"Is he trying to bribe the guards with gold ingots?"
"How stupid. Doesn't he know that NPCs only trade with emeralds?"
"Even increasing favorability requires emeralds, not some damn gold ingots!"
"Just wait until he gets punched across the map by a Piglin, just like Mark was!"
Early in the morning, the audience saw Galen Yu take out gold ingots and toss them to the Piglin.
Many viewers made cold, cynical comments.
Most of them were from the Freedom Nation, and they were dying to see Galen Yu get sent flying.
Unfortunately for them.
"No diamonds?"
This answer caught Galen Yu by surprise.
Judging by the looks of it, he had assumed this place would be rich in resources and have everything.
Sensing Galen Yu's confusion, Zane Wu continued.
"To be precise, the only diamonds were mined last night, as you can see."
"This is just the outskirts of Sky City. There are no villagers here, let alone diamonds."
"At most, there are only basic supplies here to help newcomers who have just passed the trial develop a bit better."
"I see."
Basic materials could be self-sufficient on his sky island; he didn't need to get them from outside.
In other words, the resource zone wasn't as useful to Galen Yu as he had imagined.
At most, he could mine some ores, but he couldn't even trade with villagers!
Thinking about it, if the outskirts were so luxurious that diamonds were everywhere, wouldn't the so-called Sky City be built out of Netherite blocks?
It was a good thing he knew that gold ingots could be traded with Piglins.
If he had blindly continued working...
If he really tried to upgrade his equipment here, God knows how long it would take.
Since his favorability with Galen Yu was quite high, the Piglin revealed more information.
"Only small-scale civilizations are qualified to truly touch the core of a chunk. At that time..."
"...true power, the mods, will arrive!"
Currently, they were still at the level of a micro-civilization, not even reaching the entry level yet.
Galen Yu strongly agreed with this.
In the vanilla game, the strongest entity was the Ender Dragon, but if mods were added...
Things like the Wither Storm, the Executioner Dragon, the Void Star God...
There were far too many to count, and compared to them, the Ender Dragon didn't even rank.
Mastering the vanilla game was only the beginning.
'I wonder what level those so-called large-scale civilizations can reach?'
He casually tossed the remaining three gold ingots to the Piglin.
Gold ore itself wasn't very useful, but today's intelligence was incredibly important.
'It looks like I'll have to get my equipment from Zombie Villagers. As for this chest...'
Sensing Galen Yu's thoughts and having received the gold ingots, Zane Wu was delighted.
"I'll send these to your island right away!"
As Zane Wu left carrying the chest, Galen Yu began to ponder his future development.
He'd mine a few more ores and let the people from the Freedom Nation foolishly fight over trash here!
Not far away.
Mark was quietly observing this scene.
The viewers from the Freedom Nation began to speculate.
"Why did the sound suddenly cut out? What are they talking about?"
"He used gold ingots. Did Galen Yu make the guard angry?"
"Maybe they aren't broadcasting it because the verbal abuse was too harsh?"
"That's definitely possible! Look, his reward chest was taken away!"
"Haha, he's being punished!"
Since the information was part of a trade, it was kept confidential.
No one could hear what had been said; they could only see Zane Wu leaving with the chest.
Mark shared the same assumption as the viewers.
"Jett, how many mining attempts do we have left? Quick, I remember there are emeralds over there!"
To salvage his favorability and regain the right to have his quota reduced...
Mark was now full of motivation and rushed to mine the emeralds.
Finally, he managed to mine five emeralds before Zane Wu returned.
"Brother Pig, you're back!"
Just as Zane Wu flew back, Mark hurried forward with a flattering smile.
Nodding, Zane Wu's expression was extremely cold.
"We have placed the blocks into the hopper as required!"
"Mhm."
He gave a simple grunt in response to the two.
Surprised by Zane Wu's attitude, they glanced at each other, and Mark stepped forward to present the emeralds.
"Look, these are for you!"
Mark handed over three emeralds and waited for Zane Wu's praise.
Back in the Warrior Civilization, he had seen warriors arguing fiercely over just a few emeralds.
This was much more sincere than Galen Yu's few gold ingots!
"Look at Mark, then look at Galen Yu!"
"This is how a smart person does things. No NPC can refuse emeralds!"
"Five emeralds! I can't even imagine what kind of reward he'll get!"
"I hope they give Galen Yu's treasure chest to us!"
The Freedom Nation viewers were all proud of Mark's actions, eagerly anticipating what he would receive.
He waited for a few seconds, but the expected praise never came.
Instead, Zane Wu's face grew even colder, his eyes faintly glowing red.
"Are you insulting me?"
He simply couldn't believe it!
Zane Wu's keen nose had long ago caught the scent of hidden gold on the two men!
That wonderful scent—he wouldn't forget it even in three lifetimes!
From what he could sense, there was a significant amount of gold!
If they had brought out gold ingots, Zane Wu might have traded with them according to Piglin tradition and perhaps even restored their second-place privileges.
But what did they do?
They hoarded the gold and threw stinking, vulgar, worthless emeralds at him!
"We wouldn't dare, you have such sharp eyes."
"Here are the remaining two emeralds. They're all yours!"
Thinking his hidden stash had been discovered, Mark hurriedly brought out the rest.
Clang!
Five emeralds fell to the ground. The atmosphere became terrifyingly quiet.
"I've changed my mind."
Hearing Zane Wu speak, Mark felt a surge of joy.
So emeralds really did work. Was he going to waive their block quota?
"Starting today, you need to turn in three blocks every day—that's three blocks per person."
"Hand them into the hopper on time. Now get lost!"
He left without looking back, leaving the two stunned men behind.
They originally only had to hand in one block; now they each had to hand in three?
The emeralds not only failed to help, but they had also actively screwed them over!
The Freedom Nation viewers were dumbfounded.
"The pig-head doesn't want emeralds? Then what does it want?"
"It can't be gold ingots, can it? Do they need them to forge equipment?"
"Nine Provinces... what exactly did Galen Yu discuss with Zane Wu!"
Even though they were in the same world, the difference between them and Galen Yu was like night and day.
It was as if Galen Yu were playing with a walkthrough!
Mark fell into deep self-doubt.
Had he really been doing everything wrong up until now?
Samurai Nation.
Ronan Mountwell was in the exact opposite state of Mark.
He was incredibly confident.
"Look, what is this? A diamond pickaxe!"
"Equipment even more powerful than an iron pickaxe!"
He had gone to the mining area to look for flint, but since he didn't know what dropped it...
He mined anything that looked new. There, right next to deep-level lava...
He happened to mine three diamonds, which were also the only diamond resources in the entire resource zone.
This was something Ronan Mountwell had never seen before.
But from the mining efficiency, durability, and various other aspects, he could tell the diamond pickaxe was far stronger than the iron one!
"The flint has already been made into a flint and steel. I will carry the strongest mining pickaxe..."
"...and enter that mysterious gate built of obsidian!"