Game of the World Tree

In the central square, Demacia looked at the pair of white shoes that appeared in his hands, feeling helpless.

“Your face is too ugly, you should just save your contribution points to buy the epic purple-grade instead of using it on the lottery.”

Standing on the opposite side, Li Mu shook his head, then chuckled with a foolish grin as he marveled at the legendary golden-grade iron staff that he drew.

“I feel… the lottery’s winning rate has significantly increased after we completed the Maple Leaf City Questline, and quite unexpectedly, during the rewards distribution, the system also gave me 5000 contribution points and an extra lottery ticket as compensation for the bugged items that I lost!”

Li Mu said joyfully.

At his feet, several pieces of epic purple-grade equipment that he won lay in a satisfying array, showcasing his recent streak of fortunate draws.

Meanwhile, Demacia could only look at it with envy.

“Ugh…I completed the questline too, but only snagged a couple of decent prizes. Plus, the contribution points I just got just all vanished like that in a string of bad draws.”

Demacia sighed in frustration.

After the end of the summer event, the lucky draw can also be redeemed for lottery tickets based on one’s contribution, and one draw can be exchanged for 1,000 contribution points.

Demacia used all the contribution points he obtained for lottery tickets, but except for one draw wherein he got 50 resurrection coins, the rest were all losses.

“Having a gambler’s mindset isn’t a smart move, you know.”

Li Mu shook his head.

Demacia: “…”

“Huh, that’s rich, coming from a lucky guy.”

Demacia said gloomily.

“Hahaha…”

Li Mu laughed wryly.

As Demacia let out another sigh, a crisp call echoed from afar.

“Demacia! Demacia!”

It was Little Salty Cat.

“Sister Cat, why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to follow the NPCs to watch their homeland arrival cutscene?”

Demacia asked with a curious tone as he looked at Little Salty Cat who had just called him.

“I’m not watching anymore, since I’ve already seen the arrival of the NPCs many times, so it got old for me. More importantly, what really matters to me now… is what you’ve scored back at Maple Leaf City!”

Little Salty Cat waved her hand, then grinned with a crescent-shaped eyes:

“Demacia, I heard you used my Lionheart Sword to trick a slaver for their spatial storage ring in Maple Leaf City?”

Demacia’s face transformed into a mask of seriousness.

“How is that a trick? Clearly, it’s a fair trade, plain and simple.”

“Alright, alright, I get it. Bring it out!”

Little Salty Cat extended her hand with a smile.

“B-Bring what?”

Demacia feigned ignorance.

“We had a thirty-seventy split agreement! You know the deal…I lent you the Lionheart Sword, so I get 70% of whatever you snagged!”

Demacia: “…”

“How do you even split a single ring? Besides, didn’t you already have a Spatial Ring, the only one for the whole server?”

Demacia said.

“That’s the thing! My spatial ring has a smaller storage capacity compared to yours, so I plan to exchange it with yours instead!”

After saying this, Little Salty Cat took out her own Spatial Ring that used to belong to the vampire, Night Wanderer and subtly extended the ring towards Demacia.

“You wanna exchange rings?”

Demacia was slightly stunned.

“That’s right!”

Little Salty Cat nodded.

“This ring’s storage space is relatively small, not even three cubic meters in size, so its capacity is not enough for my daily necessities.”

“I checked with some NPCs, and according to their estimates, my ring is worth about a quarter of yours. Since your ring is more expensive, I can throw in some contribution points to cover the difference…what do you think?”

Intrigue flashed across Demacia’s face as he inquired,

“How much is the difference?”

A sly grin crept onto Little Salty Cat’s face as she stretched out two fingers.

“Two hundred thousand contribution points, what do you say?”

“Holy shit! Okay, Bosslady Cat we have a deal! I’m short of contribution points!”

Demacia said excitedly.

Little Salty Cat didn’t hesitate and immediately started transferring the CP amount they agreed directly with Demacia.

Both parties successfully exchanged rings and Demacia also took this time to finally returned the Lionheart sword to Little Salty Cat. In return, the latter transferred two hundred thousand contribution points to the former.

In the end, both were left satisfied.

After their transaction concluded, Little Salty Cat intercepted Demacia.

“By the way, Demacia.”

“Hmm? Sister Cat, is there anything else?”

Engrossed in examining the newly deposited 200,000 contribution points in his account, Demacia casually replied, whilst already on the process of exchanging the CP for lottery tickets with a goofy grin.

“It’s nothing much, just when I came over, I saw several members of your guild seemingly searching for you all over the place. Hmm, I think they were the ones who went to Maple Leaf City with us. However, their expressions didn’t seem too good….did you do something again?”

