03 – Punching wood, of course

He stared at the small trunk of the tree. It was not thicker than an arm, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that Jacob felt rather stupid, embarrassed even, at what he was about to do. Punching trees, while perfectly normal in Minecraft, was not something that was supposed to be of any use in real life.

And this place, despite a distinct Minecraft feel, was very much real life in every other aspect. He had come to accept that as the way things were, mostly because it didn’t make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, and also because it made things a little bit easier than it would thinking it was all a weird dream.

Not that he didn’t try to pinch himself multiple times, just to be sure. But the hours were flying by, and the world was staying consistent enough to at least for now seem real.

“Isekai MCs really make it all look easy.” He heaved a weary sigh. “But this is not easy.”

He schooled himself, and decided to just do it. The real issue was how real everything looked. Perfectly real, like normal and not like a game at all.

He took a boxing stance that he copied from a movie, and punched. The wood was hard, and the thin plant shook after the blow and a few leaves fell down. It didn’t hurt, however. In fact, he was vaguely aware of something once again, like with the inventory before.

He knew that if he kept punching now, then something would happen. Not only that, but he would also have the ability to choose how things should evolve from there.

“Odd.”

Since he didn’t act, the whole sensation faded away. It seemed that he only had a limited amount of time before the next punch, or the damage to the block would reset. He almost chuckled. He was already thinking in gaming terms.

“What the hell.” He told himself. “Let’s go with the gaming terms here.”

He spoke out loud, quite sure that nobody was around, and that in any case they would not care. He punched the tree again, and smacked it until he felt like the world wanted to know something from him. His intentions regarding a certain issue that was about to arise.

He chose the most interesting option, his mother’s curiosity present in his eyes for a moment. A meter-tall section of the tree disappeared, and he knew that it was now in his inventory.

Achievement unlocked: wooden beginnings

He looked, wide eyed, at what was left of the tree. Floating just above his face height, the rest of the small tree swayed in the wind without a care, as if the part he just removed from it was still there. But it was not, he knew, because his hand now passed right through empty air like his eyes were telling him.

It was floating in mid-air, perfectly in line with Minecraft physics.

He searched his inventory, to see what he had now.

Birch wood x1

It was there. Waiting for him to take it out, if he so wished. It did not have weight or even form, just the idea of its existence was there for Jacob to use. Its shape and color were visible, even if the thing did not have form. He just knew what it looked like, and that it was just the same as the part that was missing from the tree.

He wished for it to reappear, and noticed that he could place it wherever he wanted that was not farther than where he could touch. He could orient it however he wished as well. The trunk reappeared where it belonged, and stayed there, the tree whole again.

He punched it again, and this time went for the other possible option. As it disappeared now, the whole tree on top of the missing chunk came down onto the ground. The meter-tall piece, or block, he punched was in his inventory, while the rest was on the ground. Like it should be, according to the real laws of physics.

Jacob grinned, but the grin died and became a frown when he saw that the sun was going down. It was getting colder by the minute, the wind picking up strength and the light vanishing. The realism of this world clashed hard with the game mechanics he was seeing everywhere he looked.

He also realized that he had wasted a lot of time, both because of his previous confusion state and because of his experimentations now. He had to prepare for the night, as he had no idea what it would have in store for him.