Chapter 16

▪️MORE THAN JUST A GAME

The time inside the game had passed into twilight in the blink of an eye.

Inside the Forest of Elves, towering trees with interlocking branches and thriving leaves block out shafts of light from reaching the ground’s surface.

The golden sunset shone through the shade of trees, like flickering stars, exuding an elusive serenity with its gentle afterglow.

A melodious chorus of inflecting tune slowly resounded within the vicinity as several entangling vines suddenly emerged from the soil and slither in all directions, binding around a tall ancient tree.

Li Mu put down his wooden wand and took a deep breath, before speaking to the person behind him.

“It’s now fixed in its place!”

“Nice! Binding Vines really is a useful skill!”

“Now we don’t have to worry about the tree falling and accidentally killing someone again!”

“Haah…Demacia, you’re just so damn unlucky dude. Heck, why is it that you were always seem to be standing in the wrong place everytime? Just how many times have you’ve died so far anyway?”

“Get lost!”

“Hahaha!”

Several elves wearing linen armor audibly rushed forward, wielding their wooden axes as they began chopping off the trunk of the ancient tree…

“Speaking of which, this task is really weird you know…I mean, even though the Goddess is the World Tree, yet she asked us to cut down trees just like herself…”

“Who knows? Maybe the goddess is not feeling well. Just look at how withered the World Tree is man.”

“This forest just seems so alive…the goddess wouldn’t mind if we cut down some trees, right?”

“Jeez man, you’re such a hardcore nerd.”

“It’s just a game, don’t take it too seriously.”

“Uh… I almost forgot that this is a game…”

The players idly chatted while they worked together.

They were Li Mu’s teammates.

After the first task was completed, Li Mu decided to form a party with several players in order to work more efficiently.

Amid the yells of ‘one, two, three’ and the sound of wood chopping, another lofty tree partially swayed while it was being cut. It then started to rock intensely once they had hacked past the halfway point of the lower trunk as it began to tilt in one direction.

“Push it together now! Quickly! One! Two! Three…!”

“It’s falling! It’s finally falling!”

Alongside the burst of cheers from the crowd, the once massive ancient tree finally fell into the ground, creating a cloud of dust upon impact while also startling a nearby flock of birds…

The elves rushed forward again, wielding their wooden axes and invoking their flashy cutting skills as they divided the tree into various segments, akin to seasoned lumberjacks.

“This tree should be enough for all of us to complete our tasks, right?”

One player wiped their sweat and rhetorically asked.

“It’s plentiful enough. This tree is so big that I doubt we can even move it all in just one trip.”

Li Mu spoke while he and the rest of his party members lifted the segmented ancient tree together.

This was already Li Mu’s sixth round of doing task alongside this party, and their efficiency significantly improves with each task that they completed.

Without even noticing it, Li Mu had already been playing the game for a whole day, or more accurately, he had been chopping down trees for most of the time.

He glanced at his status screen and smiled.

“I should be able to reach level five after completing this task.”

“What the heck! as expected of a pro player!”

“Goddang, we got a hardcore grinder here! It’s only been what, a day? I think that’s about three to four hours in real time, and you’re already reaching level five?”

“No wonder you’re so popular Xiao Mu!”

Several of his party members looked over him with admiration on their faces.

Li Mu grinned, and a handsome smile appeared on his face as he explained, “I was just lucky. I found a rare cedar wood at my first task, and Alice directly gave me 300 EXP points for it.”

“Whoa, you’re so lucky man!”

“Is it the golden one back at the camp entrance?”

People around him were turning green with envy.

“That’s terrific! Damn, why is my luck so bad? Every task I’ve been handed so far has been cleaning the temple, and the experience reward for that task is just so pitiful. Then, when I was finally given the task to collect wood, I was instead crushed by falling trees several times, and all the EXP points I gained was lost.”

The player with the username ‘Demacia’ on top of his head complained sorrowfully.

“Hahaha, you’re such a newbie man!”

“Being able to be crushed by falling trees everytime can be considered a talent in a sense.”

“Ahha, aren’t you the guy that strip butt naked just moments after the server opens, and actively flirted with the NPC Alice? What a badass, I think you alone are the only man of culture in this game.”

“Demacia, what is your current favorability level with Alice?”

