Game of the World Tree

Perched on the back of the black dragon, the elderly elf gazed down at the quickly passing forest down below while sighing softly.

“Indeed, just two months ago, we were hiding in the eastern and western corners of the Holy Maniya Empire. Who would have thought that a day would come where we’d return to the Elven Forest…”

Another elf shared the same sentiment.

Following Little Salty Cat’s suggestion, the migrating group of elves experienced a blend of nervousness and anticipation as they finally make up their mind and decided to rode on Meryer’s back.

Meanwhile, the little black dragon released a mighty roar while extending his enormous wings as Meryer soared toward the central area of the Elven Forest…

As the wind whistled through the air, the elves began to loosen their tension, casting occasional glances both down below and into the distance from time to time.

The speed for which the black dragon flew back was swift, and after passing over a certain mountain, the elves’ view suddenly expanded as the scenery of the central area unfolded right before them.

They finally reached the heart of the Elven Forest, a central expanse wherein a basin extending over a distance of more than a hundred kilometers in diameter was located.

At the same time, the grand imposing figure nestled right at the center of the area had easily captivated everyone’s attention…

“Hey quickly, Look! Look! It’s the World Tree! I can see the World Tree!”

An excited elf sitting at the forefront exclaimed as he pointed a finger forward.

The other elves instantly turned their gazes forward and indeed saw the towering, sacred World Tree standing majestically in the distance.

Silence prevailed for a couple of seconds, as each natives basked under the divine presence of the World Tree. Slowly, tears instinctively welled up from within everyone’s eyes, as their expressions began to show intense emotions as if all their pent up emotions finally break loose.

Finally, they could witness the true form of their patron deity in person once again!

Being on her presence alone was enough to rekindle their religious belief and remember their roles as followers of the Goddess of Nature.

No one understands the true significance of the revival of the World Tree better than the native elves themselves…

Some publicly showcased their reverence and began gesturing Nature’s religious symbols upon their chests, and a few were so overwhelmed with emotions that they couldn’t help but shed tears of joy.

“Matriarch! It truly is the Divine Matriarch! Our Patron Goddess has finally been resurrected!”

The oldest elf in the group choked on his words as tears endlessly flowed down his eyes.

Seeing the group of native elves overcome with such deep emotions, Little Salty Cat let out a soft sigh. She paused for a moment, then discreetly approached Meyer’s side, leaning in to whisper,

“Meryer, fly a bit faster.”

Upon hearing Little Salty Cat’s words, the Black Dragon roared again, before accelerating much faster towards the direction of the World Tree…

The scenery beneath them gradually changed with the forest growing more and more denser as they drew nearer towards the World Tree. After the initial excitement, the native elves’ hearts were now filled with anticipation, much like lost children finally returning home after being away for a very long time.

And at this moment, they suddenly passed over a vast expanse of elven civilization ruins…

“…Huh, these ruins? Look everyone, we’re passing over the former holy city, Florence!”

The elderly elf stated while pointing at certain iconic buildings amidst the ruins.

“N-No…wait, this is—!”

The old elf then paused mid-sentence, as his eyes widened in surprise and astonishment after noticing something.

At first, the scenery below them truly seemed to be just nothing more than the dilapidated ruins of the former elven holy city.

However, as the black dragon kept moving forward, the elderly elf was shocked to see that nearly one-third of the area he used to remembered as ruins had surprisingly transformed into a sprawling city!

Not only that, but this city was teeming with countless figures that resembled ants from their vantage point in the skies. A quick rough estimate suggested that thousands or more, are bustling about within the once holy city of Florence…

Upon closer examination, the elderly elf realized these ant-like figures down below were actually individual elves!

They moved to and fro within each corner of the city, dedicated to restoring and reconstructing the remnants of the ruins.

“Great Mother Nature Above! A-Am I not mistaken? Is this… really the ruins of Florence?”

“S-So many of our kind! O’ dear Great Mother! Have so many of our kin truly returned!?”

The rest of the elves also gazed down at the city of Florence, and just like the elderly elf, their expressions reflected a mixture of astonishment and excitement.

Eino just like the rest looked down but squinted his eyes and recognized that the attire of the elves down below were not what he remembered.

