Elf Kingdom:Game of the World Tree Chapter 162 – Chapter 162: Chapter 157: Earth Cave Spider

Chapter 162: Chapter 157: Earth Cave Spider
 

The improved favorability system was like a bowl of water thrown into a pot of boiling oil, instantly causing a stir among the players.

Some were happy, while others were displeased.

Unaccustomed to it, some players even shouted on the official website about quitting the game.

Of course, in the end, they were just talking.

Though the improved favorability and reputation evaluations were more stringent, overall, this system provided more benefits than penalties to players.

In fact, only a few players could receive significant bonuses under the new favorability system.

The numerical range for NPC favorability was -100 to +100, and only Li Mu had interacted with NPCs whose favorability was above 40.

The reputation score ranged from 0 to 100, and Li Mu was the only one among the 1200 players to achieve a perfect score.

Li Mu was an exception; in reality, very few players achieved even a score of 30 in reputation evaluations.

So… for most players, everyone's starting point was about the same; at least, the gap between most wouldn't widen significantly because of this.

However, those with higher reputation scores indeed enjoyed greater bonuses and advanced faster.

As a result, finding ways to increase NPC favorability and their own reputation became the players' focus.

Yet, with further exploration, players discovered that the starting point of each person's comprehensive reputation evaluation was not actually zero.

The game system would periodically evaluate the players' overall reputation and come up with an average score.

This average score served as the players' initial reputation evaluation, akin to an NPC's overall impression of a Chosen One.

Even if you did nothing, you could still get an average reputation evaluation.

Currently, the players' overall evaluation was 5 points, neutral.

On this basis, adjustments would be made based on the players' personal and overall NPC favorability.

The minimum was 0, cold.

This discovery relieved those players unaccustomed to grinding favorability.

At least… as long as they didn't stir up trouble, they could still enjoy the players' average reputation evaluation.

This meant that even if some players received higher bonuses, they, as the average, wouldn't fall too far behind.

Of course, those who messed around were really pitiful.

Not only were they unlucky, but they also had to endure the disdain of other players.

After all… no one liked a drag.

Humans were highly adaptable creatures.

And players had an even greater capacity for acceptance.

After initial discomfort, gradually, players also accepted the system of comprehensive reputation scoring.

Those with high scores became the targets for recruitment by major guilds.

The benefit of a high probability of drawing equipment with rare effects alone was enough to excite most players.

As players got used to the comprehensive reputation scoring, Eve also issued new main quests.

Unlike previous single missions, this time there were three main quests: “Develop Powers,” “Explore Rivendell,” and “Explore the Underworld.”

And under each main quest were many sub-quests, some of which were turned into daily tasks that could be received every day.

Players could repeat different tasks according to their needs and preferences.

The main quest “Develop Powers” included sub-quests such as “Crop Planting,” “Poultry and Livestock Breeding,” “Resource Collection,” and “Main City Construction,” many of which were daily tasks…

The daily tasks that had been part of building the Chosen City were included in the “Main City Construction” sub-quest.

Regarding the many new daily main quests, Eve also selectively chose some native elves as new daily-task NPCs, making them responsible for task distribution.

The NPC for “Poultry and Livestock Breeding” was Black Dragon Mairrel.

Although the Elf Forest was abundant in resources, it couldn't withstand the players' enormous appetites.

Whether for the sake of ecological balance or for the perception of believers, developing the farming industry was necessary.

Upon learning the goal of this quest, Little Black Dragon's eyes lit up, and it instantly became excited.

It pledged to Eve, with a hand on its heart, that it would ensure the players worked hard.

*As long as it could occasionally snack afterward.*

The appearance of the “Develop Powers” series of tasks immediately attracted the interest of life players who didn't enjoy fighting all the time.

Additionally, because this series of tasks was quite safe, it became the first choice for players with lower levels.

Many tasks in this main quest's sub-quests involved cultivation gameplay, which was precisely what life players loved.

In no time at all, many players chose to stay in the Elf Forest, dedicating themselves to the development and construction enterprise.

Especially the Mengmeng Committee, which was predominantly composed of life players, took the lead.

After completing the human caravan quest, Little Xian Miao obtained some crop-seed-like items, and some interested Druid players took them to begin cultivation and planting.

A few players also started scouring different places in the Elf Forest with Black Dragon Mairrel's help, searching for young Demon Beasts, especially those that grew quickly, had a lot of meat, and were easy to take care of… They planned to explore animal husbandry.

Etcetera, etcetera…

The “Develop Powers” main quest attracted life players, while “Explore Rivendell” and “Explore the Underworld” attracted players who loved adventure and combat.

This portion of players was the largest among the 1200.

They eagerly took up quests, embarking on their adventures.

Among them, the main quest “Explore Rivendell” could be further divided into sub-quests like “Ancient Text Search” and “Vein Exploration.”

Meanwhile, “Explore the Underworld” included sub-quests like “Map Drawing” and “Monster Detection.”

Since these two main quest's sub-quests didn't have daily tasks, Eve didn't assign NPCs for them but relied on the game system for task reception.

Of course, the more important reason was that these tasks involved faction expansion, and initial expansion involved risks, so Eve had to personally oversee them.

