Elf Kingdom: Game of the World Tree

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Winter and the Hunting God (Please Vote!)

Editor: Henyee Translations

Goblin priest?

Eve’s heart sank.

Generally speaking, goblins couldn’t produce priests because they have neither totems nor faith.

But once a goblin priest was born, it could mean that this race might have developed a racial totem or allied with some Divine…

If it were the former, it wouldn’t be so bad, but if it were the latter…

Thinking of Berserker’s deliberate hiding, Eve had a few suspicions…

...

Only by allying with a Divine would make the Oak Guardians so apprehensive!

“Who is it?”

A majestic voice echoed in Berserker’s mind, but this time, the voice had a hint of seriousness.

Berserker instantly understood what the Mother Goddess meant, and he took a deep breath, replying respectfully in his consciousness,

“Based on my observations, it should be the God of Winter and Hunting—Uller.”

Indeed!

Eve felt a bit heavy-hearted.

It was exactly the target she had guessed!

She knew that a Half-Beast Tribe had been planted near the Elf Forest.

And as Uller’s major source of believers, the Half-Beast Tribe also meant Uller’s surveillance.

From the World Tree’s knowledge, Eve already had some understanding of Uller.

Uller was a relatively young faith-based Divine, reportedly conceived from primitive totems two thousand years ago, with the power to reach the peak of weak divine might.

His divine duties were winter and hunting; even in ancient times, he was at odds with the World Tree, which controlled nature, life, and elves, and as such, was an enemy in the War of the Gods.

After the fall of the World Tree, this cruel Divine had not given up the persecution of elves and was currently the greatest enemy of the Elf Clan.

Thus, he was also on Eve’s must-kill list, whether for vengeance for her predecessor or for her own safety and strength…

And it seemed that this Divine might also be collecting Divine Blood Crystals from the World Tree!

In search of her target, he even recruited goblins!

Creatures like goblins, although low in intelligence and offering a pitiful amount of belief power, feared the strong and were well-suited as laborers. Therefore, it was no surprise that Uller chose them for his tasks, Eve thought.

However, Uller’s collection actions probably hadn’t been going on for long, as the Divine Blood Crystals had been sealed and difficult to detect by other beings until recently.

Thinking of this, she had some speculation,

“Could it be… that the God of Winter and Hunting, Uller, noticed the change in the Divine Blood Crystals and wants to analyze them to obtain the divine duties of nature and life?”

Uller’s duties of winter and hunting were sub-divine duties, inferior to the main duties of nature and life, naturally making him weaker.

And the reason Uller had remained in weak divine power for so many years was because his duties were too poor.

Winter and hunting were, after all, related to nature and life.

Therefore, Eve wasn’t surprised that Uller wanted to analyze the World Tree’s Divine Blood to gain duties related to nature and life.

After all, for a True God, analyzing Divine Blood Crystals was the fastest way to gain information about other true gods’ duties.

However, Eve didn’t think Uller would immediately associate the change in the Divine Blood Crystals with the resurrection of the World Tree, at most, he would think the curse divine spell had vanished.

After all, after a thousand years, the disappearance of an ownerless divine spell was normal…

Furthermore, Eve wasn’t worried about Uller’s plan succeeding.

Now that she had resurrected as the World Tree and regained control over nature and life.

And, with the uniqueness of duties and control, even if Uller tried his hardest, he couldn’t possibly deduce the duties he hoped for.

Uller’s actual plan had already fallen apart the moment Eve resurrected.

But even so, absorbing the World Tree’s Divine Blood Crystals would still provide Uller with some divine power, making him stronger.

This was not something Eve wanted to see.

After all, the World Tree’s Divine Blood Crystals should have belonged to her as the successor, and this also meant a chance for her to rapidly restore her power!

Thinking this, Eve continued to ask,

“How strong are those goblins?”

“Mostly above level 5, a few elite at level 10, but the goblin priest has the strength of a level 11 Black Iron Lower rank. Currently, the exact number of priests is unknown.”

Berserker responded.

Their strength wasn’t too formidable.

Eve nodded in her heart.

At this level of power, if not for the possibility of being discovered by Uller, Berserker could have cleaned them out with just a finger.

“The priest leader is level 11, elites are level 10, and others are from levels 5 to 9…”

“At this level, they’re quite suitable for players to practice with.”

Eve murmured to herself.

After a few days of tasks, the strength of the three hundred players had improved drastically, with the majority advancing beyond level 7.

Furthermore, some grind day-and-night players and master designers had already progressed to the last level of apprentice, level 10, just a step away from transitioning to the Black Iron Rank.

This strength made dealing with other powerful black iron monsters challenging, but fighting goblins was more than sufficient. Even with a level 11 Black Iron Lower rank priest, players could unite and overcome them.

These days, although players had been diligently completing tasks, the long-term repetitive work also made many feel bored.

Until now, many daring players had ignored the system’s newbie guide and attempted to explore outside the safe zone.

At this point, the best solution was to find them something fun to do.

Originally, Eve planned to have Berserker drive some suitable monsters from outside the safe zone for players to fight and level up until they reached level 11; then she’d encourage them to venture out.

But the appearance of goblins showed Eve another, better way.

“After all, Berserker is a Druid who venerates nature. Although he wouldn’t say it, if I really made him drive out beasts, it would definitely affect his faith… But goblins are different.”

“Goblins belong to the enemy camp, and with their relatively weak strength, hunting them won’t affect the local believers’ perception and their threat to players is minimal.”

“Moreover, sending players to hunt goblins can also disrupt Uller’s plan, indirectly gaining the recognition of the Elf Souls.”

“Additionally, players could assist me in finding Divine Blood Crystals! Helping me quickly escape from a state of near death!”

“Haha, it seems I’ll soon receive my first return on investment from the players!”

Thinking of this, Eve had already formed a plan.

She intended to devise a subplot, developing the game’s first “instance task” on the Feilengcui Ruins, and let the players handle the goblins!

Players were different from Berserker.

Berserker was Eve’s follower and believer; attacking Uller’s minion priest would draw attention.

But players were not.

Though they appeared as elves, they were not believers.

As non-believers, it meant their souls bore no Divine imprint.

Even if players were believers, it wouldn’t matter; their souls resided on Blue Star, and only their consciousnesses came here. If Uller wanted to inspect belief imprints, he would have to visit Blue Star first.

A millennium ago, in the War of the Gods, the deities had witnessed the downfall of the World Tree firsthand… and were steadfast in that belief.

With the players taking action, Uller might only suspect that some faithless elves had returned to the Elf Forest, and it wouldn’t lead him to suspect the World Tree’s revival.

Moreover, the goblins residing in the Feilengcui Ruins were already an insult to the proud Elf Clan; incensed elves taking action wouldn’t be surprising.

Under these circumstances, without the involvement of Divine believers, the mere extermination of some goblins wouldn’t raise too much attention from Uller.

Eve didn’t believe that the goblins in Feilengcui were all Uller had recruited. Since they were even here, other Elf City ruins around the Elf Forest might have also been infiltrated by Uller.

Of course, Eve didn’t believe she could hide for long.

Since Uller had already noticed the unsealing of the Divine Blood Crystals, sooner or later, he would realize that the World Tree’s curse had also been lifted.

In such a case, sending followers to investigate the World Tree was only a matter of time…

So, Eve’s exposure was only a matter of time.

Thankfully, the only True God who had noticed the Divine Blood Crystals was Uller, a relatively weak godling.

Eve needed to quickly boost her own power…

For this, taking some risks was worth it.

Having thought all this through, Eve made her decision.

“Berserker, I have something to instruct you.”