Chapter 23: The Magical Artifact
After Arthur waited for nearly two hours for the suffocating smoke to clear from the cave, he ordered his followers to craft some torches and enter. Naturally, he dismounted his horse and accompanied them—he wasn't about to let any potential loot slip through his fingers. Due to their cunning, goblins loved shiny and beautiful things, so they often gathered treasures and stored them in their nests.
Along the way, they came across many goblins dead from asphyxiation. Without hesitation, Leopold and a few of the recruits pulled out their magical cores and dragged the bodies outside to burn them.
But Arthur didn't find anything truly interesting—just corpses. And then, rooms filled with ugly green infants. Arthur was genuinely shocked by the number of goblin children. He realized that their numbers would have doubled in just a few months, as goblins only needed three months to reach maturity.
'Nothing of value,' Arthur sighed in disappointment and decided to leave. After all, his loot from the goblin magic cores was already substantial. But considering the goblins' low rank, he wasn't particularly interested in their cores—they weren't very useful, as the goblins hadn't awakened their bloodlines yet.
Although most beasts couldn't actually use magic, they still possessed magic cores—also known as bloodline cores. Just like humans carried genes that held the inherited information of their ancestors, a magical core was the heart that contained all the secret knowledge of a beast's lineage. It determined their potential for future growth. No beast could reach Level E without awakening its bloodline.
In fact, the type of awakening determined their future potential and accomplishments. For instance:
Partial Awakening meant low potential.
Initial Awakening meant average potential.
Advanced Awakening meant high potential.
Semi-Complete Awakening meant extraordinary potential, with the possibility of reaching Level S.
Complete Awakening was a legendary feat, only spoken of in myths.