Chapter 360: Goblins and Gnomes, The Next Step to Transcendent? |
The ecosystem of the Nasadok Dungeon is incredibly complex.
Each layer of the dungeon is enormous; even by the 22nd layer, the total area still exceeds 500,000 square kilometers.
And while it's called a dungeon, the structure of each layer is actually different. Some layers do match the common impression of a dungeon, with sights of walls built from blue bricks, long corridors leading to monster rooms like checkpoints, and finally a boss chamber, just like a massive underground labyrinth.
But some layers are completely different, resembling a complete world instead.
There are deserts, basins, high mountains, streams... as well as forests and snowy mountains.
The 22nd layer of the Nasadok Dungeon is a vast forest.
A river runs through the center of the forest, dividing it in half.
One half is a paradise for magical creatures, while the other half, besides magical creatures, also hosts a large goblin settlement.
That's right, goblins—those old friends every adventurer is intimately familiar with—also make an appearance in this dungeon.
Their numbers are not as high as the stereotypical image of goblins, and their reproductive ability is far inferior to their weaker kin.
In contrast, they possess slightly taller bodies, robust physiques, and astonishing intelligence compared to those inferior relatives.
Goblins are a very peculiar race. Although they cannot change their own fate through effort like humans, they have the characteristic of optimizing their bloodline through continuous reproduction.
Bare-handed, an ordinary goblin might not even defeat a half-grown human youth, but a Mutated Goblin can treat an adult like a toy.
Bronze Goblin, Silver Goblin, Gold Goblin...
With each evolution, goblins can transcend their originally weak race, becoming completely new species. And above the Gold Goblin, having reached the "Transcendent" tier, they are called "Gnomes."
If goblins, even Gold Goblins, are still degraded humanoid creatures, then gnomes are completely like a genuine humanoid race, possessing considerable intelligence and thinking ability, along with far greater strength than goblins.
To put it bluntly, humanity's positioning of them is close to that of Orcs.
And they are comparable to those mid-to-high-tier, powerful Orcs.
On the continent, gnomes also have their own place. A gnome emperor with Legendary Level strength established a vast Gnome Kingdom in the wild forests of the southern frontier.
Gnomes possess extremely high intelligence. The prosperity of the Gnome Kingdom's royal capital almost rivals that of human empires. Among them are no lack of brave and powerful warriors; they have considerable research into magic and also master some black technology...
The Gnome Kingdom has never given up on coveting human territory, but what they face is the powerful empire located in the southern part of the continent, hailed as the Empire of Magic and Arcana—the Roxez Empire.
Among the current three great empires of the continent, the Violet Empire is known as the Empire of Commerce and Miracles, while the other two are respectively the Serya Empire, known as the Empire of War and Steel, and the Roxez Empire, known as the Empire of Magic and Arcana.
Among the three great empires, the Violet Empire is located in the middle of the continent and is the wealthiest, but its military power is slightly weaker compared to the other two empires.
The Serya Empire borders the Orc Empire to the north, while the Roxez Empire borders the Gnome Kingdom and the Elf Kingdom to the south, both facing certain threats. Only the Violet Empire occupies the best location on the continent, with a mild climate, excellent conditions, and no powerful external enemies.
Thus, the Violet Empire developed highly advanced commerce and cultivated numerous skilled, creative life professions like Alchemists, Planters, and Chefs.
Logically, the Violet Empire, with the strongest comprehensive power occupying such a good place, should cause dissatisfaction in the other two empires. But in fact, throughout long-term development, the royal families of the other two empires have never launched a war against the Violet Empire over this.
Because the current royal family of the Violet Empire are descendants of the ancient empire's royal family.
While the royal families of the Serya Empire and the Roxez Empire are descendants of the ancient empire's princes and nobles.
Back when the ancient empire collapsed and the three great empires were first established, the royal families of these two empires made an oath, swearing never to invade the territory of the Violet Empire.
Lin Mo had read about this history in books later on, and because it was somewhat interesting, he treated it entirely as a story to read.
Getting back on track, gnomes, strictly speaking, are no longer considered part of the goblin race. They possess a highly developed civilization and intelligence, but they still haven't changed those vile inherent traits.
Jealousy, greed, lust...
Humanity's hatred for gnomes even surpasses that for Orcs!
Although Orcs also covet human territory, putting aside the conflict of interests, many Orcs have some commendable qualities.
Such as bravery, loyalty, and perseverance.
For humans, they are both despicable and respectable opponents. As for gnomes... in human eyes, they have never shed their goblin identity; they are merely a bunch of vile rats.
But it must be said, compared to goblins, these gnome "rats" are indeed more cunning and more powerful.
Among the tasks Lin Mo accepted, one was to go to the goblin tribe on the 22nd layer and kill five gnomes.
This is a very difficult task, equivalent to killing five Transcendent Level magical creatures... Although gnomes, like humans, are somewhat weaker than magical creatures in individual combat power, this difficulty is still quite high among A-rank tasks.
Well, that's the case for some newly promoted Gold-level adventurers...
Holding the map in his hand, Lin Mo confirmed the direction and headed straight for the goblin settlement.
To save time, Lin Mo simply had Ellie and the others stay in the Portable Space while he traveled outside... Although the Nasadok Dungeon is huge, compared to long journeys between nations, the distance is much shorter, so it wouldn't take too long, and he didn't need to worry about stamina consumption.
In less than an hour, Lin Mo arrived near his destination, and Ellie and the others emerged from the Portable Space one after another.
They were currently located on a small low slope, so they could clearly see the scene ahead in the distance.
It looked like a small town, specifically built with walls. Many goblins were holding tools and working... The levels of these goblins were not low; each was at least Silver Level. In more remote areas outside, they would have status and position.
