Chapter 38: Factions of the Magic Forest

Wang Xi looked stunned.

What was going on?

Seeing his silence, the goblins exchanged glances and began to mutter among themselves.

"Guru-Yi must have never reproduced."
"He lacks experience."
"Guru-Sha hasn't either; she's too ugly, no goblin likes her."
"They're both ugly, but they'd make a fine pair."

At this moment, the one-armed Goblin King walked up to Wang Xi, looked up at him, and said in a deep voice, "Little Guru-Yi, did your kin never teach you?"

"I have no kin," Wang Xi replied, full of doubt, shaking his head and spinning a lie. "I've been wandering alone since I was born."

The goblins erupted into an uproar.

To be able to grow up alone and master magic—what a powerful and gifted goblin! He must be made to leave behind offspring!

"If Lady Witch knew there was such an outstanding goblin, she would surely be very happy," Guru-Qi said, beaming with joy as he explained, "For us High Goblins to conceive, a male and a female must release their spores together; only then will the mushrooms that grow possess wisdom. Otherwise, only beast-like low-level goblins will be born. They are not our kind."

"But High Goblins can only release their spores once in a lifetime. In the Guru tribe, only Guru-Sha has yet to do so..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Wang Xi interrupted immediately.

The goblins stared at him in confusion.

"Let's eat first."

Wang Xi had no idea how to spray any spores, so he quickly changed the subject to avoid being exposed.

Guru-Qi nodded; after such a fierce battle, it was understandable that little Guru-Yi was hungry. He stopped talking about reproduction and turned to give an order to Guru-Sha. The young goblin girl lowered her head in disappointment and sadness, then turned and left.

Before long, the goblin settlement was having dinner.

Wang Xi sat on a log, holding a few washed wild fruits, with a large pile of green vegetables in front of him. He picked up a fruit and took a bite; it was sour and astringent, but he showed no sign of it.

After some probing, Wang Xi learned that High Goblins like the Guru tribe did not eat meat, subsisting only on fruits, vegetables, and honey. Even more counterintuitively, they did not proactively attack or raid humans; in fact, they feared humans, which was why they hid in the depths of the Magic Forest.

According to the Goblin King, Guru-Qi, monsters like them were humans' favorite prey. Wizards and monster hunters often hunted them because the mushrooms they turned into upon death served as alchemical ingredients. Even the saints of the Church often sent people to shout slogans about how "a goblin's life is a life too" and "humans and monsters are one family."

But the wise Goblin King knew better. Humans just wanted to lure them out to kill them.

"If not for the protection of Lady Witch, we would have long been wiped out by humans..." Guru-Qi sighed.

Wang Xi ate his wild fruit in silence. Before infiltrating this goblin settlement, he had always believed that monsters were a threat and a great enemy of humanity. But the facts seemed to be otherwise.

"King Guru-Qi, could you tell me about the three witches and the four lords of the Magic Forest?"

Wang Xi spat out the fruit pit and asked.

The old goblin chewed on a leaf of wild vegetable, nodded, and began to recount:

"The three witches are the strongest in the Magic Forest and the queens of the monsters. The 'Wolf Witch' dwells in the 'Moon Castle' atop the North Peak; we have never seen her true face, only heard that she likes to wear a red cloak..."

Wang Xi listened silently.

The Wolf Witch, the Candy Witch, and the Fire Witch. The Wolf Witch was in the Moon Castle in the north, the Candy Witch was in the Candy House in the south, and as for the Fire Witch, she lived in a windmill tower on the back of a Fire Giant, wandering wherever the giant went, her whereabouts uncertain.

The other four lords were all located in the east of the Magic Forest: the Granite Giant King of the "Silent Hills," the Flame Nightmare of the "Lava Bunker," the Hermit Octopus of the "Mirror Lake," and the Flower Prince of the "Flower Kingdom."

"I don't know when it started, but the water of the 'Mirror Lake' turned from clear to pitch black..." Guru-Qi whispered. "The Great Octopus Lord has turned evil, and the monsters that drank from the lake have become cruel and bloodthirsty as well. The Land Tortoise and Mermen who attacked the tribe just now were exactly like that."

"The three witches once joined forces to go to the Black Lake, but even they could not solve the problem and had to tell the monsters to stay away from there. Lord Flame Nightmare, who has a fiery temper, took his subordinates to fight the Black Lake monsters, but he was defeated and is now hiding in his bunker, severely wounded and never seen again."

"King Guru-Qi," Wang Xi said thoughtfully, "so among the lords of the Magic Forest, only the forces of the Granite Giant King and the Flower Prince remain intact?"

"Not exactly," the old goblin shook his head with a sigh. "I don't know what the human kingdoms are up to, but they are logging trees on a massive scale and polluting the rivers, causing many monsters to die. The Stone Giants have fallen into a deep slumber, and the Flower Kingdom has been forced to migrate to the southeast."

Wang Xi was silent.

It really is environmental pollution?!

