AN: Hey. It's Wednesday.
And look. A Chapter.
Enjoy.
In place of a riddle, go to the bottom Author's Note for a challenging challenge.
Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. If I did, I'd put out the new snapshot already! I want me my tridents!
Chapter 94
Answers
[Cobb]
"So, what incredible wisdom will you impart upon us?"
I looked at the gathered fresh spawns and their hopeful expressions with a straight face, trying to think of something inspiring to tell them. Even though I promised Helena I would teach them the ways of Minecraftia, I was still just as clueless about them as ever. There were probably hundreds of Crafting recipes I had yet to master, not to mention dozens of other things that kept making Minecraftia difficult to live through.
And yet here I was, stood before six fresh spawns as if I knew the best course of action. I glanced over to Helena to see her lounging on her butt, content to watch me crash and burn. She was getting out of teaching these Crafters. We both knew it.
Lenz was just as useless though. He was busy digging out a narrow, shallow trench closer to the trees. He was vigilant, however, placing himself between the forest and the fresh spawns. If any Mobs showed up, he could hold them off or warn us and then we could retreat into the Origin Zone where it was safe.
Though, truth be told, I was hoping a Creeper would show up and scare us so I could get out of teaching them. It wasn't that I had no confidence in my teaching skills, it was that I had no confidence that my unique brand of dumb luck could benefit any of them.
"Okay." I began with a clap of my hands. "Survival… uh…" Maybe just spouting basic stuff would help build momentum. "Well, the first thing you need to know is that you have a Health and Hunger Meter on your arms." At that statement, the fresh spawns all glanced at their limbs. "Your Health regenerates when your Hunger Meter is full and you fill that by eating food."
Okay, good start, good start. I thought before I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Cobbert, may I borrow your bucket of water?" Lenz asked while gesturing to the finished trench of his.
"Sure." I withdrew it from my Inventory and handed it to him. "What are you making anyway?"
"Sugar Cane farm."
"Oh… kay?"
"For paper." He further explained. "We need more of it to make the maps and books. Or have you forgotten…?"
"No, no, you're right. Continue." I held my arms up and allowed the engineer to go back to his work. In that time, I noticed a fresh spawn with his hand raised. "Yes, Wyatt?"
"Yeah, um, what's this black bar on our arms for?"
"Oh, that's for EXP." I explained. "Whenever you kill a Mob or a Crafter or do a certain something you get these little green balls of EXP." A thought crossed my mind and I quickly patted my belt and backpack in search of a glass bottle. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, I gave up. "Ah, if I had a bottle I could show you. See my arm?" I held it up, my nineteen levels shimmering in green light for all to see. "The EXP fills up the bar and earns you levels. You can spend the levels on naming items or Enchanting your gear."
"How do we do that?" Another fresh spawn, Nance, called out.
"With an Enchantment Table. And lapis." I added, remembering what Wynn had told me. "Lapis is a blue dye found in mines."
"How do we mine it?"
"Pickaxes or TNT. I recommend the first one, though!" I hastily added when I saw the excited expressions of the fresh spawns. I watched as their faces turned to downcast disappointment.
I totally lied, too. Forget swinging a pick. I'd prefer blast mining any day. But I had to be the safe role model here.
What other advice could I give?
"Emeralds are the currency in Minecraftia. You can mine those too, but it's easier to just trade Testificates for them."
"What's a Testificate?" Douglass asked.
I stuck out a finger. "You see that big-nosed thing lying on the grass over there?" I spoke in a hushed whisper. "That's a Testificate."
Oh, Helena heard that.
I hastily changed topic. "Anyway, um, what else, what else? Don't kill named animals with saddles. It could get you in a lot of trouble. Particularly if they're owned by bloodthirsty sociopaths."
[Carys]
"Carys…? Why are you strangling that practice dummy?"
"Because I'm wishing it was a different dummy!"
[Cobb]
"Mr. Cobb? Why are you rubbing your neck uncomfortably?"
"Because… actually, I don't know." I quickly dropped my arm. Had I been idly rubbing it? Can't imagine why. "Anyway, Creepers! Creepers are bad."
"Amen to that." Came a gruff voice as Soul trudged over, Floyd in tow. "Sorry we're late, teach." Soul called out sarcastically. "Don't give us a detention, okay. We have a late slip I swear."
"If you want to heckle so bad, let's see you do any better." I called him out and watched with delight as all the fresh spawns turned to him. No wonder teachers had a habit of calling on students that didn't pay attention. Watching their embarrassment was fun!
"Pft. I'm not getting up there." Soul scoffed.
"Floyd." I moved on, hoping the blue-nette would help give me a break. "What about you?"