As players explored, Rivendell and the Underworld gradually revealed a corner of their mystery.

First, Rivendell.

As the manufacturing capital of the elf civilization a thousand years ago, it theoretically retained many elves' relics.

Regrettably, it seemed that Rivendell had already been plundered by humans.

During exploration, players discovered that there wasn't much they could find that was useful.

*At least… the places they could explore on the surface were almost completely emptied.*

However, as players delved further, they began to discover new worlds.

Rivendell was built in a valley, and when it was split in half by some unknown great power a thousand years ago, part of the city was buried under rocks.

After a thousand years, this section of the city was long buried underground.

And during exploration, players were delighted to find that these areas hadn't been plundered by humans.

They discovered a large number of abandoned pieces of equipment buried deep in the ruins, and players speculated that it was likely because they were almost all damaged that human adventurers hadn't taken them.

Additionally, players gradually found more elf artifacts, even some ancient forging equipment and tools…

Though mostly damaged after a thousand years, some seemed relatively intact and were all transported back by players.

Those that could be used were used; those that couldn't were sacrificed to the Goddess for contribution value recovery.

During exploration, players finally encountered monsters living there.

Contrary to their expectations, they initially thought that Rivendell, connecting to the Underworld, would also harbor many strange underground creatures.

But in reality, players only encountered one type of monster—

Spiders.

These were spiders entirely covered in a pitch-black armored shell, incredibly tough like metal, with legs densely covered in steel-pin-like bristles.

They varied in size, with small ones about the size of a basin, their strength comparable to Goblins.

And larger ones nearly as big as adults, bearing scythe-like fangs, their strength even reaching the black iron grade.

These spiders resided deep within Rivendell, and the further players went in, the more they encountered.

After identification, players learned that these spiders were called Earth Cave Spiders, dark-attributed underground creatures with extremely sticky webs and sharp fangs, with the larger spiders even being poisonous.

They fed on other weaker underground creatures or minerals, their entire skeletons mineralized and exceedingly sturdy.

Unlike Goblins, which barely counted as semi-intelligent creatures, these spiders were complete Demon Beasts.

Aside from their tough shells, their actions were entirely instinctual.

However, because of their tough shells, players faced many difficulties when dealing with them.

Ordinary physical attacks were almost ineffective against them.

The fortunate part was that, through exploration, players discovered these spiders were afraid of light and fire.

Then, players found a good way to eliminate them.

They would lure them into a pre-dug hole, throw in a light source to temporarily paralyze them, and once players jumped out of the hole, they would frantically throw fireballs down.

Burn them to death.

However, this method only worked on small spiders.

For the larger spiders, there was nothing they could do.

The larger spiders were fast and had venomous stingers; although afraid of light and fire, they had a certain resistance and resilient vitality.

Additionally, they could drive small spiders to charge…

One large spider would generally attract over ten small spiders.

Encountering them, unless players had strength in numbers, they had no choice but to run…

As players continued to delve into Rivendell, the number of spiders they encountered increased.

This led players to suspect that humans hadn't explored deeply, possibly because of the presence of the Earth Cave Spiders.

Nonetheless, this did not dampen their enthusiasm.

Because killing spiders also yielded considerable experience points!

There were experience points and treasures!

Rivendell had fully become a paradise for adventure players.

However, unlike Rivendell where exploration quests were in full swing, exploration of the Underworld faced setbacks.

Rivendell had a massive cavern connecting to the Underworld.

It was also where players launched their expeditions into the Underworld.

Upon entering the cavern, players immediately faced a big problem…

They encountered a giant spider measuring five or six meters wide!

All attacks were ineffective against it, even the Fireball Technique left merely a few scratches on its shell…

Yet it possessed wind-like speed and formidable offensive power, effortlessly catching up to and killing fully-armed players.

Even the Lunchbox squad was wiped out by it during an assault…

Players suspected that this gatekeeping spider likely had the strength of silver!

Moreover, this giant Earth Cave Spider had three large spider minions and over a hundred small spiders…

Players were simply no match for them.

“Looks like we'll have to ask Black Dragon Mairrel to step in again.”

In the end, players decided to turn to Little Black Dragon.

However, when they found the Black Dragon, busily leading a group of players around the Elf Forest searching for Demon Beast nests to rob young ones, Little Black Dragon refused…

“Earth Cave Spider? Several meters large?”

Mairrel's dragon face changed.

“Not going! Not going! I'm not going! If you want to court death, go yourselves!”

Mairrel shook its head and flew away.

The once-proud Black Dragon… had turned afraid.

Leaving a group of players with wide-eyed surprise.

The big thing underground… was feared even by the Black Dragon?

Could that be possible?

It didn't seem as formidable as the foolish dragon…

But with Little Black Dragon unwilling, players had no other choice.

Eventually… they had no choice but to temporarily abandon exploration of the Underworld and instead continued to delve deeper into Rivendell.

As for Lunchbox, he led his squad, no longer heading to the cavern, but delving into the elf ruins.

This time, he took on the “Vein Exploration” sub-quest.

Yet unlike before, this time… he had a little tail following him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co

Chapter end