Game of the World Tree

She felt hungry yet again.

Which came to no surprise for her anymore even though she had also recently just eaten back in the real world.

Simply put, she suddenly felt hungry again simply because her in-game’s body also required some nourishment, especially after a good long hours of sleep.

After closing the window, HootyBird retrieved a pre-prepared dry rations from her home’s storage and turned them into an impromptu breakfast.

Then, after finishing her meal and packing up the equipment she needed for going out, HootyBird pushed open the wooden door at the entrance of her house and ventured outside.

A biting cold wind immediately greeted her upon leaving her doorstep. However it wasn’t as piercing as she initially thought it would be and the temperature actually was quite bearable, given that Chosen City was located in the more temperate areas of the Elven Forest.

Furthermore, the humidity was still quite noticeable despite the cold season mainly due to the abundance of plants in the forest.

However, despite the mildness of the cold wind, prolonged exposure to it could still penetrate people’s clothing, leading them to involuntarily shiver eventually.

Yet despite the chilling weather, it still didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the players, as a large crowd gathered in the central square and played in the snow amongst one another.

Whilst chasing one another, they frolicked in the snow as laughter filled the air, as if everyone had briefly set aside their initial plan of immediately embarking on doing quests upon logging in.

Of course at this moment, the players’ snowball fights looks entirely different from a typical snowball fight from the real world.

In fact, with the participants using diverse set of skills and magical spells incessantly, the snowball fight ended up transforming into a mesmerizing spectacle of magic.

Enthralled by the majestic snowball clash before her, the typically reserved HootyBird felt an almost irresistible urge to join in the fun.

Even HootyBird couldn’t help but be enchanted by the majestic and beautiful snowball battle unfolding before her as she also felt an irresistible urge to join in the fun.

Of course, while some players simply enjoy playing in the snow in the city square, there were also players hurrying to pick up quests or forming a party with the intent to go to the dungeon or explore the new maps.

Amidst the bustling city square, one can see players riding their mounts whilst darting through the streets as myriad of sounds such as shouts of forming a party, the clatter of material collection, and the clinking of equipment all intermixed together alongside the infectious laughter of the people playing in the snow, echoing one after another.

Silently watching it all from where she stood, HootyBird suddenly felt an indescribable feeling deep within her…

It was like she was seeing the Elven Forest slowly came to life like a huge machine, as more and more players awaken one after another.

“Experiencing winter like this truly is quite impressive…I must commend the game’s weather system for creating such a wonderful scenery.”

Moving to the side of the street, HootyBird continued to observe some players engaged in a snowball fight in the square when a surprised voice suddenly reached her.

Turning her head slightly, HootyBird immediately noticed a certain female player in a distance, fully adorned in a complete set of golden equipment, walking towards her.

It was obviously none other than her friend, Little Salty Cat.

As the petite girl finally got close to her, the two greeted each other with familiarity.

Then, HootyBird saw her friend make a beeline for an open space, where she reached out her hands to catch some falling snowflakes with an excited and curious expression.

A few snowflakes landed into her palm before it gradually melted into transparent water droplets.

“It’s cool and super comfy! It’s crazy hot out there in the real world, but I never thought the game would be such a great place to escape the heat!”

Little Salty Cat exclaimed with satisfaction as she rubbed her reddened hands together and bent down, before grabbed a ball of snow on the ground, and kneaded it into a snowball.

“Are you from the south?” HootyBird inquired.

“Yeah! I’m from Yāodōu,¹ and I have never seen snow in my life. Although I almost had a chance to see some when we planned to go skiing in the Alps, but my parents were too busy, so we eventually had to cancel. Similarly, a plan to ski in Hokkaido also got canceled as well.”

Little Salty Cat sighed with a tinge of disappointment.

“Alps… Hokkaido…”

The corners of HootyBird’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

“And you?” Little Salty Cat asked.

“Me? My home is in the central part of the country, a temperate monsoon zone with four distinct seasons. In winter, it can get as chilly as minus four or five degrees celsius, but the air isn’t too dry and we get to see some snow every year.” HootyBird replied.