Floyd, however, wasn't paying attention to me. His eyes were focused on one of the fresh spawns, Douglass, as he turned to look at them. There was an odd interest in his eyes. He only started when I called out his name a second time. "Floyd!"
"Huh. Oh!" He glanced around in confusion. "Sorry, what were we talking about?"
"Ugh, never mind." I turned back to Soul. "Come on, help me teach them for a little bit."
"Hey, it looks to me like you're handling it fine." He stuck his hands in his belt and watched with interest. "Please, don't stop on my account."
Okay, time for reverse psychology. "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. You a teacher? Maybe when pigs starts flying."
"...I'd like to step in for Professor Bubblehead to talk to you kids about combat safety. You're safest when attacking something else." Like a foolish fish, Soul took the bait hook, line, and sinker.
Oooh, that's good. Got to come up with more fishing related comments. The snappier the better… Kind of like a… red snapper?
…
Brain: I think I'm hemorrhaging from how bad that was.
Blood: Yeeeeeessss… Tell more bad puns… It will help me spread…
Alright, I'll work on it. The puns I mean. Not the Blood spreading.
Blood: …D'aww…
"Now it's very important that you all learn how to fight." Soul continued as he 'taught' the class. "Swords are okay, but axes are really where it's at. You can push an enemy back by running before attacking—Knockback strike—or you can jump while attacking to perform a Critical Strike for more damage."
"Will we have to fight?" Another fresh spawn named Troy asked.
"Well, duh." Soul continued, making the fresh spawn feel embarrassed. "There's only going to be a hundred and one things trying to kill you."
Several pairs of eyes suddenly went wide. "K-k-kill us?" One of the fresh spawns asked tremulously.
Uh-oh.
"Well, yeah." Soul continued uncaringly as he ticked off his fingers. "There's the Endward Cult—a group of Crafters that want everybody dead because they believe in an afterlife—Griefers—who want to ruin your lives just because they think it's amusing—Hackers—who want to kill Crafters for I don't even know what reason—Mobs, thugs, bandits, evil Nana's—"
"Wahhhhhh!"
I clamped a hand over my ear as Douglass started to cry. And I mean actually cry with tears and everything. The poor kid was traumatized. A few others were sniffling and even the bravest among them had trembling lips and were glancing around as if expecting bloodthirsty killers to jump out and gut them any second.
"…Ah. Whoops." Soul had the tact to mumble as he stared awkwardly at the terrified fresh spawns. "Um… You know what, forget I said any of that."
"I don't want to leave the Origin Zone!" Douglass wailed as he made a break for the Zone border. He, Troy, and Nance ran past Helena easily, but Floyd darted before them and snagged Douglass before he could cross. "Let me go! It's dangerous out here! I don't want to get killed by Forward Cultists!"
"They're called Endward Cultists and they're not here." Floyd tried to calm him down while also keeping his flailing limbs under control. "Hey, cut it out—OW! Stop kicking!"
Soul and I rushed after the other two runners and dragged them back. It was easier for us because, since we were in the protective zone, all their flailing and kicking wouldn't be able to hurt us. At least until we stepped back outside it.
"Release us!" Troy argued. "I refuse to set foot out of here unless I have armor like yours!"
"Armor doesn't make you invincible!" Soul growled to the fresh spawn wrapped under his arm. "There's no such thing as an invincible armor!"
Helena looked away, whistling innocently.
"Gah, quit your whining, already!" Soul snapped. "Don't you know whining only makes the cultists want to kill you faster!?"
If Soul was hoping that lie would calm them down, he was sorely mistaken. If anything, it made them scream louder and struggle harder. As soon as we crossed the protective zone, Nance's boot caught my lower jaw. I stifled the cry of pain to a piteous whine.
Finally, we managed to calm the fresh spawns down to the point where they would sit together quietly. We had to make dozens of promises that we would protect them if any scary sorts showed up and the six of them had huddled together for protection.
In short, Soul wasted a lot of time.
"Floyd. Soul." Lenz came back over with outstretched hands. "I require ink sacs and ingots respectively."
The two quickly handed the items over before the engineer moved back to his trench. A trench that was filled with the water I gave him and surrounded by sugar cane. He walked over to his Crafting Table and mulled over it while the fresh spawns looked on with interest.
"Anyway, as dangerous as the world is," Soul tried again, "it can be survivable if you make the effort to train. The basics will protect you from the Mobs—"
"Or you can hide in a well-lit shelter if you'd rather avoid the monsters." I finished, to which Soul shot me a dirty look. He probably thought hiding from Mobs was cowardly.
"But if you really wish to fight Mobs, then I recommend you read this book!" Helena announced while holding up Herobrine's first book on Mobs. "It was written by a very famous—and might I add handsome—Crafter."
