As for where to go or what ores to look for...
Soren Park did not have a specific goal.
He was purely following the trend because everyone else was doing it.
However, having his own understanding of the block world, he knew there was a high probability of finding things he had never seen before.
He deliberately chose to enter a mine where no one would compete with him.
Torches illuminated the surrounding area, and a winding path led deep into the depths.
Occasionally, the roar of zombies could be heard, making people shrink back in fear.
"Profit is hidden in dangerous places!"
Taking a deep breath, Soren Park summoned his courage and walked inside.
Monsters easily appeared in the dark, but fortunately, he had already crafted a stone sword.
By dealing with them carefully, he could slay the zombies.
However, as he went deeper, Soren Park found the path becoming narrower and narrower.
No lava, no minerals—only a few common pieces of coal embedded in the stone could be seen occasionally.
'That's not right. There are no zombies nearby, so where is that sound coming from?'
Even though he had killed the zombies, the sound of their roars constantly reached Soren Park's ears.
But after exploring everywhere he could see, he still couldn't find where they were.
'A hidden area?!'
With a faint suspicion in his heart, he identified the direction and began digging blocks.
Pop!
The block dropped and was automatically collected into his inventory.
Only then did he discover that even this wall was not made of normal stone blocks, but something else.
[TUFF BRICKS]
A gray, special brick block.
On the other side of the blocks, a brand-new area suddenly appeared!
"Is there actually a world within the mine?"
"A hidden area has been discovered by us!"
"Our Stick Nation is truly blessed with extraordinary luck. First the Ender Pearl, and now discovering a new land!"
"The room looks quite large; there must be good things inside!"
"Maybe there are diamonds!"
The accidental discovery immediately excited the viewers from Stick Nation.
One look was enough to know this place was definitely not simple!
And Soren Park's luck was indeed very good.
Behind the shattered rock bricks was a monster spawning room, where four or five zombies had spawned.
Sensing an enemy's approach, they all activated and walked toward Soren Park.
Under normal circumstances, with no armor and only a stone sword, killing one or two zombies would be the limit; there would be no way to deal with so many enemies.
But the block he had dug out was exactly one space, trapping the zombies inside so they couldn't get out, leaving them only to be attacked by Soren Park.
He finished them off easily, and the remaining spawner was even simpler.
He jumped straight in, switched to his wooden pickaxe, and dug it up before it could spawn more zombies.
[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE TRIAL CHAMBER CHALLENGE: ZOMBIE CHALLENGE ROOM.]
[DAILY BLOCK MINING LIMIT INCREASED. TRIAL KEY OBTAINED.]
Three common chests, plus a Trial Vault.
These were the rewards for the zombie spawner room.
Soren Park was overjoyed.
"My three daily excavations have turned into four!"
Most importantly, the chests were full of good things!
Steaks, pork chops, arrows, emeralds...
The dense resources were about to burst his inventory!
Using the key to open the vault, he obtained a piece of god-tier equipment.
A shield with thirty durability remaining!
Although the durability wasn't high, he had seen Galen Yu use one; this thing could grant immunity to most attacks.
It was equivalent to a death-exemption medal, definitely god-tier equipment!
Click!
Just as he was celebrating, the sound of something being triggered rang out.
A monster suddenly appeared.
A zombie—more accurately, a zombie villager.
[HIDDEN DUEL ROOM TRIGGERED!]
[PLEASE SLAY: ARCHITECT OF SKY ISLAND (ZOMBIFIED).]
[INTRODUCTION: HE WAS ONCE AN ARCHITECT, RENOWNED THROUGHOUT THE LARGE CHUNKS, UNTIL AN ACCIDENT OCCURRED...]
[HIS STRENGTH HAS NOW DIMINISHED. PLEASE END HIS SUFFERING, OR WILL YOU BESTOW SALVATION?]
Just by walking around, he had stumbled into a Trial Chamber and even triggered a hidden event.
This was a rare event on par with finding diamond resources.
Soren Park's luck was indeed very good—so good it was hard to believe.
But right now, he couldn't laugh at all.
Resources are one thing, but what's with making him fight a boss?
It would be one thing if he had equipment, but right now he only had a stone sword!
Far stronger than a normal zombie, the zombie villager leaped three blocks high and instantly arrived in front of Soren Park.
He instinctively blocked with the shield, negating the damage, but a massive force surged from the impact.
He was almost knocked over!
"Run!"
Knowing he was no match, Soren Park hurriedly fled outside.
But even after escaping the area, he could see the zombie behind him in hot pursuit, seemingly locked onto him.
Unlike normal zombies, it did not fear the sun even during the day; it wasn't catching fire.
In this critical situation, Soren Park had a sudden brainwave.
'I remember Galen Yu's chunk has a protector. I'll lure the boss over there and let the protector handle it!'
It looked strong, so if he let the two fight, he could reap the benefits as a third party!
No sooner said than done, he immediately identified the direction and ran.
On the Sky Island.
While waiting for the zombie villagers to refresh, Galen Yu hadn't been idle.
He made a pool.
Fearing it would be too small to catch anything, he specifically built it a bit larger.
It was roughly a few blocks larger than the original Sky Island space.
"One bucket of water to irrigate an ocean!"
He had already obtained a bucket of water from the resource zone.
After building a four-block space and placing two buckets of water diagonally, there it was.
Consistent with the laws of block science, a complete and beautiful infinite water source was formed.
Then, bucket by bucket, he moved the water from there to the pond. Soon...
The pool was complete!
He placed a wooden stair next to it as a chair, took out his fishing rod, and cast it in.
There was no need to raise fingerlings or attach bait; a moment later, the rod began to shake violently.
[RAW COD]
No empty-handedness here!
"How big is the Sky Island? He built such a large pool?"
"Everyone else is scrambling for diamonds and mining, but you're fishing? Is that right?"
"Shouldn't the key point be how he made a whole pond out of two buckets of water?"
"I didn't notice until you mentioned it. How can those four blocks be inexhaustible?"
"And there are fish? So if there's water, fish just naturally generate?"
"When was the fishing rod crafted? Great God Galen Yu's style is just different from everyone else's!"
"There are too many things to nitpick; for a moment, I can't even think where to start!"
Despite clearly holding the greatest advantage, he was now fishing.
No one knew where the water came from or when the fishing rod was made...
Others were here to survive, but Galen Yu looked like he was on vacation!
"This kid."
Fries broke into a wry smile.
Despite being in the most dangerous large-scale civilization, this atmosphere...
He was living more easily than anyone!
"Fish don't seem to need special breeding, and water can apparently form an infinite source..."
Nearby, Headmaster Quill was much busier, constantly recording Galen Yu's actions.
While recording characteristics, he analyzed the principles of operation so that other candidates could use them next time.
Compared to that, Galen Yu was far too leisurely!
"Oh, treasure!"
After catching over a dozen various fish, the next time he pulled the rod, something unexpected came up.
[ENCHANTED BOOK: INFINITY]
An Enchanted Book with the Infinity effect!
This was definitely a good thing!
Storing it in a chest, Galen Yu stretched his body.
He had done enough fishing; he wanted to go to the resource zone to make Golden Apples.
As soon as he arrived at the resource zone, he noticed something wasn't quite right.
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters will be on patreon.com/elite_reads]
