Chapter 152

▪️EVE'S PLAN

"Why did the new batch of equipment come out so soon?"

The players looked at each other in confusion.

"Is it because of Boxlunch's promotion?"

"God I swear... is the equipment appearance in this game tied to player rank promotion? Does it mean that new equipment will only be unlocked when someone got promoted into a higher rank?"

"Dammit, I just acquired an epic-level equipment and I've already used up all my contribution points!"

"This isn't good...damn my liver hurts again."

"Why are these stupid devs suddenly in such a hurry to release these new equipment? Can't they let us take a freakin break man..."

"Quick guys, let's see how these new equipment is!"

They cursed the stupid devs while opening the exchange store within the system.

Sure enough, a batch of new equipment was added to the equipment exchange column.

There were melee-based and spell-based ones, from shoes, armor, robes, to weapons, everything was available... all marked as intermediate-level iron-rank equipments.

However, only the white common, blue rare, and purple epic quality levels were released, and new legendary gold class was not yet available.

From the appearance, these new equipment were not much different from the lower Iron equipment in terms of quality, but their ratings in the equipment data were much higher than the lower iron equipment of the same quality.

In Elven Kingdom, the weapons and equipment would not indicate specific attribute information, such as "damage +5," "armor piercing +10," "defense +20," etc.

All of these aren't available.

This was because Elven Kingdom was a game full of uncertainties, and sometimes pure data could not explain anything, so dividing equipment by specific attributes was not suitable.

Well...at least that's what the players thought.

However, although there were no specific values, rare blue and above equipment would have some special effects added to it, which were not only reflected in appearance but also in characteristics as well.

For example, the 'toughness' characteristics.

The equipment with the toughness effect looks more shiny, and it is more durable to use.

Like the blue rare human equipment seized by Boxlunch's team, the system evaluated it as having the characteristic of "toughness."

Generally speaking, the rarer the equipment, the more special effects it had, and the more powerful it would be.

Like the demon staff of legendary gold class exchanged by Little Salty Cat, it even had three enviable characteristics such as;

"accelerated spell casting," "enhanced spell effects," and "faster meditation."

It's not just weapons and equipment that have fuzzy values...

Although the personal status screen of players still displays numerical values such as health and mana, as well as the four major attributes of vitality, strength, agility, and intelligence, players have found that these data can only serve as reference and not an indication of actual combat prowess in actual battles.

When one's luck is bad, one hit to a vital spot can drain their health in an instant. This makes players feel that this virtual reality game is even more realistic and interesting, after all, reality is often full of uncertainties.

Equipment does not have specific attributes, but instead, equipment ratings are used instead. Generally, the higher the rating, the better the quality of the equipment!

The equipment rating is also factored into a player's overall combat power rating.

After seeing the new batch of equipment that has been put on the shelves, players have discovered that their combat ratings compared to the previous equipments are;

White Iron Low Rank < Blue Iron Low Rank < White Iron Mid Rank < Purple Iron Low Rank < Blue Iron Mid Rank < Purple Iron Mid Rank < Gold Iron Low Rank

The amount of contribution required for exchange is also roughly the same as the previous rating:

White Iron Low Rank < Blue Iron Low Rank < White Iron Mid Rank < Purple Iron Low Rank = Blue Iron Mid Rank < Purple Iron Mid Rank < Gold Iron Low Rank

When players saw that the ranking of the purple epic iron low-rank equipment was relatively high, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

At least...this ensured that their previous gear acquisition was not entirely meaningless.

However, when they saw that the same amount of contribution could be exchanged for a higher-rated blue rare intermediate iron-rank equipment, they suddenly felt a sense of loss.

"F*ck, if I had known the devs would release a new gears, I would have upgraded my equipment later on and get the blue rare black iron mid-rank set. The rating would have been even higher..."

Some players sighed at the missed opportunity.

"It's okay. At least...our purple epic gear has two special effects, while the blue rare equipment only has one."

Another player also comforted himself.

Features are still important, and equipment with good features is often more popular with players. However, when Evé was adding special effects to the equipment, she almost always added them randomly...

A-Ahem, this was definitely not because she was lazy per se, but to increase the fun factor for the players.

Before taking out the exchanged equipment from the system, the store only displays how many special effects the equipment has. Only when you take out the equipment do you know what specific special effects your equipment has.

In other words, whether the exchanged equipment has good special effects or not, is still dependent upon one's luck...

Well, a little bit of gacha mechanics in the game isn't that bad.

Of course, the exception is the legendary golden equipment.

