The Minecraft Server (1)
The players who joined the Minecraft server participation event—or the viewers of the streamers who applied separately—were greeted by a massive plaza the moment they stepped through the portal. A portal stood at the center of the square, styled with a medieval theme, while a grand castle gate to the north led out into the fields. To the east sat a general store selling return stones and inventory protection scrolls. To the west was a farm selling various foods and eggs that hatched into pets. The south held a blacksmith shop offering weapons and all kinds of armor, with an enchanter tucked in one corner who could upgrade equipment.
People wandered around, exclaiming in awe. Several voices called out from the crowd.
A stampede of footsteps followed.
Another rush of players.
Excited players who had only ever seen these features on stream now swarmed the area in a frenzy. When someone shouted, “Huh? Then maybe there’s a hidden secret too?” eyes lit up across the plaza. Players began yelling “The hidden stuff is mine!” and tore the starting village apart. Even newly arriving players joined the chaos, shouting “Where’s the hidden content?!” and ransacking every corner.
One streamer watching the scene muttered, “Hehe. Total chaos, right~?”
The sudden hunt for hidden content spread to other continents through the streamers’ broadcasts. Like a virus, the search might have continued unchecked if not for Rusty’s intervention, which finally restored order.
[Notice – There are no hidden secrets in the starting village. Stop wrecking the place and go mine instead.]
Players clicked their tongues at the notice and dispersed. Most headed off to mine for money, explore their new continent, or test the limits of what was possible—except for a few stubborn holdouts still clinging to hope.
********
“Whew… that was terrifying…”
I had been frantically dodging the flood of players when viewer reports let me check the starting village. I quickly posted a notice and restored order.
“Hey now, don’t slander me. When did I ever tell anyone to buzz off?”
I grumbled, disabled invisibility, and exited admin mode.
I ignored the chat’s sharp-eyed teasing and looked around.
“Anyway, where should I go? It feels overwhelming being dropped into raw survival.”
Listening to the suggestions, I made a decision.
“Then let’s do a bit of mining, grab enough iron for a full set, and head in one direction?”
A mountain rose in the distance.
“Let’s head that way, gather food first, and duck into any cave we find. Okay?”
I chuckled and started running.
. . .
Along the way I chopped a few trees, luckily spotted a pig and a cow, and collected meat. Before long a large mountain came into view, its midsection already exposing stone and coal.
“Oh, coal spotted. If I mine that and get three sets of stone tools, the basics are done.”
Humming a little tune, I ran forward, feeling like things were going smoothly.
“Doesn’t it feel like everything’s working out for once, guys?”
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“Doesn’t it feel like… things are going wrong, guys?”
Kuronyang had already died twelve times. While running around trying to escape mobs, she had accidentally led them straight to the spawn point. Now she died the instant she respawned.
Her viewers were teasing her while she felt like her insides were boiling.
“C’mon… is it really that fun watching me die?”
Her viewers tried to soothe her, startled by the tears in her voice, but it was too late.
“No. I’m trying my best… and you guys just keep teasing me…”
The dam was already about to burst. The more she spoke, the more the moisture built up—until finally, the floodgates opened.
“Hic… I… I was… trying… to do well… hic… but… hic.”
“You just… keep teasing me… hic hic… waaah~”
Kuronyang sobbed in sorrow while her Jipsadan frantically tried to console her with chat messages and donations. She rarely showed weakness, but being dropped alone in a strange place during what was supposed to be a fun game with everyone had made the frustration spill over.
After a while of heartbroken sniffling and the butlers’ desperate attempts to cheer her up, she finally pulled herself together.
“Sniff. I’m sorry, everyone. It’s not even your fault and I got mad for no reason… sniff.”
“Today… sniff. I’ll stop here. I’ll come back tomorrow. Sorry…”
Kuronyang gave a small, cute smile at their reactions.
“Hehe… No, I’m the one who did wrong. Yeah. I’ll come back smiling tomorrow. Bye bye~”
<Ding~ The broadcast has ended.>
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Content: The Rusty server just hit 30,000 concurrent players. Is that number even real?
Content: Not a single bug has appeared so far.
Content: After examining the modpack distributed with Rusty’s permission, they found nothing particularly special except for one mod called “Bridge Mod” that was unusually large. It didn’t appear on any mod sites, so they asked Rusty directly. He said he developed it himself. The mod automatically detects installed mods at launch, merges overlapping parts, and flags conflicting settings so users can fix them. It’s literally a bridge connecting mods. And it’s insane. Just this one mod fixes 80% of the usual problems. It drastically cuts down the time needed to run a Minecraft server. He’s literally the god of programming.
Content: Tell us the concepts already! I want to see people go insane!!
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With no major servers currently running among the big streamers, no standout new games, and no major releases on the horizon, viewers starved for dopamine naturally flocked to Rusty’s stream. His server stood out as an ultra-large participation server capable of hosting twenty thousand players—far beyond the usual one or two hundred seen on other streamers’ events. The fact that he even allowed a few other streamers to join, and didn’t strictly enforce the hundred-player limit on their fans, drew attention not only from viewers but from other streamers as well. It was only natural that Rusty’s server became the hottest topic in the streaming community.
Overwhelmed by participation requests from streamers, Rusty posted a notice.
[Notice – There have been many participation inquiries from streamers.]
First, thank you all for showing interest in our modest server. Due to the large number of streamers wishing to participate, I’m posting this notice.
Our server is run from a server room I personally set up at home. The twenty-thousand-player limit exists because of this; even if we increased capacity, we couldn’t accommodate everyone. Therefore, the twenty-thousand limit will remain in place.
Additionally, distribution of the connection file through the café will end at midnight tonight. After midnight, distribution will stop.
Since this was originally a participation server for viewers, I ask for the streamers’ understanding.
Thank you.
PS. Anyone found distributing the connection file online will receive a broadcast ban and be blacklisted from all future content.