…
In the Tian Kuang Tribe.
Tian had rested enough.
He needed to strengthen himself—even commanding a group of Hero-tier goblins wouldn’t mean much if he couldn’t back it up with personal power.
Since breeding with the bipedal wyvern he’d brought back, his stats had grown considerably.
HP: 1200
Strength: 320
Defense: 400
The talent conversion exceeded his expectations—he gained attributes that other goblins only acquired through evolution, without spending any time on it.
“System, open the System Shop.”
He’d accumulated nearly two hundred Life Points over this period—not just from simulations.
New achievement titles also granted Life Points.
【Iron Sword: 5 points
Experience Fruit: 1 point
Low-Grade Recovery Potion: 1 point
Low-Grade Potential Fruit: 1 point – Grants +1 to a random attribute upon consumption】
All basic items.
Tian scanned them. Nothing useful.
The skills were trash too.
He scrolled to the mid-tier section with slightly better items and higher prices.
【Fine Iron Sword: 10 points
Large Experience Fruit: 5 points
Mid-Grade Recovery Potion: 5 points】
Tian grimaced.
“Like those garbage mobile games from ten years ago. Level 1: shrimp. Level 10: giant shrimp. Level 50: rainbow shrimp. Level 100: supreme demon shrimp. Ugh… let’s see the high-end stuff.”
The advanced section was divided into ‘Equipment,’ ‘Skills,’ ‘Items,’ and ‘Other.’
With his current stats, he was already quite strong.
But he lacked a proper weapon and powerful skills.
In a real fight, he’d be at a disadvantage.
180 Life Points should be enough for something decent.
He first checked the equipment tab.
【Blazing Longsword: 50 points – Enchanted with fire element; attacks deal fire damage.】
【Magic Sword: 70 points – Carved with ancient runes; can absorb a portion of magical attacks, store them, and release them later.】
【Elemental Crossbow: 80 points – Absorbs elemental energy to fire elemental bolts. Available elements: Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Poison.】
Tian stared at the weapons, deep in thought.
The Blazing Longsword was cheapest, but useless.
The Magic Sword offered decent value, but swinging a longsword with his goblin frame against mages? Unrealistic.
Besides, the Sword Saint relied on physical attacks.
The Elemental Crossbow was the best fit—and within his budget.
Compact, easy to equip, though pricey. Anything more expensive was beyond reach.
Most importantly: ranged capability. Perfect for ambushes.
He clicked to purchase.
The Elemental Crossbow instantly appeared in the system inventory.
He could retrieve it anytime.
He didn’t rush. Instead, he checked the Skills section.
Most were high-tier skills—the highest being Super-tier.
With 100 Life Points left, he could barely afford a high-tier skill. Super-tier was impossible.
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【Blade-Less Capture: 80 points – Deflects enemy weapon attacks three times with bare hands.】
【Necromantic Call: 100 points – Summons nearby souls to fight for you for 180 seconds. Highly effective in large-scale battles.】
【Boiling Blood: 100 points – Increases attack power; grows stronger the longer you fight, up to triple damage. Lasts 10 minutes, but attack power drops sharply for 3 minutes afterward.】
These all looked decent.
Necromantic Call was especially tempting—it would effectively double his forces temporarily. Perfect for turning the tide in large-scale battles.
But it clearly required a ton of mana.
Most creatures in this world had some mana, but Tian had no aptitude for magic—he hadn’t even attempted it.
Boiling Blood was strong—ideal for duels.
He chose Blade-Less Capture.
A defensive skill was the safest choice.
“Purchase successful! Skill added to inventory.”
Tian looked at his remaining 20 Life Points.
What could he buy with that?
Save it?
Still far from the 300-point Super-tier skill he wanted.
【Evil God’s Blessing: 300 points – Summons an Evil God Puppet equivalent to a Tier 6 magical beast to protect you. It remains until killed.】
That skill would elevate his power dramatically.
But he was far short.
Nothing worth buying with 20 points.
Tian asked the system,
“System, besides daily points and Life Simulations, is there any other way to earn Life Points?”
“Host can earn Life Points through system-issued tasks. Tasks are random and usually appear during major life decisions.”
Tian sighed. He’d save the 20 points.
He opened the inventory and extracted Blade-Less Capture and the Elemental Crossbow.
The skill was learned instantly.
In his hand now was the Elemental Crossbow.
