Chapter 21: Building and growing

Waking up positively vibrating with energy “I have a home” murmuring in appreciation. I finally have a place that’s good enough to build up from. Was my perfectionism worth the long journey, unlikely, yet here we are?

I slept on the ship last night because over the next few days all I will do is build, farm, and get more building materials.

Making sure to harvest my fast-growing wounders, I get to work. Amassing an ungodly quantity of stone brick, stone, chiseled stone, glass dyed blue with lapis, oak, cobblestone, cobblestone walls, and purple wood of unknown origin.

I plan to build a wonderful castle, it will take a long time but it will be worth it. It will be mostly stone brick, with stone randomly dotted between the bricks for texture. I will use oak for the wooden roofs and the doors. The purple wood will be for the floor and detailing. Glass for windows, cobblestone is simply decorative, adding texture outside the castle. I will also use chiseled stone, which is a simple crafting recipe with stone bricks to produce a different variety. I could craft a chisel but that’s a level of perfectionism I can do throughout a lifetime, for now, let us get it functional and a foundation to improve upon.

I start by marking out a blueprint using stone bricks of how the castle will be made up. I am planning for it to be a combination of a gate, overlooking small towers connected to the gate. A triangle roofed center, with a smaller one to the left. With several large towers attached.

Starting with the gate I create a 3 layered gate, mostly for depth. It is a large gate, with no door. I can have a door further inside but for now, a small door would look bad. I will make a door that fits at a later date. This will be a little tedious without a form of flight but I have a long time to do it so may as well start now.

With the gate now erected, I create half circles expanding past the gate on either side. These each match the size of the gate and build back about 3 blocks. I create a cobblestone wall and brick barrier checkered over the edge of the top. A rail for onlookers. The mini-towers as I call them are decorated with stone brick stairs and small glass windows. Making sure to use stone occasionally so it doesn’t look flat.

Using stairs I create decorations in front of the brick parts of the railings. With that done, I start work on the central building. With the same width of the gate, I create a 2 floored central building that tapers into a triangular wooden roof. It rises above the gate into a lovely window and wooden door allowing access to the top of the gate and mini-towers. Continuing the theme of using stairs and cobblestone walls I add detail to the front of the castle and sides.

I create a smaller building of the same style yet 1/3 smaller. This is to the right of the building, looking at it from a viewer's perspective. I use the right side of the castle to turn into a very large tower that opens up into a square top. Large windows and a pointed roof show a wonderful view and a lovely tower. I create a small offshoot on the 2 sides to the east and west. These are simple balconies. For the tower I created a door that leads into the second floor of the main building and a spiral staircase down, I also used a spiral staircase in the main building.

At the back of the main building, I break the roof up allowing for a skylight, a glass mini dome that lets light stream in.

I dot towers, mostly for decorative reasons around the castle before cleaning it up with a walkway around like a giant wall. Broken up by short towers. With the functional buildings complete I put further decorations and expansions on hold. I will have to practice decoration and remodel most of this but it looks good; in my opinion, of course. This will suffice, it makes me mentally happy.

While I am at decorations I decide to do a little island design, a small artificial hill on the bottom left of the island with a stone basin full of fresh water on top. I have the water stream down the side of the island. Got to have ambiance. Also doubles as an infinite water source, you just need a lot more water than before. It starts restoring its self once you have a good 16 blocks of water inside. Doesn’t increase in volume though.

I will continue to refine the building over time but with a floor to stand upon and a roof to protect me. It's time to get to work.

I place down a couple coal generators, connected with copper wire and my pulverizer; with hoppers for automation of course.

I get my now large quantity of iron ore. Courtesy of my iron seeds and a bit of effort on my part. And start it funneling through the pulverizer, making iron, a little Nickle, and if I am lucky maybe some ferrous dust as well. For now, this is the fast method I will make Nickle seeds when I am upscaling my power.

While I am at it I place copper ore inside. I gained from copper seeds respectively. I don’t have a lot but a stack will do.

While that is slowly grinding down, I get working on steel. For this, I will need a crude blast furnace. It requires some simple stuff. I will need a lot of charcoal so I get a couple stacks of wood burning in a furnace. Now that’s working time to get onto the fun part.

I need blaze powder, brick, and nether brick. I have netherack so I get some of that smelting into nether brick while I go into my fake jet and go clay hunting, shovel in hand.

Following the beach I am looking for clay deposits, I was expecting it to be underwater but I find veins of clay running through the ground near a water source – works. Gathering it all I quickly take my now several stacks of clay back to base, smelting a stack and putting the rest in a chest; for a rainy day.

Thankfully I made blaze seeds so I am blessed with not having to brave the nether for now.

I quickly craft it 9 times producing 27 bricks. Enough for a 3x3x3 shape which is what I need. Now with the blast furnace base now to magic it into a blast furnace. With an engineer's hammer, I craft a good 6 since I will need them to make Constantine plates.

I go to magic the blast furnace into existence, but I realize the hard way that it is guiding me where to hit it. Needing to manually break away the parts for the blast furnace I curse the inconsistency of this world. Should have seen this coming for a multiblock structure. Not like a ton of things are made easy by a crafting table, cough. Can't complain too much I guess.

