Chapter 64: Draconium

Waking up with a lazy stretch. A hint of pain from sleeping on a sofa. I have a luxurious bed, why did I sleep here? What am I a masochist? ‘sigh’ lightly facepalming; I get up. Noticing too late the spider on my lap. I hear a heavy ‘thud’ as my pseudo-blanket hits the floor.

“Sorry,” I say verbally and mentally.

I just get a picture of a red face in return. Now, how does this spider know of emojis? Odd ‘shrugging;’ “Let's get some breakfast, that will cheer you up.” Watching the spider visibly perk up at the idea of food. Shaking my head, damned gluttonous spider. Walking to my kitchen I create sandwiches with sliced meat and golden salt. I haven’t found mustard yet… sadly. I will eventually but for now, this is fine.

Musing at my utter disdain for white bread; much prefer brown. White bread is flavorless playdough; it shouldn’t exist! Of course, it has its place. But in general use, it can go to hell. Or should I say Nether in this context? Nah, can't be bothered to change my local accident and sayings.

While in the kitchen I get a light stew cooking for lunch this afternoon. Cooking is 50% smart preparation after all. Heading to my main house I get some reading done. Jengal must have gone home at some point. It's odd having a friend be able to roam your house.

After having read for a while to relax, I head into my garden. Choosing to plant some botania flowers and do a bit of gardening. I place some hanging baskets of flowers and some neat decorations. I needed some physical labor to get the blood pumping. Afterward, I go for a run; running along the now-familiar cobblestone paths. Thankfully homelessness is uncommon here. The mayor made sure certain safety nets are in place… but it still happens.

Passing one such soul. Stopping, I decided to ask how he ended up homeless. “Hey, I've got to ask. How did you end up on the streets?”

A rough weathered voice replies in a light-hearted tone. “Messy divorce, ma wife got everything. Sprinkle some bad luck and here I am.”

I hope that’s the honest truth but you never know. Remembering the warnings of my family saying they are buying drugs… wait, do drugs even exist here? A quick NEI search verified they do.

Noting I have been silent for far longer than is socially acceptable, I cough apologetically. “I feel for you. That does suck; what's your plan for sorting things out?”

He pauses for a moment, “Waiting out the carriage to the capital. Shows up every 3 months ya know. I am hoping to find some work there, better odds than here suppose.”

A man with a plan, it's admirable. I toss him some carrots, a hoe, and bone meal. “Admirable; still, no point wasting time. Farm some food and sell it. It will help you get your bones moving.”

He nods appreciatively, “Thank you.” He then walks away towards the city gate. No excuse in this world. Life is far harder back home; here? You could live in the woods if you wanted. Yeah, I have a bit of an advantage with NEI. A whisper in my head saying ‘bit’ is an under-exaggeration. Still, you can live a decent life off public recipes and hard work. Half the world is uninhabited for god's sake.

Walking away, mood split between happiness for helping and annoyance of people's laziness. Not my life I suppose; not my place to judge so harshly.

Getting back to my run. Pushing away my mental distractions with some stamina draining cardio. I tried running in my past life... I failed. Not that I didn’t want to; I was just physically unable to. I would run for a while and then suddenly collapse in agony. My legs writhing in agony from foreign pain. I never did figure out its cause, I should have gone to the doctors.

I eventually crumble next to a tree. Stamina exhausted I relax in the shade for a short while. Finding the darkness relaxing. Sunny weather is annoying; I prefer overcast and rain. I was from Britain after all, the ‘country of rain.’

Heading home by flight, I teleport back to my island. I start stuffing my bags of holding with tons of random crap. Getting ready for a nether trip. Theatrically pretending my bag of holding is full like a backpack.

Heading to the shimmering portal, I send a see you later message to Chic before stepping through the shimmering purple portal. Allowing the water-like consistency to wash over me as I step through. Breaking the membrane of the portal I am assaulted by the familiar heat.

I need draconium. My armor is poor and requires an upgrade. If I have even the slightest intention of fighting the dragon, I need a power-up. I am woefully unprepared for a dragon that doesn’t follow an attack pattern.

So now I am adventuring through the rolling hills of hell in hopes of finding draconium. Taking at my trusty chunk analyzer I find a variety of unfamiliar materials. No draconium thought.

I continue flying through the thick smokey air. Appreciating the filtering qualities of my armor. Eventually, I exit the darker biome my portal is hosted in. Finding a blue-hued biome dotted with a variety of shapes and sizes of blue mushrooms. Some glowing and some more mundane. Constantly holding my chunk analyzer; looking for draconium. Flying through the mesmerizing biome of blue hues and glowing mushrooms… I start to feel woozy. The world-shaking ever so slightly I land on the ground. The steadiness of the ground helps my dizziness.

Taking a moment to breathe, I notice the unsteadiness is gradually increasing. Nervousness now filling my mind along with nausea. “I think…” catching myself from falling over by a hair, “that I need to get out of here.” Quickly drinking a health potion and I notice a distinct lack of mobs here… it’s the mushrooms! With my vision steadying for a moment as the potion kicks in I fly as fast as I can. Looking for any break in the biome I can find.

