Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

As the goblin pledge of allegiance ended, Shire indeed sensed a change in the obelisk in his mind.

The second alien letter is lit up and activated, and the Scythe of Life is now in effect.

At the same time, a fourth letter appeared. Xiaer focused his consciousness on this dim letter and discovered that its ability was the Domain Star, which allowed him to mark any target. As long as the target appeared in the domain he controlled, it would immediately display and notify him.

This feature is great. Charles thinks it would be much more convenient to just tag Little John directly.

Then, he brought up his control panel.

[Monument Material: Charles Mello]

Race: Goblin (Human)

[Hazard Level: 0.5, Waste]

[Number of subordinates: 11/14]

【personality:???】

[My own status: Advanced Transformation Curse (Negative), Malnutrition (Negative)]

[Title: Leader of a Vibrant Forest Group]

[Available Ability: God's Grace]

"Is this the ability of the bear goblin?" Sharl immediately noticed the new change.

[God's Blessing: A single-target blessing that greatly increases an individual's size, strength, agility, sturdiness, magic resistance, and regeneration, while slightly reducing intelligence.]

"Good stuff." Charles was very satisfied.

Imparting this ability to subordinates is tantamount to adding a powerful fighting force to the clan, and it also provides a strong guarantee for one's own safety.

However, he did not intend to use it immediately; he wanted to observe the loyalty of these goblins further.

Speaking of loyalty, what's with the panel showing 3 subordinates?

Charles, spear in hand, began to wander around the goblins, checking their panels and observing their reactions.

He soon discovered that the three guys sitting in the goblin pile were actually feigning surrender.

One of them is the one with the scar from before.

After the ankle-touching ceremony, these goblins readily considered themselves members of their tribe, and lazily sat down and picked their toes no matter how many times Shire passed by.

Only those three idiots trembled slightly as they passed by.

Charles didn't know whether to call them clever and bold, or cowardly and foolish.

"Kill them now?" Charles rejected the idea. "I only have a dozen or so green-skinned little green-nosed bastards. I have to use each one to the fullest. There are ways to be disloyal."

Compared to these three idiots, Charles has just discovered, to his surprise, that there is another "freak" among his subordinates.

While other goblins are characterized by cowardice, recklessness, stupidity, or laziness, his personality traits are actually positive.

[Name: Bucktooth]

[Race: Goblin]

[Danger Level: 0.7, Useless Person with Some Flaws]

[Personality: Diligent and eager to learn]

"This is interesting." Ciel glanced at the goblin sitting next to him.

This is a skinny goblin, about 1.5 meters tall, with thin arms and legs, clearly malnourished. Its most distinctive feature is its protruding upper teeth.

At this moment, he was looking around, appearing even more like a feigned surrender than those three bastards.

Xia Er understood that the most important thing for the development of the "Green Prosperity" forest community was talent!

If you let goblins do stupid things and quit, they'll be experts at it. But if you let them learn something, there are only two outcomes—either they go crazy or you go crazy.

Previously, it took Xia Er a lot of effort to get Red Eyes and Broken Tooth to cooperate and successfully hunt wild boars.

"Not bad, this is a rare find. I need to keep a close eye on this buck tooth over the next few days, and if it's suitable, I can nurture it properly."

One out of 14 goblins has a great personality, and Sharl feels incredibly lucky.

Moreover, with these 14 subordinates, they could even defeat a small team of four novice adventurers.

The only troublesome thing is high-level adventurers and magical beasts, but high-level adventurers don't come to the edge of the forest, and when they encounter magical beasts, they knock out those three idiots and use them as cannon fodder to buy time.

As Ciel was engrossed in planning for the future, the white-haired man approached him: "Chief."

"Ah, what is it?" Charles said casually without turning around.

"It's time to mate." The white-haired man pointed to the burrow behind him.

"Oh, okay." After saying that, Charles suddenly realized, "What did you just say?"

"They need to mate, but there's not enough time."

"What do you mean there's not enough time? What are you talking about?"

"Winter is coming, if we don't mate soon, there won't be enough goblins to eat."

Upon hearing this, Charles's face immediately darkened. "Continue."

"The other women are already pregnant. I'll be an adult soon, so I can get pregnant too."

"What's going on with the little goblin?" Charles asked.

"There's nothing to eat in winter, so we eat goblins," the white-haired man said calmly, as if it were a perfectly normal thing.

Shire knew that there were now four goblins in the group, three of which used to be the "harem" of the bear goblins.

"How did you get through the winter before?"

"We dig up grass roots and eat some leaves." White Hair gestured with his signature hand gesture. "Sometimes when we're hungry, we go to humans for food, but humans are fierce."

"More often?"

"Eat the small goblins, one at a time. After you've finished the small ones, eat the big ones."

Shire knew that natural history books recorded that female goblins were pregnant for more than three months and usually had two to three cubs each time.

In winter, food becomes scarce, and wild fruits, bird eggs, and insects are almost extinct. If the goblin tribe does not hunt any prey that day, they will starve.

To his surprise, the solution was to eat the goblins, which was in line with the goblin's habits.

"Why not hunt wild animals?"

"It's difficult. If you can't win, you'll die," the white-haired man continued.

That's true. There are many wild animals in the forest, such as deer, wild boars, and wolves, but they are all larger than goblins and can easily kill them. Once one of them lets out a scream, the rest of the goblins will most likely choose to run away, and if they run away, they will be caught by the wolf pack.

Furthermore, small wild animals hibernate, making them difficult to catch, and even if caught, there isn't enough food.

Do you have any siblings you grew up with?

White Hair thought for a moment and said, "I ate them all."

Charles asked, "Would you like to eat a little goblin?"

White Hair shook his head without speaking, a hint of melancholy flashing in his eyes.

"It's alright, we don't eat any goblins," Charles reassured the other. "You're not an adult yet, you can't mate."

"You, good leader, must live." The white-haired man's tone was slightly anxious.

Charles knew that perhaps it was his practice of letting them eat from the pot first these days that had led to the high loyalty of the white-haired men.

But now he has 11 goblins under his command, and if he doesn't want to become a goblin meat appraiser, he has to find a way to support them.

"Don't worry, I'll get you through the winter."

Then he continued, "As winter gets colder, how do you keep warm?"

White Hair didn't say anything, he just stood there with his arms crossed, bouncing back and forth.

"Oh, you're trembling, aren't you?" Charles understood.

He even imagined a group of goblins hugging each other and shaking at the same frequency, a mesmerizing scene, just like in Bollywood movies he had seen before.

"It's so cold! I'm playing in the mud in the cave, even though it's not very big. I have no home in the forest~~"

Ciel shook his head, banishing the mesmerizing song. "I don't want to be squeezed in the middle by a bunch of goblins."

"The smell was like a sauna filled with fermented herring. If you squeezed in there all night, even a skunk would offer you a cigarette."

"We need to find a way to prevent this from happening."