Chapter 13 – 013
【013】 How to Tackle the Goblin Gathering Area
Gu Qing looked at the five available professions and began to analyze them seriously.
The Mage and Archer are both fragile but high in output, with strong explosive power. The Mage uses magical attacks and can manipulate the elements in the air, while the Archer relies on physical attacks, focusing on high-speed shooting and strong damage.
The Warrior is defensively strong, with high melee power, able to take hits and deal damage, playing a frontline charge role in team battles.
The Assassin is a melee explosive physical damage dealer, specializing in high single-target damage.
The Support role assists the team, acting as a logistical backup.
Each profession has its own strengths. If you ask Gu Qing which one she would choose, her gaze lingered between Mage and Assassin.
High damage is her goal.
After narrowing her choices, Gu Qing quickly decided to choose Mage.
Ranged or melee, she naturally preferred ranged.
Moreover, an Assassin focuses on agility, which can sometimes be improved through practical experience.
A Mage, on the other hand, commands external elemental forces, able to manipulate the elements in the air to fight. How cool is that?
Although Gu Qing had participated in many quick-transmigration tasks, her level was still very low. She could only take part in low-level world cannon fodder tasks. However, her cannon fodder tasks were completed beautifully, allowing her to gain enough revival points in a relatively short period compared to other taskers. This let her live a peaceful, task-free life in one world.
Most of the low-level worlds she had been to were simple ancient or modern worlds, far from touching on so-called superpowers, magic, or spiritual energy.
She had originally thought that after this revival break, she would level up from cannon fodder to an extra character. By then, the small worlds would become more diverse, perhaps even introducing low-level magic or cultivation worlds. She had been looking forward to it.
Unexpectedly, this accident had given her an early opportunity to experience magic.
She considered it an early chance to accumulate experience.
With that in mind, Gu Qing quickly selected her profession.
【Mage.】
【Host has selected the Mage profession. Testing qualifications…】
【Congratulations, host. After system evaluation, you possess the Earth Mage talent. Would you like to become an Earth Mage?】
Gu Qing: 【Earth? Aren’t there other options? Like wind, fire, lightning, ice, etc.?】
999 System: 【Host, it’s not that the system won’t provide them, but you lack the qualifications for wind, fire, lightning, or ice.】
Ouch, that stings, old buddy!
999 System: 【Host, Earth magic is quite suitable for you. It’s extremely strong defensively!】
Gu Qing: 【…】
—She believed the system’s nonsense.
999 System: 【Host, when you reach level 20, you will have an opportunity for a job change, and you can choose another profession then.】
Gu Qing: 【Let’s talk about that when the time comes!】
Since she had already made her choice, Gu Qing didn’t want to regret it. She would push forward—who said Earth magic couldn’t turn her into a magic god!
【Congratulations, Host. You have become an Earth Mage.】
As the system notified her, Gu Qing quickly saw her character status panel update.
【Name: Gu Qing】
【Race: Human】
【Level: lv.10 (12742/20000)】
【Health: 100/200】
【Stamina: 100/200】
【Skill Cards: Chain Attack, Chain Sprint, Stealth, Swordsmanship (Limit: 4)】
【Profession: Earth Mage】
【Profession Skills: Earth Wave Impact, Rock Shield (Chance to self-learn specialties when using specializations)】
【Talent: Leadership (Lord Token Function Bonus), Earth Mage】
【Attributes: Constitution 8 (10), Intelligence 8 (10), Strength 4 (10), Defense 3 (10), Agility 7 (10), Charisma 9 (10)】
The panel clearly displayed the profession and its associated skills, and the skills were already available for use.
Earth Wave Impact and Rock Shield—without a doubt, one focused on offense and the other on defense, both quite good.
As soon as she opened the two skills, Gu Qing’s mind was immediately filled with the incantations required for them.
Feeling the unfamiliar power flowing within her and the familiar presence in the air, Gu Qing was momentarily stunned. She felt that some aspects of the game world were truly… particularly magical.
At that moment, the other two soldier teams had already dealt with their respective venomous snakes and quickly returned to report to Gu Qing.
Pulling her thoughts back, Gu Qing said, “Let’s go. Continue. Let’s see if there are more prey.”
Now, Gu Qing felt a bit impatient and eager to try out her newly acquired profession skills.
Several soldiers also sensed Gu Qing’s excitement during the upcoming actions. When they encountered a wave of Level 3 magical beasts, before they could even act, they saw Gu Qing swiftly eliminate all of the beasts in an instant, and they immediately understood.
Their Lord had become a professional, and a rare one at that… a Mage.
“Lord, you are truly amazing.” The soldiers watched as Gu Qing moved effortlessly through a herd of wild buffalo, and couldn’t help but silently applaud her in their hearts. Their gazes gradually turned more fervent.
At that moment, Gu Qing was getting more and more familiar with the skills she had. When facing the buffalo herd’s attack, she immediately activated the Rock Shield skill, quickly forming a barrier of earth blocks around her. Then, using this barrier, she launched the Earth Wave Impact skill, utilizing the ground to ambush the buffalo beneath them.
Both humans and animals were tied to the earth. Facing Gu Qing’s two moves, the buffalo herd, which would have required great effort to deal with, suddenly lost all their combat ability in the blink of an eye and became easy targets.
In just a short time, all the buffalo were killed at Gu Qing’s hands and turned into her personal experience.
【Congratulations, Host. By killing the buffalo, you have obtained Beef x10, Buffalo Hide x1, Copper Coins x2.】
【Congratulations, Host. By killing the buffalo, you have obtained Beef x10, Buffalo Hide x1, Copper Coins x2.】
【…】
The rest of the journey was a walk in the park for Gu Qing. She timed the depletion of her “mana” perfectly and used her blue mana efficiently.
