My Craft

by OnTheCobb

Devoid of memory or purpose, a new Crafter is pushed forth into the unforgiving land of Minecraftia. Armed with nothing but his wits, he must…well…actually he's pretty witless. Hopefully he won't get killed in the first week. Hopefully.

187. The Business End

AN: Okay, so, this Chapter nearly made me tear my hair out.

Not only was there a ton of content to cover, which is why it's over 20,000 words, but for some wacky reason, the font on the word document I typed this up on was forced on Emphasis despite not looking italicized. That means, copying it over, everything turned into italics.

So what's the problem with that? Just highlight everything and turn off italics, right? WRONG. Because thoughts and the things I wanted to emphasize with italics would have gotten wrecked, so I couldn't do that.

Thus, I had to spend nearly an hour scouring this Chapter and manually correcting the forced emphasis while keeping the italics the way they were. It was so maddening, I'd have to compare it to dealing with Scouts. You'll see why after reading this Chapter.

Furthermore, I have some good personal news. I'm getting hired full time at the job I've been temping at. Now I can get benefits like health insurance, paid vacations, and whatnot. Only downside is the hours are second shift. That's 2PM to 10PM, making it harder to find time to type.

This Chapter took just under four weeks to type up. However, I'm pleased with the level of humor I was able to instill in it. I hope it'll be worth the wait.

---

Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. If I did, I'd add Potions of Haste.

---

Chapter 187

The Business End

[Cobb]

The haze of excitement faded almost as soon as the mystery man took off his Dragon Head and I got a good enough look at him. I had never seen Herobrine in person, but I knew his attire from his description in his journals. That should have been the first tip off that this guy wasn't him, but… The flying and glowing eyes made me lose my head. I jumped to conclusions without thinking.

This stranger didn't have tan skin, a cyan shirt, or blue jeans.

Instead, he had navy green camp pants, a khaki bush jacket, tan boots, and brown hair styled into a buzz cut. Around his neck, he wore a black neckerchief clasped together by an embossed metal slide that most closely resembled bands of rope. An inky black backpack and belt held his items. The only likeness to Herobrine were his eyes, which continued to glow like high-beams in the dimly lit End.

"You're not him." I shook my head numbly, the feverish feeling that spurred me now draining out, only to be replaced by crushing disappointment. "You're not Herobrine."

"Nope." Not Herobrine replied, popping the 'p'. "But a lot of people aren't other people, and mix-ups are wont to do. With all the souls in Minecraftia, there are bound to be two people with similar hair color, shaped faces, or, in this case…" He tapped at his glowing eyes meaningfully, the blazing high-beams winking out whenever he blinked. "So I may not be who you thought I was, but, by the same token, you're not the person I thought you were."

"...Who'd you think I—?"

"A Scout." He floated closer, scrutinizing me carefully with those glowing white eyes. "Your name rings a bell, but judging by your vacant expression, I can tell you have no idea who this incomparable Landon_Noir is. That means you're not supposed to be here."

A scout? Did he mean a spy or the guild? If it was the latter, that raised a whole lot of other questions, like what did the Scouts have to do with the End? Wasn't it supposed to be SutsCo working things?

Brain: …Is he not seeing this?

Bladder: Seeing what?

Brain: Son of a—is nobody else seeing the thing with the letters!? Are you all stupid!?

"I don't—" I cut off as my gaze glanced aside and locked eyes with an Endermen. At once its jaws unhinged and it started charging me, its skinny legs working furiously. It was then I realized how stupid taking my pumpkin off had been. "Shit!"

I jammed it back on but too late. The Enderman was upon me, its towering height and absurd strength bearing down and slamming me into the ground. It looked like putting the pumpkin back on after locking eyes wasn't enough to forgive the transgression. Fortunately, I came prepared.

I quickly bucketed down my water and let it spread out to encompass me. The second it touched the Enderman's spindly legs, it warped out with a pained scream, like it was lava. I sat up and clung to the ground so as not to get swept by the water outside its protection. I had to, since the Enderman was warping around my paltry puddle, looking to get at me but unable to.

Meanwhile, the Landon guy had his gaze cast to the ground. He didn't have a pumpkin on, but he knew enough not to make eye contact with the Endermen.

"Definitely not a Scout." He spoke to the ground with folded arms. "Scouts know not to look an Enderman in the eyes. So then who are you?"

"Cobb!"

An arrow sailed into the current position of the Enderman, only for it to warp somewhere else unscathed. However, that new location put it right within Z7's range. The assassin flashed out with twin daggers and swiftly dispatched the enraged Mob before it could warp away again. With the threat lifted, I bucketed up the water and got to my feet. Lenz and the Paragons followed shortly after.

"You shouldn't have run off like that." Doyle chastised, putting himself between me and Landon, weapon drawn. "Who is this flying guy and what's wrong with his eyes?"

"More people who don't know who I am." Landon commented. "Is it possible you're a tribe of pumpkin-headed nomads? Or that you're just really, really enthused about Halloween and getting into the holiday spirit?"

"How come he doesn't have to wear these stupid things!?" Shroud complained, tilting his head left and right. "I can barely make out his name!"

"The illustrious Landon_Noir." He introduced with a slight wave. A sharp gasp tore itself from Trenay's throat after hearing his name. "I must say, for being saturated in the cucurbits spirit of Halloween, you certainly complain about it a lot. Have you considered taking them off to see better?"

"Don't take it off." I ordered just in case Shroud was tempted. "The pumpkins keep the Endermen away. Isn't that why you were wearing the Dragon Head?"

"This old thing?" He lifted the Dragon Head with one arm, his High-Beam eyes illuminating it like a spotlight. "Nah, I'm wearing this because I'm the designated Dragon Whisperer. I take Jean's breath away… But not in that way. I mean, she's nice, but, you know, she's too much for me."

"…Do I want to know who Jean is?"

"You two already met." That same rumbling roar from earlier shook the End Stone island and had us all cover our ears. "Oh, look, here she comes now!"

"RRRRROOOOAGH-GH-GH!"

"SCATTER!"

I didn't need to be told twice after getting ragdolled earlier. I dove aside and pressed myself to the ground as a huge mass passed overhead, followed by a harsh gust of wind from its great wing flaps. I spotted Z7 tackling Lenz to safety out of the corner of my eye. She pressed his pumpkin head down while tensing herself in a crouch, her eyes tracking the great beast.

Trenay and Doyle busted out their bows and took pot shots at the fleeting dragon with little success. It moved too fluidly through the skies to hit from a distance when it was flying away. Maybe if it was flying towards them, they'd have better luck. For now, the dragon seemed content to leave us alone.

Meanwhile, Landon had floated sideways out of the dragon's path. His high-beam eyes tilted upward. It gave me the chance to take in his flight. He hovered off the ground, unsuspended and unaided by Hacker smoke. He didn't have to push off anything either; he could create his own momentum mid-air, changing directions with a single thought.

Not only that, but there was no visible strain on his face. No sign that flying tired him. He was perfectly at ease, even with a giant dragon swooping by and breathing purple projectiles.

"Seems all you pumpkin people aren't Scouts OR SutsCo employees." He said, ignoring the dragon as if it were a misbehaving dog. Instead, he placed his hands on his hips as we were caught in his high-beams. "Are you aware that you're trespassing on SutsCo private property?"

"Private property?" Lenz questioned aloud. "Er, excuse me!" He called up to the floating man. "Mr. Noir!"

"Yes?"

"Are you claiming this whole dimension is SutsCo private property?"

"Yes. We had all the official documents drafted up. Also, we called dibs." He explained flatly.

"I don't think dibs is legally binding." Doyle muttered under his breath while Lenz continued.

"We traveled in and out of this dimension before without once seeing you or any SutsCo people." Lenz went on. "Since when did you make a claim to this End dimension?"

"Siiiiiiiince…" Landon hovered idly in place as he thought it over. "…the year 170, late February." He asserted with a nod. "When yours truly founded this place and claimed the coveted Free the End Badge!"

"A badge? That sounds like—" Lenz cut off with a whine of distress, his pumpkin staring off into the middle distance. "Oh, Repeaters, he's with the Scouts…"

"He's not just with the Scouts." Trenay piped up, stepping forward with her gaze focused on the floating Landon. "That's Landon_Noir. He may not be the Founder of the Endward Cult that Cobb's been looking for, but he's the Founder of the Scouts. He's also their Official Scout Master, leading them all."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Landon suddenly shouted, covering his face in embarrassment. "Geez! Get your facts straight, woman!"

"Wh-What?"

"You're really gonna make me say it? Geez…" He looked visibly mortified, the light from his eyes shining through his cage of fingers. "I'm not the Official Scout Master anymore! I got beat in badges."

"I'm… more confused than ever. What?" I asked in an attempt to gain context. Meanwhile, Lenz just lowered himself to the ground and adopted a fetal position of resignation. What was up with him?

"Gah! You're making me say it again! Whoever gets the most badges in five years becomes the Official Scout Master for the next five years." Landon waved his hand airily while swaying in the air airily. "And I lost! By four measly badges, I lost." He added in a smaller voice. "But this time, I'm gonna get more badges than the lot of them and set a new personal best! Landon_Noir is making a comeback!"

Did I stumble down a rabbit hole instead of an End Portal? The flying Landon seemed more preoccupied with badges than he did the giant dragon going around yeeting people. And why was he making reference to SutsCo and the Scouts? Which was it?

Brain: Oh my God, he doesn't see the thing with the letters…

Stomach: What thing with the letters?

Brain: NONE OF YOU SEE THE THING WITH THE LETTERS!

Before I could vocalize any further questions, I heard a clamor of voices gathering from one end of the island. Turning, to one of the large obsidian pillars—atop which was a pink, glowing crystal—I watched as Crafters started appearing from behind it.

At first, a mere ten Crafters emerged, making me think they had all just been hiding behind the pillar. But then more started to show up. Twenty… fifty… e-eighty…

"Holy shit that's a lot of people…" Doyle gulped, his sword looking a little useless in the face of such numbers.

Over a hundred Crafters poured out from behind the obsidian pillar. A literal army appearing from a space too small to conceal them all. It was like the gimmick with the tiny clown car fitting a dozen clowns, only this was ratcheted up to the nth degree. Not one of them wore pumpkins, but that only made the army appear more bizarre as they directed their gazes to the sky or ground to avoid angering the Endermen. They did it so well that not one of the Endermen attacked, and the rest of us looked imbecilic wearing pumpkins.

"To hell with this. I'm not gonna die wearing a pumpkin." Shroud said before tearing off the fruit. "There. Now I can better see how outnumbered we are."

The Crafters that surged towards us were all well-armed. Enchanted diamond and iron armor and weapons, potions, some strange colored boxes I recognized from the SutsCo store as Pocket Boxes. They all came to surround us, with a few of them hollering.

"See!? I told you! Interlopers trespassing on SutsCo private property!"

"How'd they sneak in and get past the bedrock wall!? If someone fucked up, we're all gonna lose out on the Ironclad Security Badge!"

There was a collective wail of distress as if the loss of a badge was akin to the loss of a newborn son.

"Oh, but then, maybe we can get the Liquidate Hostile Interlopers Badge.

The army brightened up immediately, making me sweat. Were all of them Scouts?

I didn't know much about the Scouts except what Noman and Lenz told me. Noman said they were eccentric but not bad… but I got the feeling he was being kind. Lenz, on the other hand, couldn't stand them or their idiocy. That was probably why he was in a fetal position with Z7 trying to prod him into action.

Once we were fully encircled and staring down a wall of enchanted swords, one of them stepped forward.

"You are trespassing on private SutsCo property." He pointed his sword at us. "You will become hostile now."

"…What?"

I had the feeling I would be saying that word a lot today.

"You will become hostile now." The Scout repeated. "Once you're hostile, this'll fall under the Liquidate Hostile Interlopers Badge requirements. Then we kill you and all of us get a badge."

"Hold on! There are only eight of them. Does that mean only eight of us get the badge?"

"Shoot! I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, okay, what if we all take a piece of their Health. Since we all contributed, we all get the badge."

"I don't think the badge works that way."

"Oh, shut up, Kevin! You're always looking for problems."

"Yeah Kevin, don't be so technical."

"Maybe we could ask them to bring over a hundred other interlopers so we can get the badge proper."

"We can't just let more people in! That invalidates the Ironclad Security Badge!"

"For all we know, that badge is blown! We got eight intruders staring right at us!"

"WHY ARE THEY WEARING PUMPKINS!?"

"Obviously they're trying to copy our Halloween-themed holiday badges. But they're a bit early for the Curb Your Cucurbits Badge."

