After the both of us had a wash using the upstairs reservoir, prompting me to swear to build a nozzle for the thing after it splashed water everywhere again, and having a bite of breakfast out of our dwindling food supply chest, we both got ourselves back to Walmart.
Much to my relief, the area inside that we'd already cleared is still clear thanks to the placed torches, allowing us to pick up where we left off, Julian acting as lookout for pesky spiders, and me moving the wall ever forward and placing torches.
Just as we suspected, the majority of the food supplies in the grocery store had already been picked clean, and the few bits here and there that weren't were spoiled by this point, though we did catch a break here and there, though I'm not sure how lucky finding a single jar of pasta sauce, a single bottle of oregano, and a can of green beans is. We're really going to need to raid through the houses at some point at this rate. Still, I shoved them in my inventory all the same.
It was in the non food goods though that we ended up really striking gold though.
"Power tools?" Julian questioned as he watched me stowing away various tools in the hardware section gleefully.
"Yup!" I said cheerfully. "I'm hoping that some of my minecraft powers will rub off on them and then I'll really be able to get to work. Vanilla Minecraft tools are all well and good, but it's the modded stuff that really shines, and I'm hoping something with my powers will click and give me access to other modded items the closer I get to something from the mods themselves. I've already gotten steel chunks that look straight out of Ex Nihilo, which is a big part of why I want to get stone production off the ground. If I can get this sledge hammer to stand in as an Ex Nihilo hammer, and unlock the rest of the Ex Nihilo recipes to go with it, I'll be able to unlock everything from Minecraft in a matter of hours!"
"Do you really think that will work?" Julian asked curiously.
I deflated a bit and said, "No," with a sigh, "Honestly, I have no idea what will happen. For all I know, the sledgehammer will just work like a pickaxe or something. I have other plans in the works, but those are all not quite as nice as if I get access to Ex Nihilo. But like you said, I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it."
Julian nodded, and we continued to grab things we might need. I ended up grabbing a faucet nozzle on a small whim, thoughts of making a dispenser/container for our water source percolating in my head. Might need to raid the Home Depot or Lowes a few miles north of here in the future.
Aside from that, we ended up picking up mulch, seeds, and gardening supplies. Most of the food stuff might be gone, but it seems most of the normal food seeds were left alone. We ended up grabbing a bunch, though we had to leave many behind as they wouldn't stack. I did make sure to grab the carrots, patotoes, wheat, pumpkins, and watermelon seeds though. If all else fails, I can at least be reasonably assured those will work.
What I couldn't find, to my surprise, was any kind of sugarcane. I figured I might find seeds or stalks or something, but even though I looked on all the available labels on the shelves, I began to suspect that at least this Walmart doesn't carry any. That would be a bit of a problem down the line. Hopefully I can find some elsewhere…
Aside from that, there wasn't actually much else to get from the place. Looters had already hit most places pretty hard even before the apocalypse started, so in hindsight I guess I'm not too surprised. I'll just have to rely on what resources I can get through Minecraft more than I thought is all.
With most of our initial 'shopping' done, and my inventory stuffed to the brim, Julian and I made our way back to the safehouse mostly in silence, keeping our eyes on a swivel just in case. Once inside, I made a staircase up onto the roof, breaking the temporary ladder I'd made earlier up here. It's still a little wet from the rain, but it's not too bad, and I few placed and mined blocks quickly cleared a small area of any water. I then dropped the supplies for the kiln in the newly dried area and turned to Julian.
"Think you can work up here?" I asked.
"Better than in the mud," Julian said with a nod, moving forward to get started.
"Any chance you can build two?"
Julian paused and glanced at me quizzically. "Sure, but why?"
"I want to see if I can mine one up and make it a Minecraft object. Maybe it might make it easier to use." I explained.
Julian nodded. "That might be for the best. As it is we're going to be limited to what can fit in these, and that's not going to be blocks."
I snorted a laugh. "Yeah, hard to fit something the size of a washing machine into something a fourth it's size."