Little Salty Cat teasingly inquired, and Demacia’s grin immediately froze upon hearing it.

He cleared his throat twice and mumbled nervously, “Uh… I have something to do, I-I’ll be going now.”

With that, he left without even looking back.

“This guy!”

Little Salty Cat couldn’t help but shake her head in exasperation, before turning her heads towards Li Mu.

“What did he do this time?”

Li Mu shook his head.

“I guess those members you saw were the ones sold by Demacia back in Maple Leaf City… They’re likely hunting him down to settle the score since, uh… he did something reckless back then.”

“Besides… didn’t the bound item exploit all end up in failure? I guess the things he promised them before all went down the drain, so…”

Li Mu helplessly shrugged.

Little Salty Cat: “…”

“I’m really surprised that he hasn’t been hunted down yet and PK’d to hell after all the shenanigans he’d done…”

She sighed leisurely.

“That’s because Demacia’s quite good at admitting his mistakes… as reckless as he is when doing stupid things, he’s equally humble when apologizing. He probably went to apologize to someone by now.”

Li Mu said helplessly.

Little Salty Cat: “…”

“If he’s like that, then why did he do it in the first place.”

She shook her head.

Li Mu shrugged, “It’s his old habit; he won’t change unless he truly suffers a big loss.”

He then looked at Little Salty Cat curiously and asked, “By the way, Little Salty Cat, how’s Meryer?”

Upon hearing Li Mu’s inquiry, Little Salty Cat’s brows slightly furrowed.

She sighed and said, “Meryer is currently with Alice, Zero, and those rescued NPCs in the temple on the World Tree. He has been acting all strange ever since that fight with the Scaled Demon. I tried asking him about it, but Meryer didn’t tell me anything.”

“But…Sister Zero said she’ll handle it.”

Little Salty Cat said.

Afterward, she clenched her fist with a huff and said angrily,

“Unfortunately, the human mercenary who tricked Meryer ran away; otherwise, I would have made him pay!”

Li Mu: “…”

“He’s at least a Silver-ranked and seems to be quite formidable too. You better advance your rank first before trying.”

He shook his head.

After hearing Li Mu’s words, Little Salty Cat beamed widely.

“Haha, speaking of rank advancement, I’m already level 35 now!”

She then released some of her aura.

“No way…How did that happen so quickly? If I remember correctly, you were only level 31 when we went to Maple Leaf City, right?”

Li Mu was surprised and envious.

“Heh! Well, I solo-killed a Silver-ranked Thief after all and gained three levels in one go!”

Little Salty Cat said joyfully.

Li Mu: “…”

“Is that really a solo kill? It’s more like Meryer handing you a well-prepared meat, and you only need to take a bite to enjoy its savory delights. The way you effortlessly finish foes, it’s almost like he’s doing all the hard work for you.”

He rolled his eyes and said with a touch of incredulity.

Little Salty Cat giggled.

“Hehehe! Meryer’s strength is my strength! We have such a strong beneficial relationship!”

However, she then thought for a moment and touched her chin as a look of contemplation crossed her face.

“Speaking of which… in this battle, the strength of Silver experts doesn’t seem to be that strong! Although Meryer did indeed do the bulk of the work, I still managed to kill a thief with a single fireball, and the Boxlunch also instantly killed a mage with just a slash.”

“The situation back then is special.”

Li Mu shook his head.

“I have asked Alice before about the difference in strength between ranks.”

“It seems that until somone reach the Gold-rank, there won’t be a significant leap in the physique of Experts. Before the Gold-rank, the differences in strength mainly lie in magic level, skill application, or destructive power. Although there are differences in physical qualities, they aren’t significant at all, especially for mages…”

“So… it’s entirely possible to unintentionally defeat an opponent ranked higher than you due to their carelessness.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Little Salty Cat realized.

She nodded slightly and then turned around, looking in the direction of the World Tree, whilst muttering to herself:

“I wonder how Meryer is doing right now.”

On the World Tree, in the grand Temple of Nature.

Alice, the Nature’s saintess, Zero, the Goddess Godwarden and Selena, the leader of Oakhand, stood among a gathering of over a hundred elves and half-elves, as each of them were deeply engrossed in prayer before the statue of the goddess inside the temple.

Meanwhile, Meryer, the black dragon, lay on the side with his head lowered while also appearing contemplative and lost in thought about something…

— 289 —

【 A GAMBLER’S MINDSET ISN’T A SMART MOVE 】

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