Players: Slay Dragons in the Sky, Farm the Land Below

"My God." Cheng Jue stood atop the World Tree's canopy, staring speechlessly at the group of oddballs below.

"I really don't know whether summoning these idiots was the right choice."

With a pained expression, Cheng Jue looked at the Human Dao Jade Disc floating within the auspicious cloud. Its glow had visibly dimmed a little.

"I never expected summoning players would consume Merit."

"Is this really the Primordial World? Getting a Primordial World ID is ridiculously expensive."

When Cheng Jue first noticed the changes in the Human Dao Jade Disc, he had been badly startled. This concerned his future path to enlightenment, so he could not help feeling nervous.

Fortunately, restoring the Human Dao Jade Disc only required Merit. Cheng Jue might lack other things, but he had plenty of Merit.

Cheng Jue glanced at the people below and sent Skadi a message. "Little Skadi, the Travelers have arrived. Go assign them some work. Don't let them sit around doing nothing."

Cheng Jue gestured for her to head to the players' spawn point and lead them.

Hearing Mother Goddess's message, Skadi seemed at a loss and cautiously asked, "Mother Goddess, what are the Travelers like? Are they all elves?"

Skadi's question made Cheng Jue instinctively look down. At a glance, he saw the three oddballs stripping naked.

Seeing that, Cheng Jue's face darkened. He could only answer vaguely, "Mm, the current Travelers are all elves. They have very lively personalities, so keep a close eye on them."

"Is that so?" Skadi breathed a sigh of relief.

Skadi thought to herself that since the Travelers were all elves, then as the first elf in the world, she counted as their elder. She had an obligation to help them become familiar with this world.

Skadi looked up at Mother Goddess standing upon the World Tree and listened to the cheers and shouts drifting over from afar.

"So those are the Travelers."

Skadi straightened her appearance and patted her cheeks. She had already prepared what she would say upon meeting the Travelers. The elves' elegance and beauty were fully displayed in her.

She wondered what kind of people the Travelers, whom Mother Goddess valued so highly, would be like.

As Skadi headed toward the place where the voices were densest, her thoughts could not help wandering.

As Travelers personally summoned by Mother Goddess, they surely possessed noble character and unyielding determination. They surely wielded magnificent staffs or indestructible longswords, and they surely had mighty, imposing retainers.

Like Lord Venti of Mondstadt's Stormterror, or Lord Zhongli of Liyue's Azhdaha.

Would they be like the protagonists in the novels written by Lady Yae Miko of Inazuma, with unwavering resolve?

"Oh dear, Skadi, what are you thinking about?"

Skadi shook her head. Passing through the bushes ahead, she was about to see the Travelers she had long awaited.

By the lake, a group of shabby elves wearing worn wooden armor and linen clothes appeared before Skadi.

In an instant, the Travelers' lofty image shattered with a crash, broken into pieces too small to ever put back together.

Several hundred Travelers were noisily gathered by the lake, making a complete mess of the place. Even Liyue's markets were not this chaotic.

Some were playing with magic, some were fooling around and fighting, and some had even stripped naked and were running around radiating holy light.

"This grass feels so real! It even simulates rocks digging into your feet."

"And the real-time translation is amazing. There are tons of foreigners here, but even a terrible student like me can communicate with them normally."

"Don't get so excited... Didn't you read the beginner's guide on the official website?"

"You started with two skill points. What skills did you learn?"

"I picked swordsman. One skill is Silence, and the other is Cross Slash. What about you?"

"I chose archer. One skill is Archery Combat, and the other is Ranged Strike."

"Anyone want to go check out the World Tree with me? Maybe we'll get to see that Skadi girl from the promotional video."

"By the way, isn't there supposed to be a beginner guide NPC? One-star review."

Skadi emerged from the forest and stared blankly at the scene before her. The difference between imagination and reality was simply too great.

These are the Travelers?

Why do they look like mindless magical beasts driven only by instinct?

While Skadi was still caught in inner turmoil, some players noticed the elf girl emerging from the forest.

"Look, an NPC!"

With a swish, a thousand pairs of eyes fixed on Skadi.

"She looks like that elf girl from the promotional video."

"She has a name. She's Skadi, the Great Elf," a player beside them reminded everyone.

All the players walked toward Skadi together, frightening her badly enough that she took a step back.

Skadi's timid expression instantly struck some strange point of excitement in the male players.

"Wow, that expression is way too unfair. She looks incredibly easy to bully."

"Look at her sword and armor. They both look so high-end. She really is an NPC."

"What class is the elf girl? I bet she's a knight. An elven lady knight, hehehe." Several gentlemanly male players laughed knowingly.

