CHAPTER 628

【 WELCOME TO ELVEN KINGDOM 】

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Saturday, clear skies.

For once, Xu Ge got up early and finished the homework he hadn’t done the night before.

High school was always like that: the teachers kept piling on assignments. Although the faculty often spoke about reducing the workload, the amount of homework only seemed to grow heavier with each term.

Nevertheless, Xu Ge was never one to shirk his responsibilities. While he disliked homework as much as any student, but he also hoped to get into a good university in the future.

Especially in today’s world, where the college entrance examination remained the only relatively fair path for ordinary people to change their destiny.

This was the lesson his father had instilled in him.

Though Xu Ge often argued back, deep down he acknowledged the truth of such principle.

Those who achieved success without a solid education were merely outliers, beneficiaries of sheer luck. For the average person, life’s trajectory was largely determined by the results of their college entrance exam, the moment when one’s future path became set in stone.

Unless one exerted far greater effort later than during high school, it was nearly impossible to alter that course—especially in an age where social classes had grown increasingly rigid.

Thus, despite his playful nature, Xu Ge never neglected his studies.

The sheer amount of homework he had this weekend was enough to make anyone cough up blood.

Nevertheless, Xu Ge believed that after today, he would finally have more time to manage his assignments.

As if struck by a sudden thought, he smiled faintly.

“From today onward, I will have at least an extra 24-hours each day!”

Indeed, Xu Ge had already thought it through. From now on, he’d spend every night inside Elven Kingdom, doing his homework there instead!

He could simply copy the answers back into reality afterwards, and in doing so, he could use them to review.

How convenient!

As for why he finished his homework early this time, it was simply because he was excited and wanted to spend the entire weekend fully immersed in the game. 𝐑â𐌽оβĚS̩

The rest of his homework could wait. For now, he didn’t want to think about it, at least not during his first login.

By noon, he had already cooked lunch for himself. With both of his parents busy at work, they often left early and came home late, even on weekends.

Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs with steamed rice, his favorite dish, tasted especially good that day. In his good mood, he even ate two extra bowls until he was comfortably full.

For dessert, he enjoyed a sweet pear given to him by Zhao Linqian, the girl who lived next door. She had a habit of sharing snacks or fruit with him whenever her family had extras, and it had long since become part of their daily routine.

They had been neighbors since kindergarten, growing up side by side, and their families often exchanged food over the years.

The proverbial childhood friends, so to speak.

“See you later in the game!”

Zhao Linqian had said this with a bright smile when she handed him the pear.

Surprisingly, she too had been gifted a slot.

This was truly rare. Xu Ge remembered that when the registration deadline was approaching, the number of applicants for Elven Kingdom had already surpassed forty million. Since registration had only been open for a single day, the total number of registration would surely have been even higher if the developers had kept it open longer.

So, that girl being chosen was nothing short of extraordinary. With only a 0.45 percent chance, it was practically like winning the lottery.

“Could it really be that the devs really are selecting people based on their gaming skills?” Xu Ge muttered to himself.

After eating his lunch, he lay down to rest, but he was far too excited to fall asleep.

Since its release, Elven Kingdom had swept across the virtual gaming world. Although the total number of players was only a little over three hundred thousand, the game had already become a household name at this point.

Most notably, the recent Harvest Festival had propelled its popularity to yet another peak. Videos of the elves’ ceremonial ritual dance had flooded every major video sharing platform.

On streaming sites, the dance section was filled with imitations of the ritual dance. Yet, no matter how skilled the performers were, none could capture the otherworldly grace of the elves as they had appeared in the game.

Xu Ge assumed this was related to the physical differences between elves and humans.

According to players, the bodies of elves were far more agile and flexible than those of humans, thereby allowing them to leap one or two meters with ease.

This also explained why, despite the absence of keyboards or controllers, players in the game could still moved in strangely unique ways.

The experience, so different from reality, was something everyone enjoyed.

Unable to nap, Xu Ge simply lay down in his virtual immersion pod and began watching Elven Kingdom strategy videos online in preparation for when he entered the game.

After all, there was no option to delete or recreate characters in Elven Kingdom if you made a mistake. So planning ahead for one’s future development was a no-brainer.

If one chose the wrong jobclass or misallocated skill points, the only option was to endure until the next class advancement opportunity.

Time passed quickly once he started watching videos.

Before long, the pod’s timer showed that it was already two in the afternoon, the exact moment when a new batch of beta testers was finally allowed to log in.

Right on time, Xu Ge impatiently launched the pre-installed Elven Kingdom program, eager to step into the highly acclaimed virtual world.

“Launch game—Elven Kingdom!”

【

】

【Game connection established…】

【New version detected…】

【Updating version…】

【Update complete.】

【Loading game…】

【Load successful.】

With a soft chime, Xu Ge’s vision suddenly went dark.

“Here we go!”

His spirit surged with excitement.

A graceful, melodious tune rose around him—the very same elven-style music he often played at random each night to lull himself to sleep.

Accompanied by this enchanting melody, Xu Ge entered the character creation screen.

As the videos he watched had indicated, the only available race was elf. However, players could still adjust numerous features, such as the avatar’s hair and eye colors, to determine their elven clan.

Although it was often said that players did not need to care much about such details and usually chose based on personal preference, the guides suggested otherwise. An avatar’s hair and eye colors were believed to subtly influence the character’s elemental affinity.

For example, red hair made one more inclined toward the fire element, granting a natural affinity for flame-based spells and abilities. Gold hair leaned toward light, often associated with healing, support, and holy magic. Black hair, on the other hand, was tied to darkness, making those characters better suited for shadow spells or stealth-oriented abilities.

These tendencies were not absolute, but they did have an effect. Players discovered this gradually through experimentation, although the developers never officially acknowledged it.

However, despite the wide range of hair colors option to choose from, one particularly popular option from other online games which was silver was noticeably absent:

Silver.

In the lore of Elven Kingdom, silver hair was reserved exclusively for elven royalty. Moreover even, the goddess herself was depicted with silver hair.

Xu Ge felt quite regretful.

Regardless of whether the claim about the developers singling out Chinese players ¹ was true or not, he was still rather fond of the color silver, since it would pair perfectly with red eyes, which was his ideal look for his avatar.

Alas, with that option unavailable, he had no choice but to compromise. After deliberating over his avatar’s appearance, Xu Ge finally settled on a combination of golden hair and emerald-green eyes.

He chose these two because they were said to be the traditional colors of the Galewind Clan, whose members were known for their strong affinity with the elements of nature, with emerald-green eyes symbolizing life and golden hair representing light.

Moreover, he chose them deliberately, as he planned to follow the recently popular playstyle known as the “Paladin Path.”

In simple terms, this playstyle meant developing their character along a strength-focused route, which would then allow their class to advance into a weapon-specialist warrior while also taking priest as a secondary class later on.

Such a build could fight, heal, defend, and support which was a true jack of all trades.

In the increasingly popular battlefield missions, where environments changed constantly and enemies appeared randomly, this versatile Paladin build had become especially meta.

Of course, all of it depended on whether one could successfully get a priest subclass.

Xu Ge had studied these matters carefully in advance.

By now, he was equally well-prepared when it came to customizing his appearance. He directly copied a highly rated character template he had found online.

Although Elven Kingdom’s facial customization system prevented players from creating identical faces, using a top-scoring template as a base allowed for fine adjustments. This ensured not only a high-rated appearance but also made it easy to achieve a strikingly handsome look.

Alas, resemblance to the original template was inevitable. Those who similarly used these templates, like him, were practically like relatives, at least in appearance. Xu Ge had even heard of NPCs mistaking players for someone else because of such likeness, which was an amusing testament to the game’s meticulous design.

In fact, because certain streamers had shared their templates publicly, some avatars bearing the same “internet celebrity faces” had become quite common amongst the player base.

Xu Ge, however, did not mind.

In the end, handsome was handsome.

Who cared if his avatar just looked like someone else?

After all, weren’t many celebrities in the entertainment industry cut from the same mold and still adored by their fans?

What really left him disappointed was the inability to choose a female gender for his character.

As someone who had always preferred playing female avatars in online games, he enjoyed the subtle grace and elegance they offered—the way their movements flowed, the silhouette they cast, the personality reflected in their animations.

To him, it almost felt like raising a daughter.

And considering Elven Kingdom’s reputation for realism, he was deeply curious what it might feel like to play with a female body in such an immersive world.

At sixteen, Xu Ge naturally harbored a mix of fascination and curiosity toward the opposite sex.

There was even a saying that gender envy worked in reverse: boys often admired and envied girls when they were young, while women, as they grew older, began to appreciate the advantages men enjoyed.

