Fang Zhen's grandfather had a cousin who often visited their home when Fang Zhen was a child.
Not knowing the proper term of address, young Fang Zhen simply called this elder his grand-uncle.
This grand-uncle of Fang Zhen's was a veteran who had fought on the battlefield to defend his country. As a child, Fang Zhen had heard him tell some stories about the war.
So much time had passed that the memories had grown hazy, but he now realized that those childhood stories were like seeds. A part of them had fused with his Spirit, becoming an inseparable part of him.
Fang Zhen took a deep breath, completely calming himself.
He gripped his spear and delivered a finishing blow to the goblins he had stabbed during the surprise attack but who were not yet dead.
Fang Zhen hadn't forgotten the lesson from the last time a goblin played dead.
After finishing off every goblin on the battlefield and confirming there were no survivors, Fang Zhen sat down beside a large tree.
The recent battle had taken a lot out of him, so he took a moment to rest and recover his stamina.
Fang Zhen placed the spear beside him. He used a strip of linen cloth he had just torn from the hovel to wipe his Nepalese Curved Saber clean before sheathing it. Then, he took out a bottle of mineral water and a Snickers bar from his waist pouch.
He tore open the Snickers wrapper and devoured it in two or three bites, then twisted open the small bottle of mineral water and took a large gulp.
Fang Zhen felt a slight warmth spread from his lower abdomen as his strength steadily returned.
As he drank his water, Fang Zhen began to review the fight.
'This instance might be on Easy difficulty in the Nameless World, and the intensity isn't high, but low intensity doesn't mean it's simple.'
'The goblins themselves aren't that tough. The deadly part is a whole group of them charging at you. Even if they're weak, they're armed. A normal person can't handle them all; one person fighting a group can't cover every angle. And I only have one life. Even on Easy, if that knife had hit my stomach just now, I would've been toast.'
'A group of goblins swarming you, even if they aren't strong, is still inexplicably nerve-wracking. It's like running into a pack of rowdy eight or nine-year-olds. Under normal circumstances, it would be fine; they obviously couldn't beat an adult.'
'But what if it was in some gloomy, pitch-black environment, and every one of those kids had a savage expression? What if all seven or eight of them were holding sharp knives, their faces a ghastly pale, and they charged at you with no regard for their own lives…?'
The thought made Fang Zhen shiver. He found the mental image strangely unsettling and terrifying; it made his hair stand on end.
He shook his head, as if trying to banish the bizarre train of thought, and then looked down at his abdomen.
Looking at the gray riot gear he was wearing, Fang Zhen was incredibly satisfied. 'That twenty thousand yuan was so worth it. It's a real lifesaver when it counts.'
'To put it in a sentence: for real-life dungeoneering, there are a million strategies, but safety is rule number one. One moment of carelessness, and your family sheds endless tears.'
"I really did the right thing," he said to himself. "I was willing to spend a fortune on equipment and came fully prepared. Otherwise, I'd probably be lying here dead right now."
'In the future, I have to be even more willing to spend money on gear.'
He took a few more sips of water. Feeling that his stamina had mostly recovered, he stood up.
Looking at the goblin corpses on the ground, Fang Zhen wasn't afraid. Instead, he felt curious and expectant.
'Last time, I looted a Gold Pendant from a goblin. I wonder what I'll find this time?'
Fang Zhen was eager to get started.
With that thought, he walked over to the goblin corpses.
「A few minutes later.」
"Damn, why are these goblins so poor?"
Fang Zhen had searched the goblins' bodies and rummaged through their hovel of a stronghold, but he had found next to nothing.
The total haul from the seven goblins in the hovel, plus the assassinated Goblin Sentry, amounted to a mere sixteen Copper Coins.
Inside the stronghold's hovel, however, Fang Zhen did find one rather unusual item. He was holding it in his hand now, observing it closely.
It was an emblem, seemingly made of copper, and about half the size of his palm.
The emblem depicted a somewhat ferocious-looking, two-headed monster bird. The creature resembled a vulture, with its long neck splitting into two branches, each topped with a head. On its heads, the monster bird wore a coronet of white gems.
The two-headed monster bird had black feathers. Below its body were two talons. The left talon grasped a strange-looking scepter, its top resembling the feathered wings of an Angel and its handle like that of a warhammer. The right talon clutched a round object that looked like a landmine, on which sat a cross-shaped metal frame.
Fang Zhen studied it for a moment.
'Is this some kind of family crest?'
He had picked up a fair bit of trivia from American shows and novels, and the emblem in his hand looked a lot like a European family crest from the Middle Ages.
'From what I recall, the imagery on those crests is very specific. The type of animal, the elements included... they all tell the family's story: how they rose to power, what major historical events they were part of, what honors they earned, the status they once held, and so on. I've never studied it in depth, of course. And since the Nameless World has monsters like goblins, it's definitely not following a European model. It's probably just a coincidence of cultural development, following a similar logic for its emblems.'
Fang Zhen examined it carefully. He couldn't detect any Magic effects from the emblem, and the material was just copper, not a precious metal. 'It might have some collector's value, but it's likely just a common curio.'
Fang Zhen shook his head slightly, stowing the emblem and the Copper Coins in his waist pouch.
Despite not getting much loot, Fang Zhen's mood remained optimistic.
His brief complaint about the goblins' poverty had been enough to vent that tiny bit of disappointment.
'When you run into a problem, don't panic. Just stop and think it through.'
'The goblins I encountered last time weren't as strong as these. Those three were probably just outer-ring grunts, yet I still found a Gold Pendant on them. What does that mean?'
Fang Zhen's mind began to race.
'It means that creatures like goblins can recognize value. When I found that Gold Pendant, they had probably just finished a robbery, and the grunt goblins had their own loot that they hadn't turned over to the tribe yet. The fact that they collect Copper Coins and have even possessed Gold proves they're interested in currency and precious metals. At a minimum, they know these things are valuable. So, what conclusion can be drawn from that?'
'It means that although goblins aren't highly intelligent, they understand the concept of trade, or at least exchange. Otherwise, collecting coins and Gold would be meaningless. Taking that a step further, the logical explanation is that merchants or other intelligent beings—most likely humans—are trading with them. This theory is perfectly sound. Why else would goblins want coins and Gold as loot? And without the goods produced by human society, what would these merchants have to offer the goblins in trade?'
'Following this line of thought, the fact that I haven't found any high-value loot strongly suggests this isn't the goblins' true nest, but just an outpost. From a merchant's point of view, if they are indeed trading with the goblins, they wouldn't be insane enough to wait around here. It's too dangerous. They'd conduct their business periodically at most.'
All of his deductions so far were reasonable and logical, and they all led to one conclusion…
Fang Zhen's eyes lit up.
'If there really is a main goblin nest, then it's highly likely that, before the merchants arrive to trade, their lair will be filled with all the treasure they've recently stockpiled!'