The Alliance.
Mark frowned as he looked at the zombies that hadn't despawned.
During the Fourth Crisis, zombies actually ignored the sun, which was beyond his expectations.
A few days ago, he would have been caught completely off guard and suffered heavy losses, but now...
He wasn't that panicked.
After several days of development, Jett had come up with a strategy to counter the zombies.
Build high towers and copper walls!
It sounded high-end, but the principle was simple.
As long as the walls were high enough, they didn't have to fear climbing or flying zombies.
As long as the walls were tough enough, they didn't have to fear the zombies breaking through. Staying inside was extremely safe.
The logic was simple yet practical.
Even the expert teams outside the screen were full of praise for this.
"Jett has always been clever. This is a good move!"
"The simplest things are often the most effective. In the words of the Nine Provinces, this is 'Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'!"
"Those Mutant Zombies can't break through either. Excellent!"
"Next, once Soren Park returns to the Alliance, there will be a new breakthrough!"
Kira Oakmoor stepped outside. They hadn't been idle during this time either.
Led by Mark, they had entered the Twilight Forest to search for resources.
With Light Machine Guns paired with Zombie Scepters and Oodachis, their haul could only be described as bountiful.
One could tell just by looking at the current state of the Alliance's territory.
The outermost layer was built with blocks like stone and bricks, the middle was filled with cobwebs, and further in were iron doors.
The core area was constructed from the hardest and most precious Obsidian, organized in three layers—it was practically an aerial fortress!
Looking at the structure they had spent so much time grinding for, Mark felt very gratified.
"Even the Crisis Zombies will find it hard to break through our defenses!"
Most were stopped by the outermost stone defense, and only a few elites could break through to the cobwebs.
Once there, Spartan Warriors and other players responsible for guarding would step in to resolve the threat and ensure the chunk's safety.
With organized labor, security was maxed out!
And his gains during this time were more than just that.
Beyond basic block resources, Mark looked out and saw several newly spawned Villagers in the distance.
In the previous civilization, these guys were everywhere, and no one paid them any mind.
It wasn't until they vanished and the players became Chunk Lords that they realized...
Villagers were the foundation of every chunk!
Every Chunk Lord had the ability to evolve the creatures within their own chunk.
The strength of this evolution depended on the content of the mods they held. For example, since Mark had the Spartan series, he could transform Villagers into Spartan Warriors.
Without a specific mod, evolution would be based on the player's own skill leanings or things they had learned in the block world.
For instance, Ronan Mountwell's Hunter inheritance could evolve Villagers into Hunters, while Pros from John Nation was combat-oriented and could turn Villagers into soldiers.
Mark had tested all of this within his chunk.
Conversely, if a player had nothing and had learned nothing, the Villagers would remain Villagers and couldn't be changed.
Since they were called Chunk Lords, they certainly couldn't be loners; they needed people who could fight and work.
These Villagers were the most solid and powerful cornerstones of the chunk!
Looking back, it made sense. Many of the previous civilization's rules only mattered if there were people to practice them.
Mark clicked his tongue, lost in thought.
"So, this large-scale civilization is not only more difficult, but it also reflects much grander concepts."
"Could we completely rebuild our own civilization from scratch?"
Having a civilization of one's own in the block world!
That was definitely a cool idea.
Knowing that Villagers were the foundation, Mark was going to start developing them.
It was also a stroke of luck. While Pros was chatting with another player, the other person said they were hungry, so Pros tossed them some bread.
A Spartan Warrior happened to walk by and picked it up.
Since he was already there, Pros threw bread to another Spartan Warrior as well.
These were warriors newly evolved from Wandering Traders. Knowing the spawn rate for Wandering Traders was very low...
Having found two at once, Mark thought it would be a long time before he encountered another. But after the two picked up the bread, a strange scene quickly unfolded.
Hearts appeared over the heads of the two Spartan Warriors. After three seconds of eye contact, a new Villager was suddenly born between them.
'If I remember correctly, weren't both of those male warriors?'
It was strange, but this was the block world, and it had its own logic.
At least the result was good. Knowing that bread allowed Villagers to breed meant that with enough bread and time.
He could cultivate a massive army of Spartan Warriors!
Thinking of this, Mark couldn't help but laugh heartily.
"Haha! Everyone has seen Villagers, but no one has seen someone who can command them like a king!"
"Such valiant and powerful Spartan Warriors... I hope their brilliance doesn't blind certain people!"
His tone was blunt, shamelessly showing off to the audience outside the screen.
Performing a miracle like a god and being revered by the Spartan Warriors—surely the whole world must be shocked?
Little did he know, the bullet chat was indeed shocked, but it was filled with laughter.
"Oh sure, sure. Truly valiant characters."
"So powerful! Truly surprising (sarcasm)!"
"If I'd seen this a few days ago, I might've been impressed. But now..."
"After being awed by the Snow Queen, a few Spartans don't really do anything for me."
"To be more precise, we've been awed by the Architect. These Spartans..."
"Comparing them to the Architect is giving them too much credit. They're not even as good as the Guard Villagers, right?"
"Those Guard Villagers are as agile as special forces, fully armed with guns. I really don't know how Spartans are supposed to compete."
"So, what exactly is he bragging about?"
No one paid him any mind, or rather, no one understood what he was boasting about.
Bringing it up now only served to highlight Galen Yu's strength.
Unaware of this and immersed in his own world, Mark counted the Villagers in his chunk.
Similar to growing food, the Villagers would automatically enter growth stages over time, taking about two days to reach maturity.
It could be called a very rapid process.
Again, it defied science but followed "block-physics" perfectly.
Since it was in his favor, he successfully increased the number of evolved Spartan Warriors to four over those two days.
"Hey, look at this big guy! Look at the strength in that body!"
"Hold that Mace well. It's very effective against zombies!"
"This Warhammer is very powerful. I think it suits you well!"
"Take this bread... Oh my god! My Lord, you're giving the food to him? That's just a child!"
Through observation, he discovered that it wasn't just the players who could give bread to help with breeding.
As long as there was enough food, the Villagers would also exchange bread among themselves and breed automatically.
There were no messy restrictions like inbreeding; you couldn't apply 3D world rules to block people.
Theoretically, two Villagers could create infinite Villagers.
But regardless, the mechanism only triggered when both Villagers reached their fully grown stage.
Mark saw with his own eyes—the person that Spartan Warrior threw food to was a baby villager, right?
"Gasp!"
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