And now they were fighting over us. I didn't know whether to be scared, confused, or annoyed.

"I say we follow first come, first serve. Whoever kills them gets the badge!" There was a good portion of Scouts who agreed.

"Hold on a second!" One of them called out. "Are you all forgetting something? They have to be hostile before we can kill them. Liquidate Hostile Interlopers Badge. It's right there in the name."

"They've got weapons drawn."

"They haven't attacked yet, though."

At once, they all looked at us expectantly. Did they think we were going to attack after hearing all that?

"So stupid…" Lenz muttered to himself, rocking back and forth in his fetal position. "So nonsensical…"

"Hey!" One Scout called out. "You… uh… you gonna get hostile or what?"

I blinked back, wondering if this was some kind of trap designed to lull us into a false sense of security. I mean, they had us outnumbered. We were thoroughly confused enough as is. Any more would be pointless.

"No, we're just gonna… stand here." I answered, putting away my weapon. "Nonaggressiely."

The Paragons, reading the mood, did the same. Normally, this would look like us surrendering, but this was anything but normal.

"Shit, they're onto us." One Scout muttered. "Now what? They're not being hostile."

There was a beat of silence, broken only by the distant roar of Jean the Dragon. Oh, geez, now I was calling her Jean. The insanity was infectious.

"...You will become hostile. Now." One Scout threatened.

I shook my head, no.

"…"

"…"

"…Please be hostile…?" A female Scout asked, her voice turning gentle at the end as if it would get us to agree to triggering our slaughter at their hands.

"No, thanks." Baltic called out. "We're good."

Thoroughly outsmarted, the Scouts formed small huddles to try and come up with a new plan to egg us into attacking. They spoke in whispers, so we could barely catch any words. Especially when the dragon roared and swooped dangerously close.

"Hey!" I suddenly called out, causing the Scouts to turn.

"Are you going to be hostile now!?" They asked excitedly, weapons drawn.

"Still no!" Their shoulders slumped. "But haven't you guys noticed there's a fucking dragon flying around!?" I pointed it out as if it wasn't obvious. Maybe they were trying for the Ignore Dragon Badge or something, I don't know, but it seemed like a pretty deadly hazard!

"You mean Jean? She's harmless!"

Jean certainly wasn't harmless as she suddenly spat a purple fireball into the army of Scouts. They all dispersed from where it was shot, but not fast enough to avoid entirely. Where it struck, it left that same purple cloud of vapor that damaged anyone that stayed inside for too long. The Scouts evaded death, but seriously, how could they call that thing harmless?

Landon, meanwhile, darted towards the cloud and started bottling up the purple breath again. What was so important about that breath that it got him to move?

Anyway, back to lecturing.

"Did you see that!? That dragon tried to kill you! So what are you thinking keeping it around? As a matter of fact, why is there even a dragon in the first place? The First Ten killed it centuries ago!"

"We can't share SutsCo secrets like that." One Scout answered. "It would break confidentiality to share SutsCo secrets with an outside party."

"Wait, maybe we can cut a deal with them in exchange for getting hostile with us…?"

"No! No breaking confidentiality!"

"Anyway, Jean is harmless. We just have to, you know, stay out of the way of her and her fireballs. You wouldn't run into an oncoming Creeper, would you?"

"WHICH IS IT!?" Trenay suddenly snapped, holding her pumpkin-clad head as the aggravation became too much to bear. "You have the randomness of Scouts, yet you speak of SutsCo confidentiality!? Make up your minds! Who is responsible for bringing merchandise from the End to Minecraftia!?"

Brain: HOW IS SHE NOT GETTING THIS!? IT'S STARING YOU STRAIGHT IN THE FACE, BIMBO! UGHHHHHH, I JUST WANNA SCREAM!

After Trenay's outburst, Landon hovered overhead, his hands planted on his hips as he stared down at us with a smug grin.

"Fufufu. So you haven't yet picked up on my clever wordplay? I definitely earned that Margana Badge."

"Quit boasting, Landon!"

"Yeah, we don't want to hear you lording this over us!"

"We could've thought of it too, you know!"

"Margana Badge?" I questioned. "What's a Margana?"

"It's only something in reverse!" Landon crowed, positively giddy at the confusion on our faces. He held his arms in a dramatic pose while laughing that… very forced laugh. Was he trying to sound superior or something? "Fufufu. Shall I give you another hint?"

"Reverse… of Margana?" I didn't like being swept up in this weirdo's pace, but I puzzled out the letters. "That would be… anagram. An anagram?"

"Yes, yes! And?" Landon urged.

Wasn't an anagram of something just a word with the same letters? What did that have to do with SutsCo?

…

Brain: Come on, Cobb. He's spoon-feeding this to you.

SutsCo… S_uts_Co… S_Co_uts… Scouts…!

"The Scouts are SutsCo!" I gasped.

Brain: YES! Fuck's sake! Never have I been more ashamed to be your brain.

"No way!" Trenay slapped her face. "That's… ugh, I can't believe I never saw that!" She held her pumpkin face in embarrassment. "It's so obvious, I just want to crawl under a rock and die. I'm stupid."

Brain: You're all stupid! Except you reading this. Yes, you, sitting there on your phone with your 200 IQ. You, who knew from the get-go. You're smart. Have a cookie, smartypants. You earned it.

AN: Oops. Sorry. Accidentally broke the fourth wall. Here, let me patch that up with some plaster real quick. Aaaand, we're done.

"Fufufu!" Landon laughed dramatically, thoroughly pleased with himself. "Now you see the effectiveness of the Law of Margana. Things hidden in plain sight are often the hardest to uncover! Everyone always expects something clever, when really, the answer was staring you straight in the face! Fufufu! Now don't you feel silly?"

So SutsCo and the Scouts were one in the same. Or rather, SutsCo was established by the Scouts so that they could sell stuff from the End. If Landon was to be believed, the Scouts had access to the End since the year 170, three-hundred-and-thirty years ago. But SutsCo only got big over the last few months. Why did they wait until now to start selling stuff? And where were they even getting it? The End was as barren as ever (minus the dragon).

"Where are you getting your merchandise?" Trenay asked.

"That's confidential."

"Where did this army of Scouts come from? Were they all just on standby behind that pillar?"

"That's confidential also."

"Why the charade with SutsCo? Why not just tell the world that the Scouts were selling the gear?"

"Con-fid-ent-ial."

"Why is he flying? HOW is he flying?"

"Con-fidential! Con-con-fidential!"

"Is that all you have to say about this?"

"…confidential." Landon stage-whispered.

Trenay let out a muffled groan before letting her pumpkin head fall into her hands. She wasn't getting anything out of them. They might have even been trying to purposefully coax her into aggression to give them an excuse to kill us and claim their coveted badge.

I didn't think they would just let us leave. Not just because they wanted a badge, but because we uncovered too much about them. The Scouts being SutsCo was a secret—a painfully obvious one, in hindsight, but a secret all the same.

…To hell with it. I thought. If they weren't going to let us leave, nor were they going to answer any SutsCo related questions, might as well ask them something unrelated but no less important.

"Have you seen Herobrine anywhere?" I asked loudly, feeling a hundred pairs of eyes on me. "It's not a SutsCo related question, so you have no reason not to answer, right?"

"What makes you think he's here?" A Scout answered. "The End may be a safe place for hidden things, but that doesn't make it a refuge for outcasts."

"Why even bother searching for him at all?" Another Scout asked before narrowing their eyes. "Who are you under that pumpkin?"

"That's confidential." I couldn't help but reply.

Landon, however, conked himself in the head in realization.

"Now I remember. King_Cobb. He's a wanted Executive of the Endward Cult." There was a ripple of movement as the Scouts processed the information. "That means…"

I tensed, preparing to deny accusations and, failing that, defend myself from the inevitable hostility—

"That means… we can finally get our Make Ends Meet Badge!"

There was a smattering of cheer on the Scouts side while I stood there, tense as a coiled spring. Then they started putting their weapons away and I was left there looking like an idiot. Landon flew up to me with glowing eyes and a charming smile as he took my hand in both of his and shook strongly.

"This is perfect! Our current Scout Master made this badge a month ago, but was unable to locate a high ranked Executive to clinch it. Now, he's gonna miss out on a rare badge!" He let go of me and rubbed his hands evilly. "I can't wait to see the look on his face when he goes green with envy! This lovable Landon_Noir is about to leave you in the dust."

"…What?" There was my go-to phrase again.

Landon ignored me as he turned to the army of Scouts. "Change of plans! We're putting off the Liquidate Hostile Interlopers Badge in favor of the rarer Make Ends Meet Badge. Any objections?"

"What about breaching SutsCo confidentiality?" A scout raised their hand.

"There should be an ad hoc loophole suspending confidentiality provided there's a rare badge to be had!" The Scouts whopped enthusiastically while one of them checked an official-looking book.

"He's right! Right there in the fine print." He held the book open for the nearest to read over his shoulder. "It says, 'Confidentiality is to be upheld with zero exceptions, unless, of course, revealing such secrets falls under the pass requirements in the acquisition of a super-rare-awesome-chocolaty-fudge-coated-mega-super-badge'. There. Black and white."

I tilted my head back and stared blankly at the black void of the End. If only my mind could be as empty…

"There you have it! No problems." Landon grabbed my arm and proceeded to tug me towards the same obsidian pillar his army of Scouts had emerged from. "Come, come. Let's go get that badge."

"Hey, I didn't agree to any of this—let go of me!" I tried wrenching my arm back to no avail. Guy had a strong grip. I looked helplessly back at the Paragons, their expressions of confusion mirroring my own. "A little help here!"

"Ah, excuse me." Baltic reached out with one hand, stopping Landon before he could get past the Scout encirclement. "What exactly do you need Cobb for?"

"For the Make Ends Meet Badge, of course! Didn't I already say that?" Landon added as an aside before Baltic pressed on patiently.

"You never explained what such a badge entails. We have no intention of letting Cobb come to harm." Baltic explained. "Explain what you want with him, or else we'll leave and the chance for a badge will slip through your fingers."

"Whoa! Whoa! Settle down, friend." Landon released me immediately and backed off with his hands held up placatingly. He had a worried smile on his face, fully believing Baltic would make good on his 'threat'. Just how important were badges to them? "We mean no harm, and the Make Ends Meet Badge can extend to all of you cultists. You are all cultists, right?"

Baltic didn't answer that right away. "Tell us about this badge."

"Of course. The Make Ends Meet Badge was conceived as a connection between End and Endward Cult. The requirements are simple, yet difficult to meet. We must give a grand tour of our SutsCo facility here in the End to an Endward Cult Executive and their retinue. Hence, we'll be making two ends meet."

"…So you'll give us a tour?" Trenay latched on eagerly, her annoyance with the Scouts evaporating. "You'll show us where you're getting your stock and you'll answer our questions regarding the company's origins?"

"If it's for a coveted badge, yes. We will break SutsCo confidentiality… for now."

"For now? So then what happens later?" Baltic asked suspiciously.

"That's confidential." Came the maddening reply. "But let's not dwell on the later! Let's dwell on the now. And now, you're going to cooperate and help us obtain the badge, right?"

I took a moment to glance at the encirclement of Scouts waiting with bated breath. Could the eight of us break through and escape to the fountain portal unscathed? No idea. Baltic and Trenay seemed to think the same thing judging by how their pumpkin heads turned.

The longer we put off antagonizing these guys, the better. It'll give us the chance to get more information. Plus, these guys never answered my question about Herobrine. I'm not leaving without an answer.

I let out a sigh before speaking in the most impressive voice I could muster.

"Yes, I'm an Endward Cult Executive. Hail Cultists."

Maaaaaybe I sounded more robot than Executive, but the Scouts seemed to buy it. This was the second time I had to pretend to be an Executive—the last time being in Akasha's prison, the Pit, where I was surrounded by cultists. It was strange, after going so long denying my connection with them. I was always telling people the wanted posters were lies. Now, I had to admit to the lie to avoid a fight. What a turnaround.

"There's no way I'm pretending to be a mphlss!" Aurand slapped a hand over Doyle's mouth and whispered hurriedly into his ear.

"Just bear with it for now. It's the only way to learn SutsCo's secrets."

Doyle slowly stopped thrashing with a sour look on his face. He was clearly unhappy, not wanting to be called a cultist even in pretend. I could understand, but only in a detached sort of way since I was more invested in getting answers. Whatever problems he had, he'd have to get over them fast.

