Game of the World Tree

In this area, there was once a thriving patch of pristine woodland, which was ideal for harvesting construction resources. The towering trees within it exhibited remarkable height and impeccable structural integrity, while boasting a subtle aroma known to enhance concentration and calm the mind.

Players who turned in this specific type of wood would then be rewarded by Alice with additional EXP and contribution points, serving as a highly appealing target for the daily task of wood collection.

As a result, once the location was shared upon the official forum by the players who had discovered it, the rest of the players have also began cutting down trees in this area for their wood gathering task.

Over time, the players constant logging had gradually depleted the woodland, leaving it bare and devoid of trees…

Even on the day when Evé made a recovery, as nature began its regenerative process with numerous small saplings sprouting once more, they were still swiftly harvested by the second batch of beta-testers who mainly replanted these saplings as roadside vegetation for the City of Chosen Ones.

However, despite the area being completely deforested and transformed into a vast open land, the soil still retained exceptional fertility from its previous state as a pristine woodland. This made it an ideal place for players to cultivate crops.

Due to the inherent magical affinity of the elves, many individuals within their own kind naturally become druids.

While planting crops may be a time-consuming and arduous task for ordinary humans, players with nature-based magic such as druids have the advantage of expediting the entire process.

After obtaining the seeds from the human smugglers as rewards, Little Salty Cat handed them over to the players in charge of life-oriented department¹ within her guild, asking them to take on the relevant sidequests and try growing them.

The seeds obtained by their guildmaster, Salty Cat have three variants. After appraising them, they were determined to be Maniya Plain Wheat, Maniya Quick-Growing Rice, and Aries Sweet Potatoes.

Plain wheat and quick-growing rice are the main agricultural products of the human societies within Saigües and have a long history of cultivation.

These smuggled goods which had been recognized by Nightingale who had stayed in human society, were very likely to be the latest crop breeds specifically bred by the official magic association of the Holy Maniya Empire, which have been widely circulated within the human society as of late!

As for the third type, Aries Sweet Potatoes, they resemble potatoes back on earth, but they are more grayish in color and have a sweeter taste than normal potatoes.

It is said that this is an otherworldly crop from another realm that was introduced into human society by a legendary magician from Ariel Kingdom before the passage between realms was closed thousands of years ago.

Due to its high yield, this crop quickly became widely cultivated within human society and was embraced by the common people as their primary food staple.

However, unlike regular potatoes, Aries Sweet Potatoes rely exclusively upon their seeds for reproduction.

After Nightingale identified them, the potato seeds obtained by the players were believed to be the newly improved breeds from the Kingdom of Ariel!

Come to think of it…if they were not the improved breeds, then how could they have attracted the interest of the Sauron caravan and been smuggled out of their country?

Considering the profitability of magical items, wouldn’t smuggling magic goods and luxuries be more appealing than mere plant seeds?

However, it really wasn’t that surprising that these seeds would catch the attention of smugglers, given that they are not only rare and improved breeds, but these seeds are also subject to a trade embargo imposed by the human authorities that forbade anyone into selling them to other countries.

Of course, now all these precious seeds landed upon the hands of the players without any cost or effort.

Players from the Celestial Empire ² continues to maintain a strong interest in cultivating vegetables even inside the game.

Furthermore, while the Elven Forest is abundant in resources, its primary offerings mostly consist of fruits and vegetables, resulting in a noticeable scarcity of staple foods.

And the people of the Celestial Empire are most accustomed to having staple foods.

Therefore, players have high expectations for these seeds.

In addition, unlike in the real world, magic is present in this world, and the land within the Elven Forest boasts exceptional fertility and high concentration of mana. This allows for significantly accelerated plant growth, which eliminates the need for long waiting periods during the entire growing process.

In just a few days, the players immediately saw some results…

In fact, the results were even better than what the players had initially imagined!

Presently, the formerly untouched forest has undergone a conversion into agricultural land, where crops such as Maniya Plain Wheat, Maniya Quick-Growing Rice, and a selection of Sweet Potatoes are now being cultivated.

Due to the enhanced magical properties of these crops and the utilization of black dragon feces as fertilizer, coupled with the formidable assistance of the druid Oak Guardian Berserker, these planted crops have seemingly undergone some sort of mutation…

The crops experienced noticeable thickening, as the grains grew plumper and the potatoes developed chunkier roots.

And through various bonuses discovered by the players, they also found that the growth speed of these crops could reach a terrifying level!

The rice with the fastest growth rate could reach maturity within three days, while the wheat required only one week to be harvested…

You see, within the human society, even the fastest-growing rice takes at least four months to mature!

