Chapter 695

Game of the World Tree

【 TWO MONTHS 】

—

A cool sea breeze blew in from the west, carrying a faintly salty and damp scent.

The clear cries of seagulls circled through the sky, intertwining with the sound of waves striking the shore to form a moving melody.

Added to this was the gentle bgm tune unique to the coastal city of Mirovia within the game system, drifting softly through the air, prompting one to instinctively close their eyes and breathe deeply, as though the distance between oneself and the mundane world, with all its hustle and bustle, had quietly stretched far away…

Little by little, worries began to fade as fatigue loosened its grip…

What remained was only the desire to face the sea and sing freely, to gaze upon the water where ripples overlapped endlessly, waves chased one another in playful succession, and the boundless blue surface shimmered like a flawless mirror, gentle and smooth like silk under the light.

This was the impulse stirring within Cypher’s heart at this very moment.

As a semi-casual hunter-class player, Cypher greatly enjoyed taking time to appreciate the scenery of Elven Kingdom after completing his daily tasks.

And of all the sights he had seen so far, nothing compared to the one here in the coastal city of Mirovia.

So much so that he even decided to purchase a seaside villa here, willingly forgoing the convenience of other, more centrally located player-owned cities.

Standing on the balcony of the sea-view bedroom in his villa, Cypher stretched lazily, feeling the soft breeze brush against his skin.

It was the start of the weekend back in the real world, which meant he could immerse himself fully in the game once more, grinding with excitement for more than forty consecutive hours.

—No, taking into account the time differences, it was actually over a hundred hours of leisure time!

After eating a few slices of bread, washing down some dried salted meat with fruit juice, and filling his stomach, Cypher put on his equipment, left his villa, and stepped onto the streets of Mirovia.

It had been nearly half a year since players had first discovered this city, and two months had passed since the conclusion of Sophia’s Request Questline.

At this moment, Mirovia was brimming with vitality, with NPCs and players everywhere, coming and going without pause.

Along the white stone-paved roads, elven-style buildings rose on either side, their elegant architecture now hosting a wide array of shops. Some were operated by players, while others belonged to NPCs.

From time to time, players riding magical beasts or driving carriages hurried down the center of the road, most of whom were casual players engaged in trading.

Although only a few months had passed since its discovery, Mirovia—being the only coastal city among all elven cities—had already established itself as the primary source of aquatic resources for the players, with almost every major guild having stationed fishing vessels along its docks.

While the city was still not as developed as Florence or Rivendell, Mirovia could certainly be described as vibrant and full of life.

Avoiding the carriages in the center of the road, Cypher walked leisurely along the right side of the street toward the city’s main temple.

This was almost always the first thing he did after logging in, visiting to receive daily tasks from the Church of Life’s priests.

Although Mirovia was home to a large number of NPCs, and cultivating favorability with one or two of them or even taking part-time work in NPC-run shops could easily net him a similar amount to what he would earn from the temple’s daily tasks, Cypher still preferred visiting the latter. Since he could also check the in-game store to see if any new items had been added or were on sale.

It was precisely in this way, two months ago, that he had been lucky enough to secure one of the first trial slots for the bloodline class, thereby earning the qualification to become a “Blood Elf.”

Yes—Blood Elf.

This was a brand-new class under the recently added feature, “Bloodline Class,” introduced in the latest game update. At present, it was the only bloodline class available, and players could obtain it only by winning a slot through the lottery draw pool.

Once a player obtained one and received the Goddess’s blessing at the temple, their bloodline would then be enhanced, unlocking abilities far superior to those of ordinary elves, as well as granting access to the skill known as [Awakening].

After Awakening, a player could transform into an elf infused with special bloodline powers, experiencing a significant boost to their overall attributes.

It was somewhat similar to a druid’s transformation ability, but Cypher felt it was more flexible. After all, a druid could only gain seventy percent of the target’s strength after transforming, whereas Awakening granted new bonuses on top of one’s existing abilities.

The skills you’ll unlock after becoming a Blood Elf consist of innate blood magic, summoning magic, and transformation magic. So far, Cypher had only learned three skills namely: [Bat Wing Flight], [Mist Transformation], and [Bloodline Ignition.]

For some reason, Cypher always felt that these abilities resembled those of the lesser vampires he had hunted two months earlier in Maple Leaf City while pursuing members of the Cappadocia family, though he could not determine whether this was merely his imagination or some deeper, hidden connection.

