Goblin General Store

The busy crowd consisted mostly of merchants and peddlers, interspersed with commoner Adventurers clad in leather armor. City guards patrolled the streets at intervals, while in the distance, the towering spires of the castle and the majestic Temple of the Goddess of Agriculture—which rivaled the lord's own castle in grandeur—loomed over Giant Stone City.

After dismounting from the carriage and paying the shop steward the fare, Donald stood before the main gate street, reflecting on how the scene matched his memories. He then began walking toward the most prosperous commercial district of Giant Stone City, following the path he recalled.

The so-called commercial district was merely a name Donald had given it based on habits from his previous life. In reality, it was simply a bustling street lined almost entirely with shops, situated between the lord's castle and the various noble estates, and the residential area where wealthy merchants lived.

This commercial street lived up to its reputation as the wealthiest and most prosperous part of Giant Stone City. Not only were there ornate shops specializing in luxury goods for the nobility, but stores selling all manner of other wares also packed both sides of the street.

Although it was undoubtedly hundreds of years behind the bustling commercial streets of his past life, this was still the liveliest place Donald had seen in this world.

Perhaps because of the three men following him, they encountered no accidents or trouble along the way. As for the scenes of nobles bullying commoners that he had expected, those never materialized. Although they had swapped their steel armor and shields for lighter gear, the tall, sturdy trio—with fine longswords hanging at their waists that were clearly not for show—possessed an aura no ordinary warrior could match. At the very least, they had seen enough battle to kill many enemies, granting them a combat instinct that made ordinary people instinctively step aside to avoid trouble when they were in full state.

Donald ignored the bustling shops with their constant flow of customers and walked straight to a store at the end of the street, closest to the noble district.

The storefront was deserted, with not a single customer entering or leaving for a long time—an anomaly on such a busy street. Yet, passersby showed no signs of confusion; they knew this shop was the most mysterious Goblin magic store in Giant Stone City.

It was said that the magic store sold wondrous magical items and materials used by mages. Aside from mages, only nobles and powerful Professionals were considered qualified to enter. Others were unwelcome, and trespassers would be punished by mysterious magic.

Of course, Donald knew this was merely a rumor among commoners who feared mages and mysterious magical items. In reality, this Goblin shop, which only sold low-level alchemical items and basic spell materials, was not as heavily guarded as one might imagine.

Donald looked at the weathered facade, where a line of unrecognizable Goblin script was scrawled crookedly on a gray wooden sign. Without hesitation, he pushed the door open and strode inside.

Upon entering the shop that people called mysterious, Donald found it was nothing of the sort—it was just like an ordinary rural general store. Aside from the front, the other three sides were lined with wooden counters, leaving only a narrow gap in the middle, wide enough for a child under ten to pass through. On the walls behind the counters were rows of wooden shelves, cluttered with labeled goods.

Of course, unlike a regular general store, one could find all sorts of strange and bizarre items here. Things like bird feathers, bat wings, and toad skins were already quite odd, but there were also unknown substances inside crystal vials, some of which would make most ordinary people shudder at a single glance.

However, having seen much in his previous life and having watched countless horror movies, Donald found these things only slightly curious; he felt no real fear.

Just as Donald was observing the shop, a shrill voice came from behind.

"Where did this brat come from? Old Deli's general store isn't a place for brats like you to just wander into! Don't come bothering the great Goblin merchant Old Deli just to satisfy your curiosity. If you aren't buying anything, get out!"

Donald looked down and saw a green head topped with withered, yellow hair poking out from beneath the counter.

Seemingly feeling that Donald's height advantage had wounded his self-esteem, the green-skinned creature climbed onto a short wooden stool in a huff. Standing up, he reached Donald's chest height before waving his thin, claw-like hands impatiently.

"If you aren't buying, get out of Old Deli's shop! Wasting Old Deli's time is wasting money, unless you can pay enough Gold Sol!"

Judging by his demeanor, if not for the three tall men behind Donald, this Goblin boss would likely have tried to chase them out by force.

Donald wasn't angry; instead, he observed the shopkeeper, who called himself the Goblin merchant Old Deli, with interest.

Seeing a Goblin for the first time, Donald's first impression was that they were short, thin, and ugly.

Yet, these green-skinned little people were indeed a humanoid intelligent race in this world. Unlike their close relatives, the Wild Goblins—who possessed only rudimentary intelligence and lived by drinking blood and eating raw meat—or the naturally timid and cowardly Troglodytes, who had no merits other than farming, Goblins had used their intelligence to invent mechanical and alchemical technologies distinct from other races. In ancient times, they had even created a powerful Goblin technological civilization.

However, because their civilization violated the rules of this world, it triggered a global catastrophe, leading to the fall of the vast Goblin Empire. The Goblins, who believed in their own intellect rather than gods, received no divine protection and lost most of their population in the disaster; only a small fraction living in underground cities survived.

Furthermore, it was rumored that the surviving Goblins were punished by the gods for triggering the catastrophe. Most became low-intelligence Wild Goblins, with only a few retaining their wisdom and passing down some of the artifacts and technologies of the Goblin civilization.

Since then, aside from those in reclusive tribes, Goblins generally became vassals to other powerful races to ensure their survival. Apart from the arrogant Elves, the Dwarves, Orcs, and human factions all had affiliated Goblin groups that provided them with alchemical items and wondrous Goblin inventions.

It is worth mentioning that after several hundred years of development, a unique profession emerged among the surviving Goblins: the Goblin merchant.

