Struggling to climb up the wooden staircase at the entrance of the grocery store, Mu Ying placed Yuan Gungun on the ground. This little fellow had gained quite a bit of weight, and even holding him with both hands was a challenge for her.
"Welcome to Oak Grocery... Huh? Is that you? Haven't seen you in many days," Wuyaya said lazily, lying on a soft cushion at the counter. Seeing it was Mu Ying, it perked up a bit, as it had missed the porridge she cooked.
"Yeah, I had gone out for a bit and came straight here after getting back. I can finally repay my seed debt!" Mu Ying said with a smile. Soon she would be debt-free and even able to exchange for more good stuff.
"..." Wuyaya glanced at her with a lack of enthusiasm. This person was even stingier than it, never buying anything, always just selling stuff. But then again, considering her cooking skills, it decided not to criticize her, "You know the rules, go ahead inside."
Mu Ying nodded and pushed open the door to the rest area.
It wasn't long before Shom hurried out from his plantation. "Mu Girl is here, what good things have you brought this time?"
"They're all here. I believe they cover most of the common plants in this region, but there aren't many of each type," Mu Ying said confidently, quite more than the handful of vegetable seeds she had last time, with a subtle sense of anticipation.
"Oh? Then I must have a good look," Shom said.
"Coniferous trees bearing spherical cones? Not bad, not bad!"
"Durian, the name sounds like a flower, a fruit tree? The rind densely spiky, both stinky and fragrant? Strange plant..."
Shom scrutinized each seed, muttering to himself, sometimes with surprise, sometimes sighing, while Mu Ying watched as he accurately identified the names and characteristics of these seeds.
The names were translations from the calls of the plants on Deep Blue Star, and the descriptions were spot on; many seeds she could not even recognize.
Mu Ying deeply admired him; this was truly a Druid! She decided to prioritize learning plant identification.
She stroked Yuan Gungun, who was on her lap, for a while, and finally Shom snapped out from the seeds, "I really love these seeds, far more than 100 types. What should I give you in return?"
"Spell? No no no, those general spells are already enough, and plant identification will take you a long time to learn as well; special plants? The planets beyond will also have many plants, no need for that; personal plantation? The area is too small; can't grow much, besides this girl has a territory..."
"..." I'm not sure whether I should say this, but I can! Mu Ying's expression stiffened.
"Ah, I got it," Shom's eyes lit up as he took off a pouch from his waist, reached his hand in, and rummaged around for a while before pulling out a wooden sign and tossing it to her.
Mu Ying curiously looked at the wooden sign, which somewhat resembled a Lord Token, with "Trial" written in big letters on the front, and "Multiverse Deep Blue Star" in smaller letters on the back.
[Trial Token obtained, please integrate into the Player Manual.]
"Trial Token?"
"Yes, a Trial Token. This token is extremely rare throughout the whole Universe. Each planet and plane has only a few, and it can help you become stronger much faster. I can't say more about it, it's up to you to explore," explained Shom as he exaggeratedly winked and gestured as if he was trying to hint at something.
So mysterious, what's restraining him?
Thinking for a moment, Mu Ying pointed at the token and asked, "Grandpa Shom, do you have a Player Manual?"
Shom laughed heartily as a book appeared before him, "Haha, okay little girl, you go back now, this old man needs to read."
Mu Ying glanced at the book; its cover had the big words "Player Manual" on it.
What an interesting world!
She chose to integrate the token into her Player Manual.
[Ten Thousand Worlds Trial page has been loaded, please check it yourself]
As the token disappeared, her Player Manual thickened a bit, now totaling 7 pages, with the last page being the newly appeared Ten Thousand Worlds Trial.
On the page, within the pitch-black expanse of space, there lay a boundless lake so clear and bright it resembled a mirror that reflected the entire starry sky, as if harboring another world within its depths.
Countless universes floated upon the lake, with threads stretching down from these universes into the water.
One of these universes rapidly enlarged in front of her, and the scene swiftly shifted to a planet on the edge of this universe. Mu Ying recognized it at a glance—it was Deep Blue Star.
From this thread in the universe, more filaments branched out, connecting to various planets, including one that descended upon Deep Blue Star.
"Ten Thousand Worlds Trial begins here."
With these words, Mu Ying felt a strong sense of déjà vu, remarkably similar to the opening CG of a video game.
"Note: The Ten Thousand Worlds Trial is a mental challenge. Please ensure physical safety before entering."
"Please draw your first Trial World."
"Draw successful."
Right after, the entire page underwent a change, leaving only a few lines of information.
"Trialist: Mu Ying"
"Affiliation: Multiverse Deep Blue Star"
"Source Power: 0" (Can be used to convert things from the Trial World into reality, including but not limited to items, equipment, resources, skills, etc.)
"Trial Worlds" (Free trial time: 1 hour/day)
"Option One: Square World"
"Option Two: Unlock conditions not met"
The Ten Thousand Worlds Trial gave Mu Ying the impression of being a holographic online game containing many games, with only 1 hour of free playtime each day. If she wanted more playtime or new games, she would need to pay with Source Power.
This Source Power, she did not know exactly what it was, but it was not interchangeable with copper coins or silver coins; however, the ability to bring things from the game into reality was quite impressive.
After returning home, she immediately attempted to enter the Square World.
The first thing that appeared was the character creation page, which scanned her body information to construct a character.
However, what emerged was a pixelated Square person, completely unrecognizable as her, with a line above the Square person's head, alongside various pay-for services on one side.
"Adjust character appearance: 3 Source Power"
Mu Ying decisively ignored this pay-to-win option and proceeded directly into the trial.
In an instant, she became a Square person, with everything around her composed of blocks.
Beyond that, her field of view contained icons similar to those found in online game interfaces.
In the upper left corner, there were three rows representing Experience, Energy, and Blood Volume bars, below which were a row of ten empty inventory slots. Next to the slots was a hammer icon, which when clicked, opened a workbench containing various item crafting recipes. By collecting materials, she could craft items at the workbench.
Among all materials, wood was the most basic and widely used.
She tried to sense the natural power, but she could not feel anything and, of course, couldn't use any Druid abilities.
In this world, everything was block-sized; she could neither snap off a twig nor pick up a stone.
Without tools and unable to use her abilities, how was she to obtain wood from a tree?