Chapter 294
The initial group of players that explored the human territory courageously prepared for an extended period which lasted for days, only to come back with a somewhat comical outcome.
Despite the failure of their plan to exploit the bound item bug and loot the goods of the slavers, in the end, the players still managed to rescue numerous elven slaves and complete the main questline.
Hence, ultimately, their first excursion towards human society was still a significant achievement.
In actuality, as far as the actual situation is concerned, from the moment players first entered Maple Leaf City, up until their hasty escape, the entire exploration duration only lasted for two and a half days.
Nevertheless, during these two and a half days, the players mostly dedicated their time conducting business and scamming various slaver establishments that operates within the blackmarket.
As a result, they have yet to explore the remainder of Maple Leaf City, so for players, the exploration of this new map is just starting.
The incident with the bound-item bug and the subsequent pursuit of the slavers’ henchmen did not dampened their curiosity nor enthusiasm concerning Maple Leaf City in the slightest.
In fact, on the contrary, after the first group of players shared their experiences and operations in Maple Leaf City by uploading it on the internet, the rest of the playbase became even more intrigued by this newly unlocked map.
After all, it’s vastly different from any prior maps the players had encountered before, and Maple Leaf City, unlike the other older locations within the game, is a bustling metropolis full of life-like human NPCs.
Although the scale of structures within Florence and Rivendell are also very large, alas, ruins are still ruins after all, and they lack a little bit of humanity with their destitution.
Even with the subsequent return of the natives and the reconstruction of Florence, the reclamation only covered specific areas.
Moreover, the number of elven NPCs currently living in Florence was limited, and as for the underground city of Blackrock, it merely constitutes a small settlement inhabited by only a few thousand Dark-Dwarves.
Nevertheless, the players were still shocked when they first saw Blackrock City since a lively city, composed of thousands of lifelike NPCs, was already a remarkable achievement for a virtual game.
The Chosen City, built by the players themselves, is much more prosperous, but… the residents are all players, and it lacks a certain essence despite the familiarity and relaxation of the place.
Reveling in excitement was a common trait among players. Hence, upon encountering the bustling Maple Leaf City, the other older cities now seemed a bit lacking and smaller in comparison.
The human city of Maple Leaf is a bustling metropolis teeming with life, boasting a population reaching into the hundreds of thousands!
This vibrant new map unfolds with residents immersed in their daily routines, merchant caravans navigating bustling streets, carriages swiftly weaving through the lively thoroughfares, pedestrians adding their own rhythmic footsteps, and the occasional city guards ensuring order.
Together, these elements breathe chaos and vitality into the very essence of Maple Leaf for which the older maps lacks.
This prosperous human city, combined with the absence of reputation restrictions typical for other cities within their own faction’s territory, significantly heightened the gameplay for the players.
In fact, many first-beta players, who hadn’t yet explored various other activities within Maple Leaf City, due to them being preoccupied with the whole binding bug event and enslaved elves rescue questlines already want to return for another round!
Alas, with the current situation in Maple Leaf City, the players have no choice but to wait for awhile for things to calm down. So in the mean time, they logged online and talk about the recent happenings within the game.
Naturally, the incident regarding the failed bound item bug became a topic of amusement on the forums.
However, as another piece of news spread, the conversation’s tone began to change.
The best tank on the entire server, the vice-leader of the Heart of Nature who enjoys seeking death, and the player with the lowest reputation, Demacia, used the binding system’s recall function to swindle himself a spatial ring!
Reportedly, he made a fortune selling the ring and earned himself a whopping hundreds of thousands of contributions points!
The forums buzzed with excitement upon learning of this news.
“Wow! I didn’t know the binding feature in this game could be used like that?”
“Wait… isn’t this technically a bug? Why can’t you bind equipment on the spot and recycle it after death, but scamming equipment like this does?”
“Bro, did you miss the update log? During the recent maintenance yesterday, the binding bug got fixed. Now you can only bind equipment in the temple or within the vicinity of the World Tree. So now, those previous bindings are all void.”
“But… I heard those items disappeared?”
“This… might genuinely be a bug.”
“Ah! No way! I’m so jealous! How is Demacia so lucky!”
“Ha… lucky you say? don’t you know? That guy drew 100,000 contributions from the lottery yesterday, and only got a bunch of junk equipment and resurrection coins in return.”
“Ha… that’s too pitiful. Even I got a legendary item in a single draw.”
“Get outta here.”
“It’s true! I also spent a lot of contributions on the lottery, and I only got a single draw after returning from Maple Leaf City. But Demacia’s trick isn’t bad; I’m tempted to try my luck in Maple Leaf City again. No… perhaps I can try it in Blackrock City first!”
“Blackrock City? Dealing with the dark dwarves? The system has already classified them as friendly faction, so you better be careful not to drop your personal reputation score.”
“Oh right… then I’ll go mess with the humans instead…”
One’s own reputation score is crucial for leveling up and determining luck when exchanging equipment. Among players, no one underestimates this metric.
Haven’t you noticed? Due to Demacia’s overall low reputation score, he struggled to barely reach the first-rank level…
On the other hand, Li Mu, with the highest server-wide reputation score, effortlessly completed quests one after another and already reached level 31!
However, Demacia’s experience gave players a new ideas.
Suddenly, the beta players that recently just returned became lively once again with renewed thoughts.
And this liveliness reached its peak with the release of new system questlines!
After completing the hidden quest of rescuing elves, a new questlines finally appeared!
And this time, these quests are still related to Maple Leaf City.
However, this time, the system triggered not one, but two questlines.
The first was [Secrets of the God of Despair.]
The objective was to gather information about the God of Despair and track their influence.
This was undoubtedly a follow up to the Little Black Dragon’s questline!
Players sensed something odd during the battle between the Black Dragon and the Scaled Demon, and none amongst them believed that the Little Black Dragon had no connection to the God of Despair!
The second quest was [ Oakhand.]
The objective of this second questline was to first return with Selena and the other elves, join the Oakhand Resistance Group, and rekindle the faith of the resistance members, and assist them in continuing to rescue elves within the human territory.
In particular, this quest had a hint of espionage, attracting the attention of many curious players whose into that kind of games.
It was unclear which of the two tasks held more importance, but most players who have reached level 31 can accept both questlines.
In any case, when it came to questlines, whether they could be completed or not, the key was to accept them first.
Completing them was undoubtedly good, but failing to do so didn’t matter much either way…
So in the end, Selena was stunned as she looked at the hundreds of chosen ones who were clamoring to follow her back to Maple Leaf City.
— 294 —
【 PLAYERS ENTHUSIASM 】
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