Chapter 53 - 53 is an Easter egg! 1
That was endurance.
As a new content creator (self-proclaimed) without particularly outstanding technical skills, Wang knew he was a bit more successful than others because he had a good mouth and a great liver.
And now, it was time for him to go all out!
Bring it on!
The game “Plant Grass” seemed ordinary at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it was quite profound.
Although there were only a few varieties of seeds available for planting, the harvest each time was random, which made the outcome full of surprises and excitement.
Of course, sometimes it was a shock. Wang had heard more than once people screaming at the sight of huge insects they had accidentally grown.
However, it wasn’t completely random. Factors like sunlight intensity, the amount of water, and wind strength all influenced the outcome of the plants.
According to experiments conducted by numerous players, the result of planting a seed in this game was drawn from a pool of random outcomes, and external conditions determined from which pool the final product would be pulled.
In order to identify the range and triggering methods of all the pools in the game, thousands of players began to grind intensively.
They made Wang’s livestreaming channel their base of operations, and by that evening, they had set up a rudimentary yet comprehensive information site with all known data neatly organized.
Information about the Time Stone’s function, range of effect, and how many it took to maximize its potential was soon unearthed and posted on the website.
Players born in adjacent regions started to gather. Upon realizing they couldn’t steal from each other but only trade, they quickly abandoned the option of plundering and began to collaborate in an effort to identify every possible harvest form.
They started to divide the labor. Some players were responsible for collecting Time Stones, others chopped trees and made huts to alter sunlight conditions, some gathered seeds, while others would photograph and record the experimental results, uploading them afterward.
Ambitious to dominate the game with a complete compendium, players united, tirelessly grinding away.
Witnessing this, Fang Cheng felt deeply gratified.
Indeed, all is illusionary, farming is eternal. Not one descendant of Yan and Huang could resist the allure of farming.
He had finally made it.
After his ascension, he would give each of these players a planet of their own. They wouldn’t need to do anything else daily but farm, a token of gratitude for their exceptional contributions.
However, as time passed, the smile gradually faded from Fang Cheng’s face.
Umm…
Has your style become a bit odd?
As the ranges for randomness became established, players discovered that they could grow metals in the fields!
And they were metals they didn’t recognize!
These agricultural products looked like chunks of metal on the outside, but were essentially plants.
If these products were used in secondary production, then second-tier products, gears, could be grown!
These gears, composed entirely of plants but in essence Spirit Grass, had the hardness of metals and the lightness of plants thanks to the wash of Spiritual Energy.
Apart from being non-fireproof and lacking malleability, they were durable and highly useful gears.
Beyond that, many semi-finished parts could also be processed.
Gradually, players found that by changing environmental variables, they could decide certain characteristics of the finished products.
For example, increasing water input could make the products larger; controlling the range of light during growth allowed some metal-like products to change shape according to their desires.
Upon this discovery, automation began.
Players with a background in mechanics started customizing gears and other structures, and various semi-automated items were crafted into machines.
The cultivation of Spirit Grass began to be automated. Players quickly shifted their focus from how to grow Spirit Grass to “how to automate the planting of plants,” and then on to how to initiate an industrial revolution here with various parts to modernize this world.
Seeing the changes in the players, Fang Cheng fell silent.
“This is the wrong way!”
Spirit Grass should be planted by oneself to be interesting, the Spirit Grass planted by machines has no soul.
However, after a closer look, Fang Cheng felt that there might be some fun in this too.
Using Spirit Grass to build machinery has a different kind of interest, one that comes not from the Spirit Grass itself, but from using the Spirit Grass as a stepping stone to combine them and the joy of creation that emerges from it.
After playing for a while, Fang Cheng had to admit that it was quite fun.
Even more fun than just planting grass.
Although he didn’t succeed this time either, Fang Cheng found that this was quite good.
The actions of these players had undoubtedly inspired him, giving him new insights on the path of “fun”.
Grasping this insight, Fang Cheng immediately left, stepping into the void to find a place where he could be alone to understand this insight.
On the other side, Wang, who had been up all night, was drinking vegetable juice, his eyes bloodshot as he looked at the screen and shouted, “Hey, does anyone know how to grow spider silk? I want to find some spider silk now.”
“Lighting 6, ventilation 3, height 12, a one in fifteen chance of appearance, just plant a few more times.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Yawning, Wang told himself for the seventy-fifth time that he would plant one more round before leaving, hoard some spider silk, then make a fishing rod for himself, turn the fish into bone meal after catching them, and maybe come up with some new recipes.
Although he had been up all night, Wang was in a good mood and not too tired.
To be exact, playing games all night doesn’t count as staying up all night.
Working or studying all night is staying up all night; this is enjoying the nightlife.
Satisfied, leaning back in his three thousand eight hundred dollar gaming chair, Wang hummed happily, “This game is addictive.”
At first, he felt the game didn’t have many features, the content was simple, just a farming simulator.
But the game’s tactile feedback was comfortable, the response from farming was quick and fun, making it extremely engaging and hard to stop playing.
And with the team cooperation mode where players can’t attack each other, the atmosphere of the game was very harmonious, with each minor discovery quickly communicated amongst everyone, making the game feel particularly rewarding.
After transitioning to semi-automation, the gaming experience changed again.
Automation made large-scale planting possible, greatly liberating labor at this point, helping Wang understand why the Industrial Revolution was so great.
The combination of various components actually followed scientific logic, making Wang suspect that the Immortal had done nothing else but research plant effects and combinations during this time.
“Climbing the tech tree is something the Immortal has really gotten the hang of. Too bad the process isn’t long; another ten or so hours of grinding should do it.”
Great game, just too short.
Flexing his fingers, Wang was about to join the other players in grinding out the remaining random formulas when he heard a loud roar from the speakers.
He originally thought he had played the wrong song, his groggy brain even directed his right hand to perform a task like switching the track.
However, he quickly realized where the sound was coming from.
Right there in “Plant Grass”.
Wang, in the game, looked up in confusion and was surprised to find a silvery shuttle hovering above his field.
Seeing this creation that clearly didn’t belong to players, Wang went from surprise to excitement almost immediately.
This thing, it’s an Easter egg!