CHAPTER 659

【 IMPACT 】

—

The Elven Forest, Gray Haven.

In the city’s central plaza, players of all kinds had gathered as they chatted excitedly.

At the heart of the venue stood a high platform covered with all sorts of commodities, where a player from Heart of Nature held a small hammer, auctioning them off with enthusiasm and vigor.

The items being auction were diverse, ranging from exquisite ornaments to invaluable magical artifacts. It was said that many of these treasures had been looted from noble estates in Morningstar City after high-leveled players completed hidden quests and caused chaos there.

It must be said that the humans in Elven Kingdom truly formed a powerful faction. The wealth of their nobility far surpassed that of the orcs in the Desert of Death. Precious magical scrolls, storage artifacts increasingly sought after by players, and decorative items with long histories and distinct origins were all being auctioned here.

The first type of items fulfilled the players’ practical needs, while the second appealed to the wealthy elites who sought to show off their status. Especially now as the player owned cities grew more and more developed, players began caring more about the quality of life in their personal dwellings. As a result, even a rare and beautiful piece of decorative ornaments could fetch a shocking price.

It was rather ironic that the elves, a race known for their devotion to art, were now fascinated by items looted from the humans, many of which, if traced back far enough, had originally belonged to the elves themselves.

Of course, this all made sense once one considered who these “elves” truly were.

Historically speaking, real elves had taken years, sometimes decades, to craft their masterpieces. As long-lived beings, artmaking was simply a leisurely pastime. But now, the Elven Forest was focused on rapid development, and most players were too restless to spend time crafting, except for a few life-oriented enthusiasts.

Recently, however, some observant players noticed a new “Blueprint Exchange” section in the in-game store. This section contained methods for creating traditional elven magical crafts.

These blueprints had been placed there by Evé.

After using the golden divine blood to deepen her understanding of the racial divinity of “Elvenkind” She had regained the memories of the ancient elven civilization. Specifically, its history, art, and the lost techniques passed down from the first elves created by the previous World Tree.

By turning these memories into blueprints and letting the players combine their creativity with Earth’s knowledge, Evé aimed to revive elven culture within the realm of Seigües.

It was just a casual side project for her, but also one that aligned perfectly with her divine authority.

After all, her divinity encompassed “Elvenkind.” So in a sense, strengthening the elvesʼ civilization could also directly strengthen her own divine power.

The more brilliant elven culture became, the stronger the divine power of her, the Elven Patron Deity would grow. This was, after all, how many races enhanced their respective patron deities through faith.

It might seem unfair that Evé used players to develop an entire civilization, but she alone possessed the power to summon them.

With more elves returning from the demirealm of Ouros, both sides began to complement one another, leading to a slow yet remarkable revival of elven culture—a development more unpredictable, yet also more wondrous, than Evé had anticipated.

It was, in many ways, a pleasant surprise.

Naturally, the spoils gained by the players who participated in the “Save Sophia” battlefield mission stirred a wave of interest among players eager to sneak into human cities for similar exploits.

Unfortunately, without the restrictions of a hidden quest being lifted, most players could only rely on trickery or minor scams once inside human territory.

Attempting to replicate the “Black Dragon’s Raid” the Heart of Nature did in the past was strictly forbidden by the system.

In other words, much like when interacting with faction NPCs, any attempt to cross certain moral or narrative boundaries caused the system to intervene, taking away the player’s control.

Moreover, even if the system had allowed it, they no longer had the “Little Black Dragon” to rely on.

After being disciplined for several days, Meryer had finally advanced to Legendary-rank, which revealed his true potential. Evé realized he was the kind of lazy creature that only moved under pressure. So, after devouring ten whole roasted meat provided by the players, he was sent back to Sandstorm City for another period of closed-door cultivation.

This time, Evé officially entrusted him with the racial divinity of the Black Dragon, ordering him to become a Demigod before the upcoming Demon Crusade or have the Black Dragon Divinity revoked and given to one of the three bone dragons currently forming their bodies in Eve’s Divine Kingdom.