My eyes followed the book with interest. I had already read the thing, and the five Mobs it talked about (Zombies, Skeletons, Spiders, Cave Spiders, and Creepers), but I wanted to look it over again. It was one of the other reasons we had come to the Zone, after all. Lenz wanted a copy of it, and I figured spreading the tome to other inexperienced Crafters wasn't a bad idea either. It was thanks to that information that I knew how to deflect Creeper explosions—something the rest of Minecraftia had no idea about.
Then there was the latest Bounty Day vision I had. Of that dried out Zombie Mob. Or of that creature with a shell that shot out projectiles—the one Soul told me about. Minecraftia was spitting out new Mobs with each Bounty Day. There was no telling what frightening new monsters were still waiting to be discovered. And I had no clue whether Herobrine was even still alive to catalog them.
Helena passed the book around to the curious fresh spawns while Soul chopped up some trees and explained how to make a Crafting Table, as well as swords. Floyd was speaking to Douglass about something, but I couldn't quite hear it. And Lenz was getting some attention from Wyatt and Guile over his sugar cane farm.
I sighed to myself as I looked to them all. Just looking at the hesitance behind their movements; The glances always looking askance towards Soul or Floyd or me. It was only a month ago that we were like them and now… It was such a difference that it was baffling.
"…When did we grow up?"
[Noman]
I wasn't prepared for the pulse.
I was so focused on my hunger and getting close to the farmhouse that I completely ignored the stillness and silence until the pulse was upon me. At once, I felt a vision ram into my head, disorienting me enough to fall off of Carrot. The horse trotted around me, oblivious to my plight.
I scrunched my eyes closed as the vision of a monster played itself before me. It was a Skeleton, but unlike one I had ever seen. It wore ragged, gray clothing, and took cold, rattling breaths. It looked at me, not with empty sockets, but with a tight, lucid skin stretched over where its eyes should have been. It was chilling to look at, even as a vision.
After the strange pulse had passed, I shakily got to my knees and started to crawl forward. I needed food desperately and now was not the time to pass out.
I got as far as five meters before another vision assaulted my brain.
"GAHHH!" I cried out as it felt like my head was about to split. Something massive was being shown to me. Something in the middle of the woods… a large mansion made of wood and cobblestone with big glass windows and three stories. The inside hallways were luxuriously carpeted and ornately designed with rooms of different sizes and functions… but it was dark.
Dark enough for Mobs to spawn. This was not a mansion made for Crafters. It was inhabitable.
But there was something living in it. Something.
And just when it felt like I was about to look around a corner and glimpse what called the mansion home…
I snapped back to reality, panting like a dog.
I had passed out. The visions had been too much. And while I was unconscious, my Hunger Meter had fallen further than ever. I was on the verge of starvation. I would have to choke down the rotten flesh just to survive.
But while I desperately fumbled for the 'food', I noticed my horse coming back to me. And while a horse returning to its owner shouldn't have been worrying, in this case it was.
Because someone else was leading it back to me. Someone that didn't look too happy to see me.
"What's the matter?" The Crafter—a white-haired old man—asked as he stood before me. "Not used to the Bounty Day? Saves me half the trouble of knocking you out, though." The man moved a hand to his belt, reaching for a weapon.
"Wait…" I called out weakly, finding trouble locating the rotten flesh in my backpack. "Don't kill me… I'm just hungry…"
"Yeah, I bet you are." The old man spoke with pitiless contempt. "Maybe if you bothered to care for the farms you took, you'd have enough food to fill your gullet. Now get off my land before I thwump you!"
"What…?" I asked before my eyes caught sight of his weapon.
A stick.
…
Just a stick.
It wasn't even Enchanted, but the way the man was brandishing it like a sword made it clear what his intent was. He was going to beat me with it. And with how low my Hunger Meter was, it was entirely possible he could beat me to death.
"Please…" I pleaded on my knees. "I didn't take any farms… I'm just traveling the mesa on my horse. I ran out of food… Please spare some and you'll never have to see me again."
"You've got a lot of nerve trying to lie to me." The old man—Bailey—spoke with a tough edge. "What traveler would walk these lands without enough food? This is just another ploy! You're in cahoots with all those other Griefers."
"No… I…" My stomach growled and I watched the last of my Hunger Meter drain away. All at once, it felt like my insides were being hollowed out. My Health was getting lower and lower. "I… I gave all my food away… I'm not a Griefer… Please…"
I clutched my side and rolled over, trying to stifle the pain. It only seemed to make it worse. The old man watched on with narrowed eyes before my own snapped shut from the pain.
"Please…" I hissed through clenched teeth. "Don't let me die…"
Through the pain I was feeling, I heard the sound of someone kneeling beside me, followed by a muffled curse.
