Chapter 211: The Demon Snake Naga's Terror, the Food Problem, and the Dwarf Race
Touv Great Forest.
Tang Zheng flew high above the forest, his gaze sweeping over the dense, dark jungle below.
The matter with the Twin Witches had been dealt with. Whatever schemes this special pair of demi-human sisters might have had before were now completely gone.
Tang Zheng had intentionally released a bit of his aura. His current level was 41, which, calculated in magic tiers, was at the level of sixth-tier magic (Levels 36-42).
This was the level that humans called "Aberrant."
The Twin Witches' power was only around level 20. With a level difference nearly double theirs, Tang Zheng didn't need to do anything.
Simply appearing before the Twin Witches was enough to make the two demi-humans completely docile.
The reason Tang Zheng was keeping the Twin Witches alive for now was that these two demi-humans possessed decent alchemy skills.
The previous "Artificial Monster: Frogman's Egg" required the Twin Witches' cooperation to create. Now, he also had the corpses of an ancient red dragon and a sun anglerfish in his possession.
The value of these two corpses was immense, and Tang Zheng hadn't yet fully decided how to handle them, afraid of wasting them.
"Alchemy" was a good way to utilize them. He also thought of one other person: Nfirea Bale.
Tang Zheng dismissed the various thoughts from his mind and continued to scan the jungle below.
He had too many things to do, but he understood that many of them couldn't be rushed and had to be taken one step at a time.
"Waah!"
"Waaah..."
"Gwaaah!"
From the depths of the jungle, the chaotic cries of goblins occasionally drifted up from the dense forest below.
Tang Zheng observed with a blank expression. He had already patrolled the skies above the Touv Great Forest. The Demon Snake Naga had not been slacking off; he had indeed been raising the goblins as instructed.
However!
From what he could see, the number of goblins didn't seem very large. Or rather, spread across the entire Great Forest of Tob, they were quite sparse.
Swoosh!
Tang Zheng changed direction in mid-air, flying rapidly toward the area that once belonged to Troll Gu.
The Forest Rift.
What was once the troll's cave had been completely transformed.
Ever since becoming the sole ruler of the entire Touv Great Forest, the Demon Snake Naga had moved his base here.
It wasn't that he liked the place.
It was because Troll Gu was not dead. He needed to stand guard to prevent the other from escaping; otherwise, he would be no match for Troll Gu.
Furthermore.
The Demon Snake Naga also controlled the ordinary goblins by dominating the hobgoblin tribe living in this area.
Hiss~
The Demon Snake Naga slithered out of the cave entrance, his cyan-scaled tail swishing. Feeling the sunlight on his face, a lazy expression appeared on his wrinkled, elderly human-like face.
Outside the cave was a flat, sparsely vegetated area.
Dozens of massive demonic wolves and giant snakes were scattered around. These were the monster subordinates the Demon Snake Naga had brought from his original territory.
"If it weren't for that damned horde of goblins, This Old One would be living much more comfortably."
The Demon Snake Naga caught a faint, foul stench in the air and couldn't help but curse under his breath.
He had originally thought that making a deal with that human—trading the service of raising goblins to become the true "Lord of the Touv Great Forest"—was a clever decision with no downsides.
But now!
The Demon Snake Naga suddenly realized that he had unwittingly become a nanny to that group of inferior beings, the goblins.
The damn goblins were not only weak, but they could also breed prolifically!
If that were all, it would be tolerable. But what the Demon Snake Naga found most unbearable was this horde's immense demand for food.
The Demon Snake Naga's dark-yellow pupils flickered. He was currently contemplating whether he should truly raise them on a massive scale according to that human's wishes.
At this thought.
The Demon Snake Naga subconsciously raised his arm and pressed it against his chest.
He had not forgotten the curse that human had left on his heart. Although he hadn't felt the power of that curse since, the Demon Snake Naga dared not take the risk.
Just as he was lost in thought.
"It seems you've been doing quite well for yourself lately," a placid voice came from the sky above.
Hwa! Hwa!
The numerous demonic wolves and giant snakes lying around all rose to their feet, their expressions ferocious as they looked at the figure that had suddenly appeared above their heads.
The Demon Snake Naga's heart jumped in alarm, and he quickly looked up.
Swoosh!
