Game of the World Tree

“Where is it? Why is there nothing at all?”

Surveying the barren square, Demacia’s elation morphed into profound shock as subsequently, a wave of deep sorrow washed over him.

“Oh my god! None of the items we binded came back! My storage ring, my artifact materials! My heart hurts so much!”

He sat down on the ground, howling like a ghost.

It’s a big loss.

Except for the storage ring he traded using the Lionheart sword, none of the other bound items actually returned!

Li Mu’s eyes glazed over as well, mirroring the same sense of bewilderment.

His hands moved cautiously over his own body and as expected, found nothing beyond the equipment that were already bound to him before the scam was executed.

“Could it be… have we encountered a game bug?” He murmured with a somewhat forlorn tone.

The items they had bound didn’t come back in the end…

Well…reality often works this way.

Nonetheless, it’s still disheartening when you unexpectedly find yourself unable to attain something you thought would be easily acquire.

At this moment, the mood of the two players plummeted from cloud nine to rock bottom.

Suddenly, Li Mu thought of something else as his face changed hastily.

“Oh no! Our contribution points! Quick, check your account!”

After hearing his words, Demacia’s face also turned green:

“Oh crap! Right! There’s also our contribution points!”

They had sacrificed over two hundred thousand contribution points just to bind those items! Furthermore, a good portion of it were borrowed from Little Salty Cat and they still need to pay it back.

It would truly be heartbreaking if the contribution points that they used as capital was debited and also didn’t came back just like the warehouse items!

After all, a guy could only lost so much!

Moreover, such a significant amount of contribution points could equate to tens of thousands in real world currency. If they were to lose that as well, then it might even lead to them thinking of quitting the game…

However, after checking their account, both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the six-digit figures written on it.

“Thank goodness, our contribution points returned back to its previous value…”n

The contribution points they spent peacefully rested in their accounts. Not a bit more, not a bit less, as if they didn’t performed the bound exploit in the first place.

“How weird…so did the binding bug really fail? I clearly remember it was successful before! The contribution points were also deducted too, right?”

Demacia said in confusion.

Seeing his once deducted contribution points return to its prior amount, Li Mu’s face also eased a bit and replied,

“Wait, I’ll ask the others.”

However, the result was still the same.

None of the other players who performed the same exploit back at Maple Leaf City’s blackmarket have successfully brought back their bound goods as well.

“Ah… it seems the binding exploit cannot be used in the end. The game system doesn’t allow us to do this, so the contribution points we used were refunded instead.”

Li Mu sighed with regret.

“But we still died once…so in the end, all of it was for nothing?” Demacia said gloomily.

“Yeah, we even suffered a loss.” Li Mu shook his head.

Originally, they could have slowly made their way back alongside the NPCs they rescued and the players who missed the opportunity to do the exploit, but they still chose to kill themselves to immediately return back to the chosen city.

Alas, in doing so, they lost over thirty resurrection coins as fees for their revival…

The two sighed helplessly.

However, at this moment, Li Mu received a new message notification.

He swiftly opened and looked at it as his expression gradually became strange.

“What’s wrong, Brother Mu? Who sent the message?”

Demacia asked curiously.

“It’s from a player who went back to Maple Leaf City. After learning that the items they bind didn’t successfully transferred over, some people boldly begged HootyBird to reestablished the teleportation array and went back once more.”

“So they’re back?” Demacia was slightly stunned.

“Yeah, they did. And—” At this point, Li Mu’s face twisted into a peculiar expression, revealing a mix of emotions.

“Maple Leaf City… is in chaos. The slave traders we scammed at the black market are going crazy, and those items we bound haven’t returned to their prior place and have mysteriously disappeared.”

“What!? They mysteriously disappeared?” Demacia suddenly felt a bit hopeful, only to be swiftly replaced by disappointment seconds later as his expression sank once more.

“Even if the items do in fact disappeared, in the end, they still didn’t come back to us! So where did our treasures go?”

