April 4 Year 1001, Mid-Spring
Time: 06:00
On a mountain side filled with oak trees, a man can be seen sleeping peacefully under the shade of one such tree wearing a basic
attire. He had a head full of black hair, while his clothing was just a white cloth t-shirt and brown cloth pants.
Whoosh
The tree leaves sway and some fall away as a calming wind blows by. A couple of them fall onto the man's face disturbing his sleep. The man furrowed his brows and squint's opens his eyes.
The sun beams down on him through the canopy. He blocks the sunrays with his hands and looks up towards the trees while brushing off the leaves of his face.
" Huh!? "
The man fully opens his eyes wide as he sits up while looking at his surroundings cautiously.
" Why is Everything Square shaped? What the heck!? "
The man fanatically stands up with the support of the cubic oak tree besides him and gazes onto the wide expanse on the horizon.
It was a beautiful plains to the front with a few rivers running through them and a small valley of stone behind him. On the edge of the horizon some huge snowy mountain ranges could be seen. But the thing was everything was in the shape of a block.
He stood speechless on the edge of the plains on a small hill for a couple of minutes before having a look of realisation on his face.
" Is...is this a dream? this is definitely Minecraft right?! " says the man while looking back towards the cubic landscape and trees.
His name was Zack Miller. He had lived a difficult life as he had weak lungs since birth and was confined to a hospital for all his life. As far back as he knew he had no family, he was really grateful to the staff at the hospital for helping him find different charitable funds so he could live till he did.
Only recently after he caught a serious infection and his chances of dying seemed high did he overheard through some staff that his father has left his mother and him the day he was born and his mother had followed soon after.
But he wasn't about to dwell on the past no matter how much it had hurt to hear it. He had heard a doctor say to someone that all kids deserved the parents love but not all parents deserved a child's.
His expression went through rapid changes from amazed to confused to acceptance as took a deep breath without feeling congested. " I can breathe perfectly without it hurting. "
A few tears escaped his eyes as marveled at the beautiful view .
He was about 17 years old now. He had black hair and beautiful blue eyes.
He had never played Minecraft himself before but he did once watch a friend of his play through the whole game on a tablet.
So he knew the basics of gathering resources to build up yourself to fight a dark dragon and then taking its baby egg, what came after it he had no clue.
And the most basic of the resources was right in front of his eyes, Wood.
Zack says as he rubs his hands on the log.
" Even though it's square shaped, it still feels like actual wood. Do i actually have to punch this to get wood? Won't it hurt like a lot?! "
He pulls his hand back, makes a fist and knocks on the tree with it.
* Thuk Thuk *
" Huh, that didn't hurt much and it's showing some tiny cracks in the middle! " Zack grins looking towards the tiny cracks on the log.
" Maybe i should just go for it? " Zack says as he pulls his fist back and punches the already cracked log.
* THak *
* CRACK *
" SON OF A BITC****** "
Time: 08:00
An Hour later Zack is seen sitting on the ground nearby the tree, cradling his hand that had some dried blood on it.
" Why did i even think that was a good idea? I am such an idiot!! " says Zack while he glares towards the barely cracked log.
" But this is freaking awesome! Even though i'm almost positive i heard the bone break, it is already healed. " Zack says astonishingly as he examines his hurt hand by flexing it.
Focusing back on the wood, he grows hesitant.
"Sigh, How am i supposed to get wood then? Do i really have to break my hands every time to whittle it down bit by bit?
That's gonna take ages! "
He frustratedly looks around for something to help with the task.
Then his eyes lit up as he found a couple of small rocks scattered nearby on the ground.
He then picks up one of the bigger ones, brings it back and bangs it on the already cracked log with anticipation.
* Thud *
Only for it to be turned into frustration as the cracks remain on the same progress without spreading.
He tries it a few more times but to no avail. Just as he is about to give up a stick falls down from the leaves above him.
Zack looks towards the arm length stick on the ground and then towards the stone in his hand making his eyes light up with an idea.
" Surely I can make a makeshift tool with this! I just need something to tie them up together. " Zack says with renewed excitement and starts to wander about looking for some vines or sting type material.
Time: 12:00
Zack puts the bundles of sticks down, together with the small pile of stones he had collected.
He wipes off the sweat while surveying the new area around him.
As the day went on it was getting hotter to work and he was hungry and thirsty, so he had decided to move to the plains just below the mountains near a river bank.
Here he had found a cherry tree but it was still in the growth stage. He had also found a bunch of strawberry brushes growing in this area. He had collected all the grown fruit because it looked like they were starting to decay.
So he'd had his fill and still had enough left to last him the day. And there were still a lot more around that he could harvest.
Now back to wood, Zack had made a makeshift axe using two stones and tying them to a stick with some long grass.
" Please, please work. I really need to start working on a place to sleep before night falls otherwise i am so dead. " Zack mumbled to himself desperately as he swings the axe at a new oak tree.
Thud
" COMEOn!! Why? How the hell am i supposed to craft an axe without a crafting table then?!? " Zack angrily throws the axe into the dirt.
But just then suddenly a grid opens up in front of him and the axe vanishes.
" Wh.. seriously!? Now what?!? " Zack still angry doesn't process what he was seeing.
It was a gray translucent panel with 36 slots of space with inventory written on top and a 2 by 2 slot with crafting written on top of it.
The bottom row was split apart from the whole inventory itself.
There were also 4 different tabs on the right side of the panel.
One was a Backpack which was currently open showing the empty inventory and 2 by 2 crafting grid.
One was an Hourglass which showed the Current season and Date.
Next was a Thermometer which showed Climate, Region, Avg. Temp, Annual Rainfall and Current Temp.
The last one was a..
" Survival Guide.....sigh Thank God! " says Zack with genuine relief after skimming through the whole panel.
It's logo on the panel looked like a Green Book with the Corners in Golden.
Zack quickly clicked on the Survival Guide tab but instead of showing a new interface A lustrous Golden Green Book appeared in his hands.
Zack already tired from all the fan fare just opened the book to discover it was blank.
.
.
.
" Maybe breaking my fists on wood isn't such a bad idea. " Mutters Zack with a blank expression on his face, like he was seriously considering it.
+ You really shouldn't, just make an axe +
Zack looks up alert and scans his surroundings, only to see he was alone.
" ...Hehe I am already going crazy? It hasn't even been a day and i am already hearing voices in my head! "
+ Not in your Head Kid, I am in your hands +
Zack blinks and then just stares at the book in his hand and then sighs in resignation.
" Sure why not if a world made of blocks is possible then talking books are not that far-fetched."
+ Exactly kid, This is the temperament you should always keep. Cause only with an open mind will you go far in life. +
Zack just takes a deep breath and calms himself down. He then properly starts to explore the new window opened in front of him all while still talking to the book.
" Ok Tell me, Is this actually Minecraft? " He asks the most obvious question related to him all while noticing that his make shift axe broke apart into 2 stone and a stick when it entered the inventory.
+ Yes, you are in the universe of Minecraft +
Zack momentarily paused then continues asking " How? Also am i dead, Like is this my 2nd Life?"
+ ...That Data is not available for viewing +
" Sigh.. Of course it isn't. Anyways you are a guide right? Tell me how do i get wood? " Zack already figured he won't be getting any philosophical answers so soon, so he wasn't that disappointed.
All he knew was that he was given a new lease at life and he wanted to live it to its fullest. And to do that, the first step was literally Getting Wood.
+ To get wood you will need a Stone axe. To make a stone axe you will need 2 small stones and a stick. Stones can be found on the ground, whereas sticks can be obtained from breaking leaves or fallen under the trees. Once you have the material needed you use the stones for Knapping. You make the shape of the tool head you need and put it together with a stick in the 2 × 2 crafting grid to get a Stone Axe +
Zack listened carefully and had a confused look on his face till the end.
" I'm sorry, what? What's Knapping? "
Zack understood that he needed to make something like an axe head and put it together with a stick in his crafting space. What he did not get was how he was supposed to make it with just 2 pieces of rocks.
+ You need to bang 2 pieces of stone together to get a 5 × 5 grid pattern. In that interface you need to make a tool head pattern. +
In the end he thought instead of being even more confused with the logic of it all he should just try it out for himself.
So he looked towards his inventory and clicked on the stone in it, only for nothing to happen.
" How am i supposed to take things out of the inventory? " Zacks asks the Guide after trying out different ways without any of them working.
+ If the object is placed in the hotbar, you just have to think about it appearing and disappearing for it to work without even opening the inventory, but if it is not then you need to click hold the object and think of pulling it out while keeping the inventory open. +
Zack figured the hotbar is the 9 slot row in the bottom of the inventory, which was currently holding both his items.
