Zeke sat down against the wall and closed his eyes. After working for half the day, both his body and mind needed rest.
Half an hour passed. Zeke stared blankly at the ceiling.
Can't sleep. Can't sleep at all.
Without a bed, he couldn't sleep at all.
Zeke kipped up, flipping himself back onto his feet.
On a dangerous night, with incomplete equipment, what would you choose to do at this moment?
For a Minecraft player, the answer was almost instantaneous: Go mining, of course.
Before that, he sorted all the food in his Inventory.
Counting the Rotten Flesh and Baked Potato he ate earlier...
Zeke then ate the Raw Phyrr Cat Meat, Cooked Phyrr Cat Meat, Raw Potato, and the Bread from the Bonus Chest, gathering a total of 5 types of food.
[What a unique taste. Your Max Health +1.]
Zeke walked to the Crafting Table, crafted three brand-new Stone Pickaxes, and went to a section of the wall near the entrance.
Instead of adopting the most aggressive vertical digging method, Zeke chose the classic staircase mining method: dig two blocks down, then one block forward, and repeat.
This maximized exploration while leaving a path to return.
The sound of mining echoed in the narrow passage. Every so often, Zeke would leave a torch behind him.
Clack, clack-clack, clack-clack...
Nothing but stone, stone, and more stone. To relieve the boredom, Zeke began to hum a tune.
The tune shifted, gradually turning into a familiar melody—"Sweden" by C418.
It was the background music that would play in Minecraft when it rained.
A familiar sense of loneliness quietly wrapped around him.
The world turned; there were winds, rains, dawn, and dusk. There were the low growls of monsters. But aside from himself, there was no response from any other living thing.
All exploration, building, harvesting, and even danger were witnessed only by himself.
This was the ending all single-player survival players eventually walked toward—being alone.
Thinking of this, Zeke suddenly felt a bit fortunate that he hadn't transmigrated into vanilla Minecraft, but into Warhammer.
At least in the Warhammer world, he still had people to communicate with, unlike Minecraft, which only had villagers who could go "Hrrrm."
Although, sometimes the people he communicated with might not be so friendly.
[Inventory Full. Mod: Sophisticated Backpacks, Unlocked.]
Zeke had already mined three full stacks of Stone (Cobblestone), and his Inventory slots were completely full.
Checking the recipe for Sophisticated Backpacks with JEI: Leather x4, String x4, Chest x1.
He happened to have exactly all of these materials. Zeke followed the recipe and crafted a standard Sophisticated Backpack.
The main body of the backpack was made of tanned dark brown leather, with silk threads stitched along the edges.
The standard Sophisticated Backpack provided an extra 27 slots of space and one upgrade slot. Later, it could be upgraded further using Copper, Iron, Gold, Diamond, and Netherite.
Zeke continued digging downward.
He didn't know how much time had passed. All he knew was that the backpack now held six full stacks of stone, half a stack of torches was gone, three Stone Pickaxes had broken, and he hadn't seen even a shadow of ore.
The ore generation in the Warhammer world definitely couldn't compare to Minecraft. Searching like this was like looking for a needle in a haystack; he might not find a single ore all night.
No, I can't go on like this.
Zeke started to have second thoughts. I'll use up one more pickaxe. If I still don't find anything, I'm retreating.
Just as the Stone Pickaxe's durability was about to run out, the Goddess of Luck smiled upon him. A cave appeared at the edge of his minimap.
There's hope. Zeke changed direction and dug toward the cave's location.
Crash!
The rock wall in front shattered, and the view opened up.
A bottomless cavern. Water droplets dripped constantly from the ceiling, and the cave was permeated with a dim green phosphorescence.
But none of that was the main point. The main point was in the center of the cave: Iron Ore!
[Hematite. Composition: 70% Iron]
[Mining Level: Stone]
A completely exposed vein of ore. Beside that cluster of Hematite, there were obvious signs of chiseling.
Someone has been here? Is this an abandoned man-made mine?
Zeke didn't hesitate. Whoever it was, the iron was right in front of him; there was no reason not to take it.
He raised his Stone Pickaxe and began to mine. This deposit of Hematite was substantial, providing Zeke with 6 chunks of Raw Iron.
Zeke placed down the Furnace, filling it with Charcoal and the ore.
While waiting, he used the location of the Hematite as the center and dug around to scout the surroundings, ensuring he hadn't missed any other veins.
"Achoo!"
Zeke sneezed. He felt a slight itch in his nose. Rubbing his nose, his gaze was drawn to another rock wall ahead.
Another deposit of Iron Ore, followed immediately by a small patch of pitch-black Coal Ore.
The harvest far exceeded expectations. After the final count, Zeke had obtained a total of twelve Iron Ingots and sixteen pieces of Coal.
Zeke decided to solve his most basic protection problem first and crafted an [Iron Chestplate].
The chestplate was heavy in his hands; just holding it required some effort. It was solid iron plating. An ordinary person might not even be able to walk wearing it.
Zeke equipped the Iron Chestplate. The weight didn't burden his movement much; instead, it made his body feel more grounded, adding a sense of security.
In Minecraft, armor provided noble damage reduction. He wondered how it was calculated in the Warhammer world.
Next, three iron ingots were crafted into an [Iron Pickaxe], and the last ingot was combined with planks to make a [Shield].
A simple wooden board inlaid with a layer of iron sheet. This was one of the few effective means in vanilla Minecraft to counter ranged attacks.
In the Warhammer world, everyone had a ranged weapon.
Space Marines had Bolters, the Astra Militarum had standard-issue Lasguns. Without protection, an individual in an open area would be instantly taken out by crossfire.
"Achoo!" Zeke sneezed again. A debuff appeared in his status bar.
[Spore Infection I]
The icon featured a humanoid creature with dark green skin and ferocious tusks.
That was an Ork, a Warhammer race whose survival philosophy was "Fighting is Fun."
One of their most headache-inducing characteristics was their bizarre method of reproduction: like fungi, they multiplied by spreading spores.
Places where Orks had been active were often filled with these spores, which were extremely difficult to clean up.
This meant that this mine was an Ork excavation site. Zeke's itchy nose earlier was because he had inhaled Ork spores.
The fate of humans who inhaled Ork spores was generally miserable.
The spores would take root in the host's body, absorbing nutrients.
Eventually, the human would likely die in madness, turning into fertilizer.
Fortunately, Zeke had milk. He took out a bucket of Beast Milk from his backpack, tipped his head back, and drank it down.
The Spore Infection buff disappeared.
As long as it can be cured, it's fine. Zeke put away the empty bucket, raising his vigilance to the maximum.
Even if this cave was dangerous, he was prepared to explore it. This was his best chance to obtain Iron Ore.
--
5 Reviews = 1 Bonus Chapter.
100 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter.