Game of the World Tree

At the dining table, Ji Dong was scooping rice while simultaneously browsing the official forum of Elven Kingdom on his smartphone.

Suddenly, a post caught his eye, prompting an exclamation of surprise.

“I can’t believe it… an army of 30,000 Orcs?”

His mother’s stern voice interrupted him, “Don’t talk during meals, and put away your phone!”

Ji Dong: “…”

He chuckled awkwardly and quickly put away his phone. However, just as he was locking the screen, his phone suddenly made a soft tune, indicating a system notification.

Unable to resist, Ji Dong briefly glanced at it and saw a short message about Elven Kingdom being updated.

“The game is undergoing a major update?” he muttered aloud.

But with his mother’s stern gaze, he quickly pocketed his phone and sat up straight to obediently continue his meal.

However, his thoughts were already wandering far from the dining table.

10th of August.

For Chinese students back on Earth, summer vacation was already halfway over.

But for Elven Kingdom beta-testers, this marked the fifth major big update ever since the game’s inception.

The current version of Elven Kingdom often receives frequent stealth updates, which usually comprise of minor tweaks that are often implemented quietly without needing to inform the entire playerbase about it.

Most of them were small updates that didn’t require server downtime, with the devs quietly adding various features when players weren’t paying attention.

Nonetheless, whenever a major update occurs that requires players to log out, it typically signifies significant subsequent changes to the game.

For instance, the first major update was the introduction of second beta-testers, and the second one implemented the NPC quest systems, the third major update overhauled the favorability and reputation systems, and the fourth one was the introduction of the third batch of beta-testers…

This fifth major update seemed a bit unexpected.

However, at the same time the news was released, the official website posted another announcement—

“Summer Event – Double the Experience! The Orc invasion and server-wide mobilization!”

The announcement was short and simple, only featuring a large image of elegant elves on one side and crude, gruesome Orcs on the other, with both forces opposing each other while brandishing weapons, ready to clash in battle.

“Could this be the 30,000 Orcs army mentioned in the forum post? Is it a new main questline? The developers of ElvKing sure are really attentive….they can use this as a setup for an update? Well, It’s probably been planned in advance,” Ji Dong pondered.

Leaving aside everything else, their ability to craft engaging questlines was unmatched by any other game.

Ji Dong sighed.

After confirming that the server is finally back online, he couldn’t wait any longer and reclined in his gaming pod.

“Start… Elven Kingdom!”

【❗ 】

【Game connection successful…】

【New version found, ‘Elven Kingdom’ 1.4】

【Updating…0.1%…10%…】

【100%——Update successful】

【Logging in…】

【User ID: Transformer Ji Gang】

【O’ Chosen One, welcome back to ‘Elven Kingdom’!】

With familiar system sound effects, Ji Dong’s vision dimmed briefly.

Now, he was playing as his avatar, “Transformer Ji Gang.”

As his field of vision gradually brightened, a background music suddenly played, and a cutscene automatically played right before his eyes…

Ji Dong initially planned to skip it but noticed that the background music and animation were different from what he remembered. So, he abandoned the idea of skipping and watched attentively instead.

The first thing he saw was a conference hall.

On one side were short-statured individuals, presumably dark dwarves, while on the other side were three gorgeous looking elves.

The background music was solemn and grave…

And he was taken aback when Transformer Ji Gang recognized a familiar figure amongst them.

“Hey, isn’t that Brother Mu? Why is he included in this cutscene?”

Just as Transformer Ji Gang was feeling puzzled, the deep voice of the dwarf echoed within the conference hall.

“The Orc King’s court in the Desert of Death began its war mobilization a month ago. They’ve rallied 30,000 troops and are now currently heading towards the Elven Forest.”

With the dwarf’s words, the entire scene gradually faded, before revealing images of a massive Orcs army on the march…

A vast army spread across the landscape… Accompanied by the deep voice of the dwarf and the roars of the Orcs, a sense of impending doom washed over them.

“A religious war of faith?”

At this moment, a cold feminine voice spoke.

The scene transitioned back to the conference hall…

On the elven side, the acting leader, Zero the Godwarden, had bright eyes and a confident tone.

“The Elves have endured far too much suffering already. No matter what challenges we might face, we will not retreat… We shall accept this war! We will join the Chosen Ones in thwarting the Orcs’ invasion!”

As the Godwarden Zero spoke, the cutscene shifted into images of elves being persecuted, players fighting against goblins, orcs, and human mercenaries…

For a moment, the solemn background music became rousing, stirring one’s emotions…

“This upcoming religious war will surely be ours to win!”

Finally, alongside the uplifting music, three Elven representatives spoke in unison.

Finally the cutscene gradually darkened…

Then, a row of magnificent characters appeared right before Transformer Ji Gang’s eyes:

“Summer event is here, Religious War begins!”

The cutscene ended at this point.

With a shift in his consciousness, Transformer Ji Gang found himself back in his guild dormitory in the Chosen City.

However, thinking about the recent cutscene, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself,

“So we players can actually also be included in the game’s cutscenes… Brother Mu is really impressive, huh? I really envy him… I wonder when I can be included too…”

Of course, this particular cutscene was personally crafted by Evé.

