Chapter 13: Wending
A couple days had passed since the thorough exploration of the desert temple. In spite of the fact that we had to camp out there for the night, Rana and I found no irregularities in the spawn rate of mobs.
That being said, we did encounter a new type of undead mob. We didn't really know what to call them. In fact, we debated calling them husks, or mummies. Regardless, they behaved exactly like zombies. Unlike zombies, however, their appearance was significantly different.
Specifically, their outfit consisted of a tattered, sand-colored t-shirt, and brown pants. Additionally, they had some type of bandage wrapped around their heads. Their skin color was also a dark, brownish gray, instead of a sickly green. Also, compared to zombies, these creatures didn't go up in flames when exposed to sunlight, so they were tougher to deal with, too. At least they seemed to appear exclusively in the desert...Seems like undead mobs are very adaptable.
New foes aside, monsters spawned at about the same rate as always. It had made me wonder what the point of that investigation was, but the reports Johnathan had received could've been just coincidences, so I didn't dwell on it too much.
We returned to our home base the following morning, and took a day off, free from fighting and other related missions. During said day off, Rana had insisted we went to the library.
/
"Hold on, why the library?" I had asked her.
"To learn where to find diamonds for a jukebox!" she then exclaimed joyfully.
Her answer had me feeling confused.
"Wait, don't you know where to find them already?"
"No, the only diamond I got was in the same chest along with the music disc I have."
"Ah, gotcha. To the library we go, then."
We had reached the library with our goal being...research? It was funny to think that it took me three visits to actually do some reading. Upon entering, the librarian merely gave us a look of acknowledgement, and returned their gaze to a certain book on the lectern.
No matter.
After some digging through the various sections of bookshelves, we were surprised to find that Cornelia's library, for the most part, either had novels – some of them written in a strange alphabet – or completely blank books. Very few textbooks were available, especially as far as ores were concerned.
"For as cool as some of these look, they're not very helpful at all...Wanna ask Sebastian to see what they know?" she asked quietly.
"Uh, sure...What's the worst that could happen?" I whispered back.
We casually approached the librarian, while they were either oblivious to our advance, or actively trying to ignore us. As we got to the edge of the stage the lectern was located on, they finally faced us.
"Miss. Sir. Is there anything I could assist you with on this fine day?"
Rana was the one to answer the question.
"Would you happen to know where we could find some diamonds?"
Inexplicably, Sebastian's eyes widened slightly, and then proceeded to close in a thoughtful manner.
"Let me see..." They skimmed through the pages of the book that was resting on the lectern. It was the same book that contained the prophecy. After a moment of silence, they spoke up.
"Diamond ore can be found at level 15, or lower, and can be mined using an iron pickaxe, or stronger."
"...Uh, what do you mean by 'level 15'?" I asked.
"Level 15 refers to the fifteenth layer above bedrock." Their reply brought another question.
"What's bedrock?" Rana asked. I managed to catch a faint sign of exasperation on the white-robed villager's eyes, as they closed the book shut.
"Bedrock is the very foundation of the world. Every single block is, to some degree, resting on this unbreakable material. Legends say it acts as a physical barrier between dimensions. If I, a humble villager knew that, then beings that are capable of shaping this world to their will, such as yourselves, should have known, too."
"..."
"So, does that mean-", Rana started to say, but I cut her off by taking her hand, and turned to Sebastian. I responded in a calm, yet serious manner.
"Thank you for your time, Sebastian. This information will be invaluable on our journey. Have a nice day." We then walked off. Sebastian responded with a goodbye of some kind, but I didn't really pick up what it was.
Outside, Rana turned to me as we were walking away.
"What happened? Why did we suddenly leave?" she asked. Her tone made me understand that she wasn't annoyed, just a little confused.
"We got the information we needed. Not to mention, their condescending attitude was starting to annoy me a little."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I tend to ignore those types of remarks, most of the time."
I nodded along, before responding.
"I do too, but there wasn't any point in sticking around any longer. Besides, who are we to waste that humble villager's precious time?" Thankfully, my mediocre attempt at humor didn't fall flat, since it was met with laughter.
"Hahahaha, yeah, you have a point there... Hey, we still have the rest of the day off. Do you think we should plan for where to go tomorrow?"
"Good idea. Do you want to sit near the well? It's a good resting place."