"L-language…" I whispered with my dying breath before I felt a searching hand pat my belt. It took something—my diamond sword by the feel of it—before it moved to my back, helping me sit up.
Then, I felt something rough touch my lips. I cracked an eye open and saw that it was a wooden bowl of some reddish soup being eased to my mouth. I gratefully swallowed the sustenance Bailey was providing and it was all I could do not to swallow the whole bowl along with it.
A sizable portion of my Hunger Meter filled up, enough for me not to take further damage, but I was still weak. As soon as the bowl was finished, Bailey laid me back down gently before getting back to his feet. He dragged my horse to my side and dropped the diamond sword he had taken.
"I fed you. Now leave." He said.
I was hardly at one-hundred percent, but he had already gone out of his way to help me. And I said I would leave so long as he gave me some food. There was nothing else for it but to leave.
I staggered to my feet, lifting my diamond sword back into my hand, before reaching out to grip the side of Carrot for support. Remembering my manners, I turned to Bailey and nodded. "Thank you…"
He looked at me oddly as I climbed atop my steed and turned back the way I came. I spurred Carrot forward, opting to move at a slow pace, before he suddenly called out.
"You're really just a foolish traveler, aren't you?"
I shot him a sideways glance and shrugged helplessly. "I had food. I did. But I gave it away."
"Why do that?" He asked. "Even when you knew you needed it just as much, why give it away?"
It sounded stupid when he put it that way, but I only had one answer.
"Because they needed it."
The old man shook his head, muttering something under his breath. "Too kind for your own good… all right, forget leaving." He called out, surprising me. "You look like a stiff breeze will blow you over. I'll offer you the night to rest and eat your fill. Then, when your belly is full and my conscience is clear, you can ride on out of here. How's that sound?"
"…That sounds very generous. Thank you." I half-dismounted, half fell off my steed before a thought crossed my mind. I rummaged in my belt and held out a few emeralds that made the old man's eyes bulge. "For your hospitality…"
Bailey looked tempted as he reached a hand out. But he stopped short just shy of taking them before his hand fell to his side. "Bah, keep your emeralds. Not like they'd be any use to me in the middle of nowhere." He chuckled. "Though I suppose you'd know what that's like, Mister Nowhere_Man."
"But… I need to repay you for—"
"Then repay me with work." He cut me off. "I could use some help setting up a new plot and you look like you got a strong back. No," he glanced at my belt with a frown, "the only thing you need to give up is that sword. I'm not comfortable with weapons lying around with people I don't know." He tapped his stick to the ground.
I returned the emeralds to my belt before withdrawing my diamond sword. I did it slowly to not startle him, and I made sure to hold out the handle for him to take. He accepted the weapon with a nod, before beckoning me back to his home.
"Come along now. Your horse can stay in the stable. He'll be safe there. Then I can whip you up some more of that beetroot soup."
"Thank you, again." I nodded politely as I gave Carrot a small tug, leading the both of us towards Bailey's farmhouse.
I greatly preferred Old Man Bailey to the evil Nana Widow.
[Cobb]
For the whole day, the four of us took to teaching the fresh spawns different aspects of Minecraftia based off our own individual skills. In doing so, we also got an idea of what the fresh spawns were like.
Lenz taught about Redstone—in a college course style—and Crafting. Surprisingly, he found attentive ears in both Wyatt and Guile. They were the studious ones of the bunch and they were fascinated with what redstone was capable of. And that it was a mineral that came from the ground of all places. The engineer's tales of his home, the Automated Kingdom, left the two spellbound.
Soul taught combat, something that Troy and the other female fresh spawn, Gina, particularly enjoyed. The two were competitive and would spar against each other with wooden swords while Soul watched, albeit displeased they chose a sword over an axe. Every now and again he would swap in to fight the two of them and give them pointers as he trounced them in turn. It was all play fighting, however. No risks.
Nance was more of a bookworm. She pored over Herobrine's book, wanting to learn as much as she could about the deadly monsters. When she finished the book, I had subtly held out its sequel, Advanced Mob-Slaying, and she nearly tripped over herself to read it. I handed it over with a laugh, trading it for the one she finished—the first book, How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts.
Clearly Herobrine had improved his titles with time.
I allowed Nance to pore over the book, making her promise to give it back when she was done. She nodded frantically, not bothering to take her eyes off the pages as she started to read.
As for the last guy, Douglass, he went off with Floyd somewhere. Floyd said he was going to teach the fresh spawn about potions, but I didn't see how he could. We didn't have a brewing stand and Floyd only had a Potion of Fire Resistance on him. They were also distancing themselves away from the rest of the group. They stayed within eyesight and within a reasonable radius to the Origin Zone, but they seemed more detached than the rest of us.
