The 0.000000001% Hidden Continent
The viewers had been eagerly awaiting the server opening, hearts pounding with anticipation. The instant their streamer announced it was live, they rushed to log in—only to find a massive bulletin board standing before them.
Welcome to Babel Town.
This is a war server. Players will belong to one of three continents and wage war against the remaining two. Search the map for hidden relics and offer them at the Altar of Erosion in the center of your faction to raise the Erosion Rate of the Central Continent. Completely erode it to achieve victory.
Server Rules
1. Killing players from the same faction will raise your Crime Rate. Once it reaches 50%, that continent transforms into the Demon Realm, and all affiliated players become Demons and will be recognized as monsters by other factions.
— Demons cannot raise the Erosion Rate.
2. Adamantium, which can only be mined in the Central Continent, is an essential material for the highest-tier equipment. Mining is only possible within territories eroded by your own faction.
3. Players reported for fraud, threats, extortion, or similar offenses will be immediately server banned. The operator will review the case, and innocent players will be unbanned. Naturally, players who file false reports will have all assets seized and transferred to the victim, followed by a permanent ban (denied participation in all future content hosted by Rusty).
※ Server Tip: Excessive desire can sometimes invite disaster.
An arrow next to the board pointed toward the path leading to the portal. Following the well-kept trail for a short distance, a magnificent portal soon came into view. A large sign hung above it, bearing the words:
Entering the portal will randomly teleport you to one of the continents.
Rusty watched with a grin as people frantically logged in. Then the questions started rolling up.
“I’m going to wait a little before joining. If I log in right now, the starting village will be completely packed, won’t it?”
“But why aren’t you guys logging in?”
Ah… That was true. Not every one of his viewers was a jobless bum; they all had their own lives. And since Minecraft was so time-consuming by nature, it made sense that people living in reality would find it difficult to join a server like this directly.
“Still, it’s a shame. I really worked hard on this…”
He wallowed in that disappointment for a moment before another message popped up.
“Ah… Okay.”
Once the loading screen finished, what greeted him was the giant bulletin board and a beautifully decorated path. All sorts of trees lined the trail, a massive pond sparkled on the left, and a towering volcano spewed lava on the right.
Whoa~. No clue who built this (?), but it’s seriously badass.
Sending silent praise to someone’s (?) impeccable aesthetic sense, he continued forward, admiring the trees along the path and the streetlamps placed at regular intervals.
“Yes~. Hello~ Nice to meet you all~”
He exchanged greetings with the steady stream of incoming viewers while walking, then paused in front of the bulletin board. Reading it aloud so the broadcast audience could follow along, he explained, “See here where it says ‘Welcome, everyone, to Babel Town’? I took that from my name, Rusty.”
“Ahem. It’s not ‘rusty’ as in rusted. It’s LUST + i. As in, ‘I am LUST.’ ‘I am desire.’ Pretty cool, right?”
“I have a brain, you know. Did you seriously think I’d name myself after something rusty? You people are hopeless…”
For a while, nothing but “lololol” flooded both the broadcast chat and the in-game chat. They really were perfectly in sync when it came to teasing him, huh?
After fooling around with the logged-in players (his viewers) and the broadcast audience for a bit, he finished reading the board and headed toward the portal.
“Just to explain in advance, you can’t manually choose which of the three continents you get.”
“Taking the portal randomly assigns your faction.”
He kept explaining as he walked toward the distant portal. “Of course, since it’s random, the numbers won’t be perfectly balanced. Just think of that as part of the game’s fun.”
“We’re not splitting people evenly and forcing everyone to play the same way, right? Some will focus on exploration, others on development.”
“Besides, if you look around you’ll find them quickly—there’s one NPC on each continent that gives a quest to change your affiliation.”
“You can only do it once per character, but if you don’t like the faction you’re assigned, just find and complete that quest.”
“Yes, there are. Each faction has its own concept… but I’ll let you discover that for yourselves… hehe.”
