"Mining?"

"Yes. It is the method of-

"I know what mining is! Just, won't I die without the right equipment and stuff? I mean, I was born yesterday but the intense pressure and heat would likely crush me as I am now."

Currently, Duke and Andrew had taken up the topic of mining in order to strengthen their overall power. Andrew felt rather proud of himself with this suggestion as he knew plenty of things about the underground (in terms of crafting recipes). However, Duke's question about the pressure increasing did catch Andrew off guard, forcing him to rethink his plan.

"Hmm, I guess you're right, for once. Well why don't we just try and pick off surface ores like copper and iron?" The Guide suggested. "I'll show you about where to find them so you don't go digging clay and expecting gold." Then he laughed.

But Duke scoffed.

"You really think I'm an idiot, huh? Just watch, I'll be the one hauling the load while you run around like a kid in a playground. Then we'll see who's laughing Mr. Know It All." Duke pressed. Being able to leave his box and keep safe from zombies soothed his soul, as he'd been cramped up with an unconscious Guide throughout the night after experiencing some PTSD inducing horrors. Maybe I'll find some more gel for torches? I'd love to start a fire of sorts. These "happy" thoughts were put on hold for now, as Andrew had just left the home and stepped into the field of grass outside.

Man, it's really peaceful out here. Andrew thought, taking in a breath of fresh air. Alright, up ahead just looks like an extension of this biome, so we'll head there to keep things simple. "Hey Duke! Would you hurry- what are you doing?" Looking back, Andrew was surprised to find Duke holding an arm full of Wood Swords, struggling to even stand with the added weight. "Can you help? I ran out of space in my inventory." Yes, he did have limited space in his inventory. Yes, he does know what an inventory is. Some things came to him with ease relating to breathing, while others took longer to figure out. His inventory however, was something he found out on his own after filling his inventory with a surplus of random items ranging from Dayblooms, clay blocks, dirt blocks, a bunny banner, and a bunch of more seemingly useless junk.

"Duke just empty out your inventory!" Hurried Andrew. He wanted to get going as soon as possible.

"But who knows what kinda stuff is out there!" Countered Duke.

"You don't need to bring Dayblooms and banners." Andrew said flatly.

"But-"

"SHUT!"

"..."

"Good, I'll give you five minutes."

And so, Duke re-entered his home defeated with his head hung low and his swords in tow. But even then, he whispered "Stupid Guide."

Just ignore the man child and get back to relaxation. Haaahh, this is nice. While he waited for his childish companion, Andrew leaned against a nearby tree and closed his eyes, letting the settling sounds of nature fill his ears and fill him with peace.

SLAM

"I'M DONE!"

Andrew was shocked out of his peaceful state by the slam of a door, followed by the bellow of a now eager to explore Duke.

Andrew walked over to Duke, scanning him slowly and critically, searching for any errors in this man. Meanwhile, Duke stood somewhat awkwardly, wanting to get moving but also wanting to know if he smelled or not.

"Alright, I don't see any pockets ready to burst, so let's get going." As it turns out, he checked Duke for the smuggling of any illegal products, which were just items that played no importance in their trip.

"Bet I'll beat you there." Duke challenged with a slightly unnerving grin.

"You don't even know where we're goi-"

"321 GO!"

"Wha, hey wAIT!" How the hell did he get so far already?! What is this dude?! While Andrew pondered this and sprinted at the same time, Duke ran with the wind blowing by him and slimes attempting to latch on. Somehow though, he slipped through every attempt from the slimes and only quickened his pace. Heh, we haven't even started mining and I'm alre-OOFKUHH! And he tripped. Then he fell.

BAM

"Ah man, that hurt bad. Really bad. Damn slimes!" He shook off the slight pain from his completely shattered and destroyed ankle and focused his attention towards the reason for his fall: a small wooden chest. "Oh, guess I can't kick your ass." But then he grinned. "But I can light you AFLAME! HUZZAH!" And with grace, he threw a piece of gel onto the chest and whipped out a torch, lighting the darkened area with a small blaze. "Hah! Bet you feel stupid don't you chest!" He taunted, when something hard hit the back of his head, causing him to stumble forward and reach back in pain.

