Dear Diary,

…

No, no, I can't write like this, I'm completely not used to it. Maybe if I'd starred writing "Dear Diary" on the 4th or 5th day here, maybe then. Right now, for me, it just looks stupid.

It's day 63 now. Ending of day 63, that is. Over two months, give or take, and I'm still very much alive. Crazy how fast people are able to adapt to extreme circumstances. That's why we've been able to hold the Grimm back for so long.

That's why the villagers here are prospering as well. Partly because of me, yeah, but they've been living long before I even ended up in this crazy place. Kind of my duty to help them regardless.

That's what I've been doing yesterday – just rounds around the villages, like usual, ready to lend my hand whereever it could be required.

Northside's looking much better than before – folks there have been saying that the wall I brought up has become a huge convenience. And I haven't even finished it yet! But, since it's already been proving its' worth, I think I can finish building it later. The villagers agreed on that.

Eastside's just fine as well. I feel a little bit guilty for them – haven't been able to get much new clothing out to the people (leather is still In pretty short supply right now), so I just kept working on freeing extra space for the golem and building some sort of a wall as well from the trees I cut. For as long as the time allowed, anyway.

Westside is as well-off as ever. They don't really need my help. Never did, besides repairing their Golem. Yesterday, though, they've done me a bigger favor than I ever had for them. Not only did Freyja the farmer finally make more of the awesome Golden Carrots (I know I could be making my own, but I am not so sure in my own skills just yet), Thuur, the weaponsmith, dropped a bombshell.

A diamond axe for sale. An enchanted diamond axe for sale. From a professional blacksmith.

I knew I wanted it before he even stopped talking. Even the price, at 32 emeralds, couldn't stop me. Plus, I did go cave-mining just a few days ago and brought plenty of useful materials back. Thuur was insistent on the axe being paid for in just emeralds, but I was able to lower it a bit with some iron thrown in on the side. He did say it was a "gruelling affair" to get his hands on both the diamonds and the enchantments, and that the order wasn't exactly cheap, hence the pretty high price. The man also said not to expect anything of the same sort again any time soon.

More than fine by me. This axe is a thing of beauty. Seriously, my own blade doesn't hold a candle to it. I could learn a thing or two from this craftsmanship, and I intend to.

The handle sits in my hand just right. The axe head feels like it's one with the handle, it's fit so tight. The edge is almost so sharp I could shave with it. Oh, and the engravings too! Don't know if they have any meaning at all, but damn do they look awesome. The entire thing looks awesome. I know for a fact Ruby would go hyper at the sight of it. Probably would've found a dozen other details to swoon over. Heh.

Not to mention the enchantment – Efficiency II. I haven't had a normal diamond axe before, so I can't realy say how much better the Efficiency makes it, but the thing just about melted through the few tree trunks I have used it on going back home.

I can't say if it will be any different in combat – haven't had much of a chance to try it out yet. I've been doing home improvements instead, out of necessity.

I decided to add a 2nd floor to my house – more of an attic, actually, for two reasons. First: I realized how cluttered the few chests inside are. Seriously, there's just junk on top of junk, piled together with non-junk in one big, confusing package. Sorting some of it out into separate chests would be a good first step, in my opinion, but there wouldn't be enough space on the base floor for them, and I didn't want to dig out more space underground for that, so – attic.

The second reason is kinda more pressing. The roof's still leaking, and it's leaking pretty bad. Even during a fairly mild rain (the one that had started on my way back), there's still droplets coming through the stone roof I had built. I have no idea how – it might be the cracks in the stone forming already, the space inbetween the blocks or maybe it's just another unique aspect of this world. I don't know. But I do know I have to fix it somehow. The slabs I put over my bed have done a great job at stopping the leakage, but it's still a travesty that the rest of my house ends up being damp & wet – no matter how quickly that evaporates.

The best course of action would be to completely re-do the roof; but that would take too much time, and, if I were to do it wrong again, all that time would be wasted. So instead, I am sticking with what I know – that slabs stop the leaking, hold it on themselves.

That's what I plan the attic to be – a barrier between my roof and main floor first, and extra storage space second. Certainly hasn't taken much time – just started working today, and already it is about…60% finished. The second floor, made of slabs, sits three and a half, blocks above the main floor, accessed by ladder on a singular pillar I built next to my bed. I have already begun crafting extra chests to be placed above. Overall, by tomorrow, it should be done.

Except, there's still a bit of a problem. With the water having nowhere to go, it's going to be super damp upstairs, and that can't be good. Gotta think of something. Something to keep the place more or less dry.

Found some netherrack while digging through my cluttered chests and started wondering. Now I can't stop, so I need to put those thoughts on paper.

Finding netherrack reminded me of the Nether. And…what am I going to do about the Nether? The portal's still there, it's still functioning. I could go right back in any time I fancy.

The question is, should I go back there? Far as I can see, the place is nothing but a fiery wasteland, with landlords less-than-happy to see me. There's gold there, sure, and the strange mushroom vegetation there I've seen was pretty cool, but the experience is still marred by me almost dying several times over within an hour (?) of coming there. Not to mention the heat. Oh Gods, the heat.

I just don't know if coming back there to explore further is worth the risk. Last time, both my equipment and my combat skills were really not up to par. Pretty much like my first day in Combat Class, except, instead of just one, there were like twenty or thirty Cardins after me, and I was at real risk of death.

I can't do anything about my lack of skill yet – I was a dumb idiot to think getting good would be a fast process; but my equipment, I can work on that. I do have a small stockpile of diamonds lying around, after all.

Should I go for it? I can't say for sure, I'll have to sleep on this decision. What I'm sure of is that I won't do without Northside armorsmith's help.

He's the professional; I'm just a boy playing one.

I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING.

Eastside is in the West, and Westside is in the East in my world. Shit! I can't believe I confused East and West and only realized it a year later.

Anyways, there's something I want to address; something that's been a part of several reviews in the past - the possibility of modded content for Minecraft appearing in this story. I'll say this now: I don't plan to have any mods described or otherwise present in this fic. I hate most Minecraft mods with a passion, apart from the select few (don't ask why). Unless something changes in that regard (that's very unlikely), this is going to be purely vanilla experience.

That is all. Thank you.