After crossing the ancient looking tree, Ben and his subordinates noticed three pathways.

The pathways weren't too clear but still barely noticeable. 

Seeing the pathways, Bob pointed towards one of the paths that went straight ahead.

"If we go from there then we will reach the south area. There aren't any marks left behind by any group yet, we can only move ahead and find out which group stays near this area."

Hearing his words, without any hesitation Ben moved towards the area pointed out by Bob.

Bob and Job simply followed behind him.

 

These two were a bit afraid of the dangers inside, after all they had realised that their Boss cannot really save them if they were ever in deep trouble.

If they were ever unlucky, and met with some kind of danger then they could really DIE, just like Pop.

Thinking of their past experiences repeatedly, they couldn't help but feel that they were very lucky.

They can't just throw away their lives because of arrogance, they can't act like how they were acting before right after gaining a powerful backer.

Life is precious they have to be more careful in their behaviour, and act properly in the future.

Otherwise they would meet the same fate as Pop.

Pop and Job had already realised this over the past few days travelling with Ben.

Now they just quietly wanted to follow behind Ben and grow powerful themselves before trying to act a bit arrogant among others.

….

 

Some patches of Jasper grasses grew along the wide road, filled with long trees, and swamps everywhere.

Ben, and his group walked along this path. They had already entered the south area of the Jasper forest.

Now, they were simply walking aimlessly searching for a clear Pond among these dirty swaps.

They were hungry, thristy and wanted to rest for a while. Bob and Job were just waiting for Ben's orders.

In the first place they had been travelling towards South due to Ben.

Now that they have already crossed the entrance to the south, these two subordinates were wondering what their Boss was planning to do.

 

As for Ben, he was simply looking for a clean pond to drink water and rest for a while.

It seemed like his previous memory retrieving experience had still not completely gone yet.

His head still hurt and he felt weak all over.

Ben wanted to take a breather, and also to collect some information through the beasts living here.

"You two, we will stay hidden for a while. For now, we will collect some information from the beasts living here."

"Yes boss, we understand. We won't create any trouble for you." Said Job with a flash of understanding in her eyes.

'It seems like my boss is searching for information. It is a hint from him. As his subordinates we have to go and collect information regarding the overall structure of this area, and present them to him. This is our work now.'

Although Job thought that, she also realised that she and Bob cannot collect information from other wild beasts. Unlike Ben they don't have the ability to speak and understand any other languages of the world.

'We have to search for the other goblins living here. We might be able to understand their words properly.'

Thinking till here, Job signalled towards Bob with her head, and started moving deep inside the forest.

Bob saw her signal and silently nodded before following behind her.

"We will go and collect information for you Boss."

"Eh? Ok try to stay away from troubles though….and also try to kill some weaker beasts on the way. No need to bring them here to me. Just kill them."

'huh? What? Just kill them? So Do we just leave the body there?....Does Boss have something against those weaker beasts?'

Even though Bob didn't understand his Boss's intention, he still respectfully replied.

"Alright boss"

After saying this, he closely followed behind Job, afraid of her figure disappearing in this dangerous forest.

….

 

After around thirty minutes of walking, they still haven't found any traces of goblins nearby.

The two even searched for any hidden caves but found only some jackals or snakes living inside them.

This time they had been careful in their actions and didn't alert anyone while searching for a goblin tribe.

Being out of options they could only confront an adult jackal using their hunting skills, and a little bit of Job's unique skill albeit with some difficulties.

Being forced into a corner, the lone jackal could only fight out of desperation.

 

After fighting for some time, the jackal sensed that the two goblins were quite threatening to him so he tried negotiating.

The Jackal tried negotiating because the goblins didn't look bloodthirsty or hungry.

The wild beasts living in this world had a certain amount of intelligence. Sometimes they could simply converse to get out of trouble. Negotiating only works if the beasts aren't fighting out of hunger or for survival.

If it is just some territorial dispute, or for some minor reasons like attitude, dominance etc etc.

These kinds of fights could be avoidable if the beasts in the fight had a certain amount of intelligence, otherwise it would be difficult to avoid it if a fight broke out.

 

It was quite of a hassle to converse since their languages were different. Still living in a forest filled with different groups of wild beasts, they had formed a basic skill of being able to roughly understand what a different species of beast was implying through his/her words.