Tang Zheng's figure descended from the sky, landing steadily on the ground. The demonic wolves and giant snakes from all directions immediately swarmed forward.
Faced with this situation, Tang Zheng simply ignored them, his gaze fixed on the Demon Snake Naga, who stood rigidly at the cave entrance.
"All of you, back down!"
The Demon Snake Naga snapped back to his senses, nervously shouting the order. He forced a smile onto his wrinkled face and slithered forward on his snake tail.
The surrounding demonic wolves and giant snakes, hearing the Demon Snake Naga's command, dispersed again, clearing a path.
"My esteemed friend, it's been almost two months since you've appeared in the Great Forest," the Demon Snake Naga said with a laugh, opening his arms as if to greet an old friend as he approached Tang Zheng.
However!
When the Demon Snake Naga reached Tang Zheng and saw that he still wore a blank expression, he awkwardly lowered his outstretched arms.
"What is the current number of goblins?" Tang Zheng asked directly, wasting no words.
The Demon Snake Naga paused for a moment, his voice sounding a bit hesitant. "The number is around eighty thousand. This Old One feels that this number should be sufficient."
Hearing this, Tang Zheng studied the over-two-meter-tall Demon Snake Naga carefully. A brilliant smile suddenly appeared on his face as he took a step forward.
The next moment.
*Thud!*
He kicked out, his foot landing on the Demon Snake Naga's long, cyan-scaled snake tail.
"Ah!" The Demon Snake Naga cried out in pain. The crisp sound of bone breaking came from his tail, and his body uncontrollably collapsed to the ground.
Tang Zheng lifted his foot and stomped on the Demon Snake Naga's head, his expression unchanged. "You don't seem to have understood what I told you to do before."
"I have only one request, and that is to raise goblins in massive numbers."
The intense pain from his tail brought a look of terror to the Demon Snake Naga's face. The foot pressing on his head pinned him firmly to the ground, no matter how much he struggled.
"Mighty Lord, I understand, I understand!"
The Demon Snake Naga howled in agony, scaring the surrounding demonic wolves and giant snakes so much that they lowered their heads and trembled.
Tang Zheng retracted his foot and looked at the Demon Snake Naga. "How long will it take to gather all these goblins?"
"With the help of the hobgoblin tribe, it will only take three days. No, two days."
The Demon Snake Naga lay on the ground, his body curled up, speaking quickly in a panic.
This human has become even more terrifying!
Tang Zheng nodded slightly. To expand the goblin population to eighty thousand in about two months was actually quite impressive.
It was just that compared to the number he had estimated in his mind, it was still far off.
Of course, he wasn't going to eliminate this number of goblins right now. After all, it had only been about two months. Even if goblins grew quickly, most of them were not yet adults at this stage.
"With the goblins' reproductive ability, in an environment without danger, their numbers shouldn't be this low."
Tang Zheng looked at the prone Demon Snake Naga and asked calmly.
"It's the food!" the Demon Snake Naga, enduring the intense pain, quickly replied.
"These goblins breed too fast, and they eat a lot. The ordinary wild beasts in the forest are basically their food."
"If we don't impose a restriction, those ordinary wild beasts will definitely be eaten to extinction by this horde of goblins."
Eighty thousand goblins spread throughout the Touv Great Forest was indeed not a large number, but the destructive power they wielded was immense.
Ordinary wild beasts couldn't reproduce as fast as goblins. If this continued, the entire ecosystem of the Touv Great Forest would be affected.
Hearing this, Tang Zheng gave the Demon Snake Naga a surprised look. He hadn't expected him to consider the ecological problem. At the same time, he realized what he had overlooked.
Goblins were omnivorous demi-humans.
Besides meat, they could eat many things; they could even survive by eating dirt.
The problem was, with meat available, goblins would obviously not eat dirt. Even if they were forced to eat dirt, it would inevitably affect their reproductive rate and growth.
As this was a method for obtaining a large amount of Experience, Tang Zheng naturally took it seriously.
"I've thought about things too simply."
Based on the experience from his previous life, the problems of raising livestock boiled down to three things: environment, food, and disease prevention.
The environment and disease prevention could be ignored. Goblins were extremely adaptable to any environment and actually preferred dirty, damp places.
So the key was food!
Once the goblin population grew, relying solely on the Touv Great Forest's ecosystem would likely be unsustainable. Food would need to be acquired from the outside.
