Elf Kingdom: Game of the World Tree

The happy times were always short-lived.

Before they knew it, the players found themselves raving in the central square of Chosen City until midnight again.

It wasn't fatigue or boredom that stopped them, but the system's forced logout announcement.

The new version update was coming.

To maintain the appearance of Chosen City and avoid dropping favorability with NPCs, the players hurriedly cleaned up the carnival's trash before the forced logout time, then returned to their usual logout spots.

The veteran players mostly chose to log off at their own homes.

The big shots almost all owned their luxurious standalone villas in Chosen City.

The more laid-back ones, due to extended online presence, saved enough contributions to move into some less grand but still pricey private courtyards.

As for the fourth-test players... the hardcore and wealthy naturally had their own homes too, but the majority of regular players still lived in inns or "corpse rooms."

*At this moment, the wealth disparity in the game was vividly reflected.*

Of course, despite the huge differences between them, almost none of the players felt resentful.

On one hand, their understanding of the game made them less sensitive to the wealth disparity in "Elf Kingdom," on the other hand, it wasn't purely a pay-to-win game.

Although the wealthy could purchase contributions to achieve an alternative "spend money and become strong" method, the door to becoming a big shot was equally open to ordinary players.

As long as you were committed, as long as you were lucky, as long as you were quick-witted, becoming a big shot wasn't a dream.

Take Meng Zhihan for instance.

As a civilian player in the third test, she diligently completed daily tasks and leveraged her timely luck, and after the advancement requirements announcement, she went on a grind spree. Not only did she advance to level 40 before the update, but she also secured a spot for an advanced class transition.

After saying goodbye to Li Mu and other guild members, she and her best friend, Dongdong, returned to their home in Chosen City.

Her home was an exclusive courtyard from the Mengmeng Committee's third real estate development phase.

Its scale didn't match the previous two phases, but despite its smallness, it was fully functional. It took her a total of 20,000 contribution points to purchase it.

Of course, after the fourth-test players joined, the house's price had skyrocketed countless times.

Considering the house's assets, in a certain sense, she was also considered wealthy in the game.

Yet, even so, she never thought about selling her current house to buy a new one on the Chosen City's outskirts.

No particular reason. The location was good, and many top players lived nearby. Even though it wasn't as grand as some newly built houses on the outskirts, it was, in some sense, a symbol of status.

Not to mention, it was only a ten-minute walk to the Teleportation Array for various maps, and riding her Little Unicorn, which she recently snagged from the forest, would be even faster.

Meng Zhihan returned home and locked the door.

She fed her Magic Pet some fruit, then shooed a certain vain Melee Mage wanting to sleep with her to the guest room. Meng Zhihan took off her gear and lay down on her bed.

After causing a ruckus in the game for so long, it was already late night in Segis World.

Chosen City had gradually become quiet.

The players logged off to sleep, letting this city, which had almost turned into the City of Eternal Night since the fourth-test players joined, slowly fall asleep.

Lying in bed, covered with a recently popular soft and silky dungeon spider silk quilt among players, Meng Zhihan looked towards the sky through the wooden window.

In contrast to the sky on Blue Star, which was deep and hazy due to light or atmospheric pollution and where sometimes not even a single star could be seen, the night sky in this world was far purer.

The countless stars were shining brilliantly.

The deep blue-black canopy was adorned with endless starlight, more beautiful and dreamlike than any Milky Way she had seen online.

And gazing at this beautiful starry sky, listening to the faint chirping of crickets outside the house, and smelling the fresh plant scent inherent in the elf homes, Meng Zhihan felt her heart, which had been restless from a day's wild play, gradually calm down.

"My mentor said each star in the sky represents a different plane. I wonder... is there a game world like Segis out there too?"

Looking at the twinkling stars, Meng Zhihan couldn't help but recall the various legends she had heard from the Elf Blacksmith Carlos.

*Even knowing this was a game, she couldn't help but imagine.*

"I really hope that one day I can travel to every corner of this game world to experience the culture and customs of each race."

She mused with some longing.

After attending this offline meet-up, Meng Zhihan felt she loved the game even more.

She loved this world, loved the vivid NPCs, and loved the players she met in this world.

This was their dreamy paradise.

As she looked at the twinkling sea of stars, a gentle curve appeared at the corner of Meng Zhihan's mouth.

"See you later, 'Elf Kingdom.'"

She murmured softly, clicked the sleep button on the system, and drifted into dreamland.

Meanwhile, in reality, she awakened...

...

Unlike the deep night in "Elf Forest," it was already bright on Blue Star.

Meng Zhihan crawled out of the stealth pod, checked the time, and found it was already past ten in the morning.

This difference in time flow always felt marvelous to her, no matter how long ago.

Yawning lazily and dragging her body, which felt much heavier and slower than in the game, Meng Zhihan freshened up before leaving her room.

Many players were already awake.

Meng Zhihan woke her friend next door, and together they went to the restaurant for a meal.

Considering the players' schedules, the lunch provided by Tianchen Hotel was still a buffet, with excellent dishes that made one's mouth water.

However, many players, including Meng Zhihan, seemed not to pay much attention to it.

There were probably about eighty or ninety of them, who quickly finished eating and, after resting for a while in the hotel's lobby, seeing the clock was close to twelve, hurriedly returned to their rooms.

These were the players who had drawn spots for the advanced class transition.

Compared to other players, they were far more excited about the new version update of "Elf Kingdom."

Meng Zhihan was no exception.

Having done all her bathroom preparations, she then slipped back into the stealth pod.

The time was precisely a little past noon on October 1st.

"I'm back."

Meng Zhihan silently uttered in her heart.

She put on her helmet and pressed the launch button for "Elf Kingdom":

"Start game—'Elf Kingdom!'"

[Ding—]

[Game connection successful...]

[New version found, 'Elf Kingdom' 1.70]

[Version updating...]

[Ding—Update successful]

[Logging in...]

[Game ID: Meng Zhihan]

[Chosen One, welcome back to 'Elf Kingdom!']

...