I really picked it up

The collection of books in Corian City was far less than that of the church, and the most convenient source of information was Santo. Mason asked about the Roland Ag family in general, and could only conclude that it was the first dynasty at that time, with a great reputation and glory. Later, it was destroyed by rebellion.

He also tried to find out who has the bloodline that can control shadows. Santo frowned slightly and said, "There are very few bloodlines that can control shadows. Most of them are pollutants from the shadow world. The monsters there are very difficult to deal with. Just like people cannot hold on to light, they cannot resist shadows. Are you in any trouble?"

Where there is light, there must be shadow. The Shadow World is one of the elemental interfaces that rely on the main world. But as pollution spreads, the elemental worlds gradually merge with reality, and elemental creatures become offshoots of monsters.

The candles shone brightly in all directions, lighting up the corridor. Apart from the footsteps of the two people, only Santo's questions echoed. Mason shook his head, not intending to directly tell what happened on the other side: "I'm just a little curious about what the shadow world is like now."

Santo shook his head and stopped in front of a door. "The church once absorbed related bloodlines and explored other elemental realms, but the results were not optimistic. Except for the main world, other realms have long been polluted and filled with endless monsters."

Light shone obliquely from the door, interrupting the conversation between the two. Santo pushed the door open, and Mason, who was standing behind him, saw that there were other people in the room, discussing something across a translucent wall of light. On the other side of the wall of light was a book wrapped in black mist, and on the ground were several clergymen who were unconscious.

"The lockdown has been initiated, all ordinary people have been taken away and checked, and there are currently no contaminated individuals."

"You can't get close to it. It's polluting and needs to be purified."

“But why did the pollution suddenly explode? What did we trigger?”

"......"

The fast and tense conversation was interrupted by two people approaching. The people in the room saw the two people and bowed their heads. One of them said, "Master Shenzi, Master Santo, we have handled the scene as much as possible. The rest is up to you two."

Mason's eyes passed through the faces of the people, and finally fell on the familiar children's book. Santo's story passed through his mind, and the other party had explained it to him clearly when they met.

After receiving the sealed object, the church quickly sent people to seal and study it. Everything went smoothly at first, until the tester opened it.

The clergyman fainted the moment he saw the contents, and at the same time, a lot of black mist poured out of the book, causing the church members who were closest to it to fall into a coma. The remaining people quickly activated the emergency plan and used a barrier to isolate the black mist. However, since they could not get close, only the clergyman with strong purification ability could deal with it.

The local church staff in Corian City could not resolve the matter, so they contacted Santo. The latter found something strange in the process of handling it, and considering that it was the spoils of the Son of God, he chose to inform Canaan first.

"You can try to purify the black mist. The barrier will only block the black mist, not the purification energy."

At Santo's reminder, Mason sent a flower vine in, and the pollution melted away where the black mist touched. The inside was quickly cleaned up. The faces of the people around him were immediately happy, but they saw the pages of the book turning, and more black mist poured out, filling the entire room in an instant.

Mason looked at this scene and concentrated slightly: "Will normal pollutants cause this phenomenon?"

One of the clergy shook his head: "Pollutants generally do not have the ability to release black mist. Its situation is more like..."

He hesitated for a moment before answering: "Send?"

Send!

How similar is the situation of the small ball in the main body to the situation in front of me? It is also impossible to clean it all at once, and new pollution will continue to be generated. Is the metal ball in his body a transmission device?

Holding down the unbearable itching, the young man sent more energy into the barrier, clearing an area that could be entered. He turned around and asked Santo: "Can I go in and take a look?"

"Yes, you can... but please be careful. Once you enter, the barrier will no longer be able to block the fluctuations from this contaminant."

Santo was worried. They had originally classified this as a Class A pollutant to be destroyed, but after something like this happened, the defense level had to be upgraded. Mason nodded carefully and passed through the barrier under the protection of [Heaven]. The moment he entered the other side, a quiet sound of dripping water suddenly rang in his ears.

Mason was startled. He had already walked to the book, and the sound of water in his consciousness became clearer and clearer.

The World Tree reacts to this?

He was astonished. The book in front of him was exactly the same as when he first saw it, except that it was now wrapped in a cloud of black mist, and its outline was particularly blurred. Mason hesitated for a moment, but still reached out his hand.

The closer he got, the rustling of branches and leaves gradually mixed with the sound of water. When he touched the book, a lush green shadow suddenly flashed before his eyes, and a strong attraction came from the place where his fingers touched.

The next second, Mason's eyes blurred, and before he could withdraw his hand, the scene around him had changed.

The fresh scent of grass and trees greeted him. He stood alone in a clearing covered with lush grass, surrounded by towering trees that reached the sky and were lush and green. The sky was blue and boundless, and behind the white clouds was a dazzling red sun, casting its dazzling light on the entire continent.

Such a normal sun actually made people feel a little long-lost and unfamiliar. Before Mason could come to his senses, he heard the rustling of the bushes. As soon as he looked carefully, he met a pair of big, round eyes.

Seeing Mason, the other party was startled and disappeared into the bushes. The former chased after him without hesitation, one chasing the other, running in the forest like a hundred-meter chase.

The runner was so frightened that he was at a loss. He relied on his better knowledge of the forest and his feet were as smooth as grease. Seeing that the distance between the two was getting farther and farther, Mason's eyes focused, and a flower vine beside him pulled out, directly tripping the opponent to the ground.

“Ouch!”

The other person fell to the ground, thinking he was attacked. He covered his head and begged for mercy: "Please spare me, sir! The pickup truck was just passing by and definitely didn't mean to steal your money!"

Hearing the other party's name, Mason paused. The transparent flower vines turned around and surrounded it in the center, the harmless and fragrant buds stretched out, and the green monster was trembling with fear.

It was skinny, with scars all over its body, making its already large eyes even more bulging. It had pointed ears and a hooked nose. It was covered in mud and dirt, and gave off a foul smell. It turned out to be a goblin that only existed in Western fantasy games.

The silver-haired young man walked over, and the fabric with dark patterns on it flowed like water, quietly stopping at the edge of the goblin's sight. The latter swallowed subconsciously, and for a moment he couldn't tell what material it was. But he knew it would be worth a lot of money.

As soon as the greedy thought came into his mind, Pika suddenly slapped himself and secretly scolded himself for not knowing how to live or die. His nature was always stupid, and he was afraid that he would die like those idiots!

After the goblin slapped itself, it fell to the ground with a thud, too obedient to make a sound. Who would care about an ugly and dirty goblin? The adventurers would just treat it as a joke and hack it to death one by one!

Thinking of the past experiences of his fellow tribesmen, Pika curled up even more, wishing he could merge into the soil. Until the other party's cold voice fell into his ears: "Your name is Pika?"

"Yes, yes. I'm Goblin Pica! The most agile goblin!"

The goblin replied apprehensively, trying to plead for himself: "Please don't kill me. I am very familiar with this place. I can help you explore the map, find food, and do anything. Please spare a tiny goblin."

The other party did not answer directly. The silence made Pika break out in a cold sweat. Then he heard the other party say coldly: "Raise your head."

It raised its head tremblingly and saw a flash of golden light on the other's chest. It was a golden badge pinned on the lapel, with simple lines outlining two folded hands and a faceless human figure in the palm. Just one glance made the goblin's heart beat wildly and groan.

This is not the holy emblem of the twelve gods. I don't know where the other party believes in. Most of the latter are crazy and their followers regard human life as dirt, not to mention foreigners. Pika was like a deceased parent, and turned to think about whether he could ask the other party to give him a complete body. Even if he was a goblin, he didn't want to be used as a sacrificial material after death.

While the goblin was thinking about where to put the body, Mason had already looked at it from head to toe. Although it was covered with mud, the goblin in front of him looked about 80% like the goblin Pika, if not exactly the same. Under his cold scrutiny, the goblin almost fainted.

"Sir..."

It finally thought of its last words, and its expression became more and more tragic. "Just do whatever you want to do! Please be kind and don't use Pica as magic material!"

Mason ignored its nonsense and recalled the story that the members of the "Craftsman" had read out at the beginning, and recited it verbatim: "The goblin Pika is a terrible monster with pointy ears, a big nose, and a dirty body. Everyone is afraid of it..."

Pika almost cried out as he tried to hug the human's thigh. But the vines around him moved, and he immediately calmed down and said with tears in his eyes: "This is slander! Naked slander! The little goblin Pika is recognized as the friendliest goblin!!"

The silver-haired young man stared at it for a while, then raised his finger hesitantly and pointed at it: "Fairy (Human language)?"

Pica nodded vigorously, pointed at himself and said loudly: "Goblin (Human language)!"

It took a while for the man and the goblin to understand each other. Mason was speechless for a while. Who knew that the pronunciation of the human language "fairy" is "goblin" in the goblin language... In other words, it should be the little goblin Pika.

So the person in front of him should be the protagonist of the story. Has he come to the world in the book? Mason's mind was wandering, so he asked, "Where is this?"

"This is the Dark Forest..." Pica nodded and looked at his reaction out of the corner of his eye. "Which god are you a believer of?"

The young man glanced at him and said, "Lord of all things and all powers."

It's over. Hearing this arrogant name, no one will let this god go unless all the twelve gods are dead. If I become a lackey of his followers, I will die too.

Pika was filled with grief, and then he heard the other party continue to ask: "Do you live around here?"

The goblin rolled his eyes and said flatteringly, "Yes, yes... But our goblin territory is dirty, smelly and small, and it is definitely not suitable for you to go there. I am willing to take you to the nearest town, and then use my life savings to book a hotel for you to have a good rest. Only the best hotel can be worthy of your status!"

Mason was unmoved: "No, take me to your resting place."

Pica was anxious: "Goblins live in groups. If I take you back, I will definitely be killed by the goblins!"

"Really? But you must be a wandering goblin."

"How do you know——"

Pika swallowed the cry of surprise, his face gloomy and uncertain, not knowing where he had given himself away. The human voice was faint: "Not only do I know that you live alone, but I also know that you stole something that you shouldn't have stolen, and you hid it in your resting place."

Pika was so frightened that he almost knelt down before him again: "You, you, you are a mercenary!?"

"No, but if you keep talking, I wouldn't mind doing a favor."

Under the naked threat, the goblin had no choice but to swallow his anger and walked sadly with the other party towards home. It wanted to throw the other party away, but it immediately calmed down after seeing the flowers and vines around it.

What can a small goblin do to fight a powerful holy man? The only one who gets hurt in the fight is himself. Pika looked for an opportunity to sneak away, but when he saw the iconic big stone in front of his home was just around the corner, he had to give up and quietly took the other party back home.

After going around the big rock and passing through a hidden forest, there is a cave behind the bushes on the mound, which is just big enough for the goblins to get in.

Pika was particularly careful about the safety of his hiding place, and he even ran a long way to eat and go to the bathroom. There was no dirt and mess here, as was common in goblin settlements, and it looked inconspicuous from a distance. The two of them arrived at the cave entrance, and Pika pointed at the cave and said carefully, "The things are in there, I'll take them out right now if you want them."

Mason stared at the tiny cave entrance for a moment. "What did you steal?"

"Don't you know what I stole?"

These were all tasks in the book, and Mason was still rushing back to see what was going on in the World Tree. He gave the other person a cold look, and the goblin, who had been making a lot of noise, suddenly became as quiet as a young wife, and said timidly, "I didn't steal anything..."

"I just stole, uh, stole..."

"Steal..."

"A small leaf...from the World Tree..."

Mason: “…”

Mason: What the hell?

He even spoke with his accent. Seeing Pika looking up at him in confusion, he quickly calmed down and said in a low voice, "Tell me from the beginning, where did you steal it from?"

Pika hesitated for a moment, a rare blush on his green face, and whispered, "Actually, I didn't steal it. I picked it up."