Why can't humans do it too?

The grayish-white smoke had not completely dissipated when Ronnie's deep, smug voice came from the depths of the smoke. Even though there was no longer anything to stand in that space, he was still there, perfectly fine.

When the smoke finally dissipated, Sull saw the goblin floating in the air, holding a one-handed longsword. The longsword was wrapped in four-colored light, clearly revealing his identity.

“…What is this?” Suer muttered to himself, completely unable to accept it.

"Huh? Of course it's spirit armor!" Ronnie answered, raising his longsword and brandishing it, having easily overheard Sull's mutterings.

"Isn't that obvious?!" Unable to control her emotions any longer, Su'er raised her voice and shouted, "Of course I know it's a spirit suit! But what's with the manufacturing process?!"

"Where's the cutting?! Where's the casting?! It can clearly deform, so you should at least assemble it a bit, right?! You just knock it out and that's it?! You can assume the design drawings are in your head, but where are the measuring tools?! Where are the machine tools?! Such a precise machine is just knocked out like that?!"

Sull would swear on his shoes that if this Ronnie dared to come in front of him right now, he would punch him hard—in the face!

"Huh? Compared to this long-eared thing, it's clearly a monkey, yet it's surprisingly knowledgeable?" Ronnie turned around in surprise, but then casually shook his head and said, "Why bother with all that complicated stuff? There's only one answer to this kind of thing: just tap it by feel!"

"I'll smash you to death!!!" Suer looked down, trying to find a rock, but unfortunately couldn't. "Apologize to the machine!"

"Huh? Why should I apologize? I can just come up with any idea, create anything on the spot, and my emotions will lead me to the perfect solution. That's the way goblins survive!" Ronnie replied dismissively, but before he could even be cool for a second, Xin Ke punched him.

It seems that the hastily made spirit armor is not strong enough to keep up with Xin Ke's attack power. Xin Ke, who does not need the spirit armor to fight, is unleashing her full strength as an eighth-level mage. Meanwhile, the spirit armor that Ronnie has truly and meticulously made has already been destroyed in that great battle.

"Hey! At least let me finish speaking before you hit me!" Ronnie shouted in annoyance as he dodged Xin Ke's attacks. "I think this monkey knows more about goblins than you, Long Ears? Why don't we leave him here?"

"...Hehe, hehehe, Mr. Monkey seems to be having a good chat with the moles, doesn't he?" Xin Ke smiled strangely, her attacks sounding like she was actually playing a game called whack-a-mole, doing both at the same time.

Ah, it's broken.

The longsword that Ronnie hastily made finally perished in an explosion after withstanding several attacks, but this had no effect on him at all. With just a light tap of his hammer, the wreckage was transformed into a highly sophisticated and efficient machine.

It's just ridiculous. The more Su Er saw this bizarre scene, the more his head ached. His previous feeling was right—the goblin race is closer to a magical civilization than an industrial civilization; it makes no sense at all!

“Although they have developed their own technique by imitating our inscription technique, it still seems far from enough,” Ronnie said, deftly dodging Xin Ke’s attacks while continuing to mock his enemy. “That’s true. Compared to us, who can create everything with just the sensibility given to us by God, Long Ears is far too inferior.”

Ah, a new version has emerged—Sul has heard two versions from Xinke and Ronnie, both of whom despise each other as worthless garbage.

"Whatever we want to create, our intuition will naturally guide us to the most suitable approach. It won't lead to mistakes, it doesn't require assumptions, and it doesn't need verification. We can act simply by imagining, turning imagination into creation, gaining inspiration through intuition, and practicing repeatedly with that inspiration. Ultimately, we created the entire civilization of the goblin race, evolving infinitely upwards. We will try but we won't make mistakes, we will verify but we won't fail... So, what do you think? That monkey over there? Compared to those long-eared creatures, the goblins are indeed far superior, aren't they?"

Completely unprepared for Ronnie to suddenly throw the topic at him, Suer hadn't even had time to react before he received a murderous glare from Xin Ke.

If everything is as Ronnie says, then there's absolutely no chance of error, not even the cost of trial and error. A goblin species that can advance solely through imagination does indeed sound more capable than a forest elf species that makes mistakes and constantly researches. But—

“…Isn’t this cheating?” Suer still found it hard to accept.

"Huh? Cheating?" Ronnie, caught off guard by his boast, turned around abruptly amidst the fierce battle and retorted, "What cheating? This is an achievement I could only attain through my own skill. How am I cheating?"

