Chapter 56. I'm alive?

I was floating in the dark void, I was feeling tired, emotionally and physically. I've done all the preparations I could, tried to cover everything that could lead to us, only to get yanked back for some reason getting me killed.

How did that even happen? The only thing that comes to mind is an ender pearl station. But I don't remember throwing one in the first place, much less building a station.

Unless... The oath I took with the prince? But we both touched it so he should be affected as well.

In the end, I could only sigh at the unknown answer.

It doesn't matter anyway, I died.

Funny enough I didn't die in my old world but I died in this one, and for a stupid reason as well.

I hope Froggy managed to escape at least, and Bobby did not feel too devastated after my loss, we just reunited after all. Now I'm gone once again, but this time for good.

As I was contemplating my two lives I looked around to explore the emptiness around me.

Surprisingly I could move around, until I turned and saw three huge sockets in the shape of a heart, in them there were two bright red hearts pulsating from time to time, while the third one was empty and grey.

Before I could wonder what was going on, one of the hearts unplugged itself and flew towards me. It was huge, three times my size and it absorbed me.

I felt a surge of life all over my body, I felt like I could fight the world and win, the light started to get more powerful until suddenly it stopped and I was in the middle of the forest once again.

It was night outside, and instead of the calming sounds of the forest, there were only sounds of growling, rattling bones, and heavy steps getting closer.

"I'm not dying for the second time to something so stupid!"

I recognized this place, it was the same place where I first arrived in this world, I don't remember the exact road but I do know the rough way.

So I sprinted towards the trees, arrows passed me hitting the thick trunks, zombies were blocking my way but too slow to react to pose any true challenge. The Creepers though were the ones that made me change my path a few times, they were too much of a risk to take without any armor.

Finally between the tree branches I could see light, then I could see cobblestone.

It was my amazing wall filled with stone swords at the top. The monsters here were more preoccupied with the lights beyond the wall to care about me sneaking behind them.

With a final push, I was on the other side of the wall and quickly closed the gates behind me.

No mistakes, especially at the end.

I went into my house, I was finally safe.

"Well, that just happened. But what did actually happen?"

I was floating in a void, then I saw some hearts, I had three at one point but now only one?

Does that mean that I had three lives, but now I'm down to two?

Ok, pieces are starting to fall In place. Since it's still night outside I can only guess it's been a few minutes since I died.

I took a deep breath and looked beyond the window. There were three big cows, some chickens, and a lone sheep.

It didn't seem to bother them, the noise made by the monsters was a regular thing for them.

I saw from time to time a spider trying to climb over my wall, but stopped by the stone swords, and fell down with a painful hiss.

I'm back at the beginning, but I'm home, I'm safe, and I'm very tired.

With that in mind, I just went upstairs and sat on my white bed, I'm still confused, angry, and even scared, but I can deal with all of those tomorrow.

My head hit the pillow and everything went dark.

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I woke up greeted by the light of the lantern, I didn't have a window here so I don't know if it's day or night outside.

With a rested mind and body, I went downstairs to see the state of my house. It's been a few months after all.

The light danced through the fenced windows letting me know it was day and laminating my house.

It was exactly as I left it, maybe some dust here and there but no missing items.

Actually, since I've seen what this world is capable of building, this house felt like a kid drawing it with their left hand for the first time.

It was just too basic looking, it didn't even have proper windows, instead, it was just a plain wooden fence.

That's it, before making any other big decision I will renovate this place. I will make it so good that a king will be impressed by it.

With that in mind, I went outside and saw the sun all the way up into the sky, which meant I only had half a day to work before it got dark.

I petted some of the animals that I had and while they did seem a bit on guard when they saw me they didn't fight back too much when I had my fun.

My wheat field, if I could call it that, had shown me a surprise. When I left it was just some seeds on the tilted dirt, but what I saw now was a normal grass block with grass as tall as me.

Since I didn't take care of my field, nature took its course and took it all back.

I had to pull out the weeds, tilt the dirt with a forgotten hoe from some chests, and plant the seed on the freshly made field.

That felt satisfying, I don't have a lot of food with me right now, but I can gather some apples from the trees, and I still have some milk to drink.

I went outside my compound with a stone axe and started to chop at the first tree I saw. I wanted to expand my base, if I wanted to make something that I could be proud of I needed to have a lot of space, and to defend that vast space I needed a lot of materials.

I chopped and chopped the trees, and picked up the sticks and apples while enjoying the simple tasks at hand.

Should I actually stay and process the fact that I died and now I'm back to life?

Probably, but I shove it back into the box together with the fact that I'm in a new world without an explanation or purpose.

Should I hurry to connect with Bobby and Froggy to tell them I'm alive and safe?

That would be a great thing to do, with the exception that it won't solve anything. The reason I got in so many messes it's because I didn't know enough about this world or knew too much, gaining me unwanted attention.

But most importantly, the reason that I suffered so much was because I was not strong enough to defend myself in case someone with more wealth decided that im too noisy in their kingdom.

If I want to meet my friends and actually stay with them, I need to be strong enough that nobody can force me to do anything. If words can't solve problems, the one with the most enchanted sword will come on top.

Am I saying all of this because I want a distraction from the fact that I'm actually living in this world and it's not just a game without consequences?

I don't know... Maybe...yes! Who are you? My therapist! Just leave me alone and let me collect my blocks in peace.

Tress started to disappear around my base, I now had a lot of wood, apples, and sticks in my inventory.

Unfortunately, I took all the iron I had to trade with the villagers, so I couldn't make lanterns to light up the new perimeter.

That means, my next course of action will be to mine for iron and other resources. I need many kinds of blocks to decorate my new home.

I also need to grind my Crafting skill, so I can at least make myself some diamond armor.

I almost died twice because iron armor wasn't enough to stop a diamond sword. I'm also wondering if there's an enchantment that resists the effect of potions or magic in general.

So many projects that need attention, but only one person to work on them, I have to do everything in order.

First is my house, and for that, I need a lot of materials, so I'm going back to mining now.

With the help of a minecart, I had a smooth ride towards the deepest parts of my mine. It wasn't big in comparison with what I did at Bobby's village but it did have the starting setup ready.

By some sheer luck, I even managed to get three iron Ingots forgotten in the furnaces.

With this I had my iron pickaxe, which greatly increased my speed of mining, but not the same if it was enchanted.

I spent the next few hours mindlessly mining, I used the same system I made at Bobby's village, rows of tunnels two blocks apart from each other for maximum efficiency.

I liked this mining session, my brain just shut off while blocks were breaking under my pickaxe, and time flew by until my stomach started to complain about the lack of food.

So I ended it there for today, made a few extra furnaces to run while I was on the surface, and then left the mines.

Outside was dark already, monsters were gathering at my walls, making horrible noises.

I went back into my house and ate some good old-fashioned apples and a bowl of milk.

That night I slept wonderfully, I only woke up two times without a reason.

The next morning I gathered all the bones at my walls and grew my wheat farm with their bonemeal. My animals greatly enjoyed some wheat as a treat and for some reason, the cows weren't too interested in multiplying. But I'm in no rush to get some lather, so that's a problem for the future.

With bread in my stomach, I was ready to continue the expansion.

I made a lot of lanterns and placed them all over the ground.

Then I started to build up the wall around my new perimeter. This time I wouldn't use just fences, I'll build something similar to what the cities have.

I can't make it as tall as them, but 7 blacks tall should be more than enough to stop any kind of monster.

For the materials of the wall, I'll use stone bricks, wood blocks, wooden fences, and some other materials where I can tie my hoard of stone swords as protection against spiders.

It took me a whole day but it was finished, unfortunately, I didn't have enough string to attach all the swords, but I could go back to the spider cave to farm for some more.

Monsters started to appear once again, but the wall was finished so I felt safe. Let them bash their head against my mighty wall and I'll collect their bones tomorrow.

I still have some energy left, and I didn't feel like sleeping today, so I decided to get back to mining.

I want to level up my Crafting skills, and the fastest way I can think of doing that, is through crafting iron shovels, in great mass.

So for the rest of the night I mined, smelted ores and cobblestone, crafted some armor for myself in case of any accidents, and went back to the surface with a tired but satisfied smile.

I tried to get some sleep once the sun got out, but I only managed to get a nap at most.

Since I mined enough for today, and still have a lot of blocks to use I decided to start expanding my house.

Or more exactly, my castle.