Game of the World Tree

“T-This is…”

“Holy crap! Ruins! There really are ruins around here!”

The faces of all the party members in Boxlunch’s team lit up with excitement as they gazed upon the spot where the goblin had ran into.

What stood before them was a vast sea of flowers, an endless expanse that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.

Amidst this flowery landscape, what looks to be remnants of ancient elven structures lay scattered about—dilapidated and weathered by time, as their once-grand architecture now overtaken by nature.

There was no doubt within their minds that what they discovered here was a newly undiscovered elven ruins.

And although these ruins were now blanketed in wildflowers and tangled vines, the distinct elven craftsmanship and towering stone structures still hinted at their former glory.

The intricately carved sculptures and grand white stone buildings, even in their dilapidated and weathered state, still retained a sense of beauty and charm.

Moreover, the deteriorated state of these ancient elven-style structures only accentuates their overall impression, evoking a deep sense of history and allowing one to feel the passing and vicissitudes of time as they gaze upon the remnants of this once-majestic civilization.

These ruins must have once been a thriving elven city, and given their scale, they were likely on par with the Holy City of Florence and the Blacksmithing Capital of Rivendell!

“A city…in a sea of flowers…it has to be! This has to be the elven city that HootyBird talked about in the literature book that she read! What was its name again?”

Calabash said excitedly.

“It’s called Kenorland,”

Chopin added.

With his teammate’s reminder, Calabash nodded vigorously.

“Right, Kenorland! Which was one of the seven major cities of the ancient elven kingdom!”

“This is fantastic! There must be plenty of treasures inside! Haha! we’d strike it rich if we could find a few epic or silver-grade meditation techniques!”

Optimist voice rang out, bubbling with excitement.

A wave of joy washed over the whole team, their eyes shining with exhilaration as they exchanged eager glances and anticipation.

By now, all five of them were seasoned veterans after playing the game for so long, and usually, whenever someone discovered ruins while exploring new maps, they often found valuable items within them.

Or perhaps they would only find some worn-out equipment or ancient tomes…

But regardless, these items could all still be offered to the goddess in exchange for a considerable amount of contribution points.

Not to mention, if luck were on their side, they could also potentially stumble upon some rare artifacts!

They could truly strike gold if that were to happen!

It was a well-known fact that the epic purple-grade meditation technique that Li Mu and Demacia discovered in Florence back while they were still newbies has continued to provide them with benefits to this day, making countless players envious.

Seeing his teammates so excited, Boxlunch warned in a low voice,

“Hold steady, don’t rush.”

Upon hearing their Captain’s warning, the rest quickly realized their folly and immediately fell silent.

This was a new unexplored map.

Even in their excitement, they still needed to be cautious to avoid any potential dangers that could lead into failure.

Not to mention, these kinds of ruins often served as habitat for large numbers of goblins.

And although goblins were no longer a concern for their current strength and offered only a small amount of experience points, every little bit of EXP still added up and compounded over time.

Observing that his teammates had calmed themselves down, Boxlunch made a gesture and whispered:

“Let’s explore together and watch our surroundings.”

The rest nodded in agreement.

Each tightened their grip upon their respective weapons and, with heightened awareness, decided to delved deeper into the ruins together…

To their surprise, their whole exploration was remarkably calm.

As they ventured deeper into the ruins, the monsters and traps they had initially anticipated failed to materialize at all.

Everyone in the team were astonished to find that the ruins were eerily quiet, seemingly devoid of any life.

Even the goblin they had been chasing beforehand had vanished without a trace.

“Isn’t it too quiet here? Where are the goblins? With such a large ruin, there should be goblin nests around here, right?”

“Hmm… take a closer look. There are signs that goblins used to live here, but it’s strange we haven’t run into a single one yet.”

“Huh? Where’s the one we were chasing earlier?”

“Not sure, seems like we lost track of it.”

“…”

Each member of the team whispered to one another as they explored the ruins.

