Chapter 22
The next morning. Pus.h.i.+ng away Jung Hayeon lying on my side slightly, I began rising up. As if last night was very satisfying, Jung Hayeon smiling lips shone in my sight.
It was quite a good night. Whether it's the influence of the honey I'm not sure, but doing it was extremely different compared to a human. Though it's very apologetic to Choi Seulgi who is probably struggling a lot in the continent at the moment, but it felt better.
I slowly stood up. As if she was surprised from my action, she quickly covered herself up as she opened her mouth.
" I'm... I'm sorry. "
It seems that she's apologetic for waking up later than me, but I didn't really reply back. Instead, I stroked her hair once before beginning to head out.
" Kereeuk... Prepare your belongings! Pack up! "
Heading outside the tent, the first orc among the five loyal siblings was already making preparations to leave. The leather pouches made yesterday was full of drinking water that we were to drink, and the racks that the hobgoblins were carrying were full of food for the journey ahead.
With this much, the preparation was very satisfactory. I definitely couldn't loiter around, so I began helping out, and after a while, all the Green Skins finished their preparations to depart.
" Kereeuk. Which direction do we head towards? "
I spoke towards the direction where I could roughly feel his presence. As expected, it seems he undertook the task of leading us. Soon, a voice replied without much waiting.
" South, other than that, I can't tell you anything else. "
I had somewhat antic.i.p.ated it. Since this was an exam, I thought that there would be some sort of standard of difficulty.
The continent was extremely large. To simply say south might have been very difficult to find the land of glory, but for me, it was a different story. The reason was that I had a bit of the continent's map in my memories.
From last time, the North was home to the Queen of the North, the West had the Saint Knights and the Saint Swords. The South also had humans living there as well. If I recall, there was a magician protecting a desert city called Desert Orb.
From that city, if you continually head east is the land of the monsters. Of course the humans had called it the monsters' land, but that territory was definitely ' No entry. '
Other than the report that evil beasts lived there, there was no other information. The humans entered there never returned. I had heard a rumor five years before my death that the desert city was completely destroyed, so with this rough inference, I thought that the Chief Patriarch's Land of Glory might be in that prohibited area.
Despite being somewhat far-sighted, I never expected the ' Civilization ' of the monsters to be of this level.
Definitely, there should be one. The Chief Patriarch of the land of the monsters.
Roughly organizing my thoughts, after explaining the situation to Goff and Darkmoon, soon we were able to march towards the glorious land. The number was about 200. Who would've imagined, that there was currently a large-scale monster movement being undertaken in the search for the Chief Patriarchs' Land of Glory?
" Kereeeuk. Let's go! To the Land of Glory. "
" Boom! Boom! Boom! "
As such, we marched. Although I knew that this journey wouldn't be as simple, but it was much more difficult than I had antic.i.p.ated. As if the forest wasn't the home of evil beasts, it was greatly scarce of their presence. Rather, the place was so well preserved that I had even wondered... that this place was a holy place for monsters who have completed the tutorial. That feeling was great.
Leaving the forest, what we saw was an empty wilderness. I couldn't help but confirm after seeing the road. If we did not prepare water and food, then there would've been some Green Skins left behind along the way.
" Kereeeuk.... your words were right. Blood Dagger. "
Seeing this wilderness, Goff spoke and in return, I nodded my head. The wilderness was extremely long. Truly, I couldn't see anything. So much so that there was even an ant roaming around. A complete, desolate waste land.
But the Green Skins walked without stopping. The drumming goblins that were pounding strongly were gradually lowering in volume, and the army's marching speed started to slow down.
During this boring time, I either practiced or did image training, and if I was too bored, then I called Mev or Jung Hayeon and discussed things about
The other clan members were also sharing a lot of their conversations. The goblins among the five siblings were the first to talk with me.
" Kereeeuk. For Blood Dagger! "
Seeing me, they greeted me. I had thought my subordinates were quite noisy, but they were strangely quiet. As if they were embarra.s.sed, they started to push each other forward.
" You... you go! "
" No... No Unni can go first Ggirik! "
Like I mentioned before, the first and second both evolved into Orc Warriors. Though I'm not sure what they'll evolve into after surpa.s.sing the intermediate warrior level, but I was very satisfied by their quick growth. But, noticing that they practised with their daggers often, I couldn't help but think that they might select the path of an a.s.sa.s.sin. I was quite anxious thinking about them possibly evolving into an Ogre a.s.sa.s.sin later on.
The unique situation however was the goblin siblings below. If the orcs do decide to evolve into a.s.sa.s.sins, then these goblins were really thinking of remaining as goblins to the end, as they were continually evolving into goblin warriors. Already evolving into intermediate goblin warriors, one was a Goblin Intermediate s.h.i.+eld Warrior, one was a Goblin Intermediate Hammer Warrior, and the last one had chosen to be an Intermediate Greatsword Warrior.
Though I had stayed around them for a bit, I was surprised at how much stronger their cooperation techniques were than from what I had expected. What was interesting was that their appearances were gradually becoming closer to that of a ' human. ' The other clan superior goblins all had appalling appearances, so I couldn't help but ask how they were able to evolve their appearances similar to a human.