Naturally, it was based on some game clips which were embellished and exaggerated by her.

For instance, Eve’s incarnation, as well as the final lines spoken by the three characters, were added by Evé herself later on.

On the other hand, when Li Mu logged in and watched this cutscene, he was utterly perplexed as he didn’t recall Zero ever saying those things or himself uttering such embarrassing words.

Nevertheless, all in all, this cutscene was still quite good.

At least, Transformer Ji Gang was now even more excited about the new questline.

Once inside the game, Ji Gang immediately noticed a massive system announcement that occupied almost half of the screen:

【Summer Event Is Here, Religious War Begins!】

【Event 1: Double the Experience, Double the Fun!】

To reward the players for their support, from August 10th to the end of August 20th (Earth time), all players will receive a summer event buff, doubling experience and contribution points from quests and monster kills!”

Double experience and contribution points!

Seeing this news, Ji Gang was pleasantly surprised.

He was among the players included in the third beta test, yet he had only reached level 15 so far. He couldn’t help but feel envious whenever he saw some first and second beta test players with their intermediate iron-class gear.

“This is a rare opportunity! I won’t do anything else for the next ten days and will just grind my level up to lvl 21!”

Transformer Ji Gang decided as he clenched his fist.

Then, he continued reading the notifications.

【Event 2: Limited-Time Discount in the Exchange Store!】

“To reward the players for their support, during the summer event, all items in the exchange store will be offered at its half price!”

“Fuck yeah! Half price!”

Ji Gang’s breath became evrn more heavier.

Not to mention that the skills acquired from the exchange store have all been maxed out, but the equipment obtained from there is much better than the usual dropped loot one can get from defeating mobs, especially the rare blue-class and higher-class gear!

These equipments all had at least one added special properties!

However, exchange store items were also really expensive, especially the Epic Purple-class gear in the Intermediate Iron category, which required at least tens of thousands of contribution points!

As for the legendary Golden-class equipment….well, that was beyond his scope, and only the big spenders and elite hardcore players could afford such items.

If he didn’t created his guild ‘Autobots’ then Transformer Ji Gang might have considered upgrading his gear into a full set of Epic Purple-class intermediate Iron gear.

However, managing a guild consumes a significant portion of his resources, so most of his earnings are invested in guild management.

As a result, Ji Gang had barely managed to collect two pieces of Epic Purple-class gear for himself: a sword and a piece of armor.

He still needs boots, pants, knee pads, and wristguards, totaling four more pieces to complete his gear.

This didn’t even include sub-weapons, which famous players like Boxlunch and Little Salty Cat usually have.

These big-time players often use sub-weapons like daggers and such…

However, as soon as the discount in the exchange store was announced, Transformer Ji Gang saw his chance to complete his gear.

“Tasks! I have to grind tasks like crazy! I’ll use this opportunity to save up enough contribution points to fully upgrade my gear!”

Ji Gang’s eyes were burning with determination.

Next, he looked at the third event message…

【Event 3: Defense Infrastructure Tasks】

“Prepare for the upcoming war! The Orcs army is about to attack the Elven Forest! During this summer event, undertake ‘Wall Construction’ and ‘Defense Core Construction’ tasks, and completing these infrastructure projects will reward you with extra EXP and contribution points!”

“Hmm? Defense infrastructure tasks?”

Ji Gang was somewhat surprised.

He quickly checked the task system and indeed found these new taks, specifically under a section called “Summer Event Tasks.”

What’s more, the rewards for these tasks are quite generous as well, about fifty percent higher than the amount you can receive for regular daily tasks!

“This is perfect! I’ll also do these tasks later on!”

Ji Gang nodded in approval.

Then, he turned his attention to the final event message:

【Event 4: Lucky Draw!】

“During this summer event, a lucky draw feature will be added to the exchange store and players can use lucky draw tickets to participate.”

“The lucky draw prize pool includes all items from the exchange store and a chance to win Legendary Golden-class equipment, Purple Epic meditation manuscripts, 100 Revival Coins, and 30,000 contribution points!”

“Methods to obtain tickets are as follows:”

“Method 1: The top 100 players who can complete the most tasks each day shall receive 1 ticket.”

“Method 2: The top 100 players who level up the fastest each day will receive 1 ticket.”

“Method 3: The top 100 players who can earn the most experience points and contribution points each day will receive 1 ticket.”

“Method 4: Players who can kill Orcs in the upcoming War can consume 100% of their kill contribution points in exchange for 1 ticket. (When in a party, contribution points is distributed proportionally.)”

“Note: Methods 1-3 reset every 24 hours, and rewards are distributed at midnight; Method 4 does not reset but can be repeated for ticket exchange; tickets are bound to players and cannot be traded to others.”

“Hell yeah!”

Seeing this event message, Ji Gang’s eyes were completely bloodshot in excitement.

“Lucky draw… Golden-class equipments!”

“I’m going for it! For these ten days… I’ll grind like crazy till my liver explodes!”

“Golden-class equipment…here I come!”

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