He then spoke with some uncertainty,

“No… most of them should be the Chosen Ones summoned by the Divine Matriarch. It’s just that… the number of Chosen Ones seems to have increased even more while I was away. Perhaps…the Goddess has called forth a fresh group of Chosen Ones?”

“I see! So they’re the Chosen Ones!”

The elves were slightly stunned.

Eino then sighed wryly and added,

“These Chosen Ones summoned by the Matriarch are truly formidable. I recall that when I departed, only less than a seventh of Florence had been restored. I never imagined that in such a short span, they would have already restored a third of the ruins.”

He then looked toward the direction of the World Tree and sighed wistfully.

“Which makes me wonder how the City of the Chosen Ones looks now…”

“City of the Chosen Ones?”

“That’s right, it’s the city established by the Chosen Ones underneath the World Tree half a year ago. It’s now considered the new holy city.”

Eino Flame said with emotion.

He then quickly realized something and instantly turned to Little Salty Cat and reintroduced her to the other elves.

“Oh right, the restoration of Florence and the construction of the City of the Chosen Ones were said to be organized by Lady Little Salty Cat and her guild, Moe Moe Committee.”

“‘Moe Moe…Committee? A guild?”

“An organization of the Chosen Ones?”

The elves contemplated for a moment before looking at Little Salty Cat with a newfound admiration.

Little Salty Cat on other hand, felt rather embarrassed…

It’s just that…

The cutesy name “Moe Moe Committee” that she had casually picked for her guild without much thought was now being earnestly stated by these elven NPCs in an entirely serious manner.

Honestly, it was… quite embarrassing!

In an instant, Little Salty Cat somewhat regretted not giving her guild a more dignified name that suited this fantasy world a bit better, just like Li Mu’s “Heart of Nature” or something of the sort.

Just imagine, in the far future, if she were to etch her name into the annals of the game’s history and tales of her triumphs would echo through the songs sung by bards and minstrels…the melodies would undoubtedly evoke a sentiment akin to,

“Hear ye’ Hear ye’ Guildmaster of the ‘Moe Moe Committee,’ Lady Little Salty Ca—”

—No.

Not possible, it’s too embarrassing.

However, she suddenly felt both wanting to laugh at the sillyness of how it sounds but also somewhat looking forward to it…

What to do…

Of course, what Little Salty Cat didn’t know was that her seemingly whimsical guild’s name, when translated into the local language, was at most, only a bit unconventional, and it didn’t actually sound ridiculous at all.

The black dragon continued to soar ahead, and the group eventually left Florence City behind. Not long after, the group finally caught sight of the city beneath the World Tree, the place Eino had referred to as the ‘City of the Chosen Ones’…

With the recent influx of the third batch of beta testers, the expanse of the City had once again expanded even further.

Several new houses and gardens were being constructed on the city’s edges, while additional structures were also in the process of being erected all around the city. The current landscape was a flurry of activity as numerous “elves,” resembling tiny ants from their perspective, worked diligently to construct a variety of infrastructure projects.

And in the more developed sections of the city, a cacophony of voices filled the air as pedestrians hurried about, generating an extraordinarily bustling atmosphere similar to that of a metropolitan city found on earth.

Similar to Nightingale’s reaction during her initial visit, the elves on the black dragon’s back were momentarily speechless as they gazed upon the diverse architectural clusters, dreamlike gardens, revitalized structures, and the vibrant scenery that comprised the Chosen City.

Even Eino Flame, who had already toured the City of the Chosen Ones once before, stared at the current inhabitants of the city, which numbered approximately in the thousands at the very least.

He was equally dumbfounded just like the rest of the newcomers.

“Great Mother of Nature…just how many Chosen Ones have been summoned this time?”

The remaining elves, filled with awe, found themselves unable to resist muttering in response,

“S-Six months… Did it really take only six months for such a city to be built?”

“M-Miracle! This must be a miracle!”

“Great Mother of Nature… Only a true god could create such a city!”

Hearing the genuine admiration from the native elves, Little Salty Cat couldn’t help but stand a bit more taller, with her smile inadvertently growing much wider…

Heh! Half of the buildings in the Chosen City actually was constructed by her guild, Moe Moe Committee you know!

“Another batch of elves has returned.”

Evé felt satisfied after seeing the black dragon returned safely alongside the group of native elves.

More than half month had passed in-game after she launched the third round of beta testing.

