In some versions of the game, mushrooms couldn't be eaten raw.
They had to be cooked into Mushroom Soup at a Crafting Table before they could be eaten.
But Block Civilization wasn't affected by that rule. Mushrooms could be eaten raw here.
They only restored a very small amount of hunger, though—one point per mushroom.
And only the brown mushrooms, which were nontoxic, would do. Eating red mushrooms without cooking them wouldn't restore hunger; instead, they'd cause poisoning and drain health.
After eating a couple of mushrooms to fill his stomach, Park Sam-chang sat on a mushroom block.
The rules had told him that he needed to upgrade his block. He knew perfectly well that he had to strengthen himself to withstand the monsters at night.
But the island's resources left him feeling powerless.
There were only mushrooms. Even when he broke a block, it turned into a mushroom, so he had no way to build a foothold and reach the outside.
That left Park Sam-chang with nothing to do but sit and rest.
He remained remarkably calm about it.
Civilization was certainly dangerous, but there couldn't be nothing but dead ends. There had to be some glimmer of hope.
Until an opportunity came along, all he had to do was rest and conserve his strength!
Park Sam-chang wasn't the only one thinking that way.
Most of the other contestants had suffered similar setbacks and were choosing to wait and see.
Pumpkin House.
"Come on, Jett. Let's turn these pumpkins into pumpkin pies!"
By making the first choice, Mark had landed on the island with the richest resources.
It had not only pumpkins, chickens, and sugarcane—the ingredients needed to make pumpkin pie—
but also a variety of other resources, including cobblestone, lava, and water.
All they needed were eggs and pumpkins, then they could add sugar made from the sugarcane, and a pumpkin pie would be ready.
"Thank God!"
The sweet flavor burst across Jett's tongue. He was glad he knew how to make pumpkin pie and sugar.
Once they had filled their stomachs, they ran into the same problem as Park Sam-chang.
Without a Crafting Table, they couldn't keep developing.
"I think the monsters at night will be our first real test. For now, we should conserve our strength and food!"
A Large Civilization couldn't be that simple. Jett made his assessment as a Veteran Player.
Pumpkin pie was delicious, but sugarcane and eggs were scarce. If they wanted to get more food quickly, they'd need another way.
So Jett turned his attention to the chickens on the island.
Thanks to the nature of blocks, the animals here had no gender. Just two would be enough to breed an unlimited number.
There were five chickens in total. Jett killed three of them and collected feathers and Raw Chicken Meat.
"Chickens are very valuable creatures. Their feathers can be used to make arrows."
After putting away the feathers, he looked at the furnace built into the dirt house.
Cooked meat usually restored more hunger than raw meat. A furnace was an item that could cook food.
"To start a fire, we need fuel. Do we have any wood or coal on the island?"
Mark looked around, and his eyes lit up.
There was no coal, but beside the dirt house stood the island's only tree, cut off halfway!
Useless wood in exchange for edible chicken meat. What a deal!
Without a second thought, Mark went over, broke off the wood, and put it in the furnace. A faint warmth came from within.
Before long, the logs were used up, and they had three pieces of Cooked Chicken Meat.
"It'd be even better if we had a Crafting Table, but even so, we're still far ahead of everyone else!"
He looked at the Block Score. A line of small text appeared beneath it.
[Current Block Score: 3 (Micro Block)]
[Player Rank: 1]
They had the highest starting score and the highest rank of all the contestants!
Mark was delighted.
On their first day on the island, their hunger bars were full, and they still had three pieces of Cooked Chicken Meat and four pumpkin pies in their inventory!
Who else could do that?
All they had to do was wait until nightfall, and they'd easily crush the zombies.
That was the pressure a Veteran Player brought!
Outside the game, the audience in the Free Nation went wild.
"Looks like the champion will be ours again!"
"Wood for chicken meat? What a steal!"
"Three points on the very first day! Who can match them? Who can stand against them?"
"The Free Nation will always be invincible!"
"God bless you, Mark and Jett! Keep it up!"
This was a Large Civilization. The rewards were bound to be unbelievably generous.
Things were looking up. Once they won the championship, the Free Nation's strength would take a huge leap forward!
Unlike the Free Nation, the atmosphere in Kyushu was utterly gloomy.
"The Free Nation already has three points?"
"It's only the first day. Did they cheat?"
"They've stockpiled so much food. They really are among the strongest contestants right now."
"Was Jett right? Is nighttime the real test?"
"I can't even imagine how difficult the monsters in a Large Civilization will be!"
The screens were connected to various devices, allowing the audience to check on contestants from any country at any time.
Jett's prediction was soon heard by everyone.
At the Kyushu Research Institute, the researchers submitted their findings to their superiors.
"Dean, based on our research, we believe the Free Nation contestant's prediction is very likely to come true."
"Nighttime will be the first test of the civilization!"
Watching the screen, Dean Qi sighed.
Park Sam-chang had a point. A Crafting Table was important, but without resources, it was as useless as scrap paper.
With the difficulty increased, the monsters would surely be stronger.
The Sky Island was so cramped that there'd be no room to fight!
"Dean Qi, whether or not the monsters appear, I'll fight to the very end!"
Fries stood on high alert, staring intently at the screen.
He desperately hoped Gu Yu would survive, but given the current situation—
they had to be prepared for the worst!
Sky Island.
Saplings had been planted evenly around the Sky Island.
Gu Yu watched the surroundings from the edge.
Aside from Park Sam-chang's Mushroom Island, there were many other floating islands beyond it.
They were too far away to tell whether any players were there or what resources they had.
Development was most important in the early stages.
Especially when there were rivals around. He couldn't just lie back and do nothing.
Gu Yu took out the lava and ice, deciding to make one of the most important things for the early stages of Sky Island Survival.
First, he used planks to make a staircase, then dug out eight blocks of dirt.
He marked out a suitable spot on the ground, placed the lava inside, and used dirt to contain it.
Then he put the staircase on the left and broke the ice into water.
Park Sam-chang, in the distance, noticed what Gu Yu was doing.
Sitting on a block, he looked on with disdain.
"He's already short on food, yet instead of resting, he's wasting his strength?"
"Idiot behavior!"
How could he survive the night without any strength?
"Even if it's only one bucket of water, he could do so much with it. And he's just wasting it?"
"Fool. I have no idea what he's doing!"
"A wooden staircase? He knows a few things, but does he think that can hold back lava?"
"Is he trying to kill himself? Jumping into the lava to commit suicide?"
"When the lava spills over, let's see how he survives!"
Following Park Sam-chang's perspective, countless mocking voices rang out.
From the perspective of the other contestants, everyone was resting and recovering, while Gu Yu was the only one hard at work.
To them, his actions were downright foolish!
"Why would he put lava on the island?"
Dean Qi frowned, equally perplexed.
The scorching lava would destroy everything. A single touch could take a player's life at any moment.
After the experts had studied it, they'd found no value in this resource. It only made the game more difficult.
Gu Yu was practically asking for death!
"Wait!"
Fries was the first to realize something was off. He pointed at the screen and cried out.
"It's stone!"
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