"DUKE, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Oh, it's Andrew. Where has he been? Duke ignored the shouts from Andrew and instead focused his senses into something else. Ooo, something's cooking! Man I could go for rabbit's foot. Wait, why is my foot tingling?

"YOU'RE FOOT YOU IDIOT!" Andrew snapped, not knowing how Duke hadn't felt a thing since he'd been engulfed head to toe in flames.

"Oh sHIT, AHHHH!"

"JUMP IN THE RIVER YOU FLAMING IDIOT!"

SPLASH

"AAHHHhhhhhhh. Ohhh man. Oh that feels nice. Ahhhhh."

Trying to contain his 'displeasure', Andrew thought to himself, 'One day, someday soon, I will kill this man mercilessly.'

"Hey thanks for that Andrew, I don't know what happened back there. One second I'm burning a chest alive and the next it struck me back." Although he was on fire not thirty seconds ago, Duke had seemingly no burns or scratches on him, and if he did they healed far quicker than Andrew thought possible. "Oh, a chest."

"STOP! I'LL OPEN THE CHEST!" Andrew shouted with his arms in front of Duke. "Last thing I want is for you to set something else on fire inside this place."

Inside this place? Wait, where am I? Looking around, Duke saw he was in a small opening in the side of a mountain, as behind him was the light of sun, and below was the darkness of the cave. Hmm, can I jump down there?

"Hey Duke check this out!" Andrew beckoned him over, disparaging any thought of turning into splat from jumping off a potential cliff.

Andrew rummaged through the chest and pulled out a pair of green boots with small wings attached to the sides. "Hermes Boots!" He exclaimed. "These bad boys will take you beyond speeds imaginable! I'm sure you can top light speed with these!"

"Really?!" Now he was curious. The thought of being faster than light was enticing to Duke, until he was hit in the face with the boots.

"Of course not! Yeah they'll make you faster, but not faster than light itself!" Andrew said with disappointment. Honestly, he's insanely gullible. Aight Ima screw with him.

"Hey Guide, if I find bombs, can I use them for mining or would it destroy my ore?" Duke had asked a genuine question, as a newly acquired toy had brought it up for him.

"Yeah you can use them to mine. In fact, it's a very effective method to mine as it preserves the ore and makes plenty available with just one blast. Furthermore, you can actually smudge slime over the bomb to -"

BOOOM

Interruptions are normal at this rate, but when the interruption shakes the side of an entire mountain and nearly causes a rock slide, Andrew knew something was amiss. And so he looked at the only potential culprit: a soot covered idiot holding iron ore in his hand.

"Hey you were right! Also, I think I'm bleeding somewhere, but I'm not sure." Duke said now stashing away the ore.

"WHY DID- *inhale* *exhale*... Ugh, you know what, good job. Next time though, give me a warning before you blast us into the Nether." Andrew complimented, though obviously exasperated from Dukes careless nature. No matter what happened, he just kept healing. His ankle was now basically perfect, his completely burned arms now regaining their skin and color, and Andrew still had a slight headache from the recent night. Alright, let's keep going.

And so they went deeper. Duke came across more loot, but more monsters as well, most commonly being skeletons. When he wasn't being a complete idiot, Duke had some sense of ability and knowledge, as he parried and sidestepped all attacks sent his way while throwing powerful counters back. Exactly how he did this he did not know, but it felt like second nature to be this good at something seemingly so foreign to him. Andrew stayed further back and watched from afar, taking note of all the creatures and materials they found. Eventually though, enemies had begun to spawn more frequently and made things harder to navigate through, even with the use of bombs and torches.

"Hey Andrew, *pant, I think we're done for now." Duke was exhausted after finishing a fight against three other skeletons, narrowly avoiding death when one of them sent their fist to his skull, which he countered by side stepping and tripping the beast, only to stab its skull repeatedly. Andrew was at a table on the other hand, drawing out a map of their explored locations. Currently, they were in an abandoned room deep underground.

"I'd say so, after all, the loot we've found was incredible! I'm way too excited for this, just the thought of learning more about this world spikes my adrenaline!" He said, careful not to spill any ink over the map. He wasn't sure why, but once he saw a part of the world, he could map it out perfectly in his mind and translate it into a physical copy. This proved more than useful, as they had lost themselves a few times already.

