Wang Xi looked at the unconscious guards scattered on the ground and let out a long breath.
It had taken a great deal of persuasion to get Sierra to agree to let him leave the castle to hunt. He'd done it all for this chance to escape.
Perhaps in Sierra's eyes, and even the Count's, this was just him being unresigned, a way for him to try and prove himself, so they had simply let him go.
Just in case, they had even sent eight guards to accompany him.
But Master Bato could have never imagined that all these guards would be taken down in less than a minute.
Target Defeated!
Capture "Richie's" abilities?
A prompt from Kaos appeared in Wang Xi's mind.
'Yes,' he thought.
A white light flashed over the unconscious middle-aged guard's body, and three white orbs flew into Wang Xi's forehead.
"Richie" Card added to the Independent Card Pool.
Insufficient Energy. Unable to draw.
'Three cards, just like with Wendy?'
Wang Xi was surprised and couldn't help but speculate.
'Could it be? Is the reward for defeating an enemy greater than for killing one? The former gets me three cards, while the latter only yields one?'
But that theory remained to be proven.
Aside from Richie, nothing happened with the other guards; they clearly didn't meet the criteria for ability capture.
Wang Xi felt a little disappointed.
He then searched their bodies.
He took a Longsword, a dagger, and the Crossbow from the scar-faced man's back. He hung the Quiver, which was loaded with twelve Bloodletting Crossbow Arrows, on his belt next to the dagger.
In addition, Wang Xi took the money pouches from all eight guards. After a quick count, he had a total of six Gold Coins and twenty or thirty Silver Coins.
The coins were surprisingly small, only about the size of a fingernail. One side was stamped with a deer's head, the other with patterns and characters.
Wang Xi didn't study them for long. He simply put all the money into a single pouch, pulled the drawstring tight, and hung it from his waist.
"Time to go."
Wang Xi glanced around, then started running in the direction the scar-faced man had indicated earlier.
A moment later, his figure vanished into the woods.
…
…
The forest was dense and deserted.
Every now and then, the shape of a wild deer or boar would flash past in the undergrowth.
CAW CAW—
The strange cry of an unknown bird echoed in the distance.
Wang Xi had been moving through the forest for some time. He estimated that at his current pace, he should be able to reach Buchanan Town, the place the scar-faced man had mentioned, before sunset.
He didn't plan on taking the main road, as that would make it easy to expose his position. The forest, however, was muddy and the terrain was complex, which naturally impeded his progress. But in return, it was also much safer.
Wang Xi traveled in fits and starts. Whenever he grew tired, he would find a rock to sit on, drink a few mouthfuls of water, and then continue on his way.
His full set of Leather Armor weighed over a dozen pounds, but thankfully his physical conditioning was excellent, so moving with the extra weight wasn't too much of a strain.
Some more time passed like this.
Wang Xi pushed through a dense thicket of bushes and suddenly emerged onto a small path.
Just as he was pondering whether to follow the path or continue through the woods, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye.
WHOOSH.
Wang Xi immediately dropped into a crouch, ducking behind a tree.
About twenty meters away on the path, a wooden cart lay overturned, its cargo of apples and cabbages scattered all over the ground.
The bald, middle-aged driver lay in a pool of blood. He and the nag that had been pulling the cart were caked in mud, clearly dead for some time.
Four small, green-skinned figures were squatting on the ground with their backs to Wang Xi, gathering the scattered fruits and vegetables. They picked them up and gnawed on them greedily, making loud crunching sounds.
Wang Xi's eyes narrowed.
'What the hell are those things?'
He noticed the four green-skinned figures were hairless, their bodies smooth. They were only the size of large children, yet each one carried a wooden club as thick as an adult's thigh.
They had pointed ears and long noses.
One good look confirmed it: they weren't human.
Target Found: "Cowardly Goblin"
Cowardly Goblin (Faint Red / One Star)
Goblins?!
Wang Xi froze.
Clearly, this was a type of monster that existed in the Fairy Tale Otherworld. The cart driver transporting the produce had unfortunately met his end here, ambushed and killed by a group of goblins.
'Should I go around and avoid them, or launch a surprise attack?'
He weighed his options.
Since the monsters hadn't spotted him, he could probably leave without any trouble. If he attacked, however, Wang Xi wasn't sure he could win.
After all, this was his first time encountering such a monster.
'Damn it!'
Wang Xi glanced at his equipment, considered the many Cards he had on hand, and his expression hardened.
It was as if a little voice inside him was urging him on:
'If you run away now, won't you be just like those Cowardly Goblins? Besides, these monsters are only One Star, what's there to be afraid of! You need to capture more Extraordinary Power so you can live a good life in the dangerous Main World!'
'Let's do this!'
Wang Xi silently took down his Crossbow, loaded an Arrow, and drew the string taut.
Then, he raised the Crossbow with both hands and aimed for the back of one goblin's head.
He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.
TWANG—
The Arrow shot from the string.
With a muffled THUD, the green-skinned monster twenty meters away lunged forward and fell into a mud puddle, motionless.
"Waaah! Aieeee!"
Seeing this, the other three goblins scrambled to their feet, shrieking and flailing their limbs in terror. They quickly dropped the produce, grabbed their clubs, and turned to flee.
But a bulky Yellow figure charged in from the side.
