Little Things

I finally decided to redo my bedroom. The sound of falling water helps me sleep, so I figured a room with waterfalls in it would be the best thing for me. The sound of water should now hopefully drown out the sound of monsters on the prowl above me during the long nights. 

I also decided to clean up the look of my furnace room. Small improvements, but noticeably better looking in the long run. 

It was a cold winter night, and I decided to go on an adventure. I drew my cloak around my face and headed into the bitter cold. Many monsters met their end at the tip of my sword, and soon I found myself in a cave in the wilderness. It went down and ever down, and soon I was surrounded by pools of lava and ores as far as the eye could see. It would be a good spelunking session as long as I lived to cash it all out.

Thankfully I did live to see my bounty stored safe and sound at home, and I felt the trip was well worth it. My riches are growing, and I am finding the world of Minecraft a more comfortable place to live.

Sorry for the short post, but when you're working on projects that take hours and hours of mining to complete, it can be hard to put out content every couple of days. I went on an exploration in the middle of working to hopefully get enough done to make a post. Here is a little spoiler as to what will come in the future, but it is not even half-way done, so I have a bit of work to do! Thanks for the read, and please stay tuned in for next time!

Just... Keep... Digging...

      After much cow breeding and sugar cane harvesting, I finally had the materials to make a few bookshelves, and after much mining below my base I had 30 levels to spend. I placed my pick in front of the floating book and crossed my fingers. Hopefully the result would be to my liking.

     Okay, so not necessarily good, but actually useful for me at the time. Beggars can't be choosers, so the pick would have to do. I decided to try it out down in the branch mine, and what a difference it made. I was able to clear out so much stone in so little time. Resources began flooding into my bag. It finally felt like I was making some real progress.

      After the mining trip I was able to put almost half of my furnaces to use. It still felt like a waste to me though, and I really wanted to change that. I wanted to use all of them and intended to do something about it. 

      Once the smelting was done I was left with a ton of iron and almost 30 levels. I only had 2 diamonds left so I decided to enchant an iron pickaxe instead. It wasn't very good, but it did have fortune II on it. Perfect for when I finally found a pocket of diamonds, which was incentive enough to go back down to the mines again. Luckily I found diamonds very quickly, and the fortune pickaxe nearly doubled the yield of diamonds. 

      I finally managed to get enough resources to fill up all the furnaces. I bet you're dying to wonder what I was doing to get all that stone, huh? Just a little longer, I promise.

      I decided that I wanted to try to enchant a new pickaxe, but nothing I was doing was netting much experience gain. That was motivation enough for me to go to the nether, where I was quickly able to get 30 levels by mining quartz. I didn't find a fortress or anything cool, but I did get some glowstone. 

      About time! The game was nice to me and gave me a pretty darn good pick. It is perfect for branch mining. It will be very useful in the future.

      So, I liked the look of my storage area, but it needed more. I went outside and traveled to the savanna biome next to my home. There I collected much acacia wood, for I absolutely love the orange color of it. I then traveled back home and began to renovate the look of the room. The outcome was to my liking. It was simple yet appealing to the eye.

       I guess I can reveal what I've been working on for such a long time now. A few blocks below my first room, I now have a giant wheat farm. It took many pickaxes and shovels to dig out, but the end result is to my liking. I don't think I will ever have a shortage of wheat again.

      I didn't even have enough seeds to plant the entire farm! Each of the four quadrants requires roughly two and a half stacks of seeds to plant. I plan on extending outwards from this room and building other farms that connect to it. The other rooms should be a lot easier to dig with my new enchanted pickaxes though. Anyways, thanks for the read and stay tuned for next time!

Hard, Tedious Work

     The bright sun blinded me for a second as I emerged from my dark underground dwelling. I had a goal in mind for the day: find sugar cane. I needed the bamboo-like plant in order to make books. That is also one of the reasons I started my cow farm. Now, I knew that sugar cane could often be found on sand, so I journeyed to the river that separated the plain I lived next to from the desert where I found the temple. Sure enough, without having to go far at all I found what I was looking for. The journey was a success.

     As I started back towards my home it began to get dark. In the twilight I saw a massive gathering of cows in the plain. I couldn't help myself, as I already had enough cows in my pen back at home. My sword was sharp and my aim was on point. I won't be needing meat for a while.

      I took the few sugar cane I had found and planted them near my bed. Thankfully the plant grows fast, so soon the small amount I had procured should turn into many. Gathering plant life and killing livestock is fun and all, but I had an itch that those activities just couldn't scratch. I craved wealth.

     Tunnel after tunnel I dug. It was hot down in the dark abyss of the earth, but the rewards would make it worth it. Long shafts drove far into the world and pierced many veins of valuable ores. Iron, lapis, redstone, gold, and coal a'plenty. No diamonds this run, but that is fine by me. I'd rather wait until I have an enchanted pickaxe to mine those anyways. 

     Not a bad branch mining session, but I know much better will occur in the future. I didn't even get to use half of my furnaces. I'd feel like I wasted stone making all of them if I didn't get to use all of them, so I decided to do something about it. But what though?

     As I anticipated, the few sugar cane very quickly turned into many sugar cane. Now my sugar cane farm doubles as a privacy barrier for my bedroom. How convenient!

     Now, I know it doesn't seem like I did much this session, but that is because the entire time I was working on a project that is a bit larger. I won't spoil anything, but here is a little snapshot of my progress. I told you, I decided to do something about not using all of my furnaces. Stay tuned for next time to see what I manage to turn this into!

