Within the confines of his impromptu shelter, Steve peered out of the small opening he left on the outer cobblestone wall. Behind him, a single torch lit up his small shelter, providing him a comforting orange light.
Earlier, after consuming his unseasoned cooked fish, Steve packed all his gear into his magical inventory. He quickly searched for a suitable place to set up a temporary safe shelter to wait out the night. He didn't have to search far; the small cave he had found earlier to mine his stone proved the perfect spot.
Steve's usual Minecraft strategy of building a dirt hut was thwarted by the unfamiliar laws of this world. In Minecraft, a dirt hut was a reliable first-night shelter. But the falling tree had filled him with doubts. This world didn't seem to play by the same rules as the game. Gravity was a real threat here.
With his stone pickaxe and shovel in hand, Steve dug out a large enough opening in the cave. Using some of his wood to build support beams, Steve was happy that his cave shelter didn't collapse.
Blinking in confusion, Steve looked around from his shelter's wall opening at the dark forest. His eyes darted right and left, and he saw a lack of enemy mobs. No creepers could be seen wandering, and no zombies could be heard groaning. The short, quick hisses from spiders were inaudible, and the bow-equipped walking pile of bones was nowhere in sight.
"Where are they?" Steve said with some trepidation. "Unless… this world isn't like Minecraft at all? Could it be that I have the powers of a Minecraft player in a completely different world?" The thought caused a smile to grow on his face. The idea of living in a world free from danger with spectacular powers was incredible.
Releasing a breath he wasn't aware he was holding, Steve relaxed and sat against the cool stone wall behind him. Stifling a yawn, Steve placed down his campfire and used one of his perpetually lit torches to reignite it. Crossing his arms over his pulled-in knees, Steve blankly watched the dancing flames burn away. The smoke from the wood traveled up into the wide-open hole he made in his shelter to prevent him from inhaling the harmful gases and matter produced by the flames.
"I should have made a bed," Steve mumbled, feeling the cold ground beneath him. "Yeah, right. I don't have any iron to sheer those sheep I saw."
Steve released a sigh and leaned against his arm to rest his head. With nothing to do to distract him, he began to wonder how his father was doing back home. Instantly, his forgotten feelings of guilt and shame rose within him. Closing his eyes, Steve muttered another apology to his father.
All the man had done was care and love him throughout Steve's life. Despite being diagnosed with ALS at the age of fourteen, the man never stopped caring for or loving him. His father never looked or treated him any differently due to his new terminal condition. He still loved him as he always did. And what did Steve do to pay him back? He ended his life right in front of his father's face.
Steve was a horrible son.
"I'm sorry, dad… you weren't supposed to be there." Feeling his eyes sting, Steve sniffed and pressed them against his forearm. "At least now… you can live your life."
His father may have never said it, but Steve knew that it was killing him to watch as his health was slowly declining due to his disease. There were several nights when Steve would listen to his father softly cry to himself, causing Steve to place his headphones over his ears to continue playing his games. Because if he didn't, he'd end up crying as well.
Lifting his head, Steve weakly smiled at his legs and new healthy body. He wasn't sure why he was seemingly brought back to life in a new, healthy body, but that didn't matter. Steve now had a second chance to live his life to the fullest without being burdened by his past ailments. He could now do everything he ever wanted. Be it exploring his surroundings on his own two legs or running through open fields. Swimming! He always wanted to swim as well, and now he could.
"I don't know who brought me here or why you saved me, but thank you," Steve said, looking up at his shelter's roof. He was never religious, but at this moment, he was thankful to whatever higher being took pity on him and gifted him a second opportunity at life.
Looking back out of the opening in his cobblestone wall, Steve decided that he may as well be productive. There was no way he'd be able to sleep on the cold, hard ground, and there was still a layer of doubt about exploring the forest at night. Steve thought he might as well see what else he could craft with his current resources.
Rising to his feet, Steve held his crafting table in his hands. Just as he was about to place it down, several slow and heavy thuds caused him to freeze.
The thuds soon became shuffles. Each new sound became louder than the last. Steve's heart was beating fast in his chest, and his ears were pulsing loudly. The shuffles continued on before they abruptly stopped. It was then that Steve noticed a putrid stench wafting into his shelter. After taking a deep breath, Steve finally forced himself to turn to the opening on his cobblestone wall.