 

Using this basic skill, Bob and Job asked for directions regarding the goblins. They wanted to know the area where goblins could be found.

 

The Jackal being a native of this area pointed in a certain direction towards the left.

 

After getting the direction from the Jackal, the two goblins didn't waste anymore time and quickly killed it.

Why did they kill, you ask?

Simple, it was because their Boss had ordered them to kill any weaker beasts if ever found, and if they had the ability.

After killing the Jackal, they felt some kind of heat forming inside their body. Being ignorant of Urja absorption ability, the two goblins simply ignored the heat and moved towards the direction pointed by that dead Jackal.

….

 

In the direction pointed by the Jackal, deep inside the area.

A group of goblins were currently recklessly battling with a group of Jackals. It seems like they were having a territorial dispute.

On the side of the Goblins, there was a bigger, adult human sized goblin standing as their leader. Similarly, a Jackal with a 10 cm long horn was among the jackals. 

The Jackal with the unique horn was currently engaged in a battle with the humanoid Goblin.

The other weaker members were also battling with their counterparts.

 

Nobody knew why they were fighting except for them. It was maybe because of territory trespassing or for showing dominance.

 

The other beasts spectating from the nearby bushes didn't dare to come closer, otherwise they might anger any of these two tribes fighting there.

Goblins and Jackals were the two of the four strongest beasts tribes living in the South area of this Jasper forest. It was natural that the weaker beast group wouldn't dare to find trouble with them.

 

The humanoid Goblin had an average male body albeit with some tight muscles here and there. He had a large spear as a weapon.

The one horned Jackal although had an average build of a Jackal, was still able to contend against the might of a Hobgoblin.

The Jackal was a mutated Jackal as was evidenced by the fact that it was the only jackal with a horn among the dozens of Jackals around them.

The Hobgoblin was having a hard time as his opponent had the racial trait of Physical enhancement.

Jackals had their unique racial magical trait of being able to slightly enhance their physical properties. This mutated Jackal's horn had the unique property of being able to gather and store Mana inside, and then use it to enhance its physical capabilities.

 

With this advantage, plus using his own racial trait to enhance his strength made his physical properties increase by a certain amount. His body also increased in height and width, reaching the size of an adolescent lion.

As expected, the mutated jackal was basically dominating the Hobgoblin.

 

Seeing that their leader was at a disadvantage, the other goblins didn't know what to do, should they retreat or keep fighting?

The moment this thought crossed their minds, everyone noticed that a beast had suddenly come out from some bushes.

 

The sudden appearance of the beast had attracted the attention of most beasts that were battling, and even other wild beasts hiding in the bushes were a bit shocked.

Who is this unique looking being?

This question appeared inside everyone's head.

The beast had a skin colour of yellow, with a majestic but scary looking face, and some whiskers by the sides of his mouth.

The beast was naturally Ben. After resting for some time he became a bit worried about the two goblins.

He was afraid of his subordinates attracting trouble, and dying at the hands of some powerful beasts.

At the end of the day, they were still his own subordinates. He should at least be worried about their safety.

The slightly worried Ben asked for their location through the system, and followed them from behind till he reached here, and saw this big group battle going on.

The system could locate his subordinates' whereabouts as their bodies had gone through some kind of modifications done by the system. It may have done something to them.

 

After finding them, Ben saw that Bob and Job were in a hidden position, silently observing this ongoing battle.

Seeing this, he inwardly sighed. He was a bit relieved that they were fine. He didn't have to become subordinateless so soon.

Seeing that nothing had yet happened to them, he leisurely turned his head to observe the battlefield.

After five or so minutes of observing Ben didn't find it bearable to simply observe anymore and impatiently moved ahead, appearing before a large number of beasts.

Some visible while some hidden.

 

Ben wasn't afraid of anyone here as he had already checked the stats of all the different beasts present.

Except the Jackal with the horn, and the humanoid goblin, everyone else was significantly weaker than those adventurers that he had previously fought and killed.

Even the two group leaders were barely at the level of those three adventurers from before.

Maybe the one horned Jackal could match their strength but the Hobgoblin's strength was clearly weaker.

 

Sensing no danger Ben made his appearance before the group.

He wanted to find some information regarding this forest and the world he was currently in.

At least for now he had no time to observe a battle going on amongst weaklings.