Chapter 6 - An Adventure for the Ages

Part 1 - Understanding the World of "Minecraft" --> Chapter 6 - An Adventure for the Ages

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https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1327145-a-minecraft-struggle?chapter=6

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After landing in the water, we were surrounded by a school of mobs. “What is that red enderman?” I asked Mega. “They‘re the same as orange endermen, but they grab you, deal the same amount of damage, then throw you,” Mega answered. “Run!” I shouted. I ran to the left and turned back. “Mega, whatcha doing? Run!” I shouted. Mega didn‘t listen. “Speedo, I‘m attacking it. Go and collect anything you find!” Mega shouted. “Just-” “Go!” Mega interrupted. “Now!” I stayed next to Mega. I didn‘t want anything bad to happen to Mega. When Mega dodged, I slashed the enderman. “I said go!” Mega shouted. I ignored Mega, retreating, and slashing again. The enderman turned to Mega. “Over here!” I shouted. But the enderman had already grabbed Mega. I caught Mega, taking the fall damage myself. I was too weary to stand up. “Get the enderman,” I said, painfully and quietly. Mega hesitated but killed the enderman. I stood up after drinking water. “Is that a red ender pearl?” I asked. “Indeed,” Mega said, “It works just like a normal ender pearl but it deals only one heart of damage.”

“Get your sword out,” I said, “We‘re gonna fight all these mobs!” I slashed at every mob. “I could use your help here!” Mega killed the zombies. “Watch out for Boxers,” I warned. We shared nods, and continued running around and killing mobs. I heard a loud zombie. I backed up, drawing my golden ax. I jumped and slashed, while Mega got the final hit. Now, it was time to grind.

We continued walking ‘till we found anything of interest. I mined gold behind lava, and Mega mined redstone on the floor. I jumped to where the gold was, then jumped on a zombie to more iron and coal. Mega killed the zombie and I found a hole high up the wall. I heard skeletons crackling in there. I pointed to the hole and said, “That‘s our way ahead. Watch out for skeletons.”

We traded glances - which now showed Mega‘s nametag, I‘m guessing it‘s ‘cuz we‘ve met - and mined cobblestones from the wall to pillar up. “Call it out if you hear an enderman,” I said. “I don‘t wanna deal with another red one.” I poked a skeleton and dodged it, the arrow barely passing Mega. I shot at the skeleton and slashed it to kill it. When I turned back, Mega was gone. I continued walking to see a red enderman, quickly understanding why Mega disappeared. I ran back looking for water. There was none. I knew that Mega used the red ender pearl. I still had three cups of water and a bucket. I put ‘em all in my crafting area to fill my bucket. The cups stayed in my crafting area and I picked ‘em up. I held the water bucket when the enderman threw me. I MLG-watered and ran to the water we entered from. Mega was there waiting for me.

“I‘m sorry for running off without telling you,” Mega apologized. “No needa apologize,” I forgave. “I wouldna said a word either. Plus, I found you anyway.” I pulled out my bucket. I said, “I‘m gonna swim up with this water. Don‘t follow ‘till I tell you to.” I repeatedly placed the water and picked it up, breathing and struggling to swim for the first actual time for my hell of a life. “Now,” I called.

We went to Mega‘s island. Nightfall was coming again. “We need armor,” I said. “We also needa find a veteran.” It was a night only after we crossed the bridge. We climbed up to Mega‘s town. “Where do you sleep?” I asked. “In my hidden bedroom,” Mega answered. “There‘s plenty of beds in there.” Mega handed me a lever and pointed to a lever slot next to redstone dust. I placed and pulled the lever, revealing a stairway to the bedroom. “Tomorrow, we oughta find new lands and new people,” I said.

The next morning, my dog was jumping joyfully on my bed. Mega was awake from my dog, too. “How can you collect drinkable water?” I asked, tryna drink ocean water from my bucket, which only made me more thirsty. “First, you need a cup,” Mega answered. “Second, you need a water purifier. Last, you need patience.” “How do you get a water purifier?” I asked. “I forgot,” Mega answered. “There hasta be someone who knows,” I said. “Maybe there‘s a book ‘bout this stuff.”

