronger than before.

Moreover, the newborn goblins are growing very well. Sharl even wants to build an underground nursery in the Tree People area to illuminate these newborn goblins with the light of the mother tree so that they can grow up healthily.

"Alright," he sighed slightly. Since the evil book said it would take a while longer, then so be it. Anyway, the "Earn Enough to Retire" ship could transport supplies, so a food crisis was unlikely for the time being. "Tell me as soon as you're done."

"I understand." Several large characters appeared on the pages of the evil book, looking as if they were a declaration of loyalty.

"Once the mushrooms are improved, we can start planting them." Xia Er tapped the table slowly, considering the current situation. "We can start by planting them in the cave where the frogman tribe used to live. It's very big and tall, and there's a pond in the middle, which will ensure a humid environment, which is good for the mushrooms' growth."

Besides the food problem, there is now another issue facing the tribe: human adventurers have entered the forest.

A few days ago, Agatha contacted him and told him that adventurers had entered that little cabin.

This made Charles a little wary.

The little cabin that Agatha used to brew medicine was never demolished, but continued to be shrouded in illusion magic and preserved in the forest.

After all, that was the place where the two met again, and Ciel had no intention of demolishing it.

But now the adventurers have actually entered the cabin. You should know that in the forest, these ear cleaners adhere to the principle of never taking risks if they can avoid them. Adventurers would never rashly enter an area shrouded in illusion.

"That means the adventurers have started to take everything they can get their hands on." He clicked his tongue, lamenting the hardships faced by those ear cleaners. He had heard that Valentine had set a very high price for recruits, almost emptying the savings of these adventurers. Of course, they themselves didn't have much savings either; their most substantial savings were the equipment they wore.

"It seems the adventurers will head deeper into the forest." Charles pounded the table a few times, the "thump-thump" sound causing Cunningham's Soul Orb to contract slightly, apparently due to a stress response.

"Heh, Archmage." Charles glanced at Cunningham in the bone cell. Now was not the time to kill him. His death would come after the evil book finished dealing with the mushroom experiments.

But if human adventurers explore the forest on a large scale, or even risk staying there, they will eventually discover their own kind.

Previously, this situation could be avoided because goblins would constantly appear at the edge of the forest and would quickly replenish themselves after being killed, but now there are not many goblins left in the edge areas.

On the other hand, he had gathered all the goblins together, and several battles had taken place. Many goblins died, but even more goblins were wiped out by that bastard Quetzalcoatl, which left Charles feeling helpless.

You see, if those skeletons in the cave were still alive, he could definitely collect the next alien letter.

On the obelisk, the next alien letter requires 7500 subordinates and the ability to access the [Underground Area].

[Underground Area: You can view the underground portion of the area you control on the territory map, even if the map is accessed through the ability to spy.]

This ability caught Xia Er's eye. The places he had been to before were almost all underground, whether it was the frogman tribe or the kobold clan. If he could master this ability in advance, he would be able to distinguish the specific situation.

Moreover, he cannot guarantee that his area has been fully explored; there may be some underground ruins yet to be discovered. If he had this ability, none of those ruins would escape.

"We need to expand eastward as soon as possible; there are probably goblin tribes there too." Sharl nodded emphatically. "And we also need to resolve the adventurer problem as quickly as possible."

If their own clan is discovered, even if they don't find the Forest City, but only a goblin herb-gathering team of worker ants setting off, it will cause a huge uproar.

In that case, Count Valentine, who is focused on attacking southward, might immediately raise an army and first deal with the goblin kingdom in the forest.

"There is a way—" Charles pursed his lips, "It's not that there isn't one."

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