Game of the World Tree

Upon seeing the system message appear in their field of vision, everyone couldn’t help but feel delighted.

“New Hidden Quest!”

“Nice! we can also receive an added reputation score if we complete the quest!”

After noticing the last line of the quest reward, Calabash’s eyes instantly lit up.

As a long-time combat-focused player, he hadn’t completed many tasks. As such, Calabash hasn’t had many chances to interact with NPCs, and the one he’s mostly familiar with is Nightingale, mainly due to her connection with their team leader, Boxlunch.

Alas, Nightingale never issued any tasks, and on the contrary, she’s even the one performing tasks, providing free meals for them from time to time…

Thus, his personal reputation score barely reached the average in comparison to the entire server.

So… seeing this reward at this moment, made his eyes widened in joy.

It wasn’t just Calabash either.

Even Boxlunch’s interest was piqued.

As the captain of a combat-focused team, his reputation score wasn’t much better than Calabash’s in that regard.

Meanwhile, the other players who were currently watching Little Salty Cat’s livestream were also getting excited.

“Oh my…One of the rewards is a personal reputation score? How come I never encounter such good quests?”

“Wow, that’s lucky! It’s like hitting the jackpot! Just gaining one reputation point added to your rep score can boost your EXP and CP accumulation rate by 1%! That’s like a permanent bonus!”

“I’m so envious…I don’t know what else to say but I’m so envious of these guys.”

The livestream was flooded with comments like these expressing jealousy.

Little Salty Cat was also feeling excited.

She looked at the crescent-shaped orb floating above the pyramid with curiosity:

“The rewards this time are so generous! I wonder what exactly is on top of that pyramid?”

Meanwhile, HootyBird’s gaze lingered upon the hovering fragments of the Scepter as she scrutinized it.

With a hint of uncertainty, she whispered,

“This questline seems to be connected with the goddess, so perhaps… it’s the artifact we’ve heard about from before.”

Evé looked at HootyBird unexpectedly.

Oh? This girl had actually guessed it?

Little Salty Cat was stunned.

“…Artifact?”

“Yes, Cat, do you remember the video on the official forum before? It’s the cutscene where the goddess battles Uller specifically.”

Little Salty Cat paused, furrowing her brows momentarily, before her eyes lit up with realization.

“Cutscene? Oh! I remember now! Is it that video where the goddess uses her tentacles to brutally torture that dumb-looking God?”

Tentacles…Torture…

Evé whose silently listening to their conversation, couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth, while internally considering as to whether she should change her way of attacking and controlling her enemies…

“Exactly.”

HootyBird nodded in agreement.

Seemingly thinking of something, Little Salty Cat’s eyes suddenly lit up:

“Hey, I think I’ve got it! Here’s what I think…the devs wouldn’t just throw random stuff at us. So, if they mentioned the goddess’s artifact, then there’s gotta be a quest to help the goddess find it! And now, since it’s related to the goddess and even specifies an item related to her, it’s very likely to be the same artifact that you suggested!”

“What’s more…”

Little Salty Cat’s gaze fixed on the hovering orb, her eyes gleaming with interest.

“I also seemed to sense a familiar aura on that thing, like the breath of life or something similar…so surely it must be related to the goddess!”

After listening her analysis, the others also agreed.

“So… what should we do?”

Calabash asked in their group chat.

“Pray! According to the quest tips, let’s try praying to the goddess first!”

Little Salty Cat replied.

“Um… how do we pray again?”

Calabash asked again.

Little Salty Cat made a incredulous expression.

“It’s obvious you don’t do tasks very often. Of course, you need to start with this phrase—Praise be to the Mother of Nature, praise be to the Goddess of Life, praise be to the Great Supreme Being, Evé Yggdrasill!”

All of these interactions were taking place within the voice chat channel. Outwardly, they still appeared to be praying devoutly.

Nonetheless, the time Nidhogg allocated for prayer wasn’t short, so they still had time to spare for the time being.

Upon hearing Little Salty Cat’s analysis, a solemn hush fell over them, and silently, they too began to offer prayers to the goddess in their hearts.

Praise be to the Mother of Nature, praise be to the Goddess of Life, praise be to the Great Supreme Being, Evé Yggdrasill!

They devoutly chanted within their hearts.

…Or, at least they believed they were genuinely devoutly chanting such prayers.