By the time she returned to the territory, Gu Qing had collected a lot of rewards, and her soldiers also gained quite a bit of experience, sharing in the bountiful rewards. A sense of happiness began to show.
When they encountered other teams out hunting magical beasts, they couldn’t help but boast.
“Lord has become a professional. She’s a very powerful Mage. Before we even got a chance to act, she had already completely dealt with all those magical beasts.”
“Lord is really amazing.”
“Lord…”
Each soldier seemed to become a mindless fan of Gu Qing.
Other soldiers overhearing it couldn’t help but show some envy. They weren’t so much impressed by how powerful Gu Qing was, but rather that they had the chance to act alongside their Lord.
“How great! We get to work with the Lord! I wonder if we’ll have the chance again soon.”
“We will, we will.”
“…”
A group of soldiers daydreamed, and back here, Gu Qing was already summoned to the conference room by Ulysses. Alex was also in the room.
As soon as Alex saw Gu Qing, he immediately saluted. “Lord.”
“How is it? Did you finish the investigation?” Upon seeing Alex, Gu Qing already had a guess—it must be the situation regarding the goblin gathering.
After so many days of close surveillance, Alex should have gathered some results.
Upon hearing Gu Qing’s question, Alex quickly straightened his posture, cleared his throat, and said, “After several days of investigation, we have indeed learned a lot about this group of goblins. There are just over a hundred of them, and they have a leader. This leader is very smart, and all the other goblins listen to his commands, which gives the whole group a strong combat capability, especially since they possess weapons made of iron.”
At this point, Alex became somewhat excited. “This confirms one thing: there really is a mine near the goblin gathering place. If we can take control of this mine, the strength of our territory will increase significantly, and we’ll have more confidence in dealing with the upcoming beast tide.”
Ironware? Iron ore?
Gu Qing couldn’t help but feel tempted. Although she had anticipated this, hearing the confirmation still made her quite happy.
“How strong are they?” Gu Qing asked.
“With the ironware, these goblins are indeed very strong, especially since they have a well-organized command. Their strength can’t be assessed by individuals alone,” Alex continued, his brow furrowing. “And I’ve noticed that the goblins place great importance on the strength of the younger goblins. Even the young ones seem to undergo training every day. The adult goblins are probably very strong, and I suspect some of them may be over level 10 professionals. In terms of numbers, they likely have an advantage because their entire race is made up of soldiers.”
The strength of the goblins isn’t based on individuals, but on the collective—there’s a powerful cohesion as a race.
The strength of the goblin team exceeded Alex’s expectations. Because of this, they needed to occupy the goblin gathering place as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the goblins became stronger, they would pose a significant threat to their territory, especially given the natural animosity between the two races.
That is, humans have a history of enslaving goblins.
Gu Qing listened, surprised for a moment, then fell into deep thought. She then said, “So next, the priority is to understand their strength. You can take a team to lure some goblins out near their gathering place and test the waters.”
“Do you want to set up an ambush? We could gradually wear them down. If we just eliminate their young adults, the elder and young goblins won’t pose any threat to us. In fact, we could even enslave them to help us forge ironware,” Alex quickly suggested.
However, Ulysses, who had been listening nearby, furrowed his brow. His lips moved, but as he looked at Gu Qing, he swallowed his words.
Gu Qing noticed this and raised an eyebrow, looking at Ulysses. “Ulysses, what do you think?”
When asked, Ulysses paused for a moment before responding, “Captain Alex’s suggestion is a good one. It’s indeed a good short-term solution to occupy the goblin territory and obtain minerals. But for our territory, such an approach won’t last. Provoking the goblins’ hatred is not advisable, especially since they’ve now established their own territory. If they find out, our small territory might… be in danger.”
Ulysses was more concerned about the risks this approach might bring.
Gu Qing shook her head inwardly.
They had already mentally categorized the goblins as an enemy race. The assumption that they were in an antagonistic relationship had long been made, and they never viewed goblins as equals.
Little did they know, it’s easy to suppress through force, but it’s hard to subjugate.
If they killed the family members of the elder and young goblins, how could the goblins willingly serve them?
So, the assassination method was not viable.
Gu Qing had never intended to kill these goblins. What she wanted was for them to serve her.
“Alex, how long would it take to conquer the goblin gathering place if you used your method? Could you do it before the first beast tide reaches our territory?” Gu Qing countered.
Alex froze, then shook his head. “No.”
“Then why provoke them now?”
“Does the Lord mean…?” Alex understood that his Lord did not approve of his proposed method.
“Of course, we should cooperate. Use what they need to trade for weapons to help us prepare for the beast tide.”
“But goblins have always hated humans. How could they possibly trade weapons with us?”
“Do goblins have to face the beast tide like we do?”
“Yes, the beast tide is a disaster that all races on the continent cannot avoid.”
“So we need to figure out a way to make them provide us with weapons.” Gu Qing said directly. “As you mentioned earlier, we can first lure and capture individual goblins, and hint to them that we intend to attack the goblin gathering place. However, attacking their gathering place isn’t to harm them but to get their weapons. If they really have a leader, and this leader is intelligent, perhaps… they will propose cooperation. Remember, the weapon trade cannot be initiated by us, it must come from them. You just need to hint at it in front of some goblins. At the same time, you need to send out teams to frequently patrol their gathering place, showing off our territory and letting them know that our territory is stronger than theirs. Under these multiple conditions, they won’t be able to refuse.”
“No one likes war when they have the option of peace, especially a war with huge sacrifices.”
Ulysses: “…”
Alex: “…”
After hearing Gu Qing’s words, the two were immediately stunned.
It could be done like this?