Chapter Ninety: The Module

“Why?!”

Even if Mo Fangyuan might not be able to wield that sword, it was still, in the end, a divine artifact of the Blockfolk!

It belonged to all Blockfolk.

In the hands of Mo Fangyuan, a Blockfolk, it was surely better than being buried in the wilderness or seized by monsters.

He might even be able to seek out another of his kind who could use the Sword in the Stone. If that happened, then at least the Blockfolk race, with a true sword-bearer among them, might fare a little better.

“Damn it!”

Suppressing the restless reluctance in his heart, Mo Fangyuan continued turning the pages of the nameless book.

The analysis of the Sword in the Stone took up half the volume. The remaining half explained other things.

Now that the Sword in the Stone had opened the way, Mo Fangyuan found himself deeply expectant of what followed.

Mods.

“???”

That familiar word caught him utterly off guard. For an instant, it felt as though he had been flung back into the days of his internet-addicted youth.

The Void, Space, Industry, Thaumaturgy, Botany, the Ant World...

Without them, he did not even know how he would have endured those long, tedious days when there was no one to play with online.

And they all had one common name:

Mods.

How could Mo Fangyuan not be astonished to hear such a familiar word in another world?

In his previous life, a mod had meant an alteration or enhancement to a game: changing items, weapons, characters, enemies, systems, events, and storylines, or adding entirely new things to make the game richer and more playable.

The most iconic example of all had been Another Person’s World.

But could the thing in this book, likewise called a mod, really be that?

This was not a game. There were no players, no scripted plot.

Then he recalled the sequence that had manifested in Lin Ye, and it was as if he suddenly understood something.

“…So what?”

He started for a moment, then gave a scornful laugh.

“If corruption comes, then let it come! What standing do the Blockfolk have in this world? Such matters are the responsibility of the world’s favored children, the monsters who have long ruled as overlords. They have nothing to do with us weak and insignificant Blockfolk!”

The Block World favored monsters, giving everything to them!

Endless life spans, the power to respawn anytime and anywhere, the capacity for limitless evolution...

And what did the Blockfolk have?

Even the will to resist monsters was shackled.

Their race had teetered on the brink of extinction time and time again.

And now they were supposed to fight some unknown corruption?

How laughable.

After venting his bitterness, Mo Fangyuan turned to the latter half that described mods.

Mods: the hope for the rise of the Blockfolk!

Though he did not know who had written this book, after reading the earlier introduction to and analysis of the Sword in the Stone, Mo Fangyuan could already conclude that the author was unquestionably a towering master of ocean-deep learning.

If such a person were in the Kingdom of Blocks, Mo Fangyuan would absolutely receive him with the honors due a national champion—

and then make him work overtime.

Its origins are unknown, but some clues may be inferred through myths and records of antiquity...

The moment he opened the first page, those words leapt into Mo Fangyuan’s sight.

It has existed in our world since the moment of creation and has never vanished...

For specifics, consult On Creation, The World, The Sky, The God of Light...

It may be inferred that some are systems, while others are individuals, yet all can be integrated perfectly into the logic of the Block World, as though they had existed since time immemorial.

Reading that passage, Mo Fangyuan almost seemed to see a circle entering the Block World and becoming a square.

Mods are beings both illusory and real. They may be power, they may be objects, or they may even be the Blockfolk themselves...

Every mod possesses wondrous and inconceivable abilities...

At present, all we know is that new knowledge and crafting diagrams sharing common traits can bring them into being... other methods remain to be explored...

From the already integrated Redstone Mod and Age of Mysteries Mod among the Blockfolk, as well as my observation and analysis of the mods controlled by monster forces, it can be concluded that mods possess an innate aversion toward monster factions. Monsters must expend enormous effort and resources to seduce and corrupt them...

“Redstone? Age of Mysteries?”

He could understand Age of Mysteries, since it had originally been a mod in the first place. But Redstone...

The more he thought about it, the more it did seem to make a certain kind of sense.

Mo Fangyuan remembered the theory of parallel worlds.

Even after successful corruption, mods within monster factions still run the risk of losing control...

What is marvelous is that among us Blockfolk, mods are like a natural part of our bodies, capable of being used freely and integrated into our crafting system!

...

Such powerful forces, and yet they are so compatible with us... how utterly incredible!

Mods are the hope for the rise of the Blockfolk race, the hope for escaping the slaughter of monsters!

On this page, the author had used a profusion of exclamation marks to express his shock and exhilaration.

Only, the mods mastered by the Blockfolk are far too few—far less than half of half of what the monster factions possess!

Blade Arts, Chain Mining, More Armor... these mods, all of immense importance to the Blockfolk race, are controlled by monster forces...

Of course, mods cannot be so simple. I shall continue my exploration—until eternity...

“This...”

Mo Fangyuan could not help but feel reverence rise within him. In this age, when the Blockfolk were so pitifully weak, one of their kind had actually produced a great giant among them.

This knowledge was something the Blockfolk of this era should never have been able to touch.

One could imagine how much heart’s blood this giant must have poured into creating such an epoch-making work for the benefit of his people.

“Mods...”

Whoooosh—

“Hiss!”

Only when a full gust of icy wind swept over him did Mo Fangyuan wake from his reverie. He had not even realized how long he had been standing there.

On the far horizon, the moon, radiating pale white light, was slowly rising.

He cast one final glance at the lake below the mountain, and only then did he remember that water could negate fall damage.

“Then tomorrow, couldn’t I just jump straight down from here?”

With the nameless book in hand, Mo Fangyuan walked back toward the village.

Passing the snow-buried houses that entombed the corpses of Blockfolk, he arrived at the two-story stone house in the very center.

The window on the second floor of the stone house, level with the snow surface, had been smashed and fitted with a temporary wooden door.

“Your Majesty!”

The Field Army soldier standing guard at the entrance struck his right fist to his chest in salute.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Mo Fangyuan returned the gesture in kind.

Inside the stone house, several soldiers skilled in reading maps were gathered around the one they had found earlier in the chest, pointing and discussing it in low voices.

“Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty!”

“...”

At the sight of Mo Fangyuan entering, the soldiers all struck their right fists to their chests in respect.

“Your Majesty, look at this map...”

Old Li pointed to the map spread across the wooden plank block and spoke with a troubled air.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a map this... refined.”

“It’s like a work of art.”

A soldier named Wang Mi took up the words.

“Oh?”

Earlier, Mo Fangyuan had been too eager to read that world-shaking masterpiece to pay attention to the map. But now, hearing them speak of it, he realized that if the old veteran had placed it in the chest, it must possess something extraordinary.

“Let me see.”

Mo Fangyuan strode over.

“This... this is incredible!”

The map spread across the wooden board was enormous.

It depicted the vast lands west of the Great River Basin, touched upon the unknown regions to the east, and even extended into the Black Forest to the south.

And all these areas were marked in astonishing detail.

Mountains, rivers, villages on the large scale; caves, mounds of earth, even puddles on the small—everything was carefully categorized.

Most important of all, zombie strongholds established throughout the region had been marked with green zombie-head symbols.

Their numbers, defenses, and estimated combat strength were all recorded in detail.

Mo Fangyuan could scarcely believe that in such a backward age, he had discovered a map this comprehensive.

“With this map, we’ll be able to move through the eastern lands freely in the future!”

At the same time, he grew even more troubled by the old veteran and the destruction of this village.

By all rights, the old soldier had already mapped this region thoroughly. So why had he been unable to flee and seek refuge in another village? He was, after all, a seasoned veteran.

And on this very map, Mo Fangyuan could see quite a few surviving villages marked as well.