I Am Not A Goblin Slayer

From the outside, it was a box that was far from being considered ornate.

Inside lay a long, twisted stone. Its shape was so abstract that Gauss didn’t even realize it was a statue at first. That was, until the Identification Technique yielded its result.

”What in the world is this thing?” Gauss blinked.

Through his Identification Technique, the appraisal result was described as follows:

”A strange statue. Perhaps you can use it to communicate with a certain Great Entity?”

The result was incredibly simple, yet equally vague. It was worth noting that such an ambiguous result was, in itself, a clue. Normally, only special items would fail to yield specific and clear details when Gauss used his Identification Technique.

However, there was a contradiction here. If it truly was a good item, Gauss found it hard to believe that a treasure hoarded by those dragon whelps in the adolescent dragons’ nest could have escaped the notice of their guardian—the adult Green Dragon named Aiselas. As an adult Giant Dragon, it was impossible for Aiselas to not covet Treasures and wondrous items. Even if the adolescent dragons had stumbled upon it by chance, there was a high probability that the Green Dragon Queen would have confiscated it.

Rationally speaking, Gauss had never expected to find any high-value collectibles in their Dragon’s Nest. His most optimistic hope was to scavenge some scraps that the Green Dragon Queen deemed worthless and trade them for a few Gold Coins.

He didn’t reach out to touch the statue sitting in the box. Its appearance and form were extremely blurry, looking as if it had been molded out of mud by a toddler.

The reason for his caution was twofold. First, there was the subtle implication of the Identification Technique’s result. Second, it was an instinct he had cultivated after arriving in this world. In a realm filled with Gods, Evil Gods, Demons, and Devils, one could never be too careful when dealing with such objects.

The unknown often represented danger.

Moreover, if it wasn’t a good item, it would make perfect sense why the Green Dragon Queen Aiselas had left it in the adolescent dragons’ nest. Perhaps she intended to use this bizarre statue to trap an outsider like him. Or maybe the Green Dragon Queen herself was wary of it but reluctant to discard it, so she compromised by leaving it in the youngsters’ nest. It could also involve some other ulterior motive.

Especially since she was a Green Dragon who loved to use her brain and plot schemes in her free time, rather than a Red Dragon whose brain was practically made of pure muscle. In Gauss’s eyes, the probability of there being some hidden trickery behind this was undoubtedly skyrocketing.

After appraising it, Gauss’s immediate instinct was to get away from it. But he quickly realized that even if he wanted to avoid it now, it was probably too late. Besides, many days had already passed since he first acquired this item. Since whatever was coming couldn’t be avoided, he figured he might as well calm down and think of a way to deal with the statue.

First and foremost, he absolutely did not want to establish any sort of communication with the ”Great Entity” potentially connected to it. Therefore, not only did he have to keep his hands off it, but he also couldn’t allow his spiritual power to latch onto it.

”By the way, Eden. You should be careful, too,” Gauss specifically warned the Spirit of Nothingness beside him.

It spent most of its time ”slumbering,” only becoming active around him when it encountered something interesting or was awakened by Gauss. Right now, it had been disturbed by the statue.

”Understood. You need to be careful as well, Gauss. It’s giving off an ominous vibe and feels very dangerous,” Eden replied. Having lived for so long, transitioning from its human period to reincarnating as a Demon King Species, it naturally understood the principle of seeking advantages and avoiding harm. ”Is this a spoil of war from the Dragon’s Nest?” it asked curiously, likely already aware of the situation but just wanting to confirm with Gauss.

”Yes.”

”Then it might be pointing to Tiamat behind the scenes,” Eden made a reasonable guess. After all, it was an item looted from the Five-Colored Evil Dragons. It certainly wouldn’t point to the Platinum Dragon God; the most direct association would be the God of the Five-Colored Dragons. ”But it’s hard to say. Scheming creatures like Green Dragons might dabble in other bizarre Powers.”

Gauss actually shared the same suspicion. The most likely candidate was Tiamat, followed by some unknown Evil God, Demon, or Devil. There was only the slimmest chance that it involved an orthodox God.

Since communication was completely out of the question, that left abandoning it, shelving it, handing it over to others, or destroying it. There seemed to be only these four paths laid out before Gauss.

He could pretend it didn’t exist, bury it in some remote mountainous corner, and abandon it. It probably wouldn’t cause too much of an impact. Then, when he became strong enough in the future and gathered more relevant intelligence, he could dig it up and explore its hidden secrets.

If he was worried that other creatures might unearth it and cause negative consequences, he could also store it in one of his Storage Pouches. But doing so meant carrying around an unknowable risk at all times.

Handing it over to someone else was also easy to understand. He could surrender it to the Guild. The Guild was bound to have knowledgeable experts who could uncover the statue’s true background. At the very least, they could handle it much more safely than he could on his own. The only downside to this approach was that he would be giving away any potential benefits the statue might bring.

As for the final option, it was to destroy it himself.

From what Gauss knew, the higher the dimension of a Power, the more difficult it was for it to influence the Material Realm. One only needed to look at the flowers, grass, trees, and the surrounding world to see this clearly.

This was a world of living beings, not a world of Gods.