Game of the World Tree

After confirming that she couldn’t personally enter the demi-realm herself, Evé stopped trying to force her way and decided to relegate the task of exploring the demi-realm to the players instead.

When the time comes, she could just simply tap into their perspective and direct the whole exploration by issuing tasks for them to follow.

Of course, given that she wanted this endeavor to succeed, Evé decided that only those players that advanced to Silver-rank would be selected as potential candidates for this exploration task.

This demi-realm’ was of low to mid-tier category.

As such, the strongest existence inside it would likely only possess the strength of a peak silver-ranker, making it easier for the players that will venture forth inside.

With their current strength, there is little that can oppose them, thereby maximizing the chances of a successful exploration.

Keeping this in mind, Evé started to develop a plan for the exploration questline of the demi-realm:

“I don’t need to send too many people. After all, I don’t know what’s the situation inside. Simply sending a few players to conduct reconnaissance and somehow find a way to obtain the last fragment of the Scepter of Life should be sufficient enough.”

“For this task, the most optimal method would be to assign it solely to a team made up entirely of Silver-rankers.”

“Hmm… with that in mind, it seems ‘Boxlunch’s Team’ would be the most suitable one to undertake this quest. They’re strong, reliable, and conveniently also the closest team to the portal’s location.”

Indeed, when she tried to approximate every player’s whereabouts, Evé found that Boxlunch’s party current location was actually quite close to Kenorland.

Specifically, they were exploring an area less than thirty kilometers away, and even without Evé sensing the fragment of the Scepter in this location, their team would probably eventually stumble upon the ruins of Kenorland in the coming days.

The truth was, Boxlunch’s team had already made plans to explore the western part of the Elven Forest even way back since the fourth beta.

However, their plans had repeatedly been delayed due to the war that happened underground as well as the introduction of the demon labyrinth dungeon.

However, now that things have mostly settled down, it seems like the most suitable time for them to uncover what is inside the demi-realm, as they are both the closest and the strongest team for this task.

“Uh… but wouldn’t this feel a bit too preferential?”

Evé muttered to herself.

Boxlunch’s squad had already garnered fame and recognition by completing important quests before, so by assigning them this task, other players might complain that they are receiving too much preferential treatment.

“Oh well, preferential or not, it’s my game and I make the rules. It’s not the first time anyway, and who can blame them for being so capable?”

She chuckled to herself.

“As for the reward, I’ll just grant them the chance to be the first one to perform a companion pact to those dragons that’ll be coming.”

That’s what Evé had decided.

Speaking of which, when she signed the covenant with Platinum Dragon, Reinhardt, the other party promised to let the dragon themselves decide on who to pick amongst the Chosen Ones as their partner, as long as they were willing to sign a companionship pact.

The reason behind this lay in the special nature of the companion pact.

Typically, a dragon would subconsciously choose someone who suited its taste. This would result in a highly compatible bond, which could significantly shorten the adjustment period and allow both parties to gain strength more efficiently.

Thus, a synergy could be achieved wherein the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.

However, this manner of choosing a partner is not the only absolute method.

Reinhardt had also mentioned that if Evé had someone in mind, then she could directly designate a player to form the pact.

This was a gesture of trust from Reinhardt.

In his view, anyone personally chosen by her would already possess potential worthy of such divine attention. So even if it took longer for them to adjust to each other, the Chosen One’s potential would be more than enough to compensate for the extended bonding period between the dragon and the player.

Nevertheless, Evé does not intend to intervene in every subsequent companion pact in the future.

While Reinhardt might not know it, she was well aware that all players, regardless of their strength, possessed the same inherent potential since their avatars were artificially altered by her and boosted their talents to a genius level. So, in the end, it didn’t really matter whom the dragon chose as their partner as all players fundamentally have the very same potential.

The only differences between them are probably that each person spends varying amounts of time online and has different personalities and preferences.

So, given that every Chosen One’s inherent potential was essentially equal, it would be better to let the dragons choose their own companions whom they felt most compatible with.

That way, their pact could last much further.

Nonetheless, Eve hadn’t completely abandoned the idea of intervening herself. However, she would personally designate only one or two players as a quest reward for every batch of five dragons each month, while letting the others freely choose their own partners.

With her plans set, Evé closed her eyes and sensed the location of the Boxlunch’s party.

“About thirty kilometers northeast…”

After pondering for a moment, her figure shimmered, transforming into a streak of light as she flew in their direction.

In the western section of the Elven Forest, the canopy swayed gently, concealing the figures of five elves. Their armor glinted in the dappled light as they moved about with deliberate care, every footsteps measured, whilst their eyes scan the dense underbrush.

Far behind them, around thirty kilometer northeast, the distant shadow of the Kenorland ruins lingered on the horizon.

