Sky Island Survival.
One of the classic modes no MC Player could avoid.
Even if you'd never played it, you'd definitely heard of it!
The place was small, but it had everything you needed.
A patch of Grass Blocks, with a tree in the middle that could provide food and starting supplies.
It was the best place to start!
Gu Yu had played this kind of survival mode countless times, going from a bare patch of land to an entire continent.
Now that he was experiencing it in real life, he found it even more exciting and fresh!
"Look at the surroundings! Why is it all Grass Blocks? There isn't even a house?!"
"One tree? What can one tree do?"
"Holy crap, I can't even imagine how anyone could make progress in a situation like this!"
"Anyone who ends up here is bound to die!"
"Too bad for this young man named Gu Yu. He'll be tortured to death."
The Sky Island environment played out on screen, and all of Jiuzhou let out a collective groan.
Nobody had expected that, after the difficulty had been raised so much, they'd be given such a brutal starting point!
The audiences in other countries, on the other hand, were a different story.
"Hahaha, I'm dying! They call that a starting point?"
"Sorry, but our Free Nation contestant spawned on Pumpkin Island, with an entire island full of pumpkins!"
"It's a little harder than the fixed-village starts from before, but we have more pumpkins than we can eat. No need to worry about going hungry!"
"Yoshi, our contestant spawned next to a huge patch of watermelons!"
"There's a little house and a water source, too. It's perfect!"
"Gangcun-kun, you've got this!"
"If they're using items, then Jiuzhou's starting resources must be pretty good, right?"
"Huh? Why is there nothing but ground? No house, no water?"
"And the contestant's a college student. He probably doesn't even know how to start a fire!"
"Hahahahaha!"
All the mocking, sarcastic Bullet Comments made the people of Jiuzhou clench their fists.
They wanted to fire back, but then they looked at the other Blocks.
Mark was beaming, looking absolutely thrilled.
He'd been lucky enough to draw the first position and choose the Block with the richest resources.
Pumpkin House!
It was a beautiful island full of pumpkins, with green grass and flowers all over the place, and a little river running through it.
The house was already built. Though it was made of dirt, it was enough to keep monsters out.
Inside, a soft bed made of wool was comfortable enough to sleep in for the night.
If it weren't in Block Civilization, it would have been an idyllic paradise that anyone would covet!
"Oh! This is great, Jett! We were both chosen for the game!"
"After all my training, I've gotten the hang of using and making a bow and arrows. This time, we're going to become Lords of Civilization!"
Every Civilization had its own rules. Parkour Civilization, for example, had Parkour Novices, Parkour Experts, Parkour Masters, and Parkour Champions.
Parkour Champions were at the pinnacle of Parkour Civilization, but even they stood below one supreme being.
The Lord of Civilization!
The truly supreme ruler, able to master an entire Civilization completely!
Becoming one brought tremendous benefits, both to the individual and to their country.
With conditions this favorable and an old partner by his side, Mark was brimming with confidence.
Mark wasn't the only one in a good position.
Most people had gotten the starting point they wanted.
On a small island dominated by red, Park Sam-chang breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness I drew sixth!"
His position was near the front, so he'd managed to pick one of the places with the most plentiful food.
Mushroom Island!
Two Mushroom Cows, a three-block Mushroom Coffin House just big enough to fit a bed,
and mushrooms scattered everywhere. This was the ideal starting Block Park Sam-chang had carefully picked out!
"Sam-chang-smitda! You're the best!"
"Fantastic! This whole place is covered in mushrooms, so there's no need to worry about food!"
"Breed the two Mushroom Cows, and we'll have endless beef and mushrooms from now on!"
"If you got Mushroom Island, isn't advancing to a Large Block practically guaranteed?"
"This is unbeatable!"
At that moment, cheers rang out across the entire country of Bang.
Everyone knew, deep down, that survival meant securing food!
Previous Civilizations had proven it, too: food was the most important resource in Block Civilization.
In fact, in one Civilization, food was controlled so strictly that players who didn't have enough hunger points suffered reduced jump distances and running speeds, making it difficult to advance.
Now, a Mushroom Island start had already solved this crucial problem. Everyone had high hopes for Park Sam-chang.
"It looks like there's someone in the distance. If I'm not mistaken, that's the Jiuzhou contestant, right?"
"Jiuzhou? I'm dying! Their contestant got a Sky Island!"
"There's nothing there, and I heard the contestant's a college student. What a joke!"
"I can't wait to see him get torn to shreds by zombies!"
"Hahaha!"
Sharp-eyed viewers spotted a figure in the corner. After Park Sam-chang finished checking the Block,
he spotted Gu Yu nearby, too.
"A Sky Island?"
They weren't too close or too far apart, and from where he stood, Park Sam-chang could see Gu Yu's island perfectly well.
He immediately burst out laughing.
There was only one tree, and resources were scarce to the extreme. His only food source was apples that might or might not drop from the tree.
How could that compare to his Mushroom Island?
"Trash. Sooner or later, my Bang will crush him underfoot!"
"I wonder if taking over other Blocks will raise my score."
After the rules had been explained, a panel of information appeared before Park Sam-chang.
[Current Block score: 1 (Micro Block)]
He needed to develop the Block and raise his score to advance.
In previous Civilizations, players could earn points by killing other players or creatures and use them to advance.
As a Large Civilization, Block Civilization should have inherited that feature.
Jiuzhou, the closest and weakest, would be his first target!
"Perfect. In the last Civilization, I learned how to make a classic delicacy from a chest: Mushroom Soup!"
He plucked two mushrooms from the ground, then took a wooden bowl from inside the house.
It was a superb recipe he'd spent three days getting his hands on. All it took was a three-slot crafting space to make Mushroom Soup that restored three hunger points.
Three points!
Even bread, a precious food, only restored 2.5 hunger points!
He had an entire Mushroom Island, with a nearly unlimited supply of Mushroom Soup.
That was enough to put him above most players!
"All you need is one mushroom, then another mushroom, and a bowl..."
Crafting was easy. You just had to put the required items in the Crafting Table, and the finished product would appear automatically.
But the next moment, Park Sam-chang froze.
He didn't have a Crafting Table.
With only his four-slot inventory crafting grid, he couldn't make Mushroom Soup.
"Where's the Crafting Table?"
Weren't these tools always in the villages, provided at the start?
Park Sam-chang searched all over Mushroom Island, but still couldn't find a Crafting Table.
"Guess this really is a Large Civilization. Maybe you have to unlock the Crafting Table later?"
Without a Crafting Table, he couldn't make Mushroom Soup, so Park Sam-chang had no choice but to give up.
He turned his attention to the Sky Island.
"When food is scarce, the best thing to do is conserve your energy. What's that Gu Yu doing?"
"Chopping down a tree? Is he kidding?"
At a glance, Park Sam-chang couldn't help bursting into laughter.
If he left the tree standing, there was a chance it might drop a few apples. If he chopped it down now, wouldn't he starve later?
"Typical young guy. He has no idea how to play Block Civilization!"
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