Yo, as a milestone of 500 views, have longer chapters. I dubbed thee readers who reached this long, as 'Junior Self-talkers'. Quote of the chapter, and onwards to the story. (When you realized that you could place multiple scenes in a chapter.)
"'Real life'? I didn't heard of that server before." –Random meme about a gamer.
Chapter X
Across the Deserted Wastelands
[Sand]
Even if I had shoes, the cold sand below my feet were freezing! Seriously, who would've thought that the block I was named on would turn against me?
This task… I was apparently, honest to whatever god related to sand out there is, is to provide a distraction. Yes! A distraction!
Just like a movie—whatever a movie is, I had to be the bluffer, and the one who does all the fancy talking to annoy people…
Monologue Master would've done better, seeing he probably had a lot of words in his dictionary. He talks to himself for god's sake!
I was slowly approaching the encampment now. I had to carefully sneak my way to them, because if I get spotted too early on, the distraction won't work.
Now at a respectable sniping distance, I took out my Bow. It was the Power I—whatever that was, Bow that Cerulean Wastelands gave me.
I got my Bow from my Backpack, and drew the string back, calculating the distance required for the arrow to make its mark. I let go and the string, and the Arrow whips forward in response.
Look at the speed of the Arrow! It met its mark just a few moments after I let the string loose!
The sleeping target jumped up and yelled, taking off the arrow from his nose-hole, or whatever. He called over the attention of the rest of the two guards, and spotted me.
It was time to distract.
Luckily for my friends, I was a complete master at distractions.
"Yo! Fuckboys! I challenge you fuckboys to outrun me in a race!" I taunted, and started to sprint towards the direction that Cerulean told me to go.
I turned around, and saw the griefers chasing after me, holding their Stone Pickaxes (You can make stuff outta Stone?!) and cursing for me to get back there.
"Too slow, fuckboys!" I yelled as a response. Returning my vision back to my running, I can see Dark's outline above the floating patch of sand (it feels awkward to say my name), waiting.
Monologue Master stood on the said floating patch, looking ready to jump down. And, Cerulean was constructing something out of Cacti and… Signs?
Meh. Explains where the random tree we found had gone.
I turned around the sandy pillar, and I was now within vision of Mono, who got his Bow and aimed at the button to call Cerulean's attention.
…
He failed spectacularly, hitting Cerulean himself instead of the button.
Mono probably called out an apology to Cerulean, while he just climbed above the floating sand.
I turned around, and saw the Griefers had multiplied, the three had become ten. I worried, but relaxed slightly when I saw they only wore leather at best, and nothing at worst.
Not to mention, most of them held Sticks for weapons.
And somehow, I knew this was in the basket—our basket. Well, time for them to just go to that spot… 'And all will be fulfilled'—a line I got from Mono from one of the conversations we briefly had.
[Mono]
I crouched down, seeing Sand over the distance and hot on his trail were Griefers. Shouting could be risky, so Cerulean placed down a button for me to shoot.
I got out my worn out and damaged bow, aiming for the button. I let the arrow loose, watching in marvel as the projectile moves much further than I could possibly do…
… And cringed as it actually hit Cerulean instead. He shot me a questioning look, his eyebrows raised. I mouthed an apology in return.
Either way, he worked even faster, placing the final sign and a pressure plate, before he climbed to his position at the floating sand.
Sand are among the blocks that obeys the law of gravity, but there is a rare case, where untouched Sand could float. It was extremely rare to see so, as it was similar to seeing the moon as colored blue, or what people would refer to as the quote, 'once in a blue moon'.
'Are you ready?' Cerulean mouths to me, gesturing to his sword to enforce his point.
'I think so.' I replied, drawing my own sword as a response. I stared at the turquoise-colored blade, and the moon gleaning off the reflection.
'Just imagine what they did yesterday.' Cerulean said, and a mental image in my head was shown.
They deserved to die, that's very evident. The crafter was innocent, and they just killed him for their amusement.
"Mono. Jump." Cerulean said, breaking me from my train of thoughts. I looked down, seeing Sand being cornered by the Griefers.
It's do or die. I jumped down—without being damaged. Before I could even think, my hand shot forwards, and an explosion of gear was of what the griefer remained.
—All of it done in a fraction of a second.