After finalizing all the settings, Xu Ge decided on his in-game username: “Ye Ye.”

With a mischievous grin, he officially entered the game.

The next instant, his consciousness sank as his vision shifted.

As someone who had watched countless gameplay videos, Xu Ge knew the game’s opening cinematic was about to begin.

Elegant elven music swelled, delicate and ethereal, as the story of the elves slowly unfolded before him.

Having already seen this introduction many times before, Xu Ge impatiently reached to skip it, expecting the usual sequence.

Yet, just as he was about to, the scene abruptly shifted.

To his surprise, the opening sequence was entirely different from the one he knew. Instead of beginning with the goddess’s awakening, it now opened with the image of a magnificent city bathed in golden light.

This city was called the Chosen City.

The camera panned upward, revealing the towering World Tree, its vast trunk stretching beyond view. Beneath its colossal shadow, the splendid city seemed minuscule, like a scattering of ants at the base of a giant. The sheer scale of it struck Xu Ge with awe.

As the perspective rose higher, the image blurred slightly, as if inviting him to witness something even grander. A grand palace emerged, its architecture both elegant and commanding. Surrounded by countless glittering stars, it radiated majesty. At its gates stood two solemn, awe-inspiring angels, their presence demanding reverence.

Right then, a shining golden text appeared in Xu Ge’s field of vision:

The Pantheon.

The gates slowly opened, and the camera glided through an immense hall.

Within it, ornate thrones were arranged with solemn precision, each one gleaming as if polished by divine light.

One by one, divine figures appeared within the grand chamber, their presence commanding awe and reverence.

It was an assembly of the Gods.

Among them, the silver-haired, violet-eyed Goddess of Life took her seat, her gaze calm yet piercing under the watch of all. Her beauty stood out even among the true gods in the vicinity.

At thus point, Xu Ge found himself instinctively pausing, completely abandoning to skip ahead, captivated by the vision before him.

The scene shifted again, plunging him into the Sealed Lands, where the goddess fought with unstoppable brilliance. She moved through the battlefield like a living beacon, her radiance illuminating the darkness and drawing every eye toward her.

In the distance, an army of players surged forward, a living tide clashing with the endless horde of demons. Spells ignited the air, arrows rained down, and steel met steel in a symphony of chaos. Blood and flesh were strewn across the battlefield, displaying the brutal carnage of a medieval fantasy war. Yet even in the violence, there was a strange, almost hypnotic beauty to it, as if the clash of life and death itself had been choreographed with divine artistry.

The deafening roars of soldiers and the clash of weapons made the scene pulse with life, as though Xu Ge were standing amidst it all. Finally, a surge of light pierced through the carnage, driving back the darkness and bathing the battlefield in a purifying glow.

The scene turned to blinding white, then slowly faded into black once more.

In Xu Ge’s vision, two elegant lines of golden text appeared:

“The horn has sounded, heralding the gods’ unstoppable crusade against the demons!”

“Elven Kingdom – New Expansion Pack: Crusade of the Gods Against Demons is now officially online!”

With that, the cinematic sequence finally ended.

The music shifted abruptly, becoming bold and stirring. Yet beneath its fiery symphony, there also lingered a solemn, reverent undertone.

It was the background theme for the goddess’s appearance on the battlefield, known as ‘For the Glory of the Goddess.’

Since its first debut more than twenty days earlier within Elven Kingdom, the song had swiftly dominated every instrumental chart, becoming one of the most popular anthems across online games.

Hearing it, Xu Ge’s youthful blood surged with excitement.

Then, a clear, sacred, yet warm and gentle voice echoed in his ears:

“Welcome, Oʼ Chosen One from another world.”

It was the Goddess of Life, Evé.

This immensely popular leader of their faction personally blessed each player the very first time they logged into the game.

She was like a guiding light for them all.

Seeing her appear before him, Xu Ge froze for a moment, a faint blush creeping across his cheeks.

—Beautiful.

She was simply too beautiful.

No matter how many times he had watched her in videos, no matter how many images he had admired online, no matter how often he had secretly searched for her information on certain sites, seeing her in-game was an experience on a completely different level.

The effect of seeing her in person surpassed those screenshots and videos by countless magnitudes.

One’s perception is shaped by the information they receive.

Images can capture only a static likeness, and while videos add sound and motion, no recording can truly convey the subtle sensations of meeting someone in person.

