Chapter 5: Screw bronze I’m in the iron age

Morning already, can I go back to bed? “chuckles” This is much better, not perfect but I don’t feel like utter trash, don’t knock moss. And up I get, what am I doing today. First, let’s check the crops.

Bit cloudy might rain today. Walking over to my crops I notice they area about a large fist in size. Nice in about 1 week I think they may be fully grown, possibly flowering and producing berries a few days after that.

Eating the last of the berries I get a drink and go to the berry bush, I cleared it the other day but I am hoping to see signs of regeneration. Ah yes, flowers perfect it will be a full bush soon. Not today but soon. Looking around I wander until I stumble onto another bush of the same type. Careful to check it. Taking a harvest of this relatively smaller bush, most likely only good for 1 or 2 more harvests it is really small.

Walking home in a very good mood. Humming a tune, I don’t know. Birds are tweeting, and “pit” “pat” “pit”. Shouldn’t have said anything. And with an athlete’s 100-meter dash I make it home before the heavens open.

Non the less my day is not over, taking the coal I brought up earlier I get some cobblestone smelting. Stone is vital and il be using it for when I build a good home. I am thinking of a wizard tower? Maybe, but flight would be useful. One step at a time.

Heading down into my mine I go back to mining after crafting a second pickaxe, my first one was looking a bit rough.

Stone, stone, stone, coal, stone, stone; Iron! Lovely, that’s a start, not much only about 5 ingots worth but it’s something. I craft a furnace for down in the mineshaft. Cooking up the iron I take some coal and stone upstairs while it is happening. Restocking the top furnace to make more stone. Furnaces are quite slow, at least when processing ore and stone. Food I imagine is quicker. To be fair il have to actively watch food so I hope its slower.

Grabbing my iron, I make a divining rod for iron and an iron pickaxe. I need to get more spider eyes to produce more divining rods. They are rather basic even by modded standards but super-useful early on.

Looking outside still raining quite bad, I ended up covering the house extension over the house during a break to stop water flooding my mineshaft. I noticed that no monsters are spawning in the dark of my mineshaft. An important clue for figuring out monsters and sources of them.

Back to mining, I hold the diving rod and I look around to see a techno of colourful spots. It is weird seeing a glowing light through rocks. Like a LED in a glass but this glass is rock and the LED is sweet sweet iron. Not as much as anticipated but with my new tool in hand I collect half a stack of iron before I am bloody shattered. Getting it smelted I head upstairs for a rest.

While I rest, I fiddle with the stone to see if I can make stone bricks the same method as the crafting table, the answer; yes, I can. Handy since making them in the crafting table would take too long since I get exhausted after crafting 2 items for now. I am sure il mitigate it somehow in the future or get used to it but for now best not to push my luck.

While I can I take the time to make stone brick stairs, I can craft up to 3 sets of them strangely before I feel hollow, maybe its about complexity. Only experimentation will help.

I head back down to start mining again, planning on going deeper, I need gold, Redstone all the good stuff. After digging down about 8 blocks “crack” I run back as quickly as I can while watching where I was just standing collapse into a deep cave below. Near enough died right there. Mining is no joke. I toss a torch inside to find that it’s a massive cave room about 20x20 circular, lots of offshoot caves in each direction. Useful but scary. I don’t know what’s down that hole.

If I am going safely dive, I need armour, ladders and a full belly.

Grabbing my iron, I craft a chest plate and legs. Very heavy, for protection but it makes me want for death. Il craft the boots, helmet and a spare pickaxe when I can but for now I leave my hour at the bottom. I go upstairs, get a drink, eat some food. Not a hearty food but better than nothing. Spending the next few hours, I relax, craft ladders, my helmet, my boots and a spare pickaxe, I also craft an iron axe. Multipurpose and I feel it will be more useful in a cramp potentially monster-infested cave. I’ve never crafted so much before but nothing to be done.

Heading down to the cave entrance I hollow out a cavity near it, placing a chest, a furnace and a crafting table. For my loot of course. I mine around it until I break into the side of the cave before lowering my ladder and placing a door over it to keep nasty’s out.

Finally, one check of all my stuff, as happy as I’m going to be jumping into the black abyss know as caves. Grabbing a torch to hold and a couple to place down in the cavity.

And I step out of my safety, and its quiet not even the squeak of a bat, its scary, suffocating. But I march on I need resources it's not the time to relax yet, maybe when I am rich, immortal, unkillable and living in a flying fortress will I be happy. Until then I will do my best to strive for success.

My little mental rant about working hard was enough for me to step into the mouth of the beast both mentally and physically. Placing down the torches on each cardinal direction near the cave offshoots. I check each cave for nasty’s, nothing so far. I choose a cave part I am going down, being careful to be aware of my surroundings so both I don’t get lost of eaten. As I descent slowly I see more and more cave offshoots and I’m starting to get nervous I scratch markings on the floor so I know the way I came.

