Chapter 4: No shortcuts to mining

With morning rays streaming through the gaps in the door I awaken, in absolute agony! God, my back is killing me this hurt more than sleeping in a tree.

What I need right now is a bed, very badly… not even a good bed, just something soft. I need to find some sheep; wait I need shears to harvest the wool. No need to kill the sheep. Now that I think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen many, no I haven’t seen any peaceful animals, other than the odd bird.

Fine I’ll settle for some moss if I can find any... Alright let’s settle my priorities for the day- “Rumble” thank you stomach. Get more berries and find a new food source if possible. Go mining for stone tools. Thankfully I live next to a river. Get some soft moss to sleep on or find some sheep. Whichever happens first.

Starting the day, I craft a pickaxe and a shovel. Wooden of course. Digging a staircase down with a shovel... although it is faster than it used to be, it’s still a pain in the ass. A shame I don’t live near rock outcroppings or a cave. Digging down about 5 blocks I strike stone. I keep digging until I am 4 blocks deep in stone before I make a small 4x4x3 room. You know, just a basic mining supplies area. Barebones for now.

Taking my haul upstairs, I’m positively starving now. Not thirsty, I had the foresight to drink something but managed only to keep me going until midday . Time flies when you’re digging with crappy wood.

Making my way to the berry bush, I take the time to properly look at it, see the leaf shape, wood type etc. Really identify it. So that I can find more. I eat a belly full and then clean out the rest of them. About 1 more belly full and then I’ll have enough to start a farm. Although I’m starting to feel a bit sick of eating these things. When you are hungry, you will put up with anything really.

Heading home I’ve recuperated so I craft a hoe first. With a plan in mind, I take a sharp rock, split the berries down the middle, remove the seed, and set the flesh aside. Using the shovel, I create a thin water stream going in a circle around a plot of land I will be farming. Yeah, a circle wow, breaking the cube world, haha. Anyway, I start hoeing and realize quickly that although I'm kind of guided to make 1x1 meter squares, it's actually pretty flexible, and it is hard, like really hard. It must have taken most of the afternoon. I take the seeds and plant them 1cm deep, evenly spread out in the now plowed land. It’s a gamble as I don’t know how the seasons work here; the crop could fail. I didn’t start the seeds or anything but I’m hoping a hardy natural crop will do the heavy lifting here. I am no master farmer for sure.

Taking the time, I now craft a furnace using my crafting table and set it down next to it. Quickly harvesting some logs, I get some charcoal cooking. It is hard to explain but I just knew how to use the furnace although I was still clumsy at placing the wood on top and heat below... it's separated by a stone block so it cooks and doesn’t burn to make charcoal.

Taking some wood, I expand my house over the hole where my mineshaft will be. Using the charcoal, I prepare torches which I then use to light up the hole, I left the roof part open to not choke myself with carbon monoxide poisoning. These torches do seem to burn out but much slower than anticipated. They should be good for a few days.

And now I can take a break... eating the handful of flesh from the berries earlier, I enjoy a short break. I then go to bed hunting. I need something soft like moss, it is not far from dusk so I get a move on searching around where I think I would find moss.

Didn’t work so with a slight jog I continue into the forest, aiming for the densest part. Bingo, moss right on this tree, lovely. As I am collecting the moss, I curse the fact I didn’t bring my good old basket. An armful it is.

As I am harvesting the moss, I spot particles like floating energy emanating from deep in the woods. And I book it. As much as a curiosity like that is more than likely magical and awesome, I am under-equipped for such a venture. And my biggest weakness is that although I have NEI, I do not have a way of identifying items. I only have my memory and backtracking from my NEI which is inefficient given the metric ton of items I would have to sift through to identify an obscure magical object.

So, I will stick with things I know for now thank you very much. Not forever but until I get my bearing and have my first death insurance. Shush, I have a plan for that.

Anyway, back home with my spoils. Slightly soft moss, sigh my standards are so low.

With a quick drop and pat I now have a bed that won’t leave me hunched over in 5 years. I hope; now you might be asking what I’ll be doing this evening, well sleeping is not it. I craft a stone pickaxe, enough of a hint? Yeah, I know, too on the nose. Anyway, yeah, I am mining. For stone as my luck in getting ore doesn’t stand a chance. I’ll fix that with divining rods from random things but to make them I need the item so for now good old fashioned mining.

I need to collect enough stuff to make an actually nice home. Unfortunately, I won’t make much progress until I find a storage mechanism that doesn’t involve my 2 arms. I’m thinking either an alchemical satchel or a bag of holding but either way I need mined materials, so it’s time to go back to mining.

Digging down I make stairs down; I say stairs but it’s actually 1-meter blocks that I have to climb up like a barbarian. I mine a good 15 blocks down before I make another room the same. Glowstone would be nice so I don’t smoke myself out to see! I put finding a cave on the list but for now, this will work. Even glow shrooms would be better, again, I need a cave. I make a 5x5x3 room with a stone pillar in the middle, just in case. And I’m also getting claustrophobic, it helps. It's suffocating knowing I’m under tons of stone. No way around it sadly.

