14. First Battle.
14. First Battle.
For starters, at least I was right to move with Asagi. I'd blocked the path, so I needed to clear this path first, but... why are they all the way at the entrance?
Guaaaa...
"What the? It seems like only the zombies are detecting us, leaving the other mobs alone."
"Yeah, you're right. Why is that?"
I pondered. Basically, the distance at which mobs detect and follow a player is 16 blocks. It's the same for Skeletons and Creepers. Hmm...
Ah.
Was it 40 blocks for zombies?
"Ah..."
I felt hopeless. The situation kept getting worse. Why did I only think of that now? Does that mean they've been rubbing their bodies against these Oak Planks this whole time? It was a good thing I'd built a wall of planks just in case. Normal monsters can never break these planks. There aren't any monsters that attack with the intention of breaking them, anyway. If a Creeper explodes, blocks get destroyed, but the Creeper's detection range is 16 blocks. Since the closest Creeper to us was 24 blocks away, I didn't think I had to worry about a Creeper detecting us and crossing the bridge.
Besides, as long as our figures aren't visible, hidden by the pillars, Creepers will never explode. If we build a wall entirely, there's no way a Creeper will ever explode. We might just end up as rats trapped in a jar, though.
"Hey! What do we do about this?"
Ranma asked, hopping up onto the wall I'd stacked two blocks higher and pointing down with his finger. Beneath Ranma's feet, zombies were reaching up, looking at him.
"Just wait a second."
I told Ranma and pondered. The horde of zombies filling the bridge right now would clearly keep being replenished even if they disappeared. Since they came out of that space, monsters would spawn again in the empty space. If they kept spawning, it would eventually fill up with other monsters besides zombies, but that wasn't the case right now. It might be best to push all the zombies off the cliff for now.
But how to do that... Oh, right.
"This might be possible without even fighting?"
"How?"
Asagi asked when I muttered to myself. The method I'd just thought of again was to wipe out all the zombies and pray that spiders would spawn in place of the missing zombies. I doubted whether that was possible here, but since I had to build a Monster Tower using this method anyway, it was better to just try it now.
"Just wait a moment."
"Hey! What about the zombies here? They keep swarming in!"
"Even if you leave them alone, they can't do anything. There won't be any zombies that can break through the plank wall."
"That does seem to be the case from what I can see right now, but..."
Ranma made a dubious expression at my confirmation but didn't say anything else. Come to think of it, I realized that in this situation, I could even build a Zombie Farm.
Though I'm the bait.
Let's just keep this as a thought for now. What I had to do right now was keep reducing the number of zombies so that as many spiders as possible would spawn in their place. If more than 10 spiders appeared, there would be no need to go through all that bullshit to catch Creepers.
I quickly ran to the crafting table and made Trapdoors. Trapdoors are quite useful items in Minecraft. 6 Oak Planks make 2 Trapdoors. I quickly brought the crafted Trapdoors and installed Half Blocks in an 'L' shape next to the 24M bridge I'd made earlier that was blocking the zombies, creating a small path connecting to the bridge. However, I didn't connect it directly to the bridge. If I did that, it was obvious that the zombies, currently milling about because the path was blocked, would cross over to our side through the newly connected path.
"You're not thinking of connecting it, are you?"
Asagi asked, watching what I was doing. I shook my head. I would connect it, but what Asagi was thinking and what I was thinking were completely different. A path had appeared next to the bridge. It was a 1M wide path connected only by a single Half Block. I stopped right there, not connecting it by the size of the last 2 blocks. 2M right in front of me, the zombies that had detected me were growling at me, but because there was a cliff on my side, the zombies just growled and didn't attack me.
I'm fucking terrified. But the assessment is finished.
The monsters seemed similar to the Minecraft system. Originally, monsters in Minecraft are governed by a 'Pathfinding Algorithm'. When they detect a player, they find a path that leads to the player. However, if the path to the player is cut off by a cliff, the monster might come right up to the edge of the cliff, but it will never fall down. The monster avoids 'falling to its death' on its own. It was an incredibly annoying algorithm.
But there's a trick to twist that algorithm, and the easiest method is the Trapdoor.
When you install a Trapdoor, you can fold and unfold it, and when the Trapdoor is unfolded, you can walk on it. Monsters also recognize the Trapdoor as a 'path'. Then what if you fold the Trapdoor? Even then, the monster's Pathfinding Algorithm recognizes the folded Trapdoor, which has an open space underneath, as a path and walks on it. Naturally, because the space below is open, contrary to the monster's judgment that it's a path, the monster ends up falling down.
