"But if my Golden Finger can enhance the monster bloodline, then the identical image within the second square is obviously also a goblin bloodline."
"Isn't that redundant?" Suddenly, Raine thought of this problem.
"Could it be...?"
Raine tried to focus his attention on the second square.
As he pressed the second square, the system prompt suddenly appeared:
[Cannot enhance two identical bloodlines of the same tier. Merge? Yes/No?]
"Two identical bloodlines of the same tier? That's a mouthful!"
"So different tiered identical bloodlines could be enhanced?"
Raine pondered.
"But... unable to enhance?"
"Merge?"
Raine frowned, then quickly relaxed and chose 'Yes!'.
Combining or merging identical items was not uncommon in the games of his previous life.
Moreover, after merging, things usually become stronger or gather the best of both worlds.
This was naturally a good thing.
[Merge failed, insufficient quantity, unable to merge to the next tier.]
The slightly mechanical system prompt caught Raine by surprise.
"Insufficient quantity?"
Seeing this prompt, Raine wasn't too disappointed, rather, he felt a hint of joy.
After all, from the system prompt, this direction seemed right and feasible.
"If two goblins aren't enough, that probably means it might require three or even four?"
Raine looked at the total of four square slots and quickly made a judgment.
And the system's mention of 'next tier' also sparked a considerable anticipation in Raine's heart.
"What will the next tier be?"
He figured he would probably know the answer after killing at most two more goblins.
Raine stood up, looked around the vast golden fields of rice, the heavy ears rustling in the breeze.
At least, from as far as he could see, there were no other goblin figures visible.
As an eighteen-year-old boy, his stamina recovered quickly, and after just a short rest, he had regained most of his previous energy.
"Just two more..."
Raine quickly focused his gaze on the high stack of straw.
Just as he was about to climb up the straw stack to survey his surroundings.
Suddenly!
Not far to his left, a familiar scream resounded.
"It's Uncle Gates' voice!"
Raine immediately recalled that Uncle Gates' farmland was adjacent to his own.
Having been attacked by goblins, it was clear that Uncle Gates might also have been attacked while working.
Without hesitation, Raine grabbed the fork and sprinted toward the direction of the scream.
Within seven or eight seconds, almost completely through the rice field, Raine slowed down, proceeding stealthily.
He cautiously parted the rice stalks and immediately saw Uncle Gates lying on the ground, desperately waving a sickle to defend himself.
Uncle Gates clutched a bloody wound on the back right of his waist with one hand, waving the sickle with the other, his expression terrified.
And the two goblins, each wielding a dagger, were excitedly darting around Gates, dodging and occasionally thrusting their daggers, further terrifying Gates.
From the scene, it appeared Uncle Gates was ambushed while working by these green-skinned dwarfs.
Only two of them?
Raine squinted his eyes and quickly sprang forward!
Just as the two goblins thought victory was theirs, suddenly, a fork pierced the back of one of the goblins!
"Pffft!"
The four iron spikes on the fork not only pierced the goblin's back but also exited through its belly, forming four penetrating wounds.
This scene made the other goblin scream in panic. It glanced at Raine and immediately turned to flee into the golden rice field.
Raine swiftly pulled out his fork and gave chase, but after two steps, he realized the speed of the fleeing goblin was fast, and once it entered the densely grown rice field, it would be nearly impossible to catch up.
So Raine, without much thought, suddenly stopped and hurled the fork with force!
"Whoosh~"
Perhaps due to the +1 agility effect, or maybe because the distance wasn't far, his throw was quite accurate.
"Pffft!"
The fork flew swiftly for seven or eight meters and then plunged into the back of the fleeing goblin!
Raine felt a surge of joy, immediately running over to pull out the fork and stabbed it forcefully again, finishing off the struggling second goblin.
"Uncle Gates, how's your injury?" Without wasting time checking his Golden Finger, Raine quickly approached Gates to observe his wound.
"Raine, thank goodness you came in time; otherwise, I'd be a goner!" Gates immediately expressed his gratitude.
"Uncle Gates, let's not talk about this now; let's head back to the village first."
But suddenly, Raine thought of something, he quickly walked to the straw stack, and firmly planted the fork into it.
Then, he used the fork as a step to climb to the top of the straw stack.
Standing atop the more than two-meter-high straw stack, his view was much better.
Soon, Raine spotted movements in the golden rice fields over a hundred meters away on both his left and right, and some faint green-skinned figures.
This caused his heart to skip a beat!
Clearly, there were still an unknown number of goblins active nearby.
Although he had just successfully killed two goblins, that didn't mean he could defeat three or four goblins.
"Uncle Gates, let's go quickly!"
Raine, supporting Gates with one hand and gripping the fork with the other, hurried towards Oak Village.
As they neared the village, besides seeing smoke rising from chimneys, they also heard the villagers' cries of women and children clearly.
The two quickened their pace.
In the village's central paved stone square, dozens of villagers armed with sticks, forks, and sickles were discussing something.
"Rose and Loli are missing! Those green-skinned creatures must have taken them!"
"If we hesitate any longer, it'll be too late!"
"But it's almost dark, and fighting those creatures at night won't be possible with just us..."
"Yes, at night those green-skinned dwarfs have better vision while we can't see clearly. By the way, has the Adventurer Berry invited from Mill Town arrived yet?"
...
Have some girls gone missing?
As a member of Oak Village and having inherited its memories, Raine immediately recalled what Rose and Loli looked like.
Both were fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls. Rose had faint freckles on her face, usually wearing a sweet smile.
Loli had golden hair, usually tied in a ponytail, more reserved, and loved making bread.
"Gates, were you also ambushed by these green-skinned creatures?" The village elder Kael approached as he saw Raine and the injured Gates.
"Yes, thanks to Raine, otherwise I wouldn't have made it back."
The village discussion continued, and Raine, finding a spot to sit, checked the system.
In the attributes panel, the four slots were now completely filled, all with goblin icons.
Without hesitation, Raine focused on the three other unlit goblin icons.
Instantly, the system prompt appeared again:
[Cannot enhance four identical bloodlines of the same tier. Merge? Yes/No?]
"Yes!"
With a slightly excited heart, Raine quickly chose 'Yes'.
In the next instant.
The four identical goblin icons suddenly twisted and blurred, and then three icons vanished.
Meanwhile, the first goblin icon underwent a significant transformation.
From the initially weak goblin image, it changed into a robust-looking goblin wearing leather armor shoulder guards.
"This is..."
Raine's eyes lit up as he immediately focused on the new icon.