The matter was already right in front of him, and he couldn't just ignore it. He had to take action to solve these problems, otherwise his heart would be shrouded in unease.
Therefore, traveling together with Stephen and trying to solve the problems that Stephen said the world was currently facing, for Notch, it was merely to remove the unease in his heart.
Everything he was doing now was all for the sake of seeking inner peace.
And that explains why Notch didn't understand this world at all.
Because he never wanted to understand it in the first place.
It was precisely because Xu Yuan saw through this that he became completely disappointed in Notch.
On the surface, Notch spoke in such a dignified and righteous tone, saying he had fulfilled his duty as the game's creator, saying he wanted to solve the problems of this world.
But in truth, he was doing it all for himself.
Xu Yuan couldn't understand why the Notch standing before him would be such a person, or rather, Xu Yuan had always believed Notch shouldn't be such a person.
Rookie's insight was beyond that of ordinary people; his subconscious judgment would never be wrong.
Even Rookie himself admitted that Notch truly loved this game world. That meant Notch really did love it deeply.
Perhaps the Notch standing here now had some problems, perhaps because of the Void, or maybe because of something else.
He was trapped. He hadn't completely awakened yet.
So even though Xu Yuan was disappointed in the Notch before him, he still didn't give up. Instead, he struck directly at the root of the problem, trying to wake him up.
At that moment, seeing Xu Yuan's cold eyes and hearing his words, Notch felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave; his whole body was covered in chills.
He had been seen through by Xu Yuan.
He hadn't noticed his own problem before, it wasn't until that conversation with Stephen that he slowly sorted out his thoughts.
It took him a long time to recognize himself, to see through himself.
But what he didn't expect was that after merely one meeting with Xu Yuan, just a few sentences, Xu Yuan had already seen right through him.
Xu Yuan was right, he had indeed only been acting out of pressure from his identity as the game's creator, feeling that he had to do something.
But later, after realizing that problem, he truly did change.
He had been trying to understand this world, but unfortunately, since he was now in the Trial Grounds, there was no way for him to access comprehensive information.
He had thought that after leaving the Trial Grounds, he would then explore the game world more deeply.
So once he had figured things out, he had asked Stephen to tell him more about this game world.
And right after that, he met Xu Yuan. He really hadn't had time yet to properly understand the world.
But he genuinely wanted to solve the problems that Stephen had mentioned.
He felt these two things didn't conflict, which was why he was in such a hurry to talk with Xu Yuan.
And that led to the situation now.
At this moment, Notch had completely caught up with Xu Yuan's train of thought.
Xu Yuan's meaning was simple, he wanted Notch to sort out his thoughts properly, understand the world thoroughly first, and then come to talk to him again.
Thinking this, Notch looked at Xu Yuan with a firm gaze and said, "I understand now."
"I really do need some time… before that, I won't bother you."
"I'm looking forward to our next conversation."
Seeing the firm look in Notch's eyes, so serious it almost looked like he was about to join a party, Xu Yuan finally felt at ease. He knew Notch had truly figured things out.
As long as Notch could fully and sincerely step into the role of the game's creator, then all problems would naturally resolve themselves, and everything would return to the right path.
Xu Yuan really hadn't expected his first "failure" would actually come because of Notch.
He had imagined before that he might hit some obstacles when dealing with Notch, but he had never thought it would be under such special circumstances.
What surprised him even more was that upon their very first meeting, he had actually ended up scolding Notch.
After all, Xu Yuan had never spoken so harshly to anyone before.
The main reason was that Notch now was completely different from what he had imagined, totally beyond his expectations.
Xu Yuan's expectations for Notch weren't even that high. He just hoped Notch would at least resemble what a normal game creator should be like.
But seeing Notch fail to meet even the most basic standard, Xu Yuan couldn't help but feel a kind of "hate for iron not becoming steel."
Despite the extremely bumpy process, it had turned out well in the end. Xu Yuan's painstaking effort wasn't in vain after all.
He gave Notch a deep look, nodded once, and said "Good," before turning and leaving.
After watching Xu Yuan leave, Notch finally let out a long breath. He dropped down onto the grass block behind him, leaning back as his whole body relaxed.
Xu Yuan's gaze just now, and the overwhelming pressure in his words, had nearly made it hard for Notch to breathe.
As someone in a high position, Notch had incredible self-control; he could stay calm in any situation.
However, when standing face-to-face with Xu Yuan, the other's presence completely suffocated him.
In that moment, he felt like a kid who had done something wrong, being scolded by a "parent," with absolutely no room to talk back.
All he could do was lower his head, admit fault, and promise to do better.
But now that Notch had finally relaxed, he suddenly realized something didn't seem quite right.
"Wait a second…" he muttered.
"I'm the creator of this game!"
"And I actually got scolded by him??!!!"
Notch stared wide-eyed, his face full of helplessness and grievance.
