Elf Kingdom: Game of the World Tree

"Wasn't there supposed to be a slot for advancing to silver? Why did we just get a treasure chest?"

Looking at the chest in front of them, one of the three lucky players, a tank warrior named Attacking Leg Hair, said with a frown.

Although he had already advanced to silver, it didn't mean they weren't eager for the reward of a job advancement slot.

Even though it wasn't certain if it could be resold, the slot for advancing to silver had already been speculated to be a sky-high price among players.

"Open the chest and take a look, maybe it's inside!"

Don't Believe Me Just Watch said.

This was a Level 41 silver lower Elf Mage player.

The three of them stepped forward, each taking a chest, and opened them on the spot.

Amidst a dazzling purple glow, different items appeared in their hands.

Two pieces of purple epic Black Iron Upper Equipment and 800 Gold Coins.

To be honest, this was already a pretty good haul from the chest.

However, all three of them felt disappointed.

Compared to the rewards they were expecting, these items were just a drizzle.

"There's no silver equipment, and no slot for advancing to silver. Isn't this a rip-off?"

Attacking Leg Hair said with disappointment.

"Yeah… we had more than twenty people fight for so long, and we only got this little reward? We originally thought this instance was pretty easy, but this reward is really lacking… What happened to the promised job advancement reward?"

Don't Believe Me Just Watch was also a bit dissatisfied.

Transforming Ji Gang was silent for a moment, then suddenly said,

"Let's look around; maybe there's still a reward on this map!"

Hearing his words, the other two's eyes lit up.

That's right!

They hadn't scoured the map yet!

No sooner said than done, the three of them sprang into action and began to search the palace. However, after going around, they found nothing but ruins.

There weren't any other rewards.

The three chests were their drop rewards for defeating the Demon God!

"Damn, this… is way too stingy!"

Attacking Leg Hair cursed.

Transforming Ji Gang also frowned slightly.

After thinking for a while, he uncertainly said,

"Could it be… because even though we cleared the instance, our mission evaluation was too low?"

Hearing his words, the other two were stunned, then thoughtful.

Indeed.

They had cleared the instance.

However, at the moment of clearing, the evaluation given was only "barely passing."

"That could really be the case… Come to think of it, clearing it on the first try, if the instance is really that simple, it would be too boring. Back when I played 2D online games, which dungeon wasn't completed only after dying again and again before finally succeeding."

Don't Believe Me Just Watch nodded slightly and said.

At this moment, a new system message appeared in their vision again:

[Ding—]

[Battle ended...]

[All players will be teleported out of the palace in 3 seconds...]

Seeing this message, Transforming Ji Gang shook his head,

"Let's go; it was just the first raid attempt anyway..."

"We'll try again tomorrow..."

Three seconds flew by.

Then the three of them began to glow with a misty light and were transported out by a gentle force.

After the players were teleported away, the ruins of the palace began to repair themselves, quickly restoring to their original state…

…

"Silver rewards aren't so easy to get; come back when you get a perfect evaluation."

In the Divine Country within the World Tree, Eve turned off the spectator view and gently shook her head.

Transforming Ji Gang was right.

The reason the drop rewards were only three lucky chests was that even though their team cleared it, their evaluation wasn't high.

After all, twenty-five entered, and only three were left in the end. Not only that… it took them two whole hours to whittle Azazel down to the brink of death…

If Eve hadn't put many limitations on Azazel, they actually would have been wiped out much earlier.

But the truth was, Eve never intended to let the players get wiped out.

For the players, "Elf Kingdom" was a game, and death was just routine, but not for Eve.

If the players were truly allowed to die before Azazel, it would have been an unnecessary expense for Eve.

She intended to use Azazel to absorb power, with training soldiers being just secondary.

Therefore, for every player group that entered the Demon Palace, even if there was only one person, Eve would limit Azazel's power according to what they could theoretically overcome.

No other reason.

Simply to maximize benefits.

However, victories were naturally not all the same.

There was a decisive victory and a close call.

Having all twenty-five people pass unharmed was one concept; having only three battle-scarred people left was another.

Eve also understood that if players had too easy a time completing the mission, getting rewards too easily wasn't good either.

For them, it would be less engaging.

Raiding!

Which game doesn't require many attempts, many deaths, before finally grasping the way and barely succeeding?

The raiding process was inherently filled with fun for the players.

However, that's for regular games.

At the end of the day, "Elf Kingdom" wasn't a real game.

For Eve, intentionally making it tough on players to increase the difficulty of raids, although it could enhance the gaming experience, didn't align with her interests.

Resurrecting players consumed her power.

Although the process of players earning revival coins inherently covered this consumption, why create unnecessary waste?

So, in the end, she took it from the reward angle.

Exactly.

The Demon Maze's BOSS instance was one that, as long as you were careful, wouldn't lead to any player deaths—a high probability of passing with patience.

But likewise, the rewards were tiered.

If you wanted the top rewards, then achieve a perfect clearance!

A perfect clearance was the biggest difficulty of this instance!

This was also how Eve set the instance's difficulty from the rewards, and not the completion itself.

Of course, if there was a level 40 powerhouse that could solo the instance, Eve would definitely give the highest rewards to that person.

A talent like that, they definitely needed to be promoted.

…

The news that Transforming Ji Gang and others cleared it successfully, along with the system notification, soon spread among the players.

The fact that they cleared it on the first try was eye-opening and quite surprising to many.

Clearing a raid on the first try?

Isn't this instance too easy?

However, once everyone knew their task evaluation and the post-clearance rewards, they were slightly enlightened.

So that's how it was, they cleared it with the lowest evaluation!

"This Demon Palace instance… its difficulty probably doesn't lie in defeating the BOSS, but in how to perfectly defeat the BOSS. Unless you achieve the highest mission evaluation, you're likely not getting the best rewards."

After learning about the experience of Transforming Ji Gang and the others, Li Mu commented as such.