And during this half in-game month, there had been a constant stream of native elves who had rediscovered their religious faith and decided to migrate back into the Elven Forest.

All in all, these returnees amounted to nearly a hundred individuals!

And these returning native elves were eventually relocated in Florence under the directive of Evé.

However, while there were many migrating native elves, most were still just shallow believers. If Evé wanted them to further deepen their faith unto her, then she needed to wait until their lives had stabilized first…

Of course, Evé wasn’t worried about this matter.

Drawing from the experience she had gained when the Rageblaze Clan initially returned, Evé was confident that as long as these native elves were willing to come back and accept the mission system, they would inevitably become her devoted followers sooner or later…

The population of these returnees had already exceeded three hundred.

However, the light representing one’s faith within Evé’s Celestial Domain were even more numerous, reaching close to a thousand.

This indicated that throughout this entire period, even more elves from the outside had somehow learned about the revival of the World Tree. Although they hadn’t returned yet, they had already rekindled their faith with the Goddess of Nature.

Nonetheless, Evé could already sense that the upward trend in her follower growth was beginning to slow down. This meant that any elves hiding from within the Elven Forest’s surroundings had probably already been notified by the Rageblaze Clan.

To find even more elves outside, they would then have to venture to more distant locations, potentially even deep within territories controlled by other factions.

During this half month, players’ strengths also underwent some changes…

Firstly, the older batch of players.

By continuously clearing Shadow Monster inside the underground dungeon, many older players had broken through intermediate Iron-rank. There were now over three hundred players at level 21 and above, with some hardcore players even reaching as high as level 25!

These over three hundred intermediate Iron-rank players represented the pinnacle of the entire playerbase. They were either high level melee-combat players, big spending whales or even task-addicted madmen…

And under these high-end players were the mid-tier players, composed of individuals around level 15 to 20.

With the exception of a few casual players, nearly all of the first and second batch of players were within this range. In fact, a few affluent third-round players had already reached level 15 by hiring some veteran players to provide them a busride, by carrying them as they hunt shadow monsters around the underground dungeon.

Overall, the total number of players in this range was around a thousand.

And apart from these mid to high-tier players, the remainder were mostly third-batch of players.

However, the strengths of these 9,000 third-round players had also changed dramatically…

Because Evé had increased the rewards for most daily tasks, the leveling speed of these third-round players have surpassed that of first-round players by a considerable margin.

Among them, some have already broken through to level 11, entering the Lower Iron-rank, which numbered around a thousand.

Apart from these thousand players, most ordinary players, by undertaking various city construction tasks, had already reached level 10, just one step away from graduating apprenticeship and finally reaching the Iron-rank.

Players below level 10 numbered less than a thousand.

It could be said that entire playerbase’s overall strength had undergone a revolutionary transformation.

And this is without even considering the factor of magical pets.

After Evé introduced the magical pet system, in less than half a month, almost every player had already managed to obtain their own magical pet in some way or another.

The most popular pet was the Crypt Spider.

Through effort and currying favor, many players had acquired Crypt Spiders from the Spider Queen and successfully formed a contract with them.

In fact having a pet spider are especially popular amongst the combat-oriented players.

A lot of high-level players who grind levels in the underground dungeon practically have Crypt Spider as a pet.

On the other hand, under the leadership of Li Mu, some players have finally managed to secure the approval of Unicorns through persistent persuasion and dedicated efforts to befriend the herd.

Altogether, there were more than thirty of them.

This number left Alice astonished…

Of course, she didn’t know that this was due to Evé subsequently subtly boosting players’ affinity with nature.

Natural affinity was important. Higher natural affinity made it easier for players to gain the approval of such rare magical creatures, especially Unicorns.

Players being able to form contracts with magical creatures was also beneficial to Evé.

However, magic pets cannot be resurrected unlike the players. Relying on them to battle was unrealistic, but they could further enhance players’ strength and assist players in various tasks instead.

Similarly, with players’ efforts, the Chosen City expanded further. Even the restoration of Florence Ruins had hastened significantly.

It could be said that after the third beta-phase, the entire Elven Forest entered a period of rapid development.

Nevertheless, beneath the calm was an impending storm.

Southeast of the Elven Forest, Black Dragon Castle.

After the orc tribe was wiped out, this desolate place once again received the presence of a new batch of uninvited guests…

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