Unsurprisingly, or surprisingly, Clink chose to follow Elijah unwillingly. After Elijah gave his ultimatum, Clink once again fiercely rejected the idea of following him. Naturally, he had to suffer the consequences.

“Ahh!” Clink cried out in pain as he grabbed his head with both hands.

Being a slave didn’t mean Clink would be magically forced to do whatever Elijah said. However, it did mean Clink would experience a great deal of pain if he ever disobeyed or refused to follow an official command from Elijah. The ultimatum Elijah gave Clink was akin to giving an official command.

“Ahh! Aaahhh!”

Clink dropped to his knees as he continued to scream in pain. Elijah wore a complicated expression as he listened to the goblin scream. Hearing the pain and fear in Clink’s voice made Elijah very uncomfortable.

This was the first time Elijah actually had to deal with one of his slaves going against his commands. The goblins were used to being slaves, and Elijah and the other villagers never had to use an official command to get them to do what they asked. This was the first time Elijah had to deal with what it meant to be a slave master.

“AAHHHHHH!”

In Elijah’s mind, making someone his slave in Fallen Heaven was a way for him to get them to do what he wanted without going through the effort of convincing them. To him, it was like getting someone to do what you asked because you were a boss in the workforce or because you held a position of authority in the military. Although he knew he could punish his slaves for disobedience, he never thought they would experience anything greater than a small shock that would stop them from moving. His mind definitely never went to anything like whips and torture.

“AAHHHH! AAAHHHHHH!!!”

Nonetheless, Elijah was the supreme ruler. He needed to have the willpower to do things that others dare not do. He needed to be able to harden his heart and make the tough choices.

“AAAHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Elijah deactivated the punishment. After five seconds of pain, Clink lay curled up on the ground, exhausted and panting. Elijah did his best to adjust his emotions as he looked at Clink’s green body that was covered in sweat, dirt, and animal fur.

Once he calmed down Elijah lifted his head and looked at the goblin watching from a distance. Clink’s screams of pain attracted the attention of the goblins outside and more goblins were drawn to the area. There were various expressions on the goblins’ faces, but the most common two were fear and caution.

“Hello everyone.” Elijah stepped around Clink that was panting in the dirt and walked forward to speak to everyone in the goblin language. “Clink and I just had a pleasant conversation about the future of the goblins.” Elijah put on what he hoped was a pleasant and reassuring smile. “First, I would like to apologize for the mistake I made. I wasn’t aware that hunting was an important part of goblin culture. As a show of sincerity, I will personally be leading a group of goblins into the forest tonight.”

Immediately, all the goblins in the area burst into an excited chatter. Even the goblins that were displaying fear and caution on their faces were excited about the news. Elijah let the chatter continue for a few seconds before he continued to speak.

“To avoid drawing too much attention, I will only be bringing fifty goblins with me. You guys can decide who will be joining me on your own. Make sure you’re ready to leave and are at the village exit within fifty minutes.”

Once Elijah finished speaking, he began to leave the area and he planned to look for Elder Jeb or one of the other elders. However, before Elijah could leave the area, he heard the goblins breaking into an uproar behind him. Turning to look, he saw that the goblins were fighting over the fifty positions.

Literally. The goblins were punching kicking and biting each other as they fought over who would be going to hunt. It was like a group of green skinned fifth graders suddenly breaking into a battle royale. Elijah couldn’t help but pause when he saw this sight.

After a brief hesitation, Elijah decided not to interfere. He already said he would let them decide on their own. He would be going back on his words if he decided to interfere now.

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Plus, it wasn’t like the goblins were going to kill each other. At most, the goblins would give each other several bruises, but no serious injuries. With that thought, Elijah resumed walking away. However, a frown appeared on his face shortly after.

“There injuries might make it harder for them to fight later,” Elijah paused and thought to himself. A moment later Elijah shrugged his shoulders and continued moving. “Well, it’s not like I forced them to fight. I can just call off the hunt and try again tomorrow night. They can only blame themselves for being too violent.”

Elijah decided to head to Elder Jeb’s home first. If Elder Jeb was still cultivating, then Elijah would have to look for someone else. Thankfully Elder Jeb recently finished cultivating and was making some tea.

When Elijah arrived, Elder Jeb welcomed him with open arms. Elder Jeb let Elijah sit down and started to engage in small talk. Elijah quickly directed the conversation to the goblins. He told Elder Jeb about his recent interaction with the goblins and let him know what he planned to do.

“The beasts are a lot more dangerous at night,” Elder Jeb said. “I don’t think you should take such a big risk to satisfy the desires of those goblins. Besides, I think the goblins might be lying. We never had trouble getting food for all the villagers by hunting during the day. It would be better if you ignored what they said and go out after the sunrises.”

“Clink might not be lying, but it wouldn’t matter even if he was.” Elijah replied. “There are plenty of beasts that are good at hiding during the day and only come out at night. We need to kill them before they become too powerful.”

“The beasts that are active at night are different from the beasts that are active during the day.” Elder Jeb took a sip of his tea before he disagreed. “The dark beasts focus on killing and eating other beasts to increase their strength, so they aren’t as concerned about being in an environment that is rich in astral energy. It’s best to focus on hunting beasts during the day. By hunting beasts during the day, the demonic beast will have less beasts to kill and we won’t have to worry about them becoming a threat.”

The villagers used various names to describe the beast active at night. Elijah heard them describe the beast as evil, demonic, dark and yin. The name wasn’t too important. What was important was that the beast active at night were more violent and bloodthirsty than the beasts active during the day.

“Okay, but once they run out of beasts to kill won’t they focus their attention on the village.”

“Probably, but we should have an easier time dealing with them once they leave the forest. With the village walls I’m sure we can deal with a large number of beasts or a few beasts at the first tier.” After a pause Elder Jeb continued with a smile on his face. “Besides I don’t think we will have to worry about tier one beast in the next few days.”

“How close are you?” Elijah’s voice contained joy and expectation.

Several of the best astral stones that Kento and his clan members mined were given to Elder Jeb to help his cultivation. Astral stones didn’t increase the quantity of astral energy Elder Jeb could absorb and it didn’t increase his absorption speed. However, the astral stones allowed Elder Jeb to cultivate for a longer period of time before his body and mind needed to rest.

Pulling astral energy from the environment puts a strain on a cultivator’s physique. Even if a cultivator recovered their physical and mental energy their physique would still need time to rest after absorbing astral energy for a long period of time. At least, that’s how things worked for the NPCs.

Astral stones helped reduce that strain by having all the astral energy needed for cultivation in one nearby stone. Reducing the strain meant a cultivator could have longer cultivation sessions. Longer cultivation sessions meant that a cultivator could increase their cultivation faster than others.

“All I know for sure is that I should finish cultivating the ninth stage of the Twilight Foundation cultivation technique by tomorrow. The tenth stage will take me more time, but I should have it completed within five days at most. I’m hoping that I will complete it in two days.”

“That’s great. After you reach the Qi Condensation realm, Kento and his people will be even less inclined to cause trouble.”

“Yes. I’m sure we would be able to defend ourselves if we fought them right now, but it’s best if we could avoid any battles.”

“Alright I should get going.” Elijah stood with a smile on his face. “The goblins should have finished gathering by now.”

Elder Jeb responded with a frown. “You’re still going?”

Elijah felt a little embarrassed when he heard Elder Jeb’s question. Although he appreciated Elder Jeb’s advice, his mind was already set on taking the goblins into the forest. He wanted to use the hunting trip to increase his connection with the goblins. Plus, he thought it would be fun.

“Yeah, but only for tonight. I think it’s a good idea for us to take a look and understand the situation in the forest at night. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on traveling too far into the forest.”

Elder Jeb opened his mouth to argue but let out a sigh instead. “A young man can’t be kept at home,” Elder Jeb thought to himself. “I should hold my tongue. He is the Chief of the village now, and he has already proved that he’s capable of protecting himself. Besides, there are many villagers that have gone into the forest at night and returned safely, so I’m sure that Eli can do the same. I doubt that anything will go wrong.”

“Fine, but I’ll advise you to exercise caution and prioritize your life first if something goes wrong.” Elder Jeb told Elijah.

“Heh, don’t worry,” Elijah replied with an arrogant smile. “If I want to run away, I don’t think there’s anything in the forest that could stop me.” On that note Elijah said his final goodbyes and went to the north side of the village.