Of course, this is because ordinary human farmers neither employ the use of magic nor possess fertile land with high mana concentration like the Elfen Forest, let alone using the feces of a black dragon as fertilizer…

Not to mention thanks to the revival of the World Tree, the level of mana within the Elven Forest has long surpassed that of the outside world!

Under these conditions, it’s no wonder that everything grows so well and fast.

The current farmland is already in its second or third planting cycle, as the players have already harvested their first batch of crops.

After the crops were harvested and inspected by the Oak Guardian, it became apparent that, perhaps due to the abundance of mana within the Elven Forest and the application of black dragon feces as fertilizer, these crops had subtly surpassed the quality of ordinary crops. They now even possess a faint essence of magical plants.

Upon consuming these crops, one can even experience a bonus effect of absorbing mana into their bodies, which could also somewhat replenish the player’s MP!

Although the MP regenerated is weak, it is still remarkable nonetheless.

Once again, this made players exclaim in awe at the fact that Meryer is truly brimming with treasures!

Even his sh*t holds significant value!

Of course, only the players are crazy enough to come up with the bold idea of using a black dragon’s excrement as fertilizer…

And this further stimulated the players’ enthusiasm for experimentation.

After successfully cultivating their first harvest and extracted seeds from it, Moe Moe’s life-players swiftly distributed the seeds amongst their entire department. Additionally, many players have also purchased these seeds from Moe Moe Committee by using contribution points and initiated their own experiments in their own yards at home.

They came up with various strange methods and started collecting all sorts of magical materials in the Elfen Forest, using them as fertilizers for experiments, hoping to see if it would also cause the crops to mutate even more significantly…

There were even daring individuals who set their eyes upon the World Tree and started digging the soil around it, only to be sternly reprimanded by the Oak Guardian Berserker.

And on the official forum, there was even a player who uploaded an in-depth post about their own plant experimentation which involved using various materials as fertilizers including their own excrement.

According to the user’s post, the various materials used as fertilizers can be summarized as follows:

Black dragon feces can increase yield and quality, and even enchant the crops with magic.

Elf excrement, on the other hand, greatly accelerates the growth speed of crops.

Moreover, the soil beneath certain magical trees in the Elven Forest can also induce mutations in crops, imbuing them with magical properties and distinct flavors!

Therefore, it’s not unreasonable for some players to set their sights upon the soil beneath the World Tree…

After all, that particular soil is enriched by the roots of a divine being.

Some players even began calling it the Divine Soil!

In fact, some people had managed to secretly obtain some of that divine soil when the NPCs weren’t looking and upon using it, they were astounded to discover their crops growing at an unprecedented rate. The effect were so great that it even surpassed the other excrement, making it the most effective fertilizer one could employ.

As a result, more and more players have began to secretly dig and smuggle the soil underneath the World Tree while the NPCs were not paying attention…

This situation left Evé feeling both amused and exasperated.

Eventually, she established a magical barrier beneath herself, safeguarding the soil from any players who dare excavate the so-called ‘divine soil.’

Only then did these crazy players reluctantly gave up.

The players’ performance in crop cultivation satisfied Berserker.

—Except for those crazy few who wanted to dig the soil underneath the World Tree’s roots…

Berserker is the NPC assigned by Evé for the “Crop Cultivation” sidequest. He’s the one responsible for overseeing the players’ entire crop cultivation process.

Due to the importance of his identity, Berserker was unable to directly participate in any tasks happening outside the forest. Therefore, he chose to remain within the Elven Forest, devoting his efforts to assisting the development of both elves and players while also fulfilling his role as a druid.

In order to interact with the players more easily, Berserker opted to modify his appearance.

Out of concern that his exposure would potentially alert their enemies to the revival of the Goddess, he fervently prayed to Evé, beseeching her to grant him the magic of shapeshifting. As a result, he now assumes the form of a two-meter-tall muscular male elf with a bald head.

Presently, he still retains a somewhat intimidating demeanor. However, his new appearance is significantly way more approachable in contrast to his previous terrifying colossal stature.

Nonetheless, since shapeshifting magic limits the caster’s magical output, Berserker can’t exert his full strength while transformed. Thus, he dutifully focuses on logistical tasks instead while in this form.

As he silently observed the players tending to their cultivated plants, Berserker couldn’t help but wonder why these chosen ones exhibited such a keen interest in planting crops, just like humans.

Considering that the elves only eat fruits and the Elven Forest have enough resources that could never be depleted. Even in the unlikely scenario wherein the entire resources in the forest were consumed, the benevolent goddess possessed the power to restore and replenish them with just a touch of her magic.