I continue to lose focus; mind wandering as nausea assaults my stomach and dizziness my mind. Eventually, I find a familiar dark red biome I quickly rushed into. I notice a slight color difference in the air as I break out of the biome. Stumbling away as the dizziness becomes overwhelming, I remove my helmet. I immediately lose my lunch; noting the half-eaten sandwich.

I turn around glaring hatefully at the unassuming biome. Looking around I spot piglins who avoid the biome like the plague. It's not even lethal just makes you sick. I can do pain, I can't do nausea! “I need to be more careful here. I doubt this is the only trap in this place.”

Looking over my chunk loader which was neglected in my haste to leave the biome. I find a distinct lack of draconium. Sighing in annoyance, “Not making it easier, are you?”

Flying through the boring biome I come across a distinctly lighter-toned biome. Moss growing throughout. I wonder how green plants live here? I even spot a few trees, mostly birch. Like an oasis in the nether, I gently stroll through. I won't let my guard down, but it's nice to relax a little.

Walking further through I notice pools of what first appeared to be water… “why is it slimy.” Brushing my hands on the ground after realizing its not water. Walking over some taller hill-like structures I hear a distinct “snore…” Looking down I see a massive cyclops, pale skin, and a singular closed eye. A woodlike club sits by it, rough scale-like skin. Its mouth slowly drips saliva onto the floor. I suppose that answers one question.

“Should I kill it?2 I whisper to myself. “No, clearly this whole ecosystem survives off the saliva of this beast.” Which is fascinating as it is gross. Leaving the biome, avoiding the pools by a much larger distance, and not touching any of the ‘impure’ trees. I refuse to soil my armor by touching anything that grows in the mouth juice of a cyclops; gross.

Eventually, after passing another expanse of red rock, I come across a small biome. No more than 100 blocks wide. “Does this even count as a biome?” I wonder out loud at the pitiful size of a circle of crystal-like rocks. Almost like cloudy glass, the whole biome is covered in it. Crystal stalagmites and stalactites hand from above and below. A few hell hounds are milling about. As I step into the biome… I get a hit – draconium!

Looking around I don’t see any clear outcroppings of it but the chunk analyzer doesn’t lie. Quickly taking out my hammer I start to break the whole chunk down. Eventually, I find it after sifting through a double chest of opaque white crystal blocks. I find a single solitary piece, which I break with a fortune 5 pick. Immediately I gather up the wonderful supply of draconium dust.

I easily have enough to make draconium seeds. The essence it produces though… only produces ingots. Some recipes require dust. So, unsatisfied with my pitiful haul; I mine the biome for hours. Stripping the draconium from its bones. The chunk analyzer paying dividends. I end up with a little over a stack of draconium dust.

Smiling foolishly at my haul, I head home. Turning back, I wince. Utter destruction mars the once pristine biome. Un apologetically “sorry.” I say through a smiling mouth before teleporting home.

I immediately craft the information tablet to help me out in completing the mod. I am good, I’m not omnipotent. Finding the tablet strang. It's stone, but acts like an iPad; freaky. Next, I make sure I've got some nether stars being auto-crafted. Refilling the polymer clay while I am at it.

I smelt some of the draconium into an ingot, 4 of it. Before making draconium seeds. I use agricraft to propagate the seeds over an entire farm then use a bottle of time and my watering can for breeding the plants. At first, I just improved an isolated crop to 5x. Noting the steep climb in difficulty I scale up the operation to the whole farm swiftly getting a 10x draconium crop. They grow scary quick.

Hooking them up to an auto crafter I head back into my castle. Knowing full well I have insufficient power for this mod I start mass crafting stacks of thermoelectric generators. I could create a different; better power system. But that’s an effort when I could just double down on my current system.

I spend hours mindlessly placing lava, water, and thermoelectric generators. Hooking them all up to high-speed power cables. I created several layers of thermoelectric generators. I used ender io to make a small number of batteries. I line them along the walls to suck up power from different layers. It makes up the difference since the cables are slightly slower than ideal. If I just connected them all the power would lag behind. But since the batteries can accept multiple inputs and connect together it allows me to pool the power into one place without sacrificing efficiency.

Using my new supply of draconium ingots I start mass producing stacks upon stacks of draconium cores. They are needed for virtually everything and are the major crafting ingredient for everything.

I use some to craft an energy infuser. It's like a phone charger, but with added steroids. Most wires can move a couple thousand rf, right? Well, this thing sucks up millions in seconds. So instead of creating an advanced wire I just stick it onto my new battery multiblock.

It’s a little short cut I noticed that saves a lot of effort. With a monumental number of nether stars, draconium, and other materials just passively generating. I start crafting wyvern cores. Not being shy, I just create an auto crafting system I feed the ingredients so it does it for me.

The awe of crafting has long since passed. Now I am more in favor of efficiency. Watching my semi-automatic setup chug along I laugh maniacally. “Soon I will have good armor… soon.”