With the little goblin leading the party, traveling to the goblin base was much smoother.
They did not have to waste time gathering clues to confirm their direction, and anytime the goblin grew uncooperative, Eliron had a few words of 'encouragement' for it.
Soon, they arrived by the side of a large river with crystal-clear water rich with fish.
Eliron was strolling by the side of the river as they advanced. He glanced at the beautiful water, watching as the waves slowly brushed by.
Then his lips parted as he asked Artie a question. "Legally, who owns these forests?"
Artie thought about it for a few seconds, then she slowly shook her head. "Centuries ago, the entire forest belonged to the wood elves. During that time, our numbers were far greater and there were many more tribes."
"I was not a witness to it, but according to the elders, the high elves grew conceited."
She paused briefly, then motioned at the forest.
"This forest, Ingens, was so large that it rivalled their territory at the time. They felt it was a challenge to their authority, so they declared that the forest was a free gift of nature and no one could monopolise it."
Eliron scoffed. "How can they boldly say that, when they have claimed countless forests and lands?"
"It was clearly hypocritical." Artie said while shrugging. "But those with power make the rules, right or wrong is decided by those with the strength to actually enforce it."
"Did we fight back?"
She smiled. "Of course we did. That was the first time we ever went against them…"
Then she took a deep breath.
"Nine out of the twelve tribes were annihilated. The remaining two were lost in the mess, and so our tribe, the most powerful back then, was cut down to what it is today."
Artie tapped his side with her elbow, her facial expression jovial. "Still want to fight the high elves?"
Eliron smiled. "What do you mean? This is one more reason why we have to do so."
She smirked and turned back to face the road.
They continued walking by the river while Eliron thought about the current situation.
The high elves were more cunning than he had initially thought.
The forest was the greatest bastion the wood elves had, but that was not the real reason they had chased them off…
Eliron suspected that even the wood elves did not know the true reason they were pushed to a small corner of the forest.
It was the same reason why they had claimed countless forests in the continent.
The tree of life.
In the novel, the main character had gotten this secret from the elven queen right before they buffed him using the tree sap… during his fight with the Hellfire dragon, Antaris, a major antagonist in the novel.
High elves often boasted of their flawless magic and spotless appearance, but the truth was this was only as a result of the tree of life.
Take away their tree, and the elves would not be that much more powerful than the average wood elf.
But how did the forest have anything to do with it?
It was simple, the truth was that all elves, with or without the world tree, could in fact use magic.
The wood elves could not do orthodox magic, but they were fundamentally magical beings and so naturally they leaked mana.
Although Eliron did not know the exact statistic… to grow a world tree, you must have enough elves to create a gigantic Constance.
A shared conscience of sorts…
It was not something that happened intentionally, but a phenomenon that occurs naturally over time.
The truth was that the wood elves had unconsciously caused a tree of life to blossom.
When they found out about this development, they waged war against them…
And destroyed it.
Eliron sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
'All this because they wanted to hold onto their notion of superiority…'
"Let's camp here." Eliron said, stopping the party.
•••
The goblin leading their group was sitting beside the cart, sweating profusely while hungrily gobbling down the meat it had been given.
Throughout the day, he had been working without much rest and felt like his heart was going to burst.
He finished his meal and sighed, his eyes slowly drifting closed when a shadow suddenly appeared over him.
"Hek—Arrgh!" He screamed, darting to its feet when he saw who was in front of him.
Eliron.
Eliron stared at the creature and smiled, which caused the goblin to shudder.
"Alright, Razaki." He said to the goblin in Spanish.
He had previously learned his name during the journey. "You have done well so far, so you have earned the privilege to wear clothes."
Eliron held the goblin's rags with a stick and pushed it towards him.
But before he could grab it, he pulled it back, much to the little guy's dismay.
Eliron pointed to the river. "Go wash, wash clothes too."
The goblin nodded vehemently and happily grabbed the clothing, a warm smile appearing on its face.
Eliron then turned to Ash who was beside him. "Undo the straps."
Ash looked skeptical about letting the little guy wander free. "Are you sure, what if he escapes?"
Eliron waved his hands dismissively. "Don't worry, he wouldn't dare…."
…
While they prepared dinner, Eliron sat by the river scrolling through the system and mumbling words to himself as he tried to memorise some more skills.
Then when he was sure he had gotten them, he closed his eyes and entered into the state of Constance.
He sat there for hours, sweat soaking his clothes, body perfectly still as he concentrated.
He felt the mana in the atmosphere, and little by little he began to attract it to his core, slowly developing it.
This was one of the most effective ways to build your mana capacity.
Normally, it was not the fastest method, as it took mages several years to build up their cores.
That was why old mages often had the advantage in battles as compared to their younger counterparts.
As for high elven mages who had lived for centuries, building up their cores, the difference in mana was impossibly vast.
Eliron was just eighteen, meaning he had a long way to go. But luckily for him, he did not have to move at normal speed…
[SSSR Skill Mana Breathing]
Although the skill was meant for enhancing mana during battle, Eliron had tried applying it to his meditation and found out it made it far more effective!
Now, he could accumulate mana and develop his core faster than any other mage!
The night went by in a flash, and in the morning they continued their trek.
After walking for some time, they arrived in front of a small stone signboard.
Although it was a signboard in a sense… it did not have any words written on it. It was just a flat piece of wood, decorated with countless bones and trinkets, and then bathed with blood.
Yennefer frowned when she saw it, scrunching her nose at the foul smell of rot.
"This is disgusting… and this place stinks." She complained, looking at the entire area with disgust.
"Goblins are naturally dirty creatures, the stench is basically their identity." Ash commented.
Artie then walked towards the sign to inspect it.
"If this is here, then we shouldn't be too far from the base." She said thoughtfully.
"Why don't we leave the cart here and proceed at a slower pace?"
Eliron nodded. "You're right."
"You four, stay to protect the cart and signal us if anything happens." He said, pointing out some of the hunters.
"The rest of us will scout out the base and decide what to do from there."
"Yes, my lord!" they said simultaneously.
He walked over to the cart and unstrapped the goblin, binding his arms with rope instead.
Then he asked the goblin the situation of the base and how many guards it had.
The goblin scratched its bald head. "Entrada sin guardias. Solo después de pasar."
(Entrance no guards. Only after pass.)
'There are no guards at the entrance?' Eliron mused. 'Is he lying to me?'
The goblin looked too scared to deceive him, but he found it hard to believe that their base would be unguarded.
He drew his blade and turned to the group. "Let's go."
Then they proceeded as quietly as possible with the goblin taking the lead.
Not even up to a minute later, they entered into a clearing. And when Eliron saw what was in front of them, he slapped his forehead angrily.
"So this is why they have no guards…"
They were fucked.