Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Darkness, endless darkness.

In an instant, a hoarse whisper reached Charles's ear: "You've finally come."

But then, as if blinking, light returned, and Charles found himself standing inside another stone ring.

"How are you?" Agatha immediately stepped forward and asked, "How do you feel? Did something happen?"

Charles didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked back at the stone circle where he had been standing, thought for a moment, and then said, "It's nothing, it will pass quickly. I felt a momentary loss of balance, but it's okay. I guess I'll get used to it after a few tries."

He didn't mention the whisper he heard, partly because he was afraid he had misheard, and partly because there were things he couldn't tell anyone.

"Now you can tell me how this works, right?" Ciel looked at his body, trying to feel if all the parts were still there.

"Come with me." Agatha led him to the previous circle, then she knelt down and touched the stone, her slender fingers tracing the patterns engraved on it. "I'm now certain this is a rune."

"Just like I said before, this rune is completely different from the two runes currently in use." She picked up a book from the ground beside her, turned to a page with a folded corner, and handed it to Sharl. "This is a set of arcane runes drawn on it. Take a look."

Charles took the book and looked at the illustration. It was a circular magic circle with an equilateral triangle in the center. At the intersection of the triangle and the outer circle, there was a ring of strange characters.

"This is a magic doll creation circle," Agatha explained carefully, looking up at Charles. "That ring of characters is runes."

"Is it that long?" Charles asked curiously. "It looks like a very long sentence."

"Well, these runes are actually a variation of writing, and what they record is more like a contract," Agatha continued to explain.

"A contract?" Charles stared at the illustration, then looked at the stone ring on the ground.

"Yes." Agatha nodded, not continuing to answer, but instead gesturing for Charles to look at the following content.

"It says here that arcane runes are various fixed phrases, and each phrase corresponds to a specific pattern. Oh, I see," Charles said, holding the book in one hand and running his finger under the sentences with the other, reading aloud. "This is a contract made with the Creator God, and also the key to unlocking the magic field."

Charles read it word by word, then looked at Agatha, anticipating her next interpretation.

"Yes, the historical community has no consensus on who first invented this set of runes. 3000 years ago, many sorcerers claimed to have heard certain revelations while meditating, and strangely enough, they all heard them at the same time."

"The same period?" Charles asked, somewhat surprised. "What did they all hear?"

"Various arcane runes... I'm not a full-time arcane mage, so I don't have a thorough understanding of these." Agatha shrugged.

"However, I know that the phenomenon of hearing revelations lasted for about 100 years, and after that, no one heard revelations during meditation." She held up one finger and slowly said, "Those 100 years are called the Hundred Years of Divine Awakening."

"I think I've heard that word before." Charles thought for a moment. "It was mentioned in grammar class."

"Yes, that's right." Agatha nodded, with an expression that said, "You're actually listening attentively."

"The four major churches have been telling the world that the Creator God has entered a period of dormancy and is now being represented by his four children. They claim that these 100 years will be the time for the Creator God to awaken, after which he will fall back into slumber," she continued.

"Then what are those sacred runes of the Church of the Four Gods that you mentioned before?" Charles closed the book and handed it back to Agatha.

"I don't know much about sacred runes, only that they also come from the revelation of the creator god. That's why the church often claims that arcane runes are transformed from sacred runes, but arcane mages all scoff at this claim." Agatha took the book and put it back on the ground.

"Now let's talk about this," Ciel said, pointing to the ground.

"Oh, this is very interesting." Agatha immediately perked up. "The operating logic of this set of runes is completely different from the previous two. They seem to be just code names. I've named them now, like this one is called Mountain and that one is called Cube."

"This portal has eight different runes that operate in a fixed arrangement. Four of them are the four engraved on these two stone rings," she explained to Sharl, pointing to the two stone rings.

Charles looked at the stone rings and discovered that each stone ring was indeed composed of four parts, and each part was engraved with a single pattern that was different from the other three.

"What troubled me at first was how to drive them. After reading the user manual, this question became even stronger because I couldn't find the controller that was written there."

