Chương 92: Latent Potential

Its master never came, not even a whisper.

I have expected something of the sort.

In the power scale of thing, if I was its master, I wouldn't bother to come to save a lowly goblin shaman of the 2nd circle either. But that is because I am a human, and I have seen what these green imps have done to the humans, whom they have captured by raiding peaceful villages in the surrounding hills.

The massive pile of bones in one of the compost rooms tells me all I needed to know.

I didn't need to go and check the dreadful nursing and birthing chamber, where countless girls being stringed up from their amputated arms and legs. Their pregnant bodies are drenched in piss, shit and cum. Their soulless eyes stare at nothing.

And I thought solving a jigsaw puzzle is gruesome.

Hydra recon team had told me briefly all about the goblin raids before they return home to the prime reality. They want to help the peasants as any moral person would, but the right thing is not necessarily the correct thing.

Their doctrine tells them to prioritize the mission above everything else, that is to stay put and observe the natives and assess the danger. And as trained men, they take their mission seriously regardless of what their personal desire may be.

Nevertheless, there will be a time when they will get the chance to eradicate these creatures.

Although the goblin is sentient, it isn't like this will be the first time I commit genocide on a species. I will totally do it if it is for the greater good.

Note that I say sentient species, not intelligent species. Just because you can think doesn't mean you are intelligent.

These Yoda-like midgets are pretty dumb when compare to other lesser races on Azula. Their language sounds as unintelligent as it is.

A lot of grammar is missing, but my mind fills in the blanks automatically. Otherwise, it will just be like this: "me… female… want…"

"female… young… human?"

Bruce growls and looks around the bloody room before roaring at the other Legion avatars, who are completely silent, waiting for me to give them commands.

That is pretty much it.

If the goblin is intelligent, I would have a nice discussion and exchange contact information instead of resorting to something like this.

The goblin shaman gurgles as I check through its organs once I finish flaying it alive. Its yellowish eyes rolling about, disorientating. It is still alive and conscious under the dissection because I desire it to be so.

This is for making a threat against me. Oh, it knows how powerful I am, but it is arrogance and prideful due to the backing of its master.

It must be one of the ugliest young master I have ever seen!

I eventually found a black sphere hidden somewhere in its body. Within the sphere, magical energy is spiralling like a beautiful miniature galaxy.

This is its magical core, which I dubbed as a monster core since the ones inside human are different if they have one. Some humans have magical pathways like the elves instead. Another reason is because all goblin, regardless if they can use magic or not, has a magical core.

The moment I pull the monster core out, the goblin growls one last time before its body convulses and expires despite the nanomachines trying to keep it alive.

This isn't the first time I have done such a thing, and I believe that when its monster core is harvested, it will die regardless. And from experience, its monster core can only be harvested when it is still alive.

When a goblin is killed, its monster core immediately shatters and releases the purest magical energy Selene has analysed. This energy is absorbed into my magical core, strengthening it.

Thus, this is what Alex has dubbed experience points since the energy absorbed can be measured, and there is a limit to how much experience can be absorbed by a person's magical core before it requires to be evolved to a higher level.

Seems very game-like.

Kill mobs to level up!

However, draining that pure magical energy directly from the monster core is much more effective. It gives me a lot more experience point, but not that much if the creature is incapable of magic.

Hence, I didn't bother with the lowly goblins anymore.

I will just let Legion deals with the annoying mob.

And since a soulless avatar cannot absorb any of that pure magical blue meth, it all goes into me. The exception to this case is Bruce over here. This guy sucks in all that Blue Sky like it is trying break bad.

It does feel like taking meth and smoking weed at the same time, giving me a rushing sensation as well as floating feeling when the energy stimulates my magical core. Then that stupid burning curse comes, torturing me relentlessly.

I will enjoy my time torturing that Dragon God for trying to turn me into a M.

Goblin asides, the shamans are all disabled and incapacitated instead of outright killed, so I can harvest their monster core afterwards.

I am sure these monster cores can be used for something else. But for now, I use these monster cores to create powerful minion like Bruce. With a monster core powering them, they are capable of using magic properly. How powerful their magic is, depends on how powerful the monster core is.

Even at the first stage, a 2nd rank monster core is probably worth quite a bit, so I will keep it for now. As for the rest, their power within are absorbed into my magical core, making me super high.