“I hear someone mining,” I warned. We looked down to see a griefer breaking the blocks and ladders up to the town. “Do you have a jail or even a prison?” I asked Mega. “It‘s underwater,” Mega answered. “Catch ‘em, and I‘ll lock ‘em up.” “Just watch my back,” I checked. Mega handed me some handcuffs. ''Handcuffs? How?'' I thought. There was no time to ask. “I can‘t swim!” I shouted.

“Then step on the ladder and jump on ‘em!” Mega responded. I climbed down and jumped on the griefer, putting on the handcuffs. “Hurry up,” I grumbled at Mega. Before Mega got down, the griefer had kicked me away, broke the handcuffs, and swam away. “Mega…” I trailed off, “It‘s not gonna be that easy to catch ‘em!”

“We needa make a boat!” Mega shouted. “Hack down some trees, then!” I responded. I pulled out my stone ax and hacked a few trees. Mega made a crafting table, and I crafted wooden planks, which we split. We made our boats and chased after the griefer.

There was magma underwater in my path. Before I could react, my boat was gone, and I was sucked to the bottom. I tried to swim up, but I couldn‘t. I wanted to call for Mega, but I would needa swim up. I still had some wooden planks in my inventory. I made another crafting table and crafted a new boat. I needed soul sand to place my boat on. I found a shipwreck. I rushed to its chest, grabbed some soul sand, and swam out. I placed soul sand on the ground. I placed my boat nearby, drove it, and rode it onto the soul sand. I called for Mega as I followed, getting a somewhat half-hearted “Okay,” in return.

Mega stopped and lemme catch up with ‘em. “Where are we going?” I asked Mega. “To a mushroom field biome,” Mega answered, pointing toward it. “How are we already here?” I asked Mega. “Short answer: This world is weird sometimes,” Mega answered. We got outta our boats and stepped onto the island.

I looked at the mooshrooms, then I found a book on the floor. I picked it up and read it aloud. “The Mooshroom Guide, by lordofcattts,” I began. I was bewildered by the author. “Did you know ‘bout this?” I asked Mega, with some unintended sass. “No,” Mega answered, “Iunno what happened after Cat left - they‘re secretive sometimes.” I continued reading. “Pairs of mooshrooms breed when both are fed wheat. Both mates must be adults to breed. Mooshrooms cannot breed with cows unless the mooshroom is fed a rotten mushroom within 10s before breeding or sheared. When a mooshroom and a cow are bred, their offspring is a baby cow. Shearing a mooshroom drops 5 corresponding mushrooms and turns the mooshroom into a normal cow, emitting a smaller version of the explosion particle. The mushrooms don‘t grow back. Feeding wheat to a baby mooshroom accelerates its remaining growing time by 5% and affects it with Speed II for 3s. Giving it a Water Cup only affects it with Speed II for 1s. Baby mooshrooms don‘t have mushrooms or any possible player interactions except feeding or giving it water. Breeding two red mooshrooms has a 1/2,048 chance to raise a brown mooshroom and vice versa. When breeding red and brown mooshrooms, there is a 50/50 chance for one of the baby variants. When killed, an adult mooshroom drops:

- 0-1 Leather. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per Looting level, going up to 0-6 with Looting V. The minimum amount is increased by 1 per Collector level, going up to 3-6 with Looting V & Collector III. If the resulting minimum amount from a Collector level exceeds the maximum amount with any Looting levels, the Collector level is ignored and the minimum amount stays the same asset from the last Collector level.

- 2-4 Raw Beef (Steak if killed while on fire). The maximum amount is increased by 1 per Looting level, going up to 2-9 with Looting V. The minimum amount is increased by 1 per Collector level, going up to 5-9 with Looting V & Collector III. If the resulting minimum amount from a Collector level exceeds the maximum amount with any Looting levels, the Collector level is ignored and the minimum amount stays the same asset from the last Collector level.