Li Mu checked his account balance, pondered for a moment, and said with uncertainty,

“Indeed, they disappeared, but maybe… it’s really a game bug. After all, ElvKing is still in its beta-testing phase, and having bugs like this is pretty normal, so to speak…”

He reasoned and then continued with a slightly humorous tone,

“Or perhaps the items, did in fact disappeared… but the goddess somehow tricked us and intercepted them, right?”

Demacia: “…”

The two exchanged a glance, sighed helplessly once again.

Ah…

What a heartache!

Within the Celestial Domain of the World Tree.

“Even though I had somewhat already expected them to cause a commotion, I wasn’t really expecting it to go down like this…”

Evé couldn’t help but feel both amused and exasperated as she surveyed the rows of disorganized equipment, potions, scrolls, and other various valuable materials that the players had managed to acquire back in Maple Leaf City.

“The method they used is indeed too cheat-like, or should I say, as expected of players of the fourth cataclysm!”

The binding exploit was indeed successful.

However, they were all intercepted by Evé during the transmission.

Speaking of which… she didn’t expect that the equipment binding system she initially designed to prevent players from losing their items would somehow be exploited like this.

She really have to commend these cheeky rascals as they were indeed really good at finding loopholes to exploit.

Of course, in the end, she still nedded to intervene since even though Elven Kingdom at its core isn’t a game, letting them acquire these items would cause some problems in the long run.

Logically speaking, the reputation system has given players somewhat of a subconscious choice when tricking the NPCs. This time, the action was aimed at the slavers at the blackmarket, which undermined the potential enemies of the elves, thereby somehow indirectly weakening them.

However, this is a dangerous slope to tread on and…Evé didn’t intend to let them continue on like this.

Or at the very least, not encourage it.

“Although on the surface, this whole incident may look quite beneficial but in hindsight, the ramifications of this exploit is too significant. Moreover, it would be too risky if they somehow accidentally bind an item with a mark of other mysterious entities and the other party discovered it…”

“So… I’ll put these things away for now. I’ll treat this whole incident as a bug and just reimburse the contribution points they initially used afterward. After all, they’ve still worked hard, and I’ll give them credit for that. Also… if a player obtains an item through proper conventional means rather than exploiting the binding system, then I won’t reclaim the items they’ve got.”

Evé muttered to herself.

Of course… this is only one of the reasons.

Another reason is that she’s worried that this binding bug will be exploited to a greater degree and everyone will just go to any NPCs to randomly bind items haphazardly, which may impact her future earnings from the exchange store.

In addition, with the current level of the players, it is too early and too luxurious to get these things rather easily.

Although Elven Kingdom at its core is not a real game, Evé still hopes for some semblance of balance within it.

Essentially, doing questlines, gradually leveling up and accumulating contribution points to exchange for resources is the right way to go!

As for these items the players have exploitedly obtained, she’ll just give them a slight makeover and put them back in the exchange store’s lottery prize pool.

Of course, she’ll also discreetly adjust the odds slightly in favor of the players to whom the items was bound in the first place.

—But not for Demacia.

Evé still remembers her grudge towards that rascal.

“Also, in the future, let’s add a condition for equipment binding. It must be done in my temple first or while within the vicinity of the World Tree.”

She thought for a moment and said to herself.

“But… this matter can be delayed for now as there are more important things to do at the moment.”

With that, Evé redirected her focus to the group of players that’s currently returning with the rescued elves and half-elves.

On the other side, Li Mu who had just experienced a roller coaster of emotions, received another message.

It was from Little Salty Cat.

For a moment, his expression became serious once more after reading it.

“What’s wrong, Brother Mu?”

Seeing his grave expression, Demacia asked curiously.

Li Mu took a deep breath, pulled out his staff, and said:

“Demacia.”

“Yeah?”

“Go get some help and find Meryer as well. We quickly need to support Little Salty Cat and the others who are still on their way back.”

“Why? What happened to Salty Cat and the others?”

“The players who went back to Maple Leaf City were discovered by the slavers. Although they managed to escaped successfully, the teleportation array they used to escape was compromised. Now…most of the blackmarket forces in Maple Leaf City are hunting down our returning forces that was escorting the elven NPCs.”

“Oh crap!”

— 283 —

【 THIS MUST BE A GAME BUG 】

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