Elf Kingdom: Game of the World Tree-Chapter 204 - 198: The Bento’s Early Morning
Chapter 204: Chapter 198: The Bento’s Early Morning
Early morning.
The golden sun slowly rose from the east, its brilliant light gradually dispersing the thick fog within the Elf Forest.
The lights of the Chosen City had dimmed as day broke, revealing a scene full of vitality under the sun’s rays.
From time to time, gamers who had stayed up all night emerged from the forest in small groups, yawning as they searched for NPCs in the city just waking up to turn in their quests. Then, looking at the fatigue value in their status bar that had already maxed out, they reluctantly returned to their shared house in the town to catch some sleep…
In “Elf Kingdom,” players were required to let their in-game characters sleep every so often; otherwise, their physical functions would greatly decline.
*Having the will but lacking the strength, this was probably the predicament of many hardcore gamers.*
However, more players had gradually adapted to the in-game schedule, needing only to log off for two hours to “sleep” and recover some stamina, treating it as just a short break.
In the Chosen City, in a two-story villa in the southwest.
Freshly online, Boxed Lunch crawled off his bed, habitually checked his personal status, then got up, put on his gear, and opened the door.
This villa was Boxed Lunch’s “home” in the game.
However… this villa wasn’t his alone but was shared among the five members of his combat squad.
This pooling-of-home style wasn’t uncommon in “Elf Kingdom.”
Many independent combat squads, cash-strapped Second Test Players, and even real-life friends crammed into such arrangements.
When Boxed Lunch finished freshening up and arrived in the villa’s main hall, the other players had already been waiting there for a while.
They sat around the dining table, each doing their own thing.
Some players were browsing videos on the game’s built-in internet with vacant gazes, occasionally bursting into giggles aimed at thin air; some were focused on researching strategies on the official site, intensely staring into space; and others were chatting:
“Did you hear? Brother Mu from Heart of Nature picked up an Earth Cave Spider mount…”
“What? So fast?! How did he do that?!”
“He farmed affection! Through storytelling and sharing common knowledge with Spider Queen Rose, he painstakingly raised her affection from a negative 20 to a positive 40. Then, Spider Queen Rose gifted him a large Earth Cave Spider as a mount with Black Iron Upper strength!”
“Holy crap! I’m so jealous! He’s truly the server’s top NPC charmer! But… won’t the Earth Cave Spider’s strength be nerfed on the surface?”
“Even nerfed, it’s still a mount! It’s weakened above ground but has buffs underground! And… large Earth Cave Spiders can spit silk! That silk is really valuable!”
“True… unfortunately for us, we still have an affection score of negative 100…”
“Nothing we can do, let’s hope for new mounts in the future.”
The two sounded pretty resigned.
Their squad was eternally hated after bombing Spider Queen Rose. Even Rivendell was hesitant to explore deeply, fearing sneak attacks from Earth Cave Spiders…
“Sigh…”
Listening to his teammates talk, Boxed Lunch sighed as well.
It was his idea to use explosives back then, but he hadn’t expected it to backfire…
Even now, he still felt apologetic towards his squad members.
However, while the other players were disappointed, they didn’t blame the team leader.
After all, it was a collective decision back then.
Besides, Boxed Lunch’s credibility was beyond reproach, being a reliable and responsible squad leader.
Under his leadership, the squad’s average combat power was the highest across the server!
Seeing Boxed Lunch arrive, the other players quickly put down what they were doing and greeted him warmly:
“Good morning, Captain!”
“Morning~ Boxed Lunch!”
They were very enthusiastic.
Boxed Lunch set aside his regrets and nodded at his teammates:
“Morning.”
Then he took his seat.
The players continued chatting, shifting the topic:
“I wonder what’s for breakfast today… I’m starving.”
“Seems like it’s almost time, any moment now, right?”
“Ugh, I’m starting to feel bad about always getting free meals…”
“Big thanks to Boxed Lunch for that!”
The group sat neatly at the dining table, waiting for breakfast.
Soon after Boxed Lunch sat down, someone adeptly picked the villa door lock, and a cheerful voice suddenly rang out:
“Hey! You’re all up! You guys are up early today!”
Boxed Lunch’s actions paused slightly, while the others continued with their activities, but their peripheral vision shifted, and their pointed ears perked up as if aflame with gossip…
A tall figure bustled in from outside, dressed in a Hunter’s outfit, full of vigor—it was Nightingale Shadow.
She glanced at the five people around the dining table, smirking lightly:
“Are you all ready?”
The players grinned awkwardly, familiar with her, greeting her:
“Ahem… Good morning, Miss Nighthawk!”
“Morning, Miss Nighthawk!”
“Well… We couldn’t refuse such a lovely offer from Miss Nighthawk!”
“Exactly, we’re starving and waiting to be fed…”
Nightingale slightly raised her head with a grin:
“Hmph, I’m in a good mood today. I tried making a snack, something called ‘baozi’ or whatever—it seems to be a specialty from your world. My siblings quite liked it, so you should too.”
With that, a flash of light appeared in her hands, revealing a wooden basket filled with steaming hot baozi.
The players’ eyes gleamed instantly:
“Whoa! Miss Nighthawk, your cooking skills are getting impressive!”