Julian rolled his eyes. "You never know. Most of the things you stick in that furnace are technically the same size as the furnace."
"Well, more like they're in their object form, but I get what you mean," I replied, putting a block in hand and dropping it in its item form onto the ground between us.
Julian stared at it then slowly picked it up, staring at it thoughtfully. I could almost see the gears whirring in his head.
"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked after a few seconds had passed.
Julian glanced up, then down at the block, then back at me and asked, "Do you mind leaving this here? We'll still need normal rocks, but… If I can smelt this block in this form… I'd like to size the kiln using this."
"Yeah, that's fine." I said, surprised and now considering it myself. "I'm going to set up the crops up here as well for now, then go rock hunting, alright?"
Julian nodded and I went to a corner of the roof and started placing dirt blocks. Only a few though. There's not too much space up here yet and I only have a few seeds anyway. I figure I'll test out one of each type of plant I got, so I made a chest to put the rest nearby, then went downstairs and got some water out of the reservoir with my bucket, and placed the water in a space surrounded by four of the dirt blocks, tilled the dirt, and placed the plants in place. And now we have a small garden of carrots, potatoes, wheat, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce.
I offloaded the extra seeds and my hoe into the chest, then went downstairs and dropped the few food items we got out of Walmart into the chest with all our food on the second level. Doing a quick count of what we have, I grimaced. We have enough food for about two more days. Three if we stretch it.
I realize quickly that the little garden plot upstairs isn't going to cut it. We're going to need a bigger field or we're going to have to raid one of the houses soon and it'll be a mixed bag what we might get out of one for loot, but there'll definitely be monsters. Better if I just make a large wheat field now, even if it'll only be temporary.
Going back upstairs, I paused to watch Julian slathering and placing white looking bricks with mortar on what looks like a thick wooly blanket, then decided to leave him to it. I grabbed my hoe and the rest of the wheat seeds available, then went back downstairs. I paused at the crafting table to make a stack of fence blocks, knowing it wouldn't actually do much, but it's better than nothing.
Going outside, I paused, realized I forgot to get more water in my bucket, did that, then went to the side of the safehouse away from the road and fenced off an area, tilled it, placed the water roughly in the center, and placed the rest of the wheat seed we had. Unfortunately I was only able to get about a row and a half of growing wheat plots, but it's better than nothing.
That done, I started rock hunting. There wasn't much to it. Keep an eye out for small rocks, and when I seem them, grab some. I then ended up finding a turn in off the road full of the things. I grabbed up a bunch until I got curious and mined a section of it with my shovel. I started laughing at myself when I got up a block that was part dirt but mostly gravel, otherwise known as… loose rocks. Or packed, as the case may be. Placing the block back down, I found I could still pick rocks out of it, so I just mined it back up and brought a few back with me. Hope this counts for what we have in mind.
Making my way back, and with nothing else to do for the time being, I placed down the gravel blocks nearby on the roof, causing Julian to stare for a moment, then comment, "Well… That's one way to get rocks I suppose."
"Yeah… Not much else for me to do for the time being. Anything I can do to help?" I offered.
Julian thought for a moment, shook his head, paused, then said thoughtfully, "Actually, we could do with more fuel. Since you can make charcoal on demand, I planned on using some to fuel the kiln as it's the purest source of the stuff we can get and wood alone may not be hot enough."
"Alright I can do that," I agreed, "Any ideas how long the kilns will take to finish?"
"Weather permitting? About a day. Maybe two. Assuming of course you can't just mine up the second one once I have it set up and have it be finished instantly or something else just as ridiculous." Julian replied.
I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine in that regard. So how does it work, do you just stick the rock in and place charcoal in the slot underneath? Or…?"
"If you're asking if I plan to model it after your furnaces, the answer is yes and no." Julian replied, still slathering mortar and placing bricks and wrapping it in that weird looking ceramic blanket, "It'll be easier to explain once I actually have one set up."
"Alright then. I'll just get out of your hair and go work on making some more charcoal."
"Appreciated," Julian said, nodding to me.
-End Chapter-