Deep within the Great Wildlands Forest, in a vast stretch of plains thousands of miles from where Azmond threw the goblin scout, a few dark shadows with green skin were on the move.
The dark shadows moved through the plains at breakneck speeds toward a large hut.
After making it to their destination, they stopped outside the large hut as if waiting for something, and then they heard a raspy voice come from within the hut.
"What is your report?"
Upon hearing the imperious voice reverberating out from inside the tent, one of the shadows responded, "A large aura signature was detected outside one of the goblin camps we have set up in Alpha Sector, GrandMeister."
"..." The 'GrandMeister went silent for a second before he asked, "What are the numbers?"
"Our aura detectors read numbers over 90,000, GrandMeister." The same green-skinned shadow that responded earlier replied to the raspy voice again.
"Are you sure?" The GrandMeister asked in what seemed like a tone of urgency.
"We triple-checked, GrandMeister. We even got reports that whoever owned that aura signature took out one of our scouts." The same shadow replied.
"..."
The GrandMeister went silent once more after hearing that, almost as if he were mulling over a very important matter.
'A Core Formation Realm Master in this part of The Great Wildlands doesn't make any sense,' he thought.
'Is it an enemy sent by a neighboring Monster Kingdom or something else?' He asked himself with a quizzical look on his face.
However, after a few seconds of pondering the matter and getting nowhere, he decided to glean some more information from the scouts.
"What is the race of the owner of this aura?" He asked the shadows outside his tent.
"It should be a human, GrandMeister." One of the shadows replied.
"A What?!" The GrandMeister lost his composure for the first time in a very long time after he heard what one of the shadows said.
But it didn't take but a second before his expression turned to one of disbelief.
"Impossible! A human Core Formation Realm Master this far out in the Great Wildlands doesn't make any sense!" The GrandMeister shouted in anger and confusion.
"We couldn't believe it ourselves, sir, but we used multiple different aura testers, and the results all came out the same." One of the shadows informed the confused GrandMeister.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
The GrandMeister was pacing in circles within the large tent until he finally decided on something he was previously apprehensive about before he heard the race of the aura's owner.
'I must inform the king! It is best to let him decide what move we should make,' he thought with a resolute look on his face.
*Swish!*
The GrandMeister, upon deciding what he should do, exited the large tent he was in.
That was when his full figure was shown in plain sight.
The GrandMeister was a large, 7-foot-tall Monster with green skin and long, pointy ears.
That's right, he was a variation of Goblin!
However, he was a far stronger goblin than the one Azmond encountered earlier that day.
"What is your command, GrandMeister?" One of the shadows asked the GrandMeister with a neutral look on his green-skinned face.
"Head back to your posts for now," the GrandMeister began with an imperious tone before he continued, "A Human Core Formation Realm Master requires the attention of our King, so I shall head to the Throne Room to inform him of this occurrence without further delay."
FWIP!
The GrandMeister stated his intentions and left in a flash of light without making a sound.
........
"This is not good..." One of the shadows spoke in a slightly agitated voice.
"Not good indeed..." Another shadow added.
******
Meanwhile, ten minutes after the GrandMeister goblin left his hut, he once again reappeared in a large town-like city that covered an area of tens of miles.
The city had thousands of houses going in every direction, and these houses looked as if they were built with stones and straw.
Furthermore, there were goblins wearing clothes and carrying all sorts of weaponry wandering around the city, heading into a variety of buildings that should be some type of goblin shops.
Although the city was not modern, it worked for what the goblins needed it for, and that was enough for them.
......
WHIZZ!
The Goblin GrandMeister was currently flying through the goblin city, heading toward a large castle-like stone building in the very center of the city.
*Thud!*
The GrandMeister landed on the cobblestoned ground before he approached the castle-like building on foot and went through the front gate of the castle, passing by many 6-foot-tall goblins wearing heavy armor and carrying large spears stationed all around the castle exterior and interior areas.
"!!" "!!"
A few of the guards looked to see who was so brazen to come directly through the front gate of the King's castle, but once they saw who it was, they went right back to their stations.
The GrandMeister continued to walk through the interior of the huge castle until he saw two large doors standing in his way.
Doors that were lavishly decorated and over 10 meters in height.
"..."
He stood outside the two large doors as if waiting for something to happen, and happen it did as the two large doors soon opened up by themselves after a few seconds of waiting.
When they opened, a deep and noble-sounding voice came from within the area behind the doors.
"Why have you come to my throne room, Argas?"
"I have come to inform you of something, Your Majesty!"
THUD!
Argas, the GrandMeister, quickly kneeled as soon as he entered the throne room.
That was when Argas got a clear view of the being he called his King, a 9-foot-tall goblin with a noble bearing and a diamond-plated crown on top of its head. Furthermore, he was adorned with an overbearing golden mantle that covered half of his large frame.
If any goblin citizen was currently in the throne room at that moment, then one look was all they needed to tell them that the king was a majestic being, but if one looked close enough, they would see something malicious hidden deep within those green-slitted eyes of his.
.....
"Inform me of something? Couldn't you have just informed me like you usually do? with your shadows?" The Goblin King asked with a neutral look on his face.
"I normally would, Your Majesty, but there is an important matter that needs me to personally inform you of." The GrandMeister replied with a nervous look on his usually impassive face.
"Oh?" He put on a face of slight amusement.
"What is this important matter you wish to inform me personally of, Argas?" The Goblin King asked the now nervous-looking GrandMeister.
The GrandMeister shuddered a little before he looked up to his king.
Folloing the movement of his gaze, his voice came out in a nervous tone as he replied, "A Core Formation Realm Cultivator was detected in Alpha Sector, Your Majesty..."
"A Core Formation Realm Cultivator, you say? That isn't too big of a deal now, is it? We have at least a few dozen goblins within our kingdom that can handle such a cultivator, including yourself, so you could have just gone yourself or sent one of them." The Goblin King began with an indifferent explanation before his face turned not-so-amused as he asked, "So why have you really come to me, Argas? Or are you just here to waste my time?"
"!!!" GrandMeister Argas was practically sweating buckets after he took a look at the expression his king was making.
Nonetheless, he couldn't just stand there staring like an idiot, so he said, "I-It is a human, Your Majesty!" The GrandMeister barely managed to get out those few words with a composed face.
"A Human...?" The Goblin King mumbled.
He mulled over the subject for a split second before he said, "I see, so that is why you came to me."
The Goblin King once again regained his amused expression as he stared directly into Argas's eyes.
"Don't worry about the pact we made with the SunBurn and AquaRing Kingdoms, Argas."
"!?!?" The Goblin King said something that left the GrandMeister baffled.
But, regardless of his surprise, it didn't take long before Argas snapped out of his stupor.
"Ignore the Pact?? Your Majesty, are you sure about that?? Won't that have harmful repercussions for us?" He asked with a puzzled look on his green face.
"Mhmm it could, but if that Core Formation human cultivator really is from one of the 2 human kingdoms, then he broke the pact first by causing trouble in one of our territories," he replied in a serious tone before he continued, "So don't worry about attacking and killing that human cultivator. If he really ends up being from one of the 2 human kingdoms, then I will take care of the consequences, alright?"
The Goblin King's words sank into the ears of the still-kneeling GrandMeister Argas.
The GrandMeister understood now, but he still felt the need to ask one more question to his king just in case.
"What if it's a trap set by the 2 kingdoms, Your Majesty? It doesn't make sense that a Core Formation realm cultivator is this far out messing with one of our goblin scouts for no reason. I fail to understand the human cultivator's purpose."
"Your concern is understandable, Argas." The Goblin King thought over the matter for a second before he said, "I permit you to bring 3 Goblin Asuras along with you to exterminate the human bug in our territory."
"!!!" GrandMeister Argas was practically beaming when he heard what his king said.
After hearing such good news, he had no more qualms about going to kill the human Core Formation Cultivator!
Following such a feeling of elation, he shouted, "As Your Majesty Commands!"
The GrandMeister's shout was followed by a bow, and after bowing to the Goblin King with great respect in his eyes, he disappeared from his spot.
FWIP!
.......
When the Goblin King was left all alone in the throne room, his expression suddenly changed as he commanded, "Go, my Asuras, and don't bother coming back without satisfactory results, understood?"
The King spoke to the air with a slightly scary smile on his face.
"Yes, My King!" Three neutral voices responded from behind the Throne as they soon faded away in the direction the GrandMeister left in.
"A human, huh?" The Goblin King mused.
"How Interesting. I do wonder if this is a good or bad sign for my kingdom...?"
His mind flipped through different outcomes for a moment before he muttered, "Only time will tell."
******
Small info dump below. Sowwy...
For those confused about the aura scanner mentioned at the beginning of the chapter and the numbers involved, here it is.
The Aura scanner is essentially an Energy Level Scanner; it scans an aura and gets an appropriate number in return.
This type of scanner and subsequent stat and power level equivalents will be mentioned a few times throughout the novel, and I don't want anybody confused on the matter. (Especially when the system shows up.)
The scanners the goblins in this chapter used only scanned the energy level of Azmond, which led them to assume that he had already reached the Core Formation Realm.
Why do they think he is in the Core Formation Realm, you may ask?
This is because of a few reasons, but the main reason is that Azmond currently has 1000 Qi cyclones inside of his Dantian space right now, with each Qi cyclone being like large energy containers storing an insane amount of energy that Azmond can use.
So the number readings the goblins obtained from Azmond's aura read that he had the equivalent aura of a Core Formation Realm Cultivator instead of the Quantum Qi Condensation Cultivator that he actually was.
Power scaling reader metrics below
Metrics don't represent Combat Power; they represent energy storage readings. (They do, however, stand for power levels and stats later on, so keep that in mind.)
1-100 = Body Refinement Realm
101-1000 = Qi Condensation Realm
1001-10,000 = Foundation Building Realm
10,001-100,000 = Core Formation Realm
100,001-1,000,000 = Golden Core Formation Realm
1,000,001-10,000,000 = Nascent Soul Realm
So on and so forth. Azmond's energy storage was scaled at around 90,000, so he has the total energy of around a peak Core Formation Realm Cultivator.