With a blast furnace, I throw some iron inside with some charcoal and watch the stupid slow process. I will definitely be ignoring that until it's done.

With that complete I realize I am nearly out of materials, I guess I should get a basic setup for power then go mining.

With copper and iron dust I craft Constantine dust which I unceremoniously chucked into the furnace. Before taking it out and hammering it into flat plates for crafting using my hammer.

4 copper and a stick make copper wire, which 8 of making a copper coil the final ingredient for my power system. With all the ingredients in hand, I make 9 thermoelectric generators, which are to be expanded on at a later date.

Creating a brick platform outside as a temporary power area, until the island is finished and I can repurpose the holo space for power. Setting it up ready in a 9 grid, corners touching, spaces in between the units. Placing water along the correct lines then creating a nether portal. After a quick nether dive, I have the lava I need. I place it opposite the water on the power unit. Connecting them all to the temporary uninsulated copper wires, wired into the castle. With that done I have a basic power system.

In the future, I will make many more of these and get better wires, ideally from ender io but that’s later.

Taking a short break; happy with the progress. I go down using my jet and get ready for mining. Using my destruction wand I quickly create a large tunnel all the way to bedrock.

Using a flint and steel I light the bedrock on fire, with a 1/3 chance for it to generate infinity dust, the key ingredient for ender io. Gathering a lot of the dust, too boring to do too often. While down here I absolutely fill the 2 bags of holding with a combination of Redstone, lapis, gold, diamond, iron, coal. Absolutely everything I could find. I successfully gathered a large quantity of resonating Redstone crystals as well. Very important for the future.

I also managed to find a couple veins of tin, which will be made into divining rod when I get a chance. The divining rods are great. Taking my haul back up to my island, all the ore gets put straight into the pulverizer. Which now has consistent power.

With that done, and empty bags once more I go back down and harvest some more wood, a lot more. Stacks upon stacks. Gathering a large handful of apples as well. Should restock my low wood stocks. Taking the time to plant a bunch of saplings that dropped, expanding the size of the forest even before I chopped it. Got to protect nature I suppose.

Back home I complete a long time coming project, I take 4 tin, making a canister then 4 diamonds around an apple creating a crystal apple. Now the fun part combining those with a necrotic bone and the red heart I found. Sweet, a heart canister. Now how do I install it? Doing the first thing that comes to mind I place it against my chest. It sinks into my chest – “freaky!”. But I feel stronger, so it worked. They boost your health by 2 points. For comparison, you spawn with 20 naturally and the iron golem boost gave me another 20. I now have 42 health. That’s a lot!.

I can also make 9 more red 10 yellow heart canisters and… checking the recipe I find green can be crafted as well - Lovely.

Now the fun part, taking all my minicio I have gathered so far, by hand since the wooden harvest bot is awful for larger farms. About 15 stacks. Taking 12 I create 3 stacks of Accio, then using 2 of those to make 32 Crucio and a further 8 Imperio. Love it.

I managed to save up the sufficient imperio previously to produce the iron seed with perseverance but in this, I am just going to hold onto them.

Tapping mindlessly, I need ender pearls – I’m bottlenecked. If I could find 4 ender pearls all my problems would be sorted, sighing internally I cringe at the thought of how little I talk now. I used to talk constantly like a broken record, but now with the deafening silence and my own thoughts, I sink ever so slightly inside.

I will need conversation partners soon, for my well being if anything.

For safety reasons I craft a golden compass for my new base, my old one is hidden away for a rainy day when I need to get nostalgic. I found through trial and error golden bags fit inside golden bags. Not only is that a paradox it's also a functionally infinite inventory. For now, I only have 2 golden bags – enough. One day I may increase the sum.

Before I fly headfirst into Ender io; being a massive milestone for my tech. I will do something both productive and relaxing. Making my bedroom. Selecting the squared-off tower, with its wonderful view I scale the exhaustingly tall tower. “Totally gonna regret building my bedroom inside a giant tower. I already planned the 2 inner buildings to be for everything. The skylight will likely be important in the future.

Lots of empty space I can fit solar panels hidden from view, so that’s something. Lots of benign and empty rooms; this place could fit easily 20 people; comfortably. More easily, yet it would feel crowded, I made many of the towers with multiple floors and a large number of small rooms to bulk out the castle. I will at no point being using these rooms, so it's empty space.

I will build power and storage into the core of the island, and inside the buildings, small magic-related things and small tech and manufacturing will be placed inside the building.

For larger magic and tech they will be relegated outside, respectively. Anyway, I am getting off-topic. Back to decorating my room. Going for a royal purple plan, I create a double bed in purple with gold trims. You can find a crafting recipe for anything really. I place 2 bedside tables, one with a lamp. These tables contain draws with limited storage. I have some armour stands in a corner of the tower. I decorate the walls with togglable Redstone controlled torches. I created a small seating area opposite the bed facing the wall where I installed an ever-burning fireplace, god bless netherack. Finishing It up by placing a chest at the foot of the bed. I flip the lights off and pass out in my bed, my wonderful, soft bed.

I have a true home – nearly, close enough anyway.