The background music played softly and melodiously, and Cypher could not help humming along.

Occasionally, a player running along walls and rooftops on either side of the street would misstep and tumble to the ground with a cry of pain, earning a sideways glance from Cypher as he muttered,

“Tsk, Tsk. Wouldn’t it be better to just travel properly?”

Gradually, Cypher made his way to the dock district, where the number of players became noticeably higher. The air was filled with the mingled sounds of footsteps, distant shouts, and the creaking of ships anchored along the piers.

Looking toward the coastline, he could see vessels of all sizes moored along the docks. Some had been carefully constructed by players themselves, while others had been purchased from the southern Kingdom of Aries and transported overland to Mirovia.

As he took in the scene, the docks seemed far more bustling and noisy than usual, overflowing with activity as more and more players kept arriving from all directions.

Cypher glanced over curiously and raised an eyebrow slightly.

What’s going on?

He casually stopped a passing player and asked, “Hey man, what’s happening? Why is it so lively today?”

The passerby looked at him visibly excited.

“Our guild’s expedition team is back!”

The expedition team?

Cypher paused for a moment and looked at the guild name floating above the player’s head.

[Moe Moe Committee]

Cypher then recalled a rumor he had heard more than two months ago. According to it, a well-known veteran player from the Moe Moe Committee, nicknamed Boxlunch, with the backing of their guildmaster, Little Salty Cat, had organized an exploration fleet to sail beyond the familiar map and investigate its outer boundaries.

Yet, Cypher found himself more inclined to believe another version of the story, one that had been quietly circulating within the Moe Moe Committee itself. This version claimed that Boxlunch and his team had set out in search of Mirovia’s missing inhabitants.

The mysterious disappearance of the elves from Mirovia had quickly become one of the hottest topics in the game community. Unlike other cities discovered by players, Mirovia bore no signs of battles at all. Its urban landscape was left remarkably well preserved, as if their inhabitants had simply vanished overnight.

Back when the city was first discovered, players found some elven belongings scattered within the Titan ruins nearby, leading many to believe that the inhabitants of Mirovia might have entered that ruin.

Yet after players thoroughly scoured the entire Titan ruin complex, they discovered that there was not even a single magical beast or monster inside, let alone any valuable artifacts.

The entire ruin lay empty and desolate.

Only a few rare and delicious varieties of mushrooms were of any real value, which attracted the occasional food-loving player, who would come to gather a few to cook into a meal.

Later on, some people began to speculate whether the elven inhabitants of Mirovia had gone out to sea.

That speculation eventually led to the formation of the Moe Moe Committee’s expedition team.

Thinking of this, Cypher felt his curiosity piqued.

He was also eager to know what the Moe Moe’s expedition team had managed to discover.

The guild itself must have already been fully informed of the expedition’s progress. As an outsider, however, his only option was to go to the docks and snoop around.

Moe Moe Committee’s expedition ship was a two-masted sailing vessel.

After it docked, Cypher spotted several familiar figures disembarking.

Boxlunch, Optimist, Calabash, Chopin, and others, all of whom were well-known figures listed on the leaderboards.

He moved closer and overheard Optimist, the famously poorest top-rank player on the server, speaking excitedly with others:

“That’s right! We followed the coastline all the way south and finally went around the Desert of Death. From there, you can get straight to the southern edge of the Desert.”

“How long did it take? About twenty days or so. Honestly, it’s quite time-consuming and it’s nowhere near as convenient as teleportation arrays.”

“But going farther east was impossible no matter how much we tried. That area seems to fall within the sphere of influence of Aries Kingdom. The ship could pass through, but we couldn’t. We probably would have fallen into the sea if it were not for the elven helmsman on board.”

“If our judgment is correct, it should be possible to establish a sea trade route from Mirovia, around the Desert, all the way to Aries Kingdom. But with the Vymur River and teleportation arrays already in place, it doesn’t seem all that useful.”

“However, it might be worth it if we could build some big ships since teleporting bulk goods uses way too many magic stones.”

“The west? There’s a boundary to the western map as well, roughly twenty kilometers out. Once you leave the coast by about twenty kilometers, you reach the edge of the map. Of course, it could also be that these areas simply have not been opened to us players yet.”

“You guys have no idea how gorgeous it was. Seriously, the scenery blew me away—the Desert along the coast, those massive red stone mountains. Sunset hitting the sea? Totally dreamlike.”

