I'm not a goblin Frankenstein's monster.

effect:

Echoes of Battle: When carried, the holder's resistance to mental effects such as "fear" and "intimidation" is slightly increased (the actual effect is positively correlated with the holder's level of willpower).

Bloodrage: Slightly increases physical damage dealt when attacking beast-type monsters.

Xia Lin's heart stirred slightly, recalling what Woody had just mentioned about special growth-oriented equipment.

"This kid's not bad," Woody said, unusually seriously.

Fear is instinct, but courage is the hymn of humanity.

Sometimes, a fearless heart is more valuable than brute force.

When Xia Lin recalled the scene of the other person dragging his crippled body in front of the jackal to protect the others in the carriage, a sense of respect rose in his heart.

He looked at Jimmy and said seriously, "Jimmy, you are one of the bravest adventurers I have ever met."

It is my honor to complete this escort mission with you.

Jimmy paused for a moment, then lowered his head, his ears turning red.

He was silent for a few seconds before giving a soft but firm "Mmm," and when he looked up again, his eyes held a different kind of light: "...Thank you."

Finally, there was Guts, the tall, black-clad swordsman, who remained quietly leaning against the shadow of the carriage, like a silent iron statue.

"I'm leaving, Gus."

Gus grunted an "uh" from his throat.

Xia Lin turned around and took a few steps.

"etc."

He turned around, and Gus took a small cloth bag from his waist and tossed it to him.

Xia Lin caught it; it felt heavy in his hand. When he opened it, he found five dark red canine teeth with sharp edges, gleaming with a metallic sheen in the sunlight.

"The gnoll chieftain's teeth," Guts said succinctly, "can come in handy when making armor and weapons."

Xia Lin gripped the cloth bag tightly and said sincerely, "Thank you, Gus."

It seems that this taciturn teammate is just not good at saying nice things, but he understands things better than anyone else and is more reliable than anyone else.

The wheels turned again, and the caravan leader, Kejin, waved from the carriage. Eileen looked back, and the carriage where Jimmy lay gradually disappeared into the distance.

Gus's tall, black figure walked at the head of the convoy, eventually becoming a blurry black dot on the horizon, completely merging into the distant skyline.

Xia Lin stood on the dirt road at the entrance of the village, weighing his now much fuller baggage, which contained gold coins, the sharp teeth of the jackal chieftain, and a broken spear that carried the will of a warrior.

Woody on his shoulder yawned: "Have you seen enough? Hurry up, the goblin lair is waiting for your visit. Goblins don't clean themselves up."

Xia Lin smiled, glanced one last time in the direction the caravan had disappeared before turning around and walking in the direction indicated by the mission.

But her steps were much lighter now.

The sun is shining brightly, and the road ahead is long.

......

Oak Village.

The village is known for its sturdy and durable oak barrels and oak furniture, and its people were relatively well-off compared to the surrounding villages that were busy farming.

But right now, the village is in chaos, with screams and cries replacing the usual sounds of sawing wood and hammering.

Several small, green-skinned animals were waving nailed wooden sticks, howling as they chased and attacked villagers who were armed with pitchforks and machetes.

A girl was grabbed by the hair and was about to be dragged into the bushes by the roadside.

"puff!"

A figure leaped out from behind the low wall at the village entrance, his longsword flashing a few simple, cold streaks in the sunlight, and two goblins clutched their throats and collapsed to the ground.

The remaining one, seeing that things were not going well, squealed and fled towards the woods, but before it could run a few steps, Xia Lin caught up with it and stabbed it in the back.

"It's alright!" Xia Lin said to the stunned villagers. "I'm an adventurer who accepted a goblin clearing quest."

The villagers then came to their senses and gathered around to express their gratitude.

Soon, after comforting the injured villagers, an elderly man with a white beard walked over, supported by a young man. He was the village chief of Oak Village.

"Thank you, adventurer!" the village chief said repeatedly.