" How come you guys have faces similar to a human. "
" That... we're not so sure as well. "
" To.. to be honest... Captain... it was from when we heard of your strange fetish... Ggereeuk... "
" We... we too like that plant... that plant human and... Mev... like Mev... "
To speak words like these with completely childlike faces, I had nothing to say. It seems that they too want to mate like Mev, but until they evolve out of the goblin race, there would be no instance where I would face those thoughts.
The other clan members were, as usual, the same. The ratio of archers was high, and above all, the selection of a.s.sa.s.sins was high as well. It was quite disheartening to see that no one in the clan had chosen to be a shaman, but I thought it was a relief to have Jung Hayeon at least.
At this time, after 20 days of marching, we escaped the empty wilderness. A distance far beyond our gathered thoughts, we began to preserve our food as much as possible. The army that only had one meal a day found marching hungry to be quite difficult.
" I'm hungry. Captain, I'm hungry. "
" Just endure a bit longer. The other clans are restraining themselves a bit as well. "
Interestingly, no complaints arose. Rather, with the food restriction problem, the Goff clan that eats a lot more than the other clans began to reduce their rations and started to take care of the weak goblins, and thanks to that, the rest followed as well by sharing their rations.
Despite that, however, goblins started to collapse. But, the clans fed the collapsed goblins and continued marching on.
Before entering the desert after escaping the wilderness, we discovered an oasis. Everyone was thirsty, and in the large oasis, we hunted the surrounding beasts there and resumed our march once again. Despite the hard, painful times, none had any thoughts of having a snack.
The canteen in our leather pouches weren't as st.u.r.dy. But our opponent was now the desert. Not long after, our canteens had run out of water. Despite that, the group continued to march.
We started to first hunt the Sandworms and the long-necked flame lizards found only in the desert. At this time, the archers began adjusting their eyes for prey... and the shamans started to slowly awaken water and other spells to make us all comfortable. The warriors that were enduring the scorching day of the desert had their bodies slowly adjust becoming stronger, and soon after 30 days, I could sense that the clans has gotten a bit stronger as a whole.
The most interesting part was
' That we haven't met any humans yet. '
Though we were randomly on a journey, I started to feel that someone was monitoring and guiding us.
Though my body was in pain, internally, I was satisfied. With the archers' hunting of the sandworm-like monsters, we didn't have to curb our appet.i.tes, and due to our shamans increased abilities, drinking water was definitely beginning to be distributed to each of the clans.
As the journey continued, the warriors started competing against one another in duels. Though it wasn't a life or death battle, it provided quite a large entertainment in this tedious journey.
" Kereeuk... I can feel that I'm getting stronger. "
" Right. Goff. We're getting stronger. "
We're getting stronger.
That empty wilderness, and that desert that we endured miraculously. All these environments tempered our bodies.
I could start to understand the purpose of this exam. It was completely different from that 'pretense' teaching that the humans did.
We were truly learning how to survive and become stronger. How come we weren't meeting any humans, and how come the archers weren't encountering really strong monsters? I wasn't able to find any traces leading to that answer.
If I had not been a human before, then I wouldn't have questioned why I did not meet any other adventurers from the desert city as I traversed the desert. Like the cities ruled by the Saint Sword and the Queen of the North, Desert Orb was extremely large. I couldn't understand how we haven't encountered any humans at all contrary to common sense-wise.
Were they monitoring us? No matter how much higher in level we are compared to the other Green Skins, compared to the ones that are already on the continent, we were severely lacking. The Chief Patriarch in the Land of Glory expects us not to have other impurities in our ascetic path. About ten days later, not only me but the other clan members seemed to start to realize that we were being led.
By this time, I started to organize my battle methods in my head. In fact, from the moment we departed, I have been strategizing in my head. I learned about the axe from Goff simply, and a.s.similated the usage on how to wield the s.h.i.+eld and hammer from the three goblins. I even picked up the bow from Mev.
The duels also continued. Goff seemed to intentionally avoid a confrontation with me, but occasionally there were times when he looked at me with burning eyes of antic.i.p.ation. It seems he's determined not duel with me until I restore my honor I had lost to the Queen of the North. So he and I looked at each other and trained by ourselves. Without a duelling opponent, I pushed my body alone endlessly and wielded the big sword on my back.
As such, about 20 days later, we were able to step into the Land of Glory.
TL Afterword
Dang, magicians are so important. Making water out of spells?! No wonder MC is sad that none in his clan decided to evolve into a shaman. And omg haha, it seems the fetish of the Despicable Captain is quite well-known throughout the tribe.
P.S: These goblins are so humane and charitable. The strong ones looking after the weak goblins. And sharing food with the others by decreasing their own rations. (Sniff*) I feel like the humans are the actual monsters... maybe it's the MC influencing me. Oh and next chapter is called Chief Patriarch Agar! Any guesses on what kind of individual he'll be?!
Comment: Okay, okay. Orc females are s.e.xy as well. (Note to self: Don't open the links on campus)
Notice: In response to my readers' curiosity, I was extremely busy with some a.s.signments due to my courses, so I wasn't able to be as active lately (5-week courses are h.e.l.l). Thank you for asking