"So you'll come with us?" Landon asked, his fists trembling with excitement. I nodded once and did a celebratory loop in the air. "Super! I can already taste that badge. Follow me and we can—"

"Hey, what about the rest of us?" One Scout asked. "How are we supposed to get the Make Ends Meet Badge if you're giving the tour?"

"Ngh." Landon grimaced, his bright eyes darting like questing spotlights searching for an answer.

"Maybe…" I volunteered, deciding to play upon the madness. "If you all accompany us and answer our questions, you can all get the badge?"

There was a rush of sound as the encirclement of Scouts gave their overwhelming approval of such an idea.

"Brilliant!"

"Such a clever idea!"

"He's so dreamy!"

"I can see why he was made an Executive!"

I flushed in embarrassment under my pumpkin. These Scouts were a little too easy.

Taken with my idea, the encirclement of Scouts broke up into smaller bands that positioned themselves on either side of us like escorts. Landon hovered above, leading us forward. Lenz, still in a fetal position and with a thousand-yard stare, had to be carried by Aurand.

It was then I noticed that we were one person short. Z7 was no longer with us. She must have slipped out in the celebratory commotion, maybe with the help of a Potion of Invisibility. I asked Baltic about it.

"Z7 is an assassin. Moving behind the scenes is her forte." He answered back in a whisper. "But more to the point, she herself doesn't like to be surrounded by enemies. I told her to go find the fountain portal and alert the others of the connection between SutsCo and the Scouts. She slipped away when she had the chance."

"She understood all that?"

"She understood my intent." Baltic nodded. "She herself will want to avoid this crowd. Even if I didn't give the order, she probably would have gone back anyway. Lenz explained the bedrock fountain portal to her in her own words, so she should know what to look for."

"I guess that's the safe option." I agreed, glancing at the Scouts escorting us. "They don't seem to notice we're one interloper short. These Scouts are pretty absentminded."

"Don't let your guard down." Trenay warned seriously as she took the spot on my other side. "The Scouts are unpredictable agents of chaos. As you've clearly witnessed, you can never tell what they're going to do next."

"They seem okay now, though."

"Don't buy it. Trust me. They'd just as soon invite us to dinner as they would torture us. And they'd do it all without a change in demeanor." I felt a slight chill of worry from her words. Trenay certainly hadn't dropped her guard despite getting the tour she wanted. She was alert, her eyes roving left and right and her fingers twitching to her bow. "There's a reason other guilds don't associate with the Scouts. They aren't motivated by emeralds or vengeance. All they indulge in is their endless quest for badges."

Based on what I'd seen, I had to agree with her. The Scouts didn't seem to follow common sense like the rest of us. They kept dragons around like pets, postponed battles they were certain to win if only to gain another badge, and were willingly breaking their own SutsCo policy to suit their frivolous wants. What sort of people welcomed an Endward Cult Executive?

Above all of else, they were unpredictable. Before it looked like they would kill us, now they were welcoming us. How long before they changed their minds again? There was also little I could do to ensure their happiness since I couldn't follow their line of thinking all that well. I just kind of had to go with the flow. Play it by ear.

"Even if they seem silly, don't forget, they're one of the three biggest guilds in Minecraftia." Baltic added.

"Alright. I'll keep my eyes peeled." I nodded through my pumpkin.

As we were escorted through the End, the Scouts kept their eyes locked on each other to avoid angering the Endermen. They really didn't need pumpkins by doing that, but the Ender Dragon was another story, flying about and firing those grey and purple fireballs. Once or twice, the Scouts had to scatter or else bear Jean's wrath.

On one such pass, I noticed it had a purple bar of Health above its head, similar to the bar of Health on the Withers that attacked Ringwood. It was a Boss Mob alright, though Herobrine's books made no mention of how to fight the thing.

The idea that he neglected to research a Mob was baseless, since he bothered to learn everything about monsters as tiny as Endermites and Silverfish. So why hadn't he conducted any research on the Ender Dragon?

Because he only ever fought the one.

Before, he had dozens of opportunities to research spawnable Mobs. There was an abundance of them. Even Withers, as rare as they were, could be spawned with the right pieces. So it made sense he could fill the entries about them. He had plenty of data to draw from.

But maybe that wasn't the case with the Ender Dragon. Maybe the one he killed was the only one in the End.

But then what's Jean doing here?

There was also the matter of Landon and his high-beam eyes. From his journal, Herobrine obtained those same eyes after dealing the killing blow to what I assume was the first Ender Dragon back in 78. Landon killed his in 170 and, if my guess was right, got his high-beam eyes in the same instance. But glowing eyes wasn't the only thing killing an Ender Dragon netted you. You also got a Command Block… and a dragon egg.

Does that mean, if I kill Jean, I'll get high-beam eye like Herobrine?

The thought crossed my mind as I watched the dragon swoop dangerously close once or twice. Dealing with such a hazard would be a service to the Scouts… or would they react badly? They were content to ignore Jean, so maybe attacking her would set them off.

I sighed. Even if I wanted to kill Jean, it would take a lot of time and effort. Based on Herobrine's journals, those glowing purple and pink crystals on the obsidian pillars had to go first. The dragon drew power from them and could regenerate its Health. Ten pillars, ten crystals. I couldn't do it alone. Even Herobrine and Notch had to work together with the First Ten to finish the first dragon off.

"So where are you taking us?" Baltic asked of Landon.

Before he could answer, however, fifteen other Scouts leapt at the chance to contribute and started shouting out replies.

"To our main SutsCo facility!"

"It's on the outer islands!"

"We'll be traveling via Gateway!"

We got our Remote Getaway Badge this way!"

"You all have ender pearls, right?"

"We can procure some if you don't!"

"Hey, hey! He was asking me!" Landon pouted before turning to Baltic. "It's as they said. We'll be going to the outer islands through a Gateway."

"The outer islands?" I asked, confused. Was there more to the End? And what did they mean by a Gateway?

"You've never been? Strange. Your friend over there said you've been in and out of the End on multiple occasions." Landon indicated Lenz who muttered listlessly from Aurand's shoulders. Was he still in a funk? What had the Scouts done to traumatize him like this? "Come to think of it, I'd like to know how you supposedly entered in and out of the End when we had, and have, the Stronghold secured."

"Ah, just luck, I guess?" I replied evasively, causing Landon to narrow his eyes suspiciously.

Telling them we had another access point to the End, when they were going through great lengths to limit the spread of information (badge acquisitions notwithstanding), was a bad idea. If they knew, they would send Scouts to Daymonte and cordon off the Stronghold there, forever preventing anyone from entering the End without the Scouts' express—and fickle—permission. So I decided to keep it to myself. Make them think we snuck in.

"Anyway, you never answered my earlier question about Herobrine." I said, partly to change the subject and partly to get some answers. "Have you seen him around here?"

"Nope." He answered, popping the 'p' as he floated onward. "Founder of the Endward Cult he may be, but I've never once crossed paths with him. It's a shame, as he would've been perfect for the Make Ends Meet Badge."

Again, I felt my spirits plummet. Was there really nothing?

"But…!" How was I supposed to explain my assumptions? His last known words pointed to the End. He was searching for a dragon egg. He had to be here! "You share the same eyes…"

"I'm a Scout, not a Hacker." Landon answered evenly. "They're connected by their smoky Hacker eyes and call themselves a family. I can't say the same for myself and the Herobrine you're so fixated upon. I never met him, and our glowing eyes are purely coincidental."

I should have figured as much. The only connection between them was that they both dealt the killing blow to an Ender Dragon. That was the criteria for awakening those eyes. But then why was a dragon still flying around? There wasn't one the last time we visited the End.

"If you have high-beam eyes," I began, "then you killed a dragon, right? Just like Herobrine?"

"Was that what did it? Huh. I just assumed I unlocked some Sharingan-level ocular powers at a time when I needed them the most. There goes my Chūnibyō Badge." He muttered to himself disappointedly. "Ah, but yeah. I killed a dragon. Wasn't easy, but I did it."

"Then, did you also get a Command Block?" I asked. "And a Dragon Egg?"

His bright eyes widened. "Yes on both accounts. I take it Herobrine was the first?" He nodded to himself. "Yes, I can see why you'd think I know him. I followed in his footsteps without meaning to."

"So then where's—?"

"We can swap lengthy tales once the tour is concluded." Landon's tone brooked no argument as we were ushered towards the same obsidian pillar the army of Scouts had emerged from behind. Jean roared in the distance, far enough away not to trouble us.

Rounding the obsidian pillar, I expected to see some barracks or base to explain where the hundred Scouts had been hiding. Instead, I was confused to see a thin, End Stone staircase leading to a tiny, vertical, octahedral shape made up of bedrock, within which was a core of liquid onyx—the same stuff that the End Portal and fountain portal contained. Beyond that was the long, thin bridge of End Stone crossing the empty void in a single direction.

"That's the End Gateway!" Again, the Scouts tripped over each other to contribute to the tour. "Much different from the fountain portal that returns you to Minecraftia. End Gateways enable access—"

"—ENABLE ACCESS TO THE OUTER ISLANDS!" Landon shouted over the Scout. "Let me talk you freaking vultures!"

The first of the Scouts walked up the precarious staircase right up to the End Gateway and produced an ender pearl from their belt. Aiming carefully, the Scout tossed his pearl between the bedrock edges of the structure and straight into the liquid onyx core. Shortly after, he vanished, and a magenta beam of light burst forth from the top and bottom of the Gateway. The light beam speared into the empty void-like oblivion that was the End's sky before blinking out in the span of two seconds. Then the next Scout stepped up to the Gateway.

One by one, Scouts threw pearls into the End Gateway and vanished, a beam of light accompanying them each time. I came to realize they were being teleported. The pearl and the gateway interacted in a unique way to offer a mode of transportation completely new to me. Maybe it was like Lenz's TNT ender pearl cannon, which could launch pearls hundreds of blocks away to allow Crafters to warp greater distances.

The gateway before us wasn't the only one. I noticed one or two more on either side, hidden behind the other obsidian pillars. The Scouts were all using this one, however, because it would likely take us to the main SutsCo facility.

When half the Scouts had passed through, Landon let us have our turn. As acting Executive—and self-appointed leader—I walked up the steps first, ender pearl in hand. Landon, unbounded by the ground, floated in a spiral around the staircase as I ascended.

When I reached the top, he floated beside the portal and pointed at the center. "Just toss it in. Right at the core."

I clenched the pearl tight for courage before chucking it in. As soon as the pearl passed the bedrock lip and touched the liquid onyx, I felt my surroundings fade away. I had the sensation that I was hurtling hundreds of blocks in one direction, the experience not dissimilar to the warping of an ender pearl.

Then, all of a sudden, I came to a screeching stop, my legs touching onto solid ground. I stumbled forward slightly from the landing and fell to my knees. And when I looked up…

Despite the Enderman on all sides, I couldn't help but take my pumpkin off to get a better look at the prodigious castle before me.

It was in the same two tones of purple and cream as the SutsCo store, built out of purpur blocks and End Stone, and it consisted of tall, skyscraper-like towers—a sprawling complex of them at various heights and levels. They were all connected via inverted pyramid chambers and branching pathways and stairways all originating from a single, largest tower. Surrounding the tower was a shallow moat of water, presumably to keep away the Endermen.

However, despite the size of the structure, there was hardly any base support. In Minecraftia, blocks defied gravity, so support was hardly needed, but there was usual an aesthetic to it. Here, the castle of sprawling towers, inverted pyramid chambers, and branching pathways only had one point of contact with the ground, and it was from the main tower, atop which a magenta light beam—similar to the ones emanated from the End Gateway—shone into the sky

It most closely resembled a wide-branching tree, but that was all I could think to compare it to. What tree had flimsy staircases supporting chambers five times its size? Or had towers stretching high into chambers that then branched out in complex mazes climbing higher and higher?

It could only by the SutsCo facility Landon described. It looked so alien.

Should I say it's to be expected of the Scouts to build something like this?

While I was ogling, a noticed a large structure moving from one of the tallest chambers. Structures didn't just move by themselves, and as I narrowed my eyes to get a better look, and as more of the structure revealed itself, I discovered what it was.

An airship. A fully functional airship in the End. Purple and cream colored like the SutsCo facility, with a mast and a crow's nest. No sails. It was modeled like a fluyt.

Don't ask me how I knew what a fluyt looked like.

"…enseless… chaotic…" The listless voice of Lenz muttered as he appeared beside me, having used the Gateway—or forcefully crammed in by Aurand. "The Scouts cannot be reasoned—" He recovered from his traumatic state the second he spotted the flying craft. "Airship?"

