Chapter 443

The Dragon Pact is finally here!

With the release of new animated cutscene and the recording of a miracle in Florence going viral, this highly anticipated announcement has set the entire ElvKing community abuzz.

Keywords such as dragon, companion pact, and goddess have once again flooded the forum’s search inquiries, sparking excitement amongst the playerbase.

Even the screenshot featuring the goddess wielding the Scepter of Life to “bless” the dragon eggs in the presence of the reverently postured Golden Dragon, Alexius, quickly became the top search result on some wallpaper engines.

Well, it’s to be expected, since the character models and visual effects within Elven Kingdom are truly impressive.

Although videos and screenshots only capture about half of the game’s hyper realistic visuals, Elven Kingdom is still far ahead of other games.

Not to mention its widely recognized number-one NPC in the entire server, the Goddess Eve herself.

Despite her only appearing a few times and not interacting much with the players, she still has the highest popularity amongst fans…

Some players even joke that half the game’s development budget for NPCs must have been entirely spent upon the goddess alone to achieve such an effect.

Nonetheless, out of the sixty thousand players, only a fortunate few who happened to be in Florence at that moment saw the event live.

As a result, many others who missed the live “broadcast” regretted not being in Florence that day.

They not only missed the entire sequence of the Goddess appearance but also being blessed by her.

It’s worth noting that those present at that time received a “Blessing of the Goddess Eve” buff, which granted a three-day boost to the recovery rates of their health, mana, and stamina.

Just missing out on that free buff alone was enough to make those players who lost their chance turn green with envy…

Florence’s Central Plaza.

Alexius who was guarding the five colorful dragon eggs had become the center of attention for countless of players.

Having missed the goddess descent, more and more players who arrived late came to watch the golden dragon and the dragon eggs instead.

Though most of them were already familiar with giant dragons thanks to their prior dealings with Meryer, with some of them even willingly serving as “lackeys” just to collect his scales and saliva, they still couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast between the two dragons.

Alexius’s radiant golden scales and noble, majestic appearance were far more captivating than Meryer’s fearsome, intimidating look.

After his arrival, the golden dragon, Alexius instantly became popular especially among female players.

Therefore, Alexius, even while resting with his eyes closed most of the time, was rapidly becoming the newest attraction within Florence, with ‘tourists’ eager to take screenshots of him.

In fact, were it not for the Golden Dragon’s formidable presence, which radiated an aura that deterred strangers, players would have likely have crowded around him by now.

As a result, with his intimidating aura and imposing presence, the players attention shifted entirely to the dragon eggs instead.

Naturally Little Salty Cat was no exception to this.

“Dragon eggs! Companion Pacts! I want a dragon familiar too! But… what requirements do I need to get one?”

Little Salty Cat gazed longingly at the dragon eggs, guarded by the Golden Dragon.

This largest ‘whale’ on the entire server looked on eagerly as she gazed at the eggs. Beside her, Meryer who had transformed into a humanoid boy snorted and quickly corrected her.

“It’s ‘partner’! A mighty dragon would never become a mere familiar!”

“Oh, but didn’t you sign a master-servant contract with the goddess and become her pet?”

Little Salty Cat covered her mouth, chuckling teasingly.

Meryer: “…”

With a stiff expression, he shook his head.

“No! That’s entirely different! How can the goddess be compared to mere mortals?”

Then, glancing at Little Salty Cat, Meryer pouted in displeasure.

“Besides, you already have the support of this Lord, so why do you even need a dragon partner! Those hatchlings who haven’t even broken out of their eggshells are much weaker than me.”

Hearing Meryer’s slightly resentful tone, Little Salty Cat chuckled.

“It’s not the same! You’re the goddess’s chosen familiar, and a purple-class NPC. I can’t form a pact with you.”

“Tch, even without a pact, I’m better than those hatchlings! Just give me a little time! It won’t be a problem for this Lord once I reach legendary-rank! The goddess even told me last time that there’s a chance I could become a Dragon God if I do well!”

Meryer spoke with pride, though his gaze drifted over to the five dragon eggs in the distance, as a hint of hesitation crossed his face.

“Hmmm… maybe I could ask Her Majesty to allow me to sign a companion pact, too?”