Upon hearing this, Charles turned to look at the "Portal Usage and Maintenance Instructions" inscribed on the wall in Common. "And then?"

"Later, I had Cao Cao help me sort through the scattered stone materials," Agatha said with a smile. "Cao Cao did a great job, she was very dedicated, and we sorted out six new runes."

Charles nodded. He had indeed seen Cao Cao helping Agatha organize and stack the materials that day.

“I’ve already categorized the materials according to the different runes, and I’ve found these materials to be rather strange,” Agatha patted the stone ring gently. “They’re not ordinary stones. You know I’m an alchemist, so I know a bit about various materials. I’ve never seen these stones before.”

"Is that so?" Charles also squatted down and examined the stones carefully.

"However, there are some materials on the outside that are bone; I think those are dragon bones."

Charles stared wide-eyed at Agatha, never expecting that those might actually be dragon bones.

He quickly understood; these runes and materials were probably of extraordinary origin, and a few dragon bones were nothing special. "So, how did you solve the controller problem?"

"I have to thank Cao Cao for that." Agatha smiled. "He once told me that he couldn't tell the difference between three types of stone, so I had to stop what I was doing and go help him."

"You know Cao Cao's intelligence," Charles said apologetically. "So you must have discovered something?"

"Yes, I unexpectedly found four runes engraved on several stones at the same time." Agatha pointed to the huge stone chamber outside. "So Cao Cao and I quickly checked those stones again and found that the four runes engraved on them were the same ones over and over again."

"It sounds like a kind of, a code," Sharmo said, stroking his chin.

"Yes, after I found two stones with the same rune set, I assembled them according to the maintenance instructions, and then," Agatha pointed to the stone ring with both hands, "this is the result."

"I have another question," Charles thought for a moment and asked, "What powers this thing? Fire? Magic?"

"I don't know. When it was first activated, I sensed it carefully, but there was no fluctuation of the magic field." Agatha shook her head. "They just started up like that, as if they were connected through a tunnel."

"Is there no driving force?" Charles asked, somewhat surprised. "Or is this force something we are unaware of?"

"I tend to favor the unknown," Agatha said.

"Wouldn't there be some potential hidden dangers?" Charles stared at the two stone rings on the ground, lost in thought.

The unknown energy source and the phrase "You've finally arrived" sound like the whispers of an evil god. Could it be that once one becomes increasingly entangled in using these runes and is unable to extricate oneself, the hidden force behind them will emerge, forcing one to become its vassal?

But the portal will be ready to use soon, and the fortress's development depends entirely on it. With it, the exchange of resources will become much faster and more efficient.

"Use it. We'll talk about the future later," Charles decided.

"Would you like to try it out next?" he asked.

"Of course." Agatha jumped to the middle of the stone ring and told Charles how to operate the controller, and then she was teleported to another stone ring.

"This feeling is completely different from the arcane teleportation array. The arcane teleportation feels like being torn apart, and there is some pain, but this teleportation portal has none of that," Agatha said happily as she stepped out of the stone circle.

"Any other sensations? I mean, physical sensations, or whether you saw or heard anything?" Charles pressed.

"No, there was only a momentary loss of balance, as you mentioned, but it was over immediately." Agatha shook her head. "As for seeing, it was just a brief blackout before I could see again, and as for hearing, I didn't hear anything."

"Huh? I didn't hear anything?" Charles asked, somewhat surprised.

"Did you hear that?" Agatha asked.

"Ah, no, no." Charles immediately changed the subject. "Then let's continue the experiment and see how far this portal can reach."

He had his men disassemble a stone ring and move it to a distance, then watched as Agatha directed them to assemble it.

"What does that voice mean? Am I the only one who can hear it?" Ciel said softly.

…………

After some time, Charles watched as his men assembled the portal and then began the experiment.

As expected, the experiment was a success. The slime in the glass tank did not change at all, so Shire had them move the stone ring to the fortress gate.

There was a problem with the teleportation. Despite Shall pushing the controller multiple times, the slime was still wriggling in front of him.

"Is it because it's too far?" He felt a little disappointed; such a short distance wasn't enough.

