Chapter 46 – Reflection and Mana Lake
The Night Forest’s Heart indeed had only goblins.
For Zwei’s current self, even the strongest monster inside the dungeon, a Level 14 Goblin Giant, wasn’t an insurmountable opponent.
However, the problem was that…there were simply too many of them!
The Night Forest’s Heart’s camp had looked just like the camps in the Outskirts and Depths. Hence, after grabbing his supplies, Zwei had immediately set out on the beast path.
However, after he had walked for just a few meters, the beast path ended in an open area with a 200-meter-diameter. The clearing resembled a colosseum, with a three-meter-tall ancient ruin standing in the middle.
Meanwhile, there were actually over 100 elite goblins, over 30 goblin spellcasters, ten goblin chargers, and ten mutated goblins in this small clearing.
Although such a lineup of goblins would give Zwei a headache, it was still manageable. What truly troubled him was the Level 12 Goblin Hero standing proudly atop the ruin. He never thought that a monster only mentioned in bards’ tales would actually appear here.
In a one-on-one situation, Zwei was confident he could defeat the goblin hero without sustaining any injuries. The goblin hero’s sophisticated magic equipment didn’t matter. After all, judging by the magic glow the goblin hero’s equipment gave off, he could confidently say that the monster wasn’t capable of fully exhibiting the equipment’s strength. Not to mention, the special effects of most magic equipment could be determined by the color of the glow the equipment gave off.
At that time, Zwei, who had grown accustomed to mowing down goblins like grass, had still been thinking that quality would overwhelm quantity. In his mind, so long as he could take care of the goblin hero first, the other goblins should automatically flee the area.
Only after plunging into the sea of goblins did he realize how terrifying a zerg rush was.
Despite the Level 3 Elite Goblins being incapable of harming Zwei with their weapons, they had thoroughly hindered his mobility with their large numbers. And after the elite goblins had pinned him down, the goblin spellcasters would follow up with first-circle spells such as Lesser Fireballs, Ice Bullets, and Drifting Electric Eel. Moreover, these spellcasters actually had the brains to attack from all sides!
However, the spellcasters still weren’t the worst part of that fight. The mutated goblins wielded first-circle spells much stronger than the goblin spellcasters. With the goblin spellcasters and mutated goblins relentlessly raining spells on Zwei, he had an incredibly difficult time defending himself.
And after he had successfully broken through the elite goblins’ encirclement at a great cost, as he rushed at the goblin hero, the goblin chargers assaulted him on their arrow porcupines.
The goblin chargers were capable of fighting from up close and far away. Facing their great mobility, Zwei was once more caught up in a bitter battle. And shortly afterward, the tide of elite goblins swarmed him again…
In the end, after Zwei exhausted his mana and potions, the goblin hero finally took action and severed his head from his battered body.
He had actually died in the hands of a goblin. In a sense, this could already be considered a great shame.
However, aside from feeling regretful over losing one month of his lifespan and the opportunity to secure an S-rank evaluation for the Night Forest’s Heart, Zwei didn’t feel too frustrated or humiliated.
This defeat had exposed problems that he found worthy of reflection.
Firstly, there was his lack of defense.
If he had the second-circle all-round defensive spell Magic Shield, then he would’ve fared much better in the previous battle. Although Mana Barrier allowed him to strengthen its defense according to the amount of mana he injected into it, its one-sided defense was simply too flawed. The Mana Barrier was simply useless against the rain of spells that came from all directions, not to mention the bunch of spear-wielding elite goblins eager to stab him.
After defense, there was his lack of mobility.
Originally, Zwei had wanted to invest the Lesser Skill Crystal’s five charges into the Minor Wind Mastery skill tree until he learned the Levitate spell. However, he later discovered many second-circle spells superior to Levitate. Thus, he had given up on this plan and activated other spells.
Now, however, Zwei thoroughly regretted his decision. After all, had he been able to fly, he wouldn’t have had to deal with the elite goblins’ harassment. So long as he flew into the air, both the Level 3 Elite Goblins and Level 7 Goblin Chargers would only be able to stare at him.
At that time, Zwei could even say coolly, “Dumbfounded, right? I can fly!”
Aside from his inadequate defense and mobility, his inability to cast spells while moving also placed him in a very passive state. During the battle, he had often been forced to cancel his spellcasting to dodge an attack. Judging from this situation, he had to accumulate achievement points to purchase the Moving Cast skill as soon as possible.
Lastly, there were his offensive capabilities.
There wasn’t anything truly problematic regarding this aspect. Zwei simply felt that he was lacking in AOE spells. If the range of Turbid Impact were slightly larger, then he could’ve instantly annihilated the elite goblins the moment they swarmed him, and the bitter battle afterward wouldn’t have happened.
However, this last problem was also the easiest to solve. After all, the more dungeons he cleared, the more AOE spells he would gain.
“It seems I have a lot of problems,” Zwei sighed. After his self-reflection, some anxiety over his future was inevitable.
Fortunately, the number of free raid opportunities he had now had increased to three. He called up the Magic Academy System once more.
However, before he could enter the Trial Gate’s panel, he noticed a change in the “Taking Shape” quest.
Currently, under the list of quest requirements, the Mana Lake’s status had changed from “Incomplete” to “Completed.” In other words, this building, which started construction a day ago, was finally done!
Hence, Zwei skipped the Trial Gate panel to check out the Academy Construction panel first.
According to the blueprint’s introduction, the Mana Lake was a very useful construct. It served as a generator, and it was a central component of his magic academy’s energy supply.
For example, the mana used by the academy’s Protection Barrier, street lights, and self-defense magic weapons came from the Mana Lake.
He needed a mana core or luminary crystal to activate the Mana Lake. After activation, the Mana Lake would supply roughly 100 times the energy of the inserted mana core or luminary crystal.
Zwei was utterly incurious about the operating principle of this architecture that clearly violated the law of conservation of energy. What interested him was its appearance.
According to the blueprint, the Mana “Lake” looked nothing like a lake but a large globe on a stand. However, the globe was not a map. Instead, it was a pitch-black crystalline sphere. One would even see a nebula slowly rotating inside it.
The Mana Lake inside Zwei’s magic academy, however, didn’t come in the form of a globe. Instead, it was the statue of a person. Although he couldn’t get a clear look at its appearance through the Academy Construction panel, he was sure that the statue depicted himself.
As Zwei looked at the pitch-black statue of himself and the nebula rotating within it, he couldn’t help being dumbfounded. He couldn’t tell whether the statue looked majestic or violative.
This was probably the “surprise” mentioned in the Gremlins’ Construction Voucher.