But here, they were the bottom tier.
They were tools and failures in the process of bloodline ascension.
And among the many goblins stood one that was clearly different.
It was a "goblin" that didn't look like a goblin.
Not just the difference in color; its facial features were quite different from goblins, clearly closer to humanoid creatures, including its torso not being hunched like the surrounding goblins but standing upright.
Its size wasn't too large, still shorter than a human, about one meter five or six in height, with a fairly sturdy build and well-defined muscles all over.
This was a gnome.
Lin Mo looked at the light green-skinned fellow with great interest. This was his first time encountering a real gnome; previously, he could only see them in books.
It held a whip in its hand, swinging it from time to time, landing on the goblins' bodies.
Even though those goblins showed not a bit of slack in their work.
Its face was full of pride and smugness, looking down on the surrounding kin with contempt... or rather, in its eyes, those were not kin but lowly slaves.
These goblins were repairing damaged city walls. Looking at the gaps in the walls, it seemed like they had been bombarded by magic, most likely the handiwork of adventurers.
Lin Mo lost interest in continuing to observe, stood up, and prepared to take action.
Ellie beside him had long been impatient. Before Lin Mo could act, she had already shot out like an arrow from a bow, charging straight towards that gnome.
"Gah—!"
That gnome quickly noticed them and angrily shouted, speaking in the gnome language, "Damned humans again!"
Saying this, it picked up the weapon hanging nearby and met the attack head-on.
The moment the two sides clashed, Ellie's figure trembled, and she retreated several steps.
After all, the opponent was a genuine Transcendent Level, and Ellie's level was currently stuck at 19, so there was still some gap in strength.
But in other attributes, it was different.
After being forced back, Ellie quickly adjusted her posture, easily dodging the gnome's subsequent pursuit, and then began to kite it using her speed advantage.
The rest of the group also joined the battle, harvesting those goblins like crushing dry weeds.
The levels of these goblins weren't low; many were Gold Goblins over level ten. But in front of the current Silver Radiance Team, they could only be considered speed bumps.
Lin Mo, of course, wasn't idle either. He immediately used the hardest-to-train Knight profession skills to grind proficiency.
The battle quickly showed a one-sided trend. However, as the commotion here grew, reinforcements from the goblin side soon arrived.
Two newly arrived gnomes brought a group of clearly more elite Gold Goblins wearing armor, joining the battlefield.
Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up. This proficiency was just too abundant!
So he immediately charged over, entering like he was in no man's land, casually killing a Gold Goblin with a single strike.
The two gnomes saw this and instantly became anxious, wanting to stop him. Lin Mo glimpsed them from the corner of his eye, casually swung his sword, and beheaded one of the gnomes.
[Blood Moon Sky Charge] proficiency +270!
These goblins, including the gnomes, were simply too weak for Lin Mo, posing no threat at all.
The reason he wasn't in a hurry to kill a few gnomes was to give Ellie and the others some practice.
The other newly arrived gnome saw this and immediately behaved, not daring to trouble Lin Mo anymore. While calling for reinforcements, it went to find Eve.
Eve's strength was slightly weaker, but with Finnie's buffs, there was no need to worry in the short term.
Sherfilia quickly came to help. The two worked together, tangling with the gnome.
The battle continued for a while longer. Lin Mo looked into the distance; a dark mass of goblins was rushing towards them. The earlier ones were just those nearby coming over; this time, it was the real reinforcements.
Looking over, just the Transcendent Level gnomes numbered over ten!
The scale of this goblin tribe was astonishing, with a total reaching an exaggerated hundred million level!
Although there were many low-tier goblins among them, the mid-tier ones reaching Silver and Gold Level also numbered in the tens of millions, making it a very mature, super-large-scale tribe.
The small town before their eyes was just a small part of it.
The entire tribe... rather than a tribe, it was more like a small kingdom, actually very vast.
If not for this, with adventurers coming to wipe them out every few days, this tribe would have been gone long ago.
According to the statistical information from the Association here, the number of "gnomes" reaching Transcendent Level in the entire goblin tribe was probably no less than several thousand!
Even in the Nasadok Dungeon, that was a quite staggering number.
Lin Mo's task only required killing five of them. Counting the new batch, it was enough.
With large-scale reinforcements arriving, if they all joined the battle, it would put some pressure, even danger, on Ellie and the others.
After all, there were over ten gnomes alone. Their strength, while fine facing one alone, would be troublesome if there were more.
Thus, Lin Mo stopped holding back, preparing to go on a killing spree.
First, he took out the Ice Soul Bow from his backpack, unleashed a series of Ranger skills, then used magic for batch bombardment, and finally drew his sword, easily killing those stronger gnomes.
...
The battle soon ended.
Everyone left the scene, leaving behind a mess.
Back in the Portable Space, Lin Mo looked at the series of messages before him, his face filled with great joy.
This Nasadok Dungeon was truly a great place!
Especially this goblin tribe, with many monsters and high levels. This wave had given him a great grinding session!
A series of skill upgrade messages dazzled him. In the final tally, he gained a total of 12 points in basic Strength attribute, 11 points in basic Agility attribute, 21 points in basic Constitution attribute, and 10 points in basic Mana attribute.
Now, his various attributes had all reached the edge of being on the verge of universal promotion to Transcendent Level!
Next, he needed to plan carefully, find a few suitable skills, and upgrade them all together at the end.
This way, he could achieve the goal of several professions promoting simultaneously.
To accomplish this, besides precise calculation, he needed enough monsters. And the current goblin settlement clearly met the requirements.
This was also an important reason why Lin Mo chose to accept this task and come to the 22nd layer.
The other few tasks could wait; achieving Transcendent rank came first!
He had waited for this day for a very, very long time...