But at least… with them now cultivating crops, the frequency of the chosen ones hunting animals has decreased significantly.

Actually, the decrease in hunting activity is not due to a lack of players hunting, but rather the scarcity of animals in the immediate vicinity. Nowadays, players must explore more remote locations to find animals to hunt. However, since Berserker is stationed in the central region of the forest, he is unaware of this situation.

The players exhibited exceptional performance while undertaking the sidequest, “Crop Cultivation.”

As a result, more and more processed goods is being manufactured while utilizing these crops as primary ingredients. In addition, the spices collected from the human smugglers have also provided inspiration to the players, who began searching for similar substitutes in the Elven Forest to use as seasonings.

For a while, a culinary explosion occurred as players with cooking talents emerge one after another. Various dishes from Earth began to appear and some vegetable dishes have even piqued the curiosity of the native elves, who welcome this surge of new foods with open arms.

However, compared to the overwhelmingly successful crop cultivation, the animal husbandry under the leadership of Meryer faced some setbacks.

During this period, the black dragon, accompanied by a group of players, wreaked havoc among the mid-level monsters in the Elven Forest. Their goal was to find the nests of these monsters and capture their offspring.

Actually they had managed to capture a considerable number; Alas, none of them proved suitable for domestication.

Moreover, unlike plants, magical beasts are not as susceptible to mana. While plants exhibit accelerated growth in environments with high mana concentration, the effect is not as pronounced for magical beasts.

Only the strength of the monsters would be enhanced a little and high mana concentration does not affect their reproduction.

At this point, due to the success achieved by the players doing crop cultivation, some animal husbandry players started feeling a sense of rivalry. They then suggested that the little black dragon should visit some human cities instead in order to capture an already tamed animals.

However, Meryer quickly scolded them.

“Ruaah! Capture tamed animals from human cities, you say? Do you think I, Meryer, am some kind of bandit!?”

Huh…Isn’t that the case?

The players recalled the scene of the black dragon greedily plundering the orcs base and hoarding the treasures from the human smugglers.

Of course, they could only think about it within their minds.

“But…”

Meryer’s tone suddenly changed as he lifted his dragon head proudly.

“Stealing is impossible, but this lord believes it may be possible to purchase some from the humans. However, Meryer needs permission from the goddess first, and… you guys must pay the purchase cost! Also, provide Meryer with double the labour cost! Ruaahhh!” The little black dragon stated whilst emphasizing on the word ‘labour cost.’

“…Buy?”

The players’ eyes sparkled with excitement.

Why, that’s actually a brilliant idea!

After raiding the orc tribe and looting the human smugglers, the players actually ended up with a significant amount of currency commonly used by humans. Since it held little value for the players themselves, they realized that they could use it to purchase domesticated animals instead.

“Buy domesticated animals?”

Evé, who received the black dragon’s request, was slightly taken aback.

After considering it, she skeptically agreed.

With the master-servant contract signed and him becoming her believer, Meryer couldn’t escape anymore.

But… can he really buy them?

Thinking about it…the moment this silly dragon shows up within the vicinity of a human settlement, Meryer will most likely be instantly surrounded by humans who will not hesitate to label him as an evil dragon, right?

Of course, Evé didn’t discourage him but actually went along with his plan.

Upon learning that the black dragon intended to purchase domesticated animals from humans, the players too grew excited and clamored to accompany him.

However, their excitement quickly turned into disappointment upon discovering the distance they needed to travel.

The nearest human country was 700 kilometers away from the central area of the Elven Forest, whereas the players’ range of activities was only limited to a radius of 300 kilometers within the forest.

“Ah… We will only be able to explore the map of human civilization after the devs have officially released it.”

The players felt somewhat regretful.

Although they expressed regret over not being able to explore the human society, the door to the underworld had finally been opened.

As a result, the most proactive players have began venturing into the mysterious and dark territories through the underground caves, eager to embark upon their own adventures towards this enigmatic place…

¹ The author often use the term (生活) Life to refer to a type of gaming subgenre which is called Life-Simulation.

(生活系玩家) Life-Players are typically a type of gamers that preferred laid-back games like Harvest Moon or Stardew valley which mainly focuses more on daily life simulation.

Previously, I used the term ‘Casual-Players’ but it doesn’t seem that accurate so I’ll now be using Life-oriented Players instead.

² (天朝) – Celestial Empire is an old name used to refer to China, from a literary and poetic translation of the Chinese term Tianchao, one of many names for China.