Chapter 67. Slow life

It's been two months since my revivel, at the beginning the days were starting to blend, I was depressed and the isolation didn't help me.

Only after a trip to the Nether, did I realize how bad it was. On my way home I even considered abandoning the construction project and starting grinding in the Nether with the tribe or with any Bob at the small village.

But fortunately or unfortunately I didn't have to change my plans.

Because my home was broken into by a woman I didn't know.

It was a rough start but we managed to talk out the confusion.

Here's the good part. She was another player just like me, from the same planet and probably at the same time.

So I got the chance to have someone to talk with about my old world without trying to hide it. It surprisingly helped with accepting my recent death and I even managed to finish my base project.

The basement was almost finished anyway so it didn't take a lot of time.

What instead took a lot of time was the fortress on the surface. I wanted to make it intimidating and majestic.

So a combination of deepslate, brick stone and other grey-colored blocks went into the construction.

They were five towers each taller than the other, all hugging each other with no space in between.

The tallest tower was in the middle while the other ones surrounded it from all sides.

It was only five stories high with a pointy roof made of dark wood.

It had a medieval style to it, and I loved it.

Lots of rooms inside and could easily hold more than five people in their room, if we're not picky about the space, that it could surpass 50.

With such a great fortress, how can it not have a great defense?

That's why I dug a ditch around the outer wall and filled it with running water.

It was leftovers from my water elevator, so I had to use it.

It was three blocks wide, you could theoretically jump over it, but you'd hit your face with the wall and fall down into the water. And even if jumped where the gate was, it didn't matter since nobody lived here in the middle of nowhere besides me Merry.

So it was more of a way to work against monsters than actual people. It's hard to build something against anyone who can build over any trap you make.

That's why I have a secret base, you can loot the surface but the real treasure is underground.

Of course, since it was running water, the mobs were pushed away until they fell into a deep pit where they would die for good.

If it's a zombie, the sun will burn the flesh, and the dropers from below will get the bones, if it's a skeleton then the sun won't be necessary. The only problems were the creepers and the spiders, that's why from time to time I have to check the pit and get rid of any cadavers.

I also didn't forget my old tradition of putting swords on my walls to put some extra protection. I even put a few iron swords to spice things up.

I'm very satisfied with how my base turned out to be, and Merry was impressed as well.

Speaking of her, I talked about the good things that her presence brings, and now I'll tell the bad things.

It's not something she does, it's more what her presence means here.

She's the hero brought by the system to fight against a giant monster with an army.

Now we could all believe it was just the talk of an old man that needed attention and lives out happy lives, but her getting here not too long after the new yours party means the Monster Lord is here as well, probably ravaging a few villagers already.

But a person who came from another world only to meet someone in the wilderness to teach her about the world. Is the exact plot where I'll die to give her motivation to fight against the evil Lord.

I know I can come back to life, but I don't want to do that anymore, I'm traumatized enough already with my last death, don't want to be paranoid on top of that.

So I'll teach her what I know as quick as possible then send her against the world.

She won't be my problem anymore... Hopefully.

"There you are Trader, guess who's leveled up on her enchanting skill?"

"Congrats! I think you're doing better them me now. Are you ready to go and learn some more?"

"Actually Trader, I think I want to learn more about combat, can we visit Undying so she can give me lessons?"

"What, my sparing sessions are not good enough?"

I said that with a smirk on my face.

"No offense Trader, but that's not a style that I have high affinity towards."

She was right, I'm not the best teacher for her when it comes to combat. I don't know how to swing a sword properly, sure I learned a few tricks with Froggy when we were stuck at the palace but that is not something I can use against someone that knows how to fight.

My style consists of taking advantage of what I'm good at, more inventory space, and placing blocks faster than anyone else.

Oh, you know how to swing a sword?

How about I run from you, get three blocks higher, and snipe you from there?

You have been surrounded by all sides, a potion of speed and strength can do wonders in blocking, attacking, and building over anything.

Do you have a shield to block all my arrows or my speedy sword?

Well, I have just the thing for you, a firework on a crossbow. Can't get any better than an explosive after every shot.

With all of this, it's safe to say that Merry didn't have fun while sparing with me.

But if it keeps me from losing I won't change it any time soon.

"No Offense taken. Sure we can visit Undying and her tribe, I'm also running low on some materials that I could use, get your golden armor, and let's go."

"We're going now?!"

"Why should we wait, I have everything that I need in my inventory after all."