All golden legendary equipments comes with the best special effects, and these characteristics are also shown in advance unlike the lower tier equipments.

At this point, some people also noticed that amongst all the new equipment added on the store, the highest rated one was still the Legendary Golden items for the low Iron-Rank.

"These golden items is truly a legend...even the new purple equipment can't compare to these golden equipment!"

"After all, it's a toy for those rich people..."

"Aw man I wonder when can I also have a piece of the legendary golden equipment!"

"It's just too expensive...one piece costs tens of thousands of contribution points, which can also be exchanged for two or three sets of purple equipment for the whole body."

"By the way, isn't the only one who has all the golden equipment that player named Little Salty Cat?"

"Haah, we can't compare ourselves to that whale. I heard that when Salty Cat PK'd someone before, she just activated the magic shield on her robe, and stood there without being able to be touched by anyone else."

"Sheesh!"

"I remember Box also has a golden dagger, which is said to have been exchanged from the store and is particularly a powerful item amongst all the golden equipment."

"Well they are all hardcore players, we casuals better stick to saving up for the purple equipment in the middle and black ranks, as the ratings aren't too far off..."

Looking at the newly released equipment, their joy of just upgrading their equipments had completely dissipated.

And seeing the contribution points needed for these intermediate-level purple epic equipment, they all felt their legs go weak.

"Haah, I'm going guys... a piece of purple mid-level equipment actually needs 20,000 to 30,000 contribution points...shiet, who knows when will we even have the chance to grab these?"

"Not good, my liver hurts again!"

"Don't mention it man...let's just continue grinding."

The players shook their heads as they sighed ruefully, and left the side hall of the Natural Temple.

Although the legendary golden equipment still had the highest rating, most players did not consider acquiring it.

Even if more advanced equipment comes out, the contribution points required for the legendary golden items is still nearly twice that of the purple intermediate level equipment...

These legendary golden equipment, at the minimum costs fifty thousand contribution points.

It was just too expensive!

"Well, that's it for now. I can wait a bit longer to release a new batch of golden equipments. After all, gold class items is the most precious of all and in the mean time, I'll let the players adapt to lower things first."

After putting the new equipments at the exchange store, Evé was feeling quite satisfied after looking at the players' reactions.

Although she's been cursed at a few times, the players still obediently went off to grind and do their tasks.

After the release of these new batch of equipments, Evé began to consider her next steps.

"I've managed to eliminate a demigod envoy of Uller, but I'm sure he won't let it go," She thought to herself before adding, "With my warning, he will likely retaliate in some form of a religious war..."

A religious war was a common method for true gods to settle disputes amongst themselves. In essence, the gods would not directly engage in combat, but rather let their followers fight for them.

This rule was set in place in order to protect the mortal realm wherein their followers lived. After all, the might of a true god were just too powerful. The damage would be colossal and even has the potential of destroying the mortal world if a deity unleashed their full strength in Saigües.

However, the power of a true god relied upon religion, and these faith was gathered from god's believers.

In essence, the followers were the cornerstone of a true god's strength.

When a god lost all of their followers during a religious war, their power would also crumble.

A believer's prayer who ascended to the heavenly realm would gradually merge with their patron god over time, but prayers were not eternal. They would also eventually perish, though the time frame was much longer.

If all of their believers vanished, and the prayers dried up completely, unlike an Ancient One, an average deity would lose its source of divine power and at that point, they would either fall or succumb into a state of slumber...

For the newer gods, their followers were even more important.

However its different for Old Ancient Ones. They had countless of believers and a substantial amount of divine power as well. Even if they all lost their followers, Ancient Ones could still survive for a time and seek opportunities to regain faith.

But newer gods were different.

They have a shallow foundation, and many of them don't even have an established divine kingdom. Even if they did, their believers were limited, not to mention their overall divine power capacity.

Generally speaking, if most of their believers were destroyed, these newer gods would naturally be on the brink of extinction as well.

Therefore, Evé could easily guessed that Uller would surely choose to declare a religious war against her since he had mistaken her as a new god.

In the eyes of ordinary people who didn't know the truth, they would simply assume that she would undoubtedly perish just as long as her forces within the Elven Forest was wiped out.

And this...is exactly what Evé wanted.

War begets death.

And a large-scale war would definitely give her plenty of opportunities to devour some lifeforce!

The number of followers worshiping Uller isn't small, but Evé can use the players as shields and weapons to wage war against Uller's forces, and also steal their lifeforce through the use of the passive skill, War Sacrifice!

Accumulating small amounts of lifeforce amidst a battlefield is also quite thrilling endeavor.