“And the sunrise over the water? Insane. I’ll send you screenshots later.”

“Did we encounter sea monsters? Well, we didn’t go too far from shore, but the captain said there were plenty of magical beasts in the water. We even dove down and killed a few and they actually tasted pretty good.”

“Where did ‘I-Am-Invincible’ go? Ah… that guy cannot swim but still insists on showing off. So when we went into the water, he accidentally drowned. He probably respawned in Mountpeak City right now.”

“Oh right, we also encountered a giant whale once. Its strength is probably at least at the Gold-rank. Check out this screenshot.”

“The elves of Mirovia? Uh… we didn’t find any. We didn’t see any islands either. Honestly, I thought looking for them was a long shot from the start.”

I think so too, Cypher said to himself.

He could understand why the major guilds were so eager to locate the elven inhabitants of Mirovia. Ultimately, it was for the possibility of triggering a storyline quest.

There was a common saying here in Elven Kingdom that whoever triggered a storyline quest will gain an advantage over everyone else.

After all, the rewards in these kinds of major quest were exceptionally generous.

As a semi-casual player, however, Cypher did not care much about it.

Being able to keep up with the veterans was already more than enough for him.

Just like now, he had reached the Silver-rank right on schedule. While he was not among the absolute top players, encountering most other players on the road was still enough to enjoy their admiring gazes.

After all, even with the recent surge in Silver-rankers, there were only a little over fifty thousand of them.

Basically, the top ten percent.

Glancing at the increasingly crowded docks, Cypher silently recited an incantation and activated the skill [Mist Transformation].

His eyes turned red in an instant, and in the next moment his entire body transformed into a cloud of black mist.

The mist then surged forward like the wind. In just a few seconds, it broke free of the crowd, flew nearly a hundred meters away, and slowly re-formed into a human shape.

“Whoa! Did that guy just turned into mist?”

“That’s a Blood Elf! Dude, I am so jealous…”

Exclamations from other players came from behind him.

Cypher could not help but curl his lips slightly, but he quickly cleared his throat and returned to his calm, indifferent expression.

He continued forward, heading toward the temple.

Like other elven cities, Mirovia’s main temple was located at the center of the city.

Upon entering the temple and bypassing the players standing absentmindedly before the goddess statue in the main hall, he soon found an NPC priestess with whom he had a good relationship with, a charming elven young woman.

“Mr. Cypher. Are you here to take a daily task again today?”

The elven priestess asked with a smile.

Cypher nodded.

“Help me find one with a higher reward, thanks.”

“Of course. Let me take a look.”

The priestess nodded and then fixed her gaze straight ahead.

Cypher knew that she was checking the task system.

After a moment, the elven priestess withdrew her gaze and smiled brightly at him.

“How about the task of gathering Fathead Mushrooms? The upper ranks of the church will be coming here to Mirovia tomorrow for an inspection and evaluation. Our temple is a bit short on ingredients, so a senior priest would like to commission someone to gather some Fathead Mushrooms from the nearby ruins.”

Fathead Mushrooms were a specialty of the nearby Titan Ruins.

Not only were they delicious, but they were also infused with mana, making them a premium ingredient and a valuable magical material.

Nevertheless, one should not underestimate this seemingly simple mushroom-collecting task.

Fathead Mushrooms grew particularly hidden, and without a player who was highly sensitive to magical traces, they were extremely difficult to locate within the ruins.

“The reward?”

“That depends on how many you collect. 500 Contribution Points per pound.”

“That much?”

Cypher was somewhat surprised.

Daily tasks typically offered only a few thousand Contribution Points and could be completed in half an hour.

Therefore, collecting Fathead Mushrooms from the ruins was a bit more troublesome, but the more he gathered, the greater the reward. Based on his previous experience, at 500 Contribution Points per pound, this trip could easily net him several thousand—or even tens of thousands—of Contribution Points.

“There aren’t as many Fathead Mushrooms there now, so harvesting them isn’t as easy as before,” the elven priestess explained.

Cypher nodded in understanding.

Judging by her words, the easiest-to-reach mushrooms had probably already been collected by those reckless players who spent their days roaming the ruins.

After accepting the task from the priestess, Cypher set off toward the Titan Ruins along the route he remembered.

The ruins were not far from the city proper, and a teleportation array provided direct access to the city center, allowing Cypher to reach his destination quickly.

Unlike other Titan Ruins, this ruin was not located in an alternate dimension but buried underground. After paying the fee for using the teleportation array, Cypher entered the ruins.