"These green-skinned monsters suddenly appeared a few days ago, causing chaos in the village and surrounding areas! Now they're getting bolder and bolder; I never expected them to dare to storm into the village in broad daylight..."

"Where are their nests?" Xia Lin asked.

"It's in that low-lying woodland west of the village," the village chief said, pointing to the dense forest to the west, his face showing even greater worry.

"Before... two other adventurers like you took on the same mission and went in, but they haven't returned yet. I'm afraid... they're probably in grave danger."

"What kind of adventurer?"

"A short-tempered dwarf and a very talkative gnome," the village chief recalled.

Xia Lin's eye twitched.

This description... why does it sound so familiar?

Following the direction pointed out by the village chief, Xia Lin silently slipped into the low-lying woodland.

The trees here grew exceptionally dense, the light was dim, the air was damp, and there was a stench of decaying leaves and...something suspicious food mixed together.

"There's movement to the left front," Woody warned.

Xia Lin nodded, tiptoed, and crept over using the bushes and tree trunks as cover.

Soon, a series of sharp, chattering noises and the clanging of iron pots came from the middle, along with what seemed to be a familiar complaint.

He parted a clump of ferns and peered through the gap.

In a small clearing in the woods, five or six goblins were busy around a large iron pot placed over a campfire, some adding firewood and others stirring the soup.

Inside the pot were two unfortunate souls, bound like rice dumplings, with only their heads sticking out of the murky broth.

It was Charlin's "former colleagues," the dwarf Gondor and the gnome Tyr.

"I shouldn't have listened to you!" The dwarf Tyr's face was flushed red from the heat, but his voice didn't soften at all.

"It would be so much better to just keep catching moles in the village! The income is stable, and the risk is zero!"

Why did you have to go to the Adventurers' Guild to accept the goblin clearing quest?!

Now look what happened! The goblins didn't help clean up the village at all, and the two of us have become their lunch!

"I just wanted to challenge myself!"

The dwarf Gondor, his neck stiff and his beard smeared with unknown vegetable leaves, was still stubbornly refusing to admit his mistake.

"Besides, didn't we take down a few goblins with Xia Lin last time? Who knew there would be twice as many this time!"

"How can that be the same? Last time it was just a few goblins! Charlin was there! Ouch!" Tyr tried to struggle, but the ropes binding him even tighter dug into his flesh.

The dwarf continued to shift the blame: "The Adventurers' Guild's intelligence is definitely flawed! They said there would be two or three, but there are five or six now!"

I'm definitely going to complain about them when I get back! Terrible! Absolutely terrible!

"Commendable courage, but lacking in combat strength," Woody commented from Xia Lin's shoulder.

"Daring to storm a goblin camp single-handedly, and then getting captured alive and cooked into soup, that's quite an unusual feat. Xia Lin, is this your friend?"

Xia Lin sighed, "It's irrelevant..."

We need to find a way to get close to these goblins who are "picnicking" so that we can safely rescue the two of them.

He looked around and saw several tattered robes lying on the ground nearby, probably stolen by the goblin from some unfortunate merchant.

Xia Lin put on a long robe and changed into a new skin, took a deep breath, walked out of his hiding place, and went straight to the big pot.

A goblin wearing a tattered tin bucket chef's hat and a dirty apron was the first to spot him, seemingly the "head chef" of the group.

The short head chef tilted his head, his beady eyes sizing up the suddenly appearing "green-skinned" giant, and asked in a shrill voice, "(#&～*！#%？*& Goblin language) You? New here? How come... you're so tall?"

With the Goblin Language Pack equipped, Sharin can understand simple goblin language.

Xia Lin tried his best to imitate the "locals'" mumbled accent to make his pronunciation more accurate: "(&~*#％？＊＊！) Boss, I'm a newbie, only eight years old, and I'm well-developed."

Xia Lin made up an excuse, wondering if there were any special cases of athletes developing quickly in the goblin tribe.

"Eight years old!?"