Brightening up, Lenz tore off the pumpkin and fixed his tinted glasses at the airship as it docked besides one of the tallest towers. The rest of the Paragons soon warped behind us, their attention going immediately to the complex castle.

"A-Airship!"" Lenz pointed up towards the thing as if we couldn't see it. "Airship! They have an airship!"

"Take it easy, Lenz."

"Airship!"

"Where the hell is this?" Trenay questioned as she glanced around. Her confusion was warranted. This place was different from the End I knew. There were no obsidian towers and the landscape looked more spread out, though just as flat. Behind us, from the site we spawned at, there was a similar octahedral End Gateway made up of bedrock as well as a staircase to get up to it. After that, there was nothing but a stretch of empty, black void… and a thin bridge of End Stone built out into the emptiness. It mirrored the one I noted earlier.

Ahead of us and past the SutsCo facility, however, was a forest of what looked like dead, purple trees. No leaves, and the branches were bare except for the ends, which held large bulbs. A catwalk had been set up along the tops of those dead trees and connected to one of the towers of the SutsCo facility. Tiny dots that could only by Scouts—or SutsCo employees—walked the paths seemed to harvest something from the tree tops.

Beyond the forest of dead, purple trees were chunks of End Stone that formed floating islands. Some were small satellites, some were large planetoids, and all of them were covered with Endermen.

"Behold, the SutsCo facility in all its majesty!" Landon presented grandly as he warped into view. "I'm sure you have plenty of questions about our fine company, so let's start on our badges—I mean, uh, let's start our tooooooour!"

"Are they really gonna show us everything they have for a badge?" I asked incredulously.

"You have no idea." Baltic muttered.

"Airship!"

"Yes, yes. Airship. Let's move along."

"Airship."

---

[Z7]

I didn't like crowds.

They made that feeling of not belonging swell inside my chest.

So the second those noodle-brains started bickering about badges, I had Yzogrx invisible me.

I slipped away unnoticed.

Not even the catatonic nerdling spied me.

I had orders, though.

Xzibh had to be told about the inhabitants of the End.

The nerdling, Ovmarmtglm, had been very specific, even going so far as to speak in my tongue to make me understand.

He was very considerate.

The way back was a bedrock fountain filled with liquid onyx.

Jump in and I would wake up in the bed I snoozed in back at that shabby inn.

It shouldn't be hard to find.

The dragon roared overhead, but far enough to not be a threat.

I averted my gaze from the Endermen as I walked unseen, searching.

But no bedrock fountain met my gaze.

There was only one thing made of bedrock, but it was no fountain.

I ignored it and kept searching, combing every inch of that empty rock, until I was left with only one assumption on where the fountain could be.

I laid my hand on the structure I had ignored at first—a large bedrock cube that the dragon circled like a shark.

Bedrock couldn't be shaped—shouldn't be shaped—and couldn't be broken.

But this moderate cube, about nine by nine meters, looked too foreign to have been natural.

And it was just big enough to encase the fountain I was seeking.

Our only way back was inside an indestructible cube.

"Kilyovn (Problem.)"

---

[Cobb]

To access the facility, we first had to cross the shallow moat of water to the main tower. We, along with the hundred or so other Scouts seeking to contribute to the tour to get the Make Ends Meet Badge, waded through waist deep water before hoisting ourselves onto the tiny island the main tower was built upon. Not a single Enderman dared to impede us, so I decided to keep the pumpkin off for now. Lenz did the same.

"You okay, Lenz?" I asked the engineer. "You seemed a little traumatized back there."

"Do not mind it." He shook his head with a grimace. Then, in a whisper, he added. "I just have a particular dislike for Scouts."

"What did they do to you?"

"Not a thing." He answered, confusing me. "Oh, come now. Did you not see how Trenay and the rest reacted to finding out we are dealing with Scouts? They are impractical and irrational. In short, everything I am not." He folded his arms. "Engineers work to invent ways to resolve set problems, but Scouts invent problems with set ways to resolve them. All they do is make up ridiculous badges for the most mundane of things, and then they act accomplished when they obtain them, despite those accomplishments being of little importance. Where is the gratification? Where is the sense of achievement when you can come up with new ways to get silly little badges?"

One of the nearest Scouts twitched sharply and I hastily clamped a hand over Lenz's mouth.

"Don't let them hear that." I warned lowly. "I agree they're unpredictable and eccentric, but right now their randomness is inviting us into their home. We can't afford to piss them off. So, for now, let them give us the tour and answer our questions, and then we can walk out of here."

Brain: We hope.

"I do not know if I will be able to play along." Lenz said miserably. "Scouts are my antithesis."

"Okay!" Landon clapped. "So where should we start our tour?"

"I would very much enjoy touring your airship."

He got over that real quick. I thought with a wry smirk.

"I see we have an airship enthusiast!" Landon declared with bright eyes. "Sadly, the airship is docked on the upper floors, so starting the tour there will be quite impossible." Lenz deflated. "But we'll get there eventually. For now, let's start with—"

"The Entrance Tower!" One Scout interrupted before pumping his fist at contributing.

"Stop cutting me off!" Landon bawled before pushing open the front doors and guiding us inside.

As soon as I stepped past the threshold of the tower, I felt a warm feeling suffuse my body. Pink and yellow particles swirled off of me in tiny bursts, hinting that I had been afflicted with a potion effect. Pink was Regeneration, and I spied the telltale heart tattoo and timer on my arm, but what was yellow? The tattoo accompanying it was a golden pickaxe, so maybe it was for mining? The bigger question I had was where the effects came from? I didn't even notice getting hit with a potion.

Also, strangely enough, the effect timers were short at seventeen seconds each, but they also kept restarting before they could hit zero. The timers were restarting themselves at seventeen seconds over and over, permanently afflicting me with Regeneration and the other yellow effect.

The others had the same pink and yellow particles swirling off them. Same went for Landon and the hundred Scouts entering with us. Baltic and Lenz stared at their arms in clear confusion trying to figure it out. Affecting so many people was beyond what a single Splash Potion could do. What was going on?

The inside of the Entrance Tower was pretty barebones. There was only a counter and a ladder to get to the upper levels. Behind the counter were two Crafters: one solid, one slimy. Some banners were plastered around the place depicting an emerald phoenix before a white background. It must have been the Scouts' symbol. I also noticed that behind the counter was a set of hoppers trailing down from the upper floors and into a double chest. Beside that was an ender chest—

I froze, replaying what I saw moments ago, before turning my head back towards the Crafters behind the counter. One solid, one slimy. ONE SLIMY!?

My eyes weren't deceiving me. It wasn't a Crafter with green, translucent skin and clothing, it was a Slime Hybrid. She oozed behind the counter and between the double chest and the ender chest, taking out items and putting them away. She didn't have any legs and moved like a slug, though she had a bright demeanor that brightened even more when she saw Landon arrive.

"Landon, sir! Did you get enough Dragon's Breath? Bethany says the Zeppil store is in desperate need of tipped arrows. And Lazuli could use some more Lingering potions according to Righty."

"Got it right here." Landon held up the bottled stuff he had gotten from the dragon earlier. "I'll hand it to the alchemists in a little bit."

"Good God, what the hell is that thing?" Shroud pointed at the Slime Hybrid who placed her hands on her hips at the tone.

"How rude! You act like you've never seen a fair maiden before."

"Fair maidens usually have legs!"

"Now that's just sexist! SutsCo has a zero tolerance policy for this!"

"Oh, they're not SutsCo." One Scout contributed. "They're cultists. And we're giving them the grand tour."

"WHAT!?" The Hybrid and the other person behind the counter exclaimed.

"It's for the Make Ends Meet Badge."

"Oh, that's okay then." They forgave immediately, causing a nerve in my head to twitch. Scouts were far too lax. And did they have the badge memorized?

"Hey, hey! Can I join in?" The Hybrid pleaded, oozing over the counter and leaning forward eagerly. "I want a rare badge too!"

"Get in line, sister." One Scout protested. "We all want to contribute to the tour."

"We decided that if you help tell them about the place or answer one of their questions, you can claim involvement in the badge."

"Oh! Ask me a question, then!" She waved happily. "Pick me, pick me! I can ask any question you got! Please, please, please, pleeeeeease~!"

Creeper Hybrid? Creepy. Ghast Hybrid? Ghastly. Slime Hybrid? Strangely adorable. And when she busted out the puppy dog eyes, I couldn't refuse her request.

And, hadn't Noman mentioned an encounter with a Slime Hybrid in his travels?

"You know a guy name Nowhere_Man?" I asked, the Hybrid's shamrock green eyes going wide. "Goes by Noman?"

"Of course I know him! He saved me and my other selves from Maplefrost's cage! But how do you cultists know him? You didn't…" she trailed off with a terrified expression, "…kill him, did you?"

"No! No, no. He…" How to explain this in a way to maintain my Executive façade? "He's… ah… thwarted us on a few occasions. He's a noble, selfless man, that Noman. But… he never killed us. He's against killing. And… we have a rivalry going?" I was just pulling stuff out of my ass. "We're rivals and we respect one another… as friends." There. Maybe she would believe that.

"So he's still alive?"

"Alive and strong. He's still got the Severe Shield, despite refusing to kill with it."

The Hybrid laughed. "That sounds like Noman." She then smiled brightly. "Well, any friend of Noman is a friend of mine. Come 'ere, you!"

"Whoa!"

She stretched over the counter and enveloped me in a slimy hug. She was warm and sticky, but I tried to endure it for the sake of her chipper personality.

Then I started sizzling.

"Ow! OW! You're hurting me! Let go!"

"Oops! Sorry!" She released me immediately and I took stock of my lower Health. The constant Regeneration fixed me in a blink. "Keep forgetting the three second rule." She stuck out her tongue cutely. "So, do you have any SutsCo questions for me to answer?"

"A few, yeah. How did you become a Hybrid?" I asked curiously. Herobrine made the Ghast and Creeper one, maybe she was made by him too.

At this, the Hybrid averted her eyes looking uncomfortable. "A-Ah, sorry, I can't help you there. My memory from before this is kaput." She oozed back over the counter and returned to her station. "My memory is divided up among my three selves. Only together can we piece together the whole picture, but… we can't maintain a shape like that. Too much mass. We also can't form words."

"Your other selves?"

"Uh-huh! Righty, Bethany, and me, Legoless!" She posed cutely.

"Legoless?"

"Marble—the Scout that saved us with Noman—named us that. He brought us to the Scouts and let us join. They accepted us without batting an eye. They don't see us as freaks at all."

"And we needed our Home For Wayward Hybrids Badge." Landon supplied.

"There's a badge for that?"

"There was after we took them in." He smiled knowingly. "Besides, the slime girls are invaluable for the SutsCo shipping department. They can—"

"Ooh, ooh! Let me, let me!" Legoless cut Landon off, causing the man to cross his legs and float against the ceiling disgruntledly. "I can do most anything a Slime can do, like splitting and reforming. But since me and my other selves are all one person, we all have access to the same ender chest. Watch this!"

She oozed over to the double chest and ender chest behind the counter and continued with her work, withdrawing them from the double chest and placing them in the ender chest. She placed more and more stuff, but the ender chest was never full.

I realized it was because her other selves had the same access and were removing the items at the same time she was putting them in. They must have been at other SutsCo stores in Minecraftia. Even between dimensions, the ender chests worked, allowing items to be transferred across a great distance.

"That's incredibly useful!" Trenay declared in open awe. "If you worked for the postal service, sending instantaneous mail across Kingdoms, you'd make a fortune!"

"Ah ha! Yeah. I'm a pretty big deal." She held her head up proudly.

"So you're SutsCo's entire shipping department?" Baltic asked.

"Oh no. We could never depend on one person like that." The other Crafter behind the counter chipped in. She also wanted to contribute to the Make Ends Meet Badge by answering questions. "We have a system in place that connects this facility to all our other stores. SutsCo employees sleep in a single bed at the store locations before journeying to the End. They get gear, and then when they return, they are warped back to their bed, ready to unload the merchandise. We give them plenty of Shulk—I mean Pocket Boxes to store their stuff. It's not as timely as the slime girls' method, but it works."

"They ask me to help only when they need something one-day rushed." Legoless explained. "Speaking of which, Landon, the Dragon's Breath…?"

"Everything in its time." Landon assured before waving us along. "Come. Let us continue the tour."

"Tell Noman the slime girls say hi!" Legoless waved us a happy goodbye. "Oh, and that we've never been happier working with the Scouts!"