He then thought of the stones appearing in his hands and it worked. The stones both appeared in his hands, even though they were stacked together in his inventory.
From this Zack understood that most of the interfaces and inventory functions were probably though based.
To test this theory of his he thought about closing his inventory only for the interface to disappear.
Seeing this brought a smile to Zack's face.
" Well here goes nothing "
He then followed the instructions and hit both the rocks together.
* Think *
And just like the inventory another interface pops up.
Although this one was completely different from before.
This time it was a large grey square divided into 25 squares by a 5 × 5 grid.
" Now what do i do? " Zack mutters and he clicks one of the corner boxes only for it to disappear.
+Etch the shape of the tool head you need+
Zack tries to think of what an axe head would look like and keeps clicking on the squares. But just after 7 clicks both the rocks in his hands turn into dust and the interface disappears.
" What?! What happened? Did i do it wrong?" Zack looks at the stone dust on his clothes and asks looking astonished.
He then dusts himself and quickly picks up 2 more rocks from the pile he had collected and gets back to trying again.
Time: 13:00
After an hour of hard work which exhausted all the supply of small stones in the near vicinity, He now finally had an axe head.
But that wasn't all he had made.
While looking for patterns he had also made a Shovel head, a hammer head, a knife head, a Javelin head, a pickaxe head and a hoe head.
While Zack was really happy his hard work had paid off tremendously, he was looking forward to realaxing and unwinding a bit. But to do that he needed shelter first as not too long ago he had seen a pack of wolves roaming around on the other side the river from him.
So without wasting anytime he picked up all the sticks he had collected and thought of putting it into his inventory.
As they disappeared he opened his inventory and saw 49 sticks and a bunch of tool heads in there.
He clicked and dragged the stack of sticks into the crafting grid and started to add all the tool parts one after the other.
Soon he had all the tools and a bunch of sticks left over.
Then Zack finally put the tools into the hotbar and closed the inventory. He then walked towards the nearest tree in his area.
He had decided to cut out a clearing around the area he was in to make it easy to spot predators and other dangers before they got close.
Zack quickly thought about the axe in his inventory and it materialised into his hand.
The axe looked like a wood chopping axe but it's colour was grey and it looked a bit dull.
Zack swung it to the block of oak infront of him and it started to show cracks from the middle to the edges. But from the looks of it, this was going to be a lengthy process.
It took Zack almost 10 minutes of consistent hitting for the cracks to reach the edges on all sides.
Zack was tired, hungry, thirsty and sweaty but he had a smile of glee on his face.
For him all of this was a brand new experience. This was the first time he had to work for something and put in so much effort.
So without even thinking about it he just kept hitting the tree until the block he was hitting broke, he heard a sound and looked up.
* Crack..Crack..*
The whole tree was falling, straight towards him.
" Oh..Sh*t "
Zack quickly jumped out of the way, just barely getting away from getting crushed to death.
* Thud..Plop.plop.pop..*
When Zack got back up and looked towards the strange noises, he saw that the tree that had almost killed him was now in the shape of tiny little oak blocks on the floor.
" I thought it was going to float. I guess i shouldn't take game's physics seriously even though i am in it now. " Zack mutters as he walks towards the fallen logs and picks them up easily.
The moment he picked them up though they vanished. He quickly checks his inventory and there it was 6 Oak logs.
Zack grins as he moves a log towards the crafting grid.
" I can finally make a crafting table! Now that i can make a shelter with wood planks maybe i should look for coal for torches before it gets dark. "
But his grin shattered along with his daydreaming as nothing came out from the logs.
" Huh?! " Zack looked really confused. He was pretty sure that was the way to make planks that you could make a house out of.
After trying to put the log in different orders and still not getting anything. Zack's body suddenly stiffens, he quickly takes the guide book out of the inventory and asks a very important question.
" Hey, how do you make a crafting table? "
+ To make a crafting table you need 4 wooden planks in the 2 × 2 grid +
Zack Sighs in relief thinking he might be doing something wrong as the recipe appeared to be the same.
" Then how do i get planks ? "
+ To get Wooden Planks you need lumber, which you get by putting a log with a saw in a crafting grid. +
.
.
.
" Fuuuu*****kk " ....