Duke regained his breath and walked around the room, taking in the ancient artifacts and worn down walls. Who lived this deep down? Are they still around? Wait a minute, was this the home of those skeletons I killed and they were just guarding it?! Aw man now I feel bad! Wait what? A faint light glowed at the bottom of some stairs near Dukes path, attracting his attention. He looked back to see Andrew still working on the map, deciding it best to let him finish. So he stepped down slowly, sword in hand and nerves steeled for anything that may try and jump out at him. The glowing grew slightly brighter and brighter, until he found and stood directly in front of the source.

In the center of the room stood a glowing red crystal, shaped like a heart and giving a warm essence off of it, inviting those nearby closer. Duke was still on guard however, as he was unsure if this was an attempt to lure in an unsuspecting wanderer into a trap, and he had far too much to die today.

He walked around the crystal slowly, eyeing it up and down for any signs of betrayal, and then he whipped out his pickaxe and brought it down onto the heart crystal, cracking its surface and chipping pieces off.

Nothing happened. So he brought it down again, and more chips flew off and the light began to dim. He raised his pick once more, though hesitating as he didn't know if he should continue or not until he decided to go through with it, and so he brought the pickaxe down once more, shattering the crystal entirely and the room darkened considerably.

Duke looked at where the crystal once stood, then left his pickaxe at his side, disappointed. "Aw man, I was kinda hoping something cool wou-"

"DUKE!"

"GAAH!" Startled, Duke spun around and chucked his pickaxe at Andrews head, barely missing the side of his skull and skimming his ear.

"OH! It's just you. What's up?" Duke managed to calm down quickly, but Andrew was still rather shaken from another near death experience, slightly trembling and turning to look at the pickaxe embedded into the wall.

"Ah, right. Hah you're gonna kill me someday. Anyway, I found a grandfather clock here, and if it's to be trusted we have less than an hour before night strikes and we become food. So let's get going and call it a day, eh?" Andrew seemed eager to get home, understandably, until he noticed the pile of red dust at Dukes feet.

"Duke," Andrew started, "why is there red dust at your feet? I hope you realize nothing here can be inhaled through the nose, no matter the product." And he finished.

"NO YA DUMBASS! I found this cool looking heart rock and broke it with my pickaxe! Sadly though, it shattered, much like my dreams." Duke had told Andrew this with a hint of sadness in his voice, wanting to know what the rock was there for, if it had any use.

Andrew walked over to the dust and brushed it apart, revealing a smaller version of the crystal Duke had seen, this one being able to fit in the palm of his hand.

"Is this what you were mining?" Andrew asked as he held out the crystal. Upon this, Duke was both enamored and confused at what he was looking at, as the dust had given him the false truth that he'd destroyed such a beautiful artifact, and yet there it was, the size of a small bag of coins and still giving off that beautiful luminescent light.

"This my friend, is called a Life Crystal, and consuming it will increase your maximum life and power. However, you may only use about 15 of these before you completely maximize yourself, thus rendering these crystals useless in terms of power boost. However, you may craft these into Heart Lanterns by combining them with 10 chains. Heart Lanterns will increase your life regeneration, healing your wounds faster than by leaving them to natural regeneration, so it's useful to set these up around the base. As well, campfires increase life regen, so you may want to make a couple of those too." Andrew exhaled. He felt he'd just recounted a legend to a new traveler, exposing his wisdom and knowledge for the betterment of their lives. This was what brought him joy, as he felt his role as The Guide was being fulfilled.

"So I just gotta eat it?"

"sigh, yes Duke, just eat the crystal." And that euphoria came crashing down with that question.

"Sweet!"

CRUNCH

crunchcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunch

Gulp

"Aaahhhh, that tasted like strawberries! Alright, let's head back up!" Noticing he felt stronger, Duke retrieved his pickaxe from the wall and began his ascent with Andrew in tow, both men reciting their steps up from the cavern. Little did they know, their home had been invaded upon their leave for adventure.


A/N: YO! Really sorry about the long wait for his chapter! I got caught up in some work that I may have left behind, but it's mostly done now! Once again thanks for the reviews as they're most of my motivation to keep going, and they help me understand how I'm doing with these! I'll try and get the next chapter out sooner, hopefully. Also made a couple edits to chapter 2 in terms of grammar. Oops :P

Till next time!