Busy Bee

     I woke up early in the morning with a drive to be productive. I was itching to get things done, and that is exactly what I was going to do. I grabbed my axe and headed out into the woods. The forest would look like a plain when I was done with it. Around midday I broke through the other side of the trees and a giant sand temple was standing there in front of me. I quickly ran over and ransacked the place. I ended up with several stacks of logs, three diamonds, some gold, and a lot of flesh and bones. 

     What am I going to do with all that wood you ask? Well, I'm going to need a storage room for all the wealth I plan to procure, and a skimpy chest room is not for me. Roughly 120 chests is more like it. My hands were blistered after all the tree chopping and chest crafting, but the outcome was much to my liking. I plan to place item frames on the front of all the chests, but that requires a lot of cow hides, something I lack.

     The first level of my base now has its completed shape. It is a nice sized room that will definitely serve me well. The wheat farm is only temporary. It is not nearly big enough for my liking and will require its own level when I have better tools to clear out massive areas. 

     Nowhere near complete, but I added a wall of furnaces to improve my smelting times. It isn't very pretty, but I'm not worried about looks at this point. Functionality first, aesthetics later. None of my buildings will stay ugly, but I'll have to put up with it in the meantime.

     Staying close to the surface is nice and safe and all, but riches reside deep within the earth. Using the wood I collected earlier, I extended my ladder downwards. Extended might not be the right word though, for I delved deep within the earth. I went down to where I was only a block above where the lava pools are and hewed a room out of the stone. I then began to branch off in long tunnels looking for valuable ores and minerals. Towards the end of one of my tunnels I hit a ravine, and the sight was breathtaking. So much lava and water mixing together in a world of color. This is where I would find riches.

     Sure enough, while exploring one of the many caves that scarred the ravine I hit diamonds. Four beautiful blue rocks now safely in my bag. After snagging the pretty rocks I headed back up to my main base because it would be a shame to die with such valuables in my pack.

      On the way back up I found a sight that made me do a double take. Three flowers growing happily down in the bowels of the earth. What a strange world the world of Minecraft is.

     I stowed my diamonds in one of my many chests and then headed to bed. It was a long and productive day, and I still had a few goals left in mind for the morning. I slept well, and woke ready to work again. I harvested the wheat from my modest farm and headed outside. I found a group of cows walking around and lured them close to my home with the wheat. After I had them all in one spot I fenced them in and let the events of nature take over. 

     The moon was rising and the cows were nodding off. Babies cuddled up next to their mothers and were soon asleep. It had been a long couple of days in the world of Minecraft, but the progress I made was worth it. Within a few days I should have leather and meat a plenty, and that opens up many more opportunities. As for now, it is time for a rest. Stay tuned for next time! Who knows what the future has in store?

Humble Beginnings

     What a start! Upon creating my new world I was greeted by a blue screen. No, thankfully not the infamous Windows blue screen, but blue nonetheless. No time to dilly dally though, there is much to do and little time to do it in. First things first though, I need to get dry.

      Ah, much better. The land is to my liking and the animals will be useful in the future. Now for the usual mundane tasks one has to do in the world of Minecraft. I quickly found a tree and began punching until I had gathered the resources I needed. A crafting bench and wooden pickaxe quickly followed. Time to find some coal and start a shelter while the waning daylight lasts.

      This game is going to make me work to get my coal, huh? No complaints though, beggars can't be choosers. It'll be good to gather stone as I carve a staircase up to the black gold anyways. The vein wasn't very large, but better little than none at all. At least now I know I will have light to keep the creatures of the dark at bay. Now, time to find an appropriate spot for my home base.

      While running about looking for a good spot to settle down at, I stumbled upon a group of sheep. Their faces were cute and their fluffy coats were soft and warm. A little too soft and warm for their own good. Three good slashes with the sword later I had enough wool for a comforter. Now I'll have a nice warm bed wherever I decide to build my shelter.

      There was a dry riverbed on the edge of a snow biome. It sharply rose to a higher ground populated by spruce trees. The land was coated with a thin layer of white snow. Being more inclined to live underground, I figured this would be a nice spot to pierce the earth. I dug a hole in the face of the wall and stopped once I had made a nice indention. Then I went down. I had made some ladders so I could easily go up and down and thus began the construction of my underground stronghold. Once I had gone as far down as my ladder would allow, I hewed a room out of the stone where I could live.

     After the exhausting task was completed, I realized that my stomach was growling. Swinging a pick sure did a number on the body. I needed sleep and food. I looked up the hole in the ceiling and saw that it was dark outside, so I decided to go ahead and sleep and worry about my hunger in the morning. Sleep found me quickly and soothed my weary bones.
     The light of day pierced the dark of my home like a knife cutting butter, and I knew that a new day had arrived. I could hear the faint sound of pigs oinking above me, so I grabbed my stone sword and left my home. At the entrance to my base stood two fat pigs oinking merrily in the daylight, clueless of their fate.
     The pork chop smelled so good as it cooked in the furnace, and tasted even better. Now, pigs are tasty and all, but there are only so many in the world. I needed a renewable source of food, and I remembered that I had picked up some seeds on my journey to find a home. While I was clearing out my living space I had found some iron, so I quickly smelted it down and created a bucket. I ran up to the surface again and filled it with water and went back down. Then I started the tedious task of clearing and area for a small underground wheat farm.
     After I had a nice area cleared out, I realized that I couldn't till stone. I headed back up and used my shovel to collect a bit of dirt. I placed it on the ground and provided a source of water, then tilled the ground and planted the seeds. It would be a while before these were ready for harvest, but at least food was not going to be an issue much longer.

     My home was growing along with the wheat inside. It was a productive session and a nice start to my Minecraft journey. No diamonds or gold or enchantments yet, just the humble start to a great world. The beginning is always fun, but more adventure and progress awaits. That is for another day though. Stay tuned for more progress!