10. First Battle.
10. First Battle.
"For now, I have two strategies in mind."
I approached Asagi and Ranma, who were gathered together, and began my explanation. Basically, there are two main frameworks. Do we enter and fight directly, or do we lure them out? Both have clear pros and cons, but I was leaning towards the former.
"From now on, all materials we get will be used to build an Artificial Dungeon. It's possible to build at least a small one by today. We'll be using Half Blocks."
"Didn't you say monsters don't spawn on Half Blocks?"
"They spawn if you adjust the height. Until we get water, it's best to save materials as much as possible. Once we get water, it won't matter."
"So?"
"I've conceived two types of dungeons. One where we go in and fight, and one where we lure them out. Both have their pros and cons."
Just as I was about to start explaining, Ranma, who had been listening quietly, raised his hand. I turned to Ranma and gestured for him to speak.
"You're going to fight too?"
"Me? Obviously I have to."
"You're weak."
.... I have nothing to say to that. But I absolutely need a dungeon—I called it a dungeon to make it easier for them to understand, but to be precise, it's a Monster Farm. Because we're artificially spawning monsters and killing them to gather materials.
"I also hate the idea of going in like crazy! I'm not strong like Asagi-ssi or you, Ranma."
"I think you're weaker than Akane."
"Akane?"
"There's someone like that."
Ranma kept his mouth shut with a sullen face. He must be talking about Tendo Akane. The girl who has a thing with Ranma. She was his fiancée, right?
"Anyway, even if I don't want to go in, I have to. Even if Ranma or Asagi-ssi kill the monsters, I have to be the one to pick up the items when they drop."
"Isn't it just a matter of us picking them up and bringing them out?"
"No. You guys have no idea how fucking insane the mob spawn rate is here. If the conditions are right, they really come out like crazy."
"Is that so?"
As I shook my head in denial, Ranma rubbed his chin with his fingers and fell into deep thought. He seemed to be agonizing over it because he didn't trust me. I don't want to go either! I want you guys to do the fighting while I just build the base!
"If you and Asagi-ssi catch one each and have to bring the materials out, we might run out of time. The primary goal is string, but that doesn't mean items from Skeletons or Zombies aren't important."
Don't expect Iron Ingots. It would be a jackpot if we got even one today, but it's not an item that drops that easily. However, the Bones dropped by Skeletons are almost guaranteed. Bows and Arrows drop too. In Sky Block, all of these are precious items.
I couldn't give those up either.
"Since I have an Inventory, you and Asagi-ssi can fight without worrying about materials; it's right for me to do the looting. That's why I have to go in with you."
What we need right now is 12 pieces of string. Other things are nice to have, but it's not a problem if we don't have them right now. Still, it's too wasteful to just collect string and ignore the byproducts of the monsters caught in the dungeon we went through all the trouble of building.
"Then, after Asagi-ssi and I hunt, you can just go in after it becomes morning, right?"
"An Artificial Dungeon is a place where monsters spawn even during the day."
"Ugh..."
Ranma finally shut his mouth at my rebuttal. Did he think I was doing this without calculating that? I have a plan for everything! It's not for nothing that I'm called a veteran player.
"First, I'll explain the pros and cons. Luring monsters is relatively safe—not that we won't fight at all, but if it works properly, it's possible to catch monsters without danger."
"What's the downside?"
"The item collection rate is bad."
"Because we're luring and hunting a small number?"
"Exactly. We need to collect at least 12 pieces of string. If we don't make a Bed, Phantoms will start appearing from tomorrow night."
"Are Phantoms that scary?"
"For starters, they fly. Don't forget this is the void; the moment you get knocked off, consider yourself dead. That's no exception for you or Asagi-ssi, Ranma."
I looked at Asagi after saying that. Asagi was also listening to me intently and contemplating.
"What about going in directly?"
"The advantage is that we can catch a lot of monsters, so the supply of material items is good. Collecting 12 pieces of string should be easy."
"The downside? Is it that it's dangerous?"
"Exactly. Because Creepers will appear in the Artificial Dungeon."
"Hmm..."