And I'm trying to increase the number of zombies by making that right now.
If this algorithm applied as is, it was clear that things would become incredibly comfortable from now on. We have to keep catching monsters from now on anyway. If we set it up like this, at least we don't need to push ourselves to catch zombies. Just by playing with the Pathfinding Algorithm, we could safely catch hundreds of zombies.
I first attached a Trapdoor to the plank sticking out from our side and immediately folded it. Now, if I just install one more on the 24M bridge where the zombies are and fold it, a cliff that the zombies recognize as a path will be created.
"Does this have any meaning?"
"You'll see."
I had to be tense here. I had to fold it immediately upon installation so the zombies wouldn't cross over. I asked Asagi to keep watch in case of any unforeseen situations, then took a deep breath.
If I make a mistake here, it's a big deal. Let's pull myself together.
I was ready. I installed the Trapdoor connecting the bridge where the zombies were standing and the path I'd just made, and immediately folded it. And a miracle happened.
"Guaaaa!"
"Kyaaaa!"
A cliff that was dangerous to anyone who saw it; amidst the confusion created by the zombies' Pathfinding Algorithm, the zombies mistook the cliff for a path and threw themselves into the void below. The sight of dozens of zombies committing suicide in an orderly fashion was incredibly delightful. Asagi and Ranma, who were watching me from on top of the planks and from behind me, widened their eyes at the sudden mass suicide of the zombies. I felt like I was going crazy with delight.
"It worked! It worked! Hahahaha!"
To think this is possible! If this is possible, it's possible for us to fight monsters whenever we want. It means we can absolutely win in fights against monsters. Because we only have to fight when we can win.
This lowers the difficulty significantly. The methods for making Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots, and Villagers are still a pain in the ass in terms of difficulty, but now it's safe to say there's nothing we need to be careful about except for Creepers and Endermen. As for Skeletons, I wasn't even worried since they'd burn to death on their own if left alone.
"I don't think we'll have to fight Creepers."
"Uh? Uh? Can that really happen?"
"Yes, I'll make it so we never have to fight Creepers. I'll be guarding this spot, so please just keep watch."
I said confidently. By tomorrow morning, everything will have burned to death, leaving only spiders and Creepers. If we can just lure them, separating spiders and Creepers is simple. It means we can catch and kill only the spiders tomorrow morning.
"Now, what we need is to make as many spiders as possible spawn in the current Monster Farm. Since the zombies will keep approaching me anyway because of their detection range, let's try to increase the number of spiders while reducing the number of zombies."
"Uh... yeah. Let's do that. Honestly, it would have been tough if you weren't here. You're amazing."
Asagi said that blankly, then smiled at me a little. Just that alone made my dick hard. Finally! Finally, Asagi is acknowledging me a little!
But that and an erection were completely different issues, so I slipped my hand into my pants pocket, reached through my underwear, and stealthily grabbed and held down my dick that was growing toward my leg. If I got caught with a hard-on, the points I'd finally earned with Asagi might all fly away.
Asagi wiped the smile off her face while looking at me and returned to her expressionless look. As expected, it might be a bit hard to score points with just one time. Still, I had hope that if I kept working hard like this, someday Asagi would also open her heart and actively cooperate with me. Until then, there was no other way to overcome the current situation than for me to try a little harder.
"Now, take a breather. I'll kill all the zombies. The spiders... 9 have already spawned."
"That's amazing."
Asagi nodded and sat down where she had been standing. Ranma was still sitting on the wall I'd built. We finally had a moment to breathe. It seemed like we didn't need to worry too much about Creepers, so there couldn't be a better situation than this.
That was when it happened.
"Huh? That guy I drew for you the other day is here?"
"What?"
"What do you mean, that guy you drew for me?"
Ranma pointed toward the Monster Farm once again. When I turned my gaze that way, a black monster, much larger than a normal Skeleton or Zombie, was standing there. My jaw dropped.
Its eyes were glowing ominously in purple. Its limbs were thin and long, and it had long, sharp claws on its fingers, and it was standing upright, looking around. Other than that, it was a monster that was just standing still, doing nothing.
It's an Enderman.
"Ah... fuck..."
I had no choice but to pray that it would stay still.