The worst part was, he couldn't even vent.
For one, there was no one to talk to about it. And second, everything Xu Yuan said had been true.
He could only swallow it down quietly.
Thinking of that, Notch felt like his heart was wrapped in dark clouds. His whole body went limp, and he slumped weakly to the ground.
Even though he felt terribly wronged, his mind couldn't help but replay Xu Yuan's earlier questions, "Do you understand this world?"
"Do you understand the thoughts of all living beings in this world?"
"Do you know what kind of crisis this world is about to face?"
"Do you know what the greatest problem facing this world is?"
For these questions, Notch knew very well, the answer to the first one was clearly no.
He indeed lacked deep understanding of this world, and that was exactly what he needed to work on.
As for the second question, Notch believed he could answer that one.
Although he hadn't directly interacted with many of the world's beings, through talking with Stephen and through observation, he believed he already grasped most of their traits.
The beings of this world were relatively simple-minded; their thinking wasn't as complex and changeable as that of the players.
They wanted peace and quiet. They didn't want to lose more friends or homes. Their only wish was to live peacefully in this game world.
Notch was certain, that should be the true thought of most beings.
The ones that really stumped Notch were the third and fourth questions.
He roughly understood that Xu Yuan's last two questions referred to the existence of the Void.
Even though Notch had overcome his inner fears and was now able to face this game world, he still felt some dread toward the Void.
After all, the incident that had almost cost him his life was caused by that vast, boundless, and mysterious Void.
He didn't know what was in there. To him, it was a life-threatening, unknown terror.
But after engaging with the game again, Notch had more or less heard about the rumors of the Void.
Although he didn't know much about it, he did know that there were conscious entities existing inside it.
These entities possessed great power, they could attach themselves to monsters, making them stronger.
Notch didn't know exactly how those entities formed, but he didn't think they were all that troublesome.
In his view, the Void's conscious entities had already been "materialized."
Before, the Void had been like a kind of Chinese horror to him, full of the unknown and mystery.
That feeling of "It's coming? No, it's not? Maybe it is? Maybe it's not?", that vague, unseen fear that lingered around all the time.
But now, the Void was completely different.
To Notch, the Void now felt more like Western horror, simple and brutal. It was no longer that elusive unknown terror; it was right there in front of you.
Now the Void was like, "It's here! Everyone's dead already!", so straightforward it was almost crude.
He knew very clearly that there were conscious entities in the Void and what they were doing. To him, those entities were no different in essence from Xu Yuan and his followers.
They were all conscious beings born from this world, some just had physical forms, some didn't.
He firmly believed that as long as one used strong enough force, all problems could be easily solved.
After all, though the Void existed in the form of conscious entities now, it was still a tangible reality, not some unfathomable mystery.
Thus, Notch never believed the Void's existence could have that huge of an impact on the game world.
As the saying goes, all fear comes from lack of strength, and Notch was very confident in his own "firepower."
However, when he heard Xu Yuan's questions, Notch suddenly realized that things were far more complicated than he had imagined.
If it were as simple as suppressing things with "firepower," Xu Yuan surely wouldn't have paid any attention to the Void.
The existence of the Void was, without a doubt, something that must not be underestimated.
Thinking this, Notch took a deep breath and murmured to himself, "Looks like I'll have to add the Void to my 'crash course' list too…"
Actually, Notch wasn't the kind of person who lacked responsibility or courage. If he truly were that type, he could have kept running away forever.
His behavior was, in fact, understandable. After all, this game world had once nearly cost him his life.
This was a life-or-death matter. Even if he had decided to face it again, his instincts still told him to avoid getting too deeply involved with it, that was simply a human reaction.
But now, Notch had finally crossed that mental barrier completely.
After Xu Yuan left, Notch spent about half an hour organizing his thoughts before preparing to regroup with Stephen.
When he glanced at the time, he realized it was almost the Trial Grounds' pause period.
Seeing that, Notch decided to drop the idea of finding Stephen.
"When the time comes, I'll just have Rookie compile the data… He definitely understands this game world far better than I do…"
After sorting out in his mind the things he wanted to learn, Notch closed his eyes to rest.
About ten minutes later, the Trial Grounds' once-every-twelve-hours pause period arrived.
When Notch was teleported to the waiting room, he immediately logged off.
As soon as he woke up inside the game pod, a huge face appeared right in front of him.
Startled out of his wits, Notch instinctively swung his hand, smack!, and slapped the face.
"What the hell??? How are you alive???!!!"
Rookie's startled scream rang out, and only then did Notch come back to his senses as if waking from a dream.
When he had opened his eyes just now, he saw a massive face right in front of him. Because of the lighting, he couldn't see who it was, only felt an overwhelming sense of pressure closing in.
Out of pure reflex, he had slapped the person without thinking.
Only then did he realize, the one who had leaned right up to his face was Rookie.