Steve's Hand, National Fortune Reward!

With supplies scarce for everyone on the first day, could someone really surpass them?

"Kyushu? Aren't they the most resource-starved island in the sky?"

The longer Mark watched, the more incredulous he became.

When choosing their starting locations, he had seen the sixty-sixth area: an island in the sky made up of Grass Blocks.

Its only real advantage was a single intact tree.

A Block Score of even 1 would have been a struggle. How had they managed to overtake everyone in such a short time?

"We've already stockpiled five pumpkin pies. What resources could Kyushu possibly have that compare?"

A whole five pumpkin pies!

Rationed carefully, they could keep someone going for ten days. What an impressive stockpile.

How could anyone surpass them?

Soon, another announcement rang out.

[Congratulations to Kyushu player Gu Yu for building an innovative tool!]

[Block Score increased by 3!]

[As the first creator, you have triggered a special reward: Steve's Hand!]

[National Fortune Reward: The speed at which Kyushu Nation builds any product has increased by 20%!]

The moment the announcement sounded,

workers engaged in production throughout Kyushu suddenly felt their hands move with extraordinary ease.

A task that used to take ten minutes could now be completed in eight.

Production efficiency had soared!

Even mechanized production seemed to have hit an accelerator, its movements becoming faster and more precise.

"National Fortune Reward? Gu Yu triggered a National Fortune Reward!"

"Can't those only be triggered at the end of a round? This is incredible!"

"A new tool—he built a new tool this fast?!"

"And the game recognized it as a new tool. How powerful must it be?"

"His score jumped straight to eight!"

If one person saved two minutes, a hundred people saved two hundred.

And Kyushu had far more than a hundred million people!

With the bonus points, Gu Yu's score reached 8, making him the undisputed first-place player.

His score was more than double that of second-place Free Nation!

Dean Qi grinned even more broadly.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Three civilizations had passed since the last time they triggered a National Fortune Reward.

Watching other nations grow stronger while his own could only suffer one punishment after another had left Dean Qi utterly frustrated.

Now, the National Fortune Reward had finally arrived!

"The Stone Generator really is a tool no one's ever seen before, but..."

After his excitement came worry. Fries looked up anxiously.

He had cleared civilizations and obtained civilization rewards, and so had others.

If the Stone Generator's principles were passed on, their advantage would be gone.

Worse, it might benefit islands that lacked stone!

After all, resources were extremely scarce in the sky islands. If others made Stone Generators too, they would have one more resource than Gu Yu forever!

Samurai Nation.

"Excellent! Those people from Kyushu think they've grasped the truth, but they're really just making a wedding dress for us!"

"Contact Yamamoto-kun at once! His island is short on stone. Tell him how to make a Stone Generator!"

Yamamoto Rokuko was on Carrot Mountain, where there was plenty of carrot water, but the ground was all Grass Blocks. There was no stone to build defensive structures.

With stone, his Block Score would surely rise dramatically!

Sato Taishi pulled out a square sign and hurriedly wrote down the instructions for making a Stone Generator.

A sign could record written messages and send them to Block Civilization.

Having watched Gu Yu build the Stone Generator from start to finish, he quickly wrote down its design and principles and sent them over.

Yamamoto Rokuko was still staring in a daze at the announcement when a sign appeared before him.

[Yamamoto-kun, the new tool is called a Stone Generator. It can produce an unlimited supply of cobblestone using lava and water...]

Lava, a bucket, and water—Yamamoto Rokuko had all of them on his island!

"Yamamoto-kun was the fourth to choose, so he has plenty of resources too!"

"We have lava and buckets as well. We can absolutely reproduce the Stone Generator!"

"Build a stone house too, and who could hurt Yamamoto-kun then?"

"We can make stone pickaxes and Stone Swords now!"

It would boost their resources and their Block Score—a two-for-one deal!

Kyushu's viewers reacted at once.

"Damn it, they're stealing this too?"

"That's disgusting. I'm gonna puke!"

"Hahaha, who says we can't make one? We're gonna annoy you Kyushu folks!"

"First to draw a Stone Sword—Yamamoto-kun, you're the hero who'll save us!"

"Those ridiculous Kyushu people got lucky and made a Stone Generator. So what?"

"Damn, if I were in Block Civilization, you'd be the first one I'd take out!"

Even through the screen, they could imagine the revolting faces of the people from Samurai Nation.

Countless viewers clenched their fists, helpless to do anything.

There was no rule against making one, and Yamamoto Rokuko happened to have the resources and a sign.

Just as everyone sighed and prepared to watch Samurai Nation's score surge,

Whoosh!

Yamamoto Rokuko followed the same steps as Gu Yu. But when he poured in the water, he didn't get an endlessly producing Stone Generator.

Instead, he got a pitch-black stone, veined with mysterious patterns and incredibly hard.

He smashed his hand against it, but the stone didn't break. Yamamoto Rokuko's hand hurt terribly instead.

"Where's the cobblestone? What is this?"

[As the first creator, Kyushu Nation has exclusive rights to the new tool!]

[Within this civilization, players from other nations cannot use Stone Generators for ten days!]

[In other civilizations, Kyushu Nation will have three days of early access to the Stone Generator. Players from other nations will be allowed to use it after three days!]

The arena announcement rang out again.

This time, it spelled things out clearly: only Gu Yu could use the new tool!

"The Stone Generator doesn't work?!"

Sato Taishi's eyes widened, his voice trembling.

The sign had been a hard-won civilization reward, and he only had one.

He'd used it in a hurry to give Yamamoto Rokuko an advantage, and now he was being told it was useless?

Had he really wasted such an important item?!

"Pfft, that's hilarious!"

"Laughter never disappears. It just moved over to my face."

"I heard there was a hero who drew a Stone Sword. Is that true?"

"Is that black stone the Stone Sword? How come it won't even break when he hits it?"

"Actually, if he can break that black stone, he'll definitely be a hero!"

"You're the meanest one here. That's the toughest obsidian—he'd be a legend if he could break it with his bare hands!"

"Fine, I'll say it. Yamamoto, hurry up and break your hand!"

"Hahahahaha!"

The announcement made Kyushu's viewers laugh again.

No one had known that the first person to create a new tool would be protected.

After seeing what happened to Samurai Nation, everyone else with the same idea dropped it immediately—and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness for Yamamoto Rokuko. Otherwise, we'd have wasted our items!"

It was only stone. Some islands were short on it, but even without it, they wouldn't be affected too badly.

Once they confirmed that the Stone Generator wouldn't work, the nations stopped trying.

On Carrot Mountain, Yamamoto Rokuko's face twisted with pain and anger.

"Damn that announcement! Why didn't it show up sooner?!"

His hand still throbbed from hitting the obsidian.

The stone was far too hard!

"Damn it!"

Yamamoto Rokuko spat and was about to curse when a line of small text appeared before him, visible only to him.

[*** Gate, mysterious ** powerful * under *, **** fortress *** key.]