Negotiations

Looking at the monster leaders around him and the underlings behind them, Xiao Yu suddenly felt that the scene resembled a negotiation between mob bosses.

"Little goblin, you're a new face. How come Kerrigan didn't come?" Hogger was the first to speak. The enormous gnoll seemed to have known the old chief.

"Heh heh, our old chief is dead. The Mud Hole Tribe belongs to me, Eric, now."

"Hmph. All you goblins look the same to me," Black?Rod said coldly.

"Er, Chief Eric, may I ask why you called us here?" Big Gold Tooth asked timidly, casting a cautious glance at Hogger as he spoke. Kobolds had always been oppressed and enslaved by gnolls, so whenever anything happened, they had to listen to Hogger.

"Well, of course there's something important to discuss. I recently came up with a startling plan, and I'd like the three of you to take part."

"A plan? What plan?" Judging by their reactions, they clearly didn't believe a little goblin chief could have a startling plan.

"The plan is to attack Nightwhisper Village."

It was a truly shocking proposal. "What?!" All three leaders were stunned by Xiao Yu's suggestion and thought they had misheard him. For as long as they could remember, adventurers had been the ones who formed parties to attack their monster camps. Since when could monsters attack the villages and towns where adventurers lived?

"You've got to be joking," Hogger said, somewhat annoyed. "Th-this is impossible!"

"What, are you scared?" Xiao Yu sneered at Hogger.

Seemingly feeling slighted, Hogger let out a low growl. "Hmph! Hogger is never scared! Hogger is the strongest!"

"Don't bother denying it. I know you're scared. There's nothing shameful about it, in fact. The night elves' forces are indeed far stronger than ours. Even a single village is stronger than any one of our tribes, but as long as we join forces, we can defeat them and take Nightwhisper Village."

"But even if we join forces and take Nightwhisper Village, what's in it for us?" Black?Rod asked with a sneer.

Asking about the benefits right off the bat sounded very much like something a player would do. Still, Xiao Yu couldn't be certain that Black?Rod was a player. Generally, if a monster had a very strange name, like Li Goudan, Wang Ermazi, or Deep Affection, Misty Rain, you could pretty much be sure it was being played by a player.

Professional players, however, generally chose names that fit the style of the game, making it hard to tell at a glance whether they were NPCs or players. Just like the name Eric that Xiao Yu had chosen-usually, only NPCs would use a name like that.

Xiao Yu glanced at the bandit and sent him a message: "Player?" Only players could receive that message. Xiao Yu watched his face, and sure enough, Black?Rod's expression changed. He nodded discreetly, having never expected the goblin in front of him to be a player.

Xiao Yu sent a message to Hogger and Big Gold Tooth as well, but both came back saying no such person could be found. It seemed those two were NPCs.

Xiao Yu sighed inwardly. It would have been better if they were all players, but the situation was a little difficult as it stood. As he was pondering this, another message suddenly arrived.

Derek (gnoll vanguard officer): "I'm a player. You talk, I'll listen."

Xiao Yu glanced behind Hogger and, sure enough, spotted a rather unusual-looking gnoll. He wore black leather armor, held a machete in each hand, and carried a back banner bearing the wolf-fang emblem of the gnoll tribe. His name was Derek (gnoll vanguard officer), and his silver border marked him as a rare elite.

Xiao Yu felt much more reassured. Derek seemed likely to be a player too. Though he hadn't become the leader, he appeared to be second in command and should have had at least some influence.

He explained, "You must know that if we want to level up, we can do it just like adventurers, by killing monsters. But if we want to advance our templates, we need reputation points. So how do we get reputation points?

"Since you've managed to level up to rare elite, you've probably already discovered that killing named monsters or NPCs earns a small amount of reputation. But advancing that way is too slow. An ordinary monster needs 100 reputation points to advance to rare elite, which you've already achieved, but a rare elite needs 300 points to advance to elite. That's not so easy to reach.

"Look at my elite template. You must be wondering why I have an elite template when I've only been in the game for a few days. I've only been playing for three or four days, after all. It's actually very simple: I was able to earn so much reputation because I completed two story events.

"Story events?" Derek immediately looked puzzled. "What do you mean by story events?" he asked. Black?Rod, meanwhile, looked thoughtful.

Xiao Yu understood at once. It seemed Black?Rod knew about story events, but Derek probably didn't know what they were.

"It's simple. They're events that happen in the game's story, events between monsters and NPCs. For example, monsters attacking a city, a hero seizing a piece of territory, or the Alliance and the Horde going to war-things like that, which can be recorded in the Firmament Chronicle."

"If you take part in a story event and play a role in it, you'll earn reputation points. The greater and more conspicuous your role, the more reputation you'll naturally earn."

"Take my proposal this time. If I led the Mud Hole Tribe to take Nightwhisper Village by myself and killed every night elf there, I could earn around 1,000 reputation points—and that's just from the story event. Add the reputation from killing those named NPCs, and I could basically advance straight to a boss template."

"Of course, I'm not strong enough to do that at the moment, so I settled for the next best thing and asked you to help. As the saying goes, everyone who sees it gets a share. When there are benefits to be had, it's better to share the fun than enjoy it alone. If we take Nightwhisper Village together, even after the reputation is divided up, each of us could get a few hundred points. That's enough for you to advance from rare elite to an elite template."

"I see," Derek said, suddenly enlightened. After entering the game, he had stumbled his way into advancing to a rare elite template, but he had been completely baffled about how he had done it. Hearing Xiao Yu's explanation now was like seeing the sun through parting clouds, and he couldn't wait to lead the gnoll area in an attack on Nightwhisper Village.

But then he grew worried. "Will the system allow it, though? We're talking about attacking a newbie village, after all. It's full of adventurer players who paid money. If I slaughter them, will the system allow it?"

"Hmph, you don't understand. In fact, the game company won't just refrain from stopping it; they'll be happy to see something like this happen."