25 – Let’s go look for some marble downstairs

“I deserve this.” Jacob was in his private home, a large tower made of grey bricks at the center of the island. “I deserve this. Why did I speak without thinking? Am I dense? Where the hell do I get marble? And how do I teach all those elves to build magnificent houses like I saw certain players do? I’m not going to build them all myself, no, no.”

He paced back and forth. “I want to progress in the mods, get better equipment. Not only that, but I need to. It’s not my personal whim. I can die here! For real! I need end game gear, and instead I’m stuck doing random stuff. Why did I get so involved?”

“Because,” Lumia approached him, moving slowly and seductively. “Because you’re a good man. Brave, and kind.”

She embraced him from behind, her soft skin almost touching his back. He pulled away.

“Thank you for your kind words.” He said, and went upstairs.

By the time he was back down again, he noticed that the room was empty. He heaved a sigh of relief, because he really did not feel like dealing with Lumia or anyone else right now. He needed some alone time to think, to see what he could do to improve his situation.

One thing that he could do right now, was to go down and see if marble spawned in the overworld. He remembered at least two mods that added marble and, even if those weren’t available, he was quite sure that this world would have some sort of marble. If even that failed, then there was always the nether as an option, although he didn’t yet know how other dimensions like the nether would work here.

Before going down, though, he needed better tools. This meant that it was time to delve deep into a mod he personally didn’t like, but that was strictly necessary.

“Why am I kidding, everybody hates this mod!” He said, as he placed down the stencil table.

Hours later, he had his first set of stone tools ready to be used. They would have been quite a setback from his diamond-steel ones, if not for the fact that they could gain levels. The more he used them, the more modifiers he could add onto them. And the better they became.

He went down, using the ladder he built back when he created the floating island, armed with an excavator and a hammer both made out of stone but reinforced with diamonds and hastened with redstone. His first step was something like a river, where he could find some clay to build his smeltery, and then to dig down in search for marble.

He was armed and armored as well, the memory of the mechanical beast fresh in his mind. From his island in the sky, Jacob saw that the iron wolf was still roaming the elven village, occasionally leaping over some destroyed tent or trying to dismantle the broken remains of the iron golem.

If he made a run for the closest river, he could make it in time.

It went smoothly. Surprisingly, finding the river had been quick and he found a clay deposit after just a few minutes of searching. It was different than it would be in Minecraft, of course, it being so similar to normal river mud and half hidden along one of the banks. Digging it out took no time thanks to the excavator, which also gained its first level after Jacob dug through the clay, sand and dirt of the river to replenish his reserves.

Immediately after, he dug down and closed the hole behind him. Switching to his hammer, he created a 3x3 tunnel that led down towards the depths of the earth. The rock all around was made of various types of stone, sometimes wet and slippery, and at times dusty and soft to break. Still, his inventory was only half empty, most of the other things back inside various chests in his tower.

He went down.

As he broke what felt the millionth stone block, the rock made a hollow sound and a little edge of darkness was revealed at the bottom of the mined area. Of course, natural formations did not follow the block placement grid, therefore he found himself staring from a little corner at the top of a large underground cave.

He flung a torch down, and it landed on the ground below, illuminating a small area all around. It was less effective than a placed torch, but at least it allowed him to get a sense of the height of the cave. It was a twenty meter drop from where he was to the floor below.

“Too high.”

He turned to one side, and dug a side tunnel that followed the wall of the cave. Twenty meters later, he broke the wall and entered the cave proper. He went a bit too deep, but it was fine. Immediately, he placed torches all around to illuminate the area, then switched back to his sword and laser.

Monsters everywhere, the faint and dancing light of the torch casting long shadows of the many shapes and kinds of creatures that dwelled in this cave. Then, all at once, they jumped towards Jacob.