It was instincts that probably allowed me to land the fall perfectly, and the flawless, silent execution of a griefer.
It was almost as if this was primal-instincts to me.
This happened before, actually. At the forest, where the people cornered me. I threw the block, because I knew it would distract them. I expertly weaved through the leaves of the trees, because I knew they were dangerous, but I couldn't possibly take them on.
A griefer finally noticed me, as my shoes crunched against the sand. I stood up, and blocked an arc of gray which could only come from a stone pickaxe.
I whipped my leg forwards, hitting the exposed stomach. While it didn't knock him back, he did keel over in pain.
My sword lashed out, driven by a hand of instincts. A streak of sapphire, and another explosion commenced.
By this time, a blur of cerulean was on the edge of my vision, but I didn't pay it any mind. I glance at the griefer in front of me. Actually, at the trio of griefers in front of me.
The smirks on their faces. It told me that they believed that numbers could allow them to take me on.
They were wrong.
An arc of sapphire. These afterimages of my sword happens because I can move my sword at nigh-paralleled speeds.
Another arc of the identical color. An explosion of gear, as I dodged a shovel headed toward my head.
By this time, the pair of griefers had their smirks turned into something else. It was obviously scorn, but I could trace fear within their masks of anger.
A streak of sapphire came to the griefer on my right. It was blocked by his pickaxe. I used the clash of the weapons to withdraw my weapon by spinning counter-clockwise, and when I faced him again, my right leg slammed into him, knocking him by several yards.
The griefer closest to me had wet his pants in fear. I thrust my sword out, and the third explosion of gear I witnessed has occurred.
I sprinted to the griefer I had knocked back, and my sword lanced forward, being a barely seeable streak.
The fourth explosion commenced.
I turned my attention to Cerulean. His strikes were more precise, and isn't as fast as mine. But as far as I could tell, he wastes a lot less movement.
I looked at my arm, and saw that my Hunger was in a bad state. It had 7 blackened chunks of meat remaining. I replenished it with a golden carrot, and topped it off with a steak.
And, the remaining griefer that Cerulean had been fighting exploded. The lone griefer tried to flee was sniped in the leg by Dark, then was finished by chopping his head off with a rend from his axe.
An explosion of gear… but I noticed something. Dark was pelted by rocks, but he didn't seem to get hit with any damage.
I face-palmed as I realized that dodging those flying sharp pieces of rock was useless.
… Well, at the very least they know how to shoot a bow accurately.
"Phase 1 has been accomplished," Cerulean said, clapping for everybody. "Congratulations."
"That's what you get for killing that innocent crafter!" Sand yelled, as he displayed a gesture that involved his right hand being pointed to the tent, and his middle finger displayed.
I could tell it was supposed to be rude. Obviously.
"But Mono," Cerulean said, looking at me. "Where did you learn to fight with a sword like that?" He asked, pointing at my sword.
"Instincts, I guess." I shrugged, as I scratched the back of my head. "Something also flared up at the forest, where there were crafters who tried to kill me. They were talking, and the next I was already jumping from treetop to treetop."
"Oh. So you also have a natural survivalist, and have an affinity for swords then." Cerulean stated. "I also was like that, but I thought that I could rely on my sword-instincts, I bothered to let it stay the same, as to learn Archery." He laughed to himself, as if remembering some sort of joke. "But let me tell you, if you're a natural at swords, expect Bows to reject you thoroughly."
"Wait, really?" Cerulean raised his brow as a response, then pointed at the arrow still stuck on his chestplate. "Oh right."
"Yes. You did shoot me. I'm just thankful that my armor has a specific enchantment designed to help protect against bows."
"Then how about Dark Reaver? He uses an Axe."
"Oh. Some people find the balance of swords to be off, so they use Axes instead. While slightly weaker and more expensive than a sword, some axe-users I know could use bows decently."
"Then, did you add Dark to your list? Because I thought I saw him help out by sniping some griefers."
Cerulean laughed to himself. "Already did."
"Sand makes a good distraction, doesn't he?" I turned to Sand, but he just stared off into the distance. "Hey Sand?" I called out, but he still ignored me.
"Look at that…" He breathed out in nervousness.
I obliged. I looked over the horizon, and a mob of griefers was going to our location.
