As a mage, what is the most efficient way to completely clear a goblin cave?
To some extent, this isn't even a question worth discussing.
After all, even the lowest-level magic apprentice still holds the status of a spellcaster.
The lowest-tier cantrips they master—such as "Blade Ward," "Friends," and "Mending"—are enough to make these apprentice mages some of the most welcomed adventure teammates in most regions of the continent, second only to priest-class professions.
A party that possesses a permanent spellcaster basically no longer makes a living by hunting bottom-tier monsters like goblins.
Given the high cost of supplies, if a goblin nest is the final goal of a mission, one might actually end up losing over a dozen gold pieces per trip.
Therefore, unless there are special circumstances, professional mages with comprehensive spell lists have neither the interest nor the time to spend their energy clearing goblin colonies like low-level adventurers do.
At most, they might casually toss in a Fireball or stuff a cloud of corrosive toxins inside; after that, it is impossible for any living thing to remain in the cave.
And for Veroul, this was likewise not a problem.
Perhaps because of her own objectives, she could not crudely turn the goblins into ash or pus as mentioned above.
However, as a former academy spellcaster of the Transcendent level, the complete spell list engraved into her soul's memory from a long academic career remained.
Even though she could only cast first- and second-circle spells in her current state, she still possessed countless methods to turn these filthy, short, and ugly monsters into cold corpses while maintaining the state of the environment as much as possible.
*Buzz—*
A highly condensed point of light, like a falling star in the night sky.
Accompanied by a sharp whistle of energy fluctuations snapping through the air, it zipped through the cramped, narrow tunnel at a speed far exceeding the reaction time of ordinary creatures, piercing straight into the core living area of the goblins.
It rose, hovered at the ceiling of the cave, and paused.
"Scree?"
The mysterious light intruding into the nest startled these stupid green-skins, but driven by instinct, they craned their necks and looked up. Their spindly, wood-like legs hopped incessantly as they waved their ridiculous wooden clubs, attempting to knock down the point of light above their heads.
And in the next second.
That tiny, extremely condensed orb of light, no larger than a fingernail, suddenly expanded.
*Boom—*
As if daylight had descended, a blinding, dazzling radiance filled the entire cave in an instant.
—First Circle · Evocation · [Kubo's Enhanced Dancing Lights]
Like a powered-up flashbang, the sudden burst of brilliance in the dark nest instantly blinded the fragile monsters staring at the light, leaving them wailing and frozen in a state of shock.
Simultaneously, the sound of light, steady footsteps echoed leisurely from the tunnel at the entrance.
With every step forward, a miniature ochre-red Magic Missile whistled out from the tunnel.
—First Circle · Evocation · [Arcane Swarm]
A variant of the first-circle [Magic Missile].
While retaining the special nature of force damage, it trades the power of a single missile for an increased number of projectiles.
It was a version specifically modified and optimized for bottom-tier monsters like goblins, who are physically fragile but exist in great numbers.
The characteristic of such spells that most troubles spellcasters—the extreme requirement for precision in mental control—was practically non-existent for Veroul.
Step by step.
The moment she stepped out of the tunnel and her boots beneath her cream-white robe truly touched the ground of the nest.
There were no longer any living things on the field.
Only broken corpses remained, some with crushed skulls, others with holes hollowed out of their chests.
Her amber eyes shifted slightly, scanning the area.
She did not move further forward.
The grey-white staff in her hand traced a subtle arc in the air, and the deep green black opal at the tip flickered.
The original requirements for incantations and gestures were bypassed; the glow of the first-circle Divination ritual spell [Detect Magic] instantly enveloped the entire cave.
"Hmm?"
Feeling the emptiness returned to her mind, Veroul couldn't help but frown.
"It's not here? That shouldn't be..."
One of the reasons she entered the Mist Forest was this very goblin nest.
A magic ring of decent quality, enchanted with an unknown protection spell, was hidden here.
She had little interest in the ring's specific effects; if it were merely for self-defense, she had many more options as a spellcaster that she could switch flexibly depending on the situation.
What truly interested Veroul was the ring's origin.
—A high-level Arcanist from the Sea of Stars who owned a mage tower.
The ring was said to be a family heirloom that had drifted here due to family upheavals.
With this ring, she should be able to establish a connection with that person and use the favor to utilize their family channels to invite a certain professor from the Sea of Stars Enchantment Academy to enchant her staff.
This would save Veroul a great deal of gold.
Under normal circumstances, given her current strength and status, it would be very difficult to invite an enchantment master of that level.
The reason she was so clear about the ring's origin and its potential use was that in her memories, a colleague she worked with in a future mage tower was the owner of this ring.
That person had been recommended and given the chance to work with her in the mentor's laboratory—despite mediocre arcane talent—precisely because of this connection to the Arcanist from the Sea of Stars.
During a chat after an experiment, the colleague had recounted the ring's origin in detail, including when he obtained it and its specific hidden location at the time.
But...
Estimating her current position in her mind, Veroul was certain she hadn't gone to the wrong place.
And aside from this cave, there were no other goblin nests nearby.
As for the possibility that someone had beaten her to it...
She remembered clearly that her colleague would not pass through Rivervalley Town as a magic apprentice until two whole years later, and would only stay in town briefly to join adventurer parties and take missions to save up for material costs.
The enchanted ring was something he obtained during those missions.
Furthermore, according to him, the ring came from an adult Hobgoblin.
But right now, let alone a Hobgoblin, there were barely ten goblins in the nest, clearly indicating the colony had only recently formed.
"Could it be that I arrived too early, and the ring hasn't fallen into the goblins' hands yet?" Veroul wondered.
After checking twice more and confirming nothing was found, she turned and walked toward the exit.
A flash of magical light flickered, and fire erupted from her fingertips.
Strands of flame spread rapidly beneath her feet, consuming the entire cave and the corpses within at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Veroul stood at the cave exit, with pungent smoke and billowing heat waves behind her.
Although she didn't get the expected result, her emotions remained steady.
On one hand, it was the composure granted by her memories of the future and her identity as a former Transcendent spellcaster.
On the other hand, this enchanted ring was not the primary reason she came to Rivervalley Town or entered the Mist Forest.
The reason she spent so much time crossing the entire Cloud-Climbing Province to come to this remote town was for a far more important, key plan that could greatly help her achieve the preliminary goals of her class transition.
Considering the potential chain reactions she might cause, she didn't hesitate to sacrifice precious sleep time, arriving in Rivervalley Town more than two months early just to avoid the possibility of missing out.
Compared to that plan, the enchanted ring was merely something to take if she could; if not, it didn't matter. It wasn't worth investing more energy into tracking.
Only...
The sudden encounter with "Death Omen" Shanan, the other's growth speed which far exceeded expectations, and the mysteriously missing magic ring in the nest...
It all made her feel that there might be some connection between these events.
She shook her head slightly and stopped thinking about it.
With a flow of will, the crystal atop her staff flashed again, and a semi-transparent dome of a modified [Alarm] spell quietly manifested around her body.
Recently, due to the encounters in the Adventurers' Guild and her experiences in the Mist Forest, much of her already limited time had been wasted.
Her original plan had been slightly disrupted.
Fortunately, by sacrificing sleep, she had made up for much of it over the past few days.
According to her calculations, she should be able to sleep two extra hours tonight.
Thinking of this, Veroul felt a surge of pleasure, and the ponytail at the back of her head bounced lightly.
But for some reason, her relaxed brow suddenly twitched.
"Maybe... I should forget it?"
After such a long period of training, her [Extended Casting] feat was on the verge of mastery.
Perhaps it only took these two hours.
For a key feat that could greatly increase her strength, comprehending it one day earlier meant adding one more fraction to her future win rate.
"Yeah, forget it."
Crushing the last shred of laziness in her heart, her hopeful expression returned to calm. She had made her decision.