Being a genuine central plains resident, HootyBird had a relatively strong resistance to cold temperatures.

Although they are not as accustomed to frigid temperatures as real northerners, they are still way more resistant compared to the southerners who have never seen snow in their lives for more than a decade.

“Four distinct seasons! That’s so awesome!” Little Salty Cat looked envious.

Soon, the petite girl smiled slightly and added, “Speaking of which, the Elven Forest also seems to have four seasons too. I’ve taken so many screenshots back in summer and autumn since the scenery is so unique and breathtaking but this winter season right now is looking pretty fantastic as well.”

Indeed, it’s quite beautiful.

HootyBird thought of the lush greenery in the summer forest and the colorful leaves in autumn.

Of course, the central area wherein the World Tree stood is always green despite the change of seasons…

Yet, once people step out of the central area, they can see fantastic seasonal views throughout the four seasons…

It’s an incredibly beautiful forest, enough to drive many photographers crazy.

In fact, there are already numerous popular screenshots of the Elven Forest being circulated online on the internet.

After playing in the snow for a while, Little Salty Cat thought of more serious matters and excitedly said,

“Oh, right, Sister Birdy, have you seen the recent update?! Seems like the devs have now added an equipment binding feature!”

HootyBird nodded slightly.

“Yes, I saw it.”

“Haha, this new feature couldn’t have come at a better time! I was stressing about losing my Lionheart Longsword, but thanks to this update, that concern is solved. Now, I won’t have to fret about losing this expensive sword, even if I lend it to someone else!”

Little Salty Cat said with satisfaction.

However, after the excitement, Little Salty Cat grumbled and added,

“But there’s one thing I’m not sure of, specifically this

whole needing to pay some CP as an upkeep in order to maintain the equipment binding…I don’t get what the devs were thinking. I mean, we’re already putting in so much effort, and now they want to squeeze us even more?”

“I’ve looked through the official forum and it’s now full of criticism against this maintenance fee! People kept saying that its too much, but devs are still silent about the issue.”

HootyBird nodded slightly.

“Well, I’m sure things will eventually be solved in the end.”

Little Salty Cat with a smirk said, “Hehe, I think so too, and I’m sure someone will eventually find some loophole in this whole equipment binding feature.”

“In fact, I’ve already thought of some exploits too. My idea is to only bind my equipment when I needed it and disable the bind when I don’t need it anymore. Plus, I plan to let whoever rents Lionheart Longsword pay the maintenance fee!”

“But, I have to maintain my own equipment as well… I’ve already spent a bit too much this month, so need to tighten up my expenses for awhile.”

Little Salty Cat said whilst counting on her fingers.

“Oh, by the way, Sister Birdy, it seems like we can finally visit the territory of the Humans now. Would you like to go and take a look together?”

After saying that, Little Salty Cat raised the corner of her mouth and looked at the HootyBird expectantly.

However, when she saw HootyBird’s slightly thoughtful expression, the petite girl asked in confusion, “Oh sister, do you have some other plans today?”

HootyBird paused slightly as she looked at Little Salty Cat silently for a moment and said,

“I do actually…I was planning to ask someone a question regarding the things I discovered after reading some elven scriptures back at home recently. Specifically, I am quite confused about the location of the elves’ old Royal Capital.”

“Wow, that’s impressive! You can now actually read those elven scriptures, Sister Birdy? I tried it once but all I got was a huge headache after trying to make sense of those twisted tadpole-like characters…”

Little Salty Cat admiringly said.

But soon, her expression turned excited yet again,

“Wait—The Old Royal Capital? The Elves have a capital too? Is it a ruins? Where is it?! Can we explore it?”

HootyBird shrugged her shoulders and replied, “If the ancient texts I’ve read are accurate, it should be in ruins by now, similar to Florence. Perhaps there’s a chance for us in finding it thanks to this latest update.”

“It’s just that… the records in the scriptures have some contradictions.”

HootyBird thought for a moment and told Little Salty Cat what she read in the scriptures.

