Chapter 17: Rarity

Placing blocks at sea was a lot less exciting than it sounded.

Unfortunately, Pickaxe was doomed with this task, as Jewel was not willing to let her horse drown at sea. When the group left the swamplands, Jewel advised the group that they'd have to cross the sea to get to her village. "A water expedition…" Sarah commented, intrigued, "Maybe I can find some pufferfish…" However, Sarah was catching nothing on her fishing rod. "And this is why I needed that Luck of the Sea enchantment," she whispered. Texik and Madison were simply bickering on their boats.

Naturally, the trip was going just… swimmingly.

Nightfall covered the sea, but the group wasn't worried. They had made sure to torch their dirt bridge throughout, so no monsters would be spawning on it. Besides, monsters didn't spawn at sea! At least… most of them. "Guardians like swimming beneath the depths," Madison had mentioned, "But as long as we don't come across an ocean monument, we should be fine." Texik looked like he was sighing from relief. Sarah had decided to examine her sword as she rowed. "As strong as diamond, and as strudy as stone…" she muttered. Sounded dangerous.

It went like this for several hours.

Finally, it was Pickaxe who noticed the strip of land in the distance. "Land…" he whispered. Texik broke out into a rowing frenzy. "LAND! LAND HO!" he yelled, his parrot following. Jewel's horse bucked in approval, and Pickaxe doubled down on placing dirt to get to the shore. When they finally arrived, it was a place none of them had seen before. The dirt was covered in grey-purple mush. Strange large mushrooms were scattered across the terrain. It was just a strip of land… but it looked like there was a bigger surface closer inland.

The group was on a mushroom island.

"We're close…" said Jewel. "You live on a mushroom island!?" asked a baffled Texik. Jewel blushed at this. "Well, there's technically no place safer…" Sarah mentioned. Madison added, "Somehow, the islands in of themselves are biomes that prevent the spawning of of hostile mobs." Sounds pretty safe, thought Pickaxe. The group began to build a shelter, since nightfall was closing in. But before they could sleep, there was one more order of business to get out of the way.

Texik pulled out the anvil.

"At long last!" Texik grinned, as he placed the name tag on the anvil. "Let's see here," he muttered, a hammer materializing in his hands. "Siren," he said, and slammed the hammer down on the anvil three times. The hammer vanished into thin air, and Texik took up the name tag, though Pickaxe and everybody else was too busy clutching their ears to care. He put the name tag on his parrot. It instantly vanished, and the parrot officially had its new name: Siren. Pickaxe blinked. "Umm… how does that work?" he asked dumbfounded. "Don't question it," replied Texik.

This time, it was Jewel's turn.

Instead of saying 'Siren' like Texik did, she instead said "Crown." She brought the hammer down on the anvil, and gave the name tag to her newly named horse: Crown. "Why name the horse Crown, Jewel?" Madison questioned. Sarah was the first to figure out the pun, as she and the other groupmates snickered, before Madison figured it out herself. Now it was Pickaxe's turn. He pulled out his enchanted books. He hadn't looked at them personally, but he was pretty sure Sarah could figure out the contents.

She looked flabbergasted at his collection.

"Sharpness V… Unbreaking III… another Unbreaking III… where did you get these?" she demanded. Pickaxe's reply was, "A jungle temple, an abandoned mineshaft, and a dungeon." Sarah sulked at this. "Lucky one, aren't you?" Pickaxe shrugged. Despite her jealousy, Sarah agreed to help Pickaxe enchant one of his materials. First, he'd combine the Sharpness and Unbreaking enchantments. It felt good to swing that hammer! Next, he'd give the upgrade to his beloved first pickaxe. After he repaired it, of course. The second unbreaking could be saved for later.

"Stronger and sturdier than diamond," Sarah whispered.

Morning had finally come, and the group wasted no time continuing alongside the shore. It was, indeed, quite weird. No mobs would spawn in this biome, so this was a great place to live. But how could Jewel know so much about the world while being isolated from it? These questions were on Pickaxe's mind. Smart people must be looking out for her, he thought. To ensure that no mobs would interrupt, he destroyed a good portion of the dirt bridge, just to be safe. He had so many questions about this place…

...starting with the weird cow in the distance.

It was approaching the group as they made their way inland. It was almost similar to a cow, except for a few… strange differences. The brown on it's body was replaced with red. It's eyes were beady black and huge. Also, mushrooms were growing on its back. "Awwww," Sarah cooed, "A mooshroom!" So that's what these things were called. "Just don't shear them," Jewel warned, "Or else they'll be converted into cows!" "TEXIK!" Madison yelled.

"What?" he asked sheepishly, hiding the sheers and mushrooms behind his back as two cows roamed mysteriously in the background.

The main island was a sight to behold. Huge mushrooms, and mushrooms in general, were scattered about in a near abundant fashion. Mooshrooms and their babies wandered aimlessly, occasionally standing in place for Jewel to squeal with delight. "I've been gone for a while…" she explained. Texik was getting impatient. "Where's the village?" he barked. "Cool it," Madison warned, "It's probably not too far from here." The group climbed up one of the steep hills, only to be greeted by a welcoming sight.

At last, they had found the village.

The base had several small houses and farms, like a normal village. But there were some larger houses towards the border, most likely constructed by miners. There was also a small hole-like entrance by the outskirts, presumably a mine. Villagers wander around the area, with several miners tending to the crops or building something or another. There were also these grey, bulky, red-eyed creatures throughout the village… iron golems. Good thing they weren't hostile. The place was amazing.

Then one of the miners noticed the group.

He wore glasses, a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. His hair was a crisp black, and flopped on his face like a short mop. His eyes were a piercing grey. While he looked the same age as the others, like every other miner did, the group could tell he was somehow… older. He held a book and quill in one hand, and a stone hoe in the other. The other miners gathered around him, staring at the group. Jewel was at a loss for words.

"Stan," was all she could say.