Goblin Nest!

Inside the Goblin burrow, aside from the corpses strewn across the ground, the most eye-catching sight was a huge green heart covered in tumors!

The Green Heart stood four meters tall and three meters wide!

Around the Green Heart, vein-like green tissue spread outward in Erosion. Fleshy balls hung from the green carpet, and when Isaac stepped closer to inspect them, he immediately sucked in a sharp breath!

Inside those green fleshy balls were curled-up Goblins!

"Hiss!!!"

Isaac could not help taking two steps back as he stared in amazement at this strange structure of flesh and blood. So this was how Goblins were born? It could even draw magic power from the air... No...

Once his shock faded, intense curiosity rose within him, and Isaac could not resist stepping closer for a better look.

Through his observations, he discovered that this strange thing did not merely draw magic power from the air to nurture Goblins. The magic power in the air alone was not enough to produce so many Goblins, and this was not a high-magic region.

Isaac could vaguely sense a channel of magic power within the Green Heart. That was the true source of power nurturing the Goblins.

"Interesting~" Isaac stroked his chin, deeply curious about the thing...

"Are there any other Goblins nearby?" Isaac turned to the Goblin Killer who had followed him in and asked curiously.

"Uh... There are quite a few." The Goblin Killer's gaze became somewhat evasive as he looked at Isaac, and he said with some fear, "During their breeding season, Goblins usually establish multiple nests within one region to reduce the chances of being discovered."

"Is that so?" Isaac rubbed his chin, then slowly nodded. "All right, then that settles it. Smith, find some men to move this thing back to the castle. Escort it personally."

"This..." Smith glanced at the creepy Green Heart, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. He wanted to refuse, but ultimately nodded. "Yes, Young Master..."

As always, he had already prepared himself mentally for Young Master's increasingly bizarre pursuits...

"Mm. Transport as many of these Goblin corpses as possible back to the castle as well. I have a use for them. That will be all for today's Hunting. We'll continue tomorrow. What do you think?" Isaac looked toward the Goblin Killer.

It was already getting late, and they had a rough grasp of the Goblins' strength. Unless they encountered an especially tough target later on, there would be no need to deploy so many people.

Of course, the Goblin Killer was the professional, so Isaac still needed to hear his opinion first.

Naturally, the Goblin Killer had no objections. It was nearly dark already, and fighting in the wilderness at night would be extremely disadvantageous. The situation here had not yet become dire enough to warrant that. They could take their time.

Then Isaac took one more look at the enormous Green Heart before turning and leaving with the Black Knight. Though he was very curious about it, he was not about to alter his study schedule for its sake. Besides, Goblin Nests were hardly rare. There was no need to rush.

After leaving the burrow and leaving the guards and Goblin Killer behind to clean up the battlefield, Isaac returned to the castle ahead of them with Smith and the Black Knight. He still had Magic Spells to study.

After his initial exposure to Magic Spells, he found that they were more or less as he had previously guessed.

Beyond Basic Incantations, there was another, higher-ranked category of Magic Spells known as High-level Incantations.

High-level Incantations were more powerful than Basic Incantations. For example, among Magic Spells of the same [Flame] type, a Basic Incantation could at most be used to heat things or brew potions. To use it in actual combat, it had to be paired with other Magic Spells, producing decent results only through coordination.

But High-level Incantations were different. They could unleash tremendous power even without the support of other Magic Spells!

Burning the heavens and boiling the seas was nothing difficult!

The reason High-level Incantations possessed such Great Power was a principle abandoned by modern wizards—the Mystery Principle.

The Mystery Principle stated that the more mysterious a piece of knowledge was, the greater its power, and vice versa.

According to records, when Basic Incantations were first discovered, their power was no less than that of High-level Incantations. But as they became more and more widespread, their power steadily declined until, by now, it could decline no further.

There had been many similar examples throughout the history of wizards. This was also why the Mystery Principle had been abandoned—it severely hindered the development of the wizard's path!

And High-level Incantations were one of the Mystery Principle's final glories.

High-level Incantations possessed immense power. Every High-level Incantation was, at minimum, equivalent to an Innate Sorcery of a High Sorcerer!

Their tremendous power came from their unparalleled mystery—at any given time, each High-level Incantation could be possessed by only one wizard!

Supreme mystery in exchange for supreme power. Fair enough.

However, High-level Incantations were still far too distant for Isaac. He was currently learning Basic Incantations. Though Basic Incantations no longer possessed their ancient glory, they remained the cornerstone of traditional sorcery and were extremely important to his future research into sorcery.

Besides, his Golden Finger could break the Mystery Principle!

By repeatedly casting a spell, he could increase its effectiveness!

Though it was useless in actual combat, it was immensely useful for research.

In the days that followed, Isaac returned to a peaceful routine. Especially after Barton successfully advanced to Knight, the castle became even more tranquil. The Goblin corpses and Goblin Nests constantly being transported back to the castle showed that the extermination mission was progressing very smoothly.

The only regret was...

There was a problem selling the Bloodline Essence Potions...

The Potion shop in Lakeside Town would no longer buy them!

Yes, it would not buy them anymore!

This was not novel-like at all!

Though helpless, Isaac had no solution. The Bloodline Essence Potion had quite a few uses, but quite a few people could make it as well. It had never been a particularly popular Potion. Its steep price of one hundred Gold Coins was entirely due to its high production cost, and that was already the cost for an experienced hand.

After all, not everyone could succeed every single time like Isaac.

As a result, of the Potions made from the three batches of materials he had bought, he was ultimately left with one unsold...

"Ah~"

In the warehouse, thinking of his Potions' predicament, Isaac could not help sighing again. With a wave of his hand, the two Knight Squires behind him immediately stepped forward to carry away the refined Goblin flesh, then replaced it with fresh Goblin corpses.

The Extraction Incantation was a Basic Incantation that could extract the essence from materials with relatively low magic-power content. Many Arcanists also used this Magic Spell to process large quantities of magical materials.

Moreover, refined Goblin flesh not only contained more magic power, but also lasted longer. He would not need to worry about it spoiling, which was very important to him. After all, his Innate Sorcery required Demonized Flesh to be cast with lower consumption.

How to preserve flesh was very important to him.

Of course, how to carry it on his person was also important, but that was considerably more difficult. He was still researching it and had some ideas, but before that, he needed to complete something else first...

Complete a ritual...