“The descriptions in two of the old texts are inconsistent? And according to one, the location of the royal capital is actually in the human territory?”

After hearing HootyBird’s words, Little Salty Cat also frowned.

“Yes, so I plan to ask Alice about it,” HootyBird explained.

Upon hearing this, Little Salty Cat quickly approached HootyBird with her face full of excitement, eager to stir things up.

“I’m in! Count me in too! If the ruins of the old Royal Capital truly are somewhere in the human territory, then finding them sounds like a huge amount of fun!”

“The location of the Royal Capital?”

Inside the Temple of Nature, Saintess Alice whose currently wearing a thick winter ceremonial robe, glanced at the two female Chosen Ones with a slightly startled expression.

She set down the Codex in her hand before turning her attention to HootyBird, who had just visited the temple moments ago to consult her about something.

The blond holy maiden patiently listened to them, but her expression became somewhat complex upon learning of the gist of their inquiries.

“Yes, Lady Alice, I’ve seen records about the Elves’ Royal Capital in two different scriptures, but… they contradict each other. One says it’s within the Elven Forest, while the other, which specified its exact location, marked it outside the Elven Forest.”

HootyBird replied.

After saying that, she hesitated for a moment and added,

“I recall numerous instances in the past when Chosen Ones inquired with the natives about the whereabouts of any ancient ruins. Although we received some scattered information about ruins like Kenorland and Mirovia, their exact locations remained unknown to us. The vast distance also made exploring these places rather impractical.”

“But even so, these ruins still hold varying degrees of information, unlike the Royal Capital, where no one has even bothered to mentioned it…”

“If I hadn’t read it in the old records, I wouldn’t have known that the Elvenkind even once had a royal capital.”

After listening to the words of HootyBird, Alice fell into silence for a couple of moments.

She then sighed slightly and said, “You may not get any answer if you ask others about this matter, but luckily for you two, I happen to know something about this matter…”

“Thousands of years have passed since the fall of the Elven Kingdom, and countless things have already perished within the passage of this millennia. In the dust of history, a thousand years is not a short time, even for us elves with long lifespans…”

“In such circumstances, if the elders choose to remain silent about certain information, it will naturally fade away with no one passing on the history…”

Upon hearing Alice’s words, Hooty Bird’s heart stirred:

“Lady Alice, are you saying… even the natives are unaware of the existence of the royal capital?”

“How is that possible…?”

Alice let out a long sigh:

“The younger generation may not know, but the older ones still do. It’s just that…”

The Saintess’ expression then became slightly serious.

“Everyone knows your purpose in seeking the location of our old ruins and that you, Chosen Ones are fearless and brave. However, please understand the location of the Old Elven Capital is rather sensitive to us.”

“Some matters shouldn’t be recklessly brought into light. Even though the Goddess has already revived, her identity remains a delicate matter we must protect at all costs. Revealing the location of the Elven Royal Capital could potentially expose the Divine Matriarch’s secret to our enemies. Furthermore—”

At this point, Alice’s expression slightly dimmed, as if she were pained to state the rest of her explanation. Nonetheless, she pressed on and said,

“—Regarding the matters of the Elven Royal Capital, that is a very humiliating history for us…and also a longstanding pain within our hearts that has persisted for so long. Therefore, the older generation is often unwilling to even mention it…”

At this moment, Little Salty Cat suddenly shook her head and interjected,

“This isn’t right! Even if it was a humiliating past, history should never be forgotten because forgetting the history is merely an escape from the past!”

“Only by facing the history of humiliation can we learn from it and avoid repeating the same mistakes!”

“The goal of the elves is to rise back up again, Isn’t it?”

“Didn’t we want to defeat all our enemies that humiliated us in the past?”

“If that’s the case, then, no matter how humiliating this history might be, it deserves more attention from us, and our goal should be to fix it not let it fester in the past!”

Little Salty Cat spoke with a very earnest vocal tone.

“As for the secret of the Goddess being leaked to our enemies… we are her Chosen Ones, so naturally we will help her keep it a secret!”