The instant Xu Ge beheld the goddess, a profound serenity filled his heart. At the same time, an involuntary urge to bow down and worship surged within him.

Whilst bathing in her presence, warmth spread through his entire body, seeping into his very soul. He felt cleansed, comforted, and filled with a blissful contentment, as if every worry and tension had been gently lifted away.

Looking at the divine, smiling female figure before him, Xu Ge—who had always preferred the two-dimensional world of anime and remained largely indifferent to the “three-dimensional” world—suddenly realized how wrong he had been.

In that moment, he even forgot he was inside a game.

“How is anyone supposed to resist this…?”

That was the only thought that crossed his mind.

Half-dazed, guided by the goddess’s voice, he absentmindedly selected a melee-based class.

The goddess then bestowed upon him two random starting skills:

Appraisal and Triple Slash.

Still reluctant to part from her presence, Xu Ge finally pressed the option to officially enter the game.

A couple of seconds later, darkness swallowed his vision, and the sensation of weightlessness returned.

It felt like passing through an invisible barrier, or like the jolt of a faulty elevator suddenly halting as his mind reeled with slight dizziness.

The next moment, Xu Ge felt his feet touch solid ground.

His vision cleared quickly as the white haze faded, and fresh, clean air filled his lungs, making him take a deep breath.

He noticed faint smells in the air—the smoky scent of roasting meat, the warm aroma of bread, and a hint of sweet milk. Even though he had eaten not long ago, the smells made his stomach growl. It all smelled amazing.

Voices reached his ears—people talking, vendors calling out their goods, and animals making noise in the distance. With closer attention, he could even hear hammers striking anvils and wagons rumbling over the streets.

His vision wasn’t fully adjusted yet, but he could already make out the layout of a busy medieval city. Streets were crowded with houses, market stalls were filled with goods, and banners hung from buildings.

Then, as a cheerful elven tune began to play in his ears, his sight finally cleared.

Before him unfolded a city far more prosperous, beautiful, and dreamlike than he had ever imagined.

Rows of elegant buildings, lush greenery, neatly paved stone roads, and pedestrians walking past with fantastical beasts—some mounted, some led on reins.

Xu Ge himself had descended into the middle of a lively street.

This was the main city of the Chosen City.

Though he had seen it countless times in videos, witnessing it firsthand filled him with awe.

“I’m actually here! This really is the Chosen City!”

He murmured in excitement.

No one paid attention to his arrival.

In truth, similar situations were happening across the entire city, and the older players were long accustomed to such spectacles.

The task rewards for guiding the newcomers no longer interested the veterans. And only a few who enjoyed helping newcomers lingered in the city, looking for fresh recruits who caught their eye.

Though more often than not, however, their attention was reserved mostly for the girls.

In online games, female players naturally attract more attention than their male counterparts, particularly in a game like Kingdom of Elves, where a character’s gender is fixed to their true gender in real life.

As Xu Ge explored his surroundings with curiosity and excitement, a notification suddenly popped up from his background chat software—a call was coming in.

He checked the caller and confirmed that it was his childhood friend, Zhao Linqian.

Grinning, Xu Ge opened the system interface, brought the chat application to the foreground, and answered the call.

“Hello? Miss Zhao? Are you inside the game already?”

“No, I’m still customizing my character. Wait for me a bit, okay?”

Xu Ge: “…”

He suddenly felt a sense of foreboding that ‘for a bit’ would most likely stretch into a long while.

“Ehh…? Well, hurry up okay? I’ll look around the city and get familiar with it first,” he said.

The young woman confidently replied, “Okay, I’ll be quick. Oh, by the way, tell me your username first so I can add you later.”

Xu Ge was about to respond but paused, then smirked.

“I’ll send it to you on the chat. I don’t want you to type it wrong.”

With that, he sent her his username.

Moments later…

“…Ye Ye?” came the girl’s curious voice.

“Yeah Yeah!” Xu Ge responded playfully.

Zhao Linqian: “…”

“I’m hanging up.”

And the call ended after that.

Footnotes

¹ The phrase used in this section was “冲国人特攻” (literally special attack on Chinese players) and it is a very specific Internet slang in China. In many online games, Chinese players sometimes feel that developers intentionally make design choices that put them at a disadvantage compared to players from other countries.

So the use of the term here implies the devs are deliberately singling out Chinese players, either by nerfing their advantages, limiting benefits, or giving them unfair treatment.

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