Then again, maybe Floyd was talking about something else. Like the harsh reality outside the Zone. He had lost a friend and had seen people die. There was no way he wasn't been affected by that. But maybe telling someone else about it would help relieve the stress? Maybe help another prepare for the worst? Either or.
Wanting to pass the time, I glanced down at Herobrine's first book, still sitting in my hands, and paged through it. It was just as I had remembered with Brain's photographic memory.
Brain: Thank you. Thank you. You're too kind.
It was all there. Zombies. Skeletons. Spiders and Cave Spiders. Creepers.
I narrowed my eyes at the last one. I wished there was a way to edit information, because I would have put 'a fear of cats' under the weakness section. As thorough as he was, Herobrine seemed to miss a few things. Everyone was fallible, it seemed. Even the first Crafter to spawn. Though mentioning that to Helena was probably a bad idea. She practically kissed the ground he stood on.
I flipped the back cover to close the book, having read every entry, when a bit of writing poked out from the end pages. At the very back of the book.
I frowned before slowly opening the book to observe further. But I needn't have bothered. The sight of the words made my head hurt.
A jumble of letters covered the pages. Strung together in phrases and words that may as well have been a second language. It was just like in his second book. At the very end, after all the entries, Herobrine always left a few pages of gobbledygook.
[DRGSVI]
[Xozhhrurxzgrlm: YLHH]
[Wvhxirkgrlm: Z yozxp uolzgrmt iryxztv drgs ml ornyh. Qfhg gsivv svzwh. Vnrgh z wzip vmvitb zmw trevh luu zm fmvzigsob dzro.]
[Grkh: Lu zoo gsv Nlyh R szev ivhvzixsvw, gsv Drgsvi rh yb uzi gsv nlhg wvhgifxgrev. Rg rh zohl gsv lmob pmldm Nly gszg nfhg yv xlmhgifxgvw erz hlfo hzmw zmw gsivv Drgsvi Hpvovglm Hpfooh. Rgh wvhrtm rh wvkrxgvw rm lmv lu gsv nzmb krxgfivh vcrhgrmt rm Nrmvxizugrz. Gsv hpfooh xzm yv lygzrmvw yb hozbrmt Drgsvi Hpvovglmh. Sldvevi, gsv wilk izgv lu gsv hpfooh rh hl old, rg dlfow gzpv z Ollgrmt Vmxszmgvw hdliw qfhg gl kilxfiv gsvn.]
[Drgs 150 svzigh lu svzogs zmw xzkzyov lu 12 svzigh lu wznztv, gsrh Nly vzhrob uzooh drgsrm gsv Ylhh xozhhrurxzgrlm, zolmt drgs gsv Vmwvi Wiztlm zmw gsv Vowvi Tfziwrzm.]
I shook my head at the words before snapping the book closed. I turned it over in my hands, looking at the author's name again
Herobrine.
I took a quick glance around, just to verify everyone was preoccupied with something else, before I fully turned to face the book and pressed it to my forehead.
"Thanks, Herobrine." I whispered under my breath.
I owed him a lot for what his information did. It helped me survive Creepers. It helped Lenz and I escape the End. And the knowledge benefitted Wynn and Ringwood by extension when the cultists threw Creepers at them. And it was all thanks to a five-hundred-year-old guy who could be dead or alive for all anyone knew. And yet it was me who received the praise he deserved. Nobody would ever know that Herobrine's research had protected so many.
He probably never planned for it to do that much. But I wondered if, hearing all the good it did, he would smile fondly, proud of all he had done.
Helena seemed to think he was still alive. And I hoped he was too. I wanted to thank him in person. Maybe even help him work on other books considering all the new Mobs spawning from the Bounty Days.
After saying my thanks to a piece of fine literature, I walked over to Lenz to check out the sugar cane farm. As it was, I caught the tail-end of the conversation he was having with his respective fresh spawns.
"No, no, no. Just because it is sugar cane, does not mean the books will taste sweet." He explained as if to a child. "The thin material of the sugar cane makes it perfect for paper. And do not ask me how arranging those on a wooden table in a horizontal line can transform both their texture and color. I understand simpler things, like the nature of hoppers and comparators—but this? This is witchcraft."
"Don't you mean Minecraft?" I joked.
"What?" Lenz shot me a questioning look, as did the other two fresh spawns.
"You know." I chuckled awkwardly. "Instead of witchcraft you call it Minecraft. Because… because the world is called Minecraftia…?"
"…Was that meant to be a joke?"
"Yes! I mean, I was intending it to—"
"But what even is a Minecraft?"
"I don't know! Nothing, but, I mean…" I looked for help, but it never came. Everyone was judging me and I let out a groan. "Never mind. How goes the sugar cane farm?"