Wang Xi, having already changed into the protective suit, gripped his sword with both hands and used his momentum to deliver a powerful thrust.
SQUELCH—
Before one of the green-skinned goblins could even react, the Longsword had pierced straight through its throat!
Dark green blood sprayed out, splattering across his glass visor.
Wang Xi wiped his faceplate, then kicked the small monster—which barely came up to his chest—square in the face, sending it flying several meters. The goblin tumbled to the ground, its Yellow eyes wide. It clutched its neck and convulsed a few times before going still.
The remaining two goblins had no intention of avenging their companion; on the contrary, they ran even faster.
"Waaah!!"
They let out panicked shrieks.
Wang Xi gave chase, Longsword in hand.
Facing enemies that were only focused on fleeing and wouldn't fight back, he actually felt much more at ease.
Closing the distance in a few quick strides, he got behind one goblin and thrust again, piercing the monster through its back and out its chest.
Ignoring its screams, Wang Xi pulled his sword free and went after the last one.
Although his slashes lacked finesse, they were heavy and powerful. He hacked brutally at the final goblin until it was disemboweled.
After a few more strikes, the monster collapsed to the ground.
"Hahh..."
Wang Xi let out a long breath and surveyed his surroundings. Three green-skinned corpses lay scattered along a dozen-meter stretch of the path.
Huh? Three of them?
Where did the other one go?!
Realizing something was wrong, he hurried over to check.
At the spot by the overturned cart, the goblin that had been hit by the arrow and fallen into the mud puddle was gone.
'It got away?!'
Wang Xi was stunned.
He noticed a long trail of green blood leading from the spot into the adjacent woods.
Without a second thought, Wang Xi immediately followed the trail.
Sure enough, after following the blood trail for forty or fifty meters, he found the goblin he had shot with the arrow.
A Crossbow Arrow was sticking out of the monster's back. It lay on the ground, gasping for breath, clearly too injured to run any farther.
'So it knew how to play dead and use the opportunity to escape...'
Wang Xi looked at the goblin, quite astonished.
At the same time, he lamented his terrible marksmanship. He had aimed for its head from twenty meters away, but the shot had gone astray.
He raised his sword and pierced the monster's throat.
Once it stopped moving for good, he pulled out the Crossbow Arrow, gave it a cursory wipe with some dead leaves, and put it back in his Quiver.
Target Killed!
Capture "Cowardly Goblin's" abilities?
Naturally, Wang Xi gave his consent.
A white orb of light emerged from the corpse at his feet and sank into his forehead.
At the same time, the goblin's corpse began to blacken at a visible rate, withering and shrinking into a shriveled ball like a dying plant.
Wang Xi watched this scene in astonishment.
A moment later, with a soft POP, a fist-sized green mushroom sprouted from the shriveled, blackened corpse.
After a moment's thought, Wang Xi bent down and picked the mushroom.
Goblin Mushroom: A mushroom that contains magical Energy. Through photosynthesis, it can absorb the Magic Power suffused in the air and grow into a new goblin.
"Uh..."
Wang Xi stared at the green mushroom in his hand, a look of utter bewilderment on his face.
'So goblins aren't born from a mother, or even other animals... they grow from mushrooms?'
'If I'd left the corpse alone, would the mushroom have released spores and grown even more goblins?'
'What a bizarre Fairy Tale World!'
Wang Xi couldn't help the snarky thought.
'But since it contains Energy, Kaos should be able to absorb it, right?'
He focused his thoughts and issued a mental command.
The next second.
The green mushroom in his hand vanished!
Energy: 150
'So much!'
Wang Xi's eyes lit up.
He hadn't expected a single Goblin Mushroom to provide 150 points of Energy, equivalent to a 150-gram Magic Stone.
Wang Xi immediately turned and ran back to the path.
The three goblin corpses on the path had already withered into shrunken, black husks, each sprouting a green mushroom.
Capture "Cowardly Goblin's" abilities?
Two more prompts appeared.
'One prompt short. I guess not every monster drops a card...'
Wang Xi frowned, then gave his reply.
'Yes.'
Two orbs of light subsequently emerged and were captured by him.
Wang Xi picked all the green mushrooms and had Kaos convert them into Energy.
Energy: 600
6 draws available
'Perfect. Three cards in each of the two card pools in my mind. I can draw them all in one go!'
Wang Xi was secretly delighted.
He deactivated his Cupid's Protective Suit, turning it back into a Card and storing it away.
Then, he began to draw his cards!
Wang Xi selected the "Cowardly Goblin" Card Pool first.
First draw initiated. 100 Energy consumed.
In his mind, three white orbs of light intertwined, spinning like a roulette wheel. A moment later, one of them shot out, flaring brightly.
"Whoa! Hee hee hee!"
A goblin's sleazy laughter rang out.
Wang Xi suddenly had a bad feeling about this.
He reached out and caught the card.
Knock Your Horse (Skill Card)
Quality: White One Star (Not upgradeable)
Description: The cowardly goblin cautiously approaches the carriage, then musters its courage to strike the horse on the head. They are very good at sneak attacks, and this time is, of course, no exception.
Effect: Allows you to strike a target with all your might using a blunt weapon. Especially effective against horses. Each use of this Card consumes a certain amount of stamina.
Wang Xi held the Card, his expression turning sour.
He muttered under his breath,
"Knock your horse!"