16. Ranma hates the rain.
16. Ranma hates the rain.
Morning came.
The zombies, with their 40-block detection range, had all jumped off the cliff like the Three Thousand Court Ladies, and the Monster Farm was now a crucible of chaos.
Gegegegegek!
I could see the Skeletons that had spawned were all on fire and glowing. Even though the floor was clearly made of Oak Slabs, strangely enough, the Oak Slabs didn't catch fire. What a miraculous thing; it was proof that the "reality correction" in this world was applied quite haphazardly.
"Seeing the Skeletons burn to death now that it's morning makes me feel like the protagonist of a zombie apocalypse movie."
Ranma, standing next to me, said that with a wistful expression. I felt the same way. The Witch, Creeper, and Spider hadn't burned to death yet, but the trap I'd built was still there, and it would work on the Witch and Creeper too. I thought the Witch, being a humanoid monster, would have some intelligence, but that wasn't the case. If she had any intelligence, she should have either talked to us or approached us the moment she spotted us, but seeing as she didn't, it was certain. It was too much of an open Sky Block for her to have not seen us because we were out of her detection range. It didn't make sense that she hadn't seen us.
Once all the Skeletons had burned to death, I moved. There was no need to get too close, and I didn't want to, either. The Creeper wouldn't explode unless I got very close, but the Witch was a crazy monster that would start throwing poison potions if I got even a little bit near her. Since it was my actual physical body that had been transported here, I wasn't sure what would happen if I got poisoned. If I had been bitten by something like a viper, I might have known what it felt like to have poison coursing through my veins, but I had never even seen a viper in my life. I only knew that it was a type of snake.
I unfolded the Oak Trapdoors I had folded up. As the two facing Trapdoors unfolded, they connected the space that had previously been empty air, forming a path. It wasn't a 2-meter wide bridge made of 2 blocks, but a makeshift 1-meter wide path I'd cobbled together, so I had to cross it carefully. I didn't even want to imagine what would happen if I slipped and fell.
As I carefully stepped onto the bridge I had originally built, Asagi, who had been watching from behind, said quietly.
"Be careful."
"Ah. Yes. I won't do anything dangerous, I promise."
"I can tell that from your behavior so far. I know you'd never risk danger."
Correct.
I felt awkward at Asagi's words and scratched the back of my head. But isn't that right? If you die here, it's over. And we are people who have just reached the 3rd day. How many crises have we already overcome in these 3 days? If it weren't for my Minecraft knowledge, Asagi would have starved to death here. She never would have known that apples come from Oak Trees.
I only thought that far and took action. Right now, I had to turn the Creeper and the Witch into the Three Thousand Court Ladies as well. Skeletons drop items when they burn to death in sunlight. The Monster Farm I built was already overflowing with Bones and Arrows dropped by the skeletons. To quickly grab those, I had to clear out the monsters still on the platform that weren't burning in the sunlight.
Spiders are not aggressive mobs in the morning. There are three main types of spiders: Spiders that appear in normal fields, Cave Spiders that appear in caves, and Poison Spiders that appear from spawners in abandoned mineshafts. Poison Spiders only come from spawners, so there's no chance of seeing them here in this Sky Block, and since there are no natural caves generated here, there's no chance of Cave Spiders spawning either. The spider currently spawned in the Monster Farm is just a 'Spider'. A monster that is safe as long as you don't attack it.
As I walked a bit along the bridge and got closer to the monsters, thankfully, with just one attempt, all the Witches and Creepers in the Monster Farm recognized me and started walking toward me. I didn't even look back and just ran away. Once they recognize you, Minecraft monsters will persistently chase you unless you run incredibly far away. The Creeper and Witch were the same; I quickly crossed the unfolded Trapdoors and folded them before the Creeper and Witch could get close. The trap was activated.
I moved a bit further away from the Trapdoors than when I lured the zombies earlier. The Witch is a monster that uses ranged potion attacks, and the Creeper has a larger hitbox than a zombie, so if I stood at an awkward distance, it might explode before falling through the Trapdoors.
My prediction was correct. Fortunately, because I was quite far away, the Witch also fell into the trap and disappeared while chasing me with her potion in hand. The Monster Farm was left with only Spiders. Now, I just had to kill the Spiders and collect 10 pieces of string to make 3 wool blocks. There were 16 Spiders left in the Monster Farm; it seemed like I could collect 10 pieces of string easily. String is an item that drops quite well, after all.
Asagi asked.
"Can we go now?"
"Let's go together."
"What if the Spiders attack?"
"Spiders become non-aggressive mobs when it's morning. As long as I don't attack them, we won't be attacked."
"Then that's fine."
