Chapter 288
Dorothy stood there, bewildered, wanting to follow him inside, but was immediately blocked by the guards. Without Lucy's permission to let her through, she could only anxiously wait at the entrance, feeling lost.
Fortunately, it was only a short while later that the Forest Bard emerged, brimming with enthusiasm, as if he had just fulfilled a long-held wish. Upon seeing Dorothy, he suddenly remembered, “Sorry, I forgot to tell you.”
Dorothy snapped back to reality and quickly asked, “No problem! But what did you just do?”
“I went to meet the Queen.” The Forest Bard's voice involuntarily rose a few notes, and he instinctively lifted his chin, clearly excited and proud, speaking with a lyrical tone, “As a half-elf, to have an audience with Her Majesty the Queen, my life is already complete.”
The Queen? The Elven Queen?!
Dorothy had already learned from the Forest Bard that the high elves were one of the top races in the divine realm, with various sub-races and half-elves being their followers and vassals. For instance, the Forest Bard was a powerful half-elf.
The reverence that vassal races held for the core lineage was evident, much like the dragonkin beneath the Sky City, who took pride in their proximity to the revered.
After gathering some information about the divine realm from NPCs, most players were aware of the top races, and some fortunate players had even summoned them, experiencing it firsthand. Now… a ruler from a top race had appeared in Baiye City?
Dorothy's mind buzzed, and at that moment, she could only repeat a simple question in her ignorance—how many Source Energy Crystals had Baiye spent on this summoning?
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Chapter 198
Is this the advantage of having a mine in your territory…?
Coming back to her senses, Dorothy thought of the Source Energy Crystal mine in Baiye City, and her brow twitched.
During the last meeting, she had heard the economists of Civilization analyze that, based on the supply volume and frequency of Baiye City's shops, the city's financial surplus was conservatively estimated to exceed a thousand gold coins a month. Baiye City's jewelry and tailoring industries had already gained a reputation among the NPC nobility.
Not to mention, Baiye City had never ceased its march to occupy resource points, acquiring vast amounts of high-level resources simply by paying military expenses, which were then processed into various jewels, potions, and equipment… how infuriatingly wealthy!
“Lucky him, that alchemist actually caught the Queen's favor…”
The Forest Bard's voice interrupted Dorothy's thoughts. She turned to see this usually easygoing divine realm powerhouse now looking at Lucy, the alchemist from Baiye City, with a clear mix of envy and jealousy.
Then the Forest Bard shifted his gaze, curiously surveying the entire Baiye City. “The Queen actually chose to descend upon this city. What makes it so special?”
Maybe it’s the abundance of mines here…
Dorothy answered in her mind, then tentatively asked, “Since we’ve wasted some time, shall we head to the teleportation array?”
At this rate, Dorothy feared that if she didn’t hurry, the Forest Bard wouldn’t want to leave!
Upon hearing this, the Forest Bard indeed showed a clear reluctance on his face, but he still adhered to the ‘summoning contract,’ reluctantly glancing back three times as he followed Dorothy to the teleportation array.
On the way, Dorothy took the initiative to ask, “Could you tell me more about the Queen?”
At this, the Forest Bard perked up. “Of course! The kindness and strength of the Queen should be known to this new world…”
Thus, when Dorothy returned to the Civilization territory with the Forest Bard, she also brought back the news that Baiye had summoned a ruler from a top race in the divine realm.
This news didn’t remain hidden for long. Due to the surge in ratings, many factions sent agents to Baiye City to investigate, including those who had just summoned their own divine realm powerhouses. They quickly recognized the Elven Queen, Ainolucia, who was active in Baiye City and made no effort to conceal her presence.
“A ruler from a top race has descended upon Baiye City?! How many Source Energy Crystals did Baiye spend to summon her?”
Upon receiving the news, many racial civilizations reacted just like Dorothy.
In the past, as they explored the myriad realms, Baiye had always been ahead of everyone else, maintaining that advantage and even expanding it.
This time, while mainstream players were engaged in divine realm summoning, Baiye had remained silent, which had caused concern among various interstellar civilizations. However, when they saw that nothing had changed and she hadn’t made an appearance, they gradually set aside their worries.
Now, it seemed that what was meant to come had finally arrived.
The appearance of the Elven Queen in Baiye City, in the eyes of interstellar players, was akin to Baiye secretly pulling off an incredible eleven consecutive draws, continuously filtering until the most powerful top-tier beings in the divine realm descended.
Baiye had been quiet, but it turned out she was just biding her time for this big reveal!
No wonder the interstellar players thought this way. The divine realm summoning had been ongoing for over ten days, and during this time, with a massive amount of sample data, they had gradually discerned the patterns of how powerful beings appeared—greater investment yielded greater returns.
Every time a player conducted a divine realm summoning, the more times they drew, the higher the probability of summoning a powerful being.
This summoning wasn’t about choosing a divine realm powerhouse and then summoning again if the player was dissatisfied; rather, it involved not making a choice in the early stages and drawing multiple times, only making selections in the later rounds.
Many divine realm powerhouses belonging to top races were mostly summoned by the ‘whales’ among the interstellar players, except for a few lucky players who encountered them.
This was indeed a hidden mechanism set by Ye Bo, not to trick players into spending, but because the energy players spent on draws was essentially the ‘fare’ needed for divine realm powerhouses to descend. Therefore, the more energy a player invested upfront, the more powerful a divine realm powerhouse could be summoned.
However, for the player community, game resources were ultimately limited. Even for player factions supported by civilizations, they had to grow within the game’s rules and couldn’t bring their real-world accumulations into the game.
Divine realm summoning wasn’t cheap, which led to the mainstream players still following the ‘group draw’ approach rather than ‘one person multiple draws.’
At this moment, hearing that Baiye City had even summoned the Elven Queen stirred the hearts of interstellar players. However, those who could truly draw like that were the factions with a civilization background, and this thought was quickly dismissed internally.
Without knowing the ‘bottom’ of divine realm summoning, it was unwise to expend a civilization’s accumulation in the myriad realms for draws.
Moreover, since the Elven Queen had already been summoned by Baiye, it was impossible for anyone else to summon her at the same time. Instead of pondering the rulers of other top races, it would be better to explore what changes the Elven Queen would bring to Baiye City.
Many of the scouts heading to Baiye City brought along divine realm powerhouses who had close ties to the elves.
After all, NPCs summoned from the divine realm also had their own networks of relationships, some being friendly and others hostile. As players, it would clearly be difficult for them to approach the Elven Queen in Baiye City. However, if they had their own summoned divine realm powerhouse as an introduction, Baiye would surely be unable to refuse.
Of course, all players who summoned races that had poor relations with the high elves, especially those associated with the Abyss, did not dare to venture into Baiye City.
Long before the large-scale divine realm summoning, some players had encountered situations where two players, with no grudges against each other, summoned divine realm powerhouses from opposing races, leading to an immediate fight upon meeting.
In the end, both returned to the divine realm heavily injured, having gained nothing from their summons. This was also why the star network had been urging players to be cautious about the relationships between summoned beings.
Conversely, races with close ties could even have divine realm powerhouses who knew each other, allowing players to speak well of one another and strengthen their bonds.
For instance, during this period of activity, some divine realm powerhouses encountered players they admired, but who were not their current summoners. After this summoning ended, they might actively respond to the next summoner with whom they had a higher affinity.
Thus, the players bringing divine realm powerhouses related to the elves to Baiye City all had this thought, however small the chance might be.
While it was likely that a divine realm powerhouse who was satisfied with a player would respond to their previous summoner next time, what if…?
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