"It goes." Lenz said. "We needed a lot of paper and these take time to grow. We cannot even speed it up with bone meal." The reeds had grown two meters tall and Lenz was careful to harvest the topmost meter. "I see you have Herobrine's book with you, too." He nodded to the tome tucked under my arms. "We should be able to make a copy with what we have. Provided there are no complications…"
I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Isn't it easy?"
"Not quite." He went to the Crafting Table with the bits of sugar cane and got to work. He had planted eighteen around the flowing water and they had all doubled in size before he harvested the top half. With eighteen sugar cane, he was able to make eighteen pieces of paper. From there, he pulled out four pieces of leather and arranged them with three pieces of paper each to craft four books.
"Publishing books in Minecraftia is no mean feat. The spread of information is drastically hindered by how limited books can be copied." Lenz said. "The first time a written book is laid upon a Crafting Table, you can only make a maximum of eight copies. This is because books and quills do not stack and the original book needs to be within the 9x9 grid."
Lenz pulled out the ink sacs Floyd had given him, as well as some feathers, and combined them with the books to make four books and quills. But he had to set most of them on the ground since he lacked the Inventory space. I saw what he meant when he said they didn't stack.
"In theory, you could just repeatedly place the original on the table to make more copies, but you can only make eight at a time. It is one of the reasons book publishers nearly go mad. You would too if you had to make a million copies, but only eight at a time."
I blanched. Who could possibly have the patience for that?
"Having multiples publishers copy a book can save time, but the problem there is that a copy of a copy cannot be copied."
"What?"
"It has to do with the quality of ink, I suppose." Lenz tried to reason. "Think of it this way. Say Potato Tech comes out with the newest model for a vending machine. But then, a rival company copies their design while making a few adjustments for monetary concerns. Effectively, they make a cheap knock-off. But then, wait, another company copies the copiers and makes an even cheaper version of the original. At this point, the original mechanism is so distorted that it barely functions. And if another company were to copy the copiers of the copiers, it would break down."
I think I understood what he meant. The book was only purest on the first copy. Like a game of telephone, things could be lost in translation or the writing could become illegible or defective.
"So the question is whether this thing is a copy, a copy of a copy, or the original." I summed up, holding the book before me. The same went for Advanced Mob-Slaying. If they were copies of copies, then it would be impossible to duplicate with a Crafting Table. There was always the option of copying the test by hand, but screw that, it would take too long.
"Well, we will know in a second."
Lenz beckoned me forward and I walked around the table, placing the original of How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts before me. Lenz then filled the empty grids with the four book and quills he—the four books and quill he—the four books and quills he—
Eh, none of that sounded right.
He put the four things on the thing and I saw his eyebrows lift up in elation. "We are in luck. This book is not a copy of a copy."
"Cool, so you're gonna make four copies?" I asked, only to eat my words when Lenz brushed three of the book and quills—the books and quill—UGH!—He brushed off three of the things! And he only made one copy. "What'd you do that for?"
Lenz remained silent as he picked up one of the discarded book and quills… books and—whatever—and he placed it with the copy. Again, his eyebrows lifted. But this time in surprise.
"What? What is it?"
"…I can make a copy of our copy." He spoke softly before turning his attention back to the first book. "That means this book is an original. Herobrine held it in his very hands. Incredible…"
And Helena had it for all that time. The fact that Herobrine gave her his original draft… maybe the two had a greater connection than I thought.
Lenz quickly moved the books and—you know what, I'm just gonna call them blank books, makes things easier—Anyway, Lenz made a second copy of How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts, meaning we now had three of them. One for me, one for Lenz, and one for Helena. She would get the original back while we kept the copies.
With a new book to hang on to, Lenz was struggling to keep track of his Inventory. More stuff was set down as he weighed items in his hands. "Comparators, I wish we had taken one of Hunderprest's Ender Chests. Managing all this gear is impossible."
I glimpsed some of the items he was struggling with before staring at him flatly. "You're struggling to choose between a flint and steel and two levers?"
"Bah! You are right. Such an obvious choice." He quickly tossed away the flint and steel—an actual weapon—in favor of two levers. "Now should I keep a stack of emeralds, or a stone button?"
"First, if you choose that button over the emeralds I am seriously going to slap you." Lenz flinched in fear. "And second, slide that flint and steel back in your Inventory. We can't be wasteful, especially with weapons."
"In that case," he withdrew my bucket from his backpack, "you can have this back. Remember to refill it before we leave." I nodded. Water was important, after all. "Now, let us see if we cannot make copies from the other book."
I waved over to Nance, asking her to bring the book. She thanked me for the interesting read, though she had a harrowing expression on her face, undoubtedly from the descriptions of tougher Mobs out to kill her. Endermen were no cake-walk.