Two grey, aimless eyes were both not looking and looking at him simultaneously. Grey and green decomposed skin covered the creature while its wide open mouth full of yellow decayed teeth opened and closed slowly as black sludge dropped from its ripped-up lips. Finally, the beast released a low groan that sounded like a growl and hiss.
It was a zombie.
Steve made no sudden moves, but once the zombie began to beat against the cobblestone wall with a snarl, Steve finally acted. With quick precision, he placed another cobblestone wall over the first to prevent the zombie from peering or somehow breaking into his shelter. Rushing to the farthest corner of his shelter, away from the wall, Steve tried to get a handle on his erratic breathing.
Not willing to make any more noise, Steve slid onto the ground and listened as the zombie beat against the wall. He wasn't sure how long the zombie continued to do so, but the creature moved on at some time in the night. Its low, guttural moans eventually became inaudible.
"Enemy mobs exist," Steve muttered with clenched teeth. "They freaking exist!"
If a zombie was walking around at night, the chance of creepers, skeletons, spiders, and every other enemy mob existing alongside it was extremely high. And if going off this zombie's hellish and ghoulish appearance, a far cry from its childish green skin, clothes-wearing blocky counterpart, then it was safe to assume that the rest of the mobs in this world wouldn't appear like their in-game counterparts.
Steve shivered at the thought of encountering a creeper or an enderman.
Turning to his campfire, Steve gave up his plans of exploring his crafting possibilities in favor of lying next to the warm fire. Curling up into a ball, Steve closed his eyes and hoped sleep would come for him. It didn't.
x x x
Pickaxe in hand, Steve broke down the thick cobblestone wall and carefully peered outside. On his right was his stone sword, at the ready. While he may have no idea how to properly use the weapon, it at least gave him enough confidence to go outside. After ensuring there were no zombies or skeletons, Steve sighed in relief and walked out of his shelter. Looking up, he smiled at the blue sky and far-off sun.
"I'm safe," Steve uttered in relief.
Steve looked to his right, where the small cave he had found the previous day rested, and his mouth fell into a frown. "Did the zombie come out of there?" He questioned. Steve sighed and turned to his shelter before moving on. He only had so much time to prepare for the coming night. He needed to build a proper shelter and some much-needed gear. "As much as I don't want to go in there, I need iron. Without that, I can't make shears to get wool from a sheep. I also need better gear and some armor."
In the back of his mind, Steve couldn't help but worry about how well his supposed Minecraft system worked in this real world. Would the game's crafting recipes continue to work like the game? After all, creating a bed with a few pieces of wood and wool was crazy to think about back home. But the stone tools in his hands provided him comfort. So far, all the crafting recipes he had tried so far had worked. Hopefully, it would stay that way.
They were created using the exact crafting recipes used within Minecraft. Sure, the crafting process took a lot longer to complete due to his body moving on autopilot to craft the tools themselves than the instant creation process in the game. But that only proved to him that as long as he had the necessary resources, everything he could make in Minecraft would translate here.
"There's a lot to do and not a lot of time. Let's get to it." With his new goal in mind, Steve knew he had to prepare before venturing into the cave. He needed more food and resources. With quick strides, he reached the nearby stream with a stone spear.
At first, all his attempts to harpoon the fish swimming in the stream were laughable. Even after twenty minutes, he hadn't yet caught a single fish. Yesterday's catch must have been pure luck. After an hour, his spear tosses grew closer and more accurate.
Each new throw neared the spear's sharp edge closer and closer to the swimming fish an inch at a time as his technique improved from trial and error, finally, after two hours of spearfishing. Steve finally caught his first fish of the day. And then another. And another. This continued until he had twelve fish stored in his inventory.
An inventory that seemingly kept everything stored within it as fresh as the time he originally placed the object inside. It was as if all time within this magical space was paused. Preventing anything within from decomposing and spoiling.
Breathing in satisfaction, Steve wiped off the sweat from his brow and turned to the nearby forest. With a silent command, a stone axe appeared within his grasp. Replacing the spear. Steve had no idea where the items from his hot bar went, but he didn't care. It was incredibly convenient to instantly switch tools or weapons at a moment's notice, like a magician. Steve's stomach rumbled loudly as he was about to chop down some trees.