- 0-1 XP (when killed by a player or tamed wolf). The maximum amount is increased by 1 per Experienced level, going up to 0-11 with Experienced X. The minimum amount is increased by 1 per Skillful level, going up to 5-11 with Experienced X & Skillful V. If the resulting minimum amount from a Skillful level exceeds the maximum amount with any Experienced levels, the Skillful level is ignored and the minimum amount stays the same asset from the last Skillful level.

Upon successful breeding, 1-2 XP is dropped. The maximum amount is increased by 1 per Experienced level, going up to 1-12 with Experienced X. The minimum amount is increased by 1 per Skillful level, going up to 6-12 with Experienced X & Skillful V. If the resulting minimum amount from a Skillful level exceeds the maximum amount with any Experienced levels, the Skillful level is ignored and the minimum amount stays the same asset from the last Skillful level. When spawned, mooshrooms have a 1/5,290 chance to be unable to swim up. Like other baby animals, killing a baby mooshroom yields no loot or XP. An adult mooshroom can be milked by using a bucket on it, yielding a milk bucket. The player can use a milk bucket to expel any status effects. Mooshrooms can also be milked with bowls to yield mushroom stew. When a flower is fed to a brown mooshroom, it produces a suspicious stew related to that flower the next time it is milked with a bowl. It reverts to producing mushroom stew ‘till fed another flower. The flowers yield suspicious stew with the following effects.

- Flower: Allium. Effect: Fire Resistance. Duration: 4s.

- Flower: Azure Bluet. Effect: Blindness. Duration: 8s.

- Flower: Blue Orchid, Dandelion. Effect: Saturation. Duration: .35s.

- Flower: Speedo. Effect: Speed. Duration: 7s.

- Flower: Sunflower. Effect: Haste. Duration: 5s.

- Flower: Cornflower. Effect: Jump Boost. Duration: 6s.

- Flower: Lily of the Valley. Effect: Poison. Duration: 12s.

- Flower: Oxeye Daisy. Effect: Regeneration. Duration: 8s.

- Flower: Poppy. Effect: Night Vision. Duration: 5s.

- Flower: Tulips. Effect: Weakness. Duration: 9s.

- Flower: Wither Rose. Effect: Wither. Duration: 8s.

Mooshrooms usually slowly and aimlessly walk, huffing and mooing. They try to approach huge mushrooms. They avoid danger such as cliffs, fire, or lava, but don‘t care ‘bout submerging ‘emselves in water - even if they can‘t swim. Mooshrooms are coaxed by players holding wheat. Red mooshrooms convert to brown and vice versa when struck by lightning.” Now that was one long book. “It sounds like we need a speedo,” Mega commented. I nodded. “Now, where to find it?” I asked Mega, but also no one.

