At dawn a clearing could be seen with four longhouses, smoke pouring out the top of one. But within the main one at the center, Rael could be seen laying on a makeshift bed he'd made from dried leaves, barely comfortable but he'll change that soon enough since there was a lot of fur to gain from the aether warthogs.
He could be seen reading through a book, a book from the stash of the Rosil Guild. It contained a map and identified key points like territories and red zones. He was quite intrigued and a little vexed that Grandveil was actually the only high-tier human territory in the borderlands amongst seven other mid-tier territories, while on the other side were the other humanoid territories, while in between was the Zodiac Woods — and he was right at the center of it. As for why they were called Zodiac Woods, it was simply because of the red zones which were vast territories of seven core beasts with a rumor of one being a prime beast. Whether it was true, he had no idea, but he wished it wasn't, for he suspected as he cleared and expanded his territory he'd have to clear more areas. He even suspected he'd clash with other territories in the future, a thought he put behind his mind.
After closing the book, he sat up, tossing the book away onto a pile of other books. He'd been reading the books to test something which turned out to be a way to use the Eye of Critic.
He knew him not being able to master the spell had to do with his intelligence stat, since it was the lowest of his stats. He realized that the more he read the more it increased, even though he read the same book a thousand times. Though it increased slowly, his intelligence stat had moved from 9 to 10.2%.
He glanced to his left; the long sword lay slant across the wall.
He kept his gaze on it, focusing on the object as he tried circulating aether through his veins up his head in a way stated by the spell, a difficult feat for him but he managed.
His eyes burned with bearable pain. He kept his eyes open still as they glowed red, then his vision blurred for a moment before returning to normal — except the sword now glowed in a red hue as certain cracks appeared from the tip to its hilt. Not just that, but certain words appeared like whispers in his mind:
[Mortal-class weapon]
[Steel long sword]
Snapping himself out of it and cutting the spell short, he closed his eyes in pain, quickly looking at his reserves:
6.7%
He glanced at the sword but found no cracks again. He grabbed at it, inspecting it, but still found no cracks.
"So that's from my perspective. That's a little… too much." Rael smirked to himself, knowing just how deadly such a spell can be, one that could identify weakness and possibly the identity of anything. Of course he had no idea how it'll work on a living being, but still he was impressed. All he had to worry about was how to manage his aether reserves — that he sees as a difficulty.
Getting to his feet, he knew he had a quest to complete. Just 20 days left till the D-day.
...
Rael followed the path that led to the muddy patches, still seeing the footprints, even fresh ones. While following the trail, he heard a rustle ahead of him. He quickly hid behind a tree, only to hear conversations but not human language.
"Kacha ughan jachu gaba."
"Kacha jrogo gumbo kacha."
Listening to the strange language and very tiny voices they came from, Rael frowned. His guess was right after all. Turning to peek, he quickly spotted two short figures with ugly features and pale green skin dressed in patches of flesh and fur — goblins.
'Nasty goblins,' Rael thought. Compared to the fairy-like tale of goblins from his past life, goblins here were terrible creatures. First, because they spread just like a wormrat infestation. Second, unlike wormrats, they shared the same power system with humans and other humanoid species. And they weren't dumb — on the contrary, they were sneaky. The exception is their lustful nature for females and shiny objects.
Watching them move through a cleared walking path, Rael squinted his eyes. From the books he'd read back in Grandveil, goblins fought amongst themselves, even committing cannibalism — except if they had an organized leadership, which meant a ranked goblin was leading them.
"Trouble after trouble in this god-damned forest," Rael thought as he chose to follow them from a distance.
He didn't take long for Rael to widen his eyes in shock at the large goblin camp he'd come upon. Seeing the occasional riots that broke out amongst the large group of goblins all gathered at the center of the large ruined camp he suspected was once a human camp, and to his surprise and confirmation he saw as the goblins pulled chains dragging a man covered in blood as the other goblins stoned and spat at the poor human.
Rael, watching from the woods, definitely had no intention of helping that poor fellow for two reasons: first, he'd noticed some tattoos on the man's naked body, and secondly he saw three bigger goblins standing at the center of the camp. They were dressed in fur and bone clothing; clearly one of them was the chief. What concerned him was they were ranked goblins. While facing them might not be difficult, he was more concerned with the mob of goblins. He wasn't some machine that could wipe them all out.
He glanced at the human who was now tossed right in front of the mobs. One of the ranked goblins stepped forward, speaking in their language to the entire group of goblins.
He cast the Eye of Critic spell on the chained man, as red hues showed different injuries all over the body of the poor man, even his privates.
[Asdriak Cultist]
[Mortally injured]
[At the verge of death]
"Just like I thought. A damn cultist. Well, a deserved fate." Rael said. After all, cultists were terrible people, mostly tattooed ones, viewing human life both young and old as a means and gift to their so-called gods.