A/N: I made another chapter. Yippee! Sort of yippee, anyway; I think Phil's acting up again. Darn. But I have defeated you, Phil! *holds pathetic stone sword up triumphantly* It seems I write better when I'm half-asleep. What do you know?

I walked out of the house and into the soft light of dawn, breathing in the delicious scents of earth of trees and the burning undead. My stomach growled; I had only three units of hunger left. Now would be a good time to make a furnace. Pick in hand, I began to stroll down the village street, looking out for the entrance to my mine. As I passed the fields, I mused that I should put some fences around them sometime. Oh, there it was; I dashed over to it and headed down the steps. Professor Gregory had had the sense to go stay in a house for the night, thank goodness. It was awfully dark down here, however, and I didn't want monsters spawning this close to the village. I crafted myself four torches out of the one stick I had left and placed two of them as I dug some more steps down into the earth. Soon I had thirty blocks of cobblestone in my inventory and I headed back to my house to make a furnace. As I placed my newest creation down on the other side of the room from my bed, I decided that I should probably expand the house a little. Three by three may have been enough space for testificates, but I liked something a little less claustrophobic.

I went outside to the creaking of doors; Professor Gregory barely spared me a glance as he trotted into view and entered the house across the street, where he stared at the wall until the door closed and I couldn't see him anymore. Testificates are weird.

I moved around the back of the house, noting the build of it; each corner was a pillar of cobblestone, which also made up the floor. The walls between were wood and had a single window in each of them.

Using the cobblestone I had just mined, I made a large protrusion of it from the back of the house, three wide and four long. I looked in my inventory; I had only one block of oak planks left, and I wanted to be consistent. I'd need to go cut down an oak or two, then. The base complete, I looked around for the forest. There was a swamp to my left now and I could see the tops of trees over a low rise, a chunk or two away. I tried to set off at a sprint towards them, but ended up tripping over my own feet and falling flat on my face. I groaned my annoyance as I pushed myself up again; I had less than three units of hunger left, so there was no way I could run.

There's the goldfish memory kicking in again. You forgot to eat, dimwit!

Ah, right, I did. I went back inside and stuck my seven pieces of pork in the furnace. The coal I inserted began to cook them in the strange way it does, and I turned around at the sound of a door opening.

Professor Gregory peered at me from his position on top of the crafting table.

"Uh... hi, Professor..." I said, a little scared. He continued to stare at me. "How's your day?" I asked brightly. He stared. "I... guess that's good..." I replied hesitantly. He stared. I stared. He stared. I stared. I broke the silence by wondering aloud, "I wonder if the pork's done," and inching towards the furnace. His emerald gaze followed me. Feeling the heat of the flames tickling my shins, I reached into the furnace and pulled out a single piece of cooked pork, my eyes not leaving his. "Pork," I said by way of explanation, holding it up to show the Professor. His gaze still hadn't left mine. I ate the pork and he stared at me, intrigued. I think. I took another piece of pork from the furnace and chewed it carefully as the Professor watched. When I had finished, my hunger bar was full. He must have been writing a very in-depth book, so great was his interest in me. Or maybe he just lived to be creepy. I held his gaze for another few seconds- he seemed to be raising an eyebrow- before I gave up and headed outside, closing the door behind me. Professor Gregory seemed quite comfortable on my crafting table, so I shrugged and left him in there.

How about you follow Miss Archer's suggestion and get yourself a pet?

It was a good idea.

I know. That's why I suggested it. If I didn't have any, we'd all be doomed.

I went and grabbed a piece of wheat from the nearest field before heading over to the patch of plains behind my house, having spotted various animals over there. I spotted a chicken, two cows, some sheep and a pig. Wheat in my hand, I headed over to the small herd and before I knew it I had a chicken at my feet. I crouched to its level, making a weird clicking noise with my lips and holding out the golden plant. I began backing away from my newfound feathered friend, wheat still extended.

Have you any idea how stupid you look?

No. No I do not. I led the chicken around a low rise and down into a dip, around a little ridge and we were almost at my house. "Hold on," I realised, looking at the chicken as though I had just split an atom, "Chickens as pets are so cliché!" I put away the wheat and whipped out my sword, beheading the bird with one swipe of my sword and stowing its meat away in my backpack.

That... was... horrifying. How could you be so cold-hearted?

"With great ease," I said aloud, absently waving the smoke out of the way.

Any testificates watching would think you were crazy for talking to thin air. They would be correct.

I turned around to face the far-off forest and set out for it at an easy lope. Soon I was there and cut down two trees, awarding me with sixteen pieces of wood. I noticed that this forest was littered with caves; there were two, no, three, perhaps even four visible from here! Peering over the edge of a particularly horrible death-pit, I saw some peachy-coloured substance on the other side of it; iron! How perfect! I leaned further to get a closer look and windmilled my arms to stop myself from falling in, finally managing to extract myself from the edge. Breathing heavily, I took some dirt out of my inventory and decided to make a staircase to the iron. I dropped into the pit a little way and carefully made some dirt stairs from there. The cave whined its protest, sending a shiver down my spine, but I reached the iron and began to mine it. The first block burst and dropped further into the pit before I could grab it; I gulped as it disappeared into the depths. There was a mine shaft down there; I could make out wooden supports and spiderwebs. I had the game set on normal difficulty now, so would spider bites be poisonous? I didn't really want to find out. I grabbed another eight blocks without much difficulty, but there were still more. How would I be able to reach them, though, if they would just drop into space? Would I have to descend into the depths of the death-pit?

I sprung from the dirt platform I was standing on to a nearby ledge, placing more dirt underneath the iron block I hadn't yet mined and retrieving the ore. I was quite proud of myself for thinking of it. But there was still the block that had fallen earlier... it couldn't be too hard to retrieve, could it? I sneaked to the edge and peered into the pit; below the supports of the mine shaft was only blackness. Void blackness, I wondered? I was already deep enough for iron...

A little above the mine shaft and below where I stood, however, a cave system branched off in opposite direction, disappearing into the dark. I only had two torches, but I could easily make some more out of birch sticks. I entered my inventory and made some sticks, but all my coal was gone! Oh, that was right; I had been using it to cook. I hoped the Professor hadn't stolen anything. Well, there goes any thought of exploring the cave today. I'd just place a marker at the top and come back tomorrow.

When I reached the surface, I was glad that I had chosen now to stop; dusk was encroaching. I picked up an apple that had most likely fallen from the two trees I had chopped down and placed a couple of saplings before making a mad dash across the grass and into Ir Qas. I arrived just in time to see Professor Gregory opening the door to my house and going inside. I entered too, shutting the door behind me and turning to face him with a sigh. He was standing on my bed. "Look, Professor," I said reasonably, "This has got to stop. I like you, don't get me wrong, but I also like a bit of personal space, which you don't seem to have a concept of. I'd appreciate it if you just went and stayed somewhere else for the night." I opened the door and gestured for him to leave. He just stared at me and I sighed again. "Well, I guess you're asking for it, then," and I grabbed his shoulders and, with some difficulty, forced him out the door and slammed it shut behind him. I was quite relieved when he headed off down the road, presumably to stay at a friend's house.

Awww, that's cute. I think he has a thing for you, y'know. I bet he's trying to ask you out in a kind of creepy, stalker-y kind of way.

Well, he can dream on. Now that he was gone, I thought it safe to leap into bed and slowly, oh so slowly, my eyes drifted shut.

Goodnight, Minecraft...

Gregory says "Goodnight!"

I shuddered and fell asleep.