Game of the World Tree - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Is This a Hidden Task?
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

It had been three earth days since the pre-OBT of The Kingdom of Elves, which meant 12 days had passed on the continent of Sagas.
As time went by, more and more of the 300 players slowly leveled up to level 10.
Demacia.
A day ago, he became a level 10 player of the strength system.
However, the experience points required to go up from level 10 to level 11 were far beyond the players’ expectations. It took as much as ten thousand experience points.
It only took three thousand points to level up to level 10 from level nine.
After getting familiar with The Kingdom of Elves, the players had developed many methods to gain as much experience points as possible.
Currently, there were two methods to do so: Doing tasks or killing monsters to level up, like any other game.
However, different from other games, the visual effects of monster killing in this game were extremely vivid. The degree of bloodiness made people doubt how this game could obtain the go ahead to produce. At the beginning, many players were still not used to it. But after a long time, they soon became numb…
After all, it was proclaimed as the most realistic virtual game! Anyway, if the players disliked it, they could choose to cover up the bloody scene with the mosaic option given by the game system.
After leveling to level nine, the players split themselves into two groups by their leveling method.
Some relatively conservative players like Cuckoo Bird chose to stay in the camp, intending to level to Iron levels by continuing doing tasks.
Meanwhile, other radical players longing for adventure chose to leave the ten-kilometer safe zone to try their luck outside.
The players could gain some experience points by cutting trees and killing monsters. But the creatures in the safe zone were too weak for the latter method, so the experience points they offered were also poor, far lesser than that of doing tasks.
Therefore, some players suggested that since they were now relatively powerful, they could go outside the safe zone for a try, for they might be able to find powerful monsters that could provide considerable experience points.
Swayed by the suggestion, some players chose to leave the safe zone after reaching level nine. They explored the dark zone to try their luck and see whether they could find those wild monsters that could offer abundant experience points.
Their choice turned out to be right. On the first day they went out, a team led by a player named “Box Meal” met a level nine forest python outside the safe zone. After killing it together, these players were rewarded a considerable amount of experience points.
The news of their great achievement spread to the camp, causing an uproar. Soon, many players were inclined to go out of the safe zone.
Even several players who originally planned to level to level 11 by doing tasks joined the audacious pioneers.
Nevertheless, the majority of players still chose to follow the instructions for novices in the system and upgrade steadily through finishing tasks.
After all, as their level increased, the penalty for dying also got increasingly severe. Nobody wanted to go back to the beginning overnight and start from scratch again.
In fact, some players were already resentful of the exceedingly complex mechanism of resurrection. They had complained about it in the game’s official forum so many times… Eve was considering making some improvements.
Besides, even if mosaics were plastered all over their vision, the bloody scene of slashing monsters still made some players uncomfortable. As a result, only a minority of players finally chose to embark on adventure, most of them being males.
Demacia was interested in exploration. He had died several times before level five, and had worked his ass off to get back to where he was now. Meanwhile, Li Mu and Cuckoo Bird were already in a sprint for Iron!
As Demacia was unwilling to lag too far behind Brother Mu, he decisively chose to go on an adventure. In preparation, he obtained companionship from three other male level ten players who also planned to try their luck.
Among these four men, three were of the strength system and one was of the magic system. They decided to leave the safe zone together to explore the dark zone.
…
As they left the safe zone, they found it increasingly harder to advance, for the vegetation of the Forest of Elves became more luxuriant.
Demacia and the others walked in the forest. They were carving a path with their weapons while looking around warily for monsters that might appear.
“Aren’t there too many plants? It’s so hard to walk.”
“It’s fine. It is a virgin forest after all.”
“Brother Demacia, is your source of information reliable? Are there really forest pythons here?”
“Rest assured! There are absolutely pythons here! I bought this piece of information from “Box Meal” with a sun fir. He saw it with his own eyes.”
Hearing the teammate’s inquiry, Demacia patted his chest and assured him.
There was no monetary system in The Kingdom of Elves. The players could only barter. Currently, supplies were not abundant hence materials were worth a lot. But Eve had already designed a contribution system to replace currency, which would be officially launched after the players reached level 11.
“I see!”
Hearing Demacia’s explanation, the other players felt relieved.
The group moved on.
Hundreds of meters away from Demacia’s group, a pair of big, bright eyes were watching their every step.
It was Berserker the oak guard.
Hiding within a gap of ancient trees, Berserker observed these players while holding a trembling goblin in his hand…
He had waited at the edge of the ruins of Florence and caught this level ten goblin. But Berserker had already beaten the goblin so it was more dead than alive.
While holding the goblin like a dead goose, Berserker paid close attention to the four players’ movements.
Demacia and the others were not aware of the prying eyes behind them. They still merrily advanced while chatting.
