In total, there were 11 goblin corpses, which was a large source of experience, gene, and evolution points.
It took him a whole hour to devour all 11 corpses. It easily raised him to level 4, and after his strength increased, he could search for other goblin camps.
Bates opened up the attribute panel.
[ name ] : Bates
[ race ] : Overlord Ant
[ template ] : Basic Attribute Template (23%)
[ level ] : Level 4
[ status ] : Health 100, Mana 110
[ attributes ] : Strength 8, Agility 7, Energy 10, Spirit 11
[ talent ] : Soul Bonus, Devouring Evolution, Adaptability
[ skills ] : Sharp Claws, Tough Armor, Limb Regeneration, Basic Poison Resistance
[ gene points ] : 259
[ skill fragment ] : none
[ soul points ] : 4
Left behind were all the goblins their tattered equipment.
If normal players had cleared out this goblin camp, this tattered equipment would have been their reward. However, judging from the quality of the equipment, it would only be of low-grade quality. The backpack, however, would be useful loot to a player, as it could be a piece of magical equipment.
Bates was not a player, and he did not have the skills to wield such weapons. Besides, even after leveling up again, Bates' body was still only 25 cm, so he could not carry this huge backpack, and had to leave it behind.
In the goblins tent, Bates was surprised to find a small treasure chest. After biting off the chain, he saw that inside the chest there were several items.
First, there was a pile of silver coins, about 30 of them. These were useless to Bates.
Second, he found an old map. On it, there were over ten symbols that looked like bonfires, and the middle of these symbols was a tent!
"Ding! You have obtained 'old map' and discovered 'dark forest'. Obtained 10 experience points."
"So this is called the Dark Forest! That must mean that these campfire-like symbols are goblin camps!" Bates said. "Unfortunately, I'm not a player. It would be nice to have a players map right now."
After carefully memorizing the route and the symbols on the map, Bates threw it aside and picked up the last item in the treasure chest. It was a piece of animal skin stained with blood and covered in strange symbols.
"Ding! You have received a 'letter with blood'."
"Ding! You have activated the quest 'The rise of the Goblin Kingdom'. The quest system has been activated!"
[ The rise of the Goblin Kingdom: even the stupidest race will give birth to a wise man. After accidentally obtaining the inheritance of their ancestors, the strength of the Goblin Kingdom increased greatly. It defeated many goblin tribes and ruled over them. A goblin called Geer proclaimed himself as General and prepared to make the Goblin Kingdom rule the Dark Forest. ]
[ As a member of the Dark Forest, you have two choices: obtain Geer's trust and join the Goblin Kingdom, or kill Geer and prevent the establishment of the Goblin Kingdom. ]
"Quest Branch 1: Gain Geer's trust and join the Goblin Kingdom. Quest reward: Unknown."
"Quest Branch 2: Kill Geer to prevent the establishment of the Goblin Kingdom. Quest reward: Unknown."
"Do you accept the quest?"
Bates carefully finished reading the notification and sneered.
If there was a novice village outside the Dark Forest, then when the game started and the players arrived, the Goblin General Geer would become the boss of the novice village.
However, Bates had already defeated a goblin camp and found himself in a hostile relationship with the goblins. Anyway, if he wanted to make himself stronger, Bates would need to continue hunting them.
As the boss of the novice village, Bates guessed that Geer most likely had an elite attribute template, or even a lord attribute template!
If he hadn't known about Geer, he would have left it alone, but since Bates now knew, he decided he needed to accept the quest. Sooner or later, Bates would have found Geer anyway, when looking to further his strength!
The new mission had no time limit. The final target was the Goblin General Geer that Bates would definitely hunt. It was almost as if the mission had been created especially for him.
Bates looked at the map once more, and thought, 'Looking at the mission explanation, the tent drawn here must be the location of Geer, right?'
"Accept the quest!" he said, then threw aside the useless animal skin stained with blood.
His figure then disappeared into the abandoned goblin camp.
Three days later.
"Ding! You have killed a goblin thrower. Obtained 100 experience points."
"You have killed a goblin thrower of a higher level. The goblin thrower has an advanced attribute template. You have obtained the attribute template that the goblin thrower has."
Bates slowly pulled out the sickle that was stuck in the goblin thrower's head. Just like before, he had used the advanced attribute template that he had just obtained, as experience points towards his own attribute template.
During the past few days, Bates had cleared out four goblin camps and obtained four advanced attribute templates, pushing his current template experience to 93% !
As long as he killed another goblin with an advanced attribute template, he would be able to upgrade his template to the be same.
With the strength Bates had, killing another goblin was simple, as long as he watched out for the 'savage throw' attack.
In the past three days, he'd also realized how big the Dark Forest was! Even if he had a part of the map, it still took ages to get from one goblin camp to the other, which took up the majority of his time.
Of course, it was all worth it in the end!
As long as he could kill another advanced goblin, his attribute template and strength would increase.
Bates shook his head, and regretfully looked at the Goblin corpses all over the ground. Swinging his six legs, he rushed towards the next goblin camp.
In order to suppress his own level, the goblins that Bates had killed in the past three days were all left dead on the ground, and not a single corpse had been eaten. This made sure that he kept his level under level 5. If he had chosen to eat all the corpses, he'd probably be a level 5 or even level 6 by now.
The next day, Bates rushed into the next goblin camp.
Just like before, Bates was in no hurry to attack straight away. Instead, he hid in the bushes next to the camp and carefully observed it.
He knew that unexpected things could happen at any moment, so it was much safer to take it slowly, as only by being careful could he live longer, and become stronger.
After a few minutes, Bates figured out the location of the goblins in the camp.
There were eight low-level goblin woodworkers, two goblin hunters, three goblin warriors holding rusty blades and broken wooden shields, and one goblin that was completely different from the rest. It was fairly short and held a red wooden stick.
Most importantly, this goblin was level 6!