Chapter 340

With the smooth launch of the fourth closed-beta, the new players gradually became more familiar with the rhythm of Elven Kingdom.

For these newcomers, Eve didn't directly grant them any strong powers at all and still had them start basically from level zero.

Even though Eve's divine power had become quite abundant by now, she still wanted these newcomers to naturally acquaint themselves with the rules of the Elven Forest and slowly integrate into it during this initial period of advancement from novice apprenticeship to Iron-rank.

In a sense, the 0 -10 level range served as an preliminary test for these newly joined players to test the waters, so to speak.

Of course, with veteran players sharing their game knowledge on the forums, such as the optimal way to reach Iron-rank, and the daily task system giving out more EXP points than before, the speed of advancement for these new players ended up much faster compared to the older beta testers.

In just under a week, some newcomers have already advanced from apprentices to the low Iron-rank.

Evé was quite satisfied with this.

Nonetheless, due to the sudden expansion of so many players, some minor issues inevitably arose.

As the old saying goes, with the forest growing more larger and larger, all kinds of birds will naturally appear, so Evé wasn't really that much surprised to find many strange new players this time around...

For example, some of the newbies ignored the reputation ratings and tried all kinds of deceitful schemes such as robbery, theft, abduction, and looting with the sole aim of acquiring their fifteen minutes of fame and becoming somewhat of an "outlaw" who broke the rules.

Although the players couldn't harm the NPCs with them having the system's protection, some set their sights on the possessions of the natives and veteran players instead, resorting to burglary and stealing any of the victims' personal belongings they could get a hold of.

Furthermore, some newcomers even showed no interest in leveling up at all but were instead entirely fascinated by the game's realistic depiction of death.

They avoided doing any tasks and committed suicide in all sorts of ways and even started recording it into videos, becoming content creators specializing in various ways of self-destructive acts...

Then there were those who discovered how intelligent the NPCs were and became highly enamored by the allure of the elves.

They attempted to flirt with any NPCs in the game and constantly thinking about how to woo them over, thereby turning an MMORPG game into a visual novel love simulator-esque experience...

In addition, there were even those who simply wanted to cause trouble, such as malicious arsonists or those who simply enjoyed destroying things like the structures and establishments the veteran players built within the Chosen City...

Compared to them, the much older troublemakers like Tomato and Demacia appeared almost excessively kind and too cute.

To sum it all up, all sorts of weird situations and all kinds of oddballs emerged one after another, causing Evé some bit of a headache.

Of course, in the end, all of this commotion was just a minor inconvenience.

For her, all these troublemakers were nothing more than clowns simply wanting to have a taste of her ban hammer.

Moreover, Evé was already well prepared for these kinds of incidents when she decided to expand the available slots for the 4th beta.

For those persistent troublemakers and repeat offenders, warnings, punishments, and even bans were immediately imposed upon based on how severe their infractions were.

In fact, continuously opening up closed betas and recruiting new players was also a continuous process of screening individuals that may match her preference as suitable tools.

And those who didn't align with her preferences would naturally face her judgment.

In any case, the most heinous of these troublemakers had already been dealt with harshly by the veteran players themselves way before Eve could even intervene.

For example, the newcomer who maliciously damaged buildings and set fires everywhere in Chosen City was targeted by the elite members of Moe Moe Committee and was blocked from entering the city at the respawn point...

And those newbies who attempted to deceive any natives were angrily captured and tied to a pole by members of Heart of Nature, then paraded all around to publicly shame them.

Of course, after that, Evé naturally didn't forget those excessively troublesome players and subjected them to the wrath of the game master's ban hammer.

The reason for the bans was pretty straightforward:

—Reported by other players.

And thus, Evé unexpectedly banned over two hundred players just within the span of a week after the launch of the 4th beta.

This quantity far exceeded the number of players Evé had punished in the previous three closed betas.

Of course, at this moment, Evé no longer fretted about the shortage of potential manpower anymore, and those troublemaking newbies were ultimately just a minority among the entire playerbase, unable to significantly impact the overall state of the game.

The veteran players from the previous three closed betas evolved into unofficial moderators under Evé's guidance, upholding the rules of the Elven Forest and willingly sacrificing themselves for Eve without hesitation, just as long as they received adequate rewards and increased their reputation.

As for the avatars left behind by those players who were permanently banned, Evé reclaimed them all and reverted their looks back to the base configuration to serve as backup bodies for potential players in the future, thereby saving some divine power for herself.

Even with the removal of these troublemakers and the players who had quit the game for various reasons in the past few months, the total concurrent users still remained at above sixty thousand.

However, the gradual increase of these weird and troublesome players also made Evé realized once again that even if her divine power is sufficient enough, shifting the game into open-beta for the wider public would still be a serious matter requiring thorough consideration.

Otherwise, a sudden influx of large number of uncontrollable individuals could greatly undermine all that she had done so far.

Ultimately, it was still necessary to proceed cautiously and steadily expand the player base according to her actual needs rather than rushing into open-beta prematurely.

As it stands, the newcomers are gradually getting the hang of things, and the renovation of the church is progressing in an orderly manner.

Even the revision of the new Holy Book, according to reports from Alice during her prayers, had become much smoother after recruiting some newcomers for the task.

Evé had anticipated this since she deliberately chose some individuals with special backgrounds when she was screening applicants for the fourth beta.

For example, those who studied religious studies, or those who had similar writing experience, or were self-media personalities back on Earth...

It's also worth mentioning that even Demacia, this bold-eyed rascal, had enthusiastically joined the group that's rewriting the new 'Holy Codex of Life.'

However, considering that this punk could masterfully orchestrate successful pyramid schemes and could easily deceive both dwarfs and humans, Evé thought his involvement might actually yield some surprising results...

In summary, the development within the Elven Forest was going well, and the players' strength was steadily increasing.

The Chosen City had once more entered a period of rapid development, with new buildings being erected on the outskirts almost every day.

In this regard, Evé is even considering whether to collect a contribution tax for opening up new lands.

Speaking of which, the situation outside the Elven Forest is somewhat delicate.

As the mercenary group assigned to track down the Black Dragon had not yet returned, and with over five thousand members vanishing without a trace, their fate unknown, this matter gradually caused panic throughout the Maple Leaf Territory.

However, what was strange was that Otto von Cappadocia, the Borderlord of the Maple Leaf Territory, hadn't come forward to explain anything.

However, the entire Maple Leaf Territory appeared to have entered a state that's akin to martial law. Even the veteran players who remained active in Maple Leaf City sensed the city's unusual atmosphere, with all the guards appearing serious and the number of patrols multiplying several times over.

Evé understood their situation quite well.

Perhaps the disappearance of his backer, the Ancient Dragon of Despair Nidhogg, has thoroughly frightened this human count...

However, for now, Evé had no intention of capitalizing on this chance and causing trouble for him.

For her, this border count was just a minor character worth noting about.

What truly mattered to her was the empire behind him and Etriōu, the Patron Deity of this human empire.

Having temporarily secured her faction's external situation and with its internal development gradually progressing as planned, Evé finally remembered the primordial elf Thranduil, whom she had long forgotten about.

— 340 —

[ WITH A LARGER FOREST, ALL KINDS OF BIRDS WILL NATURALLY APPEAR ]

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