Chapter 10

"Despicable elf, where has your grace gone, to defame the great Crowley? Crowley's goods are the best on the entire continent," the goblin raged, quickly getting into an argument with Lu Li.

"Who knows if your waterlogged brain has even left the house, you stinking scum, you should have lived in the sewers all your life... Stop insulting the word 'great'!"

Lu Li was not about to back down, and a myriad of insults spewed from his mouth, lunging at the poor goblin merchant.

From time to time, the system's prompt echoed in his ears:

You have insulted the goblin merchant Crowley, reducing your reputation with the goblin race by 5 points.

You have insulted the goblin merchant Crowley, reducing your reputation with the goblin race by 5 points.

...

You have insulted the goblin merchant Crowley, reducing your reputation with the goblin race by 5 points, changing your reputation from friendly to neutral...

After becoming neutral, Crowley's goods would no longer be available to Lu Li and his teammates, but Lu Li had no intention of stopping and instead cursed even more fiercely.

"I heard that insulting NPCs might lead to attacks from them," Lanhai Feng swallowed hard, looking at Crowley's level with fear, which clearly read 53.

Moreover, any named NPC was at least an elite template, and might even be a boss.

"Probably one move could wipe us all out," Beitan Maomao was almost in tears, having just gained 2% experience at level 4, and dying would definitely cause a level drop.

"What is Lu Li up to..."

Lu Li's new teammates all took a step back.

The poor goblin merchant, whose intelligence was mainly used to extract gold from players' pockets, had no idea how to engage in a verbal duel.

"The great Crowley curses you, despicable elf," he screamed, "You will be torn apart by goblin cannons like a beast, and your despicable name will be spread in every corner of the continent..."

System: You have insulted the goblin merchant Crowley, reducing your reputation with the goblin race by 5 points, changing your reputation to hatred...

"Alright, Lanhai, start the fight, everyone go all out," Lu Li caught his breath and turned to his stunned teammates.

Lanhai Feng had a bitter face, "Brother, can I call you brother? I haven't offended you, and today I even saved you 10% experience, why are you doing this to me?"

"Shut up and fight!" Lu Li was speechless, waving his dagger at Crowley.

-1!

Almost simultaneously, a green +1 floated up.

However, although the damage was small, Crowley's reaction was astonishing. He screamed helplessly, like a girl being violated.

Lu Li ignored it, focusing on chasing after Crowley and stabbing him repeatedly.

The others gradually realized the trick; the goblin merchant did not retaliate and was particularly slow due to his heavy load.

But even without retaliation, what could be done when he regained as much health as he lost, almost instantly!

"Don't just stand there, attack quickly, we still have a dungeon to run!"

The others hesitated for a moment, then finally attacked Crowley.

The moment they attacked, they were in tears.

System: Due to your attack on the goblin merchant Crowley, your reputation with the goblin race has changed to hatred...

"Lu Li, why don't you just die!" Lanhai Feng really wanted to cry: offending an entire race, how could he continue playing the game!

Goblins belong to the neutral faction, known for their trade and scroll making, and are a major race in the traditional sense.

The others' expressions were not good, but they were relatively restrained.

"Don't worry, the goblin race's reputation is very easy to improve. Just find a wild goblin NPC, give them a few gold coins, and you can restore your reputation," Lu Li reassured them.

The others were speechless, unsure if it was because they didn't believe it or found it incredible.

"It's a small bug, but it's hard to reach exalted status," Lu Li explained further.

The goblin race's reputation is the easiest to improve, as long as you have money, you can quickly boost it. However, even exalted status with goblins is not very useful, as greedy goblins won't give you a single gold coin less just because you are exalted.

"That's incredible, can we just kill goblins and get equipment at will?" Beitan Meng quickly put aside his concerns and even began to dream of making money by killing NPCs.

"Not every NPC is as easy to bully as Crowley, he seems to be a special case. We might never see this cute little goblin again."

"We can't kill him, he regenerates too quickly," Beijiu Duzhuo said.

"I never intended to kill him," Lu Li said calmly, "Keep attacking, we're almost there."

After screaming for a while, Crowley finally couldn't take it anymore. He roared at the group, grabbed something from his backpack, and threw it at Lu Li's head.

Lu Li quickly picked it up, continuing his attacks.

Small healing potion, instantly restores 50 health points, no combat restrictions, 30-second cooldown, 20 resistance.

The resistance index can be understood as follows: if the resistance is 80, the next use of the same type of potion will have 20% reduced effect and a 20% increased cooldown.

The lower the resistance, the better.

A 20 resistance potion is quite poor, but in the current situation where everyone can only use bread to recover health outside of combat, being able to instantly restore 50 health points in battle is already quite impressive.

When Lu Li shared the potion's attributes with the team, everyone was immediately motivated.

After throwing one item, after a few dozen seconds, Crowley found his load still heavy and had to continue throwing.

Unfortunately, it was still a potion, and the next three throws were also potions. After the NPC threw five potions, he clearly couldn't run away easily and screamed, "Crowley will not let you go, you will face the wrath of the great goblins!"

Then, a black object hit Beitan Maomao's head. The little girl screamed and quickly picked it up, then exclaimed in surprise after a moment, "Oh, bronze equipment!"

Whisperer (Bronze): Damage 10-18, Intelligence +2, Level requirement 4, Durability 17/20.

What a great bronze staff!

"Awooo," Lanhai Feng howled like a wolf, and everyone attacked even more fiercely.

After futilely throwing a few more potions, the goblin merchant threw another piece of bronze equipment at Lu Li.

Night Leather Armor (Bronze): Armor 8, Constitution +1, Level requirement 4, Durability 11/20.

The attributes were average, not as good as the staff, but none of Lu Li's group cared. This was armor equipment, essential for survival in dungeons.

After losing two pieces of equipment, the goblin merchant finally stopped moving slowly and could run.

"Beitan Maomao, Entangle!" Lu Li shouted.

Beitan Maomao, being called out, quickly fumbled but instinctively cast the druid's entangle skill on Crowley.

Success, 3-second control.

Another potion!

"Lanhai!"

Smash, charge stun, 2 seconds, potion!

Smash, shield bash stun, 2 seconds, potion!

Beitan Meng, understanding the situation, immediately charged to block the goblin merchant's path as soon as he recovered from the stun.

Unfortunately, another potion!

Beitan Meng and the others began to despair, watching the goblin Crowley about to escape.