As the most widespread commercial force in the world, Goblin merchants operated as individuals linked by their tribes, forming the Goblin Commercial Federation. They opened shops in almost every settlement of intelligent races, forming the prototype of a vast commercial network across the world. In human territories, some Goblin merchants even specialized in doing business with mages and nobles.

Goblin shops brought convenience to various intelligent races, and because the Goblins themselves were a weak race that posed no threat, the powerful races allowed them to exist. With the protection of the Goblin Commercial Federation, few factions dared to offend these green-skinned runts; those who did would never be able to buy a single item from a Goblin again.

Donald knew a thing or two about the shrewd, mercenary, and greedy nature of Goblin merchants, so he didn't show any weakness, his tone calm, confident, and firm.

"Goblin merchants are supposed to be the shrewdest of traders. Can you not even distinguish between a real customer and a troublemaker? If so, this Goblin shop is a great disappointment to me. Perhaps you are just a Wild Goblin masquerading as a merchant!"

The Goblin boss, Old Deli, roared in anger, shouting something in an unintelligible Goblin tongue.

Then, he shouted at Donald in the common human language with his signature shrill voice:

"Human! That is an insult to the great Goblin merchant Old Deli! Old Deli has run this shop in Giant Stone City for fifty years, longer than you have been alive! Any magical item available in the Kingdom of Selt can be found right here!"

Donald had been waiting for exactly those words. The simple provocation he had learned from his past life proved effective in this world as well, especially against a race like the Goblins, who were clever with their hands but possessed only a shallow, cunning wit when dealing with others.

"Then, great Goblin merchant, do you have any introductory books for mages?"

Donald's slightly skeptical tone felt like an insult to the Goblin merchant. To prove his greatness, Old Deli laughed with a sound like a screech.

"Hahaha! So you're a mage apprentice! Of course the great Goblin merchant has introductory books for mages. If you have thirty Gold Sol, you can take it!"

As he spoke, he produced a thick parchment book. To retaliate for the annoying human boy's mockery, the greedy Old Deli raised the price by five Gold Sol.

Unaware of this—and not caring even if he had known—Donald readily produced thirty Gold Sol and bought the thick, parchment-bound book. He declined the Goblin merchant's other sales pitches, only briefly browsing the spell items and tools he introduced, finding that their effects and power were not as strong as the items in the Book of Truth, and their prices were generally much higher.

Fifty-some Gold Sol was a massive fortune for Donald, who had been destitute for over a decade. But if he wanted to buy high-value magical items, this money would likely be exhausted after buying two of the most ordinary tools that could only cast two cantrips; it wasn't enough for him to spend recklessly here.

If he used these fifty Gold Sol to buy Elemental Crystals and then exchanged them for similar items in the Book of Truth, he could summon at least five or more secondary magical items. Those would be true magical items, far superior to the apprentice-level cantrip tools on the shelves before him.

Based on the item levels in the game, the Book of Truth categorized summoned items into three major tiers. Levels zero to three were ordinary magical items, level four and above were legendary creations, and level seven and above were sub-divine artifacts.

Ordinary magical items were divided into four levels: secondary, primary, intermediate, and advanced, corresponding only to the game's level zero to three items. This was similar to the equipment classification of this world, but not entirely the same. As for higher-level items, they were not something Donald could touch at the moment.

Consequently, Donald had no desire to buy anything else, as those things were useless to him. Soon, the group of four left the Goblin's magic general store. They didn't hire a carriage, instead heading to a quiet spot outside the city, where Donald used four Level 1 Magic Beast Cores to summon four warhorses.

Although human knights were powerful level 4 units, their warhorses, if unarmored, were equivalent to level 1 wild beasts. Level 1 Magic Cores were no longer a luxury for Donald; he didn't feel a pang of regret using one for travel.

As a noble, even a fallen one, Donald had received riding training as a child. Although he wasn't particularly skilled, basic riding for travel was manageable.

The only drawback was that the warhorses summoned from a single Magic Core did not come with saddles. After just half an hour of returning to the outskirts of Red Maple Town, Donald felt his legs burning with discomfort, and he couldn't help but curse the scenes of galloping on horseback in the movies and TV shows of his past life as lies. Although riding was much faster than a carriage, his backside simply couldn't endure the torture.

As for the trio of Clinton and his men, their riding skills were clearly not great, but their calm—or perhaps dull—personalities allowed them to endure the discomfort without a hint of the grimacing Donald was showing.

"It seems that procuring a high-quality carriage should be put on the agenda as soon as possible. Otherwise, if I don't want to hire someone else's carriage, I'll have to suffer this again!"

He led the warhorses to a hidden spot within the Red Maple Forest outside the town, silently chanting for the Book of Truth to recall the four steeds.

This was information conveyed to him by the Book of Truth through his consciousness; through his application of the Book of Truth over these past days, Donald had become increasingly proficient in using this artifact.

Generally, summoned creatures could be recalled by the Book of Truth before their summoning duration expired. Of course, the energy and residual soul power recovered would not be applied to summoning again; they could only be absorbed by the artifact itself, gradually enhancing its power and repairing the damage the Book of Truth had sustained during the spatial storm.

As a high-level artifact, beyond its summoning capabilities, its inherent power should also be formidable. At the very least, once the Book of Truth was repaired to a certain degree and restored to the power of a sub-artifact, under the influence of its rules and divine power, as the host and contractor of the artifact, he could basically ignore any ordinary attacks from those below the demigod level.

Of course, restoring it in this manner required a massive amount of energy—an amount that even a Kingdom would likely be unable to bear!

Therefore, whenever his summoned creatures were no longer useful but still had remaining time, Donald would try his best to recover some energy to accelerate the restoration of the Book of Truth.