The most stable trade model is when both parties feel they're benefiting.
Clearly, this sentence was perfectly shown between Notch and Stephen. Both sides felt they'd latched onto a big thigh.
Luckily, Stephen really did have powerful strength.
As long as they didn't meet anyone stronger than Stephen, they should be able to maintain their "boss" aura, for now.
With Stephen's addition, Notch's journey as a wandering merchant had gotten off to a good start.
With a goal in mind, Notch naturally also came up with some plans.
Although Notch planned to become a wandering merchant in the Trial Grounds, his trade model wasn't going to be like the overworld's.
In the overworld, the currency used by wandering merchants was emeralds.
Notch didn't intend to copy that. Notch didn't have anything he urgently needed, and he didn't want to fix a single currency for trading.
His purpose was to observe, transmit, witness, and guide.
He wanted to become a bridge. A bridge for trade, a bridge for communication, a bridge to solve the difficulties between each faction.
So the currency of trade could be materials from other regions, could be various pieces of information, and so on.
As long as it was something Notch thought had value, it could be used as currency in trade.
However, this kind of trading model, more or less, had to be built on a foundation of mutual trust. So the path Notch wanted to walk was actually quite similar in approach to Xu Yuan's.
———
At this moment, it had already been 3 hours since the Trial Grounds opened.
The various factions inside the Trial Grounds had also begun to take initial shape, and each faction had basically come to personally experience its own difficulties.
The snowy plains region was guarded by players led by Black Blade.
Though they didn't need to worry about food rotting, they had no choice but to consider the source of food.
Although there were many lakes on the snowy plains, and it seemed like fishing could solve the food problem, it was obvious that the real HIM couldn't possibly allow each region to be self-sufficient without interaction.
The lakes in the Trial Grounds weren't like the ones in the overworld, where you could fish casually and not worry about food.
The lakes in the Trial Grounds seemed to have fish that wouldn't respawn, once you caught one, there was one less.
And the chance of fishing success had also dropped significantly.
Also, fishing required consuming rotten flesh, with each piece able to craft three bait.
The food reserves across the snowy plains could probably only barely meet the players' consumption for the first few days.
And the tests of the snowy plains were not just about food. The temperature in the snowy plains was extremely low, and being there would apply an extreme cold effect.
Once the extreme cold index reached a certain value, health would gradually decrease. So players had to rely on making fires to counter the extreme cold index.
Even the torches in the Trial Grounds had been changed. They weren't permanent anymore, they now had a time limit.
Campfires were the same. Which meant that players needed a large amount of wood to stay warm.
But trees in the snowy plains were extremely scarce. And the farming conditions in the snowy plains were also very worrying.
Trees and crops basically couldn't grow, and even using bone meal had very little effect.
There was, actually, a once-and-for-all method.
Redstone torches could replace normal torches. But minerals in the Trial Grounds were extremely scarce, so redstone naturally became very precious.
———
In a similar situation to the Black Blade faction was the desert region, occupied by Steve.
The players of Steve's faction also didn't need to worry about food rotting. Leaving food on the ground for 1 hour could dry it in the sun, extending its shelf life.
But the desert, like the snowy plains, lacked sources of food.
Though the desert didn't need players to keep warm like the snowy plains did, the desert had a dehydration problem.
Once entering the desert region, players would immediately gain a thirst effect. When the thirst effect reached a certain value, health would also start to drop.
So water also became a hard necessity for players in the desert.
Although the desert had some small water sources, they were like the fish in the lakes, non-renewable resources.
Use one bucket, and there was one less bucket.
Although the conditions in the snowy plains and desert were truly quite harsh, these two regions also had some natural advantages.
The number of ruins in both the snowy plains and desert regions was relatively high.
———
In the other regions, three more had basically solidified.
One was the rainforest region, where animals who had developed consciousness had gathered.
The vegetation here was lush, water resources were abundant, and it was most suitable for farming. Though the thick vegetation made it easier for mobs to spawn, that wasn't a bad thing for the animals.
The monsters that spawned in the Trial Grounds wouldn't actively attack those animals.
That was also the reason why those animals who developed awareness chose this place.
While the complex terrain of the rainforest was a hassle for players, it was a natural shelter for the animals.
Add to that the protection from monsters, and it really was an ideal refuge.
However, unlike the players, the animals who entered the Trial Grounds, just like before, had no hunger mechanic.
In other words, whether they ate or not was completely up to their own preferences, and they had no significant need for food.
