Chapter 18: Goblin King’s Response And... A Waterfall?

Chapter 18: Goblin King's Response And... A Waterfall?

Hundreds of thousands of miles to the east of Azmond's current location, a few dark shadows were speeding through vast fields.

After ten minutes, they finally came to a stop at the top of a large cliff that overlooked a huge city where goblins were going about their daily activities.

"We need to report to the king." One of the shadows spoke with an urgent tone as he looked toward the giant castle in the distance.

"We haven't heard from The GrandMeister in over 2 days now, and after picking up no sign of his aura signature within ten thousand miles of here, we have determined that he has fallen to the Human Cultivator that was spotted a few days ago. Reporting to the king can no longer wait..."

The same shadow's crackly voice echoed out as he and the other shadows jumped down from the ledge and fell thousands of meters before continuing towards the large castle in the distance at insane speeds.

"Will the king allow us in without the GrandMeister present?" A different shadow asked with a solemn look on his green-skinned face.

"He should..." The first shadow, who was presumably their leader, responded with a serious look as they entered the city, unnoticed by the guards standing watch at the large city gates

******

As the shadows were approaching the large castle with post-haste, a large figure inside said castle was sitting upon his throne with an amused expression as he saw the shadows approaching from a distance.

"They must've failed their mission," he began with an apathetic tone. "That's really too bad; I quite liked those Asuras... and the GrandMeister was a valuable asset after all."

The large-figure's expression morphed into one that looked like he just lost valuable treasures; he didn't actually care about the goblins; he just lost some of his property...

Furthermore, he was also disappointed in the fact that even with four peak Core Formation Realm Goblins, they still couldn't defeat one single human cultivator in the same stage.

As a king, he lost some of his face with this failure.

.....

"Oh well... I can always make more of them, but this human Core Formation Cultivator is starting to pique my interest a little," the King said with a small malicious smile on his sinister face.

"However, it's too bad that my interest in you won't save you, human cultivator." He muttered with a slightly disappointed tone.

"You destroyed some of my treasures, so I shall destroy you in every horrible way imaginable, till you are groveling at my feet, begging to be put out of your misery."

The Goblin King's orotund voice reverberated out, as his cruel smile only got wider as he got up from his large throne and approached the throne room doors with a few small steps.

FWIP!

He appeared there in a split second, almost as if he teleported.

'But, what should I do with these dogs of my subordinate, who are coming up to my castle now?' The Goblin King thought to himself with a malevolent grin as he waited by the throne room doors for the shadows to come knocking.

'Useless dogs who can't even appropriately gauge their enemies are of no use to me... So I will just exterminate them and be done with it,' he thought with indifference.

The Goblin King decided their fates as easy as deciding the fates of weeds to be cut down.

...

"This is going to mean I have to lose even more of the treasure I own, but it's better than being ridiculed by the other Monster kings and Queens at the next Monster Kingdoms Gathering, so it is what it is. In addition, useless treasure should just be discarded without a second thought when it stops serving its purpose," the Goblin King said to himself with a neutral look on his face.

.....

"..." He stood there, waiting for a few seconds, until he heard the deep voice of one of his subordinates from behind the throne.

"The GrandMeister's Shadows are waiting outside the throne room, Your Majesty."

The subordinates' voice was heard in the Goblin King's ears as he responded with a neutral voice without turning his head an inch.

"Let them in," he commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The voice replied without a second to waste.

Following his understanding, the large throne room doors opened slowly, and four shadow-like figures suddenly appeared inside the throne room, just a few feet away from the Goblin King.

"Your Majesty!"

They all said in unison as they bowed immediately upon entering.

"Your end will not be a good one, Human Cultivator, that I guarantee."

The Goblin King's dark voice reverberated as he slowly closed his eyes, awaiting news of the human cultivator's whereabouts.

*****

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of miles away from the Goblin Kingdom, an extremely handsome boy around twelve years old was aimlessly walking towards the east.

"Hmm... I grew quite fond of that Aqua girl; she was the first 'real' person I talked to since I got here, but I had to leave her not long after I met her."

Azmond's melancholic voice echoed out as he continued walking while talking to himself.

"No! Azmond, this is the path you have chosen; there is no room for regrets on your path to power."

His expression changed to one of determination as he quickly discarded his previous thoughts.

"Furthermore, if the light in her eyes was of any indication, we will surely meet again," he muttered.

"She will surely end up walking her own unique path. A path that might end up intersecting with mine one day, though who really knows what the future holds? Haha~"

Azmond began laughing—not a crazy laugh, but a kind and gentle laugh as he recalled the weird, ditsy princess whose name was Aqua.

However, after a few seconds, his expression morphed as he said, "Time to focus now! Absolute power waits for no man; I must extend out my hands and reach for it with everything I have! Everything else comes second."

His face turned into one of resolve as he continued his walk.

......

Azmond continued to travel at insane speeds as he crossed mountain ranges and grassy plains.

He saw all sorts of monsters on his walk, with some of them even being hundreds of meters tall, which he gladly took as opportunities to fight new and different enemies.

Furthermore, none of the monsters exceeded the Core Formation Realm, so he beat them with ease even after restricting his energy usage and tying one arm behind his back.

After fighting a few interesting enemies, Azmond resumed his journey.

*****

A few days passed by as Azmond continued to fight everything he thought was interesting. He even found a few flying Golden Core Realm monsters that looked sort of like dragons but had less distinct features.

They gave him a little bit of trouble, but he gladly took them on with everything he had and even managed to improve the proficiencies of his techniques by a lot.

His Earth Dominion and Water Dominion skills were increased to Minor proficiency from their previous Beginner proficiencies, and his cataclysmic annihilation skill, which was a variant skill of the Lightning Dominion skill, was increased to minor proficiency as well.

He also tried out and improved the proficiency of his Fire and Air Dominion skills as well, all of which he acquired from the second section of the Divine Devil Arts Scripture, with all of his Dominion skills now being at the Greater proficiency level after one whole month of training them on different monsters.

It was a speed of training that would never be believed by a single soul if Azmond were to tell them the truth!

It would usually take a few years, if not longer, for an average Qi condensation cultivator to increase their comprehension of a single low-level mortal rank skill or ability to the Greater Proficiency stage, and yet Azmond increased a total of 5 mid-level Mortal Rank skills plus a High-level Mortal Rank variation skill to Greater proficiency within a month!

He was a genius in the comprehension department, to say the least.

Furthermore, Azmond could now control and manipulate the Qi elements of every single element he had a Dominion Skill of within an area of thousands of meters without any over-energy expenditure or exhaustion unless he used his skills over and over a ridiculous number of times.

Increasing skill proficiency through comprehension not only increases the lethality of skills and techniques, but it also reduces the amount of energy needed to cast such skills.

Do not take Azmond's previous 9000-meter-long lightning sword made with the Cataclysmic Annihilation skill as an example.

He was quite reckless when he conjured a skill like that with such low proficiency at such a level; he put himself and his body in a lot of danger that he only managed to get through unscathed because of luck.

His normal energy output at that time for that skill without causing any excessive damage or exhaustion was a mere 500 meters in area under normal circumstances, with that number being even lower if he used just the Lightning Dominion skill without the improved modifications from the Cataclysmic Annihilation High-Level Mortal Rank Skill.

*****

After scrutinizing his new skill comprehensions, Azmond continued along his journey, heading to the east as he fought to his heart's content.

And that was the case for quite a while, until...

"Is that a waterfall...?" Azmond asked with a look of astonishment.