Chapter 615: Workbench Points Straight to the Path of Ninth Rank!

Major underground research institutes were secretly rushing to investigate a certain "pixel-style sandbox game," implying they were being summoned for questioning. Meanwhile, life on this side continued as usual.

Online, many people were excited as they gazed upon the pixelated, mosaic-style world. Even the trees were composed of straight black blocks, their branches covered in square leaves.

"What is 'My World'?" someone asked. After all, many people still hadn't played it.

"Oh, it's a globally popular pixel-style sandbox game," came the reply. "It has many loyal fans, both foreign and Chinese. Players who generally enjoy farming and casual gameplay have usually tried it. In Taiwan, it's translated as 'Be a God of Creation.'"

"Typically, you start the game by chopping trees. Then, you use four blocks of wood to craft a workbench, which allows you to combine various recipes to make wooden swords, pickaxes, and shovels. This development of technology leads you into the Wooden Age, followed by gathering stone for the Stone Age, and then iron for the Iron Age..." Someone explained the game and shared several screenshots.

Many people were astonished to see the screenshots; it was exactly the same! But that was just a game, with a cute and endearing pixel-art style. Yet, seeing it applied to such a bizarre, pixelated digital planet sent shivers down their spines. My goodness, this was just too thrilling!

While the internet was buzzing with discussion, the players who had been dropped onto this planet were already getting busy.

"On this planet, only the soil wasn't blocky; it had very fine, high-resolution pixels," a player observed. "Everything else, even trees and animals, is made of blocks. Even small beetles and tiny flowers are visible as colorful mosaics. They're incredibly heavy and hard, almost as dense as iron blocks..."

The players gradually realized something was amiss.

"Will there be villages or tribes?""Will there be various pixel monsters?""Of course there will be! We just vaguely saw some large beasts and traces of tribal civilization from high up."

Discussions broke out around them, and then the players looked at Bai Xiaojun. After all, he was considered a veteran player here and was powerful, while most of the others were novices. As a parent of seven children, he was naturally much calmer.

"Don't panic, everyone!" Bai Xiaojun declared. "What's the first rule of pioneering in a game? Calmness!"

Bai Xiaojun took a deep breath. "The novices present, having passed the assessment, are all at an average Third Tier level, making them 300 elites out of 10,000. Based on my estimation, the indigenous creatures of this planet have at least an average strength of Third to Fourth Tier... and some, massive in weight and size, might even be Fifth Tier."

That strong? Everyone became unsettled. But on second thought, it made sense. High-density organisms and intense gravity, which made walking difficult for them, also indicated high-energy beings. This was clearly no ordinary extraordinary planet. What's more, this planet naturally gave rise to radiation and true qi creatures, which was quite frightening.

"So what should we do?" someone asked Bai Xiaojun.

Bai Xiaojun took a deep breath, looking around. At this moment, he knew his time had come. He recalled how he was among the first to pay attention to this game, even helping the Alchemist Emperor by gathering medical students to hypothesize about various ways to create gene potions, which allowed the Emperor to live a second life and return as a young man. How could he not be proud? He still felt a sense of pride. But later, other players who had discovered the game even after him — like "Cute Girl," "System Terminator," and "Balloon Fish" — had all successfully entered the sandbox, ushering in new eras, even surpassing Heavenly Emperors and Deities to achieve great things. How could he be content with that? His talent hadn't been in "evolving species"; he lacked the ability to write evolutionary papers and thus couldn't cross that threshold. However, he considered his own talent and intelligence to be considerable, as he was a pharmaceutical expert who studied potions...

Thinking this, he turned to the others and said, "Brothers, my current decision is to first establish a base. As everyone knows, this is a farming game."

Everyone nodded in deep agreement. When idle or unsure of what to do, farming was indeed the correct approach. Establishing a base and building bunkers for self-protection was paramount, especially in such a dangerous environment.

Bai Xiaojun continued, "So, if we want to get rich, we must first chop trees! Brothers, start felling trees and building wooden houses!"

Everyone's faces darkened. "If you want to get rich, chop trees first." What was he playing at? Everyone said he was clever, having the skill and wisdom to survive under the Celestials and endure humiliation. Yet, after all that encouragement, was he seriously going to treat this real-life situation like that game? So after chopping trees, would they also need to craft a workbench?

"You are too young," Bai Xiaojun said, his expression grave. "You think it's simple, but you don't know that I've undergone seven or eight deductions and pondered deeply... You simply don't understand the profound intentions of the development team!"