Lenz placed one of the remaining two blank books on the table along with Advanced Mob-Slaying and hummed to himself before making a copy. Then he put the other blank book with the copy, just to see if he could.
"Yet another original." He marveled, before quickly making the final copy. "So Herobrine held this book, too. I cannot imagine why it was in that underground lab, though."
That was where I had found it. Past the Stronghold buried deep beneath Daymonte and stowed away in that laboratory's library. It brought up bad memories of that Creeper-woman hybrid, that eerie picture of that three-headed monster, and that room full of Heads.
It was still unclear whose lab that was. Lenz had thought it was Jeb's, but after seeing that Creeper-thing had refused to believe his redstone role model would condone such abominations.
The thought crossed my mind that it was Herobrine's lab, but I quickly dismissed it for the same reason. Herobrine wrote books about how to fight Mobs. He wouldn't have been keeping Crafter hybrids of them in cages. And while he was an author and researcher, the stuff in that lab leaned more towards mad science.
No. More likely, the book had been given as a gift, much like how Helena had been given one. So whoever owned the lab must have known Herobrine quite well.
Whatever the case, the books were ours now. I debated whether Helena should have the original copy of Advanced Mob-Slaying or one of the copies and ultimately I decided she would get the copy. Not only would she love it like a second son, but she would share the information with more fresh spawns, increasing their chances of survival. Meanwhile, I could keep making copies of the original if ever I needed to. I could do the same with a copy, but I wanted the purest book I could get.
It almost made me want to keep Helena's original too.
Almost.
"I'll give these to Helena." I nodded to Lenz, taking the two books written by Helena's beloved Herobrine. "She might just die of a heart attack so if you hear any panicked screaming, it's me trying to control the situation."
"I shall keep that in mind." Lenz nodded. "In the meantime, I will be focusing on making us all maps." He glanced to the sugar cane farm with a bit of unease. "I have enough ingots to make us all compasses for maps, but I want to make a map big enough for all of us." He adjusted his glasses. "By my approximation, I will need a full stack of paper. That will certainly take time…" He groaned to himself, but the watching fresh spawns crowded around eagerly.
"Can we help?"
"I wanna make a compass! Does it involve redstone?"
"You mind if I get one of those maps too?"
"Well…" Lenz rubbed his chin in thought as he looked over Nance, Wyatt, and Guile. "I do have enough ingots to spare another compass, but I am not sure if—"
"Pleeeeeease?" Nance pleaded with fluttering eyes.
Lenz caved. "Very well. But, like I said, it will take time. I need watchful eyes. And we will have to illuminate the area with torches so that, come nightfall, the sugar cane can still grow. Now come." He leaned over the Crafting Table. "I will demonstrate how to craft everything we will need."
"Yay!" The fresh spawns cheered before jostling each other aside in their attempts to squeeze next to Lenz. The engineer looked uncomfortable being the center of attention, but he recovered quick.
I was about ready to head back over to Helena when, suddenly, I paused to look back at the fresh spawns. All of them.
Guile, Troy, Nance, Wyatt, Gina. Even Douglass, who was being led out for a walk in the woods by Floyd.
All the fresh spawns were taking to Minecraftia the same way I had when I spawned. And they were all going about it normally. There were some frustrations from Troy as Gina knocked him on his ass in combat. There were some bits of joy as Wyatt successfully crafted a compass for the first time.
But it was all… well… normal. These were normal Crafters in front of us. Not insane killers. Not cruel monsters. Just… people.
For six fresh spawns to be like that—For all of them to be like that… and for all of us to be like that too…
We were spawned good.
But for the others; for people like the Endward Cult or the Hackers…
Well… there was only one reasonable conclusion.
And yet… I needed assurance. Assurance that only one person in all of Minecraftia could provide. The one person that lived in the Origin Zone her entire life. The one who was there, not only to see it all, but to remember it all.
I turned back to Helena's house and saw the Testificate shuffling inside as night started to fall.
I had some questions for her. And I wasn't going to leave without answers.
[Floyd]
"So… w-what's this all about, Mister Floyd… sir?"
God, I couldn't stand his timid speech, nor could I handle the ways he referred to me. It just made it harder to believe someone like him could be someone like them…
Then again, how hypocritical was it for me to be calling them them?
We were all the same.
And I needed answers.
We went deeper into the forest. Deep enough that I was certain the others couldn't hear me. I made sure none of them followed either. Cobb had seen me, but had thankfully chosen to let it be.
Once we arrived by a small grove of trees, I turned to face Douglass. My eyes immediately flew to the dark Hacker lines on his face. And it was the sight of them that gave me the courage to take a breath and speak my mind.
"What do you know about Hackers?"