“How far have we gone out?”
“It’s almost seven kilometers out of the safe zone.”
“Shush, be quiet. We are not in the safe zone anymore. If we encounter an Iron-level wild monster, we will be dead.”
Suddenly, Demacia, who was at the head of the team, turned grim. His two sharp ears moved slightly.
He made a shushing gesture with his hand and whispered to his teammates,
“Be quiet! I seem to hear something!”
He sounded a bit excited.
The team instantly turned silent. The waned spirits of these men were immediately revitalized.
They lowered their bodies while holding their breath. They looked around with their eyes widely open.
“Ah ah ah ah!!!”
Suddenly, a sharp and miserable cry came from upfront, startling a group of flying birds.
These people got nervous and quickly took out their weapons.
“Ah ah ah–!”
The scream was getting increasingly closer with a hint of madness.
These men got upset at their bad luck and hurriedly adopted fighting postures, their hearts pounding.
“It’s ahead…”
Demacia said solemnly.
Right after he said this, they saw the trees ahead move noisily. All of a sudden, a thin green creature rushed out.
This creature was in rags. Its expression ferocious, its eyes bloodshot, it was rushing towards these men frantically.
“Go… Goblin?!”
The men shouted at the same time.
The only magician cast an appraisal, and then his eyes brightened.
“It’s at level ten! But it seemed to be wounded!”
“It has no weapons!”
“It’s so… so fierce! Doesn’t it fear us?”
There was a flicker of excitement in Demacia’s eyes. Wielding his sword, he said in excitement,
“Who cares?! Our experience points are coming! Let’s take it!”
“Take it!”
“Don’t let it run away!”
The others also shouted.
Saying so, the men wielded their wooden knives to slash the goblin, shouting “Wow wow.”
However, to their surprise, this goblin did not even dodge. It just rammed into their weapons so hard that its blood spilled everywhere. It died directly to the swords and knives…
At the last moment before its death, there was a flash of relief in its eyes.
The hidden War Sacrifice slowly started. The goblin’s body instantly aged before turning into flying ashes.
Meanwhile, the four men receive the notice from the system that they had earned experience points from the kill.
But at this moment, the four players were flabbergasted by what had just occurred.
“It… Why didn’t it hide?”
“Somehow, I feel like the goblin wanted to die…”
“I think so too. It seemed like someone was chasing after it…”
“Oh… Give me a hand. I feel a bit dizzy just looking at the blood…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Wait, what’s this?”
Suddenly, a player crouched down to bring a sparkling crystal to their vision from the goblin’s ashes.
It was an irregular light green crystal, which seemed to contain a mysterious power.
“Hmm? Drops?”
“Is it a hem?”
“Let me identify it… Hmm? I cannot identify it. Is it a task item?”
The players were excited and confused as well.
At this moment, the trees in front of them were pushed aside until they snapped from the trunk. A huge figure casted a shadow over the four men.
Berserker walked out of the woods and came up to the men.
Looking at the 30-meter-tall oak guard who abruptly came out, the players simultaneously swallowed saliva…
“Damn! What’s this?”
“A tree man?”
“So… So big…”
Demacia thought for a while and his eyes suddenly brightened,
“It is the oak guard! We are looking at the oak guard!”
“The oak guard? Isn’t it the rare NPC mentioned by Big Mu?”
“Yes! It must be him! I have seen the screenshots of him!”
After these words, Demacia realized something.
“No wonder the goblin ran desperately. The oak guard must be chasing after it…”
After finishing his words, he paused again…
Wait…
Haven’t they robbed the oak guard of his prey?
The other players thought of this as well. They looked at each other and then raised their heads warily, ready to run away at any time.
They already knew that they could not measure the NPCs in this game with their experience of that in other games. The NPCs here had joys and sorrows. Although the oak guard was also on the side of nature, they couldn’t rely on the inherent ideas from other games that they were peace-loving creatures.
What if he was fierce…
Anyway, these men were a bit afraid as they looked at his 30-meter-tall huge figure and his ferocious appearance.
This big guy did not seem to be a friendly one…
But then the oak guard’s next action stunned them.
The 30-meter-tall giant tree man suddenly stopped. He saluted them slightly, stretched out his hand to draw a symbol of nature, a tree, on his chest, and said in a low voice like an elderly gentleman,
“Noble chosen ones, thank you for destroying this evil thief for me. In order to express my gratitude, I will meet a proper request from you.”
These men looked at each other as if they had not recovered themselves from the oak guard’s words.
“A thief?”
“Did it steal that gem?”
“A request?”
Suddenly, Demacia’s eyes lit up as if he understood something.
He patted his thigh and said,
“You guys are stupid…! It’s a hidden task. It must be a hidden task! We must have run into a hidden plotline!”