Chapter 21:
After a long grind, Mark finally finished his Tinker's Construct toolset. Broadsword, pickaxe, shovel, hammer, lumber axe – the works. Sure, the options were a bit limited for now, but he felt a surge of accomplishment.
Truth be told, Mark wasn't exactly a crafting prodigy. This whole combining thing felt more like rocket science than something a regular guy should mess with. He wondered if he was losing it, getting obsessed with something so complicated. It was almost like his brain was wired wrong.
Honestly, making this toolset nearly broke him. Even with the mod's guide, the whole process was a nightmare for a guy like him, who couldn't combine two Lego bricks without a meltdown. He was starting to see those crafting recipes in his sleep.
It was enough to make him sick. For days, he couldn't even look at the crafting table without feeling queasy.
But that didn't mean he was slacking off. Mark had spent the last few days gathering resources to build a proper house. While making his tools, he'd even braved the Nether to find cobalt and ardite. He was past the early game now, loaded with resources, and ready to build himself a sweet pad.
Living in that dingy basement was a serious mood killer. Okay, so maybe Mark wasn't the next Frank Lloyd Wright, but building a house sounded way more fun than memorizing those crazy crafting recipes. Besides, even if it ended up looking like a shoebox, who cared? He was the only one around to judge.
Time to get this show on the road.
Mark took control of Steve and got to work. First things first, he needed to prep the land.
He'd started in a forest, but now it was pretty much wiped out. The terrain was all bumpy and uneven. Time to level some hills and fill in some valleys.
Basically, he needed a nice, flat space to build on.
Not exactly a walk in the park.
Luckily, he had the tools for the job. His pickaxe, with its reinforced pink alloy rod and cobalt binding, was light and efficient.
Speaking of that pink alloy...
It was called alumite, made by melting down obsidian, aluminum, and iron. Tough as nails, with Reinforcement III.
Mark had also souped it up twice, giving it a total of five levels of reinforcement. That thing was indestructible. No matter how much he abused it, it wouldn't lose durability.
With his unbreakable pickaxe, Mark made quick work of the terrain.
He fenced in the whole area, added torches for good measure, and started building his house, piece by piece.
He was going all out – two stories, an attic, and a double basement.
But like we said, Mark wasn't exactly a master builder. Even with all that wood, stone, and those fancy stairs, the house...well, it wasn't winning any beauty contests.
Let's just say even a village built by, well, villagers might look better.
But Mark didn't mind. He was proud of his creation. He hummed a happy tune as he moved all his stuff from the basement into his new digs.
He even cleared some land outside and planted three potato fields.
He'd gotten those potatoes from killing zombies. Started with just a couple, but he had tons of bones from skeletons, so he used bone meal to speed things up. After a few harvests, he had a whole potato empire going.
Next up: boss battles.
Crafting wasn't his thing, building was questionable, but when it came to fighting, Mark was a legend.
First up: the Wither.
He crafted a Manyullyn reaper, tricked it out with Consecrated Soil for Smite III, and brewed a whole bunch of potions.
The Wither didn't stand a chance. A few minutes after being summoned, Steve plunged his reaper into its chest. With a final screech, the Wither exploded, leaving behind a shiny Nether Star.
Wither down, time to find an End Fortress.
The Ender Dragon met the same fate.
Mark used a piston trick to snag the Dragon Egg and built a little platform in the End. From there, it was Enderman slaughter time.
To be honest, he didn't really need Ender Pearls anymore. But old habits die hard. Every time he'd beaten the Ender Dragon on a server before, people would beg him for Ender Pearls. He wasn't sure what they were used for, some mod stuff probably, but he figured he might as well stock up.
Who knows what he might need them for later?
Thanks to his clever platform, the Endermen couldn't touch him. He racked up stacks of Ender Pearls in no time.
Next, he headed to the End City.
He took out Shulkers, looted End Ships, the whole nine yards.
He'd officially conquered the vanilla Minecraft world. Besides those pesky crafting recipes, nothing could stop him.
As Mark stashed the last Shulker Shell in his Alchemical Bag, he looked around.
The night sky was dark, the End was desolate, and Endermen shuffled around aimlessly. A wave of loneliness washed over him.
He'd built that awesome Tinker's Construct furnace, crafted a killer set of gear.
He had a huge house, a potato farm that could feed an army.
His Alchemical Bag was overflowing with loot: gold, diamonds, Ender Pearls, Nether Stars, Shulker Shells, even a Dragon Egg.
But this time, there was no one to share it with.