With the room complete I get started on the branches to a strip mine, yeah, I am not ready for a cave dive even if I find a cave. Let’s play it safe. With a quick trip upstairs, I make a chest and a crafting table for down here both of them. Spending a long time, I place all the stone I’ve recently mined that I just left wherever in the chest. Okay back to mining.

I choose the strip-mining format north south east west; I don’t know which is which at this point but because of how blocks break I can at least find the cardinal directions and that’s all that matters. Creating long 1x2 tunnels in each of the cardinal directions. After making them each about 15 deep I get started on stripping the walls. I mine into the walls about 4 blocks deep then skip 3 blocks and start again until both sides have been mined into, I am looking for veins of ore.

My time has not been wasted either wayas I need stone for building non ignitable houses. After repeating this I quickly find, get this; coal. I had seen that coming. Most common ore going.

Not deep enough for anything other than coal and iron anyways, unless something modded jumps out. Maybe copper but I feel like I’m missing something... I think the mods are separated by more than sparsity. Just a guess but I’ve seen very little modded stuff so to speak. Mostly ambiance mods to be fair.

Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I need to, for now, I mine all the coal ending up with about 13 pieces, in item format. If my numbers are correct each represents the cooking capacity for 8 items. Not as heavy as stone. I pop them in the chest bringing about 4 upstairs with me. It may be a good idea to catch a break. Maybe fight a monster and then go to bed. Preparing myself, a stone sword, the difference is night and day. Okay I look out the door let’s see; no monsters very close, but I can hear noises. I step out into the clearing.

Ideally, I want only 1 monster until I become a better fighter. Poking around my home I noticed my plants are starting to grow. Not only is that impressively quick it also is wonderful news for my food situation. Still seedlings but a strong start so I don’t turn into the skeletons I’ll be fighting in this world.

And in my distraction, I hear it skittering on the floor. Turning around I come face to face with a true nightmare. A spider. This one was not known for a venomous bite, a standard big, hairy, ugly spider. “Ugh” shivers go up to my spine. At least it's living so killing it should be several notes easier, I hope.

Taking a step back I ready my sword, and oh my Felix it is fast... I start to run to try and make some distance. It's incredibly fast. I dodge to the left. I feel the wind as it lunges and misses. I take my chance and jump on it with my sword. It now has a nasty gash on its side. “Screech” It didn’t like that.

Wait it's starting to back away, not stupid are you? Unlike the mindless zombies. I weigh my options... let it run or kill it. String and the eyes are very useful. I choose to kill. I need the eyes for divining rods. I run at it. Adrenalin pumping, I throw myself at it lodging my buckler in its jaws as I cut off 2 legs. I try to pull my buckler back but it holds on hard, I untie it from my arm pulling back before it can do some harm. By now it's bleeding a lot of greenish blood and clear liquid.

It turns to run, not with my buckler you don’t! Chasing after it I trip on top of its “bang” I think it would have attacked me if it wasn’t stunned beyond belief. Or my buckler lodged in its fat gob. I forgot I cut its legs of course it won’t be as fast as before. It is like a meter and a bit long so this definitely did not hurt it much. Nonetheless I spear it with my sword in panic pinning it to the floor. Backing away off-balance I watch as it struggles to escape. “I am sorry” I feel bad. The poor thing is in agony. I jump and crush its head with my foot, it’s the only thing I can do, wait I need its eyes! Crap.

Nothing to be done, as it disintegrates, I wait for my prizes to drop, nothing to frisk off its corpse-like zombies. And it drops 1 eye and 2 string weird... I crushed all its eyes. Why did I get eyes? Not to look a gift horse in its mouth but that’s very odd. Nothing to do about it “Thank you, Felix”.

On the walk home I have a slight limp, nothing, some bed rest, “cough” moss rest won’t fix. But I must look like a zombie on the way home. Falling hurts in both Minecraft and real-life apparently, I thought my first fall would be enough of a lesson.

“Whoosh” That’s an arrow, “Shit!” I turn to see a skelly with another arrow being nocked. Safe to say I bolted it. Not looking to get an arrow in the ass this evening, another day walking fertilizer. Swerving through the trees I think I am finally getting my bearings. Good things come in small doses. Dad always said that “Sigh... I miss my family...” like, we weren’t perfect but what family is not a little dysfunctional. Always had each other’s back but if chocolate was placed in the fridge my brother or my mother would always steal it and blame the other. Good memories. I once placed chili chocolate in the fridge, my brother stole it that time because I came home with 1 bite missing and a brother guzzling milk.

Worth it. I smile contentedly as I reminisce. Anyway, my clearing comes into view and without further ado, I enter my home and finally rest. Drop my stuff in the chest and go to bed, as green as it might be it was the world today. I drift off to sleep not with nightmares but memories, good memories.