Demacia opened his status screen and scrolled all the way to his social tab. His two pointed ears drooped as he touched his bombastic hair and said somewhat meekly,

“Negative… negative one hundred…”

“Oh Sh*et, Hahaha!”

“C’mon dude, you’re really going to make me laugh to death, hahaha!”.

“Heh, no wonder you always get garbage tasks, hahaha…”

“Nah, I think it’s simply because his luck is so bad…”

Amidst the laughter, this group of players, who had formed a lumberjack team, joyously carried the wood together and returned to the campsite beneath the World Tree.

The original area was covered in low shrubs, but it has now been cleared out into a large open space by the players. Dozens of players are partied together in pairs of three, using the collected stones and chopped wood to construct houses around the area.

Several rudimentary wooden houses with different eclectic styles have already taken shape, and some experienced architectural players have even built the foundation of a double-story wooden buildings.

Looking at these newly formed buildings, Demacia couldn’t help but exclaim, “These guys are so talented! How can they built these houses in such a short amount of time?”

“Because they have prior experience! They also used magic in this game and using these skills could drastically expedite the construction process…”

Some bystander explained and added,

“Think of it like this: we have levels in this game, right? The further we level up, the more skills we will eventually acquire, which in turn will make us stronger and expand the range of things we can do.”

“Of course, design is also crucial.”

As the bystander spoke, he then pointed to the center of the construction site, wherein a tall and slender, pink-haired female player wearing a robe was holding on to a blueprint made of an unknown material.

She looks to be supervising the entire site as she gestured some kind of order with several other players.

The username ‘HootyBird’ was floating above her head.

“See that girl over there named HootyBird? I’ve heard that she’s a real pro. It seems she’s studying civil engineering at some prominent university in real life, and also the one who designed several houses here as well. She’s already about to reach level five by completing all these construction tasks you know…”

Li Mu looked over in surprise, secretly remembering the name “HootyBird.”

Other players were equally amazed as well.

“Oh god, she’s almost level 05 already? What the hell man, it hasn’t even been a day since the game started for fu*ks sake!”

“Yep, I heard she’s planning to design an entire town with other players who also specialized in urban planning and architecture. I even heard that she already received permission to do so from the Saintess as well.”

“Damn, she’s so talented!”

“I wish I could use my real-life knowledge in this game just like her…”

“What’s your real-life talent anyway?”

“Ohh! Now I get it! The real purpose of the all task we were given must be to let us build a town, right?”

“Haha, well the main theme of ElvKing is the revival of the Elven Civilization after all! But don’t tell me, do we really have to completely build even the starting town by ourselves?”

“The devs of this game really are that lazy huh?”

“Idiot, have any of you even played Empire-Building games before? Building things from scratch is immersive experience!”

“Actually I think integrating our houses inside trees like the stereotypical elven dwellings depicted in most fantasy literature is far more immersive…think about it, chopping down trees and building eclectic houses that have so many different architectural styles feels so ‘unnatural’ in my opinion.”

“Hmm, perhaps the devs put a deeper meaning to it?”

“…”

Evé didn’t put much deeper thoughts into it.

Her main priority was to conserve energy and absorb divine power by converting vitality. After all, her survival was far more important than anything else so she kind of neglected designing these lesser important stuffs.

Moreover, she was not a faith-based deity, but an ancient god who directly controlled the power of nature, so she did not have to strictly adhere to the rules of her Divinity.

The players can cut all the trees they wanted and she still wouldn’t bat a single eyelid.

Building a novice town…

Li Mu pondered as he silently listened to the discussions happening all around him.

He then carried the wood he harvested and came with his teammates to the center of the camp.

A bonfire had been lit in the center of the basecamp as several players gathered around the flames, nibbling on fruits they had picked from somewhere while chatting and laughing.

Meanwhile, the saintess, Alice, stood on the side, still busily checking and handling out tasks with some players.

For greater ease of movement, she decided to tie her long golden hair into a high ponytail. She appeared entirely focused, ignoring the few dirt marks and sweat drops on her face, which glistened in the reflection of the flames that made her look even more lovely.

Li Mu’s party arrived in front of the young maiden to give a report of their task completion.

Alice raised her head and saw their party, specifically Li Mu amongst them and her eyes shone brightly in mild surprise.

“Have you completed another task?”

She had a deep impression of this particular male elf.

