Chapter 166: Bats sending me batty

Excerpt from the book “Basic building” By Strig

How to build a bridge, and what to consider.

A bridge, how fundamental it is to civilian life. How many cities stretch across rivers, requiring many.

A good bridge is the difference between a flourishing trade route and bandit bait. Now, it's me who will tell you how to make one the proper way.

Whenever you build something, you consider the future use. It’s common sense, yet is even more vital for such a simple constructs as bridges. For example, if you are building a bridge within an expanding city, increased foot traffic is expected. More people means your bridge needs to be a couple sizes larger. So, you know more people are likely to appear, you make it bigger.

But it's not so simple. The opposite is true. If you are building it in a remote area with little foot traffic, you make it smaller. No point wasting resources making a needlessly large bridge.

On the note of rivers, they have a habit of wearing away at the edges. Always make river bridges out of tough material and a half step further back.

The gentle echoes bouncing off the stone walls brought me great joy. How many times I’ve looked for bats yet couldn’t find one.

How many hours wasted, upon that game, simply looking for bats. Generally, the plague of any modded server.

Bats are special. In Minecraft, they are the only ambient mob. Existing solely to enhance the experience and have no impact on the game. This means they fall on the lower priority when spawning.

The first reason for their incredibly elusive nature was their restrictive spawn conditions. Requiring darkness, below sea level, in a large open area, with few monsters. This only would make them a rare sight. What truly made them almost impossible to find was a single detail. Only 15 could exist in the world at once. That would be fine; you wouldn’t possibly find 15. For a single-player, that is the case. Now, let’s talk about servers. Any server with quite a few players means that 15 is stretched to the limit. Some people would make bat farms, stopping them from spawning altogether.

Now, let’s say you are on a smaller server. A single bat spawns. With dark brown fur, the tiniest size in the game, and can fly.

Sound tough? Let’s also account for where they spawn. They can appear in any meaningfully sized dark cave around you. This also includes caves that are not connected to the one you are in.

With all this, you can see why it’s sometimes a true nightmare.

Well, my fears were unfounded. That knot of anxiety in my chest disappears at the sweet symphony of the bat.

With haste, I traverse the dark and damp tunnels. Unencumbered by the lack of light, my eyes see through the darkness. A dark object flies past me.

“Got ya!” Jumping off the ground and attempting to fly after it. Only to fall flat on my face. “Right, no flight.” Using my arms to push my body off the hard ground. Excitement was dulled by the incident.

Wait, I have wings. Just because I don’t have the awakened armors seamless flight; doesn’t mean I can't use the old-fashioned way. “So glad my genetic alterations came with me. Didn’t notice at first, got so used to them.”

Leaning forward, taking the stance of a cat ready to pounce. With mental effort, I stretch my rarely used limbs. Feeling them unfold from my back. It is strange, having new limbs. The wings from the flying belt had automation within, allowing for seamless flight. Here, I have to use them manually.

With only an hour's worth of wing-based flight experience, I lift off. Feeling my body get lighter and my wings heavier. Like a pullup, the strain runs down my wings and into my back and shoulders.

With all my will, I fly towards the bat. Swooping down like a lazy eagle, dodging the stalagmites and stalactites in my path. “I should have practiced using these more. It’s what I get for treating them as useless. I will never use them, I thought.”

Finally spotting my prey, I go to grasp it. Getting a slight headache from maintaining my wings while using fine motor functions.

I miss it by a mile. It harmlessly flies away. “Come back here, bloody bastard.” Chasing after it with my legs.

Every time I nearly got it, I missed by a hair. Getting rapidly more frustrated at this task.

Eventually, my rage accumulates to a climax. Punching a wall; to let some steam off. “Damned bat,” I mumble.

Leaning against the cracked wall, breathing for a moment. Looking around, I suddenly realize I am doing things the hard way. Placing my forehead against the cold stone in hopes of cooling my hot head.

I am in Minecraft, not on Earth. Walking towards the bat, the bat that has caused me so much trouble. This cave is large but elliptical. With some effort, finding the range where it doesn’t react, I build using dirt and wood around it.

Then, I split this partition down the middle, further trapping it. I continue this, resulting in a small enclosed space, less than 10 blocks in size.

“Let's try this again,” I say while approaching the increasingly frantic bat. With ease, I strike the bat down, causing it to perish. Leaving behind 3 wool of bat.

Picking it up like a lost treasure, “finally!” Hugging it to my chest, my reward for all my effort. Nearly brought a tear to my eyes.

Heading home, a smile upon my face. Nearly got lost in the winding caves, but manages to find the exit. Admittedly, it took me a while. Torches aren’t just for light; they are also breadcrumbs. Well, the photon-based form of a breadcrumb trail.

After spending far too long underground, that first breath of fresh air was like a shot of something potent. My body and mind were stunned into a silent stupor as the fresh air blessed me with life.

“Gonna stand around all day?” I hear from my side. Startled at the sudden voice, I recoil back into the mine. Not long later realizing it was Cassie.