*Buzz—*
The semi-transparent dome surrounding her suddenly vibrated, and Veroul's attention focused instantly.
She looked in the direction of the disturbance.
A small squad of goblins was approaching her, joyfully carrying half a rotting forest elk carcass.
The modified [Alarm] spell ensured that even though Veroul was standing not far in front of them, these stupid bottom-tier monsters still failed to notice the slender mage girl.
Under normal circumstances, having achieved her goal and confirmed there was no magic equipment in the nest, Veroul—following the principle of maximum efficiency—should not have engaged in extra conflict with these few goblins.
She could simply leave under the cover of the Alarm spell; they would never find her anyway.
But perhaps it was the left foot the goblins stepped with first as they approached, or perhaps it was the maggots wriggling on the rotting elk carcass.
In any case, it certainly wasn't a small whim caused by the two hours of sleep she had already decided to give to feat training.
The concealment dome of the Alarm spell quietly dissipated.
Accompanying the excited shrieks of the goblins discovering fresh prey was the sharp whistle of Magic Missiles tearing through the air.
*Splat—*
Fragile skulls shattered instantly under the effect of the ochre-red force energy.
Fragments of bone, wrapped in viscous red-and-white blood, splashed onto the ground.
The small, weak, headless bodies of the goblins were like broken toys, swaying twice in place before collapsing powerlessly.
Shanan retracted his fist, which still glowed with a faint ochre light from the [Gravity Etching] buff.
His gaze swept over the "Proficiency +1" characters floating in the void ahead.
On his face, stained with the blood of his enemies, was an expression of utter satisfaction and enjoyment.
"That felt good."
A slightly morbid, uncontrollable smile played at the corners of his mouth.
As for what exactly felt good, it likely wasn't the [Gravity Etching] that had reached Lv2 through daily hard training.
Nor was it [Fang Hunt], which was nearing max level and had been pushed to nearly halfway through Lv4 using most of the last two months of training.
Most of that satisfaction, enjoyment, pleasure, and relief came from the fragmented corpses scattered around him.
Most of them were no longer recognizable as human, and their race was indistinguishable.
But given the dim underground cave environment, the long, twisted severed ears in the corners, the slender arms with deep green skin, and the crude wooden clubs rolling in pools of blood...
One could deduce that these corpses were "goblins."
*Sshhh.*
Small pebbles fell as a steel-grey longsword was slowly pulled from a mud-stone wall, and the half-body of the goblin pinned to the wall by the blade fell to the ground.
With a crisp flourish of the sword, he flicked away the blood that had not yet clotted on the blade.
The blood-stained decapitating sword was returned to its scabbard.
Casually stuffing two gold coins stained with crimson blood into his waist pouch, Shanan scanned the cave.
Confirming that not a single goblin had a chance of survival, he turned and walked toward the exit.
Now, two more months had passed since he finished the investigation mission on the beastmen.
Perhaps as a compensatory reaction to the high-pressure adventuring life of previous days, he hadn't taken any commissions that required traveling far or involved overly unfamiliar targets during this time.
Instead, he stayed in Rivervalley Town, devoting himself entirely to the training of his combat techniques.
Cream of mushroom soup was indispensable, and the long-absent goblin nests had become essential venues for him to test his gains and increase the efficiency of his technique training.
He had to admit that while these inferior beasts were ugly in appearance, vile in personality, and aggressively hostile to all creatures outside their own race—as disgusting as cockroaches or flies—they were perfectly suited and immensely satisfying as tools for venting desire and relieving stress.
Wooden clubs hitting the body were neither painful nor itchy, and their weak individual strength could barely penetrate his armor. With their exaggerated reproductive capacity, they came in wave after wave, never-ending. The accumulation of monster bounties, guild missions, and loot even allowed him to earn a fairly generous sum of gold.
Compared to wasting money on drinking tables or gambling games, Shanan felt more and more that using goblins as stress-relief toys was a wise choice.
(End of Chapter)