Rubbing his eyes, Jett checked once more.
"That's right, exactly one hundred zombies. How is this possible?"
They had worked so hard for so long and only killed fewer than forty zombies, only regaining first place after surpassing the Samurai Nation thanks to extra points from special monsters.
What did the Nine Provinces have?
If he remembered correctly, by the time it was the Nine Provinces' turn to choose, all the resource-rich starts had been taken.
They had chosen the Sky Island start!
With just a single tree, how could they possibly compete with them?
"In addition to a hundred zombies, there are over a dozen skeletons and five special monsters."
"It's hard to believe!"
Taking a sharp breath, Mark was highly skeptical.
Even with ample resources, the two of them had to be extremely cautious when dealing with special monsters.
How could one person kill five of them on the very first day?
He couldn't wrap his head around it!
Elsewhere, Kira Oakmoor finished the last of his food and retreated to his room.
He had done all he could; now, he only needed to wait for dawn.
Watching the rankings quietly, he saw that without him taking further action, the Freedom Nation quickly overtook them.
Kira Oakmoor had anticipated this result and wasn't surprised.
"If I had chosen Pumpkin Island, first place would definitely be ours!"
With food to complement his SlashBlade, he was confident he could kill hundreds of zombies in a single night!
Now, he could only settle for second place.
"The Indus Kingdom in third place is also short on food, so there shouldn't be many changes in the remaining time."
"Second place is secure!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, Kira Oakmoor found himself knocked off the second-place throne.
The words 'Nine Provinces' were exceptionally eye-catching, rising at an incredible speed.
[NINE PROVINCES NATION KILLED ZOMBIE*1!]
[NINE PROVINCES NATION KILLED ZOMBIE*1!]
[NINE PROVINCES NATION KILLED SKELETON*1!]
[NINE PROVINCES NATION KILLED SPECIAL MONSTER...]
[FIRST PLACE: NINE PROVINCES NATION, KILLED ZOMBIES*113, KILLED SKELETONS*16, KILLED SPECIAL MONSTERS*6]
Bang!
He watched helplessly as Galen Yu went from unranked to gaining hundreds of kills in an instant.
Kira Oakmoor was even more shocked than Mark.
Staring intently at the rankings, several zombies died in the blink of an eye.
Even with the SlashBlade active, he couldn't kill that fast!
How could a newcomer like Galen Yu possess a weapon stronger than the SlashBlade!
"It's so ridiculous, it's like the zombies are just standing there waiting to die!"
Unable to see the situation on the Sky Island, Kira Oakmoor remained completely baffled.
However, through the screen displays, the global audience knew exactly what was happening.
The monsters really were just standing there waiting for Galen Yu to kill them!
The audience across all screens erupted!
"What on earth did Galen Yu do?"
"Why do our players have to work so hard to go out and kill monsters while he just stands there waiting for them to deliver themselves?"
"Rigged! This is definitely rigged! I want to report this!"
"Can't the two people from our Freedom Nation combined even match him alone?"
"Baka! There's no way he's stronger than Kira!"
"Ronan and Kira are even on two different chunks; theoretically, they should be faster than Mark!"
"This is a malicious exploit of a bug! He must be punished!"
Monsters have a spawn probability; two chunks have a larger area than one, making the spawning efficiency higher.
If not for the food issue, Kira Oakmoor might have actually surpassed Mark's pair.
The key point was this.
Even at Kira Oakmoor's speed with the Infinite SlashBlade, he still couldn't keep up with the current Galen Yu.
No matter how fast a sword is, you still have to rush to the monsters, unlike Galen Yu.
Standing in front of the stone hut, he only needed to do one thing.
Slash!
Slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, slash...
The Nine Provinces audience felt their hearts healed by this rhythmic sound and broke into smiles.
"Incredible, Great God Galen Yu!"
"Four people's kills combined can't even match our one guy!"
"You kept calling him trash, so who's the trash now?"
"Whatever SlashBlade warrior bloodline, it all sucks compared to this!"
"Bug my ass, this is clearly a mechanic!"
"Report him then, if you think you're so tough! Hahaha!"
Ever since the Arena descended, it had only ever selected players procedurally; there had never been such a thing as reporting.
Even if the Samurai Nation and the Freedom Nation protested en masse, they would receive no response whatsoever.
They could only watch through their screens, venting their impotent rage as Galen Yu easily slaughtered the monsters.
"Headmaster Quill, do you think there's a possibility..."
"...that the item I used didn't actually fail?"
Fries marveled continuously.
If the cobblestone generator was built on cleverness and wisdom, then the emergence of the mob farm was on another level.
It was truly exploiting the mechanics of the world.
Regardless, Fries admitted to himself that he didn't understand why this was happening.
"That's hard to say."
Frowning in deep thought, Headmaster Quill had been pondering the monster spawning issue.
It wasn't until he looked at the ground beneath Galen Yu's feet that his eyes lit up.
"Look, he replaced all the flooring with slabs, except for the area where the monsters spawn, which consists of full blocks."
"Does that mean monsters won't spawn on slab blocks?"
This explained why there were no zombies on the rest of the Sky Island, only inside the stone hut.
Only inside the stone hut were there unoccupied full blocks!
The more he thought about it, the more his theory seemed to hold water. Headmaster Quill said urgently.
"Quickly, add this hypothesis to the highest-level classified files! It must not be leaked!"
Monsters were the most direct and lethal threat to players; if this was proven true...
...their players could gain a direct advantage in future civilizations!
After finishing this, Headmaster Quill continued.
"Whether the item failed or not is still too early to conclude."
The perspective shifted to Soren Park's screen.
Seeing Galen Yu kill monsters so easily with his own eyes, Soren Park felt incredibly uncomfortable.
With worse resources, a newcomer could build a cobblestone generator, surpass the Freedom Nation, and slaughter zombies to take first place.
And he, however, could only hide in a tiny room, accompanied by two Mooshrooms!
"Moo... Moo..."
Sensing the space shrink as Soren Park stood up, the Mooshrooms pushed toward him with even greater force.
The intense pressure forced his face into the dirt, and he only recovered after choking on several mouthfuls of soil.
Feeling even more humiliated, Soren Park didn't dare to move and was forced to swallow his resentment.
"Everyone, don't think that Galen Yu is actually that strong!"
"Because our chunks are close, I saw with my own eyes how he developed. Therefore, I can responsibly tell you..."
"...that he achieved this entirely through luck! There isn't a shred of skill involved!"
Knowing his words would be broadcasted on the screen, Soren Park adjusted his position.
Shifting into a posture more suitable for speaking, he continued his analysis.
"I know some of you don't believe me, but if you look closely, you'll see."
"First, he made a cobblestone generator and discovered how to craft slabs, knowing they save blocks."
"Then he replaced the blocks on the island with slabs. Because of the block change, the trial lost its monster-spawning zones!"
"Then he built a stone hut, which just happened to be built right in the new monster-spawning zone!"
Veteran players would never make these mistakes, but Galen Yu happens to be a novice.
So he didn't return home in time to hide when night fell, and thus happened to miss the spawning area!
That's why the current situation is happening!
His deductions were well-reasoned and very logical, convincing many viewers.
As if he could see the comments, Soren Park began to smile.
"But don't look at how impressive he seems now; in reality, I predict..."
"...that there's a huge problem with the Sky Island. He, Galen Yu, definitely won't survive the night!"