Skyblock.
Gradually familiarizing himself with the surroundings, Lexon tentatively reached out his hand toward the ground.
Touching the grass, a 'crunch' sound was heard.
The grass turned into scattered debris, and the block became an empty space.
If he continued to strike downward, he could see cracks appear on the grass block on the ground, deepening with each hit.
Swoosh!
A grass block was broken and became a neat, shrunken-down miniature model.
Picking it up automatically placed it in his inventory. He had obtained one grass block.
Other than his hands getting a bit dirty, everything was identical to the game!
'Upgrading the block isn't just about simple expansion. Besides size, quality is equally important for the score.'
Having also seen the block score, Lexon analyzed.
For many people, just surviving on a skyblock with a single tree was difficult, let alone expanding.
It was an impossible task.
However, skyblock gameplay was inherently about expanding territory. The rules suited him perfectly.
After breaking the dirt, Lexon turned his gaze to the bonus chest.
One bucket of lava and one block of ice. A very classic start.
He took them out and temporarily placed them in his inventory.
"To get rich, first chop trees!"
A great city is built one brick at a time. One tree was enough to start development!
As for Sam chang nearby, Lexon had already spotted him.
The Mushroom Island, aside from some mushrooms, had no value. No need to pay it much attention.
He struck the tree trunk with both hands. The cracks grew larger, and it soon shattered into small blocks that were absorbed into his inventory.
It took longer than in the game. Lexon estimated it took about half a minute to get one log.
Five logs, all obtainable in two and a half minutes.
He then broke the leaves. The entire tree yielded a total of five logs, three saplings, and three apples.
Trees beget trees. These saplings were the materials Lexon needed to develop.
He performed all this with practiced ease, while outside the arena...
Many viewers from other countries flooded the bullet comments.
"This is your player who 'understands the game the best'? He's nothing special!"
"As his only source of food, he actually chopped it down?"
"This is hilarious! Without the tree, is he going to survive by eating grass later?"
"He couldn't be thinking of getting resources by planting trees, could he!"
"Stupid! Idiot!"
In everyone's eyes, the only thing Lexon could rely on was this one tree.
Chopping it down was undoubtedly a suicidal act!
"Sigh!"
In the research institute, Director kay closed his eyes in despair.
Trees begetting trees was indeed the way to break out of a skyblock, but the key problem was...
The growth cycle of a tree was too long!
Although it wasn't like in reality, requiring decades or centuries, and it would 'pop' from a small sapling to a full log tree very quickly...
That still required several days, or even ten-plus days.
Could three apples last for ten days?
"Based on my experience, the Cube Civilization will quantify a person's physical data. Assuming a full saturation bar of ten segments..."
"One apple can restore two segments. Three apples can restore six segments."
Saturation would naturally deplete over time. Once it was completely gone, health points would begin to drop.
Health was also ten segments. When it dropped to the third segment, the player would enter a weakened state, and their movement and combat would be hindered.
If they still didn't eat by then, their last half-heart of health would slowly tick away, and they would die completely.
"Those who die will not be revived. Three apples can last four days at most, and that's not even counting damage from monsters!"
Fries's expression was also grim.
In his view, Lexon's method was akin to draining the pond to get the fish.
If he *hadn't* chopped the tree, maybe it would have produced a few more apples, allowing him to last a few more days.
"We can't blame him either. Our luck is just too bad."
Sighing and shaking his head, Fries knew.
A rookie, chosen sixteenth... the outcome was already set.
Even if he wasn't a rookie, without a good start, it would be very difficult to advance and leave with a high rating.
Just as the scene fell into silence, Director kay's eyes snapped open, as if he had seen something incredible.
His finger trembled as he pointed at the screen in the sky.
"Is that... a crafting table?"
"Lexon made a crafting table!"
...
'Logs, planks, and then a crafting table.'
He opened his inventory.
A panel appeared. Inside, he could see his character stats, inventory items, and in the top-left corner, the four-slot crafting grid.
Placing one log inside naturally broke it down into four wooden planks.
Then, arranging four wooden planks in a square, the crafting table was complete.
The process was incredibly fluid. Within a breath, the crafting table was in Lexon's hands.
This was the first time he had seen such a realistic crafting table with his own eyes.
It was similar to the one in the game, brownish-yellow all over. On top were the nine small squares, and below were the hammer and saw symbolizing work.
When he needed to use it, he just had to place items in the nine slots on top to craft.
He casually placed the crafting table down, then broke down more planks into sticks and crafted a wooden pickaxe.
This reaction, practically etched into his instincts, shocked all the viewers.
"With a one-tree start, where did the crafting table come from?"
"There was no chest, nothing else at all!"
"Which means, Lexon crafted it by hand?"
"Huh? Isn't that thing given by the Cube Civilization? You can make it yourself?"
"What are the raw materials? Wood?"
"Unbelievable!"
As everyone knew.
Each player came with a four-slot crafting grid, but most key items required nine slots.
Only a crafting table could accomplish the corresponding manufacturing.
In previous civilizations, either a crafting table wasn't needed, or it was already in a village, so there was no need to specifically look for one.
As a result, they had gradually forgotten this key item, and even less, no one had researched how to make it.
It was only Lexon's action of taking one out that reminded them.
Most starting blocks did *not* have a crafting table!
Among the selected players, Lexon was very likely the only one!
"What? A crafting table!"
The most shocked of all was none other than Sam chang.
He was just sulking about not having a crafting table to make mushroom stew, and in the blink of an eye, this item was in Lexon's hands?
As a veteran player, he knew very well.
The crafting table was one of the most important items in the game!
All raw materials needed to be processed by a crafting table. The four slots players came with seemed like a lot, but in reality, their uses were extremely limited.
You could say that without a crafting table, you couldn't develop any further.
"This item is extremely important. It absolutely cannot be crafted!"
"It must have come with the block! Didn't he just open a chest? That's right, it must be!"
After a brief daze, Sam chang quickly came to his senses.
Because the skyblock's resources were limited, it made perfect sense to be rewarded with an extra crafting table in the inventory!
Following Sam chang's line of thought, the Stick Nation audience members all agreed.
"Indeed, I've never seen anyone craft a crafting table!"
"A few pieces of wood are worthless. How could they have such a major function!"
"Even if he was rewarded with an extra crafting table, it's useless for Lexon!"
"He's a novice. How many tool blueprints could he possibly know?"
"So what if he knows a few? With just a few sticks of wood, can he turn the whole sky upside down?"
"Exactly! Such a good item is completely wasted. It would be better to give it to our Sam-chang-imnida!"
"It's a pity there are no blocks, or that crafting table would be ours right now!"
"Hearing the name of our Great Stick Nation, wouldn't Jiuzhou be scared shitless?"
"Hahahaha!"
After the brief shock, everyone accepted Sam chang's explanation.
On a resource-starved skyblock, so what if he had a crafting table?
Could one tree really turn the tides? Victory would belong to them in the end!