Cerulean sighed, before looking at Sand. "Well, at least I managed to make a trap for them. We might want to get to higher ground."
Cerulean climbed to the floating sand, and I followed.
Just as I had reached it, Cerulean whipped out a bow. After Sand finally climbed to our position, He shot the button, and an opening in the earth was revealed…
And not to mention, cacti below it.
Most of the griefers fell in the cacti, being slowly pricked to death if their screams are any indication. The rest were sniped by us, even if I couldn't really shoot an arrow to where I wanted to.
We sniped the remaining Griefers in the trap—well, in my case, the word 'Sniping' couldn't be applicable as I just 'needlessly drew my bow and missed by a large margin'.
But good news is, with three archers who could actually hit their targets, the griefers were made quick work of.
Cerulean stood up from his sniping position, before jumping to the cacti-less ground. "Well, now that they're dead, we might want to move on."
I jumped after him, and I heard crunches of sand indicating that Dark and Sand have caught up.
Now, the only thing remaining was to get to Exter. All will be fulfilled in due time. Too bad Sand haven't heard the full quote, only the first half.
And now, after the dead griefers… the most fun part about a raid, is the looting time. And Sand, along with Dark seemed to have fun looting stuff.
And, they engaged in a tug-of-war between a piece of a leather chestplate, with Sand winning and Dark sulking away in defeat…
Yup, normal looting stuff.
"So, A Tinkers' Exclusive basically allows you to do stuff that normal things couldn't?" Sand asked.
Cerulean drew out his Longsword, before he reappeared next to Sand. "With this Longsword, I could streamline in a straight distance. Perfect for rushing into battle, as well as retreating."
"Whoa. Cool! How can I get one of those?"
"Well, they cost a lot, seeing that only since one person makes them, he can raise the price a lot if he wanted to, and people are still willing to buy it." Cerulean replied.
"Well, how much do they cost?"
"The cheapest one I once saw was in an auction—35 emeralds." Sand's eyes widened in shock. "And since you have to bid higher and higher to get it. It ended up selling as 125 emeralds." Sand tripped as a response.
"T-that much?! Well then… who has it now?" Sand asked in a surprised tone. Cerulean only stared harder, stating the obvious. "… What? Why are you staring me like that?"
I sweat dropped. "Sand, I think Cerulean means that he owns the exclusive." I said to him, who only widens his eyes in shock.
"Wha—?!" Sand tripped again, before quickly standing up and pointing an accusatory finger at Cerulean. "You never told me you were rich!"
"Yes." came Cerulean's reply. "I never did, and you never asked. Admittedly, at that time, I was in my monetary prime, and I could easily beat my rival in auctioning the weapon." He said, recounting the event. "It was fun, making it seem like I was also desperate to get the weapon, as the prices only keep being raised by an emerald, before I decided I had too much fun and just simply slammed down 125 emeralds."
Sand blinked once, then twice. "Savage much?" He only said.
"Yes."
I coughed to help get rid of the slightly tensing atmosphere between us.
I asked, "So, your sword," I pointed a finger at the pouch on his belt containing the item. "It's made of Diamonds, right?" Cerulean shook his head. "What? It looks like Diamond to me."
"It's actually made of Paper."
I sweat dropped at that, and I could feel Sand do the same. "How does it look like Diamond, then?" Sand asked with his eyebrow raised.
Cerulean paused, before drawing out his Sword. He pointed at the… white handle?
"The Handle feels vaguely like Paper to me." Cerulean replied, as he ran his hand on the handle. "So, it must have been made out of paper, and not diamond."
Something definitely tells me that paper was not supposed to be used as a material for a sword. I'm sure that if you make a sword out of paper, one solid smack and it's already broken.
And yet, Cerulean is holding a handle made of paper—which should have been broken by the amount of force he puts on his strikes.
"That's… law brokening." Sand said, his grammar being incorrect because his mind no doubt, being unable to process the absurdness of the statement.
Even I could feel my brain melt at the possibility of Paper being coated with a sheath of Diamond, and the handle not being destroyed somehow.
"Hey, when you could see blocks that doesn't follow the laws of gravity, I don't see why not you can't make swords out of paper." I said.
Sand only nods dumbly.
"Touché." Cerulean said, respectably nodding his head to my direction.
