Episode 8: Improvements (2)

I have been very busy with mining.

I spend an entire week solely to mining.

It is relatively easy now to mine since all my tools are now made of iron. I managed to reach B-60 and luckily found 6 diamond ores. I also found some other ores like redstone and lapis. I even found some gold ores which is nice.

I made a clock using gold ingots and a piece of redstone dust so I can keep track of time. It is really hard to tell time when you are mining underground. I even got trap inside the mine shaft for one night because I lost track of time and decided to craft another bed and sleep inside.

I tried on digging even deeper to the ground but since I found some diamonds and other ores on B-60 level, I decided to just keep on mining here. I don't know how deep this world goes but I think the deeper you go, the more ores you can find. I just need to hit bedrock and stop on that level since I can't break a bedrock.

All the resources that I mined in the mine shaft were used in increasing the security of my territory.

Since I already have a castle keep, I decided to build a wall surrounding it. I even include the farm, the barn and the chicken coop inside the wall.

The wall is 5 blocks high and 3 blocks thick. It used quite a lot of stone bricks but since I have a ton of them it doesn't matter. It has two towers on each side of the entrances on the north, east, south, and west and there are also towers on each corner of the wall. There are a total of 12 towers.

The towers are useful for surveying the surroundings and attacking the enemies if necessary. I also built a roof on it in case there is rain.

The ramparts of the wall are 2 blocks wide so it is easy to move around. They are also merlons to protect from range attacks and embrasure to be able to fire back.

I placed oak doors in entrances for now. I can craft some iron doors since I have a lot of iron right now but I have only enough to build armor. My territory is already safe with the castle and the walls and everything. It is time for me to have protection for my body.

I should also build a moat. I don't see any water nearby like a lake, river or ocean so maybe in the future when I find a water source, I can just redirect some of it to the moat. It is also useful too since the water supply will be relatively close.

The castle keep was also once again upgraded. There are battlements on top of it now so in case enemies managed to breach the wall I can just fire arrows at them on top of the castle. The only problem is I don't have a bow and arrows.

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I am on the third floor of the castle right now.

It is still dark outside but the sun is about to go up.

I crafted a set of iron armor. A helmet, chest plate, leggings, shoes, and a gauntlet. The gauntlet recipe is just putting two 3 iron ingots on a straight line parallel to one another. This cost me a total of 30 iron ingots. This is equivalent of 3 weeks of non-stop mining which is crazy considering in the game, 2 hours of mining will get you a set of diamond gear.

I equip all of the armor. When I dragged them into the armor slot, they suddenly appeared in my body which is really weird but super convenient. This is useful when the armor run out of durability you can switch to another one in an instant.

The armor is a little bit heavy but you can still move freely. I crafted a diamond sword since I have 6 diamonds in my inventory and equip it in my right hand. It is better to have the best sword around. I've been practicing how to use the sword since the day I recovered from the zombie attack. I don't want to be caught off guard again.

I tried crafting a wooden shield but stop. There must a better shield here in this world. I replaced all the wood planks on the crafting recipe of the wooden shield with iron ingots to see if I can craft something else. Surprisingly, I managed to craft an iron shield.

The iron shield has the same size and image of a wooden shield but the only difference is it is made of iron. So, this means I can craft different types of shield here. I should build a diamond shield if ever I find more diamonds in the mine.

I tried swinging my sword while fully geared up. It takes time to get used to but I'm starting to get accustomed to it.

After double checking my inventory to see if I miss something, I head outside the castle keep to see that the sun is already up.

I'm about to do what is the craziest thing ever and that is monster hunting.

I need more information on this world and the only way I can think of is by hunting monsters and taking their loot.

I got quite a lot of information from Rolf the zombie but it is not enough. First, I need to know where I am. There are also other things that this world is capable of compared to the game that I didn't know. I need to collect as much of information as possible before I head to my journey.

I started walking south.

My original plan for monster hunting is by waiting till night comes but I don't know how many monsters come out at night. I might be overwhelmed by the numbers and die so I decided to find some sort of narrow caves. I know zombies burn in sunlight so they must be hiding in there somewhere. There are also other monsters to watch out for but it should be easy enough to kill them if the passage is tight and make sure they don't get behind me.

But if ever I encounter some creepers, I'm just going to run away at full speed. I'm not in a mood on fighting suicide bombers inside a narrow cave but if ever I have a bow, I should be able to kill them.

