Chapter 418: Chapter 332: Curiosity Killed the Goblin?

After five days of collaboration between more than 2,000 goblins, the elephant herd, and a large number of Worker Ants, they finally finished clearing the collapsed stone tower. A pitch-black tunnel leading deep underground appeared before the goblins.

During these five days, Shire hadn’t been idle at all. He had traveled throughout the entire Feathered Serpent Kingdom and gained a much clearer understanding of these ruins.

There were almost no intact buildings in the entire area. The few two-story stone structures that still stood strong were just dilapidated stone shells, with several walls missing. Shire didn’t try to climb to the second floor of the small buildings—if you could even call them that.

Most of the area was just piles of rubble showing signs of weathering and erosion. The Kingdom was mostly full of trees and tunnels; you could see a tunnel entrance every short distance.

These were the tunnels the goblins had originally lived in. The conditions inside were hard to describe, and the foul smell dissuaded Shire from going in to take a look.

As for the trees in the Feathered Serpent Kingdom, Shire was quite pleased. He had discovered a large number of Dragon Claw Trees here. After asking the native goblins, he learned why there were so many. It was because the fruit of the Dragon Claw Tree tasted decent, but the pits were quite small. After the goblins ate the fruit, the pits were naturally scattered along with certain... excrement. Over a long period of growth, the area had become a forest of Dragon Claw Trees.

However, the leaves of the Dragon Claw Trees were currently a bit yellow. He heard from the High Priest that those merchants would send people here before winter to trade some food for the leaves with the goblins.

Shire had seen the food they traded. It was very coarse wheat, not even husked, and mixed with a good amount of sand.

Shire’s own clan had long since refused to eat such food, but the High Priest said this was their winter supply. It was only distributed to the goblins in the middle and late winter, when it was difficult to hunt prey.

Recalling the look in Bald Hide’s eyes, Shire gradually understood the thinking of these goblins. Compared to the goblins who were exiled from the Kingdom, they at least had something to eat in the winter and could survive. It wasn’t like what Bai Mao had said before, that winter had to start with eating the young goblins.

As for Bald Hide, he and the Dongtou had been exiled from Shire’s territory and driven directly to the east.

Unlike the High Priest, these guys were the beneficiaries of the system. Whenever lots were drawn, they wouldn’t participate and could always remain in the Feathered Serpent Kingdom. And when it was time to eat, they were the first to do so in the tunnels. Shire felt that the two ironclad laws of the goblin Race in the forest came from these Dongtou of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom.

At first, the High Priest had offered his own thoughts on Shire’s decision. He suggested organizing the goblins into their respective tunnels as before, which would make them easier to manage.

But Shire refused. "That’s just a village management model learned from humans. All the goblins live the same way, and as long as you find a fierce leader for them, you can control them easily."

"But at the same time, a model like that is also very low-level. The value each goblin can create is extremely limited."

"More importantly, these goblins still haven’t moved beyond the category of ’despicable forest monsters’."

This was how Shire explained it to the High Priest, but the High Priest’s understanding was limited, and he couldn’t fully grasp Shire’s intentions.

"What I want is for goblins to no longer live underground, to be able to bask in the sunlight openly. I want them to stop spending their days scrambling to catch mice and steal birds’ eggs. They can do more—things of greater value."

The High Priest furrowed his brow at the word "value." In his view, a goblin’s value was determined by how much food they could find in the forest; a goblin’s worth was directly proportional to their hunting Ability.

But Shire just smiled. "I believe goblins can demonstrate a much higher value."

After successfully taking the city, he had already planned many industries for his clan: from gathering herbs, wild vegetables, and fruits to helping the Tree-man Race collect fruit; from raising "fat pig" Shape-shifting Monsters to farming Petrifying Lizards and Giant Ants; from cultivating Red Bull Mushrooms to collecting Dragon Claw Tree leaves; and from hunting animals in the forest to surrounding and killing any Magical Beasts that appeared. All these industries would require a massive workforce.

Furthermore, once these industries were up and running, they would be able to trade for large quantities of supplies and money from human society.

"When we have enough strength and competitive products, those humans will see goblins in a new light." This was what Shire had said to the High Priest. His confident smile at that moment had left the old, aged goblin stunned for a long time.

"I’m old," the High Priest said, lowering his head for the first time. His back was no longer so straight, and he seemed to have aged a great deal in an instant. "I hope I can live to see that day."

"I think if you stay happy and eat and drink well every day, you should be able to see it," Shire comforted him.

After this interlude, Shire became even more excited about surveying the "city." He also paid several visits to Mr. Elton and obtained from the three Skeleton Warriors a city plan for the "City of Ten Thousand Races" from several thousand years ago.

Combining the appearance of the ancient city with the beautiful cities Shire had seen in his past life, he spent those five days drawing up a complete plan for the city that had yet to be built.

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