Chapter 214: Anticipation for a Better Future (Sixth Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

After selecting Single-Player Mode, the first thing appearing before Wang Han was a character selection screen.

The male default was a figure named Steve (Minecraft character), while the female default was a figure named Alex.

However, character customization was available.

Wang Han took a look. Although it was a pixel style game and the character’s head was a block, the details for eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and nose were surprisingly distinct.

She didn’t use the original skins of Steve (Minecraft character) and Alex as prototypes.

Instead, Wang Han customized her own character and named her ‘Master Builder’ before entering the game.

After all, she had seen promotional content of Minecraft earlier. This game seemed to involve building houses.

Although she wasn’t sure how it worked yet, she figured it was best to decide on a name first.

After all, having a good name meant she’d already succeeded halfway.

She’d even thought of a name for Zhang Yi—Foreman.

Once her Master Builder designed the house, someone else would need to carry out the construction.

While thinking this, upon entering the game, a pop-up notification appeared, prompting her to choose a mode to play.

The options were ‘Creative Mode’ and ‘Survival Mode’.

However, upon seeing that Creative Mode was essentially Invincible Mode, Wang Han quickly made her decision: “I’ll try Survival Mode first. It sounds more challenging.”

‘Detected your first entry into Survival Mode. Would you like to learn some essential basics?’

After Wang Han confirmed her choice and generated a World Seed to enter Minecraft, a notification pop-up appeared.

This was triggered for every new account entering the game—a segment providing basic explanations about Minecraft, helping players understand how to play in Survival Mode and introducing fundamental operations.

For example, how materials are collected and how to craft tools.

Although Minecraft, as a sandbox game, was considered the freest of all sandbox games,

freedom didn’t mean there was no need for a new player tutorial. It didn’t have to be lengthy, but at least some basic concepts and operations needed to be introduced to players.

Wang Han thought for a moment and selected ‘Yes’.

Next came the official game segment. Following the system’s instructions, Wang Han performed some simple operations—moving forward, backward, left, right, jumping, and running.

It was extremely simple, nothing particularly special.

Meanwhile, the game’s UI wasn’t very complex either.

It was mainly concentrated at the bottom center of the screen, with the Item inventory at the very bottom—currently empty.

Above the Item inventory, on the left, was a red heart representing the character’s health.

On the right was a leg of meat, representing the character’s hunger level.

There was also something resembling an experience bar, but the game seemingly had no level up or attribute-boosting mechanics, which left Wang Han somewhat confused.

But since she didn’t understand it, she decided not to overthink it. Just play first.

“Next, I should go chopping down trees to collect wood. Indeed, no matter the game, the saying ‘To get rich, first chop trees’ is always a timeless truth.”

Wang Han sighed with emotion, preparing to follow the prompt and chop down a couple of trees.

She surveyed the surrounding environment. She was currently standing on a hill, entirely made of stacked blocks.

Both the hill and the plains were dotted with many trees, and in the distance, she could see a vast sea.

Without hesitation, Wang Han ran toward the nearest trees.

Approaching a tree, she pressed the left mouse button and watched as the pixelated character’s right hand began chopping the tree at a ridiculously fast speed.

Her right hand moved back and forth rapidly, and the targeted block quickly displayed a cracked, net-like pattern before suddenly shattering and scattering across the ground, turning into small blocks.

She moved her character over them, and the small blocks automatically entered her inventory.

Meanwhile, a wood icon automatically appeared in the Item inventory at the bottom of the screen.

Selecting the wood from the inventory, Wang Han tried clicking the right mouse button on the ground and saw a perfect cube appear in front of her.

“So this is how you build things in the game!”

“These individual grids are the unit range for building.”

Looking at the wooden cube in front of her, Wang Han instantly grasped the basic rules of building in Minecraft.

“The next step is turning wood into planks and making a crafting table.”

“Then I can begin my building journey. What’s the point of building houses in Creative Mode? Watch me construct Lothric Castle in Survival Mode!”

After converting the wood in her inventory into four planks and placing down a crafting table, Wang Han was filled with fantasy about her future building journey.

“Hmm, now I can craft more things. Combine sticks with planks to make more tools.”

Reading the system prompt, Wang Han suddenly understood.

This wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to her.

It was just like in Don't Starve—many items needed to be crafted.

For example, to chop down trees, you needed an axe. In Minecraft, although you could chop trees and dig dirt or gravel by hand, that was only efficient for wood, dirt, and gravel.

For stone and coal, it was possible by hand, but it took much longer.

Using the wood in her hand, she crafted a crafting table, then used the crafting table to make a wooden axe and a wooden pickaxe.

Shortly after, another pop-up notification appeared in the game.

“Huh? Is the new player tutorial already over? Is this game really this simple?”

Seeing the pop-up, Wang Han was surprised to find that the beginner’s guidance had already ended.

Well, not exactly ended—since the notification still reminded her of what to do next,

along with some textual tips.

In reality, this was Chen Xu’s intentional design.

He wanted players to understand how Minecraft actually worked and realize that various items needed to be crafted.

This was more or less sufficient.

Additionally, the game had a built-in crafting recipe book.

Of course, Chen Xu hadn’t placed every single item directly in front of players in the crafting recipe book.

It mostly contained only early-game recipes,

such as torches, beds, and Conduit, among others.

More advanced items still needed to be gradually discovered and unlocked by players in the game.

“At night, monsters will appear in the game, so you need a house and a bed. Sleeping on a bed allows you to skip the night instantly. Without a bed, you’ll have to wait slowly.”

“Health and hunger level—just like in Don't Starve, you restore them by eating.”

Combining the recent pop-up notification with her understanding, Wang Han quickly grasped a basic rule in Minecraft.

“I’ll chop some more wood first and build a house before nightfall.”

Wang Han quickly made a decision.

As for beds, she saw that they required wool and planks to craft.

Wool naturally came from sheep.

But after scanning the area, she didn’t see any sheep—only trees.

She did spot some pigs, though. So, she swiftly killed several pink piggies and collected some meat, ensuring she wouldn’t starve.

Of course, it was also possible she hadn’t traveled far enough yet.

But for Wang Han, the immediate priority remained chopping trees and building a house.

Constructing Lothric Castle was too grand a goal. First, she should build a cozy home.

After all, grand ambitions began with small steps.

Filled with hopeful anticipation, Wang Han raised her axe and began chopping trees.

Once she gathered a hundred or so wood blocks, she could find a nice spot to build her cozy little nest.

Watching the number of wood blocks in her Item inventory steadily increase, and the durability of her wooden axe slowly depleting, Wang Han couldn’t help but smile with delight.

She hadn’t even thought about mining some stone first to make a stone axe and improve efficiency.

Because right now, her mind was focused on only one thing—what kind of house she wanted to build.

Should it be Simple European style, Classical European style, Traditional Chinese style, or Postmodern style?

One more chapter, before 12 o’clock.

(End of Chapter) <>