Everyone was startled. Could it be that this expert...

Bai Xiaojun smiled and said confidently, "First, we need to analyze this from its fundamental nature. The other side has a main storyline focused on combat, clearly aligning with the 'resistance' faction. Our side, however, clearly has a main storyline focused on farming, belonging to the 'Lord of Reincarnation' faction—it's the main quest for lifestyle players. And now, bringing us 300 lifestyle players here, what is our purpose? This is 'My World'! Isn't it obvious enough? This is precisely the main quest for lifestyle and casual players, clearly involving construction, farming, weaving, and learning life skills."

Everyone seemed to be deep in thought. But they also vaguely felt that something wasn't quite right.

Bai Xiaojun continued, "So why chop trees first? Putting the game aside, our best choice for building houses must be wood. Why? Some people's first instinct would surely be to dig a pit in the ground—dirt is so easy to dig, right? To live like cavemen. But this is clearly a death trap. Dirt is easy to dig, but does it really offer protection?"

The novice players around him shivered. Yes, influenced by traditional thinking, their first instinct was to build shelters with dirt, believing that dirt mixed with gravel would be much sturdier than wood. But in their current situation... On this planet, given the immense weight of the monsters, dirt would be nothing more than a pile of mud.

"I understand!""Holy cow! So that's how it is!""As expected of an expert!""Trees are indeed our only option."

In an instant, some quickly went to chop trees.

"Quiet down," Bai Xiaojun said. "Let's keep analyzing. So, the best choice here is to chop trees first, and the best choice in the original game was also to chop trees first... Can this overlap simply be a coincidence?"

Everyone's expressions changed instantly. Indeed, arriving on this mysterious pixel planet, the very first task was to chop trees. Could this really not be a coincidence? But rather... Was this game on Earth actually foreshadowing something? Had some hidden force created this game long ago to secretly foreshadow the existence of such a planet, similar alien creatures, and a real cosmic environment, instructing them on what to do? Was this globally popular pixel-style game meant to serve as a warning, preparing them in advance?

The more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became! Goosebumps rose on their skin! Or was it simply the "Spore Evolution" game development team creating this planet as a tribute to that game? Some believed it, while others didn't. Many people now felt that this was likely not a game world; everything in it seemed logical. This pixel-style, extraordinary biological planet was truly appearing in reality! But no one spoke it aloud.

Bai Xiaojun also deliberately avoided that topic and continued, "Clearly, we didn't come here like headless chickens, without a main quest. That game already told us this planet is a tribute to a certain pixel game. So our process is: first, chop trees, then build houses, then craft—"

"Wait," someone interrupted, "did you just say we should follow the normal game process and build a workbench?"

Everyone erupted in astonishment; the very idea was too surreal. A workbench? What was that? Crafting and modification! It was the core of the entire pixel game, complete with recipe tables. It could break down trees into wooden blocks, then craft wooden axes, wooden swords, and even itself. It could even combine harvested leaves into seeds to plant in the ground...

If this were applied to reality, what would it be equivalent to? This was akin to the decomposition and synthesis of material particles—a quantum Daoist phenomenon, an incredibly advanced and inconceivable technology.

"A workbench, such a surreal concept, could it truly be realized?" Everyone shook their heads. In that instant, they truly began to believe it was just a pixel game, and the visual similarities were purely coincidental. It wasn't some subtle omen; it was impossible to apply game rules to the entire planet...

*Crack, crack!* Trees fell one by one as players frantically chopped. They discovered that even Third Tier powerhouses, capable of casting various simple spells, found chopping trees extremely difficult, becoming utterly exhausted after felling just one. They were too hard and heavy! One player, giving their absolute all, could only chop down a single tree before collapsing from exhaustion! Fortunately, with 300 players each felling a tree, they had 300 trees. Tied together, they could construct a simple, large wooden house, just enough for the night.

That night, Bai Xiaojun looked at the now understanding crowd and continued, "After we've chopped down the trees, can we truly not make a workbench? Can it really not be achieved?"

"Of course it can't be achieved," someone retorted.

"Exactly," another added, "a workbench is a game rule. How could it possibly appear here?"

Bai Xiaojun smiled meaningfully. "You must understand, trying to measure the extraordinary world with real-world rules is simply not feasible... As I see it, our next main quest has already been determined: building a workbench!"

Immediately, all the players became restless.

Bai Xiaojun explained, "First, we need to understand something: the decomposition and synthesis of matter—what level of ability is that? Ninth Tier! According to our existing intelligence, Ninth Tier realms are where quantum phenomenon-level Daoist magic is required to perform such precise operations, breaking matter down into its most primitive particles and reconstructing them..."

