The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak Chapter 1238: Knowing and Planning

"The disaster was devastating, claiming the majority of our knights. All six Fourth-Degree Ascension Knights were killed. Of the Third-Degree Knights, a mere twenty-five survived."

Souta stroked his chin thoughtfully as he processed the report. Throughout the entire kingdom, only twenty-five experts of the Sixth Shackle Realm remained. Every single Seventh Shackle Realm warrior had perished in the conflict, leaving the King as the lone survivor of the Eight Shackle Realm.

It was a promising beginning, nonetheless.

Even though the kingdom’s Seventh Shackle Realm forces were wiped out, the fact that the King lived was enough to provide immediate stability.

Looking toward Angus, Luella, and Tasman, a grim realization struck Souta. What would have been their fate if Saya had refused to back down?

They would almost certainly be corpses. Tasman would have been driven to trigger the final failsafe left by the ancients.

But would that desperate measure have even functioned?

Eons had passed. Any power that mechanism once possessed had likely eroded. Their primary defense had already been compromised by time, which was why Tasman had suffered such grievous wounds earlier. He had been powerless to stop the flood of dark apparitions screaming through the fracture in the Door.

Had that final contingency failed, the calamity would have surged past the Land of Fire Light into the neighboring territories. This region was too secluded; by the time the great powers realized the danger, the catastrophe would have evolved into an unstoppable force that could not be easily suppressed.

Consequently, Saya had not just bought time for him, but for the entire world.

’The grander scale...’ Souta thought to himself.

The data he had extracted from Saya’s memories was truly priceless. He had gained intricate knowledge regarding the calamity—information that would typically be impossible to find. Saya herself was prohibited from speaking of it, restrained by a curse that sealed those secrets away.

However, through her memories and the interference of the God-rank entity from the Vajra Clan, that forbidden lore was finally within his grasp.

Souta shut his eyes, meticulously scanning the experiences he had witnessed in Saya’s mind to ensure no detail was missed. During the actual event, his focus had been almost entirely on Saya herself.

The demons were the first to face the calamity. At that point, the Tainted Ones—specifically the high-tier entities of the enemy—had already breached the Door. This was the reason the demons were unable to halt the spread of the plague.

There was also the discovery of the Tainted Ones' vulnerabilities.

While the dark apparitions took many bizarre and varied forms, Souta identified a vital trend: whatever element an apparition was composed of, it was weak against that very same element. Darkness-aspected foes were susceptible to darkness; fire-aspected ones were harmed by fire. Their primary attribute was simultaneously their fatal flaw.

This epiphany was a game-changer.

An unidentified enemy is the greatest terror, but with this concrete data, he could devise a proper strategy.

Souta continued to sift through the memories.

After a while, he opened his eyes.

A realization dawned on him.

Since ascending to the fifth stage, his cognitive abilities had sharpened immensely. His memory was now vivid and precise, allowing him to recall even the most minute details from his past life.

The terrain.

The architecture.

The mountain ranges.

He had encountered them before.

’So that is the truth of it...’ Souta whispered internally.

He now knew the site of the ruined city of the Vajra Race. Although the passage of time had reshaped the land, he was certain of its location.

He recognized it from his days in the game. One of the top-three guilds had established a stronghold there. He never suspected that such a prestigious guild had unknowingly built their base on top of the Vajra Race's remains.

His path was now clear.

The hidden memories of Saya had turned into an incredible advantage.

’Saya... she was tainted by the miasma of the calamity. It manifested in various forms,’ Souta mused.

He turned his attention back to the others and saw the three of them watching him intently.

They had waited in silence, respecting his deep contemplation.

"What is our plan for expansion?" Tasman, the King of the Everlasting Kingdom, inquired at last.

Tasman was the sole individual capable of communicating with Souta. Neither Angus nor Luella understood any language Souta spoke. The King, however, had mastered a broken dialect after researching an ancient text discovered by his predecessor.

Angus and Luella were present primarily as observers. They would occasionally provide suggestions, which Tasman would then relay to Souta.

"The Land of Fire Light is quite expansive," Souta replied evenly. "First, we must fully utilize the local resources. There is plenty of room here to serve as our Foundation."

He paused for a moment before adding:

"Eventually, I will grant you access to the Dream Realm so you can witness its power firsthand. With luck, you might even awaken dream power yourselves."

If the resources of this territory proved insufficient, they would simply harvest more from the Dream Realm.

"The Dream Realm?!"

Tasman, Angus, and Luella all stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.

They knew the legends of the Dream Realm, but they had never met anyone capable of entering it at will. Usually, people only grazed the dreamscape during sleep—a mere surface layer of the actual Dream Realm.

As an Eight Shackle Realm expert, Tasman’s senses were far more acute than those of Angus or Luella. While sleeping, he could feel his spirit drifting toward the dreamscape, yet he had never been able to break through into the true Dream Realm.

Now, Souta was suggesting they could even obtain dream power.

The revelation was earth-shaking. Countless masters had sought dream power throughout history, yet nearly all had failed.

"Indeed. The Dream Realm," Souta reaffirmed. "I have my ways, though the outcome depends on your individual fortune."

Only a few Sovereign Seats existed within the Land of Vanko. Anyone seeking one would have to fight for it. Furthermore, Souta was unable to utilize other regions of the Nightmare Realm to connect with the Nightmare Mask.

Nevertheless, his douion had already reached Stage III.

That fact changed everything.

Feats that were once impossible were now within his reach. His long-held plan to expand into the Dream Realm was finally viable. Previously, he lacked the necessary Cultivation to act.

That was no longer the case.

He possessed the strength now, and his power would only continue to escalate.

Before moving into the Dream Realm, the kingdom would first take control of the waters surrounding the Land of Fire Light. Whether they were monsters, humans, or demis, it made no difference; Souta would not discriminate.

He intended to forge a legion capable of confronting the calamity itself.

The council lasted for another hour, focusing almost entirely on the rapid growth of the Everlasting Kingdom.

Finally, the session concluded.

...

Souta hovered high in the sky, looking down at the newly established Nature Zone City, the fresh capital of the Everlasting Kingdom.

"I require specialists," he whispered to himself. "Blacksmiths, Formation Masters, Alchemists, Rune Masters... they are all vital."

With a sigh, he pulled out the fragment of the Origin Seed. He recalled obtaining a similar item once before after finishing the mission to kill Paente Botano in Selnes Country.

He had never seen anything like it, and even the system provided no descriptions or details. That lack of information only made the seed more mysterious.

Paente Botano had utilized an artifact from the Isolated Formation God to turn into a bizarre tree-creature. There was an obvious link between that transformation and the Origin Seed, but Souta could not confirm it yet.

What was the actual purpose of this seed?

Previously, he had achieved douion by merging dream power with elemental power, assisted by a mythical fruit’s energy.

"I will try to pour my energy into it and link it to my consciousness," he muttered.

As he began, something reacted.

Suddenly, Souta detected a disturbance and glanced toward the horizon.

A small smile touched his lips.

"Found it."

...

Many miles away from the coast of the Land of Fire Light, deep beneath the waves, a small figure moved through the dark water.

It was one of Souta’s clones.

He had sent it out a week ago to explore the areas outside the Land of Fire Light. Only now had the clone stumbled upon what appeared to be a colony of sea monsters and oceanic tribes.