Once back in my cave it didn't take long to come to the conclusion that I was responsible for the destruction up there, at least indirectly, since the panther didn't seem used to zombies roaming around its territory, if it knew better it would surely have hidden until dawn or its species would have become extinct long ago, but it seems that it was a new event in its life and it reacted in the same way as any territorial animal, it attacked, fought and died by an endless horde of zombies, which as far as I know are simply generated from the air, and if the game powers went with me in this world it wouldn't hurt to assume that my "spawn area" of monsters around me could have also come with me, which would be quite useful, since in this strange world it would be difficult to obtain materials compatible with my crafting table, and mobs can be a good source of them.
Leaving aside the realization that I generate a war area around me during the night and in the dark, I turned my attention to making the best tool I could ever make, the crafting table.
I didn't make it before because I spent all night scared of the growls and fighting over my head, which could come down on me at any moment, but now I was calmer, and I had all day to work until all hell breaks loose again.
I already had 20 planks from the night before, so I made a crafting table and 4 sticks, that alone left me feeling a little tired, not physically but more like a special muscle that strains when I make something, a mental muscle or something, but whatever, I had a crafting table and I was excited about it.
I placed it in a corner of my dark cave and crafted myself a pickaxe, that made me even more tired, much more so than crafting the planks or the sticks, it seemed the more complex a crafting the more effort I had to put in.
It was fantastic to see how the pickaxe was made, since I didn't really have an interface like in the game, I rather put the objects from my inventory on the table grid and with a little effort of the crafting muscle the recipe was made, the materials were all gathered in the center and then a small pickaxe appeared that was getting bigger until it occupied the entire surface of the table.
I took it in my hands and felt its weight, it weighed no more than a twig, but I could see the sharp edge it had at the tip, clearly I could break rocks with this, and a test on the floor told me that, despite its fragile appearance, it seemed practically indestructible, as I broke a block of stone easily without any sign of damage on the pick, a glance at my mental inventory told me that the durability of the pick had been reduced a little, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the pick itself.
I took advantage of the fact that I had a pickaxe and started pulling as much stone out of the ground as I could, while waiting for my crafting muscle to rest.
I took out 60 of the 80 cobblestone blocks that covered the floor of my cave, which was a 9x9 with a pillar in the center to support the roof, then my wooden pickaxe reached 0 durability, and simply turned into white particles and disappeared, as mobs do when they die, it seemed strange to see it in real life, but it made sense considering its origin.
I wanted to craft a furnace right away, but I was afraid of hurting myself as it would be the most resource intensive crafting I did so far and I still felt a bit stiff, so I sat down to wait for my crafting muscle to rest and in the meantime I checked my nei a bit, to see some of the items I would have access to or give me ideas on what to do next.
The thing that caught my attention the most, and that I could make relatively easy would be a backpack, which would allow me to carry more items, although at the moment I have nothing it would be good to keep it in mind in case I move someday.
I rested for a while lying on the stone floor until I felt better and got to work, first I crafted the furnace, it gave me a good kick, yes, but not as much as I expected, I still had some juice left to make myself a stone pickaxe, and I did, although I ended up feeling a bit sick afterwards, luckily that would be all the crafting I would do for the time being.
I placed the furnace next to the crafting table, it had 2 holes in the block, one on top with a stone slab to support items and a space underneath that was for fuel.
I put 3 logs on top and 2 planks underneath, that should give me just 3 of charcoal without wasting the wood.
When I finished placing the items the furnace lit by itself instantly, luckily, since I had nothing to light a fire nor knew how to do it, I could see how one of the woods I used as fuel faded, generating a flame and a little light for my cave, but it did not seem to emit heat, and when I approached my hand I could remove a block of wood from the flames without problems.
I stood in front of the dancing fire mesmerized until a block of log turned into charcoal out of nowhere, it simply compressed in on itself and took the shape of a black lump of coal, it lay on the stone slab along with the other objects, waiting to be picked up.
I grabbed the lump of charcoal that was made and began to remove the rest of the stone floor taking advantage of the light that the furnace gave me, when I was more rested I would make a torch to light my house.
I left the blocks under the table and the furnace without picking so they would not fall and finished mining 18 blocks that were missing, now I had a hole the shape and size of a crop farm (4 blocks on each side of the center) and 4 blocks high without counting the roof or the floor (4 blocks of air).
The stone pickaxe felt a little heavier than the wooden one, but without being overkill, and had considerably more power behind each blow.
After chopping all over the floor the furnace had already finished cooking the charcoal, so I tried to break it with the pickaxe and it turned into a mini furnace that I could easily pick up, same with the crafting table.
I broke the stone blocks that were underneath them and put them back at ground level.
I made myself 4 torches using one charcoal and left the other 2 in the furnace for when I needed to cook something.
The torch glowed in my hand with a cold flame like the furnace, I tried to place it on a wall and it stuck as if the wood of the handle grew out of the earth itself, this reminded me that I should do something about the walls too, no Use for a strong roof if the walls can't support it, so one by one I broke up the dirt blocks and replaced them with the cobblestones I had picked up, they joined together as if they had always been the same structure and I no longer felt so scared that the walls would fall on me, although the roof was still dirt and I had one more piece of wall to replace.
