System's POV

A week had passed since Ratatoskr joined Thirteen's group.

He had been getting stronger and stronger through constant battles against the Goblins and by devouring their Beast Cores.

Thirteen had prevented Sherry from absorbing any cores for the time being and simply told her that he would look for a Rank 5 Core for her to absorb.

The young lady had once been told by her parents that she should prioritize quality instead of quantity when absorbing the Beast Cores of Monsters in her First Wandering.

It was an open secret that the higher the Rank of the Beast Core a Wanderer absorbed before they broke through the next Rank, the stronger they would become.

Of course, the Wanderers who were sent to Solterra for the first time didn't have the luxury to choose which kind of Beast Core they would absorb at the early stages of their journey.

Only those who had received proper training or were lucky enough to come across a Rank 4 Monster Beast Core and above were able to maximize the effects of this absorption.

Erica had been lucky during her First Wandering because she had come across the fight of two Rank 4 Monsters, with one of them being a Fire Salamander.

The brutal battle fatally injured both Monsters, so Erica simply waited until they drew their last breath.

She chose to absorb the Core of the two Rank 4 Monsters, paving the path for her to become a powerful Sorceress who specialized in Fire Magic.

This was also the reason why she was ahead of her peers and became part of the Hero Party.

With this in mind, she couldn't help but feel a little envious of Sherry because Zion was more than capable of defeating a Rank 5 Monster and allowing the teenage girl to absorb it without problems.

However, on this particular day, the teenage boy gathered them to have a meeting with a serious expression on his face.

"The time has come to finally find the Shard of Origin," Thirteen said. "The Goblins are now merging into bigger camps, making it hard for us to raid them with our numbers.

"Erica and Sherry, the two of you have gathered many resources in this expedition, so I think you no longer need to kill any more Goblins."

"Finally!" Erica did a fist pump because she was indeed sick and tired of killing Goblins.

For some reason, the Sorceress had managed to gain a few Goblin Avatars with different professions. Thirteen didn't miss the chance to tease her, calling her the Goblin Queen, which infuriated her very much.

Sherry also gained four Goblin Avatars, with two of them being Goblin Warriors, and the other two being Goblin Shamans.

All four were Rank 2 Monsters, and she was able to kill them with the help of her Blade Panther, Mors.

Aside from the Avatars, she also gained a variety of weapons with special abilities.

Her dimensional storage was now filled with bows, swords, short swords, shields, staffs, and armor.

Thirteen said that she should keep them for now and distribute them later to the members of their "Mercenary Group," which they had left behind with the Lizardmen.

Sherry now understood that her Boss wanted to not only arm her to the teeth but also the other Wanderers as well.

Items with skills and abilities were not easy to find, especially for Wanderers who didn't specialize in fighting.

"Now, we will solely focus on finding the Ratmen's Shard of Origin," Thirteen stated. "It will not be an easy mission because the Goblin Emperor has surely hidden it in the safest place within his domain."

"If it's well-hidden, then how are we going to find it?" Ratatoskr asked.

"I have my ways, but even then, it will not be easy," Thirteen replied. "The worst-case scenario is that the Goblin Emperor didn't hide it in his domain. It's possible that he asked his allies to keep it safe for him."

When Thirteen said this possibility, the faces of his three comrades became grim.

"It's only a possibility." Thirteen clarified. "The chance of this happening is very low—unless the Goblin Emperor and the Human King have a special agreement. If that is indeed the case, then things will become more complicated.

"But I trust the greed of Goblins. They will not allow something of such value to be taken away from them. After all, whoever holds the Shard of Origin holds the fate of the Ratmen in their hands.

"Relinquishing such a power is difficult, so I have every reason to believe that the Shard of Origin is still within the territory of the Goblins."

Erica and Sherry knew that Tiona could summon a clone, which Zion always used to scout enemy locations.

Because of this, they believed that the same clone was currently looking for the Shard of Origin while they were traveling under the ground.

Little did they know that there were actually over a hundred monsters currently searching high and low for the Artifact.

The Ratmen's Shard of Origin was a large Orange Crystal that was as big as a car's tire.

It weighed a ton, so unless someone was strong enough to carry it, stealing it was not an easy task.

It also couldn't be stored in storage items, so finding it was not impossible.

As long as they were able to detect the faint fluctuations that it radiated, they would be able to find its location.

The members of the Parade of a Hundred Demons were more than capable of finding the Shard of Origin as long as they were within its range.

With all of them possessing the skill Unblocked Passage, there was no place they couldn't infiltrate.

Thirteen had also changed Tiona's commander skill and replaced the skill "Kiss Of Death" with the skill "Rarity Detection."

This was an ability that could be used to detect precious gems, ores, and artifacts within a fifty-meter radius of each of the members of the Hundred Demons, making it a very useful skill in finding what they were looking for.

The days passed swiftly, and finally, after five days of searching, they finally found the location of the Shard of Origin.

However, there was one big problem.

The Shard of Origin was placed right beside the Goblin Emperor's throne.

One of the monsters' clones had died after coming within its range because the Goblin Emperor sensed its presence.

'So the safest place in the Goblin Territory is right next to the Goblin Emperor,' Thirteen thought. 'Why am I not surprised?'

The young man sighed, understanding that getting the Shard of Origin wouldn't be easy.

Especially since he believed that the leader of the Goblins became more vigilant after the incident.

For the time being, Thirteen decided to let Rocky rest for a day because he would need him to be in his peak condition to do the thing that he needed to do.

Although Rocky was strong, the opponent was stronger, so they needed to approach this matter with great care.

He understood that if ever any of his companions died again, they would no longer have a second chance, like what happened during the battle with the Majin Prince, Arundel the Destroyer.