The southern border of the goblin village is a pretty hard-to-handle position. It is a pretty impractical defense if I say so. I would rather have used multiple walls, along with armies of undead to hold against this bunch rather than use a single wall with all the forces concentrated in this way. When you deal with overwhelming forces, it is always wise to have a backup plan.

A single wall is both costlier and harder to maintain, especially if there is a formation engraved on the wall. Then again, these are not assumptions that I should make without knowing the full picture.

The goblin village is like a small plateau with the mountains up to the north and grasslands down to the south.

The major problem in the southern fields is the dens in those areas. It seems dens are the location where most of the beasts that populate the grasslands are created. There are tons of these dens in the place.

Normally the beasts of each den tend to be busy fighting each other. It looks like l came in at the wrong time. They are entering something known as the hunting season. All the dens are working in overdrive producing a ton of monsters and simply put the grasslands are too small for all the monsters that are fighting in the grasslands. So they all tend to escape into the surrounding region and the inhospitable environment of the mountains does little to make them not come to this place.

That means that a very large number of beasts are going to attack the southern walls and it is supposed to be my duty to help in whatever manner that I can.

Right now I am traveling to that area with the goblin mage. She is a skilled elemental mage, I will give her that much. I saw her combining earth magic and wind magic to create a platform for us to travel on.

It is still pretty rudimentary, but it is a pretty impressive sight, especially with my mana sense. Elemental combination tends to be very complex in any world. Even I have yet to figure it out and I consider myself to be something of a genius in mana manipulations. Then again, I was never really allowed any chance to settle in a world to hone my skills. The longest I Have been in a single world has been two years, if you do not consider my birth world, which did not have any mana.

Anyway, this leaves me with a lot to worry about. I don't know exactly what I am supposed to be doing here and just how dangerous it is going to be.

I don't understand the logic of the elder, but he gave up most of the southern walls to me and way too easily at that, and that leaves me very worried. It simply does not make sense that a man would be so willing to give up on his freedom so easily. Well, I am not the person that should speak about giving up freedoms. We need a contract to survive in a world.

Now there is no real need to dig up about my past, which is a messy matter to even start with. Anyway, to speak the truth, I have no idea what is happening with my abilities. I can still record, which is one of my core abilities as a world hopper. Well, that is not something I should think too much of. Sometimes it is better not to open the pandora's box. That type of thing should be left to when I have a more stable position.

let's engage in some conversation with the goblin mage. She still treats me with a lot of suspicions, then again the mages normally do not tend to be very trusting folks.

Me- how will you even hold back such a large number of enemies. You would need a powerful formation to deal with the number of beasts that goblin knight had told me about.

Goblin mage- we have a formation, which allows us to deal with most of the weaker ones, but against the stronger ones, we need to use our troops to deal with them. Using the formation would be a waste of time and energy for them.

Me- what is the formation that you are using and the main element that you are using with the formation. Do you have a method to repair any damage done to the formation?

Goblin mage- well, the formation mainly has a fire element, and to repair the damage done to the formation, we have a squad of formation masters to deal with this damage done to the formation.

Me- all of that is very interesting, but what is it that I am going to do. As far as I can say, you have barely any purpose for a weakling like me.

Goblin mage- well, I do need somebody to take a look at the black water swamp. That is something you and your troop will have to take care of.

For those that have forgotten, I was promised a troop of nameless ones and a named one to be my guards.

Goblin mage- you see, the black water swamp has always been an annoying place to deal with. It is controlled by the night wolves, who are masters of stealth. They are capable of even hiding from the elder. They only tend to reveal their presence to a bunch of weaklings. So we often send nameless troops to act as a check. At the very least we have a basic idea as to what is happening.

Me- so you want me to go and act as bait, to attract these creatures, or for me to act as a scarecrow to keep these bunch in control.

Goblin mage- not exactly, what I want you to do is to go and figure out their strength. Now, the night wolves are not particularly powerful creatures especially in direct fighting, so you will most likely face a bunch of ambushes in their lands. It will be good testing of you and your fighting ability.