However, One-Eyed quickly ran back and told Charles that the arrangement had been rearranged because the stones were not aligned properly and there were gaps in the middle of the stone rings.

"Sounds like an energy recirculation," Charles said with a laugh, then pushed the controller.

The controller is fixed to a frame connected to the stone ring. It has four different runes engraved on its surface. Each time the side with the runes is pushed to the top, the portal is activated. After the item is teleported, the controller will flip over on its own.

"Amazing ancient runic technology," Sharl exclaimed.

A moment later, One-Eyed ran over again and said, "It worked, Chief, the slime is over."

"Alright, let's go take a look." Charles immediately led the one-eyed man and ran quickly toward the fortress gate.

Before long he saw that the slime in the glass tank was intact. "This thing is really good."

"I think there might be other ways to combine runes." Agatha came to Shire's side, holding several ancient runes that she had copied herself.

"They should exist. They're hidden in the Nightmare Forest, waiting for the future great historian, Miss Sebastian, to discover them." Charles extended a hand, elegantly pointing to Agatha. "However, historian, a difficult task awaits you now."

"Huh?" Agatha was taken aback, still basking in the joy she had just experienced.

"You need to move these stone rings into Gieshorn tonight," Charles said to Agatha with a harmless smile.

"Me, a hunchbacked old hag, moving these few stones?" Agatha exclaimed. "You want to kill me with exhaustion."

"You know we're goblins, so only you could disguise yourself as an old woman and sneak into Gieshorn," Charles said apologetically.

"Have you ever seen an old woman carrying a big stone into town?" Agatha said angrily. If she were to carry a stone ring into Gieshorn, she would definitely attract the attention of the security team, not to mention that she would have to make several trips back and forth.

"How about this, we'll transport the stone ring to the edge of the forest under cover of darkness, and then you can sneak into Giraffe Town and wake Mary up so she and Little John can transport it, what do you think?" Charles suggested.

Agatha thought about it for a moment and thought the plan was feasible, so she nodded in agreement.

…………

After everything was over, Xia Er finally returned to the underground river platform, where Chi Mei had already skinned the snake.

"These are the beast cores you found?" Charles looked at the two beast cores of different sizes in his hand and smiled.

The intermediate-level beast core was from the Blue-Eyed Dragon Serpent, and the primary-level beast core was from the Giant Frog. He had his men clean them thoroughly, preparing to place them together with the Mind Flayer's legacy.

In addition, the Blue-Eyes Serpent also provides an ability.

[Basic Passive Perception: Makes an individual more acutely aware of changes in their surroundings. This effect cannot be stacked with perception-based abilities.]

"This ability..." Charles felt a little disappointed. He had always wanted to obtain the ability of lightning breath. Although he didn't know if it would work after he gave it to his subordinates, since goblins don't have lightning fire sacs in their necks, the shocking effect and terrifying destructive power were truly astonishing.

"It can still be used. You can give him a broken tooth so that he will be more alert when he is on guard duty."

Broken Tooth is now being sent out to patrol and keep watch on the edge of the territory, constantly observing whether any potentially dangerous individuals are approaching the fortress area.

"Crack." Charles kicked a metal object.

He bent down, picked it up and examined it. "This is a little tin soldier."

This is a toy tin soldier, about the size of an adult's palm. The paint has long since faded, revealing the metallic color underneath. The overall craftsmanship is so lifelike that it can be considered a work of art.

"Interesting, where was this found?" Charles turned to ask Red Eyes.

"His, inside the frog's belly." Red Eyes pointed at the giant frog that had been gutted.

"Could it have been dropped by an adventurer and then eaten by a giant frog?" Charles held the tin soldier, examining it several times. "It's pretty good. I'll wash it clean and put it at my place as a decoration."

He placed the tin soldier on the ground, intending to wash it later, and then walked towards the stack of peeled snakeskins. He didn't notice that a wisp of blue smoke drifted from the tin soldier's chest and dissipated into the wind.

"And then there's this thing," Charles said, looking at the snakeskin in front of him. "We need to deal with it quickly."

"It needs to be transported to Giethoorn tonight."