Everyone is in the library, Zuri is going over the plans for the expedition.

Z: Okay. First we will need some armour and weapons.

M: Wait, we'll have to fight?

Z: Not if we don't want to.

N: Okay…

Z: We have an armourer in our village, but not a weaponsmith

Su: Oh, there is one in my village!

Z: Nice, do you have emeralds? Y'know what? Have some of mine.

Su: Wh– Okay.

Z: Go and buy the best weapons you can, at least one for each of us. We have a deadline, so be quick.

St: Alright, I'll go with him, I gotta take care of my pet.

Z: Great! You two better leave now, we have a bit of a deadline.

Sunny and Steve leave, they have to climb the mountain range and go towards the village on the other side.

N: Wait! You two– Will be fine, nevermind, you know the way back.

St: Yup! Don't worry!

Sunny and Steve climb the cliff and begin to walk as the swamp village starts to leave their field of view.

Su: We just got to this village and we're already leaving.

St: Well, we at least won't have to sleep up here like last time, since we're leaving earlier. What do you think this "trip" is about?

Su: I don't know, I just hope it's not dangerous. By the way, we just went with it didn't we?

St: Hah, yeah. We met the guy and decided to go on an adventure with him without even knowing what is to come.

Su: No, and he trusted us to help him immediately. It kind of makes sense, I guess. We're humans, an endangered species, we gotta trust one another.

St: Also, making friends is easy.

Su: It is.

Steve and Sunny keep walking and creating theories about what the expedition is about.

Meanwhile, Zuri just finished trading with the armourer and is ready for the next step and one of the most dangerous. He goes over to the library, where everyone is.

Z: Okay everybody, we are ready for the next step. It will be… Hold on a second, I think I just thought of an easier way to do the thing. Is there anyone here that's good at mining?

N: Steve is. He told me he mines emeralds for a living, I guess.

Z: We were gonna need a lot of obsidian for the next part of the plan, but I think I can acquire that on the surface without the need to go underground. I'll do some research and see if we will need the other guy.

Sunny and Steve can finally see the plains village from atop the mountain. They descend carefully. As they get to the bottom, Steve goes straight to his house without a single drop of worry about the mission. Something more important awaits him.

Sunny goes straight home, he is a bit concerned and really needs to talk to his mother about everything.

Steve gets to his front door, he feels a bit uneasy then goes inside to greet Woof. The wolf is ecstatic. It's not like Steve spends a lot of time home, so Woof greets him as usual.

St: Okay, little man, listen…

Woof doesn't listen.

St: I'll stay out of town for a couple of days. I don't know when I'm coming back, but if it takes longer than five days I'll make sure to abandon the mission. I'll go out and buy some stuff and leave early tomorrow. For now, I'll just prepare and be here I guess.

Steve takes clean clothes and goes to wash himself.

The first thing Sunny does as he gets home is take a bath. He wonders for a bit what the whole trip he is going to is all about. He wonders if the whole thing will be worth it. Should he stay home and help his mother?

After putting his clothes on, Sunny takes some bread and goes after his mother, she should be at the shop working. A bit of guilt fills him as she gets into his field of view and gets closer. Thankfully, it's a slow day at the shop and Sunny and his mother will be able to talk without a lot of interruptions.

Su: Mom!

Sunny's mother looks at him, her eyes shine, then the shine fades as he approaches.

Su: I've– Um… I uhh…

She gets closer and starts to push him as she murmurs angrily.

Su: I'm sorry! It's like– There was– Listen…

She calms down and lets him explain himself.

Su: Okay, there was this guy that visited the village, he said he was an explorer and that there was another village on the other side of the mountain. I didn't believe him, so me and Steve went with him - and sure enough - there was another village. At the other village, there were other humans, I swear. One of them said that there is a… Thing… He had a quest for the explorer guy, it involves discovering new biomes and there is a potential new species to be discovered. Anyways, the guy needs help with resources–

Sunny's mother signals him to slow down.

Su: He needs help with resources and tools for the trip. He gave me these emeralds to trade with the armourer– I just noticed something.

She raises the left side of her unibrow.

Su: Mom, I'm sorry for disappearing yesterday without a warning and leaving you by yourself. I didn't even apologise. But– You gotta understand, they need me.

She murmurs more and gesticulates.

Su: Yeah, I know, that's why they need the armor, I can't just give the emeralds back and tell him to make some armor himself.

Steve arrives, ready to get the resources with Sunny.

St: Hi Sunny's mom! How's it going?

She doesn't look glad to see him.

Su: Oh, dude, you came in at the worst time.

Sunny's mother starts to murmur more.

Su: Yeah, she really doesn't like the idea of the trip. Let's just… Go and get the stuff for Zuri and I'll probably come back.

St: I mean, it makes sense. Your mother isn't wrong for not letting you go away with a stranger.

Su: Let's go. Mom, I'll be back, I just need to give the equipment to the guy. You need help with the shops, after all.

Back at Zuri's village, Noor is exploring the library, looking around the maps section.

N: Man, this is insane… Are you sure he made all of this by himself?

