Game of the World Tree

Chapter 179

??TRADE BETWEEN PLAYERS AND DWARVES

Not only were the mysterious figures secretly discussing “important matters” left speechless, but even Evé who was seated upon her divine throne within her celestial domain, found herself speechless while scrolling through the latest posts on the official forum.

[Top Post] – How to maximize efficiency in scalping items with the Dark-Dwarves without affecting the faction’s reputation…

[ Common techniques for bargaining – DD Meta ¹]

[818] ² – Member ‘xxx’ of the First Legion guild nearly ruined the entire faction’s reputation just for the sake of equipment!

[Essential Post] Guidelines for communication with the Dark Dwarves and how to quickly establish friendship with them.

[Essential Post] List of Blackrock City specialties and their seller’s locations.

[ Coordinates of dwarven slave traffickers’ hideout and how to sell yourself for a good price. ]

[Daily Record] I’m running a pyramid scheme.

Evé: “……”

Ever since players flooded into the Blackrock City, all sorts of strange posts have began to appear on the forum one after another.

Looking at these ridiculous post, Evé realized that she had completely underestimated the players’ propensity for chaos.

Unlike the elves, the Dark Dwarves were not her followers.

And since they were not connected to the game’s system through faith, Evé wouldn’t be be able to manifest a favorability rating like she did with the native elves. There were no systems for quest templates, nor could she prohibit players from attacking the dwarves like she could with her natural believers. Therefore, her ability to restrain players was greatly reduced.

Fortunately, due to the players’ preconceived notion that they had to be friendly with the NPCs and the reputation penalty implemented in the quests, the players did not consider the dwarves as enemies. Although there was occasional mischief and trickery, at least Eve’s worst fear of players outright hunting down the dwarves on sight still hadn’t yet come true.

Of course, another reason was that players still couldn’t defeat the dwarves without proper equipment, as they are required to take off their equipment right before entering the city.

Nevertheless, despite Evé’s attempts to restrain the players through reputation penalties, their numerous mischievous acts persisted, particularly following their interactions with the Dark Dwarves.

There were thieves stealing things, scammers trying to deceive the local inhabitants, and there were even some players resorting to death just to steal equipment. Fortunately, the Dark Dwarves were unfamiliar with the practice of high-interest loans; otherwise, Eve imagined a scene where a large number of elves would borrow high-interest loans and commit suicide on the spot…

There’s also that common practice of mixing low quality fake goods into the flour right before selling it to the dwarves. Meanwhile, Demacia saw a business opportunity and even abandoned his daily task of cleaning the toilets just to run an MLM pyramid scheme in the underworld!

It was said that…upon relying on the abundant knowledge about illegal Multi-level Marketing schemes found on the earth’s internet, he used a batch of fruits commonly found everywhere in the Elven Forest to develop his products. Within a day, he had established nearly a hundred downlines among the local inhabitants, and his network is still expanding.

Overall, he earned a large amount of common currency…

Later on, this rascal had used the currency he accumulated to purchase a large quantity of unique magical materials from Blackrock City and resold them to the clansmen of the Rageblaze Clan, thereby gaining a considerable amount of contribution points. Surprisingly, by selling magical materials at a low price, he also had unexpectedly improved his favorability score with several elven NPCs…

After Demacia tasted the sweetness of success, several other players saw his achievements and recognized the potential lucrative business opportunity of running a pyramid scheme. While they didn’t attain the same level of success as him, each of them have also managed to make a modest profit by emulating his strategy…

However, the dwarves weren’t complete fools either, and some of them already had a vague feeling that something was amiss.

Although it had not been exposed yet, Evé seemed to have already envisioned the scene where the dwarves would awaken to the fact that they had been scammed and would begin hunting down these swindling players.

And it was only a matter of time before Demacia would became the most unpopular elf in Blackrock City…

Evé couldn’t help but let out a sigh of exasperation.

This guy… doesn’t he consider the consequences of his actions?

In fact, he wasn’t the only one going overboard with his risky antics; quite a few players have been behaving recklessly without restraint as well.