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This was as good a time as any to go get more materials and get more cobblestone, so I put the meats I got from the panther earlier in the furnace and started to mine down in a staggered fashion so I would have a way to get back up, I decided to mine the stairs with 2 blocks wide so I wouldn't feel claustrophobic as I moved forward.
With a pickaxe in one hand and the torch in another I kept moving forward and down further and further, every 4 blocks I would break a column on each side and a row of roof and replace it with my own blocks, just to ensure the integrity of the cave I was making.
I only stopped when I realized that my pickaxe had broken, about 24 blocks below where my house was, taking into account that each block is a square meter, and if we consider that this world is like the earth, I would have to go to a depth of between 140km and 190km to find natural diamonds, or I could search near volcanoes where the magma from the depths drags the diamonds to the surface, that's only if the world was not square and didnt had the same depth as in the game, which was not very difficult to check.
8 pickaxes and over 200 blocks deep if you made a straight line to the surface and it was obvious that this world was not like the game, it should have reached the bottom of the world by now if it was.
With that in mind diamonds were out of the question, at least until I figure out an easier way to get them or make them with magic.
On the other hand I found some iron, I had no idea how iron was made in nature, but when I mined a block I would sometimes get iron ore, my theory was that it calculated the amount of iron in the block and if it crossed a certain threshold it counted as iron and if not it was just cobblestone.
Anyway, I didn't get much, only about 15, the rest of the materials that were present in the blocks that I mined I guess they just disappear, as I understand that the ground is composed of a lot of different materials and varies depending on the depth, I could notice that, although I was getting cobblestones every time I mined, the ground around me was changing texture and color the deeper I went.
I also managed to find 27 of coal, the same thing happened as with the iron, from time to time they would drop it instead of cobblestone, but I could not find an area with a large amount packed together.
When I got back to my house it was already dark, and I had a large stairway to the subfloor in one wall, so I decided I would move my stuff to the depths, as that would be safer.
Once I got back to the depths I expanded the area around me and created a small 3x3x3 room, then replaced the walls with cobblestones that binded together and made the whole structure more stable, I know I am being pushy about this, but if a collapse were to happen over my head there would be no possible way for me to survive unless I had some free space to move, if a giant rock fell on my head I would have no way to get out again.
With my small 3x3x3 room done, I started to slowly expand it to the sides, I would move 2 blocks forward and replace the walls again, I continued to do this until I had a 18x18x5 room counting the walls, all made of cobblestone from my inventory, then I placed a large 2x2 pillar in the center of the room up to the ceiling.
When I finished I placed a torch in each corner of the room and collapsed on the floor, letting out a sigh that I didn't know I was holding back since the moment I arrived in this world, at last I could feel a little safe, as since the moment I arrived the only thing that protected me from the outside world was a meter of soft dirt, now I was 200 meters from the surface in a room reinforced with stone, no matter what it was, if something wanted to get to me I would have to go through a lot of work to get it.
With the new tranquility invading my mind the tiredness of the last few days invaded my mind, my body seemed unstoppable, but my spirit was still that of a common man, so I fell asleep in a few minutes, breathing softly within the protection of my home.
Not for a moment did it occur to me that there was nowhere for air to enter, as I had closed all the walls, including the hole leading to the surface so that I could be at ease, nor did it occur to me that I had 4 torches consuming oxygen along with me.
Luckily for me, it seemed that the torches were magic or something, because besides burning infinitely with a cold flame, they didn't seem to consume oxygen, I on the other hand did, but the room was big enough to have several days or even weeks of air.
I only realized my stupidity when I woke up again, I had no idea what time it was, but considering I went to bed during the night it should be daylight because of how rested I felt, I didn't even feel pain from sleeping on the stone floor, though yes it was fucking uncomfortable, I can't wait to have a bed.
Now awake and well rested I set to work, the first thing was to make myself another perfectly good pickaxe, then an axe and a stone shovel.
It seemed that my crafting muscle got stronger the more I used it, as the first day making so many things would have left me lying on the floor crying, but now I was just getting a little tired.
I put the iron to cook and rested sitting on the floor while it was being made, when I had the 15 iron ready I crafted myself a chestplate, helmet and iron sword to protect myself in case I needed it, all between rest intervals so I wouldn't be too exhausted when I was done.
I now had my chest and head protected, and with some luck an iron sword wouldn't be garbage against the monsters of this world, although if I was attacked by something like a wolf or other small animal my balls would be at risk of attack as they were defenseless, only covered by the thin cloth pants I wore.
Now relatively armed and feeling more confident it was time to explore the surface a bit, I could stay a little longer underground and get the iron I lacked for my pants and boots, but I had been underground for 2 days and needed some sun and air, besides I wasn't planning to go very far and at any hint of danger I was going to run as if I was being chased by the devil.