Dragons were notoriously greedy, and Meryer was no exception. Seeing the Racial Divinity of Black Dragons as his rightful possession, he grumbled in protest, but eventually went off to train in earnest.

Meanwhile, the system’s restrictions on players were, of course, Eve’s doing as well.

As her faith network grew stronger, it became easier for her to use its connection to the game network to regulate the players behavior. She never relaxed her control, especially now that their population was expanding rapidly.

If left unchecked, Seigües would surely descend into chaos.

The players were Eve’s assistants, not troublemakers meant to run amok.

However, while most players with limited contact with the human faction had little idea of the true aftermath of the incident at Morningstar City, Evé—who was gaining an increasing number of human believers—understood perfectly the shock it had caused.

More than ten Blessed Ones of the Elven Goddess, along with a Legendary-rank Black Dragon, had appeared and rescued a noblewoman of elven descent and destroyed an entire district of Morningstar City despite the city’s formidable defenses, which included a Legendary-rank archmage, several Gold-rank knights, a hundred Silver-rank guards, and an army of over one hundred thousand soldiers in the process.

Morningstar City was not a minor settlement—it was the second-largest city in the western territory of the Empire, second only to the capital itself.

This was undoubtedly a severe slap in the face for the Lawson Household, who commanded the Imperial Expeditionary Army, for the Holy Maniya Empire, and for the Eternal Church.

But strangely, this event, which caused such a huge shock in the upper echelons of the imperial nobility, the Empire did not retaliate with overwhelming force.

On the contrary, this event triggered intense division in public opinion instead.

The reason was because of a magical recording that started circulating on the black market.

In it was a record depicting the crucial moment between Sophia von Wells, heir to the Wells House of Maple Leaf Territory, and Duke Lawson.

The magical recording detailed how the Duke had deceived Sophia by making false promises, how he colluded with the Eternal Church, and attempted to seize control of her and her noble house by threatening and forcing her into marrying into the Lawson family without her consent, which ultimately led to the girl using the statue of the Elven Goddess to seek aid from the elves.

The moment this recording spread to the wider public, it immediately caused a political upheaval across the Empire.

The nobles’ attention shifted entirely to Duke Lawson’s schemes, while the destruction caused by the elves gradually got sidelined and became a lesser focus of the public discourse.

With the scandal tarnishing the Lawson’s reputation, the elves’ power no longer drew as much fear or scrutiny.

Meanwhile, as a result, demand for the Elven summoning statue surged on the human black market, with countless factions offering high prices to obtain one.

It was, in its own way, quite amusing.

The incident that happened in Morningstar city had become deeply entangled with noble rivalries and political intrigue.

Politics, after all, was never simple.

The greater the power one wielded, the more formidable one’s enemies became.

The Lawson House, which had been basking in glory all this time, suddenly found its reputation teetering on the edge of collapse. With this scandal breaking out, many among the imperial nobility now saw a rare opportunity to strike and some were already sharpening their knives to exploit the situation.

Interestingly, the main figure behind the incident, Sophia—who had mysteriously vanished and was rumored to have escaped to the Elven Forest—had unexpectedly gained widespread sympathy and support as a result.

Of course, how much of that sympathy was genuine and how much came from those merely using her story to attack the Lawson House was a subtle question.

What was interesting was that, by imperial law, Sophia’s actions and the destruction caused by the elves were enough to strip her of her noble status. Yet Empress Maria II of the Holy Maniya Empire publicly condemned Duke Lawson’s conduct and rejected the proposal made by several nobles to revoke the Wells House’s title.

The political maneuvering behind that decision was not something outsiders could easily discern.

Overall, the Morningstar City incident was like a stone cast into still water, stirring up the entire ruling class of the Holy Maniya Empire.

The situation, which were already unstable due to the resurgence of evil gods and awakening deities, became even more chaotic and divided.