“No spoilers. Anyway, the starting village you first arrive in looks identical for every faction, so if you want to check, you’ll have to run around until you’re sweating buckets.”
Whether they had seen the broadcast or were simply annoyed themselves, several players came running, arms swinging wildly.
“Uwahahaha~. Interfering with other characters is forbidden here, so you can’t hit me~”
After teasing his viewers like that, he soon arrived at the portal.
“All right~ Let’s go~”
The moment he passed through, the starting village unfolded before him. Hiding the nervousness he had secretly felt, he finally revealed one fact he had kept from the viewers.
“Hey everyone. Did you know? There’s actually one secret hidden in that portal.”
He lowered his voice like he was sharing confidential information. “The truth is, there aren’t four continents total—there are five.”
“I’m already here, so it doesn’t matter. I can’t go back anyway.”
“Anyway. When someone logs in for the first time and takes that portal, if they hit the 0.000000001% chance, they get sent to the hidden continent.”
“No. The moment even one person gets sent, the function disappears. It’s literally about surviving all alone. There isn’t even a faction-change quest.”
“If you’re a Minecraft veteran, it’s manageable? That place is pretty brutal… Though the mob kill rewards are generous, so you just have to survive the early game.”
“Then… it’s going to be a disaster.”
“That’s why I’m only saying this now—right after coming through the portal and confirming it’s the starting village. I can finally relax.”
In truth, he had been a little scared. If he had even the slightest desire to go there, his insane luck would have dropped him straight into it. What a relief.
--------------
Han Soyu was a broadcaster who streamed under the name Kuronyang. Her lore was that she had lived as a witch’s familiar until the witch reached the end of her lifespan and passed away, leaving the poor cat with no means to survive—thus she had started streaming. A six-month-old indie vtuber, she possessed a uniquely clear and pure voice that stood out even among female streamers with pleasant voices. Nicknamed the Siren, her cover songs had been massive hits. In an industry where it was nearly impossible to survive without corporate backing, she had secured roughly fifteen hundred regular viewers, placing her comfortably among the upper tier of indie vtubers.
Right now, that signature clear and beautiful voice was screaming.
“Kyaaa~~~aaa~~~~~ck!!!!! Go away!! Don’t come near me!! Uwaaang~~~!”
She was fleeing from mobs, voice pitched high with terror.
“What is this? Where am I? Guys! Where is this place?? Huaaang~~”
“Uwaaang~~. They said the portal would take us to the starting village~. Where do you see a starting village here~~!!”
Running frantically, Kuronyang spotted a cave, dashed inside, and quickly dug up dirt to block the entrance.
“Heek… heek… It won’t chase me anymore, right?”
Her fear-filled eyes darted around until they landed on one particular chat. “Sh-should I? First, let’s dig some more dirt around…! Hmph. I couldn’t even gather any wood because I was running away, so all I have is dirt!”
After somehow digging up a few blocks, she stacked dirt around herself and overhead for protection.
“By the way, where even is this? Didn’t they say the portal would send us to the starting village? Why am I in the middle of nowhere?”
Now that she seemed safe, Kuronyang fired off questions in a rapid burst.
As she read the rising chat messages, her face grew paler and paler.
“So right now I’m the only one who glitched and got sent to some weird place?”
“Should I call the operator?”
The situation seemed to be getting worse by the second. Her expression crumpled like she was about to cry.
What if they find a bug because of me? Won’t that cause trouble for Rusty-nim? Should I just end the stream right now?
While she stood there stamping her feet in panic, not knowing what to do, the chat window suddenly exploded.
The strange flood of messages made her eyes widen. “Wh-what is it? What are you all talking about?”
The viewers rushed to explain.
Thanks to the viewers, she finally understood the situation. Her face went utterly blank.
“Then… what do I do now? What am I supposed to do here?”
“Get out of here! You meanie!”
User has been forcibly disconnected.