Inventory (Cobb): 1 Fishing Rod {Backlash} [Knockback II, Luck of the Sea III, Unbreaking III], 1 Stone Pickaxe, 1 Stone Sword, 1 Golden Shovel [Silk Touch I, Unbreaking III], 1 Flint and Steel {Weak}, 13 Cobblestone, 2 Ender Pearls, 12 Torches, 5 Coal, 2 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Stick, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Clock, 1 Bucket, 4 String, 40 Steak, 64 Cooked Mutton, 51 Baked Potatoes, 1 Pumpkin, 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Green, Unbreaking I], 1 Iron Leggings {Weak}, 1 Iron Boots, 40 Emeralds, 1 Map {Ringwood Region}, 2 Books {How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts}, 2 Books {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}
[EXP: 19]
Inventory (Floyd): 1 Iron Pickaxe {Weak}, 1 Iron Sword, 3 Iron Ingots, 1 Fishing Rod, 1 Furnace, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Minecart, 1 Bed, 1 Boat, 1 Potion of Fire Resistance {8:00}, 2 Flint, 8 Rotten Flesh, 6 Gunpowder, 27 Cooked Chicken, 36 Apples, 3 Wool, 1 Iron Leggings, 1 Iron Boots {Weak}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Entry Pass}, 4 Emeralds
[EXP: 25]
Inventory (Lenz): 1 Bow {Weak}, 1 Shears, 2 Levers, 1 Flint and Steel, 1 Stone Button, 5 Redstone Torches, 9 Redstone Repeaters, 3 Redstone Comparators, 15 Redstone, 1 Hopper, 5 Pistons, 21 Cobblestone, 25 Dirt, 1 Minecart, 6 Compasses, 25 Gunpowder, 42 Steak, 1 Leather Cap [Dyed Green], 13 Arrows, 20 Wooden Planks, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Pumpkin, 21 Paper, 6 Ink Sacs, 4 Leather, 14 Feathers, 10 Flint, 64 Emeralds, 14 Emeralds, 1 Iron Ingot, 1 Book {Airship Piloting 101}, 1 Book {Notebook}, 1 Book {How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts}, 1 Book {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Daymonte Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}
[EXP: 8]
Inventory (Soul): 1 Iron Axe, 1 Wooden Pickaxe, 1 Stone Pickaxe {Weak}, 2 Ender Pearls, 1 Splash Potion of Healing II, 1 Splash Potion of Healing II, 1 Splash Potion of Healing II, 1 Potion of Invisibility {8:00}, 1 Potion of Invisibility {8:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Slowness {1:30}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {1:30}, 1 Milk, 1 Iron Helmet {Weak}, 1 Iron Chestplate, 1 Iron Leggings, 1 Iron Boots, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 5 Dirt, 64 Cobblestone, 10 Coal, 7 Oak Wood Planks, 9 Emeralds, 20 Cooked Chicken, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Map {Ringwood Region}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}
[EXP: 38]
Inventory (Noman): 1 Diamond Chestplate {Severe Shield}, 1 Diamond Sword [Sharpness I], 1 Shield, 1 Bow [Infinity], 34 Birch Wood Planks, 35 Iron Ingots, 19 Sticks, 13 Torches, 1 Bucket, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Birch Fence, 1 Bed, 1 Book {Notch Mission II}, 1 Book {Artifact List}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Dover Plains Entry Pass}, 1 Map {Dover Plains}, 1 Map {Mesa}, 1 Compass, 64 Arrows, 2 Glass Bottles, 2 Sugar, 7 Enchanted Golden Apples, 1 Diamond Helmet, 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Blue] {Weak}, 1 Diamond Leggings, 1 Diamond Boots, 64 Emeralds, 64 Emeralds, 64 Emeralds, 64 Emeralds, 22 Emeralds, 2 Bones, 14 Rotten Flesh
[EXP: 7]
Carrot the Horse
AN: Cobb and Floyd want answers and assurances. Let's hope they're satisfied by what they hear. And Noman's being taken in by a farmer so he doesn't starve to death. He's having the real adventures.
Anyway, I planned for this Chapter to be longer, but decided to split it up instead. The name of this Arc, in case you were wondering, is called the Identity Arc and it started at Chapter 93. It's kind of addressing how Cobb and the other Beginners are demonizing the cultists and Hackers when, maybe, they shouldn't. They don't have much evidence for good, but they have loads of evidence for bad.
Also, bringing back the Herobrine books. One reviewer figured out what the gibberish language at the end of each Herobrine book translates to. See if you can figure it out. It's my own personal challenge for you readers (^_^). There's a gibberish excerpt in Chapter 83, Bounty Day, as well.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need some sleepy time. Peace. (Z_Z)