The Eternal Church, on the other hand, remained unusually silent. It merely recalled Bishop Santis, revoked his ecclesiastical rank, and stripped him of both administrative and clerical authority.

As for the common folks, the event simply became another topic of gossip—fuel for complaints about the corruption and decadence of the nobility and the church.

Aside from a few players who had connections through the Amway Trade Group in various human cities, most had no knowledge of these developments.

Evé, however, learned of them through the feedback of her believers and thoroughly enjoyed the unfolding drama.

Of course, the mastermind behind this whole spectacle was her all along, since it was she who had leaked that magical recording to the black market through the players.

This had been Eve’s way of testing the human faction.

The various human nations were the stronghold of the Eternal Church, and the Coalition Divine Human Gods was the most formidable adversary Evé would eventually have to confront later on.

What troubled her most was the foundation of their power—specifically, the vast, unwavering faith of billions of human believers.

The stronger and more stable a god’s base of believers, the greater their divine strength.

Even a thousand years ago, when the human population in Seigües was far smaller, the gods belonging to the Divine Human Coalition—led by the Eternal Lord—had already been incredibly powerful. Now, humans made up more than three-fifths of all sentient life across the cosmos, making the current strength of the Divine Human Coalition immeasurable.

Though the number of true gods in their ranks had declined, the divine power accumulated by each surviving deity was immense. They were, without question, Eve’s most formidable potential enemies.

It was not yet time to confront them directly. But once the Demon Crusade ended, once Evé attained greater divine strength, and once the barriers around the realm of Seigües were fully lifted, she might inevitably clash with this supreme divine faction, which was considered as the most powerful force in this universe.

Thus, laying groundwork in advance and planting a few “seeds” was necessary.

From this trial, Evé had witnessed the moral decay of nobles, the corruption of the Eternal Church, the divisions within society, and the growing gulf between classes.

If she could describe it in one word, it was absolute chaos.

If two words were needed, it was internal decay.

Corrupt governance, unstable politics, and sharp social contradictions—these were the signs of a crumbling order.

Eve realized that, while the Divine Human Coalition’s network of faith was vast, it was far from stable.

It resembled an overinflated cake—large and impressive on the outside, but hollow and fragile on the inside.

This explained why, once the seals around Seigües began to weaken, evil and corrupt forces found it so easy to stir turmoil in various human nations.

Where there was chaos and darkness, there were always cracks to exploit.

Even for Evé, this principle held true. Otherwise, she would not have quietly become the object of worship in several human villages without anyone noticing.

A thousand-mile dam collapses from a single ant’s nest, so to speak.

Evé concluded that defeating the Etriōu might not require direct confrontation alone.

Still, her current ideas were only theoretical. Any real plan would still require more careful testing.

And the half-elven girl the players rescued from Morningstar City was to be the first subject of that experiment.

Or perhaps “experiment” sounded too cold.

“Pilot project” might be a better term.

Evé had high hopes for Sophia.

However, the half-elven girl brought into the Elven Forest by the players was not in good condition at all.

Outside the door of a luxury guest room in the Amway Tavern of Gray Haven, Li Mu and Demacia stood with furrowed brows.

“She still isn’t eating?”

They turned to the elven attendant nearby, a local from the demirealm of Ouros.

“Yes, Sir Li Mu, Sir Demacia,” the elf replied respectfully.

“Miss Sophia has locked herself in her room and refuses to see anyone. It has been going on for several days now.”

Hearing this, Li Mu and Demacia exchanged helpless glances.

“This is troublesome,” Demacia muttered. “The hidden quest requires us to make Sophia convert to the Elven faith. But knowing her temper, forcing her to become the Goddess’s believer won’t easily work.”

Li Mu sighed after a moment’s thought.

“Let’s try knocking again,” he said.

Then he stepped forward and gently knocked on the door once more.

----------------------------------------

〘 PREVIOUS 〙

〘 NEXT 〙

— —

----------------------------------------