Before stepping into the Obsidian Portal...
No one knew exactly what secrets were hidden inside.
But whether there were bosses, monsters, or anything else, Ronan Mountwell's intuition told him one thing.
There were definitely treasures of immense value hidden within!
This was a hunter's instinct!
"But the keys are all here. Why hasn't the portal opened yet?"
Looking at the portal made of ten obsidian blocks, Ronan Mountwell felt a bit worried.
Due to a lack of resources, he had tried his best to cut costs; only the top, bottom, and sides were obsidian.
The four corners were replaced with other blocks.
Could it be that the portal hadn't formed because of this modification?
[FORGED IN FIRE!]
[MYSTERY GATEWAY!]
As his bloodline ability activated, Ronan Mountwell breathed a sigh of relief.
Since it was recognized as a Mystery Gateway, it meant the method was indeed viable!
He was practically in awe of his own brilliance for using ten obsidian blocks to achieve what should have taken fourteen.
Next, it needed to be forged in fire.
He wasn't foolish enough to think he could open it by shouting "Holy fire, shine bright" or "Open sesame." He needed an auxiliary item.
As far as he knew, there was only one item that could produce fire.
Flint and Steel!
It just so happened that Ronan Mountwell knew the crafting recipe for Flint and Steel.
The old hunter had taught him that combining flint and an iron ingot would create Flint and Steel!
Oakmoor had already headed to the resource zone. He could get a crafting table and an iron ingot from him, but as for the flint...
Where could he get that?
"That old fossil... he died before teaching me everything!"
He had killed the old hunter chief too quickly, resulting in Ronan Mountwell only learning half of the hunter's knowledge. There was much he didn't understand.
"Whatever. I'll head to the resource zone first."
Finding a mine shaft, Ronan Mountwell decided to head down and explore first.
Not long before Ronan Mountwell entered the mine...
Kapil, the contestant from the Indus Kingdom, walked out looking somewhat dejected.
"There's nothing left in the mine! Mark and the others have already stripped all the gold!"
Unlike the top three who had teleportation privileges, he had been among the first to arrive at the resource zone because he was close and there were many blocks on his island.
He was part of the very first group to reach the resource zone.
Using resources from his island to craft an iron pickaxe, he had hoped to seize the initiative and mine some gold, but he was ultimately a step too late.
The Indus audience lamented.
"He lost because of the ranking!"
"Sigh, if only we were in third place, we would have been entitled to a share of the gold!"
"Blame the Nine Provinces! They snatched first place and pushed us out!"
"How infuriating!"
After the Freedom Nation, the Indus Kingdom harbored the most resentment toward Galen Yu.
They had been consistently in the top three for resources, but then a 'bug' had appeared out of nowhere.
Not only did they lose the chance to choose any resource, but their daily block limit had also been slashed from fifteen to five. On top of that, they had to pay an extra block as a processing fee just to enter and exit the resource zone.
The disparity in treatment was too vast to swallow!
"I can't believe such a massive mine doesn't have a single piece of gold left."
"All the easily visible ones were taken by the Freedom Nation. What a waste!"
"Whatever is left is either too high up or hidden too deep. It's not worth using our five daily attempts on them."
"Further down, there's only lava, iron, zombies, and a few blue ores."
"We're not short on iron, but I don't think I've ever seen those blue ores before."
"Could it be a new type of rare mineral?"
The deep layers.
Blue ores growing beside the lava.
Kapil had seen them too, but he hadn't gone to mine them.
He knew well that many types of minerals spawned underground, but not all could be used to manufacture weapons or equipment.
Take Redstone, whose use hadn't been discovered yet; Lapis Lazuli, which was only used for fuel; or Emeralds, used only for trading with NPCs.
Emeralds were slightly useful, but weren't the others just pure junk?
Blue ores were indeed rare, but with a limited number of resource collection attempts...
...he really didn't want to waste his chances on the unknown.
"Time is limited. Maybe if I go further out, I'll find some unmined gold ore."
Having a major advantage over other players, Kapil had chosen a stable, allowing him to use a horse for transport.
This greatly increased his running and exploration speed!
Horses had more health, could step over one-block heights directly, and had a jump height of three blocks.
It was an incredibly practical tool for travel!
Picking a direction at random, Kapil sped off several blocks in the blink of an eye.
Ten minutes passed. As the scenery receded behind him, he arrived at a new area, leaving all other players far in the dust.
The altitude was higher here. The green grass of the plains was gone, replaced by white everywhere.
"It's snow!"
Snow covered the ground. The cold seeped through his iron chestplate, making Kapil shiver.
"If you head southwest from the entrance, there's a snowy field here!"
Certain that no one else had been here, Kapil began to explore with great interest.
Though he felt the cold, his armor allowed him to endure it. Unfortunately, as he searched around...
...aside from ice and snow, he found no gold.
But he hadn't come away empty-handed.
[TOMB OF THE WANDERING TRADER]
[A WANDERING TRADER WHO DIED OF UNKNOWN CAUSES. HIS LEGACY LIES WITHIN THIS CHEST. PLEASE TREAT HIS TWO LLAMAS WELL.]
Outside a small hut made of stacked ice, a sign displayed this message.
Opening the chest, he found six iron ingots, three emeralds, six wheat, and three wheat seeds.
What surprised him most were the six gold ingots.
"Reward chests don't count toward the collection limit! Fantastic!"
With gold ingots, he could finally craft golden equipment!
After emptying the chest, he looked outside the ice hut.
Two llamas, undeterred by the wind and snow, were tied near the ice.
According to the sign, the Wandering Trader wanted him to adopt the llamas. Initially, Kapil was indeed somewhat interested in the creatures.
Until two sheep passed by him, and he was immediately captivated by their white woolly backsides.
Without him saying a word, the Indus live-chat expressed their understanding.
"Yes, I admit it, we must raise a few sheep!"
"Nothing beats a sheep, not even a beautiful woman!"
"Please forgive me, but I still think lizards are more beautiful..."
"Sheep provide mutton and wool, whereas llamas only provide leather. Sheep are far more valuable!"
"Kill the llamas. Their only purpose is leather and leads. Trust me, you'll fall in love with sheep!"
Living creatures were also considered resources, and daily collections were limited.
Ultimately, Kapil made his choice.
Kill the llamas, take the leads, and take the sheep!
Spit attacks were no match for the iron-armored Kapil. The two llamas were soon dead, dropping leather and leads.
[KILLED LLAMA]
[RECEIVED THE WANDERING TRADER'S CURSE]
Despite the new debuff, Kapil didn't feel any physical discomfort.
"When did I get a stack of snow and a pumpkin head? Whatever, I'll just toss them."
Pumpkin heads couldn't be made into food, and snowballs could only be thrown without dealing damage.
Keeping them would just take up inventory space, so he threw them aside in the resource zone.
A heavy snow began to fall from the sky.
Kapil noticed that at some point, several three-meter-tall, pitch-black, strange-looking humanoid creatures had appeared nearby.
He could sense their ill intent, but fortunately, they didn't attack him directly.
Hurriedly attaching the leads to the sheep, he sped back toward his island as fast as possible.
He couldn't be bothered with that nonsense; he had more urgent matters to attend to now.