Goblin Jumper Cables

The two of them headed back.

After the fight, they were both a little tired, especially Lilia.

Whenever they got tired, they sat by the roadside to rest, then started walking again once they felt better. As a result, their return trip was much slower.

After emerging from the bushes, they kept following the main road.

The ocher road stretched into the distance. They had been walking for most of the day, and the sun was already sinking toward the west.

There were no streetlights along this road, so it grew dark, and visibility worsened.

Rhode gathered mana in his hand and cast a small Fireball.

Physical stamina was one thing; mana was another.

After half a day of walking, Rhode's mana had largely recovered.

Just as Lilia had said, his mana really did recover unusually fast.

Besides, he was only creating a fireball for light, which hardly consumed any mana.

Their surroundings immediately brightened.

"Rhode, why do we have to follow the main road?" Lilia suddenly took several quick steps toward the grass beside the road.

Rhode reached out, and a Mage Hand caught Lilia. "So we're less likely to run into roaming monsters."

"Roaming monsters?" Lilia turned and asked, "What kinds of monsters are there around here?"

"There might be lynxes," Rhode said.

"Lynxes?" Lilia seemed unconcerned. "Lynxes are so weak. I can kill a huge yeti, so I should be able to beat a lynx too."

"They might look weak, but you still shouldn't underestimate them."

"Are there wild boars?" Lilia asked.

"Yes."

"Bears?"

"Probably those too."

"Could we run into that giant spider again?"

"Probably not. We ran into it in the Woods to the West last time, and we're a long way from there now," Rhode said. "Also, don't tempt fate."

"What does 'tempt fate' mean?"

"It means jinxing us."

"All right. I won't jinx us. Rhode, who's that up ahead?" Lilia suddenly pointed forward.

Rhode looked up. By the moonlight, he could only make out a green figure running toward them.

Green?

Don't tell me it's an Orc!

That couldn't be right. Weren't all the Orcs nearby locked up in Durnholde Keep? How could one be running around out here?

Rhode couldn't help feeling a little nervous. He extinguished his small fireball and pulled Lilia behind him.

The green figure soon drew closer.

Oh, it wasn't an Orc. He was much smaller than an Orc.

But his skin really was green. He was a Goblin!

"Hey, pal, still out and about this late?" The Goblin greeted them as soon as he spotted them. His voice was shrill and rather unpleasant. "Need a lamp made by Gixil himself to light your way home? Only five silver coins..."

But then the Goblin saw Rhode light his Fireball again. Surprise flashed across his face, followed by an even stronger look of frustration. "Just my luck, a mage. Goodbye!"

"Wait, you're Gixil, right?" Something suddenly occurred to Rhode, and he hurriedly called him back.

"Ah, yes, I'm Gixil. Gixil's products offer the best quality at the lowest prices!" The Goblin Gixil turned around. "Is there anything you need, esteemed mage? I also have... uh... right, a Wizard Belt I could sell you!"

"No, I'm not buying anything." Rhode shook his head. "I wanted to ask whether you've done any research into computers."

Just imagine: if the rules for casting magic were really a series of programming rules, how many times more efficient would processing them become with a computer?

He might even be able to discover more derivative spells through exhaustive searches. Then it wouldn't matter if he didn't have many Spellbooks on hand.

And in this world, if anyone invented a computer, it would definitely be either a Goblin or a Gnome.

Now that he had encountered a Goblin, Rhode naturally had to ask.

Unfortunately, this Goblin named Gixil didn't seem to know anything about them.

"Computers? What are those?" Gixil shook his head like a rattle. "I wouldn't waste my time researching anything that boring. My research is about bringing people back from the dead using machines!"

"Bringing people back from the dead?" Lilia leaned closer. "As far as I know, even the most powerful High Elf priest can't bring people back from the dead."

Rhode nodded slightly.

From what Lilia had said, this real Azeroth probably didn't have game-like mechanics such as resurrection or corpse runs. Dead was dead. At most, Necromancy could raise someone as a zombie.

As for the machine the Goblin Gixil was talking about...

Perhaps it was just like the defibrillators doctors used in the real world, only capable of saving someone on the brink of death?

But was he really the inventor of the Goblin Jumper Cables?

Based on Rhode's experience using them in the game in his previous life, the improved Goblin Jumper Cables XL were actually pretty good. Their success rate seemed to be around fifty percent, but the original version was downright awful.

"Don't tell me you're researching Goblin Jumper Cables?" Rhode said dryly. "The success rate on those things..."

To his surprise, Gixil suddenly jumped up in excitement. "Yes, I'll call them Goblin Jumper Cables! My research is almost complete. All I needed was a name! That name fits perfectly. Thank you so much!"

Rhode shrugged.

He hadn't expected to end up naming this engineering device himself.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

This was a question that always cropped up when traveling to another world.

"Where are you headed?" Rhode asked.

Since there were no computers, he would just have to keep drawing spell models on paper. There was no way around it.

"Southshore. I've got plenty of goods to sell them... um... to raise funds for my research."

Judging by his hesitation, and how he'd called running into a mage bad luck, could he be selling counterfeit goods?

After all, mages could learn skills for identifying treasures, though Rhode didn't know any yet.

Forget it. He couldn't be bothered with him.

Most Goblins were unscrupulous merchants, after all.

Still, if he really did develop the Goblin Jumper Cables someday, that would be a significant contribution to this world. Rhode wasn't going to meddle too much.

"Then let's go together. We're heading back to Southshore too," Rhode said.

"Then... all right, let's go!" Although Gixil was a little afraid of Rhode because he was a mage, it was already late, and having a mage alongside him would make the journey safer.

Nights in the wilds of the Hillsbrad Foothills were always fraught with danger.

Besides, with the small fireball in Rhode's hand, he could save a little on using his own lamp.

The three of them continued toward Southshore.

Lilia apparently had never seen a Goblin before, so she was very curious. She chattered away throughout the journey, constantly asking Gixil questions.

"Your skin is green. If you go into the bushes, do you lose track of yourself?"

"Your ears are so long. Have you ever compared them with an Elf's to see whose are longer?"

"Do all Goblins like using muskets? Do you have a gun on you?"

"I heard Goblin zeppelins fly faster than Dragonhawks. Have you ever ridden one?"

"..."

Gixil, meanwhile, asked Rhode only one question:

"That big horn you're holding... what is it?"