Surprisingly, nothing happened that night, and I woke up to a peaceful morning as I was gearing up for my fourth day.
One of the objectives of this day was to grow the carrots I planted yesterday. It might seem preposterous to be this optimistic. However, the quest interface taught me that I could use fertilizer to improve my plant's growth.
To get this fertilizer, I had to gather some wood logs to be sacrificed to the quest book god, who would reward me with some carrots after the fact.
I decided to clean the forest up a bit to extend my construction space and harvest wood easily. Fortunately, my new axe allowed me to conduct this task in a way so efficient my bare hands couldn't be said to be this fast, even as flattery. Logs dropped on the ground as soon as I set myself to chop down any tree, and saplings were lying on the ground, sole proof that trees were once here.
While scouting further inside the forest, I found a curious creature, visibly uninterested in harming me in the slightest. A purple aura surrounded this short green creature, making me wonder if this small being could use some magic. I would probably have to come back later to sort this out.
This strange creature wasn't the only oddities I found in the forest, as I found a particular tree that was foreign in appearance from the other trees in the woods. Its leaves weren't autumn-colored, as opposed with the other trees, and its bark could be said the darkest of the forest.
I decided to chop it down to gather some new woods that could be used to construct a better-looking house by using different planks.
Surprisingly, the logs and saplings weren't the only things that fell on the ground this time, as I could see a different item on the floor. It was round and brown in appearance, but it might have been the stickiest resource I've encountered so far. It would undoubtedly be useful shortly, but I didn't know how at that time.
Fortunately, I could make the leaves drop a sapling after having chopped down the tree, which meant that I could replant some if I needed to gather a massive supply of this round thingy.
Harvesting a lot of these woods logs meant that I, unfortunately, had to clean a bit of the forest. That undoubtedly brought my little heaven on earth to gradually become less and less of actual heaven and more of an urbanized area with a lot of grass. It's also the same with the gravel I dug up earlier, which means that even the pond's beachside was not in a state that could be said as beautiful, even as flattery.
As expected, if I had to settle definitely in this place, I would have to refurbish this place in the future.
In the meantime, having gathered all the logs I needed to complete that task, I could finally get my hands on the fertilizer promised by the quest book. The white powder, obtained by crushing bones, could be spread over plants in this world to provoke a growth spur instantly. As other quests were gated behind my carrots' growth, it couldn't have been a better time to use this trump card to unveil new possibilities.
As advertised, once I applied the powder over the carrots, they immediately started glowing with green color, as if nature's aura had fallen onto these crops to bless them, enabling them to grow faster. Albeit flashy, the results were nothing less astounding, as I was soon able to reap the juicy beautiful vegetables, completing the task given to me.
However, some dejection awaited me, as fulfilling the carrots' task didn't unveil another quest, and no other choice was left than to go back on my tracks and start completing new quests.
One of the tasks that particularly stood up and gained my attention was the gathering of cobblestones, a building material that I was eager to get my hands on, as it could lead to the build of a more robust shelter and even a new stronghold on par with the nearby village one.
With that being said, it was quite unfortunate that no open-sky stone could be seen in the surrounding, forcing me to dig up a path through dirt to strike the earth's core.
My efforts were rewarded soon enough, as I could see some rocks not too deep under the surface. As I expected, it wasn't as easy as shoveling through a layer of dirt, and each block of stone actually took me quite a long time to mine.
Seeing, for the first time, these stones being extracted from their wall, I confirmed my earlier suspicions, as these rocks looked precisely like the one I have seen on the stronghold walls in the village. It seemed like the villagers could dig up some mines to secure some materials and some metals found underground.
I also found a new metal I've never encountered before, glimmering with a faint whitish color and lightly embedded in the rock. I wondered if I should care about it for the time being, but ultimately decided that I should be focused on the task at hand and that I could always go back to see what I've missed earlier.
As I continued expanding the cave I was digging up, the darkness silently started to settle in the room, effectively blocking my field of vision, and I soon decided to use my low quantity of torches to lighten the room so that I could safely operate and mine in this cave.
Surprisingly, it was almost better to live underground in this medium space I've been digging than in the tiny hole I've sheltered in since the second night. I wondered if I should bring all my stuff down in the cave, but I decided against it, fully aware that the number of rocks I've been digging so far could be used to build a better shelter later on.
Trying to get the last two rocks needed to fulfill the objectives I've been given, I witnessed the wall suddenly collapse before me, opening the entrance of a long cavern, a natural occurrence running barely underneath the surface.
However, I couldn't lower my guard as I soon found out that only one side of the cavern continued in the dark, the other side radiating some warm light, which made me wonder if going down this path would be safe or if I would encounter some enemies lurking in the caverns.
Cautiously advancing in the hollow, holding my sword as a knight guarding the life of its master, I sound found out that my worries were unfounded. Before me, a stream of molten rock was dripping from the wall, emitting a warm radiance. Quite a good omen in these caves, as this semifluid would help me keep a hold on the few torches I possessed by illuminating the room in my stead.
This lava also led me to wonder if it was possible to exploit it somehow, but this would wait the day I would have something that could adequately contain it, giving its high temperature.
Going back to the cavern entrance, I explored the darker part, which felt surprisingly a lot more dangerous than the first part I visited, as I couldn't see 7 meters inside the cave. The small amount of light was thoroughly reflected by some glitters slightly encrusted in the walls, advertising the presence of minerals further in the cave.
Fortunately, my expectations weren't betrayed in the slightest as I could numerous minerals paving the wall surface, only waiting to be gathered by a skilled miner and later on processed by a knowledgeable craftsman.
However, I couldn't recognize the minerals right from the wall, it seemed like a waste of effort trying to collect them from their birthplace as my pickaxe seemed on the verge of breaking while battling with these metallics rocks. I would surely come back later with a more appropriate set of tools.
Having gathered all stone required to move forward with the quests, I headed up to the surface, only to found the day hastily declining toward its last stages. Hurriedly sheltering in my cabin, I decided to make fair use of my newly gathered rocks to make a furnace that wouldn't risk burning my whole house when cooking something.
As someone could have predicted it, my little shelter began to feel a bit cramped, having the crafting station, two chests, a torch, and a furnace positioned inside. I thought seriously for the first time this day that I needed to either find a new place to live or that I had to build a proper house in the coming days.
Yet, building the furnace resulted in new possibilities unveiling before my eyes, which helped me figure a bit more about the questing system's inner workings. The dejection I felt after the carrots quest wasn't entirely justified, as it seems that to view one of the objectives to do next, you have to unlock all of the sub-tasks that came before it. In that sense, merely finishing the carrot tasks wasn't enough, as I needed to gather all the stones to view the bed objective.
Wanting to end this day on a victory note, I hastily crafted a wooden hammer, one of the specials tools that I would have to use to create advanced items and blocks.
Fortunately, I wouldn't have to spend another night standing still on my little hole of planks, as I had gathered almost all the elements needed to make a bed, except the blanket, which I would have to get the next day, after the night and its danger lurking around had passed.
I spent the night in excitement for the bed I would be crafting the next day, which would finally enable me to sleep peacefully, without care about what would happen around me.