Undeniably, this is even a sign of the Forging God's favoritism towards the goblin race, a rule established at the time of creation.

So rather than saying that Suer wanted to express cheating, it's more accurate to say that... it's unfair.

But where in this world is there any fairness?

Ultimately, there's also a sense of resentment and jealousy.

If we humans possessed such a talent, we wouldn't have to struggle like this in this great war, would we? Moving forward over the corpses of our comrades…

This is the kind of resentment Sue felt, yet it was a long-established fact that humanity had never had its own gods.

“However, failures also accumulate experience and eventually lead to success. None of these are meaningless…” Su’er’s rebuttal became weaker and weaker, and he couldn’t even convince himself. His words gradually faded into inaudibility.

"That's not right, is it?" With a forceful blow, Ronnie forced Xin Ke away. He suddenly understood why this proud long-eared monkey had kept the monkey by his side, because even he himself had the same thought at this moment.

Compared to the clever forest elf, the monkey gradually became more interesting.

He wanted to say something, and he also wanted to hear the monkey's reply.

“Nobody wants to see themselves fail, right?” Ronnie pointed out sharply. “If you can succeed the first time, why not do it? There’s no point in pursuing the experience gained from failure.”

Why celebrate failures that should have been avoided?

Why should we glorify suffering?

Suer... could not answer.

Chapter Seventy-Six: Transformation

"Can't answer?" Ronnie sighed with some disappointment. "So-called failures are ultimately just stepping stones to success. If they can be avoided, they should be avoided as much as possible."

wrong.

Even though he couldn't give a perfectly closed-loop answer, Sue remained convinced that what Ronnie said was wrong—the meaning of failure shouldn't be limited to that.

However, he was not good at speaking or debating and did not know how to refute Ronnie, nor was he a scholar who studied philosophy.

"...You've started discussing things on your own, huh?" Xin Ke's cold voice interrupted their conversation. Although she was laughing, the forest elf had already entered an unavoidable state of rage when she realized that she had been left aside.

The most direct manifestation was the meteor shower that streaked across the sky, covering a large area of ​​the industrial zone. Since this groundhog liked to run away so much, why not just include this entire area in the attack range? That was Xin Ke's plan.

"Huh? Is that all? That's hardly something—"

boom!

Ronnie's casual words were immediately proven wrong. If he had reacted any slower, Xin Ke's surprise attack hidden in the rain of light would have taken not just a hair from him, but half of his head.

"My hair!!!"

The heart-wrenching screams were probably the worst injury Ronnie had ever suffered since birth. According to the knowledge Xinke had previously shared... this could be considered an injury to the male gophers' dignity.

Ronnie's eyes, which were already glowing with a scarlet light, became even more terrifying when he became enraged. He swung his small hammer down at the ground beneath him, treating the relatively intact building as its building material.

From a whole piece to fragments, and then from fragments to spirit armor, in the blink of an eye, Ronnie held a spirit armor that resembled the greatsword he had initially carried. The man was glaring fiercely at Xin Ke, who was floating in the distance, wearing a cloak and grinning maliciously.

"Pfft, Ronnie?", unable to contain his laughter, "Where's your hair? Hahahaha!"

Finally, after causing such a commotion in the industrial area above, other goblins rushed back, though they immediately mocked Ronnie upon arrival.

"Damn it! What are you looking at me for!" Ronnie glared at the goblin who was mocking him before turning his gaze back to Xinke. "There's another monkey over there. Go and catch him intact. I'll deal with this long-eared one."

"Heh, is the mole's strength all talk? If you can do it, then come and try it! But this time, you won't be as lucky as before," Xin Ke said with a sneer, refusing to back down.

No more harsh words were needed. The next moment, Ronnie grinned and disappeared from the spot.

Bah! !

No longer caring about the two people fighting again, Suer was nervously watching the goblin who had noticed his presence after listening to Ronnie's orders. He was the only goblin that had flown up from the lower area to check the situation. The fact that Ronnie was here was enough to reassure the other goblins to focus all their attention on the audacious runaway slaves at the bottom.

Completely unable to distinguish these furry balls that hadn't had their body hair shaved, Sull could only tell from the voices they were speaking that this goblin was probably the one who had a good relationship with Ronnie and had helped him get materials before... Was his name Varo?

Ruined.

Xin Ke clearly couldn't care less about herself, and if things dragged on any longer, after dealing with the escaped forest elves below, the remaining goblins would all return to the upper area.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as Su'er watched the goblin cautiously approaching him, avoiding the dangerously glowing battlefield in the center. He quickly pondered—what else could he do?! Think!