I waved back, reminding myself to tell Noman. He'd love to hear the people he helped were doing alright. It was a shame she didn't have her full memory of how she became a Hybrid, but seeing her so happy and accepted made me think the Scouts were alright.

"Up the ladder you go." Landon coaxed, pointing us to the only access to the upper floors. He then addressed the hundred Scouts following us. "Don't stay if you don't need to. If you already answered a question, you fulfilled the requirements for the badge. No sense in crowding our guests." A handful of Scouts dispersed at his words.

The ladder was a real bottleneck since only one person could climb at a time. It was a glaring design flaw for what was supposed to be a SutsCo production factory.

"Don't you think ladders are a bit cumbersome?" I asked.

"No, why?" Landon replied, floating beside me at eye level.

"…Never mind."

Exiting the ladder, we arrived at one of the inverted pyramid chambers. There were more hoppers along the wall and leading down, providing SutsCo with what Lenz explained was an organized item transportation system. There were also four paths in the cardinal directions, with signs labeling each wing.

"The North Wing is designated for alchemy. Since I need to drop off this Dragon's Breath, let's start there."

"Dragon's Breath is an alchemical component?" Baltic asked with interest. Now that we were inside and away from the Endermen, all the Paragons took off their pumpkins.

"It sure is!" One of the Scouts crowed over Landon. "Dragon's Breath can only be obtained from an Ender Dragon's breath attack."

"You mean those purple clouds it spewed?"

"Yes! And as the Dragon Whisperer, it's my job to collect it!" Landon belted out in a rush. One Scout then swiped a bottle off of Landon and showed it off to us.

"Dragon's Breath is easy to gather. Just scoop an empty bottle through a cloud of Jean's breath and viola!"

"So this was the missing component." Baltic spoke wondrously. "This must be how SutsCo makes its Lingering Potions, correct?"

"Right on the nose." Landon nodded. "We also use it to make tipped arrows. We used to have a monopoly on those, but with the Testificates now able to sell tipped arrows, our customer base might take a hit…"

Lingering Potions and tipped arrows. That explained why they let Jean fly around. They needed her breath for the merchandise. If she kept attacking with her breath, it gave them a renewable resource to bottle and process into desirable gear.

That still didn't explain where Jean had come from.

Landon and the Scouts showed off their alchemy chamber and the dozens of employees working brewing stands. Landon handed off the Dragon's Breath he bottled and we got to watch how it was processed with a Splash Potion into a Lingering Potion of the same effect type.

"Lingering Potions provide Crafters with a cloud-based effect similar to the dragon's breath attack." One Scout supplied.

"Is the duration shortened?" Baltic asked.

"Yes, it can be, but unlike a Splash Potion, a Lingering Potion lingers, and the effect can be applied consecutively. Lingering Potions of Healing and Harming are most useful and our best sellers in the alchemical department, healing or dealing as much as ten Hearts of damage in a single bottle."

The Lingering Potions looked like they had their necks snapped off and appeared more like glass grenades. Or Christmas baubles, so multi-colored and fragile. Baltic soaked up the knowledge, pleading with Landon for some samples of Dragon's Breath for his stock of ingredients.

"Perhaps at the end of the tour." Landon replied with a mysterious smile.

"You mentioned tipped arrows?" Lenz raised his hand. "How do the Lingering Potions factor in there?"

"Ah, an excellent question. Tipped arrows—"

"Tipped arrows are crafted by surrounding a Lingering Potion with arrows in a Crafting Table grid!" Another Scout interrupted, clearing off as soon as he fulfilled his badge requirement.

"The duration of the arrows' effects vary." Another Scout spoke up. "They don't last long since each Lingering Potion is divided amongst eight arrows, but they're useful in that you can add an extra kick to your arsenal. With tipped arrows, an archer can double as an alchemist."

"Enhancing one's arsenal…" Lenz muttered quietly to himself.

"We'll give you some free samples of those too." Landon waved off. "But only once the tour is concluded. Moving on!"

From the North Wing, we crossed up a complex of sprawling staircases and precarious pathways towards the East Wing.

"Interesting architectural choices you made." Trenay voiced her opinion after having to climb up a tower via short parkour jumps on slabs. They were no problem for me, but Lenz and Baltic struggled noticeably.

"Oh, we didn't build it like this. We only renovated and expanded upon an existing structure." Landon threw out carelessly.

"What do you mean? This was here before?"

"Yepper!"

"So…" I felt a prickle of excitement. "Someone else was here? Someone had to have built it, right? If it wasn't you—"

"Wrong."

"Wrong?"

"Right." He nodded maddeningly. "This structure—this End City—was here before us, but so were dozens of others."

"…I don't understand." I admitted, confused.

Another Scout sought to explain. "In the same way that Jungle Temples, Ocean Monuments, Abandoned Mineshafts, Nether Fortresses, and even Strongholds exist as structures predating any living Crafter in Minecraftia, so do these End Cities. They are existing structures that have sprung up. These ruins may as well be part of the scenery. They're natural, not man-made."

"Are you sure?" I urged. "You don't think anyone could have made them?"

"They're too uniform." A Scout explained. "We've scoured the outer islands of the End in every direction and found a number of these End Cities. Some were smaller than others, but they all had the same design and unique shape. We chose this one to repurpose into a SutsCo facility since it was the first thing we saw upon arrival. We just copied the style and expanded it into the beautiful work of art it is today!"

"Why not just make a normal-shaped facility?" Trenay asked.

"Well, how else were we supposed to get our Aesthetically Pleasing Badge?"

Trenay slapped a hand over her face. "Ask a stupid-ass question, get a stupid-ass answer." She muttered in irritation.

"Hey, I've heard that saying before!"

"I'll bet you have."

Happily responding to Trenay's mutters, Landon floated forward to begin the next leg of the tour—a room full of furnaces and busy Scouts. There were also more white banners with the emerald phoenix.

"The East Wing is where we process building materials. Here, Chorus Fruits are baked into Popped Chorus Fruits, which are then molded into Glowsticks and purpur blocks, pillars, slabs, and stairs." We watched as a pair of Scouts lugged in some stonecutters—the same we saw from the mason's—before plopping them down in a corner. "We used to only be able to make End Stone bricks out of the End Stone, but following the latest Bounty Day, we've discovered new recipes for molding End Stone, as well as the Stonecutter."

"We can now make End Stone into slabs, stairs, and walls. And more efficiently than before. Nothing is wasted." Another Scout supplied as the saws of the Stonecutters whirred to life.

The furnaces along the wall blazed hot as purple, baked lumps like clay were withdrawn and packed tightly into purpur blocks. There was also a chest full of blaze rods, which the Scouts were withdrawing before molding with the popped chorus fruit into those SutsCo Brand Glowsticks.

Though why were they first taking them to an anvil before sending them down the hoppers to Legoless?

"Where do you get the blaze rods?" Baltic asked.

"We've had to partner up with a supplier." One of the Scouts answered. "Nether Fortresses are hard to come by. Kingdoms usually send out expeditions to find them, but once they do, they claim ownership of it and participate in monthly resupply trips. They have to to supply alchemists with potion ingredients." Baltic nodded to show he understood the market.

"Crafters foolishly broke Blaze spawners in a discovered fortress, thinking they were preventing more from spawning. They didn't realize blaze rods are worth their weight in emeralds." Baltic said. "They need it for blaze powder, Potions of Strength, and magma creams."

"In exchange for Nether supplies, we have to offer a premium discount on SutsCo goods." Another Scout explained. "It's a fair deal."

"The Glowsticks and blocks are merely aesthetics, and not as profitable as the alchemy side of things. Still, we get a fair order for the building materials from architects. The purpur and end stone colors really pop! Moving on…"

As we left the East Wing, Lenz raised his hand and voice.

"Excuse me, but can we take a look at that AIRSHIP?"

"Fine, fine. I see where your attention is." Landon waved the engineer down. "Our airship, the Sterncastle, is up in the Northnorth Wing."

"Wasn't the alchemy section the North Wing?"

"No, the Northnorth Wing. Two Norths."

"Not Northeast or Northwest…?"

"No, Northnorth. Since it's on the upper levels. We have a lot of wings."

"A-Ah…"

Climbing up ladders and crossing precarious parkour challenges involving hopping along Glowsticks, we reached… the Northnorth Wing.

By far, it was the largest area of the facility. It was designed like a hangar, with large gaps in the walls that led outside. The purple airship—the Sterncastle, Landon called it—was docked along a sort of pier suspended freely in the air. The other sides had no piers, making me wonder what they were for.

The only wall without a hole to the outside was where a set of Scouts were set up. They were pouring over books or were otherwise at anvils and crafting tables, and along the back wall was, at first glance, a wide portrait of a black dot along a garbled, cream and black mess. It was only when I got a closer look that I realized it was a map.

"I thought maps don't work in other dimensions." Doyle pointed out.

"Nether maps don't work." One Scout corrected. "Compasses and clocks don't work in either the Nether or the End because there's no sun or moon, nor is there an Origin spawnpoint." He pointed to the map, where I saw a miniature green banner on the other edge of the black dot. That must have been us. "Here, maps work just fine. Good thing too, since we need them to charter the End."

I took a closer look at the map and saw that the black dot had a tiny white dot smack dab in the center. The garbled mess of cream and black formed an outer ring that spanned outward in every direction. It gave the map the appearance of an eye along a heavily freckled face.

And… was that a thin line connecting the outer ring to the central dot? Was that the bridge I saw?

But then… the bridge connected all the way from the central island to the outer islands.

"This is us." I pointed to the miniature green banner on the edge of the garbled mess. I wanted verification, and Landon nodded. "And this central dot here," I traced my finger across the thin line back to the middle of the map, "that's where we spawned, right? The place with the dragon and the obsidian pillars?"

"Correct." Landon nodded. "Everyone in the End starts out there. It's sort of like this dimension's Origin."

"How far are these outer islands from that origin?"

"I think it was around… a thousand blocks?"

So a thousand meters. A little more than a sixth of a mile in any direction got you to the outer islands. The End Gateway teleported us that far. Yet, staring out into that black void from the origin, it looked like there was nothing but emptiness going out forever. Did the vast blackness just obscure the islands from sight? Or was it beyond what we could see?

Suddenly, my attention was drawn to the outskirts of the map, where several white blips began to gravitate towards the facility's green banner blip. Judging by how fast they were moving compared to the thousand meter gap Landon described, they were moving a great distance in a short amount of time.

"Perfect timing." Landon smiled. "The Wyverns are coming in."

"The Wyverns?"

"Clear the runway!" One of the Scouts suddenly shouted. "Five Wyverns coming in hot! Clear the runway!"

Beginners and Paragons shared wary glances as we cleared the center of the hangar. In the distance, I could hear the faint whistle of fireworks going off. It grew louder and louder as a flock of five winged figures streamed along the inky black sky towards us.

They zoomed into the narrow hangar doors, streaking along the floor of the hangar until they slowed to a stop against the opposite wall. The whistling fireworks stopped and their flared wings settled down into capes draping down their backs.

The Wyverns weren't actual dragons. They were clad in enchanted diamond save for their chests, and from their belts hung multiple multi-colored Pocket Boxes. After landing, they lined up and marched towards the wall map where the other Scouts were working.

"Find anything?" One Scout asked.

Two of the five Wyverns placed maps upon the table. "We finished exploring Quadrants 9BG and 9BH today. Flew over some new End Gateways and at least seven End Cities. Only one of them had an End Ship with an Elytra." He handed over a set of the same wings he wore from his belt. "We took a cursory glance inside and found a bunch of Shulkers. We brought a fair share of their shells." Another Wyvern placed them on the table next.

"Nice haul." The Scout complimented before taking the maps and ending them to the wall map at the back. The map was freshly marked with miniature purple and grey banners. "We'll send the Sterncastle out there and scavenge what we can."

"Good." One of the Wyverns cracked their neck audibly. "You mind if we rotate out? We've been flying for a while and our Elytra are getting low. Also running out of fireworks."

"We'll repair and replenish your supplies." A Scout nodded. "The five of you can go switch out with Howzer and the boys. You earned it. As have you earned the Final Frontier Badge."

"Hell yeah." The Wyverns smiled before shedding their wings and turning them over to the Scouts before exiting the hangar.

"Who were those guys?" Trenay asked instantly.

"Those Scouts are part of SutsCo's expeditionary force. We call them the Wyverns." One Scout explained over Landon. "The End's outer islands go on forever, so we need them to go out in search of End Cities and End Gateways. They bring maps with them and map out unexplored parts of the End. Then, if they find an End City, they mark it on the map, bring it back here, and then we go out and scavenge for rare items. They do it themselves, sometimes, but they're more of an advanced scout. No pun intended." The Scout chuckled to himself. "They explore, and we send a second force to gather."