It had been a long time since he had last visited the ruins—two months, in fact—so he relied on his somewhat hazy memory to locate the areas where Fathead Mushrooms were most likely to grow.

Although he had prepared himself for the possibility that most of the mushrooms might have been plundered by other players, upon entering the ruins and seeing the corners of the site so clean they seemed freshly wiped, he could not help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

“Better go deeper and take a look,” he muttered, shaking his head.

This Titan Ruin was not as large as some of the others, but perhaps because it was underground, its interior was more complex.

Collapsed and buried areas were not uncommon, especially as he went deeper. Yet the deeper he went, the higher the likelihood of finding new Fathead Mushrooms.

After searching for some time, Cypher finally spotted a few beneath a cluster of stones: a plump, bulbous mushroom, reminiscent of the lion’s mane mushroom from Earth.

His eyes brightened.

He carefully harvested it and held it to his nose, activating his hunter’s tracking skill.

This was the advantage of being a hunter, which is a class specialized for locating objects.

Once the skill was in effect, Cypher quickly detected the magical signature of several more Fathead Mushrooms and began to search for them one by one.

The deeper he went, the more mushrooms he collected.

Many areas in the depths of the ruins had collapsed, but this did not pose a challenge for Cypher. With [Mist Transformation], he could easily slip through even the narrowest of gaps.

In search of more mushrooms, he transformed repeatedly, entering one crevice after another. Without realizing it, he reached a section of the ruins piled with scattered rocks.

It was then, upon glancing at his minimap, that Cypher realized he had unwittingly ventured beyond the areas previously explored by other players.

“Mist Transformation is seriously useful! I guess I’m opening new map territory?”

Cypher gazed at the massive rock pile before him, a trace of excitement on his face.

This area lay at the very heart of the ruins, a place no player had ever reached. Without his [Mist Transformation], he would never have gotten here.

What delighted him even more was the sheer number of Fathead Mushrooms he discovered.

“Jackpot!” Cypher exclaimed.

He greedily stuffed the mushrooms into his small storage ring, feeling a surge of satisfaction.

“Some are even under the rocks!”

His tracking skill indicated mushrooms beneath a stone pile.

Cypher took a deep breath, using his skill to shift the rocks aside in order to collect the hidden mushrooms.

However, as he moved the last stone and looked underneath, his gaze froze slightly.

“Is this… an array?”

Beneath the stones lay a complex pattern of intricate lines.

Only a small portion was visible, with the rest extending beneath the surrounding rocks.

Cypher’s mind raced. He decided to use his skill to carefully move each stone aside, revealing the full magical circle underneath.

Once he had cleared the area, the entire design of the array was fully revealed.

It was indeed a circular magical array!

The array appeared to be ancient with several of its power nodes littered with debris, likely remnants of long-decayed magical stones.

Cypher’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

“Is this a sealing array?”

He had also studied some knowledge of magical arrays, though only superficially. While not an expert, he could still somewhat operate them.

Though the patterns on this array differed slightly from what he had learned, the core runes in it unmistakably indicated “Sealing.”

In an instant, Cypher’s heart raced.

At that moment, he felt that he might have discovered something extraordinary.

“Could this array be a hidden treasure trove?”

He swallowed nervously.

After a moment’s thought, he retrieved several magical stones from his storage ring and placed them into the array’s power nodes.

Following the method he had learned for activating magical arrays, he infused the array with magical energy.

As the energy flowed into the array, the dim underground ruins suddenly began to glow with a soft, radiant light.

The magical array on the ground was illuminating, which means its functions were still intact!

Cypher’s heart leapt with excitement.

But in the next moment, several of the magic stones on the array cracked into fragments, and the entire array dimmed once again.

Cypher froze briefly before realizing:

“Not enough magical energy…”

He gazed at the ancient array, hesitated, then gritted his teeth and retrieved several high-quality magical crystals.

These were the leftover “ammunition” handed to him by the Moe Moe Committee during his previous participation in the War Campaign in the Maple Leaf Territory, when he had operated the magical crystal cannons.

He had kept all these crystals for later use, but now, seeing the potential within the array, he decided to use them all at once to ensure the array would activate.

Luckily, this time, the array finally shone with dazzling light!

Yet before Cypher could react, the space around him suddenly seemed to collapse inward under a tremendous suction force, and his surroundings instantly dissolved into darkness.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep