---Third POV---
Viktor clapped his hands, quickly creating a new admin account for himself, with permissions just below the forum administrator.
He changed the avatar to the promotional image of Luminaris and set the ID as "Goddess."
"Done!" He nodded with satisfaction.
"The mascot is a comedic character, so it makes sense for it to appear anywhere. What a perfect setup!"
Then he sent out his first message.
[Loyal returnee, I heard you're in trouble?]
---
Meanwhile, LootGoblin, who had just ended a grueling two-hour single-player gaming session, was chatting animatedly with the forum's meme-loving "military strategists."
He had been asking them for escape strategies, his messages growing increasingly desperate.
"I'm serious! I need practical advice!" he typed, watching the unhelpful responses flood in.
The replies? Some urged him to overthrow the goblin leader and unite the goblin army. Others suggested he lead the way for them, shouting phrases like, "The goblins are right in here!"
One even strongly insisted that the devs include these moments in the promotional trailer.
LootGoblin was utterly speechless. Even after proving the authenticity of his forum post, the silly suggestions from these players were completely unreliable.
In the middle of his heated arguments with them, trying to extract useful advice from their theories and jokes, he noticed something unusual on the website.
A red notification bubble appeared in the top-right corner, a place that had only lit up during beta testing.
"What's this?"
Curious, he clicked on it and discovered a private chat box.
[LootGoblin]: Holy crap, so the official site does have a private chat feature? ProGamer_Daddy wasn't messing with me!
[LootGoblin]: Wait a minute!!! What's with your avatar and ID?
[LootGoblin]: The world's gone mad! An NPC just broke the fourth wall!!!
Got him. Viktor smiled, and quickly responded, settling into his role as the divine messenger.
[Goddess]: Returnee, what are you talking about? I don't understand.
[Goddess]: I heard you were missing. Using the remnants of divine power, I barely managed to contact you. ☽༓･˚⋆(｡•́︿•̀｡)⋆˚･༓☽
[LootGoblin]: You can use emojis?! Wait, so that glowing particle skill is used like this?!
LootGoblin had initially felt something was off. With such low favorability between him and Luminaris, how could the character's attitude shift so dramatically after gaining speech?
But then, a sudden thought struck him.
The main quest under the divine hierarchy was insanely difficult and required hardcore knowledge. Without this kind of external forum-based remote assistance, how would players even survive?
This had to be the devs' way of reducing the difficulty curve!
"A gameplay mechanic that merges in-game and real-world interactions—this is the first time I've seen something like this!"
His eyes lit up with excitement.
But this collaborative cheating with an NPC? It felt great!
He continued typing.
[LootGoblin]: Got it! So can you pinpoint my location and call others here?
[Goddess]: … Not yet. My current strength is weak. Maintaining this communication channel is already very difficult.
To prevent players from getting overly creative, Viktor cut off this path from the start. Then he switched to guiding LootGoblin.
[Goddess]: But if you encounter other difficulties, you can tell me. Maybe I can offer some suggestions.
Helping LootGoblin establish himself in the goblin nest and expand his range to gather intel was Viktor's main goal for contacting him.
[LootGoblin]: So you're just an NPC version of customer support?
[Goddess]: Hmm?
[LootGoblin]: Never mind. I do have two problems right now…
Faced with choosing between the chaotic forum players and the mascot that spent all its time sleeping on the divine statue, LootGoblin considered both equally unreliable.
But since he had this assistance, he might as well use it.
[LootGoblin]: First, I know nothing about goblins. I don't understand their food distribution system, and my character hasn't eaten all day!
[LootGoblin]: Second, I'm covered in plant dye, which will fade in two days at most
[LootGoblin]: I need someone to rescue me ASAP!
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so desperate, arguing with the silly forum players.
If he didn't hurry, his in-game character would starve to death or get beaten to death once his identity was exposed!
Viktor paused.
"These are real problems."
The goblins who brought LootGoblin back to their nest likely mistook him for the poisoned goblin struck by green-tailed weasel venom. As long as he played dead, kept silent, and didn't move, the goblins would continue treating him as an injured comrade.
But being an injured goblin was one thing. Getting a share of resources was another.
Goblins respected strength above all else. In times of food shortages, a goblin who didn't contribute would likely get nothing.
Viktor began typing.
[Goddess]: You can look around. Hoarding food is a basic survival instinct. There might be surprises in the room.
[LootGoblin]: Already checked. The room's tiny, and aside from a few broken pots, there's not even a mouse!
[Goddess]: Maybe there's food inside the pots?
[LootGoblin]: !! Yeah, no thanks. I'd rather die peacefully
Though pride and dignity didn't matter much in a game, LootGoblin still refused to lower his standards. The pots reeked from afar, and their narrow openings, combined with sloshing water sounds, suggested something unappealing was inside.
He wouldn't eat it, no matter what.
Viktor was exasperated.
"At a time like this, you're still picky about food?" He shook his head, baffled by the player's priorities.
But he understood. For players, this was just a game. They wouldn't compromise their standards over it.
Since that was the case, he skipped that suggestion and started teaching LootGoblin about goblin habits.
It was impossible for him to master goblin behavior in a single day, but he only needed to act like a goblin suffering from neurotoxic paralysis.
That was easy enough!
Viktor taught him a few more common goblin phrases and explained basic goblin behaviors. After testing him and confirming he could respond convincingly, Viktor gave him the green light.
[Goddess]: With this persona, you can now explore outside. Maybe you'll find food on your own.
[LootGoblin]: That's it? I'll log in and give it a shot!
Viktor quickly stopped him.
[Goddess]: Wait, returnee! I need your help too!
Apart from helping LootGoblin resolve his crisis, he also needed intel on the goblin nest.
[LootGoblin]: But I seriously have no idea how I got in here!
[Goddess]: That's fine. I'll ask, and you answer.
If LootGoblin had managed to enter the goblin nest alive, he likely carried a key piece of information to break the stalemate—he just hadn't realized it yet.
---Viktor's POV---
Unlike the players' scattershot way of questioning, my questions were incredibly precise.
I quickly obtained the clues I needed.
Based on his sneaky observations.
I discovered that the goblin nest was built in a massive pit with sparse surrounding trees, resembling the circular ruins of an ancient Roman colosseum.
However, unlike a colosseum, it lacked the large open space in the center. Instead, it consisted of multilayered buildings formed by large rings enclosing smaller ones.
On each ring of buildings were numerous small rooms, resembling pigeon cages.
The goblins lived in these "pigeon cages."
The location of LootGoblin was roughly in the middle-to-outer ring of the nest.
[LootGoblin]: The buildings in the outermost ring house patrolling goblins. If I so much as poke my head out, they immediately notice me. The defense is very tight
[LootGoblin]: The area nearby is full of ordinary goblins. I guess the higher-level goblins and prisoners are all in the inner rings!
[Goddess]: Mm-hmm~ I'll relay this to the leader right away.
[LootGoblin]: Sigh, it's a pity. If I could figure out the route to get into the goblin nest, you wouldn't even need me—just come see for yourselves
[Goddess]: No need. This information is already extremely important~~~
I expressionlessly typed a string of wavy lines.
I had already obtained the clues I needed.
The nest, which was exposed on the ground, did not trigger any abrupt environmental changes when LootGoblin entered it.
This meant the goblin nest's concealment methods were likely similar to those of Honeyvale Town.
It wasn't spatial displacement or mobility—it was illusion magic.
Although it wasn't yet clear whether the illusions affected the intruder's body or the environment itself, having a direction was enough to make things much easier!
"So it's a goblin tribe skilled in illusion magic, definitely trickier than combat-oriented ones…" I mused.
"But for the players, this is actually a good thing."
Right now, the players were lacking in combat power.
If a goblin shaman cast a wide-area magic attack and wiped out half the players at once, it would be a headache for me.
But illusion magic was all about attrition.
As players, they were least afraid of attrition battles.
As long as the battle lasted a day, I could have an endless supply of reinforcements.
Ahem.
Although, by the end, resources might be so depleted that players would have to fight barehanded.
[Goddess]: Although we now have clues to the location of the goblin nest, reinforcements can't arrive immediately.
[Goddess]: Please stay safe; we'll do our best to rescue you!
[LootGoblin]: No problem. I'm on vacation anyway, so I'll log back in later to gather more intel for you!
[LootGoblin]: So, am I way better than those veteran players?
My telepathic typing froze mid-air.
"No way… is this guy flirting with me?"
Oh well, might as well humor him.
I deleted my initial response and retyped.
[Goddess]: Wow! You're the most impressive returnee I've ever seen!
[LootGoblin]: Hehe, piece of cake! Goddess, you're way more personable now that you can speak normally compared to those idiots on the forums
[LootGoblin]: Before, I thought your endless muttering was cursing people, but turns out it's so heartwarming!
"…"
No, I could confirm that the Luminaris had indeed been cursing people in the Aeltia Common Tongue every day.
Since there was no more intel to be had, I decisively ended the conversation.
[Goddess]: (^▽^)
Click. Send.
Close the dialog box.
Log off.
All in one go.
As for LootGoblin's reaction, I wouldn't know.
There were more important things to do on my end.
I pulled out a copied version of a map filled with gibberish and spread it out across the table.
I began sketching and filling in vegetation patterns based on my memory.
"A circular stone ruin, resembling a pigeon cage, with extremely small room spaces… Judging from the description, this is the kind of architecture Kalil liked."
The God of Sky, Kalil, loved to display his followers like figurines, arranged neatly together.
This aesthetic brought him joy.
To please him, his followers had deliberately constructed buildings that matched his preferences.
The pigeon-cage structure was one of them.
He prefered to visit in person.
And to accommodate his massive bird-like form, his followers must have chosen a settlement with extremely open terrain for him to land.
Even if the ruins had been abandoned, being within the Great Oak Forest's territory, traces of the divine servants would still remain.
For instance, LootGoblin mentioned that the trees around the ruins were sparse.
"That's not enough." I muttered, looking at the updated map and falling into deep thought.
In addition to preventing weeds and trees from encroaching, they'd also need to prepare a landing site for Kalil. A place with the best view of the pigeon-cage structure.
I marked a few circles on the map.
The first possibility was that there was a cliff near the ruins, concealed by illusions that LootGoblin didn't notice. The second possibility was that the ruins were near a riverside.
Kalil's true form was an amphibious bird capable of both flying and swimming.
He could use cliffs as branches or stay in the water overlooking the pit.
If cliffs were the anchor point, there were only two suspicious spots on the map.
If rivers were the anchor point, the nearby Duskwind River, which led to the sea, offered countless possibilities.
But none of this was a problem.
I erased several of the marked circles on the map.
Then, I highlighted a smaller range.
Given the unique terrain, it was impossible to hide all traces with illusions.
"Fake is fake—that's the flaw of illusions!" I spoke with certainty.
Sparse trees.
This meant sunlight would penetrate the fake forest and cast shadows outside the illusion's coverage area, creating inconsistencies.
"Not here, not here… hmm, not here either!"
"Considering the goblin activity signs discovered earlier, this spot seems the most suspicious."
After spending more than half an hour, I finalized the map.
The suspicious locations had been reduced to five spots.
I set down my feather pen and sounded more relaxed.
With the general location confirmed, the next step was to test what kind of illusion magic was being used.
There were only a few types of illusion magic:
Deceiving sight, deceiving hearing, deceiving smell, or deceiving the mind.
Each had corresponding detection methods.
Luckily, I knew them all.
Given the current conditions of The Watchers, the best way to detect illusions was with potions.
I rummaged through my storage space and nodded silently.
Although there weren't many potions left, I could still mix the main ingredients for detecting all four types of illusions.
Only some auxiliary ingredients were missing.
But that wasn't an issue.
Auxiliary potion ingredients were generally common, with plenty of substitutes available.
A stroll through the Great Oak Forest should suffice to gather them all.