At my explanation, Asagi nodded and walked ahead. Instead of unfolding the Trapdoors right away, I broke the Oak wall I had blocked off all night with my Wooden Axe. It's not like the items disappear just because the wall is broken. It returned to me as Oak Plank items. I was really glad there wasn't a "reality correction" where items disappeared just because I broke it. If that were the case, I really might not have wanted to do it.
Though I would have had to do it to survive.
After demolishing the planks, Ranma, Asagi, and I crossed the 24-meter bridge and arrived at the Monster Farm. The Spiders were wandering around leisurely and didn't attack us. It was Asagi and Ranma who attacked the Spiders first, and while they were fighting, I gathered all the Bones and Arrows left behind by the Skeletons that had burned to death. After some time, when I counted the string obtained from the Spiders killed by Asagi and Ranma, I had obtained a whopping 23 Bones and 30 Arrows. There were 12 useless Spider Eyes. And the long-awaited string, combined with the 2 I had already eaten—wait, no, collected—I could make a total of 13.
With this, making one bed was a success for now; I had managed to make a bed that could definitely block the Phantoms.
"Is this the end?"
Asagi asked me, heaving a sigh of relief. I beamed at Asagi, happy with the decent harvest, and nodded.
"Yes. We are now free from the fear of Phantoms."
"That's a relief. Are we going back now? Is there anything left to do here?"
Asagi seemed to want to rest quickly on the Sky Block side where we originally were. Well, they had stayed up all night, so they must be sleepy.
"Ranma and Asagi-ssi, you two go back first and rest. I'll demolish this place and then go."
"Hmm? Demolish it? Don't you intend to catch more monsters?"
"Hehehe."
At Asagi's question, I took the Bones I had obtained out of my Inventory and shook them.
"Because now I can build a slightly better Monster Farm. This place is no longer needed."
At my words, Asagi muttered, "I see," and nodded. Ranma also seemed sleepy, his eyes half-closed. I felt like dying too, but I couldn't sleep until I finished demolishing this place. There is nothing more dangerous than an unused Monster Farm. I had to break it quickly so monsters wouldn't spawn.
After Asagi and Ranma returned, I broke the blocks one by one, starting from the farthest Oak Slab. Aside from the hassle of having to plan my movement well so I would have a foothold to stand on while retreating, demolishing was much easier than building. Perhaps I had adapted to some extent in just one day, or maybe I felt that demolishing wasn't that dangerous; I was able to break the laid-out Oak Slabs just by kneeling, rather than crawling. Naturally, work efficiency also went up significantly. The Monster Farm, which took all day to build, was demolished in less than 2 hours.
When I returned after finishing all the work, I witnessed Asagi and Ranma peeling and eating apples one by one.
"You were... eating apples?"
"Yeah. It's delicious."
"What about me?"
"There are plenty of apples over there, so eat if you're hungry."
Asagi pointed to the wooden chest where I had left the apples without a second thought. It was an apple I had made and put in there just in case when building the Monster Farm. I couldn't help but feel a little hurt at Asagi's words.
I worked hard all by myself, and they're stuffing their faces without me!?
Ranma, who read the atmosphere, was scratching his head while glancing at me, but Asagi was silently eating an apple with an expression that showed not a shred of guilt.
You're dead.
In my imagination!
I swore in my imagination that I would furiously jerk off to Asagi, and with a sigh, I ran to the Crafting Table before taking out an apple. I had to use the string to make wool, and use the wool and planks to make a bed.
The only wool I could make with string was white wool. I was grateful for even just this. I put the white bed that was made in an instant into my Inventory, opened the wooden chest, took out an apple to eat, and returned to Asagi and Ranma's side. Asagi saw me returning to their side and asked immediately.
"Did you make the bed?"
"Yes. Although I could only make a white bed."
"A white bed? Can beds be made in different colors too?"
"It's possible. You just need dye."
I said that and placed the bed near the Dirt Block. It was a 2x1 sized bed. It was just the right size for one person to lie down. Asagi seemed a little disappointed at the size of the bed. Still, Asagi needed to know that we should be grateful for this. Later, I could just connect the beds to make them bigger.
Since I had placed the bed, I quickly shouted to Asagi and Ranma.
"Alright! Now that we have a bed, everyone take turns lying down and getting up! That's the only way to stop Phantoms from appearing!"
"Got it."
At my words, Asagi quickly approached the bed, lay down in a proper posture, and got up immediately. Because the next person had to lie down. I had originally thought about lying down last, so I waited until Ranma lay down. But even as time passed, Ranma didn't show any signs of lying down and was just staring into the distance.
Why is this guy spacing out when he needs to lie down quickly?
While I was waiting and about to scold Ranma, Ranