Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Charles looked at a round white stone floating in front of him, and on the ground below it, another white stone lay quietly.

"Is it just going to float like this?" he said, reaching between the two stone discs and sweeping his hand back and forth. "There's no obstruction, and no discomfort."

In his previous life, he had visited a science museum and seen the magnetic levitation device used for teaching and exhibition. He also knew about the various explanations of magnetic field lines. However, he could not sense any source of power between the two white stones in front of him that looked like "flying saucers".

"How amazing." Charles tried to press down on the floating rock with his hand, and he could feel a force resisting his pressure. "This thing can just float in the air like this."

“I’ve made two before,” Agatha said, watching Charles’s actions from the side. “These two, the one on the ground is a bit bigger. If they were made the same size as before, the one in the air wouldn’t float as steadily. If it’s bumped or tilted, it could still be bounced off.”

"Is that so?" Charles examined the two pure white stones in front of him again. "They do look a bit different in size."

Then, he thought for a moment, picked up a few pieces of wood from the side, and placed them on the floating rock. The rock sank a few miles down without falling directly to the ground. However, because something was placed on it, the floating rock was no longer as stable as before.

"It seems the load-bearing capacity is limited," Charles said, stroking his chin. "In that case, we can't put too heavy items on it."

"It seems the effect is very limited." He circled the two stones, deep in thought.

"Now it seems there is a use for it," Agatha said, standing beside her. "If we could make an external shelf, we could put some light items on it, like candles or something."

As she spoke, she glanced at the centaurs working in the distance. "Evita came to me before, asking if we could light candles in the village so that her people wouldn't have to carry torches when they patrolled at night. It's winter now, and the night wind is a bit strong, so torches might not be safe."

"Hmm," Charles nodded, "She did ask before, but lighting candles would be a huge expense."

Then, as if remembering something, Charles said, "Right, we don't need to light candles, we can just grow mushrooms on it."

"Mushrooms?" Agatha paused, then looked surprised. "You mean...?"

"Those blue glowing mushrooms," Charles pointed to the rocks floating in the air, "we can use them to light up the night if we grow those mushrooms on them."

"We can make several pairs of runewords for balance, then put the smaller stones together, and have the goblins use magic to catalyze the glowing mushrooms. After nightfall, have the centaurs place those stones on top of another stone that was buried in the ground beforehand. This way, the mushrooms will glow all night. We just need to take the stones back in the morning and let the goblins continue to cultivate them."

"Well..." Agatha thought for a moment, "That's something we can do. Those glowing mushrooms grew everywhere in the fortress before, and they can grow on these rocks too."

Charles looked at the white stone disc floating in front of him, stepped forward and took down the pieces of wood on it. "This method works. I think we can resolve the centaur's request soon."

As the wood was removed, the stone disc rebounded and floated upwards very quickly, almost hitting Xia Er's arm. If he hadn't reacted quickly, he might already be clutching his bruised arm and crying out in pain.

"Sorry, I forgot to remind you," Agatha said, walking over immediately. "Cao Cao tried putting things on it before, but when she took it down, she was too slow and got hit on the hand."

Charles held the piece of wood in his hand, frowning as he looked at the stone disc in front of him. "The rebound speed is so fast."

"Yes, it will happen immediately as soon as the rune effect takes effect," Agatha said from the side.

"You mean once it takes effect, this thing immediately springs back?" Charles examined the two stone discs in front of him, feeling like he'd found a way to use them. "Can you separate the bottom disc now?"

"Do we need to take it apart?" Agatha was taken aback.

“Yes, divide that stone disc into two parts, one, um,” Charles gestured, “a smaller corner, so that we can put them together into one large, complete stone disc.”

"I'll give it a try," Agatha said.

After a while, the sky darkened, and Agatha finally finished a piece of white stone that could be pieced together.

Charles planted one of the stones diagonally into the ground, then placed the floating stone disc next to it. "Right now, because the runeword on this stone disc is incomplete, the overall runeword Balance cannot take effect."

Then he had someone bring over a grenade fruit and fixed it to one end of the stone disc. "If I'm not mistaken, this runic word should be quite interesting."

After arranging everything, Xia Er carefully picked up the missing part of the bottom stone disc, while also telling the people around him to keep their distance, in case the grenade fruit accidentally exploded.

Then, he quickly stuffed the small piece into the gap in the bottom stone disc. As the two stones came together, with a "whoosh," the two stone discs that were originally next to each other separated like lightning. Due to the effect of the rune, the grenade fruit placed on the surface of the stone disc was also thrown out by a huge force.

With a loud "boom," an explosion rang out in the distance, and Agatha and Ciel exchanged a smile.

"This distance," Charles estimated, "seems to be over 200 meters. If we make a mold and keep loading it, we can quickly launch grenade fruits, and even launch incandescent glue or foul spores."

"This thing is practically a light mortar!" He circled the two stone discs in front of him with delight. "If I could build a hundred or two at once, I wouldn't be afraid of anyone."

An attack could be launched from a distance of 200 meters, which was a death knell for those noble lords who were still fighting on cavalry.

Moreover, compared to firearms, this thing doesn't require gunpowder to operate, making it much safer; you don't have to worry about those goblins blowing you up.

"Make them immediately, have people follow Agatha and the lame ones to make them, make several, start with twenty or thirty."

"Agatha, it seems we've found an incredible runic word." Charles turned around, smiling at the hag behind him.