Asagi frowned even more at the mention of Creepers. That's because I had scared her a lot with talk of Creepers. I was the same way. Until just a moment ago, I thought it would be better to go in directly and increase the material collection rate, but as I found myself explaining the danger of Creepers, I started to feel uneasy about them too. Since I planned to make the Artificial Dungeon small, if even one Creeper exploded inside, we could all die.
"...Shall we go with the luring strategy?"
"Suddenly? Is it because of the Creepers?"
As I opened my mouth after some thought, Asagi asked. I nodded immediately. The explosive power of a Creeper is similar to TNT. They are scary monsters even within the Minecraft game, but now that reality-correction is applied, I didn't even know how far the impact would reach if a Creeper exploded.
Asagi saw my expression turn serious and started asking again.
"If we build a luring dungeon, is the material supply guaranteed?"
"......"
I didn't say anything. Because I couldn't guarantee it either. It's not that we don't have time. Phantoms will probably start appearing from tomorrow evening or the morning after. We can hunt monsters without worrying about Phantoms until tonight. The problem is not knowing how strong the monsters are.
"Let's go with the sure thing for now."
"Do you think it's better to do that?"
"Yeah. Since you can't test the monsters' combat power, Ranma and I will test it, and we can worry about the rest after that."
I nodded at Asagi's words. Building a dungeon to enter and fight in was simple. I just had to extend a 24m bridge from where I was, and use that as a starting point to create a platform where monsters could spawn. If I installed the Half Blocks as top-half blocks instead of bottom-half blocks, the Y-coordinate would be an integer, so it was certain that monsters would spawn. Since it was better to have as many monsters as possible, I used all the materials I had to make the platform as large as possible. That way, it would be easier for Asagi and Ranma to move around. If too many monsters appeared, we'd just give up and wait for morning. Zombies and Skeletons burn to death when the sun rises anyway.
Since Spiders and Creepers stay alive even when the sun rises, if we were just collecting string, we could just block the entrance after building it and stay up all night. The Zombies and Skeletons would burn to death, leaving only the Spiders and Creepers.
"Aaaah!"
"Watch out!"
So, I was currently crawling on Oak Planks, laying them out in the void. It was because I had to build a platform 24m away from me. I was currently connecting a 2m-wide bridge to the 24m mark.
It's fucking scary! It's a huge relief that there's no wind, but right now, there's nothing but void under the bridge. I'm crawling, so there's no danger of falling, but building a bridge up to 24m at this height without safety gear was, as expected, a task that made my legs tremble.
Just in case, I brought Ranma along. Ranma was currently behind me, holding my ankles to keep me steady. If I happened to fall, Ranma would save me, right? Why am I the only one who can build! When I gave Asagi a Wooden Sword, she used it, so I thought Ranma or Asagi could also participate in building, but while the planks stuck together perfectly without nails when I connected them, they never connected when Asagi or Ranma tried to attach the materials.
Because of that, I wasted 4 planks. The amount that could be made from one log fell down and flew away.
"Fuck! Fuck!"
"Stop swearing! I know you're scared, but you're making me act weird too!"
I decided to swear in my head at Ranma's words. If Ranma got annoyed and started hating me, there would really be no answer from then on. Asagi already hates me, so if Ranma hates me too, it's a huge problem.
"23! 24! Done! It's exactly 24m now!"
"Then should I let go now?"
"Don't let go! Don't let go!"
"Sigh..."
Ranma must have had excellent balance from training and sparring at the end of logs, but I'm the type of person whose legs shake even when climbing a jungle gym. Doing this kind of work at this height is something even construction workers connecting power transmission towers probably haven't experienced in reality. It was impossible for an ordinary person to overcome this height as if it were nothing.
"Don't ever let go! If you let go, really! If you let go, really!"
"Really what?"
"I'll be sad! I'll be sad!"
"Just hurry up and do it!"
"Alright!"
I was about to say, "If you let go, I'll really die!" but I realized the person I was threatening was Ranma and quickly changed course. If I had said what I was thinking, I would have been beaten up.
For now, until tonight comes, it was important to make the inside as wide as possible. It's such a shame that we don't have materials! If we had them, we could have built a dungeon where only Spiders spawn without other monsters coming out!