Skadi had never seen such a scene before. The only people she usually interacted with were Mother Goddess Cheng Jue, Hongmeng, the acting queen of the Elven Race, and the three gods.

For the first time in her life, she heard such frivolous remarks, and her face instantly turned red.

"Look, look, she's blushing!"

At the request of many readers, a VIP membership ad-free feature is now available.

Click to view.

"Holy crap, this is so realistic. The interaction feels incredible."

"I almost thought there was a real elf standing in front of me."

"Why do I feel like she's getting angry?"

One reckless player even ran up to Skadi and reached out to touch her battle skirt.

"Big Elf sister, can I touch your little skirt?"

Before Skadi could reply, the player reached out his hand.

The sight made the veins on Skadi's forehead throb. She had endured enough. There was no need to endure any longer.

Skadi grabbed the Mountain-Mist Sword on her back and slashed at the player with a swish. Remembering that he was a Traveler summoned by Mother Goddess, she felt that a slight punishment would be enough.

So Skadi struck the player with the flat of her blade.

With a smack, the player trying to lift her skirt, whose ID was Big D, flew backward and crashed into a large tree with a loud bang, barely clinging to life.

The first thing Skadi thought after attacking was:

So weak!

Even a newly born elf was probably stronger than them. (1 was Body Tempering, while 10 and above was Qi Refining. Newly born elves already possessed Qi Refining strength.)

Her second thought was, My God... I actually... sent a Traveler summoned by Mother Goddess flying.

Skadi nervously hurried forward to check on the elf she had sent flying.

Before Skadi could get closer, that elf turned into particles of light.

"I... I... I actually killed a Traveler."

Skadi felt her vision go dark, nearly fainting.

"Ah, he died."

"He flirted with an NPC at level one. Didn't he deserve that?"

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Skadi looked at the elves behind her in disbelief. Why were they so indifferent? Their companion had just died, yet not only were they unafraid, they were actually excited.

Mother Goddess... is there something wrong with the Travelers she summoned?

Up in the tree, Cheng Jue watched the scene below and smiled faintly. He could understand what they found exciting.

Then he looked at the somewhat panicked Skadi and sent her a message.

"Little Skadi, relax. It's fine."

Hearing Mother Goddess's words, Skadi's dazed expression improved somewhat. "But, Mother Goddess... I... I killed a Traveler."

"Don't be afraid. He's fine," Cheng Jue reassured her.

After saying that, Cheng Jue opened the game system and shortened the resurrection cooldown to one second. It had originally been set to an hour.

Cheng Jue thought that if he did not revive that idiot player quickly, Skadi would probably die from guilt.

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of light appeared. An elf emerged on the spot—it was Big D, the player Skadi had sent flying.

"See, Little Skadi? They're immortal."

With Mother Goddess's reassurance, Skadi finally calmed down.

Perhaps because she had heard Mother Goddess's voice, Skadi suddenly felt deeply wronged. Her eyes reddened, and she was on the verge of crying.

"Alright, don't be afraid," Cheng Jue comforted her.

"Actually, they aren't bad people. They're all kind-hearted deep down. It's just that the pressure of life in their own world is too great, so they have mental problems..."

Cheng Jue knew exactly what the first batch of summoned players was like. Aside from some famous individuals, most of the people summoned from the two worlds were streamers and gaming experts, so he knew very well what kind of nonsense they would get up to.

Of course, some things could not be explained to Skadi in detail. Cheng Jue fell silent for a moment. "Just think of them as mentally ill."

Skadi: "..."

Cheng Jue seemed to sense Skadi's mood and comforted her. "Don't worry, they won't always be like this. Fundamentally, they aren't bad. They're highly capable, hardworking, and can do almost any kind of job. You can order them around without worry."

"If you really can't rest easy, these thousand are only the first batch. There'll be a second batch later, and the ones after that will be much more normal."

There would be more? Skadi opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

Sensing Skadi's feelings, Cheng Jue added, "Don't worry, they won't always be like this. You just need to assign them some tasks."

As he spoke, Cheng Jue manipulated the Human Dao Jade Disc within the auspicious cloud. A streak of spiritual light entered Skadi's body—it was an auxiliary game program Cheng Jue had designed himself.

"This is the daily quest list. You can assign these tasks to them and distract them."

Skadi curiously glanced through it. These tasks were all... manual labor.

Would the Travelers really be willing to do them?

Skadi could not help feeling doubtful.

Then Mother Goddess's voice came to her. "Don't worry. Players are a capable bunch—able to slay dragons in the sky and farm the land below."

Why did Skadi feel that Mother Goddess's tone sounded somewhat strange?