Maybe I should find some spiders first. I don't have any way of attacking a distance so it really must be a priority but I don't know where to find them. I should just stick to finding some caves and maybe I find some string on the monster loot.

I was walking in the forest with vigilance.

This is my first time walking really far away from my home. I need to be ready for anything.

I placed some sign posts using fences and signs every time I take a turn so I can find my way home. I used a small piece of charcoal to use as a pen. I wrote directions to my home and the rough distances of each turn. This is should be enough to make sure I don't get lost.

A map is useful right now but I don't have the materials to craft one. I also tried crafting a compass but it only points north which would make sense since that how compasses work. In the game, compass points to the place you spawn in so I was hoping to have a convenient thing around but no such luck. At least the compass is useful underground since you can't see the sun.

After walking for about 300 blocks, I finally found what I was looking for.

A cave.

The entrance is about 4 blocks wide. I hope it is narrow inside for me to fight in otherwise I'm in trouble if they surround me.

I take out a torch and hold it on my right hand while I tighten my grip on my shield. Lantern should be useful right now but I want to place torches on the cave so I can see more of the surroundings.

Torches should also be useful for finding my way out. I don't have the luxury of writing signs while exploring a dark cave so if I place some torches on the right of the cave wall then I can use it as a guide. Though they only last for about 2 hours so I should do this quickly.

Luckily, they don't seem to be monsters near the entrance so I slowly enter the cave.

My heart is beating so fast right now.

As I go deeper into the cave, I constantly place torches on the right side of the cave. I place quite a lot of them to make sure that it is bright enough to see everything. I hope this mission of mine will be successful and produced a lot of loot otherwise the resources I spent in it will go to waste.

The caves have lots and lots of branches and every time I hit a dead end I just head back to where I was before and try the other pathway. I didn't collect back the torches just to leave something behind to indicate it is already explored.

It is about 10 minutes of walking in a cave and I didn't see any monster. I continued exploring this cave since there still a lot of places that haven't been explored.

Suddenly I hear something.

I immediately placed torches all around me to brighten up the place.

I equip the diamond sword and ready myself.

The sounds of the footsteps are nerve-wracking.

A moment later, I see a white skeleton that is holding a stone sword and a wooden shield appeared. It also has a leather armor on.

I didn't know that white skeletons can use swords here since in the game they only are known for attacking at a distance using a bow and arrows. It seems everything goes in this world.

I snap out of my thought when the skeleton sees me and started charging.

I started to swing my diamond sword at the skeleton.

The skeleton sees my move and raises its shield to block the attack but my sword managed to cut everything and I mean everything. The shield was cut in half along with the skeleton then it fell on the ground.

I was so astonished to what happened.

I didn't know that a diamond sword will be this sharp. How sharp will this sword be once it has enchantments?

Another monster popped up. It is another skeleton.

"Aaah!" It suddenly screamed like it was calling for help.

Then suddenly I can hear lots of footsteps in front of me.

I readied myself and stood my ground for what's about to come.

There are five of them now.

There are holding the same equipment with the first skeleton I encountered except for the two holding bows.

Three of them started to charge at me.

Luckily, the cave is only 4 blocks wide so only two people can fit side by side.

I swing my sword wide horizontally. The two skeletons on front tried to block my attack but I already know how sharp my sword and both of their heads had been cut off.

The skeleton on the back push passed the two dead skeletons in the front right before they hit the ground and tried to attack me with a sword.

I raised my shield to block the attack.

The sword immediately shattered when it hit the shield. It is probably low on durability.

I used this opportunity to kill him since he no longer has a weapon and cut off his head.

Suddenly, the two skeletons holding a bow fired arrows at me and I raised my shield to cover myself.

None of the arrows seems to be penetrating my shield or armor. They only bounce off when they hit and some of them even break the tip into pieces.

I charged at one of the skeletons while holding my shield high and bashed him to the ground. I swing my sword at the other skeleton killing him in one sword stroke then stab the one on the ground on its head.

Multiple footsteps can be heard in the distance and they are all coming here.

I pulled out the sword out of the skull of the skeleton and prepare myself.

"Come on here and get some!" I screamed at the darkness in front of me.

I didn't expect to be this heated up and it seems that adrenaline is starting to fuel my body.