"Are their resources only available in newly discovered End Cities?" Trenay demanded.

"Yes. Shulker Shells and Elytras. Sometimes End Rods too—"

"What are Shulker Shells and Elytras? And End Rods…?" Trenay tilted her head, causing the Scout to pale.

"Uh, wait, I-I mean… uh… Pocket Boxes, and, and… Glowsticks—"

"Forget it, Mikey." Landon waved. "This tour is all about transparency. Might as well tell them the truth."

"What truth?" Trenay asked with narrowed eyes.

Landon sighed. "When we first got the idea to sell this stuff, we didn't want to give anyone any hints about where we got our merchandise. Nor did we want them to know the Scouts had any part in it. So we used SutsCo as a cover, and we forcefully renamed some of our merchandise using anvils. End Rods was too obviously from the End, so we named them Glowsticks instead." He ticked off his fingers. "Shulker Boxes would invite questions as to what the hell a Shulker was, so we changed that to Pocket Boxes, and Elytras were renamed Wonder Wings because I wanted the Alliteration Badge."

Brain: Hey! Here's a fun drinking game! Take a shot every time someone mentions a new badge! Here's one~! *Glug Glug*

Liver: H-Hey! Don't drink that! Who do you think has to process that—Uuuuugh…

Bladder: I'm filling up.

"So the actual names for them are Elytras, End Rods, and Shulker Boxes." I nodded in understanding. It made sense they'd change the name, since hearing about End Stone was all it took to connect SutsCo to the End. "But, uh, what are Shulkers?"

"An exclusive End Mob."

I felt the Mob book in my belt pocket grow heavy.

"…exclusive…?"

"Yeah. They were a result of one of the Bounty Days." The Scouts pointed out the Shulker Shells as they were picked off the table and sent down the hoppers to the lower levels. "Shulkers are our source of Shulker Boxes, or, as the general public calls them, Pocket Boxes. It's a shame they don't respawn."

A Mob resulting from a Bounty Day? They sounded like the perfect entry for my Mob book! Phantoms and Ravagers were just the start, especially with all those other Mobs I saw in my Bounty Day vision. If there was a chance, I wanted to check out what those Shulkers could do. Or maybe ask the Scouts more about them.

"Those Wyverns you called them?" Doyle asked with a raised hand. "They were flying a lot faster with the Wonder—I mean the Elytra—than what I thought was possible. Don't they enable Crafters to glide only? How could they fly all that distance?"

"Why, with rocket propulsion, of course!" Landon snatched some fireworks from beside the table and showed them off. "Since Elytra can be repaired with those Phantom Membranes, we've also discovered that fireworks can propel you while you're gliding! It's thanks to these two discoveries that the Wyverns can explore the End. Otherwise, we'd be burning through Elytra like coal."

"How can these tiny, hand-sized rockets propel a full-bodied Crafter?"

"I dunno. But I don't question it. And because I don't question it, I was able to secure my Defying the Laws of Aviation Badge!"

Brain: Ap! Nother drinky! *Glug Glug*

Liver: S-Shtop! Uuuuugh! Too musch!

"You called your airship the Sterncastle?" Lenz asked with interest. "Who built it for you?"

"We didn't build it." Landon replied, his eyes glowing. "End Ships were like End Cities: preexisting. The design is au naturel."

Lenz let out a slight titter. "Oh, come now. That is not possible."

"How so?" Landon replied with a disarming smile.

"Well," Lenz began, talking in a condescending tone, "it is common knowledge that airship technology is tied to Command Blocks. Lines of complex codes must be entered into a Command Block with surgical precision in order for the airship to fly without problems."

And the corresponding coding for those same Command Blocks that is essential to getting airships to fly has been passed down"

"True. True."

"Those codes and secrets have been passed down to the airship craftsman in Zeppil by their king, the first airship craftsman, Dinnerbone. As such, that knowledge is a closely guarded secret and exclusive to Zeppil alone. Only they have the authority and resources to make new airships."

"Also true." Landon nodded.

"So then you understand my mirth." Lenz concluded with a bit of a grin. "How could this airship have been preexisting when Command Blocks and their codes must be inputted by a skilled airship craftsman?"

"Oh, no, I see what you mean." Landon made a show of understanding. "What I meant was that the airship's structure was preexisting. It was the frame. The Command Block programmed to move it came in later."

"That is what I thought." Lenz nodded with a smile. "So, let me rephrase. Who programmed the Command Block for you?"

"That was us."

"…Eh?"

"Well, me, for the most part." Landon corrected, trying not to boast. "I saw the End Ship and was thinking how cool it would be to have our own airship. Then, my glowing eyes sort of… saw a code floating through the air. And I plugged it into a Command Block, hooked it up to the End Ship, and lo and behold we're in business."

"A-ah…" Lenz's tinted glasses slid slightly down his nose to reveal blank eyes. He looked like a short-circuited robot as his face twitched slightly before recovering. "I-I think you may have misunderstood my question. Um… Airships cannot cross dimensions, so you must have had somebody build it here for you. A-a craftsman of the highest caliber—"

"Yeah, no, that was me." Landon replied simply, Lenz's mouth falling open. "I had the Command Block and the code just came to me when I thought of it. I programmed it in and, since I didn't want to waste coal, I adjusted the code slightly so that there'd be no fuel consumption."

"YOU ADJUSTED THE CODE!?" Lenz exploded, tearing the glasses of his face in disbelief. "HOW!? DO YOU NOT REALIZE HOW INTRICATE AN AIRSHIP CODE IS!? It is a tightly woven cord that thousands of engineers only dream of untangling! People have died to keep those codes a closely guarded secret! AND YOU JUST ADJUSTED IT!?"

"Yeah." Landon replied.

There was a beat of silence punctuated by Lenz's feverish breaths before he lunged forward and clung to Landon like a barnacle.

"TEACH ME!"

Lenz openly begged while latched onto Landon's face. The man with glowing eyes seemed unbothered by the close contact. He simply hovered above the ground, supporting both his and Lenz's weight.

"PLEASE! Tell me the secrets of the Command Blocks! I want to learn so much! I am a quick learner, hungry for knowledge! I-I will obtain any asinine badges you ask of me, just teach me how to code my own airshiiiiips!"

"Ooookay, I think we've spent a little too much time in this wing." Landon declared, his face covered by Lenz's torso. He remained unbothered by it, waving one arm to move us through the tour. "Onward to the West Wing!"

"No, please! A small crash course in coding is all I ask! I beg of you!" Lenz clung tighter, threatening to cut of Landon's oxygen. "I will do anything you want! I will become your servant! Your slave! Your adopted son!"

For an avid airship lover like Lenz, his pleading made sense. He was still having wet dreams about the Asmodeus, and still souring over losing it. Meanwhile, Landon's understanding of Command Block coding fit with his High-Beam eyes. Just like what I read in Herobrine's journals, the High-Beam eyes allowed a Crafter to translate Command Block codes, and even to 'invent' new codes in bouts of insight. The inspiration coming easily with but a thought. Landon himself may not have understood where these codes came from, but his eyes gave him a natural talent for it.

The fact he had both a Command Block and the high-Beam eyes proved beyond a doubt that he killed an Ender Dragon.

Lenz's desperate pleas fell on deaf ears as Landon contentedly floated to the next part of the tour. He had no trouble finding his way despite the engineer hugging his face. Those Scouts who hadn't contributed to the tour followed.

We passed across another bridge, through an archway, and past another inverted pyramid room. This one, however, belonged to the main tower. The same one with that magenta beam of light shining from it.

Passing through the room, the Paragons and I caught a glimpse of the source of that light beam: A giant pyramid made out of emerald blocks, and at the top was a strange luminescent block I'd never seen before. It was like a light blue crystal ball, surrounded by glass, with an obsidian base. The beam it shot was white, but there was magenta stained glass in the tower's ceiling through which the beam shone. That was what was changing its color.

But what was it?

"Pay that interesting glowing block no mind." Landon dismissed with a wave. "It's not part of the SutsCo tour."

"But—" Trenay tried.

"Nope! Just ignore it. We're not going into it." Landon hurried us along. I spared one last look at the emerald pyramid—easily worth a small fortune—and the strange block that shone like a beacon.

---

"The West Wing is where we harvest Chorus Fruit to sell as food or to process into purpur."

The West Wing consisted of a single chamber and a series of catwalks that reached to the tips of the dead-looking purple trees we saw from earlier. Scouts traversed the narrow walkways with iron axes and broke off the flower-like bulbs at the tips of the trees. Meanwhile, at the base of the trees, Scouts chopped at the trunk of those that had already been harvested of bulbs, and the whole tree toppled like a house of cards. Unlike regular trees, these Chorus plants adhered to the laws of gravity.

"So they are farmable." Aurand noted. "The farmers of Dover Plains have been going mad trying to farm Chorus Fruits. How did you manage?"

"You can only plant the bulbs. The flowers at the tip." A Scout answered readily. "Of course, you need an existing Chrous plant to get a bulb. We're very careful to sell only the fruits." He noted proudly. "You also need to plant them on End Stone."

"Hey, if you didn't want people to know about the End, why didn't you rename End Stone?" Shroud asked.

"It's fine if it's just one thing with the word 'End'." Landon explained. "We had to change either End Rods or End Stone. Plus, End Stone could always be broken up or crafted into bricks. No sense renaming it in an anvil when it'll just change in a crafting recipe."

"That… actually is a well-reasoned excuse. Thank y—"

"And I wanted the Sell It Like It Is Badge!"

"AUGH! He said it!" Shroud held his head.

Brain: Drinky numbuh threeeee! *Glug Glug*

Liver: Uh… Oh… don't feel so good… *BLEAGH*

Lungs: *SIGH*

Stomach: He's puking on me too, take a breath!

Blood: BAC rising…

Bladder: Control… waning…

"Hey, can we take a bathroom break real quick?" I asked with a raised hand.

"Hold it until the end of the tour." A Scout shot me down. "We still haven't answered a question yet."

"Uh-oh." Landon paled, dragging Lenz off his face. "Actually, I think we've shown them everything. We've shown them the whole business."

"WHAT!?"

"NOOOO!"

"We still haven't done anything!"

"How else are we supposed to get the Make Ends Meet Badge!?"

Brain: Heeeeere's another one! *Glug Glug*

At least twenty Scouts had yet to contribute to the tour. They were all arguing with Landon as he hastily tried to appease them.

"Hang on! Hang—I said hang on!" He snapped, his eyes glowing more brilliantly. "We'll answer some end of tour questions, alright?"

The Scouts looked upset, but they calmed down enough to hear any further questions we had. In fact, they looked to us eagerly, just waiting to answer a question.

"You never told us," Trenay raised her hand, the Scouts immediately zeroing in on her, "but how is it you're flying?"

Several Scouts shouted out at once.

"IT'S THE COMMAND BLOCK!"

"HE WROTE HIS OWN FLYING CODE!"

"HE CAN FLY ON HIS OWN NOW!"

"NO HACKS! NO ELYTRA! IT'S LIKE WALKING FOR HIM!"

"His own… code?" Lenz's face twitched at the news and he immediately tried to latch onto Landon for more begging. The man simply hovered a foot higher to avoid the lunge. "Teach me!"

"I wrote my own flying code. I had to in the interest of keeping up with Jean." Landon answered. "Alright. You Scouts that answered can go." Four of them left, leaving sixteen even more eager to reply to our questions. "Anything else you want to know?"

"What was with that pyramid of emerald blocks?" Doyle asked. "That shiny block with the light beam too. What was the deal with that?"

"That's not part of the—"

"It's a Beacon!" A Scout hastily answered, causing Landon to scowl.

"Hey! That's not part of SutsCo! Don't talk about it"

"But it assists the work force." A Scout defended reasonably. "It energizes us. As such, it falls under the tour."

Beacon… beacon… beacon…

I shifted through my eidetic memory, but for some reason, I was drawing a hazy blank.

Brain: More Spirytus Vodka! I want to disinfect my innards!

…Maybe that's why.

"A beacon is…" Landon looked reluctant to share. "It's just something we threw together for the Bring Home the Beacon Badge and the Beaconater Badge."

Brain: Whu-oh! Double shot! *Glug Glug* *Glug Glug*

Liver: Uuuuuunnnnn!

"By placing a beacon atop a pyramid of valuable metals or gems," Landon went on, "you can apply potion effects to a large area. You must have noticed the Regeneration and Haste Effects the second you stepped inside."

