I woke up feeling refreshed, the sun was bearly on the horizon but still sent light throughout the land.
I was the only person living on my own since I made the house specifically for me, and I didn't want to bother someone else if suddenly I'm struck with inspiration and keep them awake with my crafting.
Plus I'm already used to sleeping on my own so it's better this way.
I left my house feeling the cool winds of the morning, making me shiver.
Everyone was still asleep around me, too tired after the mining session from yesterday, but we made a lot of progress.
The witches on the surface were not sitting idly either, as they built farms and other facilities for the workers to relax once they were finished with mining.
But with time, only a few people would remain here and the rest would join the underground.
As I walked around the surface, looking at what else appeared, I heard a door being opened and closed quickly.
Curious, I walked to see who else was an early bird.
It was Elder Anastasia.
"Morning Anastasia, are you that excited to start working?"
"Wha- oh Trader it's just you. Not really I wanted to get some fresh air, nights are harder to sleep recently."
Oh, I'm guessing the pressure of the Clan is starting to get to her, and I'm not that good at comforting people.
"Sure, do you want to see what progress we made underground?"
She looked at the sun that was slowly rising and then turned back to face me.
"I guess that would be good to see."
"Perfect! Follow me then."
We walked away from the cobblestone wall and arrived at a huge hole going deep into the earth.
"I knew we were digging a lot, but isn't a hole of this size dangerous since anyone can fall in?"
We walked closer to the edge and looked down where we couldn't see the bottom from the lack of light.
"It's not that dangerous, you can use the stairs to get down and-wha-whaaaaaa!"
I suddenly 'slipped' off the edge and fell into the deep hole, making my inner body twinkle because of the adrenaline rush I was getting.
But while I was screaming as I fell deeper, I wasn't actually scared, and the reason soon revealed itself in the form of a slimy green blocks.
I made sure I was standing straight up as I landed on the slime blocks, the speed of my fall was quickly getting smaller and smaller until it came to a sudden stop.
Then like a spring, I was launched back, reaching the edge of the hole in a few seconds where Anastasia had a terrified face.
"Trader! You're ok!"
"I'm ok, you can jump as well, it's all safe."
That was the only thing I managed to say before falling down once more, but this time I lay flat until I reached the green blocks at the bottom.
My falling speed was decreasing greatly until it stopped and then I was lunched up once more, but this time only five blocks, then three and then one, and finally I stopped.
The whole process didn't hurt at all, only some tense muscles that would soon get back to normal.
It was always a rush when I did the jump, never got too used to it.
The testing phase was fun as well, especially seeing the reaction from the other Witches while I was jumping from higher and higher heights.
From what I know I'm the only one that uses the slime bed to get to the bottom, even if everyone saw me jumping on it and coming out fine.
I sat there for a few minutes waiting for Anastasia to come down the stairs since the jump was too much of a challenge.
Once she arrived, she didn't look too happy at me.
"Don't ever do that again. I thought you were falling to your death, my heart almost stopped!"
This made me a little ashamed of my prank.
I didn't expect to get such a strong reaction, but in hindsight, I should've thought better about it.
"I promise I won't make any more pranks with you."
I still want to try this with Froggy and then I'm done, but Anastasia didn't seem to be happy with my answer.
Luckily, she didn't press on this subject as she looked around the place to see what we were working on.
Once you arrived at the bottom of the floor, you would be met with a few double chests lying around filled with cobblestone and other blocks, then a huge room that was dug three blocks tall.
This was the bottom layer, and the largest of them all.
The final project would look like a huge underground dome where we would build the new Clan and its houses.
A group of witches together with me started to dig the first layer and placed torches down as a light source, while another group of witches drank some Night Vision potions and concentrated on mining the second layer.
But they had to be careful, since if they accidentally broke a block from the ground, they would fall to the first layer and hurt their feet.
It's not that dangerous now, but when we would mine at the 10th layer, that would be a death sentence.
"This looks pretty impressive, and it's only done in a single day. Did you somehow manage to make the other witches mine as fast as you?"
"Not as fast as me, but if we use the Speed potion we can all mine faster than normal for a few good hours."
"Speed potions? So that's why you wanted them yesterday, I also heard from Elder Flora that you kept buying them when you were grinding your Crafting Skill."
