System guessed that the retionship between the arrogant gnolls and the cowardly goblins was somewhat simir to the retionship between tax collectors working for a lord and the farmers who worked the lord's nd.
His guess turned out to be accurate. Not much time passed before System watched as the group of goblins dragged over a dipidated wooden cart, which was filled with some fruits and a small amount of meat. The meat seemed to be half of a cow-like creature.
The dipidated wooden cart was obviously quite old. System saw rusty iron spokes on its wheels, showing that the cart had obviously not been made by the goblins. He had no idea where they'd acquired it.
Without thinking too much, System listened carefully to the conversation between the two parties.
While he couldn't understand the nguage the gnolls and goblins were speaking, he still managed to learn the general situation of the two groups from their actions, expressions, and tone. Perhaps his ability to understand them so easily stemmed from two of his unique abilities, [Perception] and [Mental Transmission].
After all, in System's opinion, the intelligence of these creatures wasn't very high. The communication between the two sides wasn't as complex as a conversation between humans.
The reason the gnolls had come to the goblin vilge was basically the same as System's initial assumption—they were there to collect food.
Although the goblins had brought out a cart of food, the gnolls thought that there was too little meat and too much fruit, which caused them to roar in dissatisfaction.
The leading gnoll seemed to be saying, "You despicable and cunning green bugs dare to deceive us heroic gnoll warriors? I'll kill you!"
The surrounding goblins all huddled together and trembled, not daring to speak.
The leader of the goblin vilge seemed to be more intelligent than the others. He wore a fttering smile and seemed to be expining to the gnolls why meat was so scarce.
However, in the end, the goblin didn't reach an agreement with the gnoll.
The gnoll barked out an order and smiled greedily, saliva dripping from his protruding tongue. System didn't know what the gnoll had said, but the gathered goblins grew even more panicked.
The two gnolls standing behind the leader suddenly dropped down to the ground and began sniffing, soon revealing sinister grins. They quickly rushed over to a pile of weeds.
System thought the gnolls had found some of the goblins' hidden food. He didn't expect the gnolls to have instead found three goblin children hiding in the weeds.
The gnolls neatly twisted the necks of all three children.
The leading gnoll saw his companions' actions and also selected two older goblins.
Under the terrified gaze of many goblins, the gnoll pierced the heads of the two elderly goblins with his sharp cws, then licked the red and white liquid from his cws while the surviving goblins watched in fear.
As the goblins looked on, the gnolls threw the bodies of the dead goblins onto the food cart.
Before long, following another angry roar from the gnoll leader, the gnolls left the vilge.
The three gnolls walked in front, while five young goblins followed behind, some pushing and others pulling the cart full of food along the forest path. They seemed to be heading to the grassnd dozens of kilometers away.
The remaining dozen or so goblins looked much more rexed after they saw the gnolls leave. They all knelt on the ground facing the same direction and made ritualistic gestures with their hands, as if they were performing a special ceremony or prayer.
The goblin leader kept repeating the same word in his sentences. This word had also been mentioned several times during the conversation between the goblin and gnoll leaders.
'The Lord of Gciers...'
Considering the tone and emotions of the previous conversation between the two sides, along with the fact that these goblins knelt down toward the gcier mountains thousands of kilometers away, this name appeared unconsciously in System's mind.
Perhaps it was the Lord of Gciers, perhaps the King of Ice and Snow, or perhaps the God of Winter.
In short, it was a combination of a cold adjective and a noun such as the leader.
System continued to observe the goblins and whatever strange ceremony they were performing. When he saw that there was nothing interesting happening, he spread his wings and flew away.
...
The gnolls' killing of the goblins was cruel and bloody, and System thought that he'd feel some uncomfortable emotions after what he'd seen. However, his heart was abnormally calm.
If he had to describe it, watching the gnoll killing the goblins was like watching a frog swallow a mosquito, and he basically had no feelings about it one way or the other.
If System was to say that he felt any other emotions, it would be that he had some admiration for the seemingly rough, but actually wise approach of the gnolls.
The gnolls used cruel and bloody means to keep the goblins in captivity so that the goblins would continue providing the gnolls with food. After discovering that the goblins didn't provide enough food, in order to maximize the amount of food the goblins would provide on their next visit, the gnolls killed the old and weak goblins without hesitation.
On the one hand, those old and weak goblins could be used as food, while on the other, the dead goblins would no longer be consuming the vilge's food. These terrifying and bloody actions would also put tremendous mental pressure on the goblins.
The gnolls' method of keeping the goblins in captivity seemed to be very successful.
System realized that his emotions seemed to have become very abnormal, but he didn't feel a need reflect and ponder over the change like he would have before. He was now far removed from his previous life's human emotions.
Ever since he'd seen the old druid use the trap to kill millions of grasshoppers, System's perspective had unconsciously undergone a huge change.
In his view, goblins and gnolls were nothing more than creatures standing at a higher level on the food chain in the forest. Although these two species used nguage and possessed superficial wisdom, they hadn't yet produced civilization.
While the gnolls might be somewhat more advanced than he'd guessed, the goblins were nothing more than a creature struggling to survive in the forest, only slightly higher on the food chain than others.
However, for now, System would basically not have any interactions with the other parties. It was simir to how a frog would eat mosquitoes, a snake would eat the frog, and an eagle would eat the snake, but the eagle wouldn't have any interest in eating mosquitoes.
After System returned from the goblin vilge to his temporary nest, he flew around and patrolled nearby.
Though he was unable to settle accounts with the old druid for now, he felt that he should already be able to deal with the mouse that had broken into his nest during his third metamorphosis.
System was filled with hatred from being forced helplessly to the brink of death, and there was also his anger from watching Shava get tortured right in front of him. He must find this mouse and kill it!
With his improved strength, he felt like he should now have an advantage against the mouse. He might get hurt in the process, but he still had an excellent chance of killing it.
The only problem was that he didn't know if he could locate the mouse. Within one hundred meters of his temporary nest, System had already discovered eleven mouse nests.
Because of the recent heavy rain, most of the nests were empty, and he had no idea which nest this particur mouse lived in.
System didn't pn to go exploring deep into the nests one by one, as it was unwise to start a conflict with a mouse in its own nest.
After observing the sky, which was already approaching dusk, he estimated that it would turn dark in about an hour.
Mice were typical nocturnal creatures. As long as the mouse got hungry and went out to look for food at night, with System's eyesight that allowed him to see in the dark as clearly as if it were day, the enemy mouse would definitely be discovered.