So that's what it was. The Scouts were providing the facility with an area of effect to keep them energized and productive. It cost them a lot if they needed a pyramid of emerald blocks to activate it, but then again, SutsCo was probably swimming in emeralds. The small fortune needed to power that beacon was probably only a fraction of the wealth at their fingertips.

"Now, I have a question for you." Landon spoke clearly, pointing at us. "How'd you enter our End Portal when we had it surrounded by bedrock and guarded by the fiercest Scouts in our ranks?"

"Surrounded by bedrock…?"

"I can spawn in and place bedrock." He waved airily. "I coded another command block for that ability. It was an airtight seal around the End Portal, so how'd you break in?"

"Uh, ah, just lucky, I guess."

"Just lucky, hm?" Landon narrowed his eyes into bright slits with an eyebrow arching suspiciously. He took his time scrutinizing us before making his next move. "But how did you get past the Gargoyles? Our stone defenders should have stopped you on sight."

At the mention of Gargoyles, the Scouts with Landon shared confused glances. It sounded like Landon was making shit up now. He was trying to get us to slip up, and while I saw it for the trap that it was, Doyle fell for it hook, line, and bobber.

"Right! The Gargoyles!" He spoke in a rush. "We just snuck past them before—" He was cut off as Trenay and Baltic jerked him back. Their expressions were grim as they quietly silenced him, but the damage was already done.

Landon's bright eyes seemed to gleam in the darkness. "Ah~!" He said silkily. "Snuck past the Gargoyles indeed."

It was easier to prove someone didn't do something than they did do something. Therein laid the trap. Landon wondered how we could have slipped past the Scouts' defenses—past guards and solid bedrock—to access the End Portal. He already had his suspicions that we didn't, so he purposefully made up the bit about Gargoyles (which sounded a little too hokey anyway) to try to catch us in a lie. In situations like this, you keep your mouth shut and say nothing, or otherwise change the subject. Doyle did neither, and now Landon knew that the Scouts' portal was secure.

His level of thought was honestly surprising. He may have been chaotic and unpredictable, but he wasn't dumb. He just did dumb things for dumb badges.

"So you don't know how to bypass bedrock." Landon muttered to himself with a sly smile. "Fufufu. Interesting. Very interesting."

He could have questioned us further, but he seemed satisfied with that. Trenay and Baltic were whispering chastisements to an apologetic Doyle while I chose to voice my own question.

"How'd you discover this place?"

The how and the why. Those were the questions with the longest answers, and I wanted to know them. It was the quickest way to get to the bottom of SutsCo's creation, Landon's eyes, and why an Ender Dragon was still around when there hadn't been before. It was also crucial to learning if there had been a Dragon Egg. Herobrine desperately wanted one, and while the purpose for it was still unclear, figuring it out could have given us an idea on what the Endward Cult's future plans would be.

"I want you to tell me everything."

"Everything?" Landon asked in surprise before rubbing his chin. "Oooh, everything, huh. It's a long story—"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Well, I guess I did say there'd be time for those questions later." He sighed. "Guess later is now. Come, come. We can discuss this in the SutsCo lounge."

---

The lounge was stationed in one of the taller towers. Landon had no trouble flying up there from the outside, but the rest of us had to take the rickety parkour jumps to reach the top. It was pretty cumbersome considering that people who wanted to get to the lounge were likely looking for a break rather than strenuous exercise.

Anyway, when we finally got up there, we were greeted by tables full of Scouts on break. The Wyverns from earlier were there, taking it easy. There were furnaces and a fully stocked fridge as well as a brewing stand for drinks.

It was a place as good as any to have a relaxing chat.

Landon grabbed a drink from the brewing stands and took a seat in a personal throne suspended from the ceiling. It was a seat only he could reach with his flight, and it allowed him to talk down to us and be heard easily. We took seats at nearby tables and allowed him a sip of his drink while he gathered his thoughts. The other Scouts who had yet to answer questions—as well as the ones relaxing in the lounge—waited curiously.

"Let's see. Where to begin…?" Landon hummed in thought.

I swear, if this story starts with a badge…

"I suppose it all started when I was gunning for my Hot Tub Badge back in 170."

AUGH! He said it!

Brain: *Glug Glug*

I bit the inside of my cheek while internally I screamed. Glancing over, I saw Trenay and Baltic doing the same. At least we were all on the same page.

"So, to give you some context, the Hot Tub Badge is when you chill in a bath of lava for eight minutes. To do that safely, you need a Potion of Fire Resistance. So I was making one." He continued. "Probably made them over a hundred times. You need a Magma Cream: One slimeball and one blaze powder. But, as fate would have it, and in an absentminded mistake, the round object I combined with the blaze powder wasn't a slimeball. It was an ender pearl."

"An Eye of Ender!" Landon suddenly exclaimed. "That's what I made instead of a Magma Cream, and it was an item I'd never heard of before. Something unique. It was then I knew what to do…"

He paused dramatically, causing us all to lean forward in excitement.

"…So I got some friends together to get the Eye of Ender Volleyball Badge!"

NNnnnnnnnNNNNnnnnnn!

Trenay bit her fist and a constipated groan was stifled by sealed lips. Eye of Ender Volleyball? REALLY!?

"At the time, we were running out of badge ideas. There were fewer things to accomplish and I was starting to feel pretty dejected. But, lo and behold, the Eye of Ender was a godsend to give us something new to achieve. So, we set up some fence posts like a net and we played some volleyball!"

"...What?" I asked dumbly.

"Problem was, we couldn't get the ball over the net." Landon complained. "It worked on one serve going one way, but then, when it was the other team's turn to serve, it would just get thrown behind them. They could never return a serve either, so the badge was kind of a bust."

"But then, a different Scout had a new idea on how to use the Eye of Ender."

Oh, thank goodness. Here we go. Something sensib—

"And thus, the Eye of Ender Frisbee Badge was born!"

NNNNNNNNNN!

Brain: Bladder! We're out of booze! Go get more!

"So we're tossing the eye, having a blast," Landon continued with a fond smile, completely oblivious to our internal screaming. "And then, we start noticing that the frisbee is only going one direction. So we had to toss it the one way."

"But we kept at it, and more Scouts joined in for the badge, until finally, the eye goes the opposite direction."

I started paying attention again. This must have been when the Eye of Ender located the Stronghold.

"Where was it…?" Doyle asked before getting swatted by Trenay and Baltic. Another slip-up.

"Shouldn't you know?" Another Scout asked while Landon only smirked knowingly. "You used that portal to get here, right?"

"A-Ah…" Doyle realized his mistake and looked mortified, but Landon waved it off with a laugh.

"Triple Point. The Eye led us to Triple Point."

I didn't know where that was, but Trenay and Baltic clearly did. We shared a look and a silent promise was made that they'd tell me later in private.

"Anyway, no matter how many times we threw the Eye, it would always gravitate towards Triple Point. So then one of us got the bright idea that the eye was a treasure map, and that there was treasure beneath where the eye kept going. So, we went back for some shovels and started digging for our Eye Spy Badge."

Nnnnnn.

"That's when we found the Stronghold." Landon nodded seriously. "We'd never seen a structure like it before, but we were convinced it contained buried treasure. So we scoured the ruin, found some chests, and stumbled upon the End Portal."

I could see in my mind's eye as a group of Scouts led by Landon approached the strange portal over a pool of lava.

"It wasn't hard to figure out we had to put Eyes of Ender into the holes of the portal." Landon went on. "So we made more eyes, and we put them in, and the portal boomed to life with a threshold of liquid onyx."

"We entered. And, in doing so, obtained the The End? Badge."

"That's when you saw the End Dragon." I guessed, my words no louder than a whisper as I leaned forward. It was like rereading Herobrine's journal of when he and the First Ten first journeyed to the End.

"Yes. We saw the Dragon. And a chest full of pumpkins…?" He added awkwardly. It was the same chest Lenz and I found our first time in. So the Scouts hadn't set that up. "We were more concerned about the Dragon, however. It charged us and knocked many Scouts off the map." He looked troubled remembering such an event. "We weren't quite prepared to fight it, so it took us some time and a lot of arrows."

"How long?"

"…When we left the End, we'd been gone nearly three weeks."

My eyes widened. Three weeks trapped in the End with an Ender Dragon hunting them down? The First Ten had gone in with highest tiered enchantments, diamond gear, food, and resources. It was a miracle any of the Scouts survived such an ordeal unprepared.

"We only had a handful of seeds to farm and most of us died from starvation." Landon noted grimly. "Endermen kept harassing us unless we learned to quit ogling. It was so bad I had to eat rotten flesh just to have the energy to shoot my bow. That's what saved us in the end. Without an Infinity Bow, I would've run out of arrows before killing the Dragon."

"You dealt the final blow." Lenz spoke. "You won the High-Beam Eyes."

"And a shit-ton of EXP." Landon added. "And a Command Block. And a Dragon Egg, though I couldn't pick it up at the time."

"But why was the dragon even there?" I asked. "The first dragon was killed by Herobrine decades before you got there."

"I don't know." He answered back honestly. "The dragon was waiting for us as soon as we entered the portal. We didn't do anything else."

"…Maybe it wasn't the same portal?" One Scout offered. I knew he just wanted credit for contributing to the tour, but his opinion gave me pause for thought. "If it's as you say, and Herobrine really did venture into the End, how come our portal had empty Eye of Ender slots? Looked like nobody used it until we came along."

Right. There were two Strongholds. Two access points. One at Triple Point for the Scouts, and one in Daymonte for us. Was it possible that activating a portal spawned in the dragon? And, if there were two portals, was it possible there was a third? Or a fourth? Just how many Strongholds were within Minecraftia's borders?

"What about the current dragon? Jean was her name?" Shroud asked. "If you killed it then, how come it was still around?"

"I was getting to that." Landon assured. "Now, after killing the dragon—and securing the coveted Free the End Badge—the fountain portal appeared and the surviving Scouts used it to return to Minecraftia." He smiled to himself. "We revisited the End a few more times to explore, but found nothing on that floating island. We did, however, find a way to pick up that Dragon Egg, earning us the Next Generation Badge. Fast forward to—"

"Wait!" I exclaimed before he could go off on another tangent. "The egg. What did you do with the egg?"

"We picked it up."

"Okay, okay, so you still have it? What did you do with it?"

"Well, we don't still have it." One Scout answered.

"…What?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"Nope. We cooked it."

"COOKED IT!?"

"Mhm. We threw it in lava, thinking we could cook it that way, buuuuut all that happened was it got burnt to ash. Go figure."

"WHYYYYYY!?"

"I know, right? You'd think fire-breathing dragons would lay lava-resistant eggs, but—"

"NO, NO, NO! Why did you try and cook the damn thing!?" I screamed.

"Well," Landon scoffed as if it was obvious, "how else were we going to get our Dragon Egg Omelette Badge? Do the math, Cobb."

"HHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" I let out the loudest, constipated scream past sealed lips, my fingers tearing out great chunks of hair from my scalp. I could feel my sanity getting chipped away by their stupidity. Fuck the Scouts! FUCK 'EM!

They took an item Herobrine had been desperately searching for and threw it in lava under the pretext of making a breakfast omelette! Who does that!?

"Is your Executive okay there?" Landon asked.

"No. I am afraid you have broken him." Lenz replied, his tinted glasses watching me sympathetically. "He now knows the pain of the Scouts."

He could say that again! I wanted so badly to throttle Landon. I didn't care that he apparently unlocked the secrets of Command Blocks and had more to tell, I was going to choke the life out of him.

"Someone hold me back!" I had the decency to shout before I made a leap at Landon sitting in his suspended chair. My fingertips didn't even graze the chair before I fell back down, only to get held down by Aurand and a few Scouts.

"Sorry about him." Baltic apologized through my froth-mouthed snarling.

"Don't be. We're used to this happening." One of the Scouts replied indifferently. "Landon has that effect on those outside the Scouts."

Once I calmed down, and Aurand and Shroud had a good hold of my flailing arms, Landon continued with his tale.

"…Fast forward to this year." Landon picked up where he left off. "All the years we had access to the End, we didn't find a single interesting thing about it. We kept the portal a secret, but didn't really guard it. We only ever used it to allow new Scouts to get the Eye Spy Badge and the The End? Badge. But then this summer, EVERYTHING CHANGED!"

"The first Bounty Day that struck in the summer provided us visions of the End." One Scout answered. That had been the Bounty Day triggered by Alec's death in Halstatt. The one I caused. "We saw the End Gateways, the Shulkers, the End Cities, the End Crystals. All of it!"