With his frail body alone, he couldn't even push the divine marrow beneath him to roll down... Yes, it was his blood and flesh.

The burning pain on his back hadn't subsided yet. Su Er had only temporarily gotten used to the pain earlier. Now, just by looking down, he could see that a considerable amount of blood had trickled down his clothes and onto the surface of his marrow.

Taking a deep breath, Suer quickly took off his outer clothes, and except for putting the blood-stained side on the marrow, he simply lay down on the marrow with his back facing down.

"...Huh?" The one who asked this question was the goblin who had already flown to the side of the Divine Essence. Suer's crazy and confusing behavior really baffled him, and he didn't even make a move rashly out of caution.

Ignoring him, his caution was actually a good thing for Suer. Suer simply closed his eyes tightly and desperately tried to feel in his heart, trying to find that strange feeling—but to no avail.

Nothing at all.

Why is there nothing there?!

The earth was tilting—no, it wasn't the earth that was tilting, but the ground he was standing on, the divine essence itself!

The creaking and twisting sound of steel deforming and breaking was heard. This huge robot was only in the early stages of construction. Except for the right shoulder and head, the rest of the body was a large frame supported by an elevated structure. At this moment, it was accidentally swept away and broken due to the battle between Xin Ke and Ronnie.

come down.

A head-down fall.

Suer barely managed to grab the edge of the still-intact iron chain binding his divine essence with one hand to avoid being flung aside during the fall.

"Xin Ke!!!"

The sound was forced out of his lungs, his wide-open mouth filled with the strong wind that was forced in as he fell. Suer could no longer breathe fresh air. He was calling out the name of the person who was most likely to come to his rescue at this moment. The divine essence he was tightly holding was constantly colliding in this fall, a collision that would make anyone tremble with fear.

Light was approaching him, some were emerald green, some shimmered with seven colors, and some were like the most intense flames, even burning to a bright white, but his body did not feel any burning pain.

The world was turning upside down and twisting, but in the next moment, Suer felt in a daze that he was not falling downwards, but sitting quietly in place. Everything that had happened to him was just an illusion. The inactive divine essence had not been knocked off and was still sitting safely on the shoulder of the giant robot.

He appeared to be sitting at his dining table at home, a cup with rough decorations being steadily pushed in front of him, accompanied by a deep male voice.

"Come on, drink up."

Chapter Seventy-Seven Okan

The miracle did not happen.

The resonance he had hoped for between the inactive divine essence and himself existed only in his imagination. Su'er's mind seemed to be stuck in that moment, everything was frozen, even the pain in his back disappeared in a daze... really disappeared?

Suren belatedly reached back and touched her back. It was the familiar feel of clothing; the silk pajamas clung to her skin, a smooth and silky touch she had almost forgotten.

It was a hazy dream, as if I were having a lucid dream, one that I would not forget even after waking up. The connection between body and soul was separated by a thin layer of foam, filled with tranquility and peace.

The diffusing pupils converged, overlapping the surrounding world of multiple images. Sul moved his submerged body in the illusory swamp, teetering on the verge of collapse.

It was his home, on the eighth floor, a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. It was the perfect time of day, and the sunlight streaming into the room at an angle perfectly divided the white-painted dining table in front of Suer into two halves, even illuminating the willow-leaf pattern on it.

The faint sounds of car horns from the city could be heard outside the window, and it sounded like someone was making a ruckus—it was so close, yet it felt so far away.

Suer had long since given up on the fantasy of returning to this home, not that dark, gloomy cave where he could barely see by the light, but his real home. He wasn't dreaming; in fact, faint memories of the past still lingered in his mind... He should be in the goblin city with that forest elf.

Without bursting into tears or shouting wildly, Suer remained calmly seated in his chair, his heart as still as a lake.

"Why not give it a try? It's one of my best works, even if you don't think it's the best one."

The deep male voice wasn't in a hurry; he simply reached out and pushed the cup in front of Suer a little further.

"Don't be shy, drink up."

“…Ah, thank you,” even Suer himself was a little surprised that he would so easily obey this unfamiliar voice, pick up the cup in front of him, and drink the bubbling liquid in one gulp.

A refreshing feeling permeated my entire body, from my internal organs to my skin, as if all impurities and filth within me had been cleansed away, and every organ was groaning with pleasure—it was too much to bear…

Even every cell is clamoring for satisfaction, filled with power from the smallest molecules.

"Another one!!"

Sul slammed the cup on the table, astonished to hear those words come out of his own mouth.