"You know that, so why are you still saying it?" someone asked, speechless.

Bai Xiaojun shook his head. "In other worlds, it indeed requires a Ninth Tier ability, but what about this world? The 'particles' that constitute this world are so large we can almost see them." As he spoke, he pointed to a black pixelated tree and gently scraped off some debris. Upon closer inspection, the debris consisted of ultra-small cubic particles. The scraped cross-section of the tree was also remarkably regular, forming an uneven surface composed of countless tiny cubes.

"Are you saying...?" someone asked, trembling.

"Yes," Bai Xiaojun affirmed. "The basic units of this world are too 'crude'; they are all blocks. So I personally believe that a workbench, capable of decomposing small block particles and then reshaping them, would be far less complex than a true Ninth Tier ability, wouldn't it? A Ninth Tier ability involves manipulating a hundred trillion units, but here? The constituent elements are vastly larger, only tens of thousands. The simplicity of it is naturally conceivable; even lower-tier cultivators might be able to do it. This must be the cultivation system of this world—a truly terrifying path, a pseudo-Ninth Tier quantum phenomenon. The workbench can decompose the pixelated creatures of this world and reconstruct their life structures. This is a unique cultivation system. For example, a block of wood can be decomposed and reconstructed into a wooden axe or a wooden sword. Tree leaves can truly be decomposed and re-formed into seeds, planted in the ground to sprout and give rise to new life! The future of this planet's civilization is terrifyingly, mysteriously grand. If one truly understands it and cultivates this civilization system to completion, I believe it would be like a 'minor Ninth Tier,' leading directly to the path of true Ninth Tier and breakthrough! Because what is Ninth Tier? It's controlling every single cell, a hundred trillion of them. This demands terrifying computational power and control. And what we're seeing right now—isn't it exactly that?"

As Bai Xiaojun spoke eloquently, everyone fell silent. The secret behind it was truly terrifying! So that "My World" game truly did hint at the supreme truth of this world, laying a solid foundation for the entire world's future cultivation system. At the same time, the "workbench" in this small sandbox game was actually a direct pointer to the ultimate truth leading to the supreme "Ninth Tier"! Decomposition and synthesis. Quantum-level control and mastery!

"You should know by now," Bai Xiaojun concluded, "our next task is to truly research these trees and create a crude workbench. Just like in the pixel game, our goal is to transform this planet into that true 'My World'!" Bai Xiaojun declared loudly to the other players, "This is the true path for us farming-style players!"

Everyone was immediately filled with admiration. This was what an expert truly was. To deduce and analyze the profound intentions of the game development team through layers of clues, to understand their painstaking efforts—such reasoning and analysis were truly extraordinary!

Meanwhile, this video clip and accompanying screenshots were quickly disseminated online. The entire online community was unsettled, but the major research institutes were the most agitated.

Realms beyond Eighth Tier Deities. If Eighth Tier beings could leave planets and traverse the cosmos, then Ninth Tier represented an entirely different and terrifying form of life. Any Eighth Tier Deity seemed as weak as an ant... This realm represented an even greater disparity than that between Eighth Tier Deities and Seventh Tier Heavenly Emperors! Planet-destroying combat power. Lifespans of hundreds of thousands of years or more. Ancient, unchanging existences.

"If such an existence could protect our weak native planet, it would give us tens of thousands of years to rise," mumbled a white-haired old man in a US research institute, his face filled with excitement.

*Footsteps approached.* "Did you bring them?" the old man asked.

"Yes, I did," replied a tall, young agent in black, who then ushered in several high-ranking members of the game's development team.

These high-ranking game developers were still utterly bewildered. What was going on? They had suddenly been "invited for tea"... Crimes against humanity? "We just made a pixel game, for crying out loud!" They were on the verge of tears. "It wasn't even an 18+ or bloody, violent game; it was cute and charming, with pixelated corpses. And for this, you're 'checking our water meters'?" They stared blankly at the person in charge, feeling instantly uneasy. They recognized the scientist; his status was terrifyingly high, and he was involved in the most confidential research. Seeing a super military-industrial figure of this caliber, they grew even more distressed. Their blood ran cold, and their scalps tingled with dread.

The dignified white-haired old man, with a straight back, slowly turned around. Utterly solemn, he asked, "I have just one question... How exactly do you make that workbench from your game?"

The game development executives immediately looked baffled.