“Lemme get this straight - get mushroom stew, get a water purifier, get a speedo, suspiciously milk a mooshroom, craft new handcuffs, weaken the griefer, and arrest ‘em,” I checked. “Correct,” Mega replied. Mega handed me a bowl and pointed to a herd of mooshrooms. I milked 4 mushroom stew and divided ‘em among us. “We needa find a book for the water purifier recipe,” I said. “There‘s a sign next to a chest that says ‘Recipes,‘” Mega said. I opened it and took out “The Aquatic Update, by AriEpik.” “Mega,” I called, “I found a book by Wapp.” “Who‘s that?” Mega asked. “One of my friends,” I replied. “I haven‘t seen him in a long time, but he left me some things to remember him. He gave me some including tips ‘bout Minecraft in this book. Specifically ‘bout the aquatics of Minecraft.” I opened up the hard, dusty leather cover, and flipped to page 12, How to Purify Water. I read the fortunately short page aloud. “To purify water, you needa use a Filter with a Water Cup and a Water Purifier. To get a Water Cup, use a Cup on Water. ⅕ of the Water will go into the Cup to make a Water Cup. Place a Filter, then put a Water Cup to the left of the plus, a Water Purifier to the right of the plus, and a Coal Nugget above the plus. The Coal Nugget will dissipate, the Water Purifier will lose durability, and the Water Cup will be moved to the right of the equals sign, converted into a Pure Water Cup. Cup recipe: Iron Ingot above a Bowl, anywhere. Filter recipe: Water Bucket on top, Emerald in the middle, and Lava Bucket on the bottom. Water Purifier recipe: Sponge on top, Pure Gem in the middle, and Hopper on the bottom. Coal Nugget [x9] recipe: Coal anywhere.” “That won‘t be fun,” Mega commented. “I think we have a depo right there,” I said, pointing past the chest, toward an ocean monument. “We needa kill an elder guardian to get the wet sponge, then wring the water into my bucket,” I proposed. “Ugh, Elder Guardians,” Mega complained. “Those things are like mini-bosses, and super annoying, since they give Mining Fatigue.”

I looked at the water, quickly remembering that I couldn‘t swim. “Take these frost walker boots,” Mega proposed. I put ‘em on, and we traveled to the monument. I took the boots off and moved over the magma. I had kept soul sand in my inventory from earlier. I swam toward the monument with my iron sword pulled out. I made a crafting table and a few doors (not sure how the logic of Minecraft works, but with doors, you can create an air pocket for you to breathe underwater). I placed ‘em on the wall of the monument. “Ready?” Mega garbled, all of our words were hard to hear. “Ready,” I blubbed nervously. I wasn‘t ready though. But I still was confident. Hoping notta get mining fatigue, I mined the prismarine wall. Prismarine is also rare, only could be found within an ocean monument, so we might use it for building. I tried notta get distracted from the things I could build and decided to stay on the task at hand. I still had 10 bubbles of air. Obviously I could tell. A guardian started staring at me. “Death coming up!” I scoffed. Wapp, my friend, taught me how to take out those things. All you gotta do is land a few critical hits on ‘em! Then take out the weak spot, their eye. ''Swish! Swish! Swish!'' It was low. Then as it tried to retreat, I stabbed that sucker right in their iris. If they even have one. “Nice!” Mega commented. We repeated that as we fought together. ''Swish, swish, swish, STAB! Swish, swish, swish, STAB!'' We took out all of the guardians. Unfortunately and fortunately, the last one that spawned was an elder guardian. I tried to stab it in the eye. It dodged. And suddenly a phantom-like figure that looked like a guardian, flashed across my face. My limbs turned a dark gray. I had mining fatigue. Mega threw me a turtle helmet while they put on theirs. Which was lucky, I had one bubble of air left. I could tell. This was sure to gimme more time. “DWIK UB!” Mega garbled - with water breathing, we could speak underwater - as the elder guardian was fighting ‘em. They threw me a milk bucket, which, thankfully, didn‘t spill out in the ocean. I drank quickly. Mega and I went for different eyes. As it dodged both, I charged at its eye again. I swung the wrong way and cut off its fins. It dropped to the floor. This was our chance! We got ready and put that sword in that eye! It was dead. And luckily for us, it dropped a sponge. It was the wettest I‘d ever seen (which is to say, never at all). We both turned a red glow. We both knew what that meant. We were taking damage, and we were ‘bouta drown. If that wasn‘t bad enough, the monument was ‘bout 40 blocks underwater. SGIM SGIMM SGIMMMMMMMM!!

I pulled out the wet sponge. It didn‘t clear out the water. Should have known it was already soaked. I mined down - thanks milk! Mega swam in my hole, too. I blocked off my hole with a piece of granite. There was cobblestone for a furnace we could use to wring the sponge. After that, I dug straight to a place under the beachfront and dug up. Luckily I had a torch so the sand didn‘t fall on us. We climbed up. It was sunset. But then we saw something.