"So we jumped back in to check it out." Landon leaned back in his seat. "We found the gateway, and we warped to the outer islands. After years of the same stale badges, we discovered a new dimension filled to the brim with unique laws and creative achievements to be made. The You Need a Mint Badge, the Sky's the Limit Badge, the Great View From Up Here Badge, the The End… Again… Badge. We even found a way to respawn the Ender Dragon. Jean isn't the first." He added. "We've gone through one or two dragons in our efforts to harvest Dragon's Breath."

"You can spawn those things?" I asked worriedly. Man-made Mobs were no laughing matter. Just ask Nitebane or Ringwood.

"We can only spawn them in the End. Calm yourself." Landon assured. "Much of that summer's Bounty Day stuff was targeted towards the End, and it was the End where we contained it. We kept it concealed under the cover of SutsCo, secretly passing it on to the Crafters of Minecraftia through commercial transactions and our many store locations."

"But why the big cover?" Lenz asked. "Why not just openly admit that the Scouts were selling new, exciting gear?"

"Hmph." One Scout scoffed. "You think we don't know how the public perceives us? You think we're blind to the murmurs and scorn. They take us for jokes, despite us being one of the three largest guilds in Minecraftia."

"The whole reason we kept our involvement with SutsCo a secret was because the public has lost faith in the Scouts."

"Oi. You can't lose something you never had." Shroud said.

Low-key savage.

"That being said," Landon continued, "we have a bad reputation. People consider us 'eccentric' or 'nonsensical' or 'crazy'. If they knew we were the backing force behind SutsCo, they never would have bought our merchandise or trusted our products. Would they have invested in our stocks? No. Our guild's name is synonymous with chaos, and we're stuck with that image, never given a chance to prove them wrong."

He meant there was a clear bias. In all honesty, I wouldn't want to place my trust in a guild that would throw everything away for a badge. Because of that, though, the public had a defined image of the Scouts. Lenz and the Paragons all agreed that they were unpredictable and chaotic. They were never given the chance to be something better.

Just like with Herobrine.

"…I think I get it." I murmured quietly. "You only used SutsCo so you could start fresh without any judgment. A clean slate."

"Exactly. We just needed people to give the Scouts a second chance."

How many people were there that were judged by one wrong mistake? Herobrine was like that after the Tragedy of Nitebane. Nobody cared for all the good he did; he was defined by that one evil act, and it pushed him to commit even eviler acts. He was stuck in a shadow.

But people were flawed. They made mistakes, and even the worst ones could still be atoned for.

So… maybe the Scouts didn't deserve all the hate they got. They were a little off, true, and I was still pissed with Landon for trying to make a sought after drop into a breakfast item, but he and the Scouts had shown they were trying to make amends through SutsCo. They were trying to break the mold and get back the people's trust without making it about another stupid badge.

It was… honestly quite admirable.

"Well, you certainly earned people's trust." I praised. "SutsCo is a thriving business."

"You're right. Thank you." Landon smiled. "And now that we've expanded SutsCo, and a large percentage of Minecraftia's Crafters have invested their savings in our stock… WE CAN DECLARE BANKRUPTCY AND SECURE THE COVETED ECONOMIC DEPRESSION BADGE HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Scouts cheered in unison, apparently all on the same page about what this company was built for.

Badges. Fucking Badges.

I just plastered a dead smile on my face with my eyes glazed over and staring at the wall. Baltic and the rest did much the same.

Just when I thought they were trying to change, they subverted my expectations and proved how deep their unpredictability ran. SutsCo was never about the money or regaining trust. It was all for a freaking badge. No aspirations or desires beyond pointless achievements, and they would throw it all away at the drop of a hat.

I guess I should say it's to be expected. These Scouts are frightening in their randomness.

Brain: I hurt trying to follow all this.

"Of course, that brings us to the hair in the soup, as it were." Landon fixed his High-Beam eyes upon us like searchlights, his expression serious and smile gone. "You now have insider information about our inevitable declaration of bankruptcy. Not to mention in-depth knowledge about our facility and merchandise. We can't let you share that information to the general public."

Suddenly, the room full of Scouts became jarringly oppressive. They shifted in their seats with eyes glued on us. We were fools to think they'd give us a tour of their facility so freely. The Paragons recognized the hostility and wrapped fingers around weapons, eyes darting to take in the room and the nearest exit. It was looking like there'd be a fight, as even Landon reached inside his backpack for a weapon of some kind.

"I'm afraid we have no choice but to silence you… with… this nondisclosure agreement!" He withdrew a book with a happy smile, the tension draining from the room (and Trenay falling out of her chair) as the book was dropped upon our table. "Sign here to promise not to divulge SutsCo information under threat of perjury and you'll be free to go."

"…"

I couldn't believe it. That was all they wanted? No, actually, I could believe it. The Scouts were unpredictable and lacking in common sense. Pure chaos. Madness without meaning.

They were willing to let us go and trust us to keep quiet about SutsCo as long as we signed a silly contract? Did they think we were as good as our word? I mean, I was, but I knew for a fact Trenay would blab all of this back to Carys and the other Paragons. O nondisclosure was gonna stop her.

But if signing got us out of there so we wouldn't have to deal with the Scouts' idiocy any longer…

I grabbed the book. "Where do I sign?"

"Right there if you please." Landon pointed helpfully.

The quill had barely touched the paper when Baltic belted out an uncharacteristically loud warning.

"HANG ON! You didn't read it!" He snatched it out of my hand with surprising vigor. "Don't you know you shouldn't go carelessly signing things? Give me a second to look it over before signing anything."

I blinked in shock at the old man's aggressiveness as he examined the nondisclosure agreement like it was a time bomb. Meanwhile, a cold sweat had started to form on Landon's brow the longer Baltic read until an exclamation was made.

"Aha! See? Right there in the fine print. Says we also need to abandon our guilds and sell our souls to SutsCo and the Scouts for all time.

"Hoooooooo, hang on!" I snatched the NDA back and speed-read through the pages. It was so in-depth with stipulations and jargon. When had Landon had the time to draw this up? Sure enough, there was a clause about us selling our souls. I leaned back in my seat and regarded Landon alarmedly. "I'm not selling my soul to anyone!"

"Drat, people don't usually bother reading." He clicked his tongue in annoyance before schooling his expression. "We can't let you leave knowing everything you do about us. Plus, being a freshly minted Scout is the best feeling in the world. You can get hundreds of easy badges. If you sign in the next minute, we'll sweeten the deal with the limited edition From Cultist to Scout Badge. A good bargain, wouldn't you say—?"

The NDA bounced off his head.

"I'm not turning Scout!" I declared firmly. I was a Beginner, end of discussion. Plus, the Scouts were just plain batshit. I didn't want any part with them.

"Neither are we!" Trenay exclaimed, the other Paragons drawing their weapons now that peaceful talks had dissolved.

Landon paused for a second upon his throne, considering.

"Not even for the secrets of Command Block coding?"

"Well, I—"

"Don't you say a word, Lenz."

"O-of course I was going to refuse him. I am an engineer of integrity. Haha… ha…" He laughed disappointedly, yet resolutely.

Seeing that none of us were going to change our minds, Landon's bright eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Plan B it is, then."

"Which is…?"

"Death."

I flinched at the single word filled with more killing intent than I ever could have expected from the goofy Landon_Noir. The other Paragons showed similar expressions of alarm at the response.

"Just kidding." A big, disarming smile split Landon's face as he ruined the tension again. He then took out a Command Block, placed it beside his suspended throne, and began furiously typing in code. "But seriously, we're gonna lock you up until you sign."

Wait, whut?

In a flourish, the code was entered and a button attached. Then, with a swift click, I watched as Lenz vanished into thin air.

"What…?"

I barely had time to register his sudden disappearance when Landon edited the Command Block code with a couple of keystrokes, this time vanishing Aurand with the push of a button.

"Baltic, stay toge—" Trenay cut off as she too vanished. Then Shroud.

"STOP THAT CRAZY!" Doyle shouted, leaping upwards in an attempt to impede Landon. He came up short, and Landon made him disappear.

"Cobb, do some—" Baltic's words cut off with the click of a button.

I was the last one left.

"What did you do with them!?" I demanded, the situation catching up with me. Fear gripped my chest at the thought that my friend was dead. The others were only a vague afterthought. "Answer me, Landon!"

"I just remembered, there was one more item on the tour that I neglected to show you." Landon declared, dramatically typing in the final keystroke. "The Timeout Corner!"

With a click of a button, the lounge, Landon, and the watching Scouts vanished to be replaced with a sealed tower chamber made up of indestructible bedrock. Lenz, Baltic, Trenay, and the other Paragons were there waiting for me, with some of them futilely pressing their palms against the jagged walls.

"What happened? Where are we? What did he do?" Lenz asked in quick succession.

I took a look at the indestructible, inescapable prison around us before answering.

"…I think he just put us in timeout."

---

Inventory (Cobb): 1 Carved Pumpkin, 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Green], 1 Diamond Leggings [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Fishing Rod {Backlash} [Knockback II, Luck of the Sea III, Unbreaking III] {Weak}, 1 Diamond Sword [Sweeping Edge III], 12 Cobblestone, 28 Sand, 2 Glass, 52 Glass Bottles, 1 Stone Pickaxe, 1 Furnace, 17 Flint, 1 Flint and Steel, 17 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Clock, 1 Water Bucket, 1 Lava Bucket, 1 Milk Bucket, 7 Ender Pearls, 14 Coal, 37 Snowballs, 5 Ender Chests, 24 Obsidian, 64 Steak, 26 Steak, 15 Rotten Flesh, 1 Book {How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts}, 1 Book {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 1 Book {Mobs of the Nether}, 1 Book {Mobs of the Bounty Days}, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}

[EXP: 38]

Inventory (Lenz): 1 Chainmail Helmet, 1 Chainmail Chestplate, 1 Chainmail Leggings, 1 Chainmail Boots, 1 Carved Pumpkin, 32 Pumpkin Seeds, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Shears, 1 Lever, 13 Tripwire Hooks, 9 Redstone Torches, 8 Redstone Repeaters, 3 Redstone Comparators, 18 Blocks of Redstone, 2 Hoppers, 3 Pistons, 2 Sticky Pistons, 13 Cobblestone, 1 Compass, 25 Gunpowder, 1 Bow, 1 Bow [Infinity], 1 Crossbow, 43 Arrows, 11 Jungle Wood Planks, 1 Crafting Table, 6 Ender Pearls, 46 Steak, 1 Splash Potion of Healing II, 1 Potion of Regeneration II {0:22}, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Airship Piloting 101}, 1 Book {Notebook}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Daymonte Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Akasha Entry Pass}

[EXP: 19]

Inventory (Baltic): 1 Carved Pumpkin, 1 Iron Helmet [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Boots [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Sword [Sharpness II, Unbreaking III], 1 Shield, 1 Bow, 1 Diamond Pickaxe [Silk Touch I, Mending I, Unbreaking II], 25 Arrows, 4 Brewing Stands, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {4:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Fire Resistance {8:00}, 64 Glass Bottles, 42 Glass Bottles, 1 Water Bucket, 59 Blaze Powder, 55 Nether Warts, 30 Soul Sand, 28 Bones, 64 Phantom Membranes, 9 Golden Nuggets, 64 Blaze Rods, 26 Fermented Spider Eyes, 59 Carrots, 58 Melon Slices, 17 Steak, 3 Ender Chests, 1 Map {Paragon Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}, 26 Emeralds

[EXP: 30]

Inventory (Z7): 1 Carved Pumpkin, 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Protection III, Unbreaking IV], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection III, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Dagger, 1 Iron Pickaxe, 32 Cobblestone, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 21 Charcoal, 9 Ender Pearls, 14 Torches, 18 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 1 Cake, 19 Pumpkin Pies, 12 Cookies, 45 Baked Potatoes, 1 Bucket, 1 Potion of Swiftness II {1:30}, 1 Potion of Night Vision {8:00}, 1 Potion of Slow Falling {4:00}, 1 Map {Paragon Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Gold Citizenship Pass}

[EXP: 42]

---

AN: Officially, this Arc is called the SutsCo Arc. I can now officially name it without spoilers.

Whenever the Scouts are concerned, you'd best prep your aspirin. You're gonna need it~!

The secrets of the End are finally unveiled, but the Scouts aren't willing to let Cobb and friends leave with them.

FAV. FOLLOW. REVIEW. PM. OC. FORUM. DISCORD. DORITOS.