"Sure thing!"
...
I noticed that I hadn't let go of her hand after exiting the library.
...
/
We had spent the rest of the day weighing our options, and ultimately decided to search for a new cave system somewhere in the plains, since that had more potential than just revisiting someplace one of us had already been to. Not to mention, it sounded more interesting, too.
As such, here we were, a day later, out in the sunflower field east of the village, searching for any type of natural passage that could lead underground. The small, black spots on the map that intercepted the green, could potentially represent a surface opening.
We approached the cave that was closest to us, in the hope that it would go deep enough. The entrance itself wasn't anything to write home about. It was significantly narrower and more unassuming than the one I'd been to previously. That being said, the farther along we went, the wider and darker the stone tunnel became. Our torches were our only source of light.
'We should probably mine some coal, if we come across it.'
After a few more moments of descent, we reached a large, square room with rounded out corners. I couldn't tell whether it was natural or was dug out by someone. A bat was flying near the ceiling, letting out high-pitched cries. It's worth noting that the room wasn't made just out of stone; there were also patches of other minerals, such as granite, andesite and diorite, along the walls and ground.
The room had pathways to a total of three branching, descending tunnels. On our left-hand side, the familiar sound of a stream could be heard, echoing. A faint glow emanated from the middle tunnel that was across from us. Lastly, the right-most tunnel was both quiet, and completely dark.
We stood in the middle of the room, weighing our options.
"So, which one do you think we should check first?" I whispered the question to her, as to not attract any potential mobs that could've been nearby.
"Wait, why do I have to decide?"
"Well, your intuition was pretty helpful last time, so I trust you."
She had a look of contemplation for a moment, until speaking up.
"Uh, let's check the bright way. It could lead somewhere interesting."
"Alright, then."
We took a step forward, but were stopped by an unexpected sound, which made us jump. It was distant, hollow, and strangely metallic. It eventually stopped with a loud bang. I got goosebumps, wondering what could've possibly made such a noise... Extra cautiously, we kept going down the bright path.
Ultimately, however, it didn't matter which path we picked; they all led to the same area... It's just that the side-paths were more roundabout. That was not really that important, though. What was important is where those paths led to, and it was, in a way, shocking to see.
"Woah, is this a mine?"
"Seems like it..."
We could see a long, cramped, carved-out hallway. Starting from the bottom, the floor was made of oak wood planks, and rails were placed along its surface, creating a partially complete railway. Arches that were composed of fences and planks, were serving as support beams for the ceiling.
The air was thick and musty. Through it, tiny gravel particles were slowly making their descent from the ceiling. Illumination was provided from the torches that had been placed on the arches. I briefly wondered how much time they'd been glowing for. Somehow, the atmosphere was simultaneously eerie and a little cozy. I felt like I'd seen a place like this somewhere before, but I couldn't be certain.
"Cool...Wanna follow the tracks and see where they lead?"
"Yes," I answered.
We began heading down the hall. We couldn't even see the end of it...It was fine; so long as we followed the tracks, we'd surely end up somewhere. Interestingly enough, there weren't many ores like one would expect from a mineshaft, meaning that we probably weren't going to find a diamond anytime soon... That said, something caught my eye when we passed through a ledger.
Something blue, amidst the wall. A blue mineral vein...
"Rana, is that a diamond vein?"
She looked at where I was pointing.
"Oh my God, it has to be! I can't believe we got this lucky! Come on, let's get it!"
We readied our pickaxes and mined away at the vein. It was odd, though... Were we really at level 15? I was under the impression that we were closer to the surface than that. Surely enough, when I saw the name of the gem I harvested, I learned that that wasn't what we had been looking for.
"Lapis lazuli?"
"Aw, man... Well, what does it do?"
I checked the recipe book, yet all the crafting recipes that contained lapis lazuli, were the solid lapis lazuli block, and blue dye.
Okay, perhaps we weren't being too reasonable with our expectations. Finding diamond couldn't have been that easy. In any case, there was still plenty of the cave left, so we continued along, following the rails.
...
At the end of the line, sat an old, abandoned minecart with a chest on it. It must've been what made that noise from before. One could feel the age it had been through just by looking at it. There were no traces of the one who had left it there. I...couldn't really explain what that sight made me feel... Rana eagerly walked up to the chest, while I lagged behind.