———
Similar to the rainforest was the forest terrain occupied by the Illagers.
The Illagers also, like the animals, had no hunger mechanic. If the rainforest was a paradise for farming, then the forest was a paradise for animal husbandry.
The animals here could reproduce on their own without being fed. And the reproduction rate was much faster than in other regions.
To summarize, the rainforest and forest were essentially two giant food reserves.
It was just a pity that the two factions occupying them had no demand for food.
———
The remaining faction that had already taken shape was the one represented by Mustard, the Villager.
Mustard had originally planned to find a more hidden refuge and develop quietly.
But unexpectedly, he ran into Barbecue Sauce, who was returning a leatherworker villager to his original home.
As a villager, Mustard had no past grievances with animals. And after learning that it was Barbecue Sauce who saved the leatherworker villager, he naturally let down his guard toward him.
However, Barbecue Sauce didn't tell Mustard about his encounter with Xu Yuan.
Barbecue Sauce knew about the hatred between villagers and players. Even though he wanted to be a pioneer, he understood very well that Mustard wouldn't change his views on players just because of a few words.
Once Barbecue Sauce found out that Mustard could change professions, he immediately decided to join Mustard's team.
Barbecue Sauce clearly understood Mustard's importance. In the future, Mustard would absolutely become a target that all factions would fight over. Which meant that Mustard would become the hub of communication between factions.
Although Barbecue Sauce didn't yet know how to use Mustard to change the situation, he was very clear that Mustard's thoughts would be a huge factor affecting the whole landscape.
That was also why Barbecue Sauce chose to stay by Mustard's side.
If he could do something at a key moment to influence Mustard's thinking, to change his ideas, then the whole situation might drastically change because of it.
It was precisely because of Barbecue Sauce's sudden joining that Mustard changed his original idea.
Previously, when Mustard realized he was in the Trial Grounds, he had planned to leave the grasslands and go to a more hidden place to develop.
He preferred the mountain region, mainly because the Villager Kingdom currently resided in the mountains.
Since the Villager Kingdom was established, players had basically never discovered it, so the mountain region was still very safe.
Actually, the main reason Mustard had this idea was because he and Snort Snort didn't have much combat power.
Snort Snort was slightly better than him. But according to Snort Snort, he had once accidentally comprehended some earth-element power. But after coming to the Trial Grounds, that elemental power could no longer be used.
After gaining that elemental power, Snort Snort rarely fought in melee.
Now that he had suddenly lost his elemental power in the Trial Grounds, his strength had been greatly reduced.
Mustard, knowing he basically had no combat power, and that Snort Snort's strength had taken a big hit, had planned to go to the mountain region to lie low and recover.
But after meeting Barbecue Sauce, Mustard changed his mind.
Although Barbecue Sauce's strength wasn't enough to make Mustard completely drop his sense of crisis, he had to admit, Barbecue Sauce had good overall strength.
But Mustard's change of mind wasn't purely because of Barbecue Sauce's power.
Mustard mainly considered the problem of information gathering.
The mountain region would indeed be much safer, but getting information would undoubtedly be very difficult.
The Villager Kingdom could be stationed in the mountains only because the Villager King had long built up an information network.
With villager scouts and help from animals to pass messages, even while living in a remote and overlooked mountain region, their information wasn't cut off.
But the Trial Grounds were different. Mustard simply didn't have the time or resources to build an information network.
In other words, living in the mountain region might guarantee safety and survival until the Trial Grounds ended, but what was the point of that?
So Mustard made a risky decision, to stay in the grasslands.
This grassland was at the central intersection of all terrains.
Northeast was forest, southeast was desert, northwest was snowy plains, and southwest was rainforest.
For any region wanting to cross into another terrain, the grasslands were a must-pass area.
Many things were sure to happen here, and in the future, wars would almost certainly break out.
But Mustard wasn't worried. As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place.
It was exactly because this place would become chaotic later that people probably wouldn't choose to settle down here.
As long as the base wasn't exposed on the surface, it should be relatively safe.
So Mustard chose his initial base to be a few blocks deep underground beneath the leatherworker villager's house.
He also instructed Barbecue Sauce and Snort Snort to collect all sorts of random items every day, and place them (except for food) in the chests inside the wooden house.
Of course, those items weren't their actual resource reserves. It was preparation for the safety of their secret base.
This was actually a kind of psychological warfare that Mustard was playing.
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