After all, taking risks is a fundamental human instinct, and when not faced with the looming threat of death, humans tend to come up with all sorts of absurd ideas.

Being a race that thrived in the underworld, the dwarves were not entirely honorable themselves either. Some have tried to blackmail the elves, and a few planned to rob the players and participate in illicit activities. Certain dwarves have even intended to take advantage of the situation by kidnapping a few elves in order to sell them in the black market.

However…

What happened afterwards was quite dramatic…

Indeed, quite a few dwarves did managed to kidnapped an elf, but at the critical moment, the captive elf managed to escape.

This made them extremely nervous, as they feared retaliation from the elves. They were even prepared to hide, but to their surprise, instead of seeking revenge, the elves approached them with a business proposition…

Suddenly, the elf they had initially kidnapped returned, accompanied by several other elves, and presented a proposition for a large-scale transaction: the sale of an entire group of elven slaves!

This left the dwarves running the slave trade completely dumbfounded.

Are these elves…really okay with selling off their own kind as slaves?

After spending a large sum of money to purchase the group of elves, the dwarven slave traffickers were shocked to find that the ones they had just bought started committing suicide one after another, instantly bankrupting them…

Subsequently, other dwarf traffickers in Blackrock City encountered similar situations as elves kept appearing at their doorstep like door-to-door salesmen, offering their fellow brethren as slaves…

Yet the results were all the same.

After experiencing several of such incidents, it didn’t take long for the dwarves to abandon any thoughts of kidnapping and trafficking elves.

As for those envious dwarves who coveted the players’ monetary gains and attempted to ambush them outside the city, they were swiftly met with fierce counterattacks and eventually killed one by one.

They were filled with horror upon witnessing the astonishing ferocity exhibited by the elves in combat. To their surprise, whenever a group of elves engaged in battle, reinforcements swiftly arrived shortly thereafter, leaving them utterly baffled by the elves’ rapid communication with one another.

They were unable to contend in battle, and even begging for mercy proved to be futile.

However, players don’t show much interest in attacking these dwarven bandits either, as killing them doesn’t yield any experience points. Additionally, since these dwarves are often extremely poor, at most, they can only picked up a few meager “loot drops” as rewards.

In conclusion… in the city of the Dark Dwarves, although the overall image of the elves has not yet fully crumbled, but it has undergone such a transformation that it is nearly unrecognizable when compared to the elves’ noble depiction in old legends.

Fortunately, most Dark Dwarves still have a positive view of the players.

The higher-ups in Blackrock City are not completely unaware of the minor misdemeanors occurring, but they generally choose to ignore such trivial matters…

After all, in the underworld, strength is everything. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and if you fall victim to scams or get killed, then you only have no one but yourself to blame.

Nonetheless, what surprised the Dark Dwarves was that these elves were not just stubborn but could actually adapt to the cutthroat laws of survival in the underworld!

The local inhabitants discovered that even if an elf was killed in a dispute outside the city by a dwarf, the elves would not come to seek retribution.

This made many dark dwarves have a higher opinion of the players.

Because… the players’ actions happened to align with a certain notion in the underworld wherein strength reigns supreme!

Of course, despite the few instances of minor conflicts, a prevailing sense of goodwill was still established due to the overall amiable communication between the two factions.

Players still attach great importance to the reputation evaluation of neutral NPCs set by Evé.

Therefore… despite some few minor mishaps, the majority of the players still exercised restraint.

Not to mention, those few players who initially capitalized on their ability to cheat death just to deceive some dwarven blacksmiths for equipment were swiftly stopped by other players not long after.

Furthermore, with the influx of players, the dwarves gradually grew more accustomed to the presence of these strange elves.

After all, the elves visited Blackrock City mostly for trading goods, and their overall attitude still remained positive. Additionally, the long-standing noble image associated with the elven race have also enhanced their current impression. Despite finding these elves quite peculiar, the local dark dwarves gradually accepted them over time…

The arrival of players also brought an abundance of products from the Elven Forest, which objectively enhanced the lives of the Dark Dwarves. Therefore, despite a few minor mishaps, they were warmly welcomed among the dwarven population.

