The food shortage mostly came from a lack of farming knowledge.
Everyone knew plants needed water, so they had to be planted beside a water source. After that,
all they had to do was wait for time to pass and for the plants to mature.
That was the rule assumed by all the contestants, scientists, and the Research Institute.
As for bones, Bone Meal, and things like that—
Gu Yu saw them everywhere. They were fertilizer that dropped when he killed Little White.
Yet many players had never even seen them.
Skeletons! They were among the hardest monsters to deal with!
They could barely avoid them, let alone kill one and pick up its bone drops.
Even if someone happened to find a bone, they wouldn't think to put it in a Crafting Table, turn it into Bone Meal, and then connect that processed item to farming.
The two things seemed completely unrelated.
Using Bone Meal to speed up the growth of food was beyond everyone's understanding. It was no different from magic!
After planting the potatoes, Gu Yu didn't stop working.
The three oak saplings he'd planted earlier were still growing, so he tossed in all the Bone Meal he had left.
As green light appeared once more, the saplings suddenly grew into trees.
After securing a food supply, he'd successfully used Tree-for-Tree—the first step toward a steady supply of wood!
"You can speed up tree growth, too?"
"Trees drop apples. Oh no, now Gu Yu doesn't have to worry about food!"
"Who the hell said he had no food and would definitely die tonight?"
"We wasted our sign! Damn the Samurai Nation contestant!"
"Damn Park Sam-chang! Damn the Samurai Nation!"
"We fell for your bullshit!"
Having believed Park Sam-chang's prediction, Free Nation's viewers were collectively fuming.
If Kyushu had solved its food problem, how could they compete for first place with Kyushu's monster-killing efficiency?
They'd wasted an expensive sign for nothing!
At the Black Palace, the blond old man wore a grim expression.
He'd rushed to send the warning because he believed Park Sam-chang's prediction. Who could have imagined things would change so quickly?
"Starting today, cut off the Samurai Nation's subsidies and impose an additional 5% tariff on its products!"
The value of a sign couldn't be measured in money. It could provide crucial information at a critical moment and turn the tide!
He had to do something to calm the people's fury.
When the news got out, even viewers from the Samurai Nation couldn't help cursing.
"Cut off the subsidies and raise the tariffs!"
"Life's already hard enough. Won't higher taxes make it even harder?"
"It's all Park Sam-chang's fault, making predictions without a brain!"
"Because of you, we're getting hit with an extra 5% tariff!"
"How much money will we lose, you idiot Park Sam-chang!"
The Samurai Nation had a small land area and lacked many resources, which it had to buy from abroad.
Higher tariffs would cut off its lifeline and directly affect everyone's lives!
"Magic?!"
After seeing the food with his own eyes, Park Sam-chang reacted just like the viewers.
But when he saw Free Nation's ranking continue to rise steadily, he quickly realized that something else was going on outside.
He immediately explained.
"This isn't my fault. Who could have known he had a skill like that?"
"Listen to me. Gu Yu definitely isn't new to the game. He must have gotten a skill after taking part in the Block Civilization!"
Park Sam-chang had his own reasons for deciding it was a skill and not a game mechanic.
If it were a mechanic, Gu Yu would have needed to use an item from the Block World. Clearly,
there was nothing like that on the floating island for him to use!
Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until now to speed up the saplings' growth.
The only possible source was killing skeletons and zombies. They'd already figured out what zombies dropped:
food, Rotten Flesh, heads, and iron.
They couldn't possibly drop anything else!
Park Sam-chang didn't know exactly what skeletons dropped, since they'd killed so few of them, but he knew this much.
They'd killed just over a dozen skeletons. Even if every one had dropped something, Gu Yu could only have used the item a dozen times.
Park Sam-chang had seen it clearly through the glass. That green light had appeared at least thirty times!
That was three times the number of skeletons. The numbers simply didn't add up!
So he was certain Gu Yu had a skill that sped up plant growth!
"If anyone's to blame, it's Kyushu for keeping its secrets too well. They hid a person like that from us!"
Park Sam-chang concluded.
At the Research Institute, Dean Qi nodded.
"That does make some sense."
"So Kyushu really had an expert like this hidden away?"
For people like Gangcun Kuzi and Mark Jett, gaining new abilities was perfectly normal.
If Gu Yu had once entered the Block World, then this 'magic' could be explained.
Fries asked curiously,
"None of the contestant records mention Gu Yu or anything like that."
"In other words, he didn't join the game after the arena appeared."
It was easy for a nation to investigate someone. After carefully reviewing Gu Yu's information,
Fries suddenly had a startling guess.
If he hadn't joined after the arena appeared, could he have entered the Block World before the arena appeared?
In other words, he was what people called—
a beta tester!
Fries shuddered, startled by his own guess.
If that was really the case, it would be terrifying!
He was about to tell Dean Qi what he'd guessed when a loud noise suddenly rang out.
In full view of all the spectators, a bolt of lightning split the sky, lit up the night, and struck the stone house with pinpoint accuracy.
"Is that... that monster?!"
Pumpkin Island.
Mark had used up his last pumpkin pie.
Besides the food he'd brought with him, he'd even chopped down half the sugarcane on the island to keep his ranking, making three extra pumpkin pies.
But as his hunger meter gradually ran low, he realized something was wrong.
"The sign clearly said the Kyushu contestant would die of starvation soon. What's going on now?!"
Most of the night had passed!
They were practically starving to death, while the rankings showed—
[First place: Kyushu Nation, Zombies killed *1013, Skeletons killed *160, Special monsters killed *36] [Second place: Free Nation, Zombies killed *143, Skeletons killed *12, Special monsters killed *5] [Third place: Samurai Nation, Zombies killed *51, Skeletons killed *6]
The number of zombies had just passed a thousand!
And this was what dying soon looked like?
"If I keep fighting, I'll collapse from exhaustion before Gu Yu does!"
Back in his room, Mark's palms were covered in blood.
Apart from his golden sword, which he'd treasured and refused to use lightly, all his other weapons had run out of durability. He'd killed many zombies with his bare hands.
Mark was in terrible shape!
Jett wasn't doing much better. Three arrows were embedded deep in his muscles, making him look like a porcupine.
"How the hell are those guys using their items? Do we have to die for this to work?"
Hiding in the room, Jett cursed furiously.
He'd almost been killed by a skeleton's arrows!
"It's hard to imagine how Kyushu could kill a thousand zombies. Won't the Block World sanction him?"
As miserable as they were, the two had only killed a little over a hundred zombies after all this time. It was hard to imagine Kyushu having such outrageous numbers.
Rumble!
A tremendous clap of thunder rang out, lighting up the entire sky.
Every contestant, whether asleep or hiding, was jolted awake.
Mark saw this announcement.
[Reminder! Kyushu player Gu Yu has killed more than a thousand zombies!] [New monster type triggered: Creeper!] [Storm incoming. Thunder rumbles!] [The Creeper absorbs the power of lightning and evolves!] [The Lightning Creeper will be more destructive than ordinary Creepers. Please beware!]
Before you continue