"Alright! Loot! Maybe we'll find something good, right, Steve? Uh, Steve, are you okay? You seem a little low," she asked me with concern. It seems I didn't really do a good job at hiding my...discomfort.
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure? I don't think I've ever seen you like this?"
"I...I don't really know. The more of this place I see, the more I get a strange feeling. I'm not sure why; I haven't felt anything like this before... It's somehow familiar, and it makes me uncomfortable."
Rana stepped back from the minecart and turned toward me.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"There isn't much point in talking about it. Just, forget it. It's nothing."
I tried to dismiss the conversation, as contemplation was written on Rana face. After a short moment, she spoke up.
"Fine. I won't force you to talk if you don't want to. Just know this, Steve: If you ever feel the need to talk about something – anything, feel free to tell me, please. You don't have to bottle your thoughts, okay?"
"Where did that come from?"
"Well, it's just that, I feel like I still don't know much about you. I understand you lost your memories, so maybe it's because you can't rather than because you don't want to, but even so, you don't really talk much. That's not really a problem, but you don't have to hide how you feel from me. I want to be someone you can trust, and share your burdens with, like you've been to me."
"..."
"...So?"
"...Thank you, Rana. I really appreciate it." I responded with a small smile. She smiled in return and nodded.
"Now, maybe our new loot will cheer you u- wait, do you hear that?" she asked.
"Hear what?"
"This splashing sound! I think it's getting louder!"
I got closer to get a better listen. There was, indeed, a nasty splashing sound resonating from the darkness ahead. I placed a torch as far as my hand could reach, hoping to identify its source. Just outside our vision, we could see something small hopping towards us. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a creature I had never seen before. It was tiny - smaller than a block, cube-shaped, and green. Its texture was fluid, almost like water.
"I think that's a slime!"
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"Slimes were a common fictional creature back in mine. Only that, you know, they weren't all blocky."
"Interesting."
We began to approach the gelatinous creature. In spite of my companion's knowledge, I was still a little hesitant. If experience had taught me anything, it was that anything in this world that wasn't an animal, was aggressive. In any case, I opted to trust her.
After a few moments, the distance between us was reduced to single block. If it had been a hostile mob, we would've gotten hurt by now. I suppose that meant that it was safe, for now.
"Aww, it's so cute!" Rana picked up the living block in her hands. I hadn't noticed until then, but it had two, smaller, darker cubes inside of it, with a third one even smaller than those. From a certain angle, that made it look like it had a face, consisting of two eyes, and small mouth or nose, depending on how one looked at it. So, in a way, yeah, it was kind of cute.
"Do you want to hold it?"
"Uh, no, thank you."
"Okay, then." She settled the slime back onto the ground, as it continued to hop near us. We headed back towards the minecart. At least that was the goal, until a tremor distracted us. It was accompanied by a splashing sound, exactly like the one the slime made, only substantially louder.
From the same direction the tiny slime came from, a giant slime jumped in!
"Is that its mother?!"
The giant slime spanned around two blocks in every dimension and was leagues faster than the small one, too. With every jump it did, the ground trembled. Putting my shield up had almost become an instinct at this point and, while effective, this creature was so heavy that it was able to continuously push me back.
"Could use some help here!"
"On it!"
She unsheathed her iron sword, while I was stuck defending. Despite the urgency of the situation, the large slime didn't prove to be much of a threat, since it disintegrated to smoke and slime particles with a couple slashes.
"Well, that was surprisingly easy!"
Out of nowhere, however, it split into two smaller slimes, that were around half its size, so, a span of one block in each dimension. This was one rather annoying enemy to deal with, but at least I was now able to assist.
Once the small sized slimes were over and done with, we were left with five tiny, harmless, hopping slimes, that were of the same size as the one we'd first encountered. I considered them annoying, but at least we weren't in danger anymore. And besides, just because I found them annoying, that didn't mean that everyone shared the sentiment.
"I'm the queen of the slimes! Bow down to me, subjects!" Rana triumphantly declared, while trying to balance two slimes on her biceps.
"Haha, okay, your majesty." I replied with a small bow. "Want to finally check that minecart?"
"Yeah, sure thing! Although, knowing your luck, it's probably going to have sand, haha!"
"..."