"Is Gu Yu an idiot?"
"Is he trying to bribe the guards with gold ingots?"
"Stupid. Doesn't he know NPCs only trade for emeralds?"
"You need emeralds to raise their favorability, too. What the hell are gold ingots good for?"
"Just wait until a Piglin punches him flying, like Mark!"
Early that morning, they saw Gu Yu take out a gold ingot and toss it to a Piglin.
Many viewers sneered, their voices dripping with scorn.
Most of them were Free Nation viewers, and they were itching to see Gu Yu get punched flying, too.
Unfortunately...
"No diamonds?"
The answer took Gu Yu by surprise.
Judging by appearances alone, he'd thought this place was rich in resources and had everything.
As if noticing Gu Yu's confusion, Zhu Wu continued.
"To be precise, the only diamonds were mined last night, as you can see."
"This is just the outskirts of Sky City. There are no villagers here, let alone diamonds."
At most, there were some basic supplies to help newcomers who had just passed the trial develop more easily.
"I see."
Basic supplies could be produced independently on the Sky Island, so there was no need to get them from outside.
In other words, the resource zone wasn't nearly as useful to Gu Yu as he'd imagined.
At best, he could mine some minerals. He couldn't even trade with villagers!
Thinking about it carefully, that made sense. If the outskirts were this luxurious, with diamonds everywhere, wouldn't Sky City itself be built from Netherite Blocks?
Good thing he knew he could trade gold ingots with Piglins.
If he'd blindly kept at it...
If he'd tried upgrading his equipment here, who knew how long it would've taken?
Since Gu Yu had earned its favor, Zhu Wu shared some more information.
"Only Small Civilizations are qualified to truly access the core of the chunks. At that point..."
"True power—the mods—will descend!"
For now, they were still a Micro Civilization, nowhere near even the entry level.
Gu Yu agreed with that.
In vanilla Minecraft, the Ender Dragon was the strongest. But once you added mods...
There were things like the Wither Storm, the Execution Dragon, the Void Star God...
There were just too many. Compared to them, the Ender Dragon didn't even rank.
Understanding vanilla was only the beginning.
"I wonder how far a Large Civilization can go?"
He casually tossed the remaining three gold ingots to the Piglin.
Gold ore wasn't much use by itself, but today's information had been invaluable.
"Looks like I'll have to get the equipment from Zombie Villagers. And this chest..."
Seeing what Gu Yu was thinking, Zhu Wu was delighted to have received the gold ingots.
"I'll bring these to your island right away!"
After Zhu Wu left with the chest, Gu Yu began thinking about how to develop from here on.
He'd mine some more minerals, then leave the people from Free Nation to foolishly fight over the junk!
Not far away...
Mark was secretly watching the scene.
Viewers from Free Nation all started guessing.
"Why can't we hear them all of a sudden? What are they talking about?"
"Did Gu Yu anger the guard by offering gold ingots?"
"Did it sound so offensive that they cut off the broadcast?"
"That's possible. Look, his Reward Chest was taken away!"
"Haha, he got what was coming to him!"
Since the information was part of a trade, the conversation had been kept confidential.
No one could hear what they'd said. All they could see was Zhu Wu leaving with the chest.
Mark and the viewers guessed the same thing.
"Jett, how many mining attempts do we have left? Hurry, I remember there were emeralds over there!"
Determined to restore his favorability and regain the right to a block exemption, Mark rushed off to mine emeralds.
Before Zhu Wu returned, he finally managed to mine five.
"Brother Pig, you're here!"
Just then, Zhu Wu flew back. Mark hurried over with a fawning smile.
Zhu Wu nodded, his expression utterly cold.
"We put the blocks in the hopper as requested!"
"Mm."
Zhu Wu gave the two of them a curt reply.
Puzzled by his attitude, they exchanged glances. Mark stepped forward and held out the emeralds.
"Look, these are all for you!"
Mark offered three emeralds and waited for Zhu Wu to praise him.
Back in the Warrior Civilization, he'd personally seen warriors argue endlessly over just a few emeralds.
This was far more sincere than Gu Yu's few gold ingots!
"Look at Mark, then look at Gu Yu!"
"That's how a smart person does it. No NPC can turn down emeralds!"
"Five emeralds—I can't even imagine what kind of reward he'll get!"
"Hope they give us Gu Yu's chest!"
The viewers from Free Nation praised Mark's actions, eagerly anticipating what he'd get in return.
But after waiting several seconds, they didn't hear the praise they'd expected.
Instead, Zhu Wu's expression turned even colder, and a faint red glow showed in his eyes.
"Are you insulting me?"
He could hardly believe it!
Zhu Wu's keen nose had long since caught the hidden scent of gold on Mark and the other man!
That wonderful smell was something he'd never forget, even in three lifetimes!
And from what he could tell, they had quite a bit of it!
If they offered gold ingots, Zhu Wu would follow the Piglin tradition and trade with them. They might even regain their second-place privilege.
But what had they done?
They'd hidden their gold and tossed him foul-smelling, vulgar, worthless emeralds!
"N-no, of course not. You're very perceptive."
"Here are the other two emeralds. They're all yours!"
Thinking Zhu Wu had discovered what they'd been hiding, Mark hurriedly brought out all of them.
Clatter!
The five emeralds hit the ground. The silence was terrifying.
"I've changed my mind."
Hearing Zhu Wu speak, Mark was delighted.
Emeralds really did work. Were they going to get their block exemption?
"Starting today, you'll have to hand over three blocks each day. Three blocks per person."
"Put them in the hopper on time. Now get lost!"
Zhu Wu left without looking back, leaving the two of them standing there in a daze.
They'd only needed to hand over one block before. Now both of them had to hand over three?
The emeralds hadn't helped at all. They'd only made things worse!
The viewers from Free Nation were completely stunned.
"If that pighead doesn't want emeralds, what does it want?"
"Could it be gold ingots? Do they use them to forge equipment?"
"Jiuzhou, what exactly did Gu Yu say to Zhu Wu?"
They were clearly in the same world, yet they were always worlds apart from Gu Yu.
It was as if Gu Yu had the answers in front of him as he played!
Mark fell into deep self-doubt.
Had he really been doing everything wrong this whole time?
Samurai Nation.
Yamamoto Rokuko was the exact opposite of Mark.
He was brimming with confidence.
"Look, what's this? A Diamond Pickaxe!"
"Equipment even more powerful than an iron pickaxe!"
He'd gone to the mining area in search of flint. Since he didn't know what dropped flint, he mined anything that looked unusual.
Right beside a deep pool of lava, he'd mined three diamonds—the only diamonds in the resource zone.
Yamamoto Rokuko had never seen anything like them.
But its mining speed, durability, and many other qualities all showed that the Diamond Pickaxe was stronger than an iron pickaxe!
"I've already made Flint and Steel from the flint. Now I'll take the most powerful mining tool..."
"And enter that mysterious door built from obsidian!"
Before you continue