But before that, it was time to have some lunch.
x x x
After eating some fire-roasted fish, Steve moved into the forest and began chopping down several trees. Using his experience from yesterday, Steve chopped off the tree's lower section and immediately moved out of the way from where the oak tree would fall. At times, he would even yell "timber" as the trees fell.
After they crashed down, he quickly chopped them into small floating cubes that were promptly stored within his inventory. It was hard work, but Steve loved every second of it. After living his later years of life confined to a wheelchair, being able to move and exert himself like a lumberjack survivalist was a dream come true.
"Okay. We got two stacks of oak wood and half a stack of cobblestone." Steve said with a proud smile, a half-eaten piece of fish in his hands. All around him were several tree stumps sticking out from the ground. Once his food was eaten, Steve moved out of the forest and out into the plains. Like a true Minecraft player, he scanned his surroundings for the perfect place to begin building his home base.
"Perfect." With his hands on his hips, Steve looked around the flat ground with a satisfied smile. "The stream isn't that far off, so I should be good on food for now. The oak forest is close enough if I need to gather more wood while I don't have to worry about being snuck up on."
After he placed his crafting bench down, Steve created several stacks of oak wood planks and crafted a furnace from his cobblestone.
Unlike its game counterpart, the furnace he placed down was large and made of stone. It was split off into two sections, the largest of the two being on the bottom for the fuel source. On top was a smaller opening for whatever needed to be smelt while a wide, flat stone slab sat over where the fire would burn.
Despite how it looked, it still functioned the exact same way a furnace would in Minecraft. All he had to do was tap it, and he would be prompted with the grey system screen where he could place his fuel source and the time he desired to smelt. With nothing to smelt for now, Steve turned away and stared at the open space for ideas on what to build.
"Let's just make something small and functional. I don't really need a mansion right now." Steve chuckled as wracked his mind for the perfect design. With a snap of his fingers, Steve turned to his crafting table and began creating all the required materials for his new home base, which involved oak wood planks, slabs, stairs, and fences.
But before Steve could truly get to building, he paused as he held a small oak tree block in his hand. The thought of how exactly building within a world with real-life physics would work ran through his mind. If he built a wall, would the wall teeter over and fall? Or would it disobey gravity and stand tall?
"Only one way to find out."
With fast and practiced movements from playing hundreds of hours of Minecraft, Steve built a tall wall made of oak wood planks and logs. Running back, he eyed the thick wooden wall with caution. However, much to his surprise, the wall stood strong and didn't falter. Moving closer, Steve carefully pushed the wall. It was solid. Very solid.
"Hmm. Could it be that whatever I craft and build will automatically defy this world's physics?" Steve said, continuing to build his home base. As he finished placing down all of the walls, he inspected them and found them to be rock solid. From there, Steve moved on to build the roof of his one-story home.
"What the?"
In front of his crafting table, Steve began placing his oak wood planks to craft some oak wood stairs to act as his home's roof when he saw another new recipe appear. The recipe was for an oak wood roof panel. "Interesting." Crafting several oak wood roof panels, Steve placed them down over his roof at a slope. The end result of the new roof left Steve smiling. "That's a much cleaner look than using stairs."
With the construction of the walls and roof completed, Steve moved inside and placed down oak wood planks for flooring. He then used wooden fences to act as his home's temporary windows due to his lack of glass. Finally, he crafted a door and watched in fascination as its hinges magically attached themselves to the door frame.
With the construction of his home base complete, Steve placed several torches throughout his home to keep it bright while he began to see what sort of furniture he could craft with this world's seemingly unending crafting recipes.
As he experimented with his crafting table, Steve's other main goal of the day, which was to go and explore the nearby cave in hopes of gaining iron, went forgotten.
At least until he realized that night had fallen.
"Ah, nuts."
-
AN:
Sorry it took me a while to write up chapter 2. I've been playing Minecraft myself, so I could get a better handle on how to write out Steve's crafting and exploring bits. Yeah. That's why it took me so long to finish this (lol).
Be sure to leave me comments on today's chapter and any ideas you would like to see included in this story.
Until next time!