Sunset was nice. Watching the large orb of swirl fire slowly descend into the horizon across the lake and turn the sky from blue to reds and purples was an experience Isaac hadn't had many times in his life. He bit into his apple, listening to the trees and sounds of the forest. He started thinking about what he was going to do here, and how that translated to what his next move was.

From what he could recall, Blockworld was a sprawling plane of different biomes, from grassy fields to tall frozen mountains. There were simple monsters, as well as a few unique ones but they were rare. He knew the objective of the game was to find the dimension known as the Dark Aether, beat the final boss, and collect the Aether Heart. Everything else around that was just a survival game that was as deep as you made it.

In all his years of playing the game Isaac had never beaten it. The challenge of the game itself wasn't that big, as the devs had focused more on making the game pretty and trying to tell an eco friendly message. Which was funny, when most of the fanbase went WAY off script and made everything from automated industry plants to death machines and world eaters. Isaac had always preferred making and remaking his starter base over and over, and would eventually get distracted by something else.

With a yawn, he looked up at the clear night sky above him. It was peaceful, but he knew he would get bored quickly. He pulled out his Questing Book and flipped it open, a window popping up.

New Quest! Light up the Night

It's dangerous to wander in the dark. Find some means of light to keep the shadows at bay!

Time Limit: Midnight

Time Remaining: 3:24:06

Reward: Camping Supplies

Isaac pushed himself up and dusted off the dirt. Three and a half hours was more than enough time to find some means of making light. Should be easy enough.

It was, in fact, not easy enough.

Leaning against a tree, Isaac frantically looked around for something, anything that might be exposed stone. First he tried looking for coal, and quickly realized that it wasn't as easy as mining into a wall and finding some. His next thought was charcoal, but he had no way of turning the wood logs into such. He tried to make a campfire, a furnace, and a fire pit, but the truth was he just didn't have the know how to make one that worked.

So he started running. Dashing through the forest with pickaxe in hand he desperately looked for a cave, a mountain, a ravine, anything that might have exposed stone. He could see in the corner of his vision the timer ticking down.

0:11:42

Even though his stamina was in peak performance, he was still panting hard and feeling the strain. The darkness wasn't helping, causing him to trip over every small thing he couldn't see in his path. A break appeared in the trees and moonlight streamed down, revealing the side of a rockface. A cave was barely visible, but Isaac could squeeze into it.

0:04:53

The inside of the cave was no better. What little bit of light there wasn't enough to be able to tell if there was any difference in the stone around him. Closing his eyes Isaac waited a moment, hoping to let his eyes adjust to the darkness a little bit. When he opened his eyes he could see a little better than before. He spotted a discoloration on the cave wall, and went at it with his pickaxe.

0:01:06

A chunk of the stuff finally came free from the wall, and Isaac scrambled to pick it up. Once he did... He realized he still didn't know how to properly make a torch.

"Aw buckets."

0:00;00

A red window popped up in front of him, with flashing words on it.

Quest Failed!

Starting Penalty Quest! Monster Slayer

The darkness is dangerous, because monsters can easily hide. Kill monsters and survive the night.

Progress: 0/10

Reward: Camping Supplies, Combat Kit, Skill Book

Oh. That was a lot. But how exactly was he supposed to fight? As the window faded away Isaac frowned. Turning his head he thought he heard something coming from deeper inside the cave.

"Please don't be spiders, please don't be spiders..." He muttered as he gripped his pickaxe tighter. A skittering noise could be heard. Like dozens of tiny little taps on stone, all moving close. And closer. And closer.

Isaac found himself backing towards the cave entrance as he saw glowing red eyes appear from the darkness. as it got closer the moonlight behind him illuminated the creature enough for him to get a good look at it.

A fuzzy green spider about the size of a dog skittered towards him slowly, it's mandibles clicking as venom dripped onto the ground. It had six eyes, each a ruby red and looking at him hungrily. The hair on its body was almost like fur, being a sickly green with darker green splotches covering the body. It let out a low hiss and jumped at Isaac, its long legs moving in the air to try and grab on to him.

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With a very high pitched scream Isaac brought the pickaxe down hard at the jumping spider. The head pierced the carapace and slammed the body onto the floor. With a heave he yanked the pick free from the body and staggered back, his hands clammy and shaking. The corpse of the spider twitched for a moment before dissolving into a mist of chunky pixels.

Progress: 1/10

The notification was waved out of his face as he quickly got out of the cave and into the forest once again. If he was going to fight more of the spiders it was going to be where he had a little more elbow room. Isaac stared at the cave intently, his pickaxe at the ready when he heard something shift behind him. A low, rasped groan caused a chill to run down his spine as he slowly turned and looked. Approaching slowly, arms outstretched and feet shambling in the grass, was a zombie.

The skin was a pale green that looked like it was decaying. The body was hunched over and dressed in a worn and dirty outfit. The eyes were vacant and white, and drool dripped from its gaping mouth. One of the variants of zombie in the world, slow but it hit hard. Isaac put his pickaxe away and pulled his axe, the broadhead thunking into the ground next to him.