"Burned." Dark spoke for the first time in this conversation. Similar to Cerulean, I gave him a passive questioning look. He must have felt the stares questioning his participation. "What? Couldn't I have a little fun as well?"
Cerulean shook his head as a response. "No, no. Not at all. Just glad you finally got out of your sulking—"
"I did not sulk, alright?!" He said, angrily pointing at Sand's worn chestplate. "I was just…" He trailed off, finding a suitable word. "I was just simply… plotting, to reclaim it through Sand's pity at my fake-sobbing!"
Cerulean's eyes displayed something that indicated he didn't quite believed it. Neither did I actually, when I actually felt him crying.
"Why would you need a Leather chestplate when you already have something better?" I asked, to which Dark only shrugged in response.
"Well, now that your plotting has obviously failed, you could have this random cactus that I got from plotting from Cerulean." Sand said, in his hands was a small block of Cactus.
"Gee, thanks." Dark said sarcastically. He approached Sand, before slamming gloved hand into the Cactus.
Sand stared at his hand, and then to the cactus sticking at Dark's hand. Their eyes made contact, as they looked at their arms which showed half a heart missing.
"Owww! Cactus hurts!" They both screamed in pain at the same time, and behind me, Cerulean could only sigh in annoyance.
"I do not know how this conversation went from a Tinkers' Exclusive, until it went to this situation." Cerulean sighed to himself.
Neither could I know.
Once more, we were traversing across red sand. Just when I was growing bored of regular yellow sand. Well at least, I will never forget the color of yellow sand, because a certain crafter known as 'Sandy Epitome' is travelling with us, and his clothes, hair and eye color are just as colored as sand themselves.
…
I do not know how many times I said the word 'Sand' on that particular paragraph.
Well moving on, actually… No, we weren't moving on, since we all decided to make camp because we were all feeling tired after the events of today.
I just stared into the sky, not being able to sleep. The stars are glowing passively, their illumination cutting through the dark sky.
Ironic, that in the sky was dark, and the ground was sand.
I laughed internally at the thought. It is a direct reference to the two of my friends, Sand and Dark.
Just as I stare into the sky, a vibrant orange hue pierces through the darkness. A glowing mass called the 'Sun' was peeking into the horizon, just its tip visible.
It was the sixth day. Only another day before I finally managed to survive a whole week within Minecraftia.
I smiled as I thought about it. All crafters must've also been happy that they survived for a week within a place such as Minecraftia. From some of the hostile crafters, to the spawning mobs, it is a milestone for crafters.
Monologue_Master: Iron Helmet, Diamond Chestplate, Iron Leggings, Iron Boots, Diamond Sword, 4 Golden Carrots, 4 Steak, 1 Speed Potion (3:00), 1 Regeneration Potion (2:00), 3 Red Sand, 5 Hardened Clay, 1 Water Bottle, 9 Arrows, Bow {Damaged}
Cerulean_Wastelands: Leather Helmet {Blue, Protection III}. Diamond Chestplate {Projectile Protection IV}. Leather Leggings {Blue, Protection II, Unbreaking I}, Diamond Boots {Feather Falling II}, Paper Longsword {Diamond-encrusted, "Sharpester"}, 40 Steak, 4 Golden Carrots, 45 Emeralds, 1 Book {"Philosophy I have in life"}, 1 Stone Pickaxe, 1 Iron Pickaxe {Efficiency III, Unbreaking II}, 1 Strength Potion (8:00}, 3 Splash Potions of Healing II, 2 Red Sand, 8 Hardened Clay, 2 Glass Bottles, 15 Arrows, Bow {Damaged}
Sandy_Epitome: Stone Sword, Leather Boots, Leather Chestplate, 7 Cooked Chicken, 8 Eggs, Wooden Pickaxe, 3 Flint, 10 Sand, 3 Iron Ingot, Wooden Sword, Bow {Power I}, 15 Arrows,
Dark_Reaver: Stone Axe, Chainmail Chestplate, 6 Cooked Chicken, Stone Pickaxe, 10 Flint, Bow {Power II}, 21 Arrows
Character interaction's improved, dialogue improved… Damn, and all of that just by using a laptop (The rumors were true!)? Well, I know what to use next time I write.