Nevertheless, regardless of their authenticity, Evé still sensed their prayers and once again utilized her authority to link their consciousness into her domain.

She manipulated the game system to momentarily obscured the players’ actual vision and senses, and presented them with a new perspective through the game network…

For a moment, a subtle shift swept through Little Salty Cat and the others, causing a momentary ripple in their perception.

In their perspective, the surroundings gradually became hazy, as the group vaguely seemed to see a grand temple before them.

At that moment, they felt as if they had instantly traveled through time and space.

Within the illusionary temple, the stars in the skies sparkled as a backdrop, whilst atop the central throne sat a figure of awe-inspiring holiness.

Divine radiance surrounded her figure, obscuring details yet hinting at the familiar silhouette of a splendid dress known to countless players. Her flawless visage, the allure that had garnered her countless followers among players and online gamers, remained veiled in the ethereal glow.

The embodiment of the World Tree—Goddess Evé Yggdrasill.

This NPC, widely recognized as the most popular one within the game and the actual de facto leader of the elven faction, once again appeared before them…

At this moment, the other players who are watching Little Salty Cat’s livestream also became equally excited:

⤷ Whoa! It’s the Goddess!

⤷The Goddess actually appeared!

⤷ It’s been so long since we last saw Lady Goddess, I miss her so much…

⤷ prprprpr…¹

Then, the players were greeted by a familiar, enchanting voice, one that had sparked speculation among netizens for a long time, yet its true identity remained elusive.

“Brave chosen ones, I have indeed heard your prayers…”

“What you have uncovered is indeed one of my artifacts.”

“If you aid me in retrieving it, then I shall grant you one wish.”

“When you are ready, invoke my name once more…”

The cutscene ended there and their vision returned back to the underground hall once again.

However, at that moment, the players’ excitement reached a fever pitch.

“Oh my! It really is an artifact! And it seems completing the quest will also earn us special rewards from the Goddess! We hit the jackpot! We must complete this questline at all cost!”

Calabash said excitedly in the voice chat.

“Yes! We must definitely complete it!”

Little Salty Cat clenched her fists. Her expression, which had outwardly pretended to be solemn in prayer, was now genuinely excited.

As her assumptions were confirmed, a pleased smile tugged at HootyBird’s lips. But without delay, she redirected her focus to the next step of the quest.

“According to the other two quest tips, we must attract an external interference to the Despair Church if we want to complete this questline. And this external force that could create an opportunity for the Goddess, according to the tips, is the Eternal Church.”

Calabash eyes flickered as he asked,

“But how do we seek assistance from the Eternal Church in the first place? They’re a hostile faction and enemies of the Goddess…”

HootyBird frowned.

At this moment, a booming voice suddenly rang in the groups voice chat, startling each member of the group.

“Of course, we gonna make a mess!”

Demacia gleefully declared.

Little Salty Cat threw a disdainful expression.

“What the—Demacia!? Who let you in our private channel?”

“It was me.”

Féng, who had maintained silence throughout, finally spoke up.

Little Salty Cat’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“…Really, Sister Féng? You did it?”

“Yeah! That’s right! Miss Féng invited me! Boss Cat, this quest is not just yours anymore! It’s ours too! Stirring up trouble is what I’m best at! So let’s share the questline, okay? When the time comes, we’ll share the rewards together!”

Demacia proudly stated.

“You? What do you want to do?”

Wary glances passed between the other players as Demacia responded with a wry chuckle.

“It’s simple! Just a moment ago, Miss Féng and I had a private chat. We figured, that gods can’t be disrespected based on ElvKing’s lore. As such, if we made a mess in the Eternal Church like dessecrating their sacred temple, their patron deity would definitely react angrily!”

Demacia then paused there dramatically for a second before a devious expression formed upon his face.

“Also conveniently, this time around…we’re masquerading as followers of the Church of Despair. When the time comes, we’ll make a huge mess and then place all the blame on these guys afterwards… hehehe, isn’t that great?”

After hearing Demacia’s plan, the other players exchanged dumbfounded glances amongst one another.

This guy…

Seems to really live up to his name as the most daring and provocative player in the entire server.

— 303 —

【 OF COURSE WE’RE GONNA MAKE A MESS 】

¹ Prpr — An abbreviated internet slang that originated from the japanese word ぺろぺろ (peropero), which means, to lick.

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