Chapter 872: Vestige

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

“This is weird!”

Fang Yuan’s eyes gleamed when he saw this.

“Using stone bricks to build houses is not something usually seen in Ettoman and the Opher Continent. Furthermore, these stone houses are a bit too small…”

Blackbeard chuckled. “Unless the owners of these houses were small! I have rough guess already…”

“Hmm… I think I know too. This place should be the remnants of some ancient civilization that the aboriginal tribe found. As for which civilization…” Fang Yuan rubbed his chin. “They are short and tiny, but also very creative. The ancestors of dwarfs…?

“If we assume that’s true, it means that the reason why the Soro Pirates chose this place to hide their treasure could be that they got everything, including Sun, from here,” Fang Yuan thought out loud.

“Dwarfs live in caves, especially those with rich minerals inside, so they definitely didn’t live here. Furthermore, the windows and doors are too small for fat dwarfs. Thus, I think it should be goblins!” Blackbeard said confidently.

“Goblins?! Those skinny, dirty, and stupid green-colored dwarfs?” Bill said in disbelief before Fang Yuan even started talking.

The decades of the Great Geographical Discovery was the start of the great discovery of races.

At least for those knowledgeable and experienced pirates, they were already well aware of the fact that the human race was not the only race in the world. Many other races, such as elves and dwarfs, existed.

All races had their own skills and talents. For example, elves were pretty and agile, and dwarfs were stout and strong.

However, that was not the case with goblins. The first impression of goblins to all pirates was the same⁠—they were just like trash.

They were short and skinny, stupid and inferior. They did not even have a proper language system. Furthermore, they were always very dirty and smelly.

An ordinary dwarf or a human could easily beat ten of them.

According to one pirate, goblins were a completely useless species—even the meat of their bodies was useless. Their bodies were not only rotten and smelly but also poisonous.

If not for their strong reproductive ability and extremely short life cycle, they could have gone extinct a long time ago.

“Right! It’s goblins!

“Don’t always equate those green-skinned creatures with foolishness. In fact, they once had a glorious civilization. You wouldn’t be able to even imagine how great their ancestors’ ingenuity and craftsmanship were. It’s said that their research on energy had already reached the deepest essence of materials, and they were able to find god-like energy in the smallest particles. The Goblin Empire during that time was undoubtedly the greatest in the world. For example, the research on steam that Ettoman is currently conducting was one of the most basic ideas that it discovered in some goblin vestige…” Blackbeard said, revealing a secret.

“But how did such a glorious race end up like where they are now?” Fang Yuan asked what everyone was curious about.

“It’s because of wisdom… they rose because of wisdom but also fell because of wisdom…” Blackbeard sighed. “I once found an epic that had an obscure description of this. I hypothesized that it was the god that the goblins believed in who took away their wisdom!”

“Hmm?” Fang Yuan was even more curious. “How stupid could that god be that they would take away the wisdom of their own followers?”

Faith came from wisdom. Once lost, the faith of an ordinary person would not be much different from that of livestock.

“Emm… how would I know? Maybe the god they believed in was a very reckless Evil God…

“After all, their god’s name was ‘the King of Insanity’. Of course, he was heavily wounded immediately after that incident. Ever since, no one has heard of him. It’s said that he’s already dead,” Blackbeard said. “I think this should be one of the goblin branches.”

“Those sagacious ancestors who had built such a great empire would be so disappointed if they saw what their descendants have become… Prepare to attack!” said Fang Yuan.

Their enemy was over a thousand from a tribe. However, these pirates were not worried at all.

On Fang Yuan’s command, numerous pirates roared and dashed out from the forest.

Bloop!

A leader in the tribe who had three wooden arrows in his mouth immediately stood up, waved the huge banana leaf in his hands, and ordered the aboriginals to counter-attack.

Bang! Bang!

The pirates smirked from a hundred meters away and raised their muskets.

Lead bullets and white smoke poured out from their muskets. Blood spurted everywhere.

A line of aboriginals fell. Wielding their cutlasses and steel hooks, the pirates roared and sped into the tribe.

The pirates instantly killed the aboriginals who were daring enough to repel their attacks and then quickly started to collect the treasures left behind.

They found huge gold nuggets and all sorts of pearls and moved them to a small courtyard in the vestige. After a short while, the items collected had already cumulated into a small mountain.