In return, some of the dwarves’ products also became a hot commodity within the playerbase.

Especially the steam guns, which were weapons similar to Earth’s firearms, piqued the players’ curiosity. Numerous individuals traded for a few of them, intending to test their effectiveness.

Furthermore, the weapon enthusiasts from the guild, Moe Moe Committee, were reportedly planning to modify the dwarves’ steam guns in an attempt to recreate firearms similar to those found on Earth…

In addition… the players have also obtained alcohol from the dwarves!

Similar to many western fantasy literary works, the dwarves in Saigües also take pleasure in drinking good ale, and the players displayed considerable interest in consuming alcohol within the game.

However, after trying it, the players found that the dwarves’ alcohol was not tasty enough.

At least… it was far more inferior compared to some of the alcoholic drinks back in the Celestial Empire. ³

Actually, it is quite normal because, unlike the dwarves inhabiting the surface world, the underground dark dwarves lack the grains needed to brew good ale. Most of the time, the dark dwarves simply buy their alcohol from human caravans instead, and these unscrupulous human merchants hace the tendency to sell them inferior quality drinks.

Although there are some high-quality ones, those are only enjoyed by prominent high-ranking dwarves and what players bought in the taverns were mostly just lowest quality wheat ale.

Players, whose tastes have already been spoiled by various drinks on Earth, naturally looked down upon this low-quality ale that has an even worse taste than cheap beer.

In fact, some life-oriented players have already plan to brew their own drinks. However, despite the Elven Forest being rich in resources, it lacks suitable raw materials for brewing alcoholic beverages. Although there are plenty of fruits in the forest and some players have attempted to make fruit wine, they always feel like something is missing in terms of taste.

However, now that they have gained the ability to plant crops, some players have started looking up information online to attempt brewing various types of beverages. It is estimated that achieving success in this endeavor is highly likely, and by then, there will probably be another product to sell to the dwarves.

The upper echelons of the three major player guilds have also begun discussing commercial cooperation with the high-ranking officials of Blackrock City.

Several ores, minerals, and magic stones mined by the dwarves remain highly desirable for equipment forging, equipment repairs, and basic construction.

They are all immensely useful, and some guildmasters have already calculated that by trading with the dwarves and developing their own in-house blacksmiths, they would be able to save a lot of contribution points normally used for daily expenses, such as repairs or equipment exchange.

Evé didn’t try to stop these matters but rather welcomed them.

With constant communication between both factions, Blackrock City has gradually become the base of operations for players who want to explore the underworld.

Within the vast underground cavern, on one side of the underground river lies the city of the dark dwarves, while on the other side is the underground forest where the monsters reside.

The monsters and creatures in that area occasionally harass the dwarves, causing them a lot of trouble.

However, the dwarves lack the courage to eradicate all those monsters.

The entire population of Blackrock City actually amounts to only a few thousand, and only a small fraction of the dwarves are capable of combat. Unlike strength-centric demihumans such as Orcs, where everyone is a soldier, dwarves differ in this aspect. The resulting casualties would be immense if they were to engage in a battle with these monsters…

Of course, another reason is that these underground monsters are not only fierce but also resilient, and they don’t carry any valuable materials. It simply isn’t worth it to fight them.

But the players have swarmed into the underground forest and started hunting the monsters!

The perplexed dark dwarves are at a loss as to why these peculiar elves exhibit such a strong fascination towards engaging in battles against these strong yet worthless monsters.

Nonetheless, despite their lack of understanding, the dwarves were pleased to witness such phenomenon.

Being able to have someone take action against the nearby monsters is a great joy for the dwarves.

However, as time goes by, a certain group of shady individuals that’s been observing the elves from the shadows grows increasingly restless…

¹ DD Meta – Abbreviation of Dark-Dwarves Meta

² 818 – has several meanings in chinese but in the context of this chapter, it means gossip.

³ To reiterate in case some readers may have missed it, Celestial Empire is the orig. author’s way of referring to china.