She stepped over the ground covered with broken vines and branches, walking towards the group.

"Take a count," Vera looked at Selman.

Selman nodded and quickly walked towards the group of Strawberry Goblins.

He counted twice, then turned back.

"Level 1, thirty-seven." He paused, "Low-level, around sixty or seventy, didn’t count precisely."

Vera nodded.

She was silent for a few moments, her gaze sweeping over everyone.

"We still need to continue exploring and can’t take them with us." Her voice was as calm as discussing today’s weather, "Kill them all and extract the Life Essence."

Leon was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "That’s right, taking them along isn’t practical, it’s more convenient to kill them and get the Life Essence."

Edmond opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but looking at Vera’s expression, he swallowed his words.

Duke stood aside, watching Vera, without saying a word.

Vera’s gaze lingered on each face for a moment and then fell on the terrified Strawberry Goblins.

"I killed the tribal chief, his Level 2 Essence belongs to me," she said, "The three elders, Duke, Leon, and Edmond, each kill one, the essence naturally belongs to you. The remaining Level 1 ones, a total of thirty-seven, will be allocated according to effort. I’ll take eleven, the three of you will each take seven, and the remaining five will be divided between Marcus, Selman, and Ely."

No one had any objections, as Vera had killed the Level 2 Peak tribal chief.

Once discussed, Vera turned around to face those gathered Strawberry Goblins.

Thirty-seven Level 1 Lives were huddled together, some trembling, some crying, and a few old ones stood in front of the young ones, holding a Magic Wand with trembling hands.

Their eyes were full of fear and despair, yet no one pleaded for mercy.

Perhaps in the long years, they had learned to be silent when facing outsiders.

Vera raised her hand.

Behind her, the spatial rift opened again.

Countless purple thorns rushed out like hungry poisonous snakes, quickly pouncing on the group of terrified goblins.

Screams, cries, and pleas for mercy intertwined but only lasted for a few seconds.

When the thorns retracted, only shattered bodies remained.

Those bodies were rapidly becoming plant-like, turning into strawberries, piles of withered vines, tree roots, and fallen leaves.

The air was filled with a strong scent of plant sap, mixed with a faint sense of blood.

Vera retracted her hand, her gaze calm as if nothing had happened.

She raised her left hand, fingers slightly clenched.

From those corpses, thirty-seven clusters of emerald green light emerged, varying in size but each more concentrated than the previously thin essence from the pumpkin vine.

They gathered in the air into a sea of green light, slowly rotating, illuminating the surrounding area for ten meters.

Vera divided this Life Essence into several shares and distributed them to others.

Duke looked down at the seven crystal bottles in his hand, each filled with emerald green liquid, glowing softly in the dark.

This was the essence of Level 1 Life which, although singularly not as concentrated as that of the Level 2 elder, was collectively equally valuable.

He put the bottle away and looked up at Vera.

Vera had already stored her share, now looking down at the goblins below Level 1.

They were huddled further away, trembling, some even lying on the ground, not daring to lift their heads.

A few with slightly more courage were watching with fearful eyes, their bodies shaking like leaves in the wind.

Vera watched for a few moments, then turned around.

"Let’s go," she said, "Leave them here to develop slowly. Picking unripe fruit is a waste."

As for how these goblins will survive, that’s not their concern.

Without the protection of the chief and elders, the tribe didn’t even have a Level 1 Life, how many of these low-level goblins can survive is yet unknown.

Duke glanced at these frightened little beings, turned, and followed.

Those trembling young goblins may never understand why they survived today. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

They just instinctively huddled together, using each other’s warmth to fight fear, waiting for those terrifying strangers to leave.

In the night, seven figures disappeared into the shadows of the giant trees.

Behind them, the tribe’s ruins were silent in the night winds, with only a few suppressed sobs occasionally coming from the surviving goblins.

...

Seven figures sped through the night.

No one spoke, not even unnecessary breaths were heard.

At this moment, no one dared to stop and rest; the commotion from the battle just now was quite significant.

A sand wall tens of meters high, thorns flying all around, and the energy fluctuations from the collision with the Level 2 Peak, enough for any presence within several miles to sense what transpired here.

In this crisis-ridden High Plane, attracting the wrong attention means death.

That’s why Duke and the others resolved things quickly without wasting much time.

Vera led the way, her steps light as if treading on clouds, the white Magic Robe particularly striking in the night.

Leon followed closely behind, the silver-white Fighting Spirit swirling slightly around him, ready to handle unexpected situations.

Duke ran in the middle of the group, extending his Spiritual Power around, constantly sensing the surroundings.

Two hours later, Vera suddenly changed direction, rushing towards a dense thicket.

The group followed swiftly, through an almost pathless bramble, and the view ahead suddenly opened up.

This was a naturally formed depression, surrounded on three sides by huge rocks, the other side blocked by the roots of several giant trees.

The ground was covered with thick dead leaves, the air filled with the scent of decaying vegetation, this place hadn’t seen living creatures for a long time.

Vera stopped, quickly scanning the surroundings.

"Here will do."

A few Witch Arrays were quickly set up, providing multiple layers of safety.

Vera stood in the center of the camp, her gaze sweeping over everyone, checking for any issues, and then confirming none.

She raised her hand and took out the eleven bottles of emerald green Life Essence from the Space Ring, placing them on the ground before her.

"The activity of Life Essence diminishes with time," Vera picked up a bottle, glancing at it in the faint moonlight, the green liquid slightly swaying, "Freshly extracted essence has the best effect. The longer it is stored, the more activity is lost, and the less effective it becomes."

She put down the bottle, looking at everyone.

"Specifically, consuming within three days retains over ninety percent effectiveness. After seven days, only seventy percent remains. After half a month, fifty percent. After a month, not even thirty percent remains."

Edmond paused: "Then... we need to use it quickly?"

Vera nodded: "The sooner, the better."

Leon seemed aware of this information, already taking out a bottle and drinking it down, as if it were water.

Duke also took out a bottle of Level 1 Ancient Fairy’s Life Essence, pondering the liquid inside.

He instinctively felt that if formulated into some Magic Potion, it could be more effective.

But that requires a good method to store the Life Essence, to give him time to research slowly.

Clearly, the current conditions don’t allow for that, so he adopted the most primitive consumption method.

Duke opened the wooden stopper on the bottle and drank the liquid inside.

It tasted cool, with a faint scent of vegetation, like tender leaves touched by morning dew.

The liquid slid down the throat with no irritation, even more gentle than imagined.

But the next second, that gentleness transformed into a warm current, spreading from the stomach to every limb.

Wherever the warmth went, every cell seemed to awaken.

Duke could clearly sense that his blood, muscles, bones, and organs were greedily absorbing certain nutrients from the warmth.

Duke closed his eyes, quietly feeling this transformation.

After about a quarter of an hour, all sensations gradually subsided.

He opened his eyes, his consciousness immersed in the Skill Tree, looking at the attribute panel.

[Spirit: 375.3→ 376.4]