Tang Zheng's brows furrowed slightly.
He had a few thousand gold coins on hand, which was more than enough for personal use, but it was completely insufficient to feed tens or hundreds of thousands of goblins.
In other words, relying on personal strength alone, it was impossible to support a massive demi-human tribe!
But the power of a kingdom would be sufficient.
"Eight Fingers."
A glint flashed in Tang Zheng's eyes.
Eight Fingers was a massive underground faction. With the power of Eight Fingers, he could easily obtain large amounts of food from the Re-Estize Kingdom.
In the otherworld, due to the existence of magic, ordinary grain was not difficult to grow or obtain.
Compared to magic items, its value was so low it could almost be ignored.
"Before the end of December, increase the number of goblins to over 100,000."
"Also, it's too troublesome to gather goblins scattered throughout the Touv Great Forest. Find a way to gather them in one place to minimize movement."
As Tang Zheng spoke to the Demon Snake Naga, he took out an alchemical potion and tossed it over.
Covered in a cold sweat, the Demon Snake Naga quickly agreed, scrambling to pick up the alchemical potion that had fallen to the ground and downing it in one gulp.
The pain from his broken snake tail rapidly healed under the effects of the alchemical potion.
When the Demon Snake Naga looked up again, he found that Tang Zheng's figure had already vanished.
Lava Zone.
The scorching temperature and crimson light reappeared.
Having returned via teleportation magic, the first thing Tang Zheng saw was the evil spirit hound. He reached out and stroked its smooth, black fur.
"The trivial matters are done. Now for the real business."
Tang Zheng murmured to himself as he petted the evil spirit hound.
The situations with the Twin Witches and the Demon Snake Naga had been stabilized again with his appearance.
He raised his arm.
The corpse of the Gray Dwarf Forging Minister appeared on the ground.
"Raise Dead!" Tang Zheng's magic power surged as he activated the fifth-tier resurrection magic.
The Forging Minister's cold corpse quickly regained a heartbeat. He shot up, gasping for air.
Before the Forging Minister's consciousness could fully return.
"Charm Species."
The Forging Minister's breathing hitched. With a dazed look in his eyes, he rose from the ground and stood respectfully before Tang Zheng.
"What are the requirements to replicate those four highest-tier runes?" Tang Zheng asked the Forging Minister.
"Only Rune Craftsmen have the ability to inscribe runes. To replicate that great technology, the more Rune Craftsmen, the better," the Forging Minister replied slowly.
Tang Zheng nodded thoughtfully and then asked about the other requirements.
After learning all the conditions, Tang Zheng felt a little more certain. It seemed that while the success rate wasn't high, it was still worth a try.
"Indeed, it seems a trip to the Dwarf Race is inevitable sooner or later," Tang Zheng turned, his gaze drifting toward the mountain range south of the Lava Zone.
Among the Dwarf Race, the only thing Tang Zheng valued was their rune technology; nothing else was worth his attention.
Even the Dwarf Race's treasure was no longer in the hands of the dwarves, but occupied by those few frost dragons. In particular, the Dwarf Race's treasury was protected by protection magic constructed with rune technology.
Even the Bone King had to use a high-grade item to break through it. Tang Zheng had no such ideas. Rather than focusing on the Dwarf Race's treasury, he might as well set his sights on the treasure possessed by the frost dragons.
Speaking of which, the ancient fire dragon's cave should also contain a large amount of treasure.
However!
Tang Zheng currently didn't know the location of the ancient fire dragon's cave and would need to search for it.
"For now, it's probably best not to make direct contact with the Dwarf Race," Tang Zheng's figure moved, soaring into the air and flying away from the Lava Zone.
The Dwarf Race had a total of four great cities.
The old royal capital, Feoh Belkan; the southern city, Fieo Lezo; the eastern city, Fieo Jura; and the western city, Feoh Tiwaz.
These four cities had witnessed the glory and decline of the Dwarf Race. Currently, aside from the eastern city where the Dwarf Race resided, the other cities were either abandoned or no longer in dwarf hands.
And the distance between the current eastern city and the former old royal capital was not only vast but also extremely dangerous.
Between them lay a region known as the Three Great Obstacles.
The Great Rift, the Lava Zone, and the Labyrinth of Wandering!
(end of chapter)