6 Tactician

Kael, who was observing the goblin on the sidelines, was busy sifting through his memories of his past life as the Invoker. He had never seen the Whitemoon Goblin before, since the Hundred Realms was so vast and big a place, with many planes crossing and intersecting with each other. Though he had vast experience, it was inevitable that he didn't have knowledge of a common creature in the lowest tier realm.

However, he was able to identify two important points. Firstly, the goblin heavily depended on its claws. It didn't have any external weapons, presumably because it was unsuitable to have claws holding onto weapons. That meant that it was susceptible to long range attacks.

Secondly, it didn't possess great evasive abilities. When the cultivators attacked it, it always parried the attacks instead of evading. Their characteristic short stumpy legs of goblins made it hard for it to be agile.

Kael was just a normal person who didn't even reach the Commoner Rank. Long range attacks belonged to cultivators who were Herald Rank or above, when they could actualize their magic power into material forms outside of their bodies. Commoner Rank cultivators could only feel magic power coursing through their meridians and execute attacks that required physical contact. For someone like Kael, the best he could do was to execute basic spirit arts that didn't require a harsh requirement on his cultivation level. Based on this point, he wasn't able to capitalize on the first weakness, unless he had a long range weapon like a bow and arrows.

With that, he came up with a battle strategy.

"Who's next?" Patten Eagle asked, infusing his voice with a spirit art to project it louder.

"Me." Kael came out of the crowd and waved his hand.

"Huh? You aren't even a Commoner Rank. Thus, you are unqualified." Patten Eagle replied dismissively.

"It doesn't matter, as long as I can defeat this goblin right?"

"Didn't you see the two previous cultivators? Even they couldn't defeat this goblin. Aren't you estimating yourself too highly? Go back. Don't waste everyone's time here." Patten Eagle nearly wanted to sneer, however he represented the City Lord, thus he was still reining in his temper when facing this ignorant young man.

"I will submit myself to slavery if I can't defeat this goblin. How about that? Is that enough of a bet?" Kael was extremely confident in himself.

"Oh? Such a huge price? Alright then. Let me see what you are capable of. Be prepared to be enslaved though." Patten Eagle was caught surprised by this man's recklessness.

Kael proceeded and ambled casually towards the inner ring where the Whitemoon Gobin was. He picked up a stone from the ground and casually tossed it up and down.

"A pebble? What is this joker going to do? Hey! Just go home already! Don't waste our time!"

"That's right! What are you trying to play at? Even a sword can't compete with its claws. What are you doing with a common stone off the road? Piss off!"

An eerie smile crept upon Kael's face. The Whitemoon Goblin snarled at him too. Apparently it was able to see through Kael's cultivation level, thus it was looking down on Kael too.

Unperturbed, Kael suddenly rushed towards the Whitemoon Goblin. The goblin thought this man was suicidal and wanted a head-on clash, thus it brandished its claws to parry against the incoming attack.

When Kael was in proximity of the claws, he channeled 10% of his magic power into his legs.

"Spirit Art: Spirit Steps!" Kael suddenly veered off towards the goblin's left in a 90-degree direction. Following that, he didn't stop. When the goblin turned to its left, Kael turned once again to the goblin's left.

The goblin kept turning left in a circle to face Kael. However, Kael kept avoiding frontal confrontation with the goblin, instead circling around the goblin. Because he used a Spirit Art, his speed of encircling was many times of the previous two cultivators.

After 3 rounds, suddenly Kael switched directions. He veered to the right of the goblin. The goblin was taken aback and wanted to turn right to catch Kael. However, its short and stumpy legs wasn't able to turn agilely.

Kael then channeled 10% of his magic power reserves into the stone in his left hand and flicked the stone towards the goblin's short legs.

When the stone hit the goblin, it tripped itself and fell over to the ground.

Kael took the opportunity and channeled 20% of his magic power reserves into his right fist as he pummeled the goblin's head. The goblin was falling to the ground and wasn't able to block the attack in time.

In that split second, when the goblin was caught off-guard, Kael's fist made contact with the goblin's head.

"Octane Blast!"

"Smash!" Dark blue blood spluttered everywhere. The goblin laid down dead and lifeless on the ground.

There was an awkward silence in the air. In just 10 short seconds, Kael, a person who didn't even reach the Commoner Rank, had disposed of a goblin that other cultivators found hard to deal with.

Kael broke the silence. "So Leader, am I qualified now? Sorry I killed this goblin. You'll have to find other methods to test the other candidates."

Patten Eagle's mind wasn't able to connect the pieces together. How did this normal person kill this goblin so easily and effectively?

"Alright… ye- yes… I suppose you pass. However we have to be in the mine for 3 days at the very least. With your cultivation level, how long can your magic reserves last you?" Though shocked, Patten Eagle still retained a calm mind befitting of a leader and saw through Kael's weakness immediately.

"That's right. I used up 40% of my magic reserves. Thus I can't fight goblins continuously. That's why I'm applying to be the tactician of this expedition!" Kael replied earnestly.

Immediately, there was an uproar in the crowd. They finally responded after the initial shock.

"What is this guy saying? He wants to be the second-in-command?!"