“Ah… I’m really embarrassed to have you bring us breakfast every day.”
Nightingale’s mouth twitched as she glanced at a somewhat surprised individual, cleared her throat, and handed out the baozi:
“Alright, enough flattery, just taste it.”
The players hastily tucked in…
Soon, their eyes sparkled:
“Mmm… Delicious! Is this mushroom filling?”
“Fantastic! Very authentic!”
“Miss Nighthawk, why not just move in with us, bring your siblings along too.”
“Yeah, yeah! Whoever ends up marrying Miss Nighthawk is a lucky guy…”
The players laughed and talked.
Hearing this, Nightingale’s ears turned slightly red before she turned away with a huff:
“Dream on, I don’t want my siblings learning bad habits from you! Ahem… Go on eating, I’ll get you some water.”
She threw down this remark, then dashed off in a near escape.
“Hehehe…”
“Hahaha…”
Laughter and banter filled the hall among the players.
Then, all at once, they turned to the silent individual:
“Hey, Boxed Lunch… Nightingale’s interest is too obvious, don’t you think?”
“Yeah! She’s totally here for you!”
“Man… The rescue in distress really had a big impact…”
“I know, right? How many days has it been?”
Boxed Lunch: …
“Just eat.” He said with a dark expression.
The others simply smirked.
Before long, Nightingale returned with a jug of water, her expression back to normal.
“Are you heading to the Underworld again today?”
She inquired curiously while pouring honey water for the players.
“Yep… Going to farm the shadow creature instance! Uh, thanks.” Hu Lu replied as he took the water.
Ever since players completed the hidden main storyline [Shadow Army] and hidden plot [Dark Dwarves] a week ago, Deep Rift Cave had turned into a grindable instance.
According to the storyline, although players successfully repelled the Shadow Army invasion, the dark forces had equally corrupted the Underworld, forming a space rift leading straight to the Land of Darkness in the Deep Rift Cave.
The material realm was already inherently attractive to shadow creatures and abyss creatures.
What’s more, this was a dark-aspected underground world booming with magic!
Therefore, even though Divine Favored Zero sealed off this space rift with the Goddess’s power, preventing high-level creatures from entering the main material realm, it didn’t stop weaker shadow creatures from slipping through, posing a significant threat to Black Rock City’s safety…
Fortunately, following the Goddess’s guidance, Divine Favored Zero set up an array, with the help of the dark dwarves, to seal off the several kilometers spanning space centered around the rift.
All shadow creatures were trapped there, unable to escape, and were sectioned into areas based on their level…
Of course, the materials consumed by setting up the array were provided by the Dwarves. Luckily for them, having ample mines meant they weren’t short on magic stones.
The Dwarves were more than happy about it and expressed their sincere gratitude…
After all, without the Elves’ intervention, the space rift would have brought endless trouble to Black Rock City!
And the area filled with shadow creatures became the players’ instance—[Clear the Shadow Creatures]!
As for the content of the instance, it was simple.
Players needed to enter the seal and eliminate shadow creatures pouring out from the rift!
Because these creatures ranged from Black Iron Lower to Black Iron Upper tier, they were perfect for players to farm experience. Additionally, fragments of Shadow Gems dropped by them made excellent dark-attribute magic materials, which players could offer to the Goddess in exchange for considerable contribution points, making it the top grinding choice for combat players.
Since the advent of the shadow creature instance, it had become the hottest topic across the official “Elf Kingdom” discussions, with internal test players eager to level up and reach Black Iron Middle Rank.
Those combat players who reached Black Iron Middle Rank through the hidden main storyline of [Shadow Army] also aimed to grind more contribution points, to trade for purple-black gear and graduate early.
In recent days, Boxed Lunch’s combat squad had also been continuously grinding the [Clear the Shadow Creatures] instance.
Keen to know when he’d reach Boxed Lunch’s level?
Listening to Hu Lu, Nightingale’s brows furrowed slightly as she sipped her honey water:
“I really can’t understand why you love fighting and slaughter so much…”
“Because we want to level up faster and grow strong!”
The carefree one, the Elf Warrior acting as the team’s taunt tank, replied matter-of-factly.
“Ah, I wonder when we can be as strong as Lord Ling, Divine Favored are truly amazing… I wonder if they’ll ever open up Divine Favored as a class.”
Chopin, the squad’s Druid, remarked enviously.
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“Divine Favored isn’t a class, it’s a blessing from Her Highness, the Mother Goddess.”
Listening to the players, Nightingale quirked her lips and added.
“Alright then… I’d love to gain the Goddess’s blessing…”
“I wonder when they’ll open the Priest class, I’d like to respec to a healer.”
Nightingale: …
“Anyway… better level up quick, the First Legion is catching up.”
“Hey! Boxed Lunch squad must stay strong!”
“Really want to hit level 40 already! I’m uneasy without reaching max level…”
“Though level 40 is just Black Iron Upper Peak, you know.”
“Well, they’ll probably open more tiers, eventually.”
The players chattered on.
“Strong, huh…”
Nightingale’s expression turned complex.
She surveyed the Chosen Ones around the table, witnessing the overflowing energy and passion in their eyes, and sighed inwardly:
*It’s precisely this fighting spirit that’ll help the Elf Clan rise again.*
