(Walson)

After dusk has fallen, it became much darker, forcing me to back track and create a [Furnace].

I can use the [Furnace] after murmuring “Activate” to it. I do the same thing when using the [Crafting Table] and my [Inventory] sometimes, depending on what I am trying to do.

After activating the interface, there were two slots. The slot on the top is where I place the thing I want to burn, the one below is for the fuel I want to use. Once both slots are filled, the furnace automatically processes whatever was placed inside.

With that said, I placed two blocks of wood into it.

According to the mechanics of  Minecraft, it’s possible to make charcoal by burning a block of wood in the furnace, and after a little while, I saw that there was indeed a black piece of charcoal that was previously a block of wood on the top. The wood I placed below disappeared as it was obviously used up as fuel.

After placing a wooden stick and a piece of charcoal together, I managed to craft four [Torches]. It’s now possible to enter the mountains in the dark now.

With my [Mini-map] still active, it should be easy to avoid any hostiles on the way as long as I don’t get careless. The [Torch] doesn’t need to be placed on something before they can be used, so four [Torches] should tide me over for the night. I wonder if the [Torch] has some sort of duration since this is now real life? It’s not like they could burn forever… like in  Minecraft.

But I believe I should bring a weapon with me just in case. Therefore, I crafted a [Stone Sword].

The first objective to this exploration of the mountain, is to find a vein of ores to mine.

In  Minecraft, ores usually appear close to each other, so if you see one block of coal, then several other blocks of coal should be very close. This collective of ores is called a vein.

I have done my research in the library of the Orphanage, and deduced from the fact that the village that I currently live in was previously a mining town a long time ago. But they got very little profit from mining, and ultimately switched to farming.

The reason they did not have profit was not because there was nothing valuable to mine, but rather it cost them too much to mine, and whatever they could sell would not cover the costs effectively enough to make a big profit.

With that said, since no one is mining the mountains anymore, I would be the sole person to benefit from this venture if I find anything valuable. I wonder what I can find in the caves and abandoned mine shafts.

…

…

…

Of course I wouldn’t enter a cave or abandoned mineshaft unprepared! Do you think I look prepared now? Do you think I am an idiot?

This isn’t a game! (Although it certainly looks, and feels like one)

I don’t want to die then find out that I only had one chance at life.

My second objective is to find a place where I can set up my secret base of operation.

There are a lot of things that I want to experiment with, such as brewing potions, and my  Minecraft related abilities.

I already have one of the necessary ingredients to brew a potion: a [Nether Wart].

But I only have two of them in my [Inventory], so I need a way to produce them first.

Producing [Nether Wart] is not such a big problem, since I also have some [Soul Sand] for it to grow on, six [Soul Sands] to be precise.

The problem is that the [Soul Sand] is… very… weird…?

When the block of [Soul Sand] is placed on the ground, it starts to emit a miserable moaning sound, as if whatever soul is inside the sand is in pain.

I don’t know whether the [Soul Sand] has any souls in it like the name implies, but I definitely don’t want other people to witness that.

The chances that there are indeed souls inside the sand is higher than I like. Since [Soul Sand] came from the Nether dimension of  Minecraft. Speaking of which, if [Nether Wart] can only be planted and grown on [Soul Sand], does that mean that the [Nether Wart] absorbs nutrients from the…?

No, no, no. I am not going to think about it.

In any case, the production of potions and experimentation of my abilities cannot be safely conducted inside the village without causing trouble, so I thought why not do it elsewhere, like in the mountains? Because if I do any of that inside the village, I might get persecuted for being a Necromancer by imprisoning souls into objects… and growing questionable plants… as well as having questionable abilities.

As I walked through the tall grass towards the mountain, I was starting to think about what I wanted from my secret base.

Speaking of a secret base, the first requirement that I’m looking for is to have it in a place that is hard to find. A place that can easily offer a lot of privacy.

Maybe I should just dig a tunnel in the mountain, then expand it.

Sure, let’s stick to that idea.

There are usually many trees near mountains, and this time is no exception either. I stepped into the forest and I never thought that real forests – especially in the night – would be so lively. I always imagined a forest to be a tranquil and calm place. But right now I am hearing all sorts of sound from my surroundings. Owls are hooting, insects are chirping… and other various unidentifiable sounds.

Well, technically I could identify all of them with my [Mini-map] if I wanted to, but I have changed the settings so that they will not leave a mark on my radar. I am glad that I did this, since it could possibly overload my entire [Mini-map] with countless little dots.

But I can still detect poisonous insects and hostile vermin, so that’s alright.

Oh? There seem to be two slimes that are moving together not too far away from me.

[Small Blocky-Slime_LV5_HP:8/8_Title: None]

And

[Small Slime_LV2_HP:5/5_Title: None]

At least that was what I saw from the [Damage Indicator]. It has other useful mod information aside from telling you how much health something has.

The Small Blocky-Slime retains its trademark jump sound from  Minecraft. While the other regular Small Slime is crawling slowly while making a kind of bubbling sound.

Well, I am somewhat glad that the mobs from  Minecraft seem to be able to safely co-exist with the local monsters. This is the first time I have actively witnessed this phenomenon though.

Both of the slimes are no bigger than the palms of my hand – and since I am seven – they are quite small indeed.

Although both of them are technically monsters, hostile beings that will attack anyone on sight, the slimes in Minecraft are not aggressive as long as they are not at a reasonable size. And the small slime just seems to ignore me.

… Ah, now would be a good time to try out my [Stone Sword].

I slashed each of the slimes once, and to my surprise, when the Blocky Small-Slime broke apart in one hit, the other was only slowly coalescing, molding back together.

I guess they have different characteristics?

I seem to recall from our monsterology classes that slimes usually possess the [Physical Damage Resistance] skill.

I swatted it a second time, and successfully killed it.

I think I heard an echoing voice in my head that said “Your LV has increased to 2”.

Oh my, it seems like the rules of this world are truly different. I hope there are more beneficial effects for me to discover.

I have no idea how much my stats have increased, so I guess the first thing I do when I go back is to find the [Stone Tablet of Identification] to find out.

The Blocky-Slime from  Minecraft dropped a [Slimeball], just as usual. While the other slime melted away and left behind its [Core]. Huh, the things they drop are different too.

Since I was starting to get hungry, I munched on some bread as I made my way closer to the mountains.

…Exploring the wild in the dark of the night. That’s definitely something that normal [Peasants] wouldn’t be doing.

If the Nuns in the Orphanage find out, I would probably be in loads of trouble.

The young nun with an impressive bust is called Maany, while the old hag is called Maressa. All the kids call old hag Maressa behind her back because she is very strict and mean.

Oh, it seems like my [Detector Mod] came along with me into this new life.

Using the [Detector], I managed to find that the distance between the abandoned mine shaft and where I am right now is around a hundred meters. If the different colored dots on the [Detector] are any indications, there seems to be a lot of interesting things inside.

Since it’s abandoned, I guess I would be safe to mine to my heart’s content without anyone finding out.

Then I looked around and found that there was an area with fewer trees that is about fifty meters away from here.

If I can organize that area, it would probably become a great secret base.