"Batter up." he muttered to himself, pulling the axe into a square stance. The moment the zombie was in range he stepped in, swinging the axe at the creatures neck. He expected to chop it off, but seemed to forget that the axe, though sharp, was still just wood. A sickening crunch could be heard from the monsters neck as it staggered to the side, but kept reaching for him. Panic set in as he quickly took a step back and battered the thing until it collapsed, hitting the ground and turning to pixels once more.

Progress: 2/10

Isaac barely had time to catch his breath as he heard more moaning coming from the trees. Without a word he picked up the axe and charged. The two zombies making their march towards him were slow, enough for him to get a couple good whacks in on one of them. The second he was able to keep out of range of and take his swings, until the worst thing happened.

Crack. Wooden Axe is broken.

The notification flew up in his face as the axe turned to splintery pixels in his hands when it collided with the monster. The surprise caused him to stagger, the monsters claws raking against his arm. Sharp pain shot through him, his vision going red for a moment from the sting. But as soon as it was there, it was gone. Before he could think about it too much Isaac sent his fist into the creatures face. The squishing sound of flesh and bone was enough to make his insides turn but he continued, pummeling the monster until it fell and dissipated.

Progress: 4/10

He needed to get out of here. Get back to his base. Isaac took off through the trees, trying to retrace his steps in the night shrouded forest. The moon above did little to cut through the darkness, casting long shadows at odd angles as he ran. He stopped for a moment and realized that he was more winded than usual. Frowning he wiped his forehead brought up his inventory. He was about to pull out some food when something sliced past his vision. The screen flickered and faded as something thunked into the tree next to his head.

An arrow.

"Frickin frackin seriously?" he groaned under his breath, taking off as two more arrows whizzed past him. His eyes flicked to the side and he could see a figure in the moonlight.

Bone white and covered in tattered leather armor, its form was hunched at an odd angle. Like a puppet being held up by strings but with no effort to make it look natural. A wooden bow as in its hand, which hung limp in front of it. In a short jerky motions the other hand drew reached back, pulled an arrow from its back, and took aim. It's head snapped to look directly at Isaac, and at the same time it fired.

Thankfully, the skeleton was a bad shot. At least, it was easier to tell where the shot was coming from. Still running he pulled out his shovel and circled the skeleton, dodging the arrows and getting in close. With a swing he smashed into it's face, causing it to stagger back and an arrow to misfire.

Thwack thwack thwack

The rapid panic induced strikes was enough to throw the skeleton back, As it disappeared a bone was left on the ground. Despite his adrenaline, Isaac stopped to pick it up.

Bone has been added to your inventory!

Progress: 5/10

The hillside base was in site. Isaac barreled through the entrance and quickly put up the flimsy barricade before slumping to the floor. He hurriedly pulled some of his remaining food out of his inventory and ate it, feeling his hunger subside and his energy come back to him. In a very real sense he wasn't looking good. Food was about to be running low, his axe was gone, his pickaxe and shovel looked worse for ware, and he still didn't have a light source.

A chill ran down his spine. He blinked. He looked around. In the dark of the room he could make out a faint white glow from the far wall. Two pale hands emerged from the dirt, followed by long arms and finally a head of matted and messy hair. A loose fitting robe hung from the floating spectral form, swaying slightly as the new creature advanced towards him.

Pickaxe again in hand Isaac swung. The pointed tip pierced the ghost, and kept on going. The momentum of the swing caused him to stagger as he took a step back.

"You have got to be kidding me!" he shouted, swinging a few more times to no avail. The ghost slowly made its advance, floating just above the ground. Isaac turned and ran, shoulder bashing through the makeshift door and into the night air. The ghost followed, a low moan turning into a wail as an orb of spiritual energy shot towards him. Isaac narrowly dodged it, his mind racing on what to do. Keeping his eyes on the spirit seemed to slow it down, but how could he damage it?

Unfortunately, he wasn't watching where he was going, and tripped. Falling to the ground the ghost approached from the shadows. It passed through a tree, its incorporeal movements not hindered in the slightest. As it floated closer to him, Isaac got a better look at the creature when it was in the moonlight. The matted hair was a gradient of white to black, covering a burning red eye that looked down at him in malefic intent. It's mouth opened, that low moan beginning again. Its hands came together, energy pooling into a glowing orb as the moan got louder.

Until it hit its head on a low hanging branch.

Wait. What?

Isaac scrambled to his feet, analyzing what had just happened and came to the realization. Light. Specifically, the moonlight had made the ghost tangible. He wasted no time pulling out the hammer. With a leap and a shout, he brought it down on the now weakened ghosts head. It connected with a satisfying thud, the ghost vanishing into pixels.

Ectoplasma has been added to your inventory!

Progress: 6/10

Deep breaths. Slow breaths. Stay calm. Isaac pressed his hand to his chest. His heart was racing, his adrenaline pumping through his body. He took a stance, looking into the dark forest.

More monsters, headed his way.