However, they soon pushed aside the thought of the missing monsters the moment they discovered a large number of damaged weapons and equipment buried beneath the ground.

Form their preliminary inspection, it seemed that a fierce battle had once taken place here in the past.

All it took was digging through a thin layer of soil to uncover deceased bones and various types of gear hidden beneath the sea of flowers.

Of course, most of the equipment they uncovered consisted of armor and swords.

It wasn’t that they didn’t come across any robes or bows, but after a thousand years, those items had long been deteriorated beyond recognition, leaving only these metal armor and swords intact.

As for the skeletal remains they found, most appeared to be from a humanoid creature.

In particular, it was highly probable that these remains were those of Elvenkind.

Strangely, however, aside from the elves, they found no bone specimens from any other races, which the team found somewhat curious.

Still, they didn’t care too much about it.

Happily, the team gathered any centuries-old equipment they could unearth before stuffing it into their communal storage ring like a group of scavengers.

The storage ring, which everyone in team had pooled their resources to purchase from the exchange store, had a capacity of nearly 30 cubic meters and such space was more than enough for all the loot they could find.

Alas, apart from those equipment left over from the war, the ancient tomes they had hoped to find for were nowhere to be found.

There seemed to be quite a lot of equipment buried in these ruins, so the five players didn’t spend all their time digging and gathering after scavenging the same loot for a while.

Instead, they decided to move on and explore the rest of the ruins first to ensure they didn’t miss out on any more valuable treasures.

Of course, another reason was that they also knew from experience that exploring new maps like these often led to the possibility of stumbling upon some new quests.

The team planned to scout another area, hoping to find a clue or perhaps even trigger a hidden quest.

Plus, given the size of these ruins, it was hard to believe that there wouldn’t be any hidden quests waiting to be discovered around here.

They passed through one collapsed ruin after another, picking up whatever loot they spotted along the way, until they finally arrived in front of a solemn-looking temple.

Most of its structure had already collapsed, but the architecture it was built with mirrored that of the style often seen in Florence.

Even in its dilapidated state, the ruined roof of the temple still bore the tree-shaped emblem of the World Tree.

“Look, it’s a temple! Let’s see if there’s anything good inside!”

Their eyes lit up, as each member of the team eagerly rushed inside.

However, once they entered inside, each of them immediately froze in their tracks.

In front of a half-broken statue, stood a figure every player was familiar with.

Dressed in black skirt armor, with flowing silver hair and a strikingly beautiful yet cold expression, stood Godwarden Zero, the rare purple-class NPC.

She was the only character within their faction that had reached the gold-rank, and most players affectionately referred to her as “Big Sister.”

All five players stood dumbfounded upon laying their eyes at her back.

Some even instinctively hid the equipment they hadn’t yet stashed in their storage ring, while others accidentally dropped their loot on the ground…

Boxlunch looked surprised, but the rest couldn’t help blurting out:

“Fuck! Is that Big Sister Zero?”

“Wasn’t she supposed to be in Chosen City? What’s she doing here?”

“Please tell me she didn’t see us digging up those dead bones and stripping their equipment. We’ll lose favorability again if she did…”

“Shh… keep it down…”

“Wait—guys, think about it… what are the odds of us running into a purple-class NPC on a new map? Could we have somehow triggered another hidden quest?!”

They spoke in hushed tones, but in the stillness of the temple, their voices echoed loud and clear.

The next second, they found themselves being stared at by a pair of crimson eyes, tinged with a hint of purple looking over at their direction.

Her gaze was calm and curious, yet it held a penetrating power, as though it could see straight through them.

There was also an aura of authority within her that made them feel as though they were in the presence of someone far superior, as if her very being commanded respect and admiration.

All five members of the team, including Boxlunch, shuddered involuntarily, feeling as though their entire beings were laid bare before the other party.

Each of them swallowed nervously as a cool, melodic voice, tinged with surprise, resonated through the ruins of the temple:

“Chosen Ones? What are you doing here?”

— 427 —

【 CHOSENONES? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? 】

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