Chapter 157

▪️CRYPT SPIDER

The improved favorability system was like a bowl of cold water being thrown into a pot of hot sizzling oil, as it immediately caused a stir amongst the entire playerbase.

As expected, some were happy at this new development, while others weren't so pleased.

After it's implementation, those players who were heavily affected caused a ruckus on the official website as they wrote post criticizing the devs or wanting to quit the game.

Of course...in the end, it was all just empty talk.

Although the improved favorability and reputation system were relatively stringent, the overall sentiment was that the vast majority were willing to adapt to this new system since while it provided more bonuses, this recent changes weren't enough to break the balance of the game.

In fact, only a small minority of players were able to benefit and gain huge bonuses under this new favorability system.

The maximum values of NPC favorability ranges from -100 to +100, and so far, only Li Mu who has an affinity of 40 or above with all the NPCs he has been acquainted with has been able to fully reaped the benefits of this new update.

On the other hand, the reputation score ranges from 0 to 100, and once again, out of the 1200 players, Li Mu is the only one who has achieved a perfect score.

However keep in mind that Li Mu is an exception and very few players are able to achieve a reputation score of 30 or higher.

Therefore... for most players, everyone's starting point is roughly the same, and at least there won't be too much of a gap between most people.

However, it is an undeniable fact that players who can achieve higher reputation scores will have a slight edge over to those who don't. This is because they can enjoy better bonuses and level up more faster.

Therefore, the topic of how to improve the NPCs' favorability and their personal reputation has lately become the main focus of every players' conversation.

However, as they further analyzed the details of the latest update, some players discovered that everyone's starting value for their comprehensive reputation rating was not actually zero.

The game system seems to be constantly calculating the comprehensive reputation of the entire playerbase and would come up with an average floating score.

This average floating score is the starting value of each players' reputation rating, or to put it in simpler terms, this comprehensive score is the NPC's overall impression of all the chosen ones as a whole.

Even if someone doesn't try to befriend any NPCs, they can still get a comprehensive reputation score.

Currently, the comprehensive playerbase's rating is five points which is considered 'neutral.'

Based on players' actions and behavior as a group, this collective score will constantly fluctuates up or down but the lowest score they could get is zero reputation which is 'cold.'

This discovery made those players who aren't fond of gaining favorability feel somewhat relieved.

At least...just as long as they don't cause trouble that could lower the group's comprehensive score, they can still benefit and gain bonuses due to the comprehensive reputation score.

This also means that even if some players enjoy higher personal bonuses, the comprehensive score won't fall too far behind.

Of course, those players who act recklessly without thinking that their actions would impact the group's overall reputation score will be in big trouble.

Not only will they suffer some consequences, but they will also most likely receive some cold looks or even be alienated by the rest of the players.

After all... no one likes to be a burden.

Humans are very adaptable creatures, and gamers have an even stronger capacity to accept new things. Eventually after a period of adapting to these recent changes, the players gradually have gotten used to the reputation-based ranking system.

As it turns out, those that gained high reputation scores soon became a hot commodity for major guilds to recruit. Just the probability of obtaining equipment with rare special properties was enough to incentivize most players to invite individuals with high reputation scores to their guilds.

Furthermore around this time, Evé issued several new main questlines.

Unlike the previous single main quests, this time around, she issued three main questlines simultaneously.

[ Faction Development ]

[ Rivendell Exploration ]

[ Underworld Exploration ]

Each main questline also had many chain sidequest, some of which were fixed as daily tasks that could be done everyday. Players could also repeat different quests according to their own needs and preferences.

In particular, the[ Faction Development ]quest included various sidequest such as 'Crop Planting,' 'Livestock Breeding,' 'Resource Collection,' and 'Main City Construction,' many of which were structured as daily repeatable tasks...

The daily tasks of developing the City of the Chosen Ones were also integrated in the sidequest, 'Main City Construction.'

To address these additional daily tasks, Evé also selected some indigenous elves as new task bestower, assigning them the role of managing these the daily tasks for those players willing to do it.

The NPC responsible for 'Livestock Breeding' was the black dragon, Meryer. Although the Elven Forest was rich in resources, it could not keep sustaining the daily food intake of the players due to their heavy rate of consumption.

Whether for ecological balance or changing the perception of her believers, the development of animal husbandry was essential for Eve's plans in the future.

Upon learning the goal of this task, the little black dragon's eyes lit up, and he immediately became excited after hearing that he was in charge of this project.

Meryer swore upon Evé that he would make sure the players that took on this task will work very hard...just as long as he could occasionally indulge and eat some livestock that they have raised afterwards.

The issuance of various sidequests under the 'Faction Development' questline also aroused the interest of many life-oriented causal players who didn't like combat.

At the same time, because these sidequests were all very safe to do, they instantly became popular amongst lower-leveled players. Furthermore due to these sidequest being country-life rpg style of gameplay, most casual and laid-back players have fallen in love with this questline.

For a time, many players opted to stay within the Elven Forest and devote themselves to the recent development and construction expansion happening all around them. This was especially true for the guild, Moe Moe Committee which consisted mostly of life-oriented casual players.

After the completion of the human caravan sidequest, Little Salty Cat obtained some seeds as her reward and some interested Druid players took a sample of these seeds and tried cultivating and planting them to see what kinds of crops will eventually grow out of them.

Some other players also began assisting the Black Dragon as they explore around the various areas of the Elven Forest in search for potential livestock such as Warcraft cubs or any other animals that could grow fast with plenty of meat, and were also relatively easy to tame.

While the questline 'Faction Development' attracted the life-oriented casual players, the other two quest 'Rivendell Exploration' and 'Underworld Exploration' meanwhile enticed those players who prefer adventure and combat.

As a matter of fact, the majority of 1,200 players belong to this group.

Most took on this two quest and began forming their own respective parties before embarking on their own adventures.

Amongst them, the main questline 'Rivendell Exploration' can be divided into various chain sidequest such as 'Search for Ancient Manuals' and 'Search for Ore and Mineral Vein.'

Meanwhile, the 'Underworld Exploration' also have chain sidequest like 'Underworld Map Cartography' and 'Underworld Mob Investigation.'

Because there were no daily tasks among the various sidequest under these two main questline, Evé did not assign any NPCs to manage them. Instead, they were issued directly through the game's system.

Of course, the more important reason was that these sidequests actually involved the expansion of her own power, and these quests also came with relatively high risks, thus Evé decided to personally oversee them herself.

As various players explored this new unknown regions, Rivendell and the underworld gradually revealed their enigmatic splendor.

The first was Rivendell.

In theory, there should have been many elven treasures left behind underneath these ruins, due to its status as the former manufacturing capital of the ancient elven civilization a thousand years ago.

Unfortunately, it appears that Rivendell has already been long plundered by humans or some other races.

When the players began exploring these ruins, they soon found out that there weren't all that many useful things left, at least in the places they had explored. These areas also showed signs of having already been emptied out long ago.

However, as players further delved into their exploration, they gradually discovered new territories.

Rivendell was built in a valley, and when it was split in half by some unknown force a thousand years ago, part of the city was buried underneath rocks and mountains. After a millennium, this part of the city still has been left buried underground and was relatively untouched by anyone.

The players also joyfully discovered that these areas had not been plundered by humans. As they further explored these unexplored areas, they also found a lot of abandoned equipment buried deep under these ruins. Some players speculated that these equipments have not been taken by anyone due to them either being damaged or completely broken.

In addition, some players eventually discovered more elven artifacts and ancient forging equipments, tools, and so on. However, many of them were badly damaged due to not having been properly maintained for over a thousand years.

Nevertheless, the players still took them all back. They kept the things that could still be used and offered the damaged goods to the goddess in exchange for some contribution points.

Moreover during their exploration process, the players finally encountered some mobs that use these ruins are their habitat.

Different from what the players had imagined, they initially thought that they would encounter some undead creatures due to Rivendell being connected to the underworld.

However, in reality, the monsters they encountered belong to only one type—

Spiders.

These species of spiders were entirely covered in jet-black armor, with a tough metallic exoskeleton and numerous legs covered in steel-like bristles. They varied in size, with some as small as a basin, with strength similar to that of a goblin.

The larger ones were almost human-sized, with menacing scythe-like teeth and strength even reaching intermediate iron-rank. They lurked in the depths of Rivendell, and the deeper the players explore, the bigger the spiders they encountered.

After using appraisal, some players learned that these spiders were called crypt spiders, which were underground dwellers with dark attributes. They had extremely viscous spiderweb and sharp fangs. The larger variants were even highly poisonous.

They prey on other weak underground dwellers or ores and their entire exoskeleton were entirely metallic and extremely sturdy.

Unlike goblins, which were at least semi-intelligent creatures, these spiders behave like complete monsters. Apart from having a hard exoskeleton, their actions were entirely instinctual.

However, it was precisely because of their hard exoskeleton that the players encountered many difficulties in clearing them out. Ordinary physical attacks were almost ineffective against them.

Fortunately, some players discovered that these spiders are quite afraid of light and fire after some experimentation.

They also found a good way to eliminate them.

That is to lure them into pre-dug caves, temporarily immobilize them with a lighting device, and then finally jump out of the cave after throwing fireballs at them until they all burned to death.

However, this method only works for small spiders. There is still no way to deal with the larger ones, as they are quite agile and have poisonous stingers. Although they also fear light and fire, adult crypt spiders possess a certain amount of patience and strong vitality.

Moreover, they also have the ability to command the smaller spiders...

A single adult crypt spider generally surround itself with more than ten smaller spiders. When encountering them, unless the players that encountered them have overwhelming numbers, they can only flee as soon as they see one...

As various players continue to explore the depths of Rivendell, they also encounter more and more of these spiders. This makes them wonder if humans have not explored deeper because of the existence of these crypt spiders.

However, this still does not diminish their enthusiasm.

Because killing spiders also yields tons of experience points!

With the abundance of experience points and buried treasures, Rivendell has almost became a carnival for these adventurous players.

However, unlike the ongoing exploration of Rivendell, the exploration of the underworld instantly encountered some huge setbacks.

Rivendell has a huge cave that can connect to the underworld that serves as its entry point. However, the moment they entered the cave, the players instantly encountered a big problem...

The underworld entrance is being guarded by a spider so large its almost approximately five or six meters wide!

All physical attacks were entirely ineffective against it, and even fireball spells only left a few marks on its exoskeleton...

Furthermore, it also moves fast like the wind and sports a strong attack power, and could even easily chase and kill fully armed players.

Even Boxlunch's party was fully wiped out when they tried to subjugate it...

Some players speculated that this large gatekeeper spider was likely to have silver-ranked strength! Not only that, but this giant crypt spider also surrounds itself with three subordinate adult crypt spiders and hundreds of smaller spiders...

Currently, the players absolutely have no chance of defeating this gatekeeping monstrosity.

"It seems that we can only ask the black dragon Meryer to take action again." Finally, the players had to turn their attention away and seek the help of the little black dragon.

However, Meryer instantly refused their request claiming that he was currently busy helping a group of casual players as they searched through the entire Elven Forest for monster cubs that could be tamed as potential livestock.

"Underground spider? And it's several meters in size?" Meryer's face changed upon hearing it.

"I won't go! I definitely won't go! Don't make me or I'd be sending you all to your deaths!" The little black dragon shook his head before swiftly flying away.

No way, the usually arrogant black dragon, was actually scared...

Leaving the players staring at each other in sheer disbelief.

That gigantic underground spider... was even feared by a black dragon?

It shouldn't be like this, right?

That spider didn't seem that powerful compared to that stupid black dragon...

However, since the black dragon already refused and seemed dead set on not helping them, the players were left with no choice.

In the end... they had to temporarily give up on exploring the underworld and instead focused their attention on the exploration of Rivendell.

Meanwhile, Boxlunch and his team also avoided the underworld entrance and instead ventured deep into the ruins of the elves.

This time, his team accepted the sidequest of 'Search for Ore and Mineral Vein.'

However unlike before...he had a new companion following behind him this time around.