"Oh yes, I also found out that you can greatly increase the production speed if you use a potion, more experience in less time."
"But you would still feel the passage of time, how do keep yourself motivated, actually why are you in such a hurry to progress so much?"
In the old world I don't think I would've been able to focus so much on a single task, only now, that I can't get distracted with the internet I can just focus on one thing.
I just can't do anything besides it.
As for why I'm I in such a rush?
Call it a hunch as the world is getting more and more dangerous around me.
The kingdoms didn't have a problem with the monsters for hundreds of years until now, the Piligers attacked the Witches which feels like a small step into a bigger plan, and the fact that the System isn't striking them down, makes me wonder what caught it's attention.
In conclusion, there's a lot of uncertainty, and I want to be prepared for anything this world has to throw at me.
I should also start making my Netherite equipment soon, and focus on some powerful enchantments to go with it.
That should be my endgame armor.
The rest of the time I would spend it on exploring ruins and studying enchantments since I feel that this would greatly help me with my goal of getting home.
"It's because I'm not ready yet, I'm not powerful enough."
Anastasia stopped and looked at me with a worried expression.
"What do you mean you're not powerful enough? You just helped kill one of the most powerful creatures that walked on those lands, and you're still saying you're not powerful enough? What are you trying to fight against, the System?"
The System?
I never thought about fighting it, even though if it didn't want to help me, it would probably attack me.
I wonder if it has a psychical form that I can attack, or maybe remove myself from it entirely as it's making my life harder than it needs to be.
"I hope I don't have to fight it, as for what I'm preparing for, even I'm not sure. I know some stuff that no person in this world should know, and know enemies that can make the Zombie Lord look like a common soldier. Actually, that monster was following orders, which means that there's someone behind him who is more powerful."
Her face turned whiter than before, looking at the walls expecting an enemy to jump out of the air.
"H-how can you stay so calm then? Are we prepared to face those challenges?"
I think I scared her too much.
It's like when you tell a kid that Earth is going to die in a few billion years, and they start to have a mental breakdown even though it doesn't affect them in want way shape, or form.
"The System is protecting us against any enemies that I know, and I'm preparing the best that I can, in case something happens."
This seemed to calm her down a little, but her eyes still ran from corner to corner.
"Then why are you still helping us, it's not like we can help you too much against such calamities."
This question reminded me of the promise that I made to myself.
Just because I want to get home, that doesn't mean I have to ignore the world that I live in now, the opportunity I have now, would be something that someone else would die for.
I will enjoy the best of what this world has to offer and still search for a way home.
That way, in case I don't find a solution, I wouldn't have a mental breakdown.
"While I know a lot of information and have some interesting tools, I'm still one man. There's only so much I can do alone, sometimes you need someone to talk with, and you don't need to face everything on your own. Just like you have other witches, the others have you as an Elder, as a leader to guide them."
I was getting surprised about what I was spouting out of my mouth.
What a hypocrite I was talking about getting help when I was trying to do everything on my own.
Maybe I should listen to my own advice and share my burden with others.
Ahh, it's only morning and I already want to hide in my bed and ignore the world around me and its problems.
We sat in silence for a few more minutes until someone broke it by accident.
"Oh Trader and Elder Anastasia, I didn't know you two were here, sorry if I startled you."
One of the witches came down the stairs and saw us examining the project, which scared him for a moment.
"Ah, don't worry about it, ready to start a new day of mining?"
"My muscles are still sore from yesterday, but I'm ready to get back to work."
"That's the spirit! We would start once a few more people would wake up, why don't we eat breakfast first?"
"Sounds wonderful!"
With that, he quickly turned around and climbed the stairs.
"Thank you."
"What?"
"Thank you for talking with me, it made me feel better."
The fact that this conversation helped Anastasia made me smile a little.
"Glad to be of help. Now let's get some food as well, I'm sure you didn't eat breakfast yet."
I didn't need to hear her response as both of our stomachs did it for us loudly.
This made both of us laugh and then we started to climb the stairs to the surface.
The project was still at the beginning, but it was full of potential if done right.
Waves of inspiration and ideas passed through my mind, and I didn't have to work alone on this.
This would be the first big project that I would work on with someone else.
Actually, I think this is the biggest project that I have done ever since I came to this world, which only made my excitement grow.
We were going to get some good food, and then back to creating!