Game of the World Tree

"Hmph"

Fried Tomatoes snorted while looking regretfully at his knife. He drew back his wooden knife with a dark expression.

Li Mu soon realized what had happened. Suppressing his anger, he calmed down and said,

"If you leave right now, I can forget the whole matter."

Money turned people greedy.

Games were different from reality.

Compared to the real world where ethics and the law ruled, the game world allowed players to have more freedom, which in turn made them more audacious. Without a dominant force ruling over their heads, the darker side of human nature would be more visible.

In reality, three hundred players couldn't always stay united.

Twenty six pieces of divine blood crystals could be exchanged for 20800 contribution points. In the early stages of the game, they were worth at least 20000 yuan.

It was not surprising that someone would be willing to break the current peaceful status quo for them.

However, it was obvious that Fried Tomatoes was not ready to act against all the players in pre-OBT. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tried to use his unique skill to stealthily kill Li Mu in one swipe.

The Kingdom of Elves was really very different from other virtual online games.

In fact, instant kills were not uncommon in this 100% realistic game.

Although it was rare, a lower level player could instantly kill a higher level monster with a single hit as long as he acted at the right time and aimed at the vitals.

Though it was different from the mechanisms of other games, it was more realistic for the players.

Moreover, it made the battles in The Kingdom of Elves more dramatic and interesting.

Sometimes, the competition of intelligence and courage was more important than comparison of level.

At least, this was the case when the level gap wasn't too wide.

It was because of this, Fried Tomatoes dared to attack Li Mu.

If Li Mu was unknowingly killed in a single hit, he would never be able to explain the loss of the divine blood crystals. Then Fried Tomatoes could get away with a smooth crime.

But unfortunately, he underestimated Li Mu's reaction speed, and his ambush plan failed.

The two men suddenly came to a deadlock.

Li Mu's profession was not under the combat category. As a druid who specialized in supporting others, he hadn't obtained a single offensive skill yet.

In The Kingdom of Elves, skills were extremely powerful, especially the skills given by Eve.

If an original inhabitant of Sagas tried to learn a skill, they would have to study, practice, and get familiar with it until he was fluent with it…

But the skills given by Eve were different.

He directly helped the players to gain the full understanding of the skills in their minds through the connection with the players' consciousness. And He even assisted the players to use the skills through the game system.

For the players, this meant that they could completely master the skills in a short time.

That was to say, the effect of skills was far beyond ordinary harm.

Because of this, Li Mu was not confident of defeating Fried Tomatoes who was a warrior by profession in one-on-one combat.

Since Li Mu was a leader figure, everybody knew of his combat ability clearly. If the two men really fought, Li Mu was not confident in escaping from Fried Tomatoes.

If Li Mu's memory was right, Fried Tomatoes was quite a remarkable player even amongst the three hundred players. Except for Box Meal, few people could match him.

As such, no matter how angry Li Mu was, he could only try to hold up Fried Tomatoes and persuade him.

"Fried Tomatoes, I understand your actions roughly. I don't want to make too much of this situation. Since you didn't kill me just now, we can pretend nothing has happened. I suppose that you don't want to pit the other 71 players against yourself, right?"

It was necessary to threaten him appropriately.

Of course, Li Mu also gave him some leeway.

"I'll repeat my words again. If you leave right now, I can forget the whole matter,"

Li Mu said calmly.

Fried Tomatoes' expression slightly dropped. He seemed to be struggling internally for a moment but after a while, he sneered.

"So what? It's just a game. This is only a pre-OBT. Even if I offend more than 70 players, gaining 20000 contribution points is worth it. Open beta has not started yet. In an online game, there will be conflict sooner or later. Plus, I don't want to always play house with you guys either…"

"Besides…"

Fried Tomatoes' expression turned slightly playful as he said,

"Only the two of us are here. Even if I kill you right now, how will you prove that I did it?"

Hearing his words, Li Mu visibly showed contempt but soon became serious.

Fried Tomatoes was right. Only the two of them were here. If he was killed, he could not prove Fried Tomatoes did it.

Although he was the temporary commander of the players, he didn't really hold much sway.

