Chapter 22: Center of the Core

There's only a week left before the three months given to Gael and the others are up, and when that time comes, Gael and Fortis have to leave the Willow forest and return to the Palace and receive their missions since that is the reason why the Crown Prince recruited them in the first place.

But before they leave the forest there is something that they must do and that is to reach the center of the core area of the forest.

During their stay inside the Willow forest, they have fought countless monsters of different species and different ranks from F to C, but they have never lost there are times when they suffered great injuries but they remain alive and kicking. But despite the countless fights they have experienced together they still feel that it is not enough, that is why today Gael and Fortis decided to challenge the ruler of this forest, the willow forest is a monster territory that is why different monsters live here, and since lower monsters live here that means there is a strong ruler in this forest, they have wandered around the forest for months and they have already visited every corner of this forest and that is the center of the forest, and during their days of wandering around they have never encountered a monster they regard as the ruler of the forest, yes they met and fought strong monster but their strength is lacking to be called the ruler of the forest which leaves Gael and Fortis the idea that the ruler of the Willow Forest resides at the center of the core area which makes absolute sense. And that is the reason why the two of them are currently on their way towards the center of the core area of the forest.

" Pick up the pace will you!" Gael shouted towards Fortis who is walking leisurely while following him.

Gael is on his guard as they approach the center of the core area while Fortis is continuously getting distracted.

" what are doing that makes you walk slower? " Gael asked as he is slowly getting angry, he wants to reach the center early because they need to prepare a lot of things for what he calls the 'main event' of their three-month training.

He walked back to look at what Fortis is doing and he saw the young Goblin picking something from the ground and placing it inside the pouch he was holding.

" what's that? " Gael asked as he took Fortis' pouch.

He looked inside it and he discover little pieces of random shiny things that he picked up along the way.

" Why are you collecting these useless things? " Gael asked.

" kiiik kiiiiik " Fortis answered.

" you are collecting these things what for?"

" kiiiik kiiiik kiiik "

" what do you mean treasure?!"

As he continue asking Fortis questions regarding his actions of collecting shiny things, Gael suddenly remembered something he read from the monster encyclopedia he read inside the Royal Library before.

Goblins are greedy creatures, every time they ransacked a village they rob it clean and take everything that they see even though they have no use for it, but there is one behaviour that stands out amongst the Goblins' countless unpleasant behaviour, and that is their love for shiny things, every time they attack village they do not just kill and eat humans, they also rob them, they rob their food and weapons and other random things, while other monsters do this as well there is one thing that Goblins do that others usually don't and that is Goblins took the villagers money and jewelry, although they do not use the money to buy things from a human village or town they still take money and jewelry and they offer it to their chief, the only explanation that the people who study monster is that, goblins are attracted to shiny things, they do not know the value of money and jewelry they are just simply attracted to the shine.

This behavior of the Goblins made them the favorite targets of Tamers, every time a group of Tamers destroyed a Goblin settlement they will come across a pile of gold and jewelry among random shiny things which are why Goblin settlements are treated as treasure troves by Tamers.

There is also another monster that likes to collect treasure like the Goblins and they are the legendary Dragons, but who would dare attack Dragon's lair for their treasure? plus Dragons are monsters that are extremely hard to come across.

" Goblins are attracted to shiny things, everything here is all just trash " Gael mumbled.

" here take this pouch and throw away this garbage " Gael took a pouch from his bag and ordered Fortis to throw away the shiny trash he collected.

" kiiiiiiik!" Fortis was reluctant to part with his 'treasure ' he immediately let go of the pouch of garbage he was holding and hugged the pouch Gael had given him closer to his body.

" now let's go don't pick up random things again " Gael started walking ahead and Fortis happily followed him.

What Gael gave Fortis is a pouch of gold, it is the remaining gold that the Crown Prince gave them for their training, when Fortis saw the shiny golden coins he learned what real treasure is.

They have spent a few hours walking before they decided to stop their journey since it is already getting dark and they have to set up camp.

They had dinner and as usual, it is roasted meat, earlier while Gael is setting up their camp he ordered Fortis to hunt for food and he came back dragging a whole Hairy Boar. After having their dinner they did soul feeding and after that Fortis went to sleep still hugging his treasure, while Gael is left alone meditating.

Though he doesn't have to meditate every night it already became Gaels habit to meditate every night before he go to sleep he is doing it not for the sole purpose if recovering his used up soul energy but also to clear his mind and empty his thoughts he has been fighting in wars for years and the number of people he's killed cannot be counted in his fingers anymore, and their faces are still haunting Gael until now and it caused him to lose sleep most of the time that is why he is extremely happy when he found out that meditating not only affect his soul or spirit but also his thoughts although he cannot forget about all the people he's killed but still it feels great to be lifted of those thoughts even for a few hours, Gael is not a monster, though it might appear that he is not affected every time he kills someone deep inside he carrying heavy guilt because he knows that the people he has killed have a family of their own waiting for their return, some of them are fathers where their wife and children are waiting for them, some are sons who only wants to provide for their family or bring fame and glory to their family names, that is why Gael decided to carry the burden of guilt and to do that he always asks the name of his enemies before he kills them and write them on a booklet to remember them and remember the guilt.

…

Morning came and Gael woke up early, he cleaned up and he also woke up Fortis so they can continue on their journey, Fortis groggily stood up and went to the nearby river to wash up, though monsters rarely wash themselves Fortis picked up a habit of cleaning himself every day because of Gael, he always sees Gael cleaned himself every morning and he started copying him until it became a habit of his.

After cleaning up they went on their way, hours passed Gael and Fortis suddenly felt an ominous and dangerous feeling ahead of them, they stopped in their tracks and stared ahead of them, although it is just wood in front the two of them smiled at the same time because they know that ahead of them is a monster that has the strength they have never seen before, though it gave off a feeling of death they are not scared even a bit even though they are both sweating a lot just from the pressure that the monster ahead is releasing they do not the slightest intention to retreat and run away.

" no doubt, the thing ahead of us is the ruler of this forest, just the pressure it releases is enough to make one shiver and cower in fear, " Gael said as he fight against the heavy pressure.

" kiii-kiii-kiiiik" Fortis agreed to Gael's words but it is clear that he is having a hard time, harder than Gael.

" hahahahahaha now that we are here there's no turning back, " Gael said as he saw Fortis having a hard time but is still filled with fighting experience.

'what the hell is the rank of this monster to be able to release this kind of terrifying pressure, was it a B rank monster or an A rank one?' Gael thought to himself.

'I know that it is foolish for actually intending to fight whatever monster is ahead of us but there is one rule that I live by, I never play a losing game' Gael took a step forward and Fortis followed behind him.