Elf Kingdom: Game of the World Tree

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Final Preparations (Vote for Recommendations!)

Editor: Henyee Translations

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The ten-minute-long promotional video seemed like a burning pile of RMB to Li Mu. *He wondered just how much money it took to make it…*

If he were to rate it, out of a hundred points, Li Mu would give it 99, taking off one point just to keep the creators from getting arrogant.

The visuals, characters, sound effects, special effects… absolutely top-tier in the industry, even fit to be a movie.

No, most movies might not even reach this level…

And the so-called “thought acceleration technology” piqued his curiosity.

...

However, unlike other netizens whose enthusiasm peaked after watching it, Li Mu remained very calm.

“The promotional video is great, but… can the game really be as good as the video?”

*Countless facts had proven that in these years where virtual reality was just emerging, many games were false advertising.*

Although this promotional piece titled “Elf Kingdom” was explosively impactful, it didn’t necessarily mean the game would be the same.

He turned off the video and opened a search engine, soon discovering that “Elf Kingdom” had already sparked widespread discussion on major social networks.

Clearly, such a high-quality promotional video, coupled with mysterious new technology, had whetted the appetites of the netizens.

In fact, Li Mu felt the same; he was quite curious now.

To say nothing of the fact that he had never heard of this game company before, but he could tell this was undoubtedly a major production!

After all, the promotional video was blatantly burning RMB like joss paper, and Li Mu estimated its budget was higher than many existing virtual reality games.

Under such circumstances, he thought about it and felt the game wouldn’t be too bad, even at its worst…

Moreover, he was thoroughly intrigued by that “thought acceleration technology.”

Not only that, the “Elf Kingdom” promotional video had already exploded in the media, serving as the perfect video material…

With this thought, Li Mu nodded:

“This game is worth investing in.”

Then he clicked on the game registration link.

The webpage changed again, leading to the official site of “Elf Kingdom.”

The site was quite crude, like it was randomly scrawled by an amateur, giving Li Mu serious doubts about whether the creators of the spectacular promotional video were from the same company.

Though rough, it had all necessary components like forums, message boards, and information sections, despite its small sparrow size.

Li Mu glanced at it and clicked on the registration button on the homepage —

The screen flashed and jumped to the registration page.

“Welcome to register for the June 1st open beta of ‘Elf Kingdom’ with no data wipes.”

“For the best gaming experience, please fill in your identity information and related materials. Thank you for your cooperation…”

Li Mu wasn’t surprised upon seeing the registration requirements.

*Given the high addictiveness of virtual reality games, regulations requiring real-name verification had been implemented over a year ago.*

He filled in his information effortlessly and clicked on register.

“Registration successful! You are the 515,494th player to register for ‘Elf Kingdom.’ Thank you for your participation!”

Seeing this number, Li Mu’s mouth opened slightly.

“Wow! Five hundred thousand registrations… that’s insane…”

“Can the server handle that?”

*Virtual reality game servers had a carrying capacity that was much lower than ordinary online games!*

Slightly amazed, he continued reading.

“The first batch of the closed beta has 300 slots. We will randomly select registrants within a week, so please keep an eye on your email and text messages.”

“Thank you for your understanding and support!”

Li Mu: …

“Three hundred slots? Are they kidding?!”

*For a moment, he felt the urge to smash his keyboard.*

His expression changed unpredictably, and Li Mu emptied his mug of coffee.

“Forget it, I’ll just borrow an account to play when the time comes.”

His anticipation diminished significantly. Li Mu shook his head, closed the webpage, and went to find other prey…

…

Time passed quickly.

In the ancient Segis Plane, within the Elf Forest.

Nearly a month had passed, and there were some changes to the World Tree now.

While the majority of branches remained withered, some in the lower and upper areas had faint hints of green.

This wasn’t Eve’s intention; rather, with her awakening, the World Tree naturally began a subconscious recovery.

Although this process was slow and the World Tree was still in a critical condition, given time, it could slowly recover on its own, even without intervention…

However, this process would be quite lengthy, potentially taking thousands to tens of thousands of years to reach its peak without external assistance.

Eve certainly wouldn’t just wait around, knowing full well an enemy could appear at any moment.

In recent days, she commanded the Oak Guardian to eliminate all threats within a ten-kilometer radius, preparing for the upcoming “game” test.

In the future, this would be the hub of elven civilization.

Additionally, she spent 3 points of Divine Power to establish a concealment barrier, covering the largest range she could manage—ten kilometers—so the outside world wouldn’t see the changes happening to the World Tree.

This period was when Eve was at her weakest, and she had to ensure she wasn’t disturbed until her Divine Power reached 100.

When Divine Power reached 100, she would officially escape her critical condition and could create avatars, making it easier to use her abilities.

Glimpsing at her status, Eve sighed in her heart.

“Divine Power is still at 11 points… I hope ‘Elf Kingdom’ won’t disappoint me.”

It was only due to the Oak Guardian Berserker wiping out another Half-Beast Hunting Team in recent days that her Divine Power remained above 10 points.

However, the continued presence of Half-Beasts also served as a warning sign for Eve.

Nearby the Elf Forest was a Half-Beast Tribe, which Eve had confirmed. Although its power wasn’t significant among the numerous Half-Beast Tribes, its proximity to the Elf Forest was undeniably a threat.

Not to mention, behind the Half-Beasts was one of her adversaries—the Hunting God Uller.

Unfortunately, Eve’s influence was currently limited to only ten kilometers, her power was finite, and Berserker was alone and couldn’t uproot them…

“Perhaps, once the first batch of players arrives and levels up, I can entrust them with it…”

“Level 1 is still too low. By then, I can first assist them in advancing through quests, breaking through Apprentice Rank, and leveling up to Level 11 Black Iron Lower…”

Actually, with Eve’s power, directly granting players Level 11 wouldn’t consume much, but she decided to fix player strength upon descent and revival at Level 1 to discourage reckless behavior.

At least for the initial stages.

“This way, maybe those guys would value their lives a bit more? It would also make things easier for me.”

The player activity range was much broader than Eve’s. Through tests, she determined that the furthest distance her current elven bodies could maintain contact was a hundred kilometers; any further, and the link would sever.

Of course, if they were believers, the connection could reach even further. Believers and the Divine share a faith channel linking them.

But, as a Blue Star person, Eve didn’t expect her fellow Earthlings to provide faith, as, to them, this was just a game.

And the hundred kilometers would be the initial player activity range planned by Eve. To prevent straying, she had set it so when players crossed this boundary, they would automatically reconnect with the Mother Tree and be forcibly teleported back.

Additionally, as her power increased, the player’s activity range could expand too. If she became a strong Divine, she could even allow players to roam freely across the entire plane!

Subsequently, Eve once again immersed her consciousness into the Divine Space…

Testing the game system’s operations in her consciousness, feeling there were no issues, she shifted her focus to the center of her canopy.

There, three hundred egg-shaped orbs, glowing with lustrous light and exuding the aura of life, hung suspended.

These were the first batch of bodies she had created.

The bodies had matured, and the resurrection mechanism had long been set up; now, she just needed to designate players and prepare for the arrival of the little darlings!

Eve was very satisfied and connected to the Blue Star Network again to begin selecting potential candidates.

…