“There’s an abnormally large amount of treasures here. If there isn’t a gold mine nearby, then the aboriginals might have dug out the pirates’ treasures.”

Fang Yuan walked to the center of the vestige with Blackbeard.

Suddenly, a river of blood condensed in front of a stone house.

The mutter of a deep, low, and mysterious invocation echoed from the stone house.

Hiss hiss!

Chi! Chi!

Caw caw!

…

Under the invocation, a horde of strange-looking poisonous worms crawled out from the blood river.

There were poison dart frogs as big as millstones, spiders with eyes as big as human fists, and huge pythons as thick as buckets.

“Sorcerer?”

Fang Yuan was suddenly interested. He now knew where the tribe’s witch doctor was.

“I will turn anyone who can beat our opponents into an Extraordinary!”

Without saying much, Fang Yuan threw out a few detoxification bottles after promising the reward. Some pirates immediately charged at their opponents.

As a great pirate, he did not need to do everything personally.

Fang Yuan sat down on a rock and waited patiently.

After a short while, only a few pirates had died. The rest brought back an old aboriginal man and proudly announced that they had caught the witch doctor.

“Nice! Imprison their leaders separately, then interrogate them and find the information I need.” Fang Yuan stood up. Actually, he was more interested in this vestige than these aboriginals.

Before long, Bill ran back with a happy expression while Fang Yuan was examining the unique patterns on a stone. “We’ve found something! Although this tribe didn’t see Soro, they found gold nuggets, coins, and even gems in a river. However, the tribe thought they were just decorations because they didn’t know how to use them!”

“Tell them to take us to that river. If they don’t comply, kill them immediately.”

Fang Yuan waved his hand, feeling even more confused.

This place was just a lone island where few would visit. The landscape should not have changed too much since ancient times.

So why did the Goblin Empire build this place without caring about the costs incurred at all? Fang Yuan wondered.

Although those buildings are refined, they seem to be just housing for workers. Is the truth still hidden somewhere on Evil Demon Island?

With these questions in mind, Fang Yuan and a bunch of other pirates followed the prisoners to a river.

The water appeared to be slightly golden under the sunlight.

“Boss!”

Bill went into the water suddenly and returned with a gold coin in his hand.

“This is a gold coin from Cecil! The image printed on it is King Sukakin III of Cecil!”

Fang Yuan nodded. “Follow along the river!”

“Woo, Woo!” the pirates shouted excitedly.

They walked along the river and reached the source—a dark cave.

A large amount of water flushed out from the cave. The gold nuggets, gold coins, and gems made the water appear golden.

“Let’s go!”

Fang Yuan examined the cave, feeling a little bit confused again. The cave had a smooth oval shape, which was definitely unnatural.

At this time, there were a number of Ocean Warlocks under his command.

A few loyal and capable pirates followed him into the cave.

The ground under the flowing water turned solid as soon as they entered.

“Boss, something isn’t right…” Bill’s voice was tense. He lit a torch as they went deeper into the cave.

The walls surrounding them became smoother and smoother and had a metallic color. There were obvious signs of artificial activity.

“From how long we’ve walked, we should be in the center of the mountain now. It seems that both mountains on Evil Demon Island were made into some factories. They probably built their factories here because this place is well-hidden and… perhaps because of the thermal energy in the ground?”

Geothermal energy was very beneficial and convenient for the extraction of metals.

If this mountain was a factory, then where they had entered from was undoubtedly the opening for sewage.

The cave became more and more spacious as they walked in deeper.

They gradually walked away from the water and reached dry ground.

Crisp sounds echoed in the cave as their boots hit the hard ground.

Tick! Tick!

A dazzling red light suddenly appeared.

Crack! Crack!

The sounds of wheels echoed.

With the sound of heavy footsteps, a dozen tall figures slowly emerged from the darkness.

The torch’s light shined onto their bodies and was reflected back. With rays of metallic light shining, several metal statues appeared.

Their shapes were very strange, and there were all kinds of beasts. The three largest statues had a sharp nose and long limbs, looking exactly like giant goblins!

“They’re the metal guards of an ancient goblin!” Blackbeard smiled. “Congratulations Roche, you’ve found the vestige of an ancient goblin research institute!”

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