He muttered under his breath.

A new oracle was issued from the Temple of Life the day after the golden dragon and the five eggs had garnered the attention of the players.

Especially it was about the Dragon Pact.

Saintess Alice, acting on behalf of the goddess, informed the players of the conditions for forming a dragon pact—

There were two primary ways to obtain a dragon contract.

One, is to complete special quest and directly obtain the dragon pact rights as rewards.

While the other is to be appealing enough to the dragon hatchlings once they are born and gain their approval.

As soon as these conditions were announced, many players immediately flocked to the forums and criticized these terms.

“This is something that only those elite and lucky players could achieve!”

They all sighed exasperatedly.

Historically speaking, only those top-ranked players could complete these special quests.

Whereas for the second method—being appealing enough—well, that’s really just a matter of luck, isn’t it?

Nonetheless, the players grew even more excited…

After all, luck is fair game—it means anyone could have a chance.

And without confronting the harsh reality, everyone could indulge in the hope that they just might be the lucky one.

Of course, for most, that’s nothing more than wishful thinking.

The hype surrounding the dragons should last for at least many days.

Similar to the players, Evé was also in a very good mood at this moment.

The benefits of performing a divine descent in Florence had vastly exceeded her expectations…

“I was starting to worry that using so much of my divine power on performing a descent and blessing was too extravagant, but it seems that occasionally showing miracles to my followers from time to time is still worth it,”

Evé mused as she looked over her personal status screen with satisfaction.

At that moment, her status screen had some notable changes:

【Name: Evé Yggdrasill 】

【Race: World Tree (Ancient One) 】

【Level: 150 (Mythical-rank) 】

【Status: Lesser Divine Power 】

【Divinity: Nature, Life, Elvenkind 】

【Titles: Goddess of Life, Mother of Nature, Sovereign of Elves 】

【Divine Power: 6713/10000 】

【Believers: 2,565 (Saints: 1, Zealots: 128, Devout: 1,549, Casual Believers: 887) 】

【Abilities: Devour, Commune, Bestow, Enlighten, Heal, Summon, Divine Descent, Celestial Domain… 】

【Divine Artifacts: Withering Heart (Damaged), Scepter of Life (Incomplete) 】

The main changes were in her believer count.

This time, performing a divine descent had cost her close to eighty divine power points.

However, the impact was remarkable.

Not only did she formally gain the respect and friendship of the dragons, but she also significantly bolstered the faith of the native elves!

While the former was expected, the latter came as a pleasant surprise.

“It seems… I’ll need to showcase my divine powers like this for time to time. Just by performing a single descent and blessing them have strengthened the faith of nearly a thousand elven followers and even added twenty new zealots!”

Evé nodded slightly.

It generates an intense surge of devotion when a believer strengthens their faith.

The faith generated by these thousand believers alone was enough to offset the divine power that she initially used.

Of course, Evé knew such occurance are rare—the first time would have the greatest effect, while subsequent displays would gradually lose impact…

Such were the natural order of things.

Still, it served as a valuable reminder.

“I should periodically demonstrate my powers to deepen their faith in the future.”

While Evé’s main plan is to rely primarily on absorbing the powers of other evil gods to hasten her recovery, she still cannot neglect the power of faith.

As time passed, she grew increasingly aware of the wonder brought about by the power of faith.

Faith—

These spiritual energies seem to come out of nowhere, but they always carry incredible power.

Although she only have a few thousand secular believers, the divine power brought by their sublime faith is even more powerful than the power possessed by these believers themselves.

It was a hard concept to grasp but undeniably real.

“The power of faith…is far more profound than I initially thought. The rise of faith-based gods isn’t without reason.”

Evé sighed.

Unfortunately, her predecessor hadn’t been interested in this power.

As a consequence, Evé was still struggling to understand how the power of faith worked and was unable to fully grasp the root cause of how faith strengthened one’s divine power.

For now, she could only convert her powers instinctively.

“One step at a time. For now, let’s deal with the issue surrounding the demi-realm first.”

Closing her status screen, Evé once again shifted her focus back to the demi-realm.

— 443 —

【 PRIVILEGE RESERVED FOR THE ELITE AND LUCKY PLAYERS 】

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