Can a Frankenstein's monster be an adventurer?

Chapter 105 Astounding Wisdom

"—That's it?"

Ollie was completely stunned, his feet seemed rooted to the ground, his eyes fixed on the giant goblin's huge, ugly head that was rolling in the wind.

A few seconds later, the young soldier apprentice snapped out of his shock and jumped up from the spot, waving his hands wildly.

The tension, fear, and panic I felt when I first faced goblins—all of it transformed into excitement and fervor under the impact of Luo Lan's absolute power in annihilating them.

Oli excitedly ran to Roland's side, his eyes shining like burning torches.

He reached out, wanting to touch Luo Lan's armor, which remained perfectly clean despite the fierce battle, but hesitated and withdrew. Instead, he circled around Luo Lan, gesturing wildly: "Uncle! Your last sword strike—I didn't even see the movement clearly, and its big head flew off!"

As he spoke, Ollie turned to look at the blood-stained head in the distance, then turned around and wanted to run over to take a closer look.

Just as Oli had taken two steps, a cold, iron sword hilt slammed heavily against his chest.

Rom, his face grim, glared at his arrogant apprentice and shoved him two steps back. "You brat, stay right here. Can't you see that purple blood is still corroding the ground? Don't touch that stuff, you're asking for trouble!"

Then, he glanced at Luo Lan with a complicated expression.

[That was...holy light on his sword just now? The color doesn't seem quite right...]

Rom's doubts grew stronger.

Emily wouldn't think as much as this master and apprentice.

A colorful afterimage streaked through the air, red and blue light spots from the flapping of its wings splashing onto Luo Lan's helmet: "Luo Lan, you're so fierce! That 'Get lost!' it even knocked my wings askew! But that sword strike was really cool, whoosh, and that ugly thing shrank in an instant!"

Then, with a look of disgust on its face, it covered its nose, flew three meters away, flapped its wings frantically, and exaggeratedly gagged in mid-air: "But this ugly monster looks even uglier dead than when it was alive! And the smell is so awful!"

Following Emily's disdainful words, Luo Lan's gaze swept over the giant goblin's still-oozing pus and blood corpse and head, and he simply said, "Let me handle this—"

He walked step by step to the huge green corpse of the giant goblin, bent down slightly, deliberately avoiding the corrosive purple pus and blood that had burned small pits in the ground, pulled open the metal gauntlet covered with cold light again, and placed his left hand on the pile of flesh and blood that was still emitting an eerie heat.

The moment your palm touches the skin.

The headless, two-meter-tall remains began to disintegrate outwards from the point of contact. A large number of purplish-black particles rapidly swirled in the air, forming a small vortex that swirled into Luo Lan's palm.

The enormous head that rolled a few steps away was not spared either; Luo Lan used the same trick again.

The entire corpse of the giant goblin vanished without a trace.

[Chaos Essence +300]

[Current Chaotic Essence: 1988]

Luo Lan raised an eyebrow as she heard the notification sound in her mind.

[many----]

The amount of Chaos Essence brought by a single [Silver Rank] giant aberrant goblin is even comparable to that of an entire group of [Iron Rank] goblins plus a single [Bronze Rank] miniature goblin.

Standing at a distance, Rom leaned on his old iron sword, his gaze shifting back and forth between the pus and blood on the ground and Rom.

This was the second time the veteran had witnessed Luo Lan using this method to "purify" monsters until not even ashes remained.

The small goblin corpses didn't look like much.

But as the enormous, imposing goblin corpse turned into purplish-black dust and vanished with the wind, even the purple blood stains on the ground became less glaring.

Rom felt a genuine sense of awe at this miraculous technique. He was starting to believe that Rom's claim was a "purification spell."

Luo Lan straightened up, ignoring Rom's complicated gaze.

The right eye is slightly red. Observe simultaneously with thermal vision and normal vision.

Luo Lan's gaze swept carefully over the scattered gray-white rock crevices around her.

Apart from a few startled gerbils hiding in the soil, there were no other yellow-red heat-generating patches in sight that resembled goblins.

After confirming that there were no other survivors, Luo Lan deactivated his skill: "This time, it seems like it's really all over—"

Although he didn't know how Luo Lan had conducted the reconnaissance, when Rom heard Luo Lan's affirmation, a barely perceptible hint of relaxation finally appeared on the veteran's weathered face.

Rom looked up at the sky. The sun was already halfway down, having sunk behind the steep ridgeline of the gray rock canyon, turning the few clouds on the horizon a dark red.

Rom looked at Ollie not far away: "Now that there are no more goblins here, Ollie and I will search one last time. If we still don't find any goblin-lost goods, let's head back to the village for today. The sun is about to set."

After saying that, the master and apprentice did not delay and bent down again to continue searching on the gravel slope full of pebbles and broken metal pieces.

Ignoring the master and apprentice, Luo Lan turned and walked towards the cave entrance where the goblin had been before it "transformed" by bursting out of its clothes.

