Chapter 3: Spelunking

'I'm so glad I crafted a shield when I did. Seriously, I'd probably be dead by now if I didn't.'

…

I should probably do a small recap.

It's been approximately one week since I entered this cave after my first encounter with a hostile mob. As it would turn out, the straightforward entrance of the cave did a pretty good job at hiding its complex of tunnels. Some of the tunnels went on forever!

For the record, in this specific session, I may have spent about two entire, consecutive days roaming these caverns and fighting off enemy mobs. I expected I'd have to fight more monsters, yet their sheer quantity near the end still overwhelmed me...

Thank goodness sleeping wasn't a necessity, otherwise I'd have one more problem to worry about...

Ever since the day I reached level 1, I made it a routine to visit the nearby cave systems daily in order to upgrade my arsenal. By the time the first day of spelunking had ended, I was sporting a full set of sturdy stone gear, so in that regard, my expeditions were fruitful.

As I started to wander deeper and deeper into the innards of the earth, I began to come across different types of ore, like coal and iron.

Coal would turn out to be one of the more efficient fuel sources for operating the furnace. In other words, it was useful for both cooking and smelting. However, it turned out to be so common, that at one point, I started to ignore it when I kept finding it.

Iron on the other hand, when smelted, could be used to craft tools stronger than stone ones, as well as armor and shields.

At the time, my stone tools were in good condition, and armor was quite expensive to craft in terms of the required materials, so I settled for a shield, which costed me a single iron ingot and six planks.

Last thing I should mention is that, like killing a mob, mining and smelting ores provides experience orbs.

Anyway, as I kept making my way down the natural, rocky tunnels, I was faced with a branching path that split into two hallways.

A soft, warm glow emanated from the left hallway. On the other hand, the sound of flowing water echoed from the right hallway. Curious as to what could have produced natural light so deep underground, I picked the left way.

Proceeding cautiously, I spotted the light source; it was a small lava stream. 'Wait, isn't it technically magma, since it's underground? Meh, whatever...'

What grabbed my attention though, was a narrow entrance to a built-in room. The entrance itself was composed of mossy cobblestone and was located beyond the source block of the lava stream, so I had to meticulously build a cobblestone bridge to get across.

Once I finally entered the chamber, three things stood out; first things first, there was even more moss on the inside, suggesting that the room was fairly old. Second things second, near the walls, two chests were located. One at the right wall, and another in the back. Lastly, in the center of the room, a single block that resembled a cage was lit. Before examining said block, I decided to check the chests first.

As I was opening them, my mind was filled with question marks. How did these chests end up here? Who crafted them? Were/are there other people in this world? How come I haven't seen any other person that's not a reanimated corpse?

The biggest question that lingered on my mind however, was...

'Who the hell would go out of their way to build this room, just to store away trash?! Seriously, I expected to find something more valuable than coal, bones and rotten flesh. The chest itself is more useful than its contents!'

I was pretty frustrated, though I didn't exactly know what I should have expected. Looking around, I walked to the second chest and opened it, hoping that it would contain something more worthwhile. To my surprise, it did! Inside it, I found a saddle, a peculiar glowing book and a...music disc titled "Cat"?

Now this was more like it! Perhaps the first chest was a diversion from the main treasure. Then again, who was the diversion planned for? Anyway, I didn't really question it.

As I moved the contents of the chest into my inventory, I was suddely shocked when a jolt of pain rushed through me. I swiftly turned around, only to catch sight of a skeleton in a stand-by position, aiming its bow at me! As it was about to fire a second arrow, I raised my shield to block it. 'How did this guy even get here?'

I took no damage, but I soon heard the sound of the skeleton's arrow being blocked, repeat. I assumed it was just the *thud* echoing and bouncing off the chamber's walls, but as I kept feeling the shield recoil, I realised that the skeleton was rapid firing. 'Does it have infinite arrows or something?'

I was in quite the predicament. On one aspect, I could go all out in an attempt to take the skeleton down with my sword. On its own, the arrow shot dealt as much damage as a zombie's swipe, so I could tank a few more of them.

Alternatively, I could try and escape, minimising the damage I'd take. The problem with that, was that my foe was blocking the exit. Trying to mine my way out wouldn't work, since I had to keep my shield raised.

After weighing all the options, I decided to slide my way out. I circled the skeleton, my shield always facing it. I noticed that as I got closer, its shots sped up. At that point, I wasn't sure how long the shield would last before breaking. I slowly got behind my enemy and back walked out of the room. As I was about to break into a sprint, something caught my eye.

The block in the middle of the room shone brightly for a moment and let out some smoke. Some kind of crackling noise echoed too. Once the block went idle again, I found that there were three skeletons present now! 'What did that block just do?!'

As they raised their bows at me, I fled.

I backtracked through the way I came from, only to find that the way beyond the crossroad was obstructed by a horde of zombies! There must have been around five of them or so. I could've attempted to take them out, but not when I had enemies that could attack from distance after me. 'This cave was mostly vacant up until this point. Why now?'

That meant that the only potential way through, was the one that sounded like it had flowing water.

I sprinted as fast as I could. Turns out, this path had a stream of water that flowed towards the same direction I was running to, giving me a small push. Even though at first I was under the idea that this path would lead somewhere safe, my hopes were crushed when I was faced with a dead end.

I could hear the rattling of bones and the groans of the undead getting louder. Was this the end? I looked frantically through my inventory, desperately trying to find something that could help me escape. After a few agonizing seconds, a lightbulb lit up in my mind.

As the horde was closing in on me, I whipped out my pickaxe and mined a hole in the wall, just big enough to fit me. I hurriedly got inside, and sealed off the entrance with some gobblestone. It was pretty cramped, but I was pretty much safe inside. Because here's what I learned after a few encounters with monsters: They couldn't mine.

Even though I was relieved, after a while, it occured to me that the disgusting gargling of the zombies and the crackling sounds the skeletons made weren't going away. They knew I was cooped up in a hole, and I was probably not gonna be left alone.

'Unsealing myself is probably a death wish...'

That left only one option; I had to dig my way to the surface. And so, I did. I started digging in a diagonal-upward angle. I kept digging and digging and digging and digging. I honestly believed my arms were gonna fall off of my shoulders.

Finally, after a while, I could feel my pickaxe collide against dirt, rather than stone. I knew then that I had finally reached the surface.

As I poked my head off the ground, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to bask in the clean air.

My enjoyment was cut short, when a voice suddenly spoke up.

"Huh?"

I opened my eyes and looked up, only to see an odd, somewhat human-looking fellow with red-ish skin, a thick unibrow and emerald-green eyes, cloaked in a green robe. They were staring at me with an amused expression.

"You picked quite the spot to take a breather, eh stranger?"