In certain versions of the game, some mushrooms cannot be eaten directly.
You must cook mushroom soup at a crafting table for it to become food.
But in the Cube Civilization, this isn't an issue; mushrooms can be eaten directly.
However, the saturation they provide is extremely limited, restoring only one hunger bar per mushroom.
Additionally, it must be the non-toxic brown mushroom. Red mushrooms, if eaten without cooking, don't restore saturation but cause poisoning and health loss.
After casually eating two mushrooms to fill his stomach, Soren Park sat on a mushroom block.
The rules informed him that he had to upgrade his chunk. He knew very well that he had to become strong to resist the nighttime monsters.
But the island's resources made him feel powerless.
There were only mushrooms. Even when blocks were broken, they turned into mushrooms, making it impossible to build a bridge to the outside.
This led to Soren Park being unable to do anything other than sit down and rest.
Regarding this, he appeared very calm.
While civilization was dangerous, it couldn't be all dead ends; there would surely be a glimmer of hope.
Before the opportunity arrived, he only needed to conserve his energy!
Soren Park wasn't the only one thinking this.
Most other players had suffered similar setbacks and now chose to stay put.
The Pumpkin House.
"Come on, Jett, let's turn these pumpkins into pumpkin pies!"
Making the first choice had allowed Mark to pick the island with the most abundant resources.
Not only did it have pumpkins, chickens, and sugar cane—materials needed for pumpkin pie—
But there were also cobblestone, lava, water sources, and various other items.
All they needed were eggs and pumpkins, then adding the sugar processed from sugar cane, and a pumpkin pie was finished.
"Thank God!"
As the sweet taste exploded in his mouth, Jett was glad he knew how to make pumpkin pie and sugar.
After getting full, they fell into the same problem as Soren Park.
Without a crafting table, they couldn't continue developing.
"I believe the nighttime monsters will be the first wave of tests. For now, we should maintain our stamina and food!"
A large-scale civilization couldn't be that simple; Jett made the judgment of a veteran player.
While pumpkin pie was delicious, sugar cane and eggs were relatively scarce. To get more food in a short time, they needed another way.
So, Jett turned his gaze toward the chickens on the island.
Thanks to the game's block logic, animals here had no gender; only two were needed to breed infinitely.
There were five in total. Jett killed three of them, obtaining feathers and raw chicken.
"Chickens are very precious creatures; their feathers can be used to make arrows."
Putting away the feathers, he looked at the furnace that came with the dirt house.
Cooked meat usually provides more saturation than raw meat, and the furnace is a tool that can cook food.
"We need fuel to start a fire. Do we have wood or coal on our island?"
Scanning the area, Mark's eyes lit up.
There was no coal, but next to the dirt house stood the only half-tree trunk on the island!
Trading useless wood for edible chicken—what a steal!
Without a second thought, Mark went forward, broke it down, and put it into the furnace. A faint warmth radiated from it.
Soon, the log was consumed, and three pieces of cooked chicken were obtained.
"It would be even better if we had a crafting table, but even so, our progress is still far ahead of the others!"
Looking at the chunk score, there was a line of small text below.
[CURRENT CHUNK COMPREHENSIVE SCORE: 3 (MICRO-CHUNK)]
[PLAYER RANKING: 1]
Among all players, they had the highest initial score and the highest ranking!
Mark was very happy.
On the first day of entering the island, with a full hunger bar and three pieces of cooked chicken and four pumpkin pies in his backpack!
Who else could achieve this!
They just needed to wait for the night, and they could easily crush the zombie monsters.
This was the pressure of a veteran player!
Outside the game, the audience of the Freedom Nation went wild.
"It looks like the championship will be ours again!"
"Trading wood for chicken? They're making a killing!"
"A chunk score of three points on the first day? Who can compete? Who can challenge them!"
"Freedom Nation is forever invincible!"
"God bless you, Mark, Jett, keep going!"
This was a large-scale civilization; the rewards would undoubtedly be unparalleled.
The current situation was looking good. Once they won the championship, Freedom Nation's strength would take a massive step forward!
Unlike the Freedom Nation, the situation on the Nine Provinces' side seemed incredibly dejected.
"Freedom Nation already has three points?"
"It's only the first day—are they using cheats?"
"Storing that much food makes them indeed the strongest players right now."
"Is what Jett said true? Is the night the real test?"
"I can't imagine the difficulty of monsters in a large-scale civilization!"
The footage was connected to various devices, and the audience could check the status of each country's players at any time.
Jett's speculation was soon heard by everyone.
In the Nine Provinces Research Institute, researchers reported their findings one by one.
"Headmaster, after research, we believe the judgment of the Freedom Nation players is highly likely."
"Nightfall is the first wave of tests for this civilization!"
Looking at the screen, Headmaster Quill sighed.
With the difficulty increase, the monsters would definitely be stronger.
In such a narrow space on the Sky Island, it would be difficult to engage in battle!
"Headmaster Quill, regardless of whether monsters descend, I will fight until the last moment!"
Fries stood ready, looking seriously at the screen.
He hoped Galen Yu would survive, but given the current situation.
They had to always be prepared for the worst!
Sky Island.
Saplings were planted evenly around the island.
Galen Yu observed the surroundings from the edge.
Besides Soren Park's mushroom island, there were many other floating islands outside.
Because of the distance, it was impossible to tell for now if there were other players or what resources existed.
Development was the most important thing in the early stages.
Especially with competitors around, one couldn't just lie down and do nothing.
Taking out the lava and ice, Galen Yu decided to make the most important thing for early Skyblock survival.
First, he used wood planks to make a stair, then dug out eight blocks of dirt.
He marked out a suitable area on the ground, placing the lava inside first and partitioning it with dirt.
Then he placed the stair on the left and broke the ice block into water.
In the distance, Soren Park noticed Galen Yu's actions.
Sitting on a block, he showed a look of disdain.
'Food is already scarce, yet instead of resting well, he's actually wasting stamina?'
'Foolish behavior!'
Without stamina, how could he survive the night!
'Even if a bucket of water isn't much, it can do many things. Is he just wasting it like that?'
'What an idiot, I have no idea what he's doing!'
'Wooden stairs? He thinks he knows a lot, but does he think that can stop lava?'
'Maybe he doesn't want to live anymore and is jumping into the lava to commit suicide!'
'Once the lava overflows, let's see how he survives!'
Following Soren Park's perspective, countless mocking voices appeared.
From the perspective of the other players, everyone was resting and recuperating; only Galen Yu was busy.
In their eyes, it was simply beyond foolish!
"Why would he put lava on the island?"
Headmaster Quill frowned, equally puzzled.
Scorchingly hot lava would destroy everything; touching it could take a player's life at any time.
After research by experts, this resource was found to have no value at all, only serving to increase the game's difficulty.
Galen Yu's action could be said to be seeking his own death!
"Not right!"
Fries was the first to notice something amiss and pointed at the screen with a cry of alarm.
"It's stone!"