"Ok, let me get the armor quickly and I'll come soon."

With that, she quickly runs through the door towards the armory to get the only armor with a Cooling effect in that furnace of a world.

I smiled at her enthusiasm and went towards the Ender chest to get my armor as well.

After a quick equip my next destination will be the water elevator, one of my most annoying but proud projects.

On the way there Merry came running down the halls towards me, a little surprised that I didn't wait for her in the room, but still got beside me.

We stopped in front of a normal-looking wall where I dropped a redstone torch to the ground.

Like magic, it disappeared through the floor leading to the wall in front of us to open up to a secret entrance.

How did I make that Happen?

Well, it's a simple mechanism but not so simple to find, the whole floor of this hallway was made with wooden slabs, specifically the lower part.

Underneath a certain slab, there's a hopper, that surprisingly works like in the game, it can absorb items through the slabs.

So I only need to drop the key in a certain place, which would start the mechanism of the door.

As we passed it, the pistons closed the wall behind us, leaving no trace of the secret entrance.

"Do we have to use the water elevator to get there? Can't we just use normal stairs like every normal person?"

"When you have your secret base, you can have as many stairs as you want."

"Ugh! I'll go first then."

She went towards the right hole and made a stiff jump, hands stuck to her body too afraid to hit the walls by accident.

I counted to ten before I jumped as well, water surrounded my body, but strangely, bubbles that defied their nature pulled me downwards, it quickly caught some speed giving me constant flashes of light from the glowstones put on the walls.

Soon I got to the bottom, the ground was hot ready to damage me, but I quickly jumped opening the only wooden door with force.

Before I could even take a breath, I closed the door behind me, no water was going to flood my base.

I took a breath and looked with amusement at Merry who was on the ground waiting for her clothes to dry.

I didn't wait for my turn, instead walked towards the portal room leaving small puddles behind me.

"Where are you going? Aren't you going to dry yourself first?"

"The Nether is hot enough for my clothes to dry without me sitting in one place."

"Why didn't you tell me this?!"

She quickly got up and ran to catch up with me.

Soon we were in front of a huge portal that had red tentacles trying to cover the white room the portal was in.

Of course, everything was a visual effect, we both crossed the obsidian frame and the temperature quickly rose, but the armor was still doing its job.

The other side of the portal didn't have a red room, instead, it was a mirror room on the other side, the only difference was the temperature.

We only need to go back to the portal to see the red blocks.

Why did I do this?

It's because of paranoia. The entrance to my base it's pretty hidden on the Overworld, but someone from the Nether could get inside easily if they found the portal.

Sure the portal was hidden under a netherack hill, but in case a ghast accidentally blew it away I made a safe file

If you look from the Overworld you'll see the same white room, but if you look from the Nether you'll see just a normal red wall.

The portals in this world don't have the same texture as in the game, once the portal is lit, you could see the other dimensions.

But if you go around the portal, and look back at it, you'll see another perspective of the other dimension.

And I only played a little with the illusion of that mechanic, which I'm quite proud of.

We broke a few blocks and now facing the lava lakes all around us.

Of course, we didn't forget to put them back to block the secret entrance of the netherack pillar.

Since I've modified the rooms a little I also had to expand the disguise from a hill to a pillar that connects with one of the many ceilings.

And in my opinion, it's a better option than the previous one.

We walked alone through the Soulsand biome, blue and red forests letting Merry fight some monsters while I collected blocks from time to time.

Finally, after half a day of travel, we arrived at the tribe.

But it seems that it had a lot of activity for some reason.

Was there some kind of party?

We walked inside and stopped one of the Piglins that didn't seem too preoccupied.

"Hey, why's everyone so riled up? Did the outsiders attack again?"

"Great Chief!? No were not attacked, actually quite the opposite happened, Chief Bobby came with them to trade with us."

"He did what!? Wait is he here?"

"Yeah, he's still talking with Chief Undying about the deal."

On no, this is not good.

It's been two months since we last saw each other. And while I needed my time to calm down, he thought I was dead, he saw me die right in front of him, unlike last time.

I gave him a message, but I think that infuriated him more than calmed him. After all, why wouldn't I come to face and say that I'm alive?

I'm not ready for this confrontation, so I'll just leave Merry here and probably come back another time.

"Merry, you on your own here, also don't-"

"Trader is that you!?"

I froze, afraid to turn and look at the familiar voice.

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