Although this chosen one is rather reserved and lanky, he still worked very hard and had even found a rare Cedar wood.

Moreover, he was very polite, completely unlike some of the Chosen Ones who are either rude or shameless…

Alice’s smile faded and huffed sofly when she saw the only member with distinct red explosive hair in the party.

Demacia shuddered and somewhat sheepishly hid behind Li Mu. It seemed that the young maiden had completely remembered him for his streaking and flirtatious behavior.

Li Mu cleared his throat and respectfully said, “Lady Alice, we’re here to hand in the task.”

Alice turned her gaze back to him and her eyes once again brightened upon seeing the wood they were carrying.

“High-quality pine wood!”

She then nodded at the group and said, “Put it in the wood storage area. Your task is complete.”

As soon as she finished speaking, all of them simultaneously received a prompt sound from the system, and they burst out cheering.

Li Mu was delighted at seeing the 150 EXP points that had been added to his experience bar

He could finally level up once again!

After thanking Alice, Li Mu and his party left the location.

Along the way, his teammates were chattering:

“Brother Mu, you’re amazing! Why does Alice seem to be more nicer to you?”

“Brother Mu, what’s your favorability value with Alice?”

Li Mu hesitated for a moment and said, “Not much, just only twenty points.”

As soon as they heard this, the rest of the members instantly exploded.

“Not much you say? That’s already high enough! I only have two points you know!”

“Bruh, two points? Really? Well, I have negative value, and I’ve even worked hard to get closer to her for so long.”

“Forget it. The rest of us are also in the negatives too. I just don’t get it man…shouldn’t our relationship points with her be high enough by now, since we already completed tons of her tasks just like raising a character’s flags in dating sims? Yet, Alice still never smiles at us…”

“I heard that female players have more positive points.”

“The social scoring system in this game is just too difficult…I hope the devs patched it in the next updates.”

“You guys think you’re miserable? Seriously, can you guys even talk like that when you all know that I have a whopping -100 points—”

“—That’s your own fault, idiot. Who asked you to mess with her hair anyway?”

“Brother Mu, what’s your method of increasing your social points with Miss Saintess? Why does my score only increase by one point in every task I’ve done?”

Li Mu didn’t answer immediately. He just walked slowly towards a tree stump and patted his buttocks before sitting down.

The skies had already completely darkened, as countless stars deeply formed a magnificent and breathtaking galaxies, sparkling and twinkling high above alongside the moon with its lunar shine.

The bonfire was burning brightly, crackling and flickering, as an amber hue tinted the whole surroundings.

The numerous players who were either collecting and gathering wood earlier had stopped doing their tasks and now gathered around the flames, eating fruits they had picked from the forest while chatting and laughing enthusiastically amongst each other.

There were also some players holding parties around the bonfire. They were singing and dancing without a care in the world. Someone even made a bagpipe from an unknown material and started playing music to livened up the festivities.

The whole campsite was filled with a jovial and lighthearted atmosphere as if a festival is currently being held within the area.

Gazing upon all of this, Li Mu almost fell into a trance.

He then picked up a purple-green berry that he had accidentally stumbled upon the road and put it in his mouth

A white milk-like juice overflowed into his mouth as he slowly bit into it and a sweet and slightly sour taste spreads throughout his tastebuds.

A chilly night breeze softly blew in the forest causing the bonfire to cast long shadows when the winds passed by.

The players laughed and partied merrily as if they were living in a dream…

Everything just seemed so clean and pure, as if they’re very far away from the ugliness of the mundane world.

Li Mu just sat quietly on a tree stump, gazing at everything before him with a tranquil expression.

This feeling was absolutely wondrous.

Unlike any of the previous games he had played in the past, this game made Li Mu feel as though he was not playing one, but rather participating in an intriguing large-scale outdoor camping activity back in reality.

A group of strangers, away from the hustle and bustle of society and disappointments of the real world, came here in this game. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

To play together…

To work together…

To share happiness together…

All of this felt like an surreal dream, yet at the same time, so unrealistically beautiful, like an illusion.

A mirage that may only happen once in their lives.

Taking a deep breath, Li Mu felt an unprecedented sense of calmness in his heart as he felt all his troubles washing away like soot basking underneath a morning rain.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke up and stated,

“Perhaps it’s because of my sense of immersion. Don’t you all feel like this world is real, even though it’s just a game?”