Chapter 105: There’s or mine

For hours, Jackson followed a ruthlessly simple routine.

He would locate a goblin horde, slaughter every member he could find, collect their monster cores, and retreat somewhere safe to recover his spiritual force. Once he had regained enough strength, he would resume the hunt and repeat the entire process.

There was no hesitation, no wasted movement, and certainly no mercy....

At first, he had been cautious, carefully assessing each encounter before deciding how to proceed. But as the hours passed, his actions grew increasingly decisive. He no longer needed to spend as much time evaluating his opponents. Ordinary goblins posed little threat to him now, and even larger groups struggled to withstand his attacks.

The forest gradually became his hunting ground.

Every successful kill strengthened him a little further. The Aura of Absolute Slaughter continued increasing both his primary attributes, steadily improving his physical capabilities and spiritual force. The gains from individual kills were barely noticeable, but the effects accumulated with every passing moment.

Without realizing it, Jackson was steadily approaching the peak of the Third Sequence.

If anyone from Golden Radiance Academy could see what was happening, they would undoubtedly be stunned.

Countless geniuses had spent years cultivating to reach the peak of the Third Sequence, only to become trapped at that final bottleneck. Despite possessing extraordinary talents and access to resources that ordinary Awakened could only dream of, they remained unable to take the final step toward the Fourth Sequence.

Yet Jackson was steadily closing that distance through a combination of relentless slaughter, monster cores, and abilities that defied conventional cultivation.

Of course, Jackson had little interest in contemplating how extraordinary his progress might appear to others.

He had more important matters to attend to.

His immediate goal was to reinforce the boundary wall surrounding his spiritual space and begin engraving the runes required for his next breakthrough.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to devote all his attention to the process. The Aura of Absolute Slaughter was doing much of the heavy lifting, continuously improving his attributes as his kill count increased. Meanwhile, the monster cores he collected supplied the energy needed to strengthen his spiritual boundary.

The two processes complemented each other perfectly.

With every passing hour, his cultivation advanced. His attributes climbed steadily toward the one-hundred mark, and the boundary surrounding his spiritual space grew stronger under the repeated nourishment of the Shadow Titan Nurturing Method.

For Jackson, every goblin he killed represented another step forward.

And he had no intention of stopping until he had gathered enough resources to achieve his goal.

A large crater stretched across the forest floor.

The surrounding earth had been torn apart by repeated impacts, leaving deep furrows and jagged depressions scattered across the clearing. Broken trees lay at awkward angles around its edges, their shattered branches mixed with clumps of soil and crushed vegetation.

At the center of the devastation stood Jackson.

His clothes were soaked in blood, and dark stains covered his arms and face. Blood dripped from the edge of his weapon, occasionally striking the ground beneath his feet.

All around him lay the butchered corpses of goblins.

Some had fallen near the crater’s edge, while others were scattered across the broken earth. The sheer number of bodies made it difficult to find an undisturbed patch of ground. Blood had seeped into the soil, turning the earth a dark crimson, while the metallic stench of fresh blood mingled with the rancid smell of cooling corpses.

The air was thick and unpleasant.

For an ordinary person, remaining in such a place for long would have been unbearable. The sight alone would have been enough to turn their stomach, while the overwhelming stench might have driven them away.

Jackson, however, appeared completely unaffected.

His eyes remained calm as he surveyed the battlefield. There was no excitement in his expression, no trace of disgust, and no visible hesitation as he looked at the fallen goblins.

Some of the creatures had died with their faces twisted in fury. Others lay with expressions of terror, their final moments seemingly frozen in their features.

A few had even appeared to plead for their lives.

Jackson’s gaze passed over them without changing.

To an outsider, his indifference might have made him seem cruel, perhaps even frighteningly detached from the suffering around him.

But that wasn’t the whole truth.

Jackson hadn’t become this way because he enjoyed killing, nor was he some bloodthirsty psychopath who took pleasure in watching others suffer.

The world had simply taught him a lesson that was difficult to forget.

For years, humanity had endured the invasion of monsters. Cities had fallen, families had been torn apart, and countless people had lost their lives to creatures that showed little regard for human suffering.

Jackson had grown up in the shadow of that terror.

He had seen what the monsters could do. He knew how quickly a peaceful life could be destroyed and how helpless ordinary people became when faced with an enemy they couldn’t fight.

Even his own family had paid the price.

His father had sacrificed his life.

That loss had left a mark on Jackson that time alone could never erase. It had forced him to confront the cruelty of a world where weakness could cost everything, where hesitation could mean death, and where the people one loved might disappear without warning.

He had learned to guard his emotions because allowing them to control his decisions could put his life at risk.

That didn’t mean he had forgotten what it meant to be human.

It meant he had learned that survival sometimes demanded choices others would find difficult to understand.

Jackson lowered his gaze toward the corpses surrounding him.

His expression remained unchanged.

In this world, the goblins were enemies of humanity, and every one he killed brought him closer to the strength he needed. He wasn’t going to let guilt over their final expressions distract him from that reality.

He still had a goal to achieve.

He still needed to become stronger.

And until he possessed enough power to protect what remained of his family, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down.

Jackson tightened his grip on his weapon and turned toward the forest ahead.

There were still more goblins to hunt.

Jackson shook his head, pushing the useless thoughts out of his mind. There was no point dwelling on them now.

He muttered under his breath, "It’s their life or mine."

Just as he was about to move, several flashes of light suddenly erupted from behind him.

Arrows!

Multiple arrows shot out from a concealed position, their sharp tips glinting as they tore through the air at astonishing speed. They were aimed directly at Jackson, leaving almost no time to react.

Yet before the arrows could reach him, five alloyed knives shot into their path.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Metallic impacts rang through the forest as the knives intercepted the incoming arrows, knocking them off course. A few fell harmlessly to the ground, while others spun away into the undergrowth.

Jackson’s expression remained unchanged.

He gave a cold snort and flicked his fingers.

The five knives immediately changed direction, streaking toward the place where the arrows had originated. They moved like a swarm of venomous insects, their sharp edges flashing between the trees as they descended upon the hidden attackers.

Puchi!

A muffled impact was followed by a sharp scream. Moments later, the forest fell silent again.

Jackson didn’t even bother checking the results. This wasn’t the first time hidden goblins had tried to ambush him, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Every time, the outcome had been the same.