This does feel like taking drugs!

Once the power is drained into my core, the black sphere is reduced to dust. Time is reversed, restoring the sphere again, but it is no longer black.

It is completely clear. There is nothing inside.

Since my power does not restore that pure magical energy within the monster core, I think it isn't just regular magical energy.

I don't want to call this pure magical energy a soul, so I will call it magical essence. It is to differentiate the essence from normal magical energy, which I can duplicate freely with my power.

Sadly, this also mean I couldn't have army of the Hulk. How awesome would that be!?

I could duplicate Bruce, but the monster core of any duplicated becomes inert and useless. I will have to actually hunt down monsters to have an unstoppable magical legion at my command.

Well, Legion is fairly unstoppable right now, but why settle for less?

Since the shaman is dead, and bringing it back is pointless as I have already extracted its memory and learn all of its secrets.

It did take a while since memory becomes fragmented without an actual brain to connect the dots.

Monarch are Kings and Queens in literal sense, but of magical element. The goblin assumes that I was the Monarch of Steel, due to all the metal golems at my command.

Also, I am able to resurrect others into metal goblin. This sounds very familiar.

There is definitely a Monarch of Shadow, since shadow is a magic element.

Hope he isn't some Korean dude.

The golems in question is my army of soulless armoured knights, armed with laser swords, blades and spears. Their humanoid form is actually not that effective since the human form is really not suited for extreme combat no matter what kind of bullshits all sort of media tries to brainwash the masses with.

Logically, there is really no point of making machines look and act like humans, but it does give a sense of human organizations.

Plus, I like me some Gundam.

That is all the goblin shaman knows about Monarchs, sadly. It doesn't even know who its master is in person. Its master is just an embodiment voice telling it to do things. It also teaches the goblin magic, thus allowing the goblin to reach 2nd circle despite not being a Hobgoblin itself.

Thanks to that, it knows some wind runes that Hans does not know. But not that many since mages of 1st or 2nd circle doesn't use more than a handful of runes. It does take an insanely long time to master any runes.

I am the exception to the rule because of my time power.

Once I have extracted everything I needed from its brain and body, Yoda is disposed of. I then go and check all the rooms connecting to the hall. Most of the rooms are filled with rotting meats and pile of bones, telling me this particular group of goblins has been at it for a while.

The nursery is the last room to check since seeing all those girls being stringed up like frozen meat do bother me a little bit. They are all dead even if their body is still alive.

Their bloated stomach is filled with twins and triplets. Rarely do they birth a single goblin from what I can tell by scanning their stomach.

I don't like killing babies, especially the unborn but I will make an exception to this case. If these goblins are born, they will just restart the cycle again, starting with their mothers, no doubt.

Before I restore all these innocent people, returning them back to their original life, a groaning is heard in one of the far rooms. It is pitch black there, filling with nauseating stench.

"I will kill… I will kill…"

Someone manages to keep their mind after all of this?

I crouch down to see a carved up human meat, soaked in blood and cum and all sort of shits. And it is a female from what I can tell. Her breasts are actually near the doorway, stomped and squashed.

Her arms and legs are gone, so are her eyes and ears and nose. The last two seems like they have been bitten off. There are so many wounds on her body, but her magical power manages to keep her alive barely.

I could feel an insane rage emanating from her. It actually fuelling her magic and also making it go out of control in the process. Alex and Hans have made notes on this observation.

Power can corrupt. Absolute power can corrupt absolutely. Magic is the same. It can corrupt the mind and the soul of those who have weak will and spirit, twisting their body and mind into an abomination, desiring only destruction.

As such, powerful mages have indominable will and spirit. They have to be in order to remain as master of their power. This could explain why magic has inevitably brought the destruction of the prime reality if it is not regulated and controlled.

"I will kill… I will kill…"

The girl who should be around 15 or 16 chants repeatedly. Even without any eyes, she can definitely see me due to my magic. Her aura grows exponentially, showing her enormous latent potential. There is no doubt that she would have become one of the most powerful mages in Azula.

Sadly, destiny has not been kind to her.

"Kill!"

She roars are her magical aura explodes, shattering the wall and pushing me back a little. That is quite impressive considering who I am. She just jumps from 1st circle to 3rd circle just briefly.

My power activates as I reach out my hand.

"If this is your fate, then fuck destiny."