Chapter 13
Meanwhile, the Goblin High Priest returned to the cavern stronghold with the battered remnants of his force.
Warriors from the other tribes saw the state he was in and rushed home to spread the news. By the time he prepared to meet the High Chieftain, several tribal leaders had already arrived, eager to watch the fallout.
None of them liked him.
He was young, short on seniority, and had risen to High Priest anyway. Worse, he wasn't a full-blooded Goblin. His mixed blood was the chief reason so many of his race looked down on him.
The one thing no one could deny was his talent.
He had reached Tier 9 Veteran at a remarkably young age, matching the Archpriest's strength in his prime. The High Chieftain openly regarded him as the leading candidate to become the next Archpriest.
This was the first real defeat of his life.
Every Goblin present expected to watch him be humiliated. Most were waiting for the High Chieftain's rage to shake the whole stronghold.
Yet after the High Priest entered the command pavilion alone and delivered his report, no outburst came.
A short while later, the hulking High Chieftain emerged with the wounded priest at his side.
His gaze raked across the assembled chieftains and tribal representatives.
"From this moment forward, no Goblin is to approach the Blighted Forest without my direct command."
Shock rippled through the crowd.
One chieftain stepped forward at once.
"High Chieftain, our people will demand an explanation. We need something to tell them."
The High Chieftain fixed him with a murderous stare.
"There is no explanation. Anyone who disobeys will be executed."
No one asked another question.
They knew his patience had run out.
Instead, their attention swung to the High Priest. His aura was still unstable, and the looks aimed at him carried suspicion, contempt, and open ridicule.
He must have pinned his failure on someone else.
But with the High Chieftain standing right there, none dared say it aloud. They could only file out with sour expressions and obey.
Lilith would never have guessed that the High Priest's caution had spared her from immediate retaliation.
In his mind, she was no ordinary human.
Her talent was extraordinary. More importantly, she was human—and this was the Stormcrown Empire Region, territory ruled by humanity.
The conclusion all but wrote itself.
Lilith had to be a hidden protégé, raised in secret by one of the region's great powers.
Perhaps he was wrong.
But could the Goblins afford to gamble their entire race on that chance?
Goblinkind had survived for generations by knowing which losses to swallow. Losing one tribe was far better than provoking a war that might destroy them all.
Of course, the High Priest had never seen Lilith's Territory. He couldn't have imagined that a newly descended Lord had already developed to such an absurd degree.
Had he seen it with his own eyes, he might have reached a very different conclusion.
The Goblins had decided to leave Lilith alone.
Lilith had no intention of returning the favor.
She wanted to grow stronger as fast as possible, and the Goblins near her Territory remained a threat she couldn't afford to ignore.
Back inside her Territory, Lilith had just completed another Barracks upgrade.
The last Mana Crystals vanished from the Warehouse. White light swept across the structure, and the upgrade finished in an instant.
Nothing changed.
The Barracks looked exactly the same. No new ornament appeared; nothing marked it as a max-level Structure.
Half of Lilith's excitement died on the spot.
"Don't tell me a maxed-out Barracks gives me nothing."
She frowned as a bad feeling crept over her.
"I finally bet everything on you, and this is what I get? That's cold."
Still unwilling to give up, Lilith opened the System interface.
The first thing she saw was not Lv.9.
It was Lv.1.
"Wait. What the hell happened?"
[Congratulations! Your Barracks Crystal has completed its first Ultimate Advancement.]
[The Barracks will now undergo its first Specialization.]
[Barracks Specialization: The Barracks will specialize according to the order in which its Undead races were unlocked. Once specialization is complete, an independent auxiliary Barracks will be created for the selected race, granting all units of that race the Habitat trait.]
[The Rank of the main Barracks will be reset.]
[Note: The reset counts as a standard Barracks upgrade. You will still unlock a new Unit and an additional trait.]
Lilith stared at the notifications.
"Barracks Specialization?"
Her brows drew together.
"What exactly does that mean?"
This was the first System explanation she'd ever encountered that left her genuinely lost.
"I'll probably have to inspect the auxiliary Barracks to make sense of it."
She looked around the chamber.
No new Structure had appeared.
Certainly nothing resembling a second Barracks.
"Then the option must still be inside the original one."
Lilith reopened its panel.
[Barracks Crystal: Undead Faction]
[Rank: Lv.1]
[Unlocked Units: Skeleton, Specter, Zombie, Vampire, Ghoul, Crypt Spider, Gargoyle]
[Description: Summons 20 unlocked Undead Faction creatures daily. Grants a very small chance to summon a single locked Unit from the broader faction pool, including but not limited to Bone Dragons, Liches, Spectral Dragons, and other advanced undead. Initial rank of standard Units: Tier 3 Recruit.]
[Advanced Unit Description: Summons 10 advanced Units daily. Cannot be summoned concurrently with standard Units. Initial rank: Tier 6 Recruit.]
[Upgrade Requirement: 1 Essence Core]
"So the Barracks really was reset..."
Lilith read every line with care, afraid of missing something important.
"The newly unlocked Unit is the Crypt Spider, under Corporeal Undead..."
Her gaze snagged on the final line.
"Wait. What's an Essence Core?"
She had never seen that material before.
A new resource?
Lilith selected the term highlighted in blue.
[Essence Core: A versatile strategic material used for advanced upgrades and other high-level functions. It may also be absorbed directly to gain 300 EXP.]
Lilith blinked.
"That's almost word for word the Mana Crystal description."
The System offered no explanation of how Essence Cores were obtained.
Still, judging by how Mana Crystals worked, Lilith suspected they dropped from hostile creatures.
The real question was what kind of enemy could produce one.
That, she would have to find out for herself.
"Three hundred EXP from a single core..."
One hundred times what a Mana Crystal granted.
Lilith's expression fell as a possibility occurred to her.
"What kind of creature drops something worth that much EXP? An Elite?"
She stared at the upgrade requirement.
"Where am I supposed to find an Elite to kill?"
Lilith herself was still only a Veteran.
Of course, combat might not be the only way to obtain an Essence Core. For now, that was nothing more than a theory.
After finishing her inspection of the new Barracks panel, another thought struck her.
Hold on. Where's my auxiliary Barracks?
As if the System had only just remembered that part, a belated prompt appeared.
[Begin Barracks Specialization now?]