The scarcity of food mostly came from a lack of farming knowledge.
Everyone knew plants needed watering, so they planted them next to a water source. After that... they just needed to wait for time to pass, wait for maturity.
This was the default rule for all contestants, scientists, and research institutes.
As for bones, bone meal, and the like...
In Lexon's eyes, it was fertilizer that was everywhere, dropped just by killing Rex.
But many players had never even seen it.
Skeletons! One of the most difficult monsters to deal with!
They were too busy running and hiding. How could they kill one and pick up the dropped bones?
Even if they picked one up by chance, no one would think to put it in a crafting grid, and then associate the processed item, bone meal, with planting. The two seemed completely unrelated.
Using bone meal to ripen food was beyond everyone's cognition, no different from magic!
After planting the potatoes, Lexon didn't stop.
The three oak saplings he had planted earlier were still growing. He casually threw all the remaining bone meal on them.
As the green light appeared again, the saplings suddenly grew into trees.
Following the food security, he successfully achieved "tree begets tree," the first step toward wood freedom!
"Wood can be force-grown too?"
"Trees grow apples! Crap, now Lexon doesn't have to worry about food!"
"Who the hell said he had no food and would die tonight?"
"You wasted our Sign! Stick Nation contestant, f*ck your mom!"
"Idiot Sam chang! Idiot Stick Nation!"
"I actually believed your crap!"
Trusting Sam chang's speculation, the Liberty Nation audience collectively went into a rage.
If his food problem was solved, how could they compete for first place with Jiuzhou Nation's monster-killing efficiency?
They had wasted an expensive Sign for nothing!
In the Black Palace, the golden-haired old man's face was grim.
He had issued the prompt precisely because he believed Sam chang's speculation. Who could have thought the tables would turn so quickly!
"Starting today, cut off the Stick Nation's financial subsidies! Add an extra 5% tariff on Stick Nation products!"
The value of a Sign couldn't be measured in money. It could provide critical information at a key moment and turn the tide! Something had to be done to appease the citizens' anger.
When the news spread, even the Stick Nation audience couldn't help but curse.
"Cutting subsidies *and* adding tariffs!"
"Life was already hard, isn't it going to be harder with tariffs?"
"It's all Sam chang's fault! Why did he have to analyze the situation with no brain!"
"Because of you, we have to pay an extra 5% tariff!"
"How much money is that going to cost us, you idiot Sam chang!"
The Stick Nation's territory wasn't large. They lacked many resources and needed to buy them from outside. Adding tariffs was equivalent to cutting off their lifeline, tangibly affecting everyone's lives!
"Magic?!"
Seeing the food, Sam chang's reaction was the same as the audience's.
But seeing Liberty Nation's ranking, which had been steadily rising, he quickly realized what must be happening outside. He immediately explained.
"It's not my fault! Who could have known he had this kind of skill!"
"Listen to me! Lexon is definitely not a game novice. He must have participated in the Cube Civilization before and obtained a skill!"
The reason he was certain it was a skill, not a mechanic, was that Sam chang had his own deduction.
If it were a mechanic, it must use a block world item. Obviously, there was nothing like that for him to use on the skyblock!
Otherwise, the saplings wouldn't have waited until now to be ripened.
The only possible source was from killing skeletons and zombies. They had already clearly investigated the zombie drops: food, rotten flesh, heads, iron.
It was impossible for them to drop any other items!
The number of skeletons killed was relatively small, so Sam chang didn't know their specific drops, but he knew... in total, only a dozen or so skeletons had been killed. Even if they dropped something every time, Lexon could only use the item a dozen or so times.
Through the screen, he had seen very clearly: those green sparkles had appeared at least thirty-plus times!
Three times more than the number of skeletons. The numbers didn't add up at all!
Therefore, he was certain: Lexon must possess a skill that ripens plants!
"If anyone is to blame, blame Jiuzhou for keeping such a good secret! To think they were hiding a character like this!" Sam chang concluded.
At the Research Institute, Director kay nodded.
"That... does make some sense."
"Our Jiuzhou was actually hiding such an expert?"
Similar to Okamura, Mark, Jett, and others, obtaining new abilities was a very common thing. If Lexon had entered the block world before, this "magic" matter could be explained.
Fries said curiously, "All contestant files are on record. There is no Lexon, or anyone with a similar experience."
"In other words, he did not join the game *after* the arena appeared."
It was very simple for a whole nation to investigate one person. Looking closely at Lexon's information... A shocking guess suddenly formed in Fries's mind.
'He didn't join after the arena appeared... could it be possible he entered the block world *before* the arena appeared?'
In other words, a so-called...
Beta Tester!
A shiver ran through him. Fries was startled by his own guess.
If that was true, it was too terrifying!
Just as he was about to tell Director kay his guess, a loud noise suddenly rang out.
In front of all the viewers, a bolt of lightning tore across the sky, lit up the night, and smashed with precise accuracy into the stone house.
"Is... is it *that* monster!?"
...
Pumpkin Island.
Mark had already used his last pumpkin pie.
Besides the food they started with, in order to maintain his rank, he had even cut down half the sugarcane on the island and made three extra pumpkin pies.
But as his saturation gradually bottomed out, he realized something was wrong.
"The Sign clearly said the Jiuzhou contestant would soon die from lack of food! What is going on now?!"
Most of the night had passed!
*They* were about to starve to death! In contrast, the ranking...
[First Place: Jiuzhou Nation, Zombies Killed * 1013, Skeletons Killed * 160, Special Monsters Killed * 36]
[Second Place: Liberty Nation, Zombies Killed * 143, Skeletons Killed * 12, Special Monsters Killed * 5]
[Third Place: Samurai Nation, Zombies Killed * 51, Skeletons Killed * 6]
The zombie count had just broken a thousand!
*This* was "about to die"?
"If I keep fighting, I'm going to drop dead before Lexon does!"
Hiding back in the room, Mark's palms were dripping with blood.
Except for the golden sword he treasured and was reluctant to use, the durability of all his other weapons was gone. Many zombies had been killed with his bare hands. Mark was in an extremely bad state!
Jett, next to him, wasn't much better. Three arrows were lodged deep in his muscles, making him look like a porcupine.
"How on earth are those guys using their items? Did they want us to get ourselves killed?"
Hiding in the room, Jett cursed loudly.
He had almost been killed by a skeleton's arrow!
"It's hard to imagine why Jiuzhou can kill a thousand zombies. Isn't the block world going to sanction him?"
As miserable as the two of them were, they had only killed just over a hundred zombies after all this time. It was hard to imagine Jiuzhou having such exaggerated stats.
*BOOM!*
A violent thunderclap resounded, illuminating the entire sky.
All contestants, whether sleeping or hiding, were jolted awake.
Mark saw this announcement:
[Alert! Jiuzhou player Lexon has killed over one thousand zombies!]
[Triggering a new monster type: Creeper!]
[The storm arrives, the thunder rolls!]
[Creepers are absorbing the power of the lightning, completing their evolution!]
[Charged Creepers will possess even greater destructive power than normal Creepers. Please be careful!]
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going..... patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]