Ma: Yeah, I mean, Zuri told me he wrote most of the books here with knowledge he got from back home. He also stole a couple of these.

N: Nice. I'll have to read all of this, this guy's handwriting is beautiful and surprisingly easy to read.

Ma: Hah yeah. Where is he, by the way? I'll go look for him.

Makena goes to Zuri's house and finds him about to go out.

Ma: Why… all of this?

Z: Just some equipment for a test, come with me.

Makena follows Zuri to a field not far from the village. They end up near a lava pool.

Z: Nice, We are about to find out if we need… The mining guy to get the obsidian.

Ma: Steve?

Z: Steve.

Zuri and Makena spend a while building a mold of a ring out of stone. They pour a bit of lava inside, then water to turn it into obsidian, then they keep alternating until the mold is full. They break the stone around.

Z: Look at that! A ring of obsidian, three meters tall, two wide!

Ma: Nice! I still don't know what this is all about. We spent the whole afternoon on this.

Z: Watch this.

Zuri grabs flint and steel. He collides them and creates a spark, which touches the obsidian creating a purple fire. The flames spread around the inside of the ring and close in a spiral, forming a translucent purple portal with a spiral pattern.

Ma: Oh my– What!?

Z: It works it works it works it works it

Zuri throws a bucket of water into the obsidian ring, closing the portal.

Z: Things can come out as easily as we can go in.

Ma: Okay, scary.

Z: We just saved some time, we don't need to go underground to get obsidian, which means there's no need to try and create a pickaxe out of diamonds.

Ma: Nice. It's getting late, so I'll go back to the library and get some sleep.

Z: Yeah, we will need some rest. We got… 10 days until the place we're going to is inaccessible.

Zuri and Makena go back to the village as the sky gets darker. Merl and Noor sleep in the library with Makena.

Steve and Sunny finished buying the equipment and got a cart to carry all of it. They each go to their own home and get ready to sleep. Sunny's mother wants to talk to him.

The next day, Steve wakes up, washes himself and gets more clothes. He feeds Woof and leaves extra food for him. Woof is trained to divide his food into meals. Steve takes the cart in front of his house and goes over to Sunny's.

Sunny woke up earlier than Steve and took longer to leave. His mother let him go on the trip and come back when it's finished, but he needed to get some more resources for the shop.

Steve and Sunny meet and climb the mountain carrying four iron swords and one diamond sword, five bows, a crossbow, and a bunch of arrows.

Su: You think this is enough?

St: I think it's okay, I genuinely forgot how many people are going, I'm not gonna lie. Me, you, Noor, the weird girl…

Su: Merl, Makena, and Zuri. That's six people.

St: I call dibs on the crossbow!

Su: We're missing one melee weapon.

St: I think I can take care of myself with the crossbow. We just need to see who will keep the diamond sword.

Su: I… We will have to run some tests.

Back at the swamp village, Makena and Zuri enter the library with six sets of iron armor missing their helmets, with golden boots. They also have bags with clothes.

Z: Okay everyone, we got some protection. I asked the armourer for some very flexible armor for better movement.

Ma: We also got some clothes from the shepherd, just in case we get something dirty or destroyed. There's some hygiene stuff too.

Z: I managed to open the portal, I will go in today for a recon mission.

N: Nice! I'm going with you.

Z: Alright, let's eat and put on the armor. We'll leave as soon as Steve and the other guy come back.

Merl goes over to the bags and picks some clothes and a towel.

Ma: Just keep them in the basket in the bathroom, I'll take care of it.

Sunny and Steve finally come back from the other side, with a cart loaded with weapons. They go straight to the library.

Su: Alright, we're back! What have you guys been up to?

Ma: Not much. We made the portal using an alternative method and don't really need to go underground anymore.

St: Ah.

Ma: Noor and Zuri are inside, they're waiting for you.

Steve and Sunny head inside the library, carrying the weapons.

Zuri and Noor are trying to figure out how to put on the armor properly, Zuri put on the chestplate backwards.

St: You guys are looking.

Su: Yo, actual armor!?

N: Apparently. Did you guys bring the thing? Oh, you did.

Z: Nice, me and Noor are going into the nether for a little recon mission. I think we're all set. Grab your sword and come with me.

N: Is that a diamond sword? Been a while since I last used one.

He takes the diamond sword, Zuri takes an iron one, a bow, and a quiver.

Z: Take a bow and arrows, the terrain there is kinda complicated.

Su: We were… Gonna hold a little election to decide who was going to keep the diamond sword. But it seems like ya got some experience with it.

Z: Alright guys, come with us. This should be pretty quick, I just need… This.

Zuri walks over to a corner and takes an iron pickaxe. He goes outside, everyone follows him.

Ma: Oh, you guys are going?

Z: We're going.

Merl and Makena join them on the walk to the lava pool. The top half has fallen off.

Ma: Oh.

Z: Nah, don't worry. Just the same thing as yesterday, but less.

Steve and Zuri hold the top half of the portal in place while Makena pours lava and then water to reattach it. The portal is complete, Zuri ignites it.

Noor and Zuri hesitate a bit before going in.

Ma: Be careful.