Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 158: Scum Creatures – Goblins!

CH158 Scum Creatures – Goblins!

***

Pale, sickly-looking green skin. Three to four feet tall. Scrawny build. Elongated ears. A disgusting, toothy grin—even in death.

Without a doubt, the creatures slain by Udara were none other than goblins.

Goblins...

A fantasy race Alex had seen in almost every fantasy story from his past life. Weak, irrelevant, cannon fodder and noobie growth arc monster. But here, in the Pangea Realm—and especially within the Virellian Empire of the Arun Continent—these creatures were anything but irrelevant.

Centuries ago, a Virellian prince discovered coordinates to a high-value realm. This realm was just below a Primary Realm like Pangea as it possessed a power ceiling one tier above the Legendary Rank.

Yet the most powerful being in that realm wasn’t a dragon, elf, or human. It wasn’t even an orc or troll.

No.

The ruler of that realm—the race that sat atop its food chain—were goblins.

The prince had learned from the locals that the goblins had taken over the realm within a century. It had all begun with a single genius—an outlier—who was mocked and ignored.

That genius eventually evolved into a Goblin Emperor, an unknown and terrifying evolution with a potential beyond the Legendary Rank.

It had taken the Virellian royal family’s entire strategic reserve power, the prince’s own elite army, and favours pulled from top-tier imperial powerhouses just to sanitise the realm of the goblin.

Only then did they seize the realm, turning it into a resource world under the control of Ludevicus Royal House.

Since then, one truth echoed through all levels of the Virellian Empire:

Goblins are never to be underestimated. Kill them on sight.

Empire-wide consensus turned into long-standing policy. Centuries of propaganda followed. From the lowest peasant to the highest nobility, the message was drilled in:

Goblins are enemies of humanity.

Even foreign nations found themselves coerced through Virellian diplomacy to adopt similar goblin extermination policies. The only significant safe haven for goblins on the Arun Continent was the Ironmourn Desert. Even there, they were hunted—by adventurers, by Wildkin, and by anything strong enough to bully the weak.

In the Empire’s collective imagination, when people spoke of monsters—when children cried about nightmare beasts, when soldiers cursed their foes—they didn’t speak of trolls, wendigos, or nightmare owls.

They spoke of goblins.

It may have been exaggerated, perhaps even propaganda-fueled paranoia, but the threat of goblins was not without merit.

Given enough time and numbers, these cowardly, child-sized vermin could inflict untold devastation—physically and spiritually—on humanity.

Two traits made goblins uniquely dangerous.

Rapid reproduction.

Ease of evolution.

Goblins were a male-only race that could breed with any humanoid mammalian species. The offspring would always be a goblin.

Worse, goblins matured fast. From birth to full military age in just two months. And with one birth litter of up to four goblins per female host every month, goblin numbers could rebound—or explode—shockingly fast.

If left unchecked, if allowed even a foothold... they could become a plague.

Due mostly to their size, ordinary goblins were individually weak—so weak, in fact, that even an untrained human could take down a couple on their own.

However, that didn’t mean the goblin race was universally weak.

Their true threat wasn’t in numbers alone. A Legendary-ranked powerhouse could annihilate millions of ordinary goblins like ants beneath their feet. But the danger of goblins lay elsewhere.

The greatest threat was their terrifying racial ability to evolve rapidly and raise their individual strength ceiling with frightening speed.

From a barely Class 0 goblin to a Class 2 Hobgoblin, then further depending on the goblin’s life experience—evolving into a Class 4 Goblin Warrior, Archer, or Priest—their growth was disturbingly exponential.

Evolution determined their potential ceiling.

An unevolved goblin remained forever at Class 0, but once they evolved into Goblin Warriors or Priests, their new form could potentially reach Class 4. Of course, not all of them did—but some absolutely would.

A Goblin Warrior, Archer, or Priest with power rivaling a Veteran-ranked Warrior could emerge in just five years.

By contrast, it took a human at least thirty years, from birth to maturity, to reach that same level—if they ever reached it at all.

It was from this harsh truth that the Virellian Empire’s Ludevicus royal family justified their continent-wide push for the passive suppression and extermination of the goblin race.

Let’s not forget, humanity itself reached the top of the totem pole by relying on its ability to procreate fast, relative to other races like Elves and Dragons.

Alex frowned as the information resurfaced in his mind.

It was one thing to spot an Armoured Troll this deep into Dankrot Forest—from the northern corridor closest to Ironmourn Desert. It was another thing entirely to find goblins in the same area, this close to Fury lands.

The Dankrot Forest was known to harbour a number humanoid mammalian creatures. Plus, this area wasn’t too far from Fury lands the Goblins in sufficient numbers, might begin targeting human settlements... or worse, human females.

The presence of goblins here didn’t bode well—especially considering the suspicious circumstances of the troll’s presence.

Alex’s mood sank like a stone.

The joy and anticipation he’d felt from advancing his Rune-Tech platform was crushed under the weight of this potential threat.

”Where did you find them?” he asked flatly.

”They were approaching the troll’s bone mound,” Udara replied.

She pointed to a nearby trail where goblin corpses were scattered.

”See this path? It’s well-trodden. They’ve been coming back and forth for a while now. There are also signs of dried blood—something’s been dragged.”

Alex’s expression darkened.

”Goblins often offer tribute to strong Wildkin in exchange for protection,” he muttered. ”Depending on the rate of tribute—and the Wildkin’s temperament—they might be allowed to scavenge safely.”

”The Armoured Troll... it might’ve been their guardian. With how much a troll hunts and eats, it wouldn’t be strange for goblins to scavenge scraps from its kills.”

He turned, following the direction of the trail.

”There should be a goblin nest or settlement nearby.”

”What do you want to do, Master? Shall I track it down?” Udara asked, her voice low and eager.

Alex considered it.

”No. Since it’s only goblins, I have a better way of finding them. Stay hidden for now.”

”As you command.” Udara faded into the shadows.

Alex brought two fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle.

**