He equipped it on his left arm.
About 30 cm long—compact, resembling a standard crossbow, but with two green tubes like IV lines extending from it and inserting into his arm.
A magic weapon—connecting directly to his body.
When near elemental sources, it could charge automatically.
No elements nearby, so Tian secreted some poison from his body to feed the crossbow.
“Need to test it. That one will do.”
Tian aimed at the bound Rodel and raised his left hand—an aiming reticle appeared.
He fired.
“Ah! Who—?! Who’s attacking me?!”
Rodel screamed in pain as he jolted awake, cursing and looking around wildly.
The next second, his face changed drastically.
“My body… paralyzed? Damn goblin!”
He knew that feeling too well—goblin paralyzing poison.
Tian nodded in satisfaction.
Good effect.
After some practice, he understood the crossbow’s capabilities.
Range: 300 meters—not extremely far, but pinpoint accuracy.
Maximum storage: 50 shots. He could distribute evenly (10 per element) or focus on one.
For now, with no other elements available, he loaded it full of poison shots.
Ranged paralysis—very useful for ambushes.
Rodel gritted his teeth, fury mixing with rising panic.
“It’s been so long… why hasn’t the royal family come? Even if they think I’m dead, they should at least send someone for revenge!”
He’d endured every humiliation.
All for the hope of rescue.
Otherwise, he’d have smashed his head against the rock long ago.
…
Meanwhile.
The Silver Blade Knights were sweeping through the corrupted forest.
One of the female members kept shouting for help—deliberately drawing goblin attention.
“Captain, movement over there.”
In the center of the forest, a Tier 3 magical beast—a Giant-Eyed Spider—was wrapping its freshly caught prey in silk.
The Silver Blade Captain flinched.
“Spider?! I hate spiders! Handle it—quickly!”
A bowman drew his longbow and shot the cocoon down.
The Giant-Eyed Spider whirled around—its body the size of a small house, yet remarkably agile.
Its eight long legs darted between the towering trees.
A man stepped forward, wielding a two-meter spear.
He locked onto the spider and hurled the weapon!
“Screeeech!”
The spear pinned the spider to a tree trunk.
The bowman followed up with a headshot.
Less than three minutes. A Tier 3 beast, dead.
As expected of the royal family’s elite knights.
“Think Rodel’s dead?”
“Probably. Count Stanmont nearly fainted when he heard.”
“Whatever—let’s wipe out the rest of these goblin tribes.”
After dealing with the spider, the Silver Blade Captain and his team pressed on. Sure enough, goblins were drawn by the woman’s cries.
The result was predictable.
They swept through a tribe of two hundred goblins with ease.
The Silver Blade Captain pulled out a small notebook and marked down one tribe.
“Eight or ten more and we can head back. Keep moving.”
“These low-tier weaklings don’t get my blood pumping.”
“Then why didn’t you stay behind to slay the dragon?”
“I can handle wyverns, but ancient dragons? No chance. If an ancient dragon clan marks you for death, you won’t even know how you died.”
Amid the banter,
The Silver Blade Knights had already wiped out five or six goblin tribes.
Then the team’s mage, Antu, grew alert.
“Wait… have you noticed? The deeper we go into the corrupted forest, the fewer magical beasts we encounter.”
“Now that you mention it… you’re right!”
Instantly, everyone became wary.
The faint smell of blood lingered in the air.
Evidence of recent slaughter.
“Rustle rustle…”
Suddenly, something moved in the bushes ahead.
A green-skinned Greater Goblin stumbled out—walking straight into the Silver Blade Knights.
For a moment, time froze.
Everyone stared at each other in silence.
“This… is a goblin? A Greater variant?”
Mage Antu blinked. It had appeared so suddenly he hadn’t reacted.
A single goblin had just walked right up to them.
The Silver Blade Captain couldn’t help but comment,
“Look at those muscles. Could probably match the bald guy from War Roar.”
At that moment, the Greater Goblin stood dumbfounded.
After roaming the corrupted forest for so long, hunting magical beasts—this was the first time he’d encountered humans!
A group of heavily armed humans.
Then realization hit.
“Raaah!”
He roared, alerting the surrounding goblins. They all stopped what they were doing and looked toward the sound.
The Silver Blade Captain smirked.
“So that’s why there are no magical beasts left deeper in—we found the reason.”