Me- well, what troops will I be given. Judging from your words, it will not be something I am going to like.

She says while shrugging her shoulder

Goblin mage- well, you will have a troop of nameless ones. Now all of them are step 0 beings, with not one of them knowing magic. While that is the case, they are also the troop with the most potential among my nameless troop. They will make for very good Guards and they are pretty talented in weapon wielding.

Me- well, at least they have the potential. I am more of a solo fighter anyway. Anyway, I am about to enter meditation right now. If I am going to be dealing with ambushes then I am going to need my rest.

The goblin in front of me just waves her hands, which I take to be a yes.

Anyway, I sit down and take a deep breath, feeling the mana in the air as the world around me fades away.

Meditation is a necessity for being like me and honestly, most living things end up in a non-living body. Our souls are like any organ of our body, even it needs rest.

With an organic body, all you need to do is sleep and everything is fine, your souls get rested and everything is fine.

With an inorganic body or if you are undead, this tends to be a cause of annoyance. An undead does not need to rest, but if an undead were to stay awake forever sooner or later he will begin to feel the side effects.

He will find that mana is nearly impossible to control, even the one that is present in his own body.

If even more time were to pass, he would lose control over any mana that he has and once he does lose control of the mana in his body, he is nothing more than a glorified firecracker. There are creepier side effects, one which I would rather not talk about. I have no wish to spoil my mood.

As a world hopper, I have been in many bodies that do not need any sleep, so I have to learn something like meditation, or I will end up dead if I were to enter the wrong body.

Anyway, I am entering into meditation, which means that I will not be able to maintain my recordings for too long. I do wonder if I will be able to though, entering into meditation is hard enough in a silent room with nobody around. It is a thousand times harder when you are whizzing through the air on a platform made of mana.

(The next day)

Well, we have finally reached the southern walls and my thoughts proved to be correct. Maintaining a single wall is a pretty impractical idea.

The wall is not particularly large, roughly about twice my size. For the goblins, it must seem massive. The only thing that is worthy of interest is the mana patterns that I can see on the wall.

I had not expected goblins to be able to make such advanced formations on something as large as a wall. Suddenly, I can feel the weird vibration in my body as the elder speaks.

Elder bone- so what do you think of our walls. They are one of our most impressive works. Even I did not expect it to turn out so nicely. Continuous assault from wild beasts is not a very good idea for long-term projects like this.

Me- it is pretty good if I am, to be honest, but a single wall in such a region is very risky. If it falls, there should be some kind of a backup wall or something. Putting everything on a single wall is a pretty stupid idea.

Elder bone- don't mention it to goblin mage. It pisses her off. She barely trusts you as it is.

Me- it is a good suggestion. I am sure that you can convince her, even if I can't do anything.

Elder bone- I could have if goblin knight had not given that suggestion already. You have seen how those two fight. I have no interest in having a civil war and I leave goblin mage to do her thing, especially in the southern borders. Messing with her is a stupid idea for now, especially when the hunting season is so close.

Me- well, it is the politics of your land. We world hoppers don't mess with these things. I gave a suggestion, that is all.

Elder bone- well, you will have to take charge of whatever troop that I will be given. You will also have to remember that the troops that you are going to command are also meant to keep an eye on you. I won't be surprised if there are spies in your group. At the very least, with me here there shall be no assassination.

Me- you are pretty open with a creature that you have seen from another world. I have never been warned by a creature about his troops.

Elder bone- in a manner of speaking, I am like you and I am a necromancer. I trust contracts more than I trust in the respect that my kind gives me. Anyway, I will most likely be sleeping for at least seven weeks. The goblins have a tendency of underestimating the strength of the night wolves. I will have to warn you to be careful of these creatures.

There was something in his voice, an edge I think that warned me to shut my mouth.

Me- sure, you are the one giving the commands in the group. Anyway, it is time for me to take my leave. I have a troop to meet.