Chapter 226: Stress Relief Toy

As a mage, what is the most efficient way to completely clear out a goblin cave?

To some extent, this is not a question worth discussing.

After all, even the lowest-level magic apprentice still possesses the status of a spellcaster.

The cantrips they master, including "Blade Ward," "Friends," and "Mending," are enough for these mage apprentices to become welcome adventurer teammates in most areas of this continent, second only to priest-type professions.

Teams that can have fixed spellcaster members basically no longer rely on hunting bottom-level monsters like goblins for a living.

High supply expenses mean that if a goblin lair is taken as the final goal of a mission, one might even lose a dozen gold coins after a trip.

Therefore, unless there are special circumstances, those professional mages with complete spell lists have no interest or time to spend time and energy clearing out goblin communities like those low-level adventurers.

At most, they casually throw a Fireball inside, or stuff a Stinking Cloud that spews corrosive poison, and there won't be any living creatures left in the cave.

And this, for Weirouer, is also not a problem.

Perhaps because of her own goals, she cannot crudely turn the goblins into ashes or pus like the above-mentioned methods.

But as a transcendental-level academy-style spellcaster, the complete spell list engraved in her soul memory from a long academic career.

Allows her, even if she can only cast 1st and 2nd-ring spells in a normal state, to still possess countless ways to turn these dirty, small, and ugly monsters into cold corpses while maintaining the state of the venue as much as possible.

Hum—

An extremely condensed point of light, like a meteor falling in the night sky.

Wrapped in the sharp whistling sound of energy fluctuations bursting in the air, it nimbly passed through the cramped and narrow tunnel at a speed far beyond what ordinary creatures could react to, penetrating into the core area where the goblins lived.

Rising, hovering at the cave dome, pausing.

"Screech?"

The inexplicable light intruding into the lair gave these stupid green-skins a fright, but under instinct, they stretched their necks and raised their heads, their thin, firewood-like legs jumping constantly, waving their ridiculous wooden clubs, trying to knock down the light point above their heads.

And in the next second.

That tiny light cluster, the size of a fingernail and condensed to the extreme, suddenly contracted and expanded.

Hum-boom—

Like the arrival of daylight, the blinding, dazzling light filled the entire cave in an instant.

—1st-ring Evocation School 【Kubo's Enhanced Dancing Lights】

Like an upgraded version of a flashbang, the dazzling light bursting in the dark lair instantly blinded those fragile monsters staring at the light point, who fell into a stunned and rigid state while wailing and screaming.

And at the same time, light and steady footsteps came leisurely from the tunnel at the entrance on the side.

With every step forward, a tiny ochre-red magic missile whistled out from the tunnel.

—1st-ring Evocation School 【Arcane Swarm】

A variant spell of the 1st-ring 【Magic Missile】.

While retaining the special nature of its force damage, it trades the power of a single missile for the number of missiles that can be released.

It is an improved and optimized version specifically for bottom-level monsters like goblins that have fragile bodies and large numbers.

And the characteristic of this type of spell that most troubles spellcasters, the extreme requirement for the precision of mental control, is equivalent to nothing for Weirouer.

Step by step.

The moment she walked out of the tunnel and her leather boots truly landed on the floor of the lair.

On the field, there were no living creatures left.

Only broken corpses with their skulls smashed or holes hollowed out in their chests remained.

Her amber eyes turned slightly, her gaze sweeping across the field.

No longer moving forward.

The grayish-white staff in her hand drew a subtle arc in the air, and the dark green black opal at the top flickered with a faint light.

The original requirements for sound and posture were skipped, and the radiance of the 1st-ring Divination School ritual spell 【Detect Magic】 enveloped the entire cave in an instant.

"Hmm?"

Feeling the emptiness in her intent, Weirouer couldn't help but frown.

"Not here? That shouldn't be..."

The reason for entering the Mist Forest, and the goblin lair she was currently in, was one of her goals.

A magic ring enchanted with an unknown protection-type spell and of decent quality was hidden here.

She had no great interest in the special effects of the ring itself; if it were just for self-defense, as a spellcaster, she had more choices and could flexibly change according to different actual situations.

What truly gave Weirouer the idea was the source of the ring.

—A high-level arcanist from the Xingzhihai who possessed a mage tower.

This ring was said to have been passed down from the other party's ancestors and only flowed here due to family changes.

Relying on this ring, she should be able to establish a relationship with the other party and use the favor as a reason to utilize their family channels to invite a certain professor from the Xingzhihai Enchantment Academy to enchant her staff.

This could save Weirouer a lot of gold coins.

Under normal circumstances, with her current strength level and status, it would be very difficult for her to invite an enchantment master of this level.

And the reason why she was so clear about the source of the ring and its possible uses after obtaining it.

Was because in her memory, a certain colleague she worked with in the mage tower in the future was the owner of this ring.

And the other party was precisely because of this relationship with that arcanist from the Xingzhihai that they received a recommendation, and with not-so-outstanding arcane attainments, obtained the opportunity to work with her and struggle in the mentor's laboratory.

In a casual chat after an experiment, the other party had once told the origin of the ring completely and clearly, including the time they obtained it and the specific location where the ring was hidden at that time.

But...

Estimating her current positioning in her heart, Weirouer was sure she hadn't found the wrong place.

And besides this cave, there were no other goblin lairs nearby.

As for whether it was possible that someone else had arrived first...

She clearly remembered that her colleague would only pass through River Valley Town as a mage apprentice two whole years later, and would stay in the town briefly to save up for material costs, joining an adventurer team to take on missions.

The enchantment ring was precisely what they obtained during the mission.

And according to what the other party said, the ring came from an adult bugbear.

But right now, let alone a bugbear, the goblins in the lair were only two or three, less than ten in total, obviously having just formed a community not long ago.

"Could it be that I came too early, causing the ring to not yet have fallen into the hands of the goblins?"

Weirouer speculated in her heart.

She checked twice more, confirming no discovery, before turning and walking toward the exit.

Magical radiance flashed, and fire burst from her fingertips.

Wisps of flame spread rapidly along her feet, swallowing and burning the entire cave, along with the corpses inside, at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Weirouer stood at the cave exit, behind her was the pungent thick smoke of surging heat waves. ===== CHAPTER 227 =====