Chapter Six: The Beginning of Transformation

"Where am I?" I seemed to be in a mine, then a dark dungeon... surrounded by red-eyed zombies... and then... the Age of Mystery!

Suddenly opening his eyes, Mo Fangyuan found himself not in the mine, but inside the kingdom's castle.

"Your Majesty, you're awake..."

The first thing he saw was a bespectacled man with a receding hairline.

"Old Village Chief..."

"Your Majesty is safe now. We've already escaped."

"And the mine..." Mo Fangyuan felt a deep sense of guilt.

"We discovered a cave on the eastern side of the village. After scouting, we found it leads forty blocks underground. There are plenty of minerals there, enough for us to develop for some time..." The old village chief hurried to explain.

"We'll deal with the city's mine after the kingdom grows stronger..." Though he spoke reassuringly, Mo Fangyuan sensed the helplessness in the old chief's words.

In the old chief's eyes, it seemed the mine might never be reclaimed.

"Just wait. One day, I'll turn you into a monster spawner, and have you drop loot for me every day!"

Clenching his fist, Mo Fangyuan cursed the red-eyed zombies with his most venomous vow.

Fortunately, in the block world, science doesn't apply; as long as one fills their stomach, their health returns. Otherwise, Mo Fangyuan wouldn't have been back on his feet in half a day.

Gazing out the window at the wheat fields, Mo Fangyuan pondered deeply and decided it was best to start from the safer wheat fields.

"If I can't solve the mine, then I'll deal with the farmland first!"

Unable to defeat the strong, he would train by fighting the weak.

When he gained strength, he would return to settle matters with the mine.

Mo Fangyuan had been unconscious for half a day; now it was afternoon, and dusk was only a few hours away. Night was not far off.

After a moment's thought, Mo Fangyuan decided to venture out and hunt monsters, to gain combat experience, defend the fields, and earn some drops.

His people were all working hard—how could their king afford to be lazy?

By evening, the wounds on his back had mostly healed, and the blacksmith had repaired his equipment.

Most people faced with failure react in one of two ways.

The first is to develop a psychological scar, never daring to take that step again; the second is to stand up and overcome their defeat.

Mo Fangyuan belonged to the first type, but he didn't wish to let his people down, nor could he repress his anger.

So, driven by pressure, he became the second type.

"Revenge for a gentleman is never too late, even after ten years!"

The wisdom of the ancestors never fails me!

Walking down the kingdom's main road, Mo Fangyuan was greeted by many passersby. Clearly, none knew their king had nearly become an experience orb in the mines today.

The pressure in Mo Fangyuan's heart grew heavier; the respectful gazes of his people kneaded his fragile sense of self-worth.

The idea of becoming stronger echoed endlessly in his mind.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting, its lingering rays casting a golden glow over the earth, worsening his gloomy mood.

"The sun sets in the west, and the heartbroken wanderer is far from home."

Mo Fangyuan thought of his parents, who had raised him with such hardship, yet he hadn't given them a good life before crossing over. He wondered how they were now. Was his brother taking good care of them?

"Roar! Roar! Roar!"

The first roar sounded from the distant horizon, marking the beginning of the night.

Mo Fangyuan shook his head, dispelling the chaotic thoughts, and raised his axe, entering the fields.

In ancient times, it was said that a common farmer who took up arms and survived a battle was a qualified soldier; one who participated in three battles and followed orders was an excellent soldier; one who fought in five battles and killed enemies was an elite.

Mo Fangyuan disagreed with this view, but he couldn't deny that war could quickly transform an ordinary man into a warrior.

Having experienced several minor battles, Mo Fangyuan wasn't strong, but he was no longer the gaming addict who couldn't even kill a chicken!

Splash!

A freshly spawned zombie hadn't even moved before Mo Fangyuan cut it down in the fields.

He had transformed into a warrior capable of killing monsters.

His knowledge of monsters gradually matched that from his previous life, no longer blindly rushing in to hack and slash. His fighting now showed some technique.