In fact, this is a method evil gods used to strengthen themselves...

Most evil gods also gain power by inciting wars and conducting blood sacrifices. However, they absorb not only lifeforce, but also the souls as well, which is why they are reviled by most gods.

Of course, Evé will never admit that she is an evil god herself.

Well, she's only plans to collect the lifeforce lost in the war, not touching other people's souls, so how can she be considered evil?

Moreover, is there even an evil god that looks so beautiful?

Anyway... even if she doesn't actively collect these lifeforce, it will still dissipate, so it's better to let her just absorb it rather than be wasted.

However, preparing for a religious war takes time and Uller cannot send a large army to attack right away, so Evé is currently in a precious relatively calm period.

She can use this time to develop her influence.

After all... with the current strength of the players, they will definitely not be able to win the upcoming religious war without Eve's intervention.

Although they can be resurrected, they still cannot contend against a powerful enemy!

And when the gap in strength is large enough, even their infinite resurrection advantage would lose its value...

Evé can occasionally intervene, but if she does it too many times, then someone will eventually suspect her.

So... it is necessary to improve the players' overall strength and develop her control within the Elven Forest.

"I might've as well plant some crops and develop some agricultural fields during this time."

"Rivendell has already been found, and exploration of that area is definitely necessary. It would be great if they can find some ancient books within these ruins as well."

"In addition, although Elven Forest is rich in resources, ores and other minerals are relatively scarce in this forest. I should consider having the players rebuild Rivendell like they did with Florence and search for possible ore veins there..."

"But at this stage, I don't have enough manpower to implement these plans, so I should halt this for now."

"The underworld can also be explored. I don't need to intervene for now, and just let the curious players explore it since some will definitely not be able to resist entering such mysterious place. I can based my decisions depending upon their findings later on."

"Perhaps... the monsters in the underworld can also provide me with some lifeforce."

"And when the underworld is fully explored, I can finally consider opening the public beta."

"But...it still feels too early to open the public beta for now, since the foundation of the Elven Forest has not been fully established just yet. It will definitely be chaotic if too many players were to rush in at once at this time, and I don't have that much divine power to waste as well..."

"Hmm... if things don't work out, then I can just limit the number of players. Or perhaps I shouldn't do a public beta at all, but just invite more people instead."

"As for the specific number of people, it should be between five and ten thousand, and it will cost more than 30 points of divine power at most. With this number of players and their resurrection ability, it should be adequate enough to launch a defensive stance in the upcoming religious war."

Currently, Evé has around 400 points of divine power and is relatively well-off, so using a mere 30 points of divine power is not a problem for her.

"However, it's still early. I didn't need to rush things since there's still another matter I need to deal with first..."

Evé sighed, recalling how some players behaved when attacking the orc tribe and human caravan.

"Some players' behavior is still a bit too... uncivilized. I need to find a way to make them pay a bit more attention to their manners or at the very least make themselves presentable. Otherwise, it will also be detrimental to the cooperation between players and indigenous elves. Sigh, it will definitely be chaotic when more players arrive in the future."

Although Li Mu's game evaluation changed some players' perception of the NPCs during the closed beta, its reach was obviously limited and only a small percentage of the playerbase had seen his video.

Actually, this was also Eve's fault.

After all, a game is a game, and even if players immerse themselves in it, it's impossible to expect them to treat the game the same way they do just like in reality.

This is both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Turning the world into a game not only encourages the players passion and motivation, but it also creates many hidden dangers as well.

Player divergence is certain, and their impatience is absolute.

After all...reality is already so cruel, so why can't they let loose and be themselves when playing games?

However, Eve's requirements for these players aren't that high.

It's good enough for her just as long as they can behave like a decent person while doing the questlines.

Also, don't scare the natives away.

Otherwise... it will really become a disaster.

In summary, the goal is to make players truly aware of how to improve the indigenous elves' favor towards them and how to truly integrate themselves into this game world.

As for how to do it, Evé already has some ideas.

There are actually some outstanding examples amongst the players who have done very well in this regard.

One of them is the player, Li Mu.

This guy almost completely immersed himself in role-playing of his character, learning about elves behavior in all aspects, except for the natives inherent stubborn kindness and goodness, of course.

The result is that all the elves he has acquainted with have a high opinion of him.

This can be considered a very successful case of a player integrating into the society of indigenous elves.

And what Evé wants to do is to guide the rest of the players as well to actively learn Li Mu's attitude towards the game.

In short, these players just need a proper guidance, and to see the benefits of being a little more disciplined and tampering their inhibitions.

After all, role-playing also has its own unique appeal.