They were none other than Boxlunch’s team.

After perfectly clearing the Demon Labyrinth Dungeon, they had decided to stop grinding monsters for EXP in the dungeon and instead resumed their long-postponed exploration plans.

After perfectly clearing the Demon Labyrinth Dungeon, they had decided to stop grinding monsters for EXP in the dungeon and instead resumed their long-postponed exploration plans. Originally, they wanted to explore the western section of the Elven Forest, but due to being delayed multiple times by recent large-scale events, this plan was put on hold.

However, with things settling down lately, they finally found the opportunity to venture forth into this uncharted territory.

“Captain, we’ve been walking for days now, and it doesn’t seem like there are any strong monsters in this direction. Also… is this supposed ruin that HootyBird talked about even real?”

A player with the username ‘Optimist’ who serves as the tank of the party asked with a hint of doubt in his voice.

“Yeah, every monster we’ve fought in this area so far have been pretty weak. I’ve heard that if we went farther north, we would’ve encountered Silver-rank mobs long ago. Yet, we haven’t even seen a high Iron-rank monster in half a day,” added Calabash, another player on the team.

He idly fiddled with his newly acquired epic purple Silver-class staff and almost used it as a walking stick out of boredom.

Indeed, their exploration had proven to be quite a boring excursion so far.

Before setting off, they had fantasized about encountering stronger monsters and even hoped to discover the ancient ruined elven city that HootyBird had read about in some old native historical texts.

However, as they progressed through their exploration, both the number and strength of the monsters in the area gradually diminished little by little, and they found no indication of any ruins of some sort either.

Quite frankly, if it weren’t for Boxlunch’s persistence, then their group would have already given up exploring this area long ago.

“Don’t worry, we’re probably close,” Boxlunch reassured his teammates, glancing at the small map in the upper right corner of his vision.

The map showed that they had already ventured over 470 kilometers away from the central zone of the Elven Forest.

“Well, let’s just hang in there a bit longer. Hopefully, HootyBird’s guess is right. However, if those texts written in those native books are just for lore settings and don’t actually exist, then these past few days would have been a total waste,” muttered Chopin, the support Druid of the party.

Hearing this, Boxlunch shook his head.

“They’re not. Look, the landscape had changed.”

The others were momentarily puzzled.

“…The landscape had changed?”

They looked around and suddenly realized, “You’re right! The trees are thinning out, and the number of flowers have increased…”

“Let’s keep going.”

With their spirits rekindled, the entire team forged ahead, yet, after only just a few steps, Boxlunch whose leading the way, suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

A shadow crossed his face, his posture shifting to one of tense vigilance.

“What’s wrong, Captain?” one of the players asked, sensing the change in their Captain’s attitude.

Boxlunch drew his weapon and looked towards a specific direction, speaking in a low voice:

“There’s something up ahead.”

At his words, the others immediately snapped out of their earlier lethargy, becoming fully alert.

Their captain, Boxlunch, had his [Keen Ears] skill active at all times while scouting, making him the first to notice any unusual sounds or movements.

The rest of the team also drew their weapons and turned their focus to the direction he had indicated.

Gripping the hilt of his sword, Boxlunch moved forward with a measured steps, his actions barely making a sound.

The others also trailed behind him, mirroring his caution as they navigated the unfamiliar terrain.

All five players remained on high alert, advancing in silence. Soon, they came upon a thick patch of bushes.

After gently parting the foliage, they peeked through to the other side and what met their eyes was a small, green figure.

“A goblin! It’s a goblin!”

Some members of the team’s faces lit up with excitement.

They had become all too familiar with the behavior of these little green-skinned creatures after playing the game for so long.

These weak beings had low intelligence and preferred to live in groups, but one aspect of these goblins was that whenever they were found within the vicinity of the Elven Forest, it always meant one thing—

There must be a ruins nearby!

As everyone immediately spotted the goblin, the latter also noticed them.

Startled, the little creature let out a panicked screech and swiftly bolted in the opposite direction.

Seeing this, the players’ eyes gleamed.

“Chase it! It’s definitely running towards its home! There must be ruins up ahead!”

With a cheer, they excitedly pursued the fleeing green monster.

The goblin wasn’t very fast—certainly much slower than the sprinting players. However, they purposefully held themselves back, maintaining a steady distance behind the creature.

Their goal wasn’t to kill it anyway but to let it lead them to its home, which was most likely a ruin or something similar to an ancient structure.

So, for the next hour or so, they continued their measured chase, one fleeing while the other deliberately pursued the former just a few steps behind.

When the system’s mini-map indicated that they were approaching the 500-kilometer boundary, the goblin finally came to a halt.

— 426 —

【 IT FELT TOO PREFERENTIAL 】

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