Thwack!

Mo Fangyuan fired an arrow, striking a distant zombie's foot. The zombie fell, tripping its teammate in front.

Only then did Mo Fangyuan advance, swinging his axe and finishing off the two zombies.

One, two, three...

Creepers, zombies, skeletons...

Over the next few hours, Mo Fangyuan dealt with almost as many monsters as he had the entire previous night.

As monsters spawned, Mo Fangyuan improved.

Whenever circumstances allowed, he dared to challenge small monster clusters.

For example, he now faced such a gathering.

About a dozen, mostly zombies and skeleton archers, with a couple of spiders mixed in.

Spiders wouldn't burn in daylight and could persist indefinitely. In darkness, they attacked humans; in light, they remained neutral, much like a certain neighbor from his homeland in his previous life.

Mo Fangyuan dared to target them because of their traits.

Zombies would rush straight at people, skeleton archers would retreat to shoot from a distance.

And skeleton archers hadn't mastered "Archery Combat," so their arrows flew straight.

As a result, zombies charging ahead often got hit by skeleton arrows, transferring their aggression to the skeletons and attacking them.

The attacked skeletons would then redirect their hatred to the zombies...

Before Mo Fangyuan could even act, many zombies and skeletons broke into infighting, clawing and shooting each other.

Mo Fangyuan quickly dispatched the two spiders betrayed by their allies and sat down, waiting for the fisherman to benefit while the clams and cranes fought.

With the first zombie killed by a skeleton, Mo Fangyuan judged it was time and joined the fray.

Most monsters were already weakened, and he swung his axe, taking them down one by one with great satisfaction.

Of course, this was only a minority. Most monster clusters were balanced, and even when zombies and skeletons fought, he couldn't handle too many spiders and creepers.

Besides, this was farmland; normally, stepping on it once or twice was fine, but if monsters fought in large numbers, repairing it would be difficult. Would the block kingdom relinquish its fields?

During the battle, Mo Fangyuan kept pondering how to solve the monster spawning problem in the fields; simply killing them wasn't sustainable.

Monsters could keep spawning, but block people could not!

After much thought, Mo Fangyuan could only think of covering the fields with torches. With enough light, monsters would rarely spawn. But mass-producing and placing torches and fences would require vast amounts of wood and coal.

Though charcoal could substitute for coal, making it required huge amounts of timber. With the mine lost, the block kingdom faced a shortage of iron and metals, nearly skipping the Bronze Age and falling straight back to the Stone Age.

The speed of chopping trees with a stone axe needs no elaboration.

At that rate, illuminating the fields would take forever.

"Accumulating earth forms a mountain; accumulating water forms a deep pool!"

Doing something is better than nothing, and for now, this was the only option.

After all, with ten years of schooling, Mo Fangyuan knew this principle well.

The horizon had already begun to pale; daylight was near.

Mo Fangyuan found a large monster gathering, planning to wait for the sun and reap the rewards.

The monsters sensed something was wrong and started searching for shade.

Once arrogant at night, now faced with the threat of death, they were utterly disheveled.

"Too bad this is a plain—you are destined to return to darkness... no, to the embrace of the sun!"

Thinking of their impending demise, Mo Fangyuan felt vindicated.

By now, he had completely immersed himself as a member of the block people.

The sun rose, and monsters began to burn.

After admiring their 'fire dance,' Mo Fangyuan drew his weapon and moved in.

After nearly a minute of sunburn, the monsters were barely alive, unable to resist as Mo Fangyuan cut them down.

"At night, I cower before you; by day, I strike with a heavy fist!"

To personally kill more monsters, Mo Fangyuan aimed for their weak points, striving for one-hit kills.

Indeed, the same method: splitting their skulls.

After a night's effort, Mo Fangyuan protected more fields and killed more monsters.

If his monster-killing efficiency continued to improve, soon the people of the block kingdom would be freed from hunger.

"If only I had an army... even ten men would prevent this kind of disaster!"