Leaving the safety of the mine, “don’t scare me like that.”

“Says the man with skin made of iron.” She says a scoff.

“Hey, I am not unkillable.” Shrugging.

“Everyone dies one day; you are pretty far on the spectrum of unlikely to die.” She says, turning away and walking to the house.

Running out of the crater, catching up with her. “You… Are not wrong.”

She smiles in response, keeping her face forward.

As the house comes in clarity, she speaks. “Nice house, by the way.” She says offhandedly.

“Thank you.” Slightly taken aback by the sudden compliment. Hoping my cheeks didn’t take on a tinge of red.

“You are a pretty good builder to make it so quickly, with such simple ingredients. I am impressed.”

Walking slightly ahead, “Thanks, wanna rest for a little bit.”

“Sure, I am pretty tired from the harvesting.” She catches up, opening the front door for me.

Nodding in thanks and heading towards the front room. Lying back on the rug, the softest part of the building that isn’t the bed. Because that would be sending a different message.

Cassie sits on one of the wooden chairs, leaning back slightly. Causing me to recall all those science lessons with the teacher telling us about the kid who split his dome. At least you can’t die here. Our bodies are in reality. You could probably put your body in stasis hidden away and live here for all eternity. It would be a peaceful existence.

“So, what's next,” she asks me. Rubbing her face, which has a thin layer of dirt. Gives her a rugged look, with her hair a little messy.

“I need eggs. They are used to make an ingredient that randomizes plants. Also, need a ton of saplings.”

“I have oak and birch.” She helpfully adds.

“I need jungle, spruce as well.”

She rolls her eyes, “damn, anything else this greedy spell needs?”

“A lot. But we will take it one step at a time. You have the best witch around, so don’t worry.”

“Best witch, hu?” She chuckles.

“Fine, a good witch.”

“There we go; humility is a good quality to have.”

“Do you still want to learn how to be a witch?” I ask her in both a tease and actual curiosity.

She sends me a dirty look, “of course. Not right now; we have eternity after all.”

“Are you just dating me for immortality?” I joke.

“No, because I love you.” She says in grave seriousness.

Heart sinking slightly, “I love you too.”

“Right answer,” she teases.

Rolling my eyes at the troublesome woman. “Where did that nervous and meek girl go.”

“I have nothing to fear, not anymore.”

“Whys that?”

She just looks at me like I sprouted a horn. “You seriously have no idea? Why would I fear anything when my boyfriend wears god-like armor, I have a clone in the back, and have enough personal funds to weather the war.”

“I guess that would do it. Weren't you like suddenly confident before your clone and all that.”

“Yeah, took some LSD. It shifted my perspective on some things.”

“I see.”

The conversation fell off at that point. The silence was warm and peaceful. Or, it was until Jengal kicked the door in, scaring the living crap out of both Me and Cassie.

With maniacal glee on his face, he tips a mountain of ore on the floor. Looking at the metallic pile, I see a lot of diamonds. He then promptly passes out.

An awkward silence fills the room, Cassie and I looking at each other and Jengal in utter bewilderment.

“One of us gets food; the other cleans the mess.”

We play rock, paper, scissors.

“Bingo, I win!” Jumping up in joy.

“No fair, best to 3?”

“Not a chance,” bolting out the door.

I am starving, sorry, Cassie. Rushing into the wilderness, forgetting about the fact stamina is a thing. Stumbling towards the floor, out of breath and exhausted. “Damn, that armor really does more than you think.” Mentally noting to polish it and tell it I love it when I return home. Probably should give it a living enchantment at some point. It is my forever armor, after all.

Once my stamina breached the minimum threshold to stand, I continued into the lush forest. Enjoying the sounds of nature. Uncorrupted by monsters, only birds, small beasts, and the odd rat. Reminding myself that they are possible pets. With a whole mod dedicated to them and Ratlantis. An interesting dimension I should visit.

Idly looking at the ground, I spot some footprints. I think it's from a cow.

Having never tracked an animal in my life, why not give it a try. Following the footprint, which slowly joins a small group of others. Scat is littered around the area. Some greenery has clearly been eaten.

At some points, the animals stop for a rest. Resulting in footprints going in random directions, crossing over themselves. Making it extremely difficult to follow.

Reaching the first rest area, I got thrown off completely. Idly walking in a random direction, found the exit trail through sheer luck. This trend didn’t continue, as the next rest stop stumped me as well. Forcing me to tale flight and leave.

Going in a random direction, hoping to find an animal. Swerving around the trees being good practise for my rusty flying skills.

It took a while, but I eventually found a herd of cows. They didn’t seem concerned at all about the surroundings, idly grazing. Guess this place is truly safe. Well, it was before I got here.

Swooping down and eliminating 2 of them with some well-placed sword strikes. The rest of the herd stands around, stunned for a few seconds. Quickly, they all ran away. It pains me to not be able to butcher the meat, but I simply don’t know how to do the process for such a large animal. Should get some lessons from a hunter or butcher.

Once the cows disintegrate into some steak, I head home. Flying high and heading towards the house.