And then I see it a subtle red glow and as I step into a rather small room, I see it, Redstone, further down I see an even brighter light lava no doubt, useful but I’m not approaching it in metal armour. I can feel the heat from here il cook. For those unaware Redstone is one of the single most useful items in both modded and vanilla Minecraft. I make sure to collect it all about 20 dust piles in item format before I run home as fast as I can carry a bunch of Redstone. That’s enough for today il place more torches and explore but getting greedy is deadly.

I place my stuff in my cave chest for later, before going upstairs I had an idea its raining right, the perfect chance for fresher water, emphasise on the fresher still dirty but not quite as deadly.

I craft an iron cauldron it hurt to use the last of my iron but a cauldron but nothing to be done, it can store water and even cook me soup so no complaining. Placing it outside on a podium of wood I now have fresh water only reliant on the weather. It is still raining but not as heavily. While it’s still raining, I head into my mineshaft and quickly collect another armful of iron to turn into ingots. May as well while it’s raining, I also restock the stone making sure it is smelting. I am going to need coal soon.

The mineshaft is already starting to look large, and very well used. Random holes in every direction along with long straight paths where I was letting the rod do the hard work. I wonder if its at risk of collapsing? I don’t believe so I’ve seen a few signs although I can’t have complete confidence when I know so little. Always have a pickaxe, I guess.

Alright while all that’s smelting the rain has cleared somewhat, I have a little daylight so I think collecting some seeds are wise, I don’t know what il get but hopefully, a few useful crops will be mixed in.

I also need to kill a skeleton soon I need bones.

So, heading outside with my axe I start sweeping the grass, it breaks relatively easy and rarely; an item will drop, seeds, twigs, and a few other random worthless items. Collecting every seed, I find, all in a small pile in my hand. I am looking for some specific seeds really, food-based seeds, to spice up my diet, cotton to produce string for wool and any combination of manufacturing or magic seeds I happen across if I’m lucky.

With the last of my daylight, I collect my haul and take it home, I make a small desk, actually, 2 blocks of wood placed so I can put stuff on top to look at. I find some normal green seeds, which I can only assume is wheat, pink seeds which I hope are cotton, and honestly a whole range of seeds I cannot identify. I go outside and with as much time as I can muster hoe some ground, the same format along the river I plan on doing several smaller ones so I can separate the seeds by type until I can choose what is worth cultivating.

Heading home before the monsters come out I place down my hoe and head into the mine to collect my gear, its skeleton hunting time.

And with a deep thump, I step out my door ready for combat, an axe in hand, my hour on and a will to win. Sharp objects are not the best against skeletons I believe if my logic is not failing me, but non the less my options are limited. I need bones to make a watering can.

I start searching the area trying to be quiet, as best as possible when you're wearing 24 ingots of iron. I hear a zombie occasionally but I avoid it intentionally I’ve got a goal. I didn’t see any spiders which is a blessing. I don’t like killing living things, they are too living so to speak. It feels wrong, I know I can’t avoid it but I can avoid some unnecessary deaths.

I must have searched for an hour before I heard the tell-tale clacking of bones. It was most likely 10 min but I am impatient. Now I come to the realisation while near a skeleton I have no idea how to deal with a ranged fighter.

So, I sit down to keep it within earshot and think of a plan involving a natural bush as a barrier kiting around trees to lure it and then tripping it followed by smashing the skull with the butt of my axe.

And then I go for it I run at the skeleton and then I stop; stunned, the skeleton doesn’t have a bow it has a sword what on earth. It turns to me before dashing at me, crap did not see that coming. Stupid, stupid me how could I forget this is reality, not a game of course skeletons can wield more than bows.

Well, nothing to be done as all undead it comes at me mindlessly. It ended up being really easy up until the skeleton nearly chopped my head off with a lucky swing. One must always be on guard even if the enemy trips over its own 2 feet. With a solid smash to the spine at the next area, I decapitate the skeleton and it blows into 2 parts. I quickly rush over to the head and crush it followed by the rattling of bones falling to the floor. As I suspected the magic is in the head so to speak, whatever animated it is located in the skull, Intriguing.

It as always dissolves into particles as it does, I ponder “am I getting experience? Can I even use it, does it have other uses if I recall you could use it in a mod to increase your power, speed you know like a status? I doubt Felix made it that convenient but it is undoubtedly integrated into some fashion. More to figure out I suppose.

“Sweet, 2 bones” Score. No arrows but that’s just common sense really. Didn’t drop anything else interesting. A shame.

I head home with my haul, waving the bones like light sticks. Got to admit its far slower walking home in armour.

With a wonderful, I set the bones aside for my farming escapades tomorrow. Today was a good day.