Magical Creatures of the Forest

This was the first time they had ever run into a special monster with a prefix and there was no telling if they could get a prefix for summoned beasts without one.

If possible, he should get Green Skin a prefix too.

The Strong Goblin Warrior or the Agile Goblin Warrior, for example?

Either way, Chen Jing was in good spirits after capturing the gnome with a prefix.

Chen Yining appeared very curious. "What's the function of the bond? Would they be glowing?"

Chen Jing summoned both his gnomes then and had them stand side-by-side.

There was no light of any color shining over them, nor did they have more heads.

In fact, they were no different than before.

Since the effectiveness for a gnome in creating machinery alchemical items was +1, perhaps they would only see the bond bonus after they crafted something.

Also, there was not much difference between the Smart Gnome and an average gnome, aside from a larger head.

That was why Chen Jing gave it a temporary nickname: Big Head.

Big head, big head, not worried about the rain. (1)

Meanwhile, the gnomes fleeing across all directions around the residential complex had become the 'treasures' of the people present around the residential complex.

After thinking about it, Chen Yining then beamed. "Come, let's help them out."

Their aim was to kill monsters in the first place, and that applied to killing them in the forest or these straggler gnomes in the residential complex.

The residential complex was naturally much better compared to the complex, unfathomable landscape of the forest.

Most importantly, these gnomes were scattered—like army ants, they were only frightening butchers of the forest if they were sticking together, but one operating alone was a little insignificant pudding.

Altruistic as always, Chen Yining's group started to help out, with the goblin warrior and two traitor gnomes fighting with them.

There were gnomes that thought they won't be found after hiding in bushes, while some concealed themselves beneath slides as well as inside garbage cans…

They would find one gnome after another and get rid of them consecutively.

Those gnomes had lost their wits and had no guts to fight back at all.

After killing some, Chen Jing did not capture a third gnome, and instead converted every gnome killed into EXP.

He had made up his mind to capture a high-level gnome for his last slot.

Although there were still almost a hundred gnomes around the residential complex, they were all scared witless.

These remaining gnomes were therefore a lot less threatening compared to an actual large horde of gnomes.

There were also more people coming out of the residential complex to hunt the gnomes now, while Chen Yining and Chen Jing managed to kill nine.

Chen Yining made a face in hesitation then.

Green Skin's EXP had reached [97/100], and would soon reach level 2.

However, there appeared to be no wild gnomes remaining around the residential complex, and they could not find one after more than ten minutes later.

Any stragglers around the area would be searched and destroyed, just as the residents kill off any they found hiding around the stairs.

"Let's go," Chen Yining said then.

They would lose more than what they gained if they kept searching—it was time to end the game of cat-and-mouse.

"Where did you guys come from?" Chen Jing asked the recently captured Big Head then.

Though they were opponents just before, Big Head immediately acknowledged Chen Jing as his master after it was captured.

Big Head then told Chen Jing everything it knew: these gnomes had belonged to a tribe in the forest, numbering up to a hundred.

The city that had suddenly appeared in their forest captured their attention, and in their point of view, it was an enigmatic concrete jungle.

There were endless tiny holes close to each other on the thick, gigantic trees of steel, and some hairless bipedal monkeys were actually living within!

Naturally, those hairless bipedal monkeys referred to humans.

It was worth mentioning that Big Head had memory about humans.

In fact, the gnomes did not even know the concept of 'human', nor heard or even seen them, which was why humans were hairless bipedal apes in their perspective.

Still, they had a further understanding of the forest thanks to Big Head's description.

Overall speaking, their part of the forest was a low-level zone, and the magical creatures living there were not powerful.

According to Big Head, they could reach a mountain, where a huge giant dwelled on top of the peak, if they walked an entire night and half a day

The giant could easily pull out the trees of the forest, roots and all, and its strength was so frightening that the Thunderbear of the east would never dare to venture inside the giant's domain.

However, Big Head shook his head when Chen Jing asked how big Thunderbear and that giant actually were—it had never seen them with its own eyes, and had only heard rumors about it.

Nonetheless, they found out that there were many goblin and gnome grimes in the area, along with halflings wandering the forests. On the other hand, large globs of slimes could be found near quagmires and swamps, which were their preferred environment.

There would be traces of slime near rivers and streams too.

Aside from goblins and gnomes, fire fowls, doll monkeys, and faceshifting spiders were the common magical creatures around.

Of those, fire fowls were known to be delicious with fresh, succulent meat.

Doll monkeys were despicable creatures that threw fruits at them from on top of trees.

Faceshifting spiders were very disgusting, and they could get poisoned from eating their meat.

That was Big Head's opinion towards the three most common magical creatures.

"…"

"A small tribe consists of a hundred members, whereas large tribes would be more than ten times that population," Big Head said then.

Chen Yining nodded after verifying that there were no midsized tribes.

There were also no population size above large tribes.

After all, overpopulation was a burden… in Green Skin's own words, "No one would have their fill."

Only two outcomes awaited if there were too many individuals in a tribe—the first would be the tribe's forces attacking large magical creatures, and if they succeeded, the tribe champions would be the ones to consume those large magical creatures' flesh. Should they also evolve by chance, the tribe could further expand the upper limit of their population, since having more stronger goblins in a tribe would allow them to occupy a larger territory to sustain more tribesmen.

However, if they were to fail to take down their quarry, they would have to move their tribe far away.

The other outcome was splitting the tribe.

A large tribe would split into two smaller tribes, which in turn would move far away.

Most small tribes would have hobgoblins at best, while goblin warriors would only be found among large tribes.

As a matter of fact, goblin warriors were not merely a name, but an honor—warriors of the forest, they had the courage to challenge large magical creatures, thus dying gloriously.

***

Happy Huarong City was a new residential complex located near the suburbs of Mountain Water City and a shopping plaza had been built nearby.

However, there were not many residents nor human activity around the area since it had been recently built.

The fountain at the center of the shopping plaza was no longer spurting water since the city transmigrated as well, with the pool of water within remaining perfectly still.

At the moment, the center of the shopping plaza had been occupied by a tribe of goblins that moved in from the north.

Some of them were sitting or sprawled over the ledge beside the pool, poking their heads in to have a drink.

Others were dragging along items they had stolen from the various shops on the streets as decorations.

It appears that these goblins were prepared to make this place their new home.

Meanwhile, on the main walkway that connected the shopping plaza to the outside, a group of sixty people was leading summoned beasts that outnumbered themselves, even as they approached from the distance with unfriendly looks on their faces.

***

Translator's note:

(1) A verse in the children's song Big Head (大头).