Furthermore, with Fried Tomatoes being so bold, Li Mu was afraid that there were others behind him.

He was probably not alone. Or perhaps he had already prepared his alibi before coming to kill him.

By then, people might not believe it as long as he refused to acknowledge it…

Damn, is there no red name-like mechanism in this game?

At this moment, Li Mu could not help but complain internally.

"Ha ha, let's not delay anymore. Let's fight to settle the matter quickly."

Fried Tomatoes chuckled, raised the wooden knife again, used the skill [Charge] and rushed to stab Li Mu.

Li Mu's expression fell as he hurriedly looked for trees to hide himself. While doing so, he started chanting a spell.

However, as his skill was not designed to take effect in an instant, he was slower than Fried Tomatoes.

With one swipe, Fried Tomatoes sliced Li Mu's right arm that was holding the magic staff.

Blood spilt everywhere.

"Ha ha."

Fried Tomatoes slightly curled his lips as he looked at the health bar above Li Mu's head decreasing by a quarter instantly.

However, before he had time to continue his assault, a system message suddenly appeared before all the players' eyes…

[Warning! Warning!]

[With the player "Fried Tomatoes" maliciously attacking the player "Li Mu", he has been sentenced to be a red-named player in the primary stage of the game]

[The punishments of a red-named player in the primary stage are as follows: In this state, the experience and contribution points gained by the assailant will reduce by fifty percent. All the players are now allowed to attack this person with no repercussions. When the assailant dies, the objects they obtained in the red-name state will be taken away and be returned to the original owner by force]

[The punishments of a red-named player in the primary stage will last until the assailant dies. After the assailant dies, their level will reduce by one regardless of the number of Perfect Resurrection in the inventory. For first time assailants, the red-name state will last for 24 hours]

[The current reward for killing a red-named assailant: 50 contribution points]

Fried Tomatoes, "…"

Li Mu, "…"

Was there a red-name mechanism in The Kingdom of Elves?

Of course there was one.

Eve had played so many online games in the past that He could not forget about them.

In fact, when Fried Tomatoes attacked Li Mu, He was paying attention to it as well.

Eve made a conservative estimate and found that the 26 pieces of divine blood crystals were worth 35 points of divine force in total. As such, he was also worried that an accident would occur to such a large amount of assets.

If it was not for the need to leave the mechanism of the game undisturbed, Eve almost wanted to directly grab the divine blood crystals from Li Mu.

Therefore, when Li Mu left Florence, Eve kept watching his movements and was surprised to see the scene.

When he saw such an act, Eve despised Fried Tomatoes.

Even if he would eventually sacrifice the divine blood crystals to Eve after taking them by force, he would have broken the rule of the game for doing so.

In an instant, Eve was even wondering whether He should ban the guy's account for good.

But as the GM of the game, He needed to think of the bigger picture…

Games were different from reality. It was impossible for all the players to always stay united.

In real society, there were numerous laws, rules, and ethics that regulated human beings and maintained the normal operation of human society.

Such restrictions deprived people of certain freedom, namely the freedom of falling into one's desires, greed, and violence.

Conflicts and wars filled human history. There were genes of killing and destruction in the bones of human beings. Although civilization removed people's fangs and made them more virtuous, it couldn't completely exterminate their inherent evil side.

The evil side would rarely emerge where the regulations existed. But once those regulations disappeared, they would appear in en masse.

Games were likely to arouse the other side of human nature.

It was because real life rules didn't apply in games!

Additionally, for a lot of players, indulging themselves in games had become their norm.

But The Kingdom of Elves was not just a game!

Therefore, if Eve wanted to make the players obedient, He also needed to regulate them with rules.

The first rule Eve chose… was the red-name mechanism.

Judgement would be based on the player's "malice" and the degree of the damage he caused.

Of course, the sanction should be appropriate. It would be best that the sanction could maintain order without discouraging the players.

More than maintaining the order of the players, this could also help prepare for the return of elves in the future.

Eve didn't want to see the players belittling elves and doing everything they liked at will!

After all, He could never know the ethics of the players.