Upon hearing the petite girl’s passionate words, Alice gently shook her head:

“Alas… although you, Chosen Ones are the envoys of the Divine Matriarch, you all are not of the same mind.”

“In a completely unfamiliar environment, can you be absolutely certain that everyone of you will truly keep the secret of the Matriarch?”

Little Salty Cat and HootyBird both froze.

Indeed…

Although their primary goal is to assist in the resurgence of the Elvenkind, among the players, there are always some weird ones who take unconventional approach. For example, during their time in the underground, there was an incident wherein some players for shits and giggles tried to reveal the secrets of the goddess.

Of course, for some reason, the NPCs seemed completely indifferent to what those players have revealed, as if they couldn’t understand their words at all…

In response, players who learned about this incident simply thought that perhaps the official storyline didn’t include a branching storyline wherein the players could rebel against the Goddess.

In other words, even if the players make some rebellious moves, they believe that the system won’t issue any subsequent interactions from the affected NPCs since it wasn’t programmed in their database in the first place.

However…

What the players were unaware of is that Evé had placed a countermeasure against such rebellious actions by temporarily disabling the language translation ability for any player who does this by intercepting some key words.

So in the end, that rebellious player’s words were uttered in chinese in the ears of the natives. And if that player made some extreme actions, the system would even directly take away their control over their avatar.

With the recovery of her strength, Eve’s ability to control the game system has become stronger and stronger. Such things that she never dared to think about before can now be done just as long as she spends her divine power to implement it.

And players were oblivious to all of this.

At this moment, upon hearing Alice’s question, Little Salty Cat and HootyBird also didn’t know how to respond.

However after a moment, the blond elven maiden sighed deeply:

“However, what you said is indeed true…”

“A history, no matter how humiliating it may be, should not be forgotten, as it is an escape from the past.”

Alice the chuckled in a self-deprecating manner.

“Actually, I only truly understood this fact recently as well. The Elvenkind’s decline up until now is also mostly due to us stubbornly avoiding and enduring our hardships but not facing our past mistakes head on…”

“If it weren’t for the revival of the Matriarch and the arrival of you, Chosen Ones, then we might have already faced extinction by now…”

After saying this, Alice slightly bowed to the two female players:

“Thank you, brave chosen ones, for your dedication to the Elven race.”

This bow from the saintess made Little Salty Cat and HootyBird somewhat uncomfortable. They quickly helped the her up, both saying this was what should be done.

Then, Alice’s expression became more solemn:

“However, with your latest reawakening, the Divine Matriarch has also bestowed an orcale unto me, for which she said to allow certain chosen ones to explore areas outside the Elven Forest. It seems that Her Majesty had already forseen your actions and prepared in advance.”

“So…I can now tell you about the Royal Capital.”

Hearing this, Little Salty Cat and HootyBird exchanged glances with expressions of joy.

However, soon, HootyBird had a sudden thought:

“Wait, could it be that… the royal capital really is outside the Elven Forest? In the human territory?”

Alice didn’t directly answer her question. Instead, she took a few steps forward and stood by the window as she looked into the distance…

The world outside was entirely blanketed in white, covering the greenery of the Chosen City with a layer of silver-coated snow.

After a moment, Alice sighed slightly with her expression carrying a hint of sadness.

“You might not have known it, but in fact, a thousand years ago, the area of the Elven Forest was much larger than it is now. Indeed, the Elven Royal Capital was situated within the borders of the Elven Forest…”

Alice stated with a trace of melancholy in her voice.

“…However that was all in the past.”

— 267 —

【 HISTORY SHOULD NOT BE FORGOTTEN 】

¹ Actually I’m not so sure about this one so I just decided to translate it literally as ‘Yāodōu‘

The author used ‘妖都‘ here which means ‘Demon Capital‘ and based on my research, it might be a reference from the Japanese anime “Cardcaptor Sakura,” where Hong Kong is called the “Demon Capital.”

But some results also shows some Chinese use this term to refer to Guangzhou City.

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