In this secluded corner hidden by the boulder, a pile of broken T-800 metal components are scattered.

The most conspicuous thing is the T-800 power core that the goblin left behind, its surface covered with cracks.

In Luo Lan's True Sight vision, the effects of the [Deformation] and [Compression] runes etched into the core were still incomplete, with several rune lines having been severed by external forces.

Squatting on the ground, Luo Lan carefully examined the walnut-sized metal crystal.

The image of the goblin finishing the [Transformation] rune on the ground flashed through Roland's mind.

The lowly goblins, whose intelligence should be no different from that of wild beasts, were able to use mud and engine oil to complete the [Transformation] rune array on the ground, and even twisted it into [Aberration] runes through some strange means.

This operation, which completely deviates from common sense, should not be the normal method for drawing rune arrays.

Although it wasn't done through conventional means, the fact that even goblins could complete the magic circle is remarkable.

Then, Luo Lan felt that she could give it a try.

After some thought, Luo Lan decided to use his "super intelligence" to solve the problem.

Using his mental communication system, he asked Victor, "Cat, can you complete the two missing runes on this core?"

Upon hearing Luo Lan's question, the little white ragdoll cat walked gracefully to the entrance of the cave.

It crouched down at Luo Lan's feet, a long stream of data rolling in its pupils, staring at the damaged T-800 core on the ground with [Data Vision] activated.

After looking at it for a short while, the kitten immediately gave an affirmative answer: "It's possible. As long as you have the corresponding alchemy materials, redrawing or completing the rune array in this core is not a difficult task."

Victor's neutral synthesized voice resonated deep within Luo Lan's consciousness.

Having received Victor's affirmation, Luo Lan nodded slightly.

[It seems my "amazing wisdom" is indeed useful.]

Although Luo Lan couldn't repair the magic circle with just some wet soil and engine oil like the goblins before, it was still repairable, and that was enough.

Luo Lan bent down and dug the damaged T-800 core out of the soil.

With a flick of his wrist, the metal crystal vanished and was tossed into his storage space.

After getting his hands on the item, Luo Lan walked out of the small cave.

Outside on the flat ground, Ollie and Rom had just finished their thorough search.

The veteran brushed the dirt off his leather gloves and sighed heavily. "Not a single item was found. This is the worst-case scenario, meaning the thirty goblins left here are far from all. They might even just be a reconnaissance squad tasked with diverting attention or stalling for time—"

As one of the few high-level combat forces currently protecting Grayrock Village, Rom was well aware of the threat these cunning monsters, which live in groups and reproduce extremely quickly, posed to the small village located in the wild.

Rom's gaze swept across the dark shadows in the distance of the gray rock canyon, his tone turning fierce: "Those wretched greens have probably already moved all the looted supplies to their lair. I wonder where those cunning green rats have settled down!"

Listening to Rom's complaints, Roland recalled how, after the chaotic battle ended, a goblin, having regained its senses from its frenzy, threw down its weapon and ran away. Pointing in the direction it fled, Roland said, "There was a goblin that ran west into the Gray Rock Canyon. What's to the west?"

Upon hearing this, Rom paused for a moment and looked in the direction Rom was pointing: "West? The west is all bare, steep rock walls."

After a pause, Rom frowned and thought for a moment, then lowered his voice: "However, if you go west for forty miles, there's an old mine, but that place has been abandoned for hundreds or even thousands of years. And in recent years, it's become a troublesome [Time Vortex Rift] —"

At this point, Rom seemed to have realized something and suddenly slapped his thigh: "Wait! You know what! If you ask where these green-skinned things are most likely hiding, that's really it. If they really moved their supplies there, things will be even more troublesome—the mine has a complex terrain, plus the time vortex, so ordinary people wouldn't dare to go near it. For goblins, it's practically a ready-made fortress."

In mid-air, Emily, who had been idly observing, immediately stopped what she was doing upon hearing the word "mine": "A mine? The culprit that caused the damage to the earth's spirit here! I'm going to go and see—"

The little goblin tilted its head, seemingly unaware of any fear of the terrifying term "time-vortex rift" that Rom had mentioned.

Then, Emily flipped over and landed lightly on Roland's silver-white helmet: "And, if the mine is too dark, Emily can light your way! The fireball I drew is the brightest!"

Luo Lan looked up at the sky.

The cliffs of the limestone canyon had swallowed the last rays of sunlight, leaving only leaden-gray twilight clouds overhead.

The night wind blew up from the valley floor, carrying a chilly smell of stone dust.

Luo Lan withdrew her gaze: "Since that's the case, let's leave it at that for now. But it's getting late, so let's go back to the village to rest today. We'll go check out that mine tomorrow—"

The group walked along the slope they had come from, braving the increasingly biting evening wind, towards the distant village.

The firelight from the lookout tower in Gray Rock Village was faintly visible, flickering in the night wind.