We're Reporting the Kyushu Players for Cheating!

Each block was in a different location, and each was a different distance from the resource area.

On the more distant Sky Island, Zhu Wu had activated a lever to teleport Gu Yu there, while the Free Nation was much closer.

A long bridge extended from afar, spiraling upward. It would take them to the resource area in no time.

Once they arrived, the bridge disappeared automatically. A button on the ground could be used to activate it again and return to their block.

[Sky Island, Outskirts]

"So this place is called Sky Island?"

Jet muttered to himself as he looked at the small words before him.

"Looks like someone got here before us. Are those the Kyushu Nation players?"

He looked up and spotted Gu Yu clearly in the distance.

There was also a Piglin beside him. From what Jet could hear of their conversation, Gu Yu's reward was an entire block of land.

"Oh my god, an entire block of land! We can only get fifteen blocks a day!"

"He must have used some underhanded trick. First place and the whole block should have been ours!"

Jet was consumed by jealousy.

There was no way one person could kill a thousand zombies in a single night and still have enough food!

"We're reporting the Kyushu players for cheating!"

A Piglin had followed them there, so Jet seized the opportunity to report Gu Yu.

"He couldn't have killed a thousand zombies. Something's definitely wrong! The first-place reward should be ours!"

At that, the Piglin's face darkened instantly.

The Piglin race loved two things above all else: warriors and gold.

Conversely, they despised cowards.

To the Piglin, Jet's little scheme sounded like a coward trying to smear someone stronger than him. Its opinion of Mark and Jet immediately plummeted.

"Are you questioning Sky Island?"

Noticing the Piglin's hostile tone, Mark hurried to explain.

"No, honored sir! We would never slander Sky Island!"

"But there must be a problem with the records. He couldn't have—"

Slap!

Before Mark could finish, the Piglin slapped him.

A sharp pain and a sensation of weightlessness hit him. Mark couldn't keep his balance and fell to the ground, his vision swimming.

It took him several seconds to recover.

The Piglin's gaze grew even colder as it looked at them.

"Keep your baseless speculations to yourselves!"

"Second place wasn't supposed to pay tribute, but I've changed my mind."

"Starting today, just like those cowards, you'll hand over one type of block material to me every day!"

Mark stood rooted to the spot, his mind blank.

He'd only made a report. How had that landed them with a tribute to pay?

They could only mine fifteen blocks in total each day in the resource area, and now they had to hand some over?

"Are you going to defy Sky Island's rules?"

As the Piglin's eyes gradually reddened, Mark saw something from his perspective.

Blood-red words appeared before his eyes.

[Sky Island Piglin Guard]

First one, then two, three, four...

Blood-red words covered the entire area around them. A rough count put their numbers at over a hundred.

And behind those names were not Piglins with piglike heads. Most had rotting, decayed cheeks that exposed ghastly white bones.

The golden swords in their hands were even more terrifying than zombies!

"No, of course not! We'll hand over the materials!"

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Mark hurriedly apologized.

Only then did the Piglin calm down, and all the blood-red words disappeared.

"Good. Remember to throw the items into the hopper over there."

After warning them with a look, the Piglin left and disappeared over the horizon.

"Damn it, that stupid Pig—"

Jet had just started cursing when Mark clamped a hand over his mouth.

There had been so many red words just now. Who knew how many Piglins were nearby?

It would be bad if one of them heard and increased their punishment.

Realizing what Mark meant, Jet snorted, then looked into the distance.

The Piglin had taken Gu Yu to his block. The Iron Mine was occupied, but a vast area elsewhere was still waiting to be mined.

"It's all iron ore? We actually lost to an idiot like him?"

"Kyushu getting first place really was all luck!"

Unable to take his anger out on the Piglin, Jet could only vent it elsewhere.

There was a gold mine not far away. With such a valuable resource right there, why had Gu Yu picked iron?

Could an Iron Sword really be better than a Gold Sword?

Now it was theirs for the taking!

"He'll figure out sooner or later how hard it is to find rare gold ore. Come on, let's go mine it!"

"Let's make Gu Yu regret it!"

After composing themselves, Mark and Jet hurried toward the gold mine.

From his high vantage point, Gu Yu had seen the whole scene.

"Looks like Piglins aren't as friendly as they seem."

Their goodwill was another hidden benefit of coming first.

Compared to Zhu Wu, who stood beside him with a kind face and a warm smile, the Piglin next to Mark had been downright terrifying.

That made sense. Piglins in the original game weren't exactly friendly.

As hostile mobs, they could use bows and weapons, making them much harder to deal with than zombies.

Back when he'd first explored the Nether in the game, Gu Yu had been killed by those things plenty of times.

Watching Mark and Jet head for the gold mine, Gu Yu couldn't help laughing.

"Besides Piglins, does anyone actually like gold?"

It looked rare, luxurious, and powerful, but it was all show and no substance.

Equipment made from gold had low durability, and its defense was only slightly better than the lowest-tier leather armor.

Its only real use was crafting Golden Apples.

It had only been during his first few months playing the game, when he was a newbie who didn't understand how things worked, that he'd treated gold ore like treasure.

After that, whenever he found it, he'd have considered it a waste of inventory space even if someone gave it to him.

He stopped paying attention to the two of them.

"From this moment on, this block is yours!"

Under the Piglin's guidance, Gu Yu officially arrived at the Iron Mine, and a notification sounded.

[Resource area discovered: Iron Mine!]

[The Iron Mine is now your block!]

[Current block score: 20 (Micro Block)]

[Player Rank: 1]

His score had gone from eight to twenty—a full twelve-point increase!

The Sky Island had a Stone Generator, while the Monster Spawning Platform had only earned him five points. A twelve-point jump showed just how many resources were here!

Most importantly, there was a lot of iron ore!

Unlike gold, which was all flash and little substance, iron could provide him with plenty of practical tools.

Buckets, shears, anvils, rails, Flint and Steel...

And if he wanted to get into redstone engineering, he'd need even more iron for things like minecart tracks.

If he relied only on killing zombies at night to get iron, he had no idea how long it would take. His progress would be far too slow.

This made things much easier!

"I've put your special reward in the chest. I look forward to seeing you again."

After finishing up, Zhu Wu left to get on with his next task.

Inside the only small house on the Iron Mine was a large chest. It was locked shut.

The lock didn't need a password. Only Gu Yu had permission to open it.

If anyone tried to break it open, everything inside the chest would be destroyed along with it.

The Kyushu Nation viewers were full of curiosity.

"I've never seen such a strange chest before."

"They even locked it. What good stuff is inside?"

"Come to think of it, everyone else got to choose a resource as a reward, but Gu Yu didn't!"

"Does that mean what's in the chest is even better than a resource of his choice?"

"No way. What could be better than that?"

"I'm curious!"

The moment Gu Yu opened the chest—

A flash of light pierced through, and a mysterious power surged out.

"An Enchantment Book!"