He did not forget the purpose of his trip and asked about the tracks of the Petrified Lizard. Although the old goblin found it strange, he didn't ask too many questions and simply replied:

"The number of Petrified Lizards is very small now. They originally belonged to the 'Silent Hills,' but their leader, the Medusa, drank the water of the Black Lake by mistake and turned evil. She now leads a group of Petrified Lizards to occupy the area around the Black Lake..."

Wang Xi nodded to show he understood. So, to obtain the item he was commissioned to find, he would have to make a trip to the Black Lake. He asked Guru-Qi if the group of Petrified Lizards was dangerous. The old goblin answered truthfully: they were average.

However, their leader, the Medusa, was extremely powerful. Countless human adventurers had tried to hunt her, but all were turned into stone statues by her "Petrifying Eyes," which could still be found scattered throughout the Magic Forest.

Having obtained key information, Wang Xi was satisfied.

Just then, the goblin vanguard, Guru-Ru, who had finished dinner, walked over. He was holding a blue orb the size of a duck egg and several scales shimmering with iridescent light.

"Guru-Yi, thanks to you earlier. These materials scavenged from the corpses of the Land Tortoise and the Mermen all belong to you!" The sturdy goblin grinned and shoved the items into Wang Xi's arms.

The old goblin explained at the right moment: "The Magic Forest is not peaceful; monsters often fight among themselves, and even the Lady Witches and the Lords have had more than one conflict. If we obtain monster materials, we usually offer them as trophies to the Lady Witches in exchange for rewards."

"Guru-Yi, please accept them; this is our gratitude to you."

Wang Xi looked at the materials in his hands.

The blue orb was called a "Giant Tortoise Treasure Orb," which grew inside a Land Tortoise. It contained magic power and served as the core source of its magic.

The six iridescent scales came from six Mermen. They were called "Toad-Color Scales" and grew near the Mermen's hearts; they were the source of their power.

The former could be exchanged for 500 energy, while the latter only contained 50 energy each, far inferior to the Goblin Mushroom. The value of the Goblin Mushroom was still rising.

Wang Xi did not refuse and accepted them cleanly. Seeing this, both Guru-Qi and Guru-Ru wore ugly but simple smiles.

...

The night deepened unnoticed.

The moonlight was like gauze, gently covering the forest. Silver radiance filtered through the gaps in the leaves, carpeting the ground. The night breeze brushed past, rustling like fairies whispering.

In the Guru settlement hidden deep in the woods, a black-haired "goblin" sat cross-legged beside a wooden hut.

Wang Xi did not return to Defniel.

At the warm invitation of the goblins, he stayed the night in the settlement. They even gave him a separate small wooden hut, providing him with top-tier treatment. Wang Xi calculated that if he went back, he wouldn't make it in time; the gates of Defniel would have long been closed. He decided to stay for the night and set off early tomorrow to search for the trail of the Petrified Lizard at the Black Lake.

At this moment, while the goblins were asleep, Wang Xi secretly converted the materials into energy, preparing to draw cards.

[Energy: 1000]

In his mind, one deep green light and four green lights were floating quietly.

'Chaos, start the draw!' Wang Xi thought to himself.

Four green cards were drawn one after another:

[Cannibalism]: By consuming one's own kind, one can rapidly enhance physical fitness.
[Mud Bed]: Allows for long periods of sleep in swamp terrain, increasing self-healing speed.
[Amphibious]: Grants the ability to breathe underwater.
[Water Blade]: A magical technique that can throw multiple water-stream flying blades to attack targets from a distance.

All four were green-tier one skill cards.

'Eat my own kind?' Wang Xi was very surprised. He hadn't expected those Mermen to become stronger through this method, like raising Gu. If this "Cannibalism" card fell into the hands of someone without a moral bottom line, it would be a terrifying thing to think about.

Ogre...

Wang Xi narrowed his eyes. No matter how much potential this card had, he could not abandon his principles and eat people.

'Twisted and evil! Shred it!'

Wang Xi decisively discarded this skill card. As for the "Mud Bed" card, it was also of little use, so he discarded it as well, keeping only the latter two.

"Amphibious" would grant him the ability to breathe underwater, though it was a pity it couldn't be upgraded. "Water Blade," combined with "Water Arrow," provided another long-range magical means, which was quite good. As for why "Water Blade" was of green quality, Wang Xi guessed it was because it could release multiple blades simultaneously, forming an area-of-effect attack.

After shredding the two green cards, he gained 100 experience points, which Wang Xi poured entirely into his "Randall Body Tempering Method."

[Randall Body Tempering Method (Technique Card/White Tier 2): 166/200]

He was about to level up, and Wang Xi was quite expectant.

Finally, he drew the deep green card obtained from killing the turtle.

[Consume 100 energy (Remaining: 500)]

Hum—

[Tidal Blade (Skill Card)]
[Quality: Deep Green Tier 1 (Upgradable)]
[A talent magic mastered by the elites among the Land Tortoise population. Through this power, while possessing extreme defense, one also gains terrifying offensive capabilities.]
[Upon use, you will release a water-element whip blade with significant impact and cutting power. Each release will consume magic power based on duration (if no magic power is available, it will be replaced by double the physical stamina).]