Chapter 336

Chosen City, Central Temple.

Players streamed in and out of the temple, with their presence subtly stirring the peace and solemnity of the sacred grounds.

At the center of the temple stood a towering statue of a goddess. Carved with delicate precision, her effigy radiated an aura of divine beauty, silently beckoning those who entered the premises to pause and marvel upon it.

Whilst bowing their heads with 'reverence' the players approach the statue, their whispered prayers filling the air with a touch of devotion.

The majority of them are seasoned players, each adorned with a distinct expression; some radiated excitement, while others exuded melancholy, anxiety, or anticipation...

Yuanjuan arrived here while being accompanied by Meng Zhihan, with the former surveying everything in the vicinity with curious eyes.

"In this game, the temple is a place that we the players frequently used."

"This is the largest temple in the Chosen City. Typically, it serves as a hub for accessing the exchange store or switching your jobclass at level 11. Simply offer your prayers before the statue of the goddess Eve."

"Of course, you can also choose to pray directly while facing the World Tree outside, but we veteran players believe that facing the goddess statue directly will give us a higher chance of success in the lottery draws, although there is no concrete evidence to support this claims..."

While standing beside her best friend, Meng Zhihan meticulously explained the temple's core functions, articulating each detail with care.

In response, Yuanjuan simply nodded while listening, her eyes roving the temple with intrigue, and upon spotting the goddess statue at the center, her gaze swiftly became transfixed, as if drawn inexorably to its presence.

After noticing her best friend's sparkling eyes, Meng Zhihan showed a look of understanding and wryly said,

"That is the statue of the goddess...she is the most important NPC in the entire game and also our faction leader. Her actual name is Eve Yggdrasill."

"The huge World Tree outside is actually her real body, but she oftentimes appear in her humanoid incarnation form especially on cutscenes..."

"By the way, the goddess's incarnation sure is amazing. It feels like the devs spent half of their budget alone on creating the goddess character model. I'll let you see various recorded videos of her, as there are quite a few of them on the Internet."

"You've seen the screenshot I sent you, but let me tell you, encountering the goddess incarnation in person is even more breathtaking. I can't quite explain it, but the video recordings of her always seemed to lack that inherent sense of divinity she typically exudes..."

Meng Zhihan showed a perplexed look before shrugging her shoulders.

"It's a really strange feeling, but you'll understand what I mean if you somehow got lucky enough to meet her in person one day."

"Anyway, the main storyline of ElvKing is to assist the goddess, mainly by helping her regain her strength and rebuild the former glory of the elven civilization."

Upon hearing this, Yuanjuan's eyes sparkled with excitement. She turned her gaze towards the statue and exclaimed:

"So she's the leader of our faction? This character sure looks amazing, and that statue of hers really gives a very strange feeling too..."

Yuanjuan knitted her brows and slightly tilted her head.

"I can't describe it, but it just feels very comforting to look at, like it's really exuding a profound sense of holiness... it's completely different from the screenshots you showed me just now."

Then, a soft sigh escaped her lips.

"Ahh, I really want to take that statue home and display it alongside my SD dolls!"

Meng Zhihan: "..."

"Sister, that statue's really important in this game... you would have definitely been chased off by the NPCs if you tried moving it from its place..."

"But if you're really interested, you can just go search online. There are quite a few figurines of the goddess being sold on various e-commerce sites... Sadly, most of them can only replicate one-third of the goddess's charm."

Meng Zhihan said.

"Is that so?"

Yuanjuan's eyes lit up.

"Oh, you said there are videos, right? Where's the link? Let me see! Lemme see!"

Seeing her best friend's excited expression, reminiscent of a fan encountering their idol, Meng Zhihan sported a figurative sweat drop upon her face.

Sure enough, after seeing the goddess, this person's obsession with beauty and collecting dolls has flared up again...

Thus, the Goddess had gained yet another hardcore fan.

Well, there's no denying it; it's purely because the visual depiction of the goddess is just flawlessly perfect.

Moreover, I even heard that in some adjacent 2D-centric forums, a group of diehard otakus engaged in verbal battles among each other to determine who the most 'moe' character was, and the Goddess always slayed her competition and was crowned as the champion.

Sighing softly, Meng Zhihan roughly selected a few of her favorite videos and sent them over.

Without hesitation, Yuanjuan eagerly clicked to watch them.

A few moments later...

Yuanjuan closed the built-in system web browser and gazed at the statue in the temple, with her eyes sparkling like stars.

"The Goddess Evé is so amazing, and the way the cinematic battle are shown in these videos are so awesome! Plus her voice is soo really nice too!"

"Although it's just as you said, these recordings don't really capture much of the Goddess's actual holiness..."

"In any case, I've decided, I'm gonna be a fan of Little Evé from now on!"

L-Little... Little Evé...?

The corner of Meng Zhihan's mouth twitched involuntarily.

"Hey, don't try to call the goddess like that in front of any NPCs, since almost all of them have a lot of respect for her. You'll definitely lose favorability if they hear it."

"Favorability? Oh, you mean like a likeness parameter? Would the NPCs really dislike me over something like this? Are the NPCs in this game really that smart?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Yuanjuan's face.

"What do you think? This game is highly acclaimed for its sheer realism to the extent that some are even having conspiracy theories suggesting it's actually transporting people to another world for a reason."

Meng Zhihan retorted, giving her friend a sidelong glance.

Yuanjuan chuckled upon hearing this and then observed the goddess statue once again, whilst deep in thought.

"Come to think of it... why does the name Evé Yggdrasill sound so familiar? Plus, when I look more closely at the goddess's design, I had this feeling like I've already seen her somewhere before..."

"Really? Maybe you've come across it on the internet. ElvKing is so popular nowadays, and the goddess is also quite well-known online. There's even a dedicated fandom for her, along with quite a few memes and chat emotes depicting her as well."

Meng Zhihan explained.

"Oh I see...that's right! It's the emotes!"

Suddenly realizing something, Yuanjuan slapped her forehead and quickly opened an app on the system net browser, then pulled up a set of cute goddess-themed chat emotes after searching.

It was a set of adorable goddess emotes, with all sorts of cute chibi depictions of her, like the goddess smiling, being angry, cheering, and all other sorts of cute expressions.

"This is it!"

She took a screenshot and sent it over to Meng Zhihan.

Meng Zhihan took a look and smiled.

"That's indeed the goddess! Actually, this chibi version is also used here in the game! Sometimes, when you complete a quest, you can see the chibi version of the goddess cheering on the system interface. It's super cute."

"Right? It's super cute! I fell in love with this set of chat emotes at first sight. Sigh, I didn't expect them to actually originate from here!"

Yuanjuan nodded repeatedly.

After that, she stretched lazily, took a deep breath, and said cheerfully, "I've decided, from now on, I'll accompany you to play this game if I have free time! You're right, Menghan, this game's really quite fun!"

Hey hey hey!

I still haven't introduced you to the core gameplay features of this game yet, and only introduced you to the goddess so far!

Sigh, as expected of a hardcore beauty-aesthetic otaku!

Watching her overly enthusiastic best friend geek out like that, Meng Zhihan couldn't help but feel a blend of amusement and exasperation.

Meanwhile, Yuanjuan continued her wander around the temple, occasionally extending her hand to touch various surfaces or objects such as tables, whilst sighing softly as she did so.

"Seriously... the touch sensation of this game is so great! I really can't imagine that we're still in a virtual game at all... Plus, the interior structure of this temple is also amazing."

"Of course, ElvKing being hailed as practically having a second life isn't just for show! And this temple took a lot of effort from us veteran players to build!"

A subtle proud grin played at the corners of Meng Zhihan's lips.

Hearing her words, Yuanjuan monetarily paused, looking somewhat surprised.

"You guys actually built this temple?"

"Yes, or more accurately, the entire Chosen City was built by us players, from scratch, brick by brick."

T-The...The entire city!?

Yuanjuan was left utterly stunned.

She swallowed hard, then suddenly turned around and walked towards the entrance of the temple.

Furrowing her brow, Meng Zhihan trailed behind, her expression showing a little bit of confusion.

Yuanjuan walked straight out of the temple with her footsteps echoing against the stone floor, until she emerged onto the bustling plaza outside.

The ongoing bonfire party was nearing its end, and aside from a few occasional nocturnal players loitering about, the majority had already exhausted their stamina and had gone to sleep.

Yuanjuan looked around and spotted an elevated platform in the center of the square.

It was where the players usually held events.

Without hesitation, she walked over and climbed onto the platform, then looked around her surroundings...

The entirety of Chosen City lay sprawled before her, its grandeur overwhelming her with inexplicable sensations as she stood there in silent admiration.

Under the natural lights, the entire place shimmered in a hazy glow, casting a breathtakingly beautiful ambiance over the city expanse.

Amidst the eclectic sprawl of architectural styles, lush gardens, and a myriad of twinkling lights shimmering inside each structure, the Chosen City appeared even more surreal under the cloak of nightfall compared to its daytime appearance.

"Is this all built by the players themselves? My god, is this really just an MMORPG game?"

Yuanjuan's eyes widened in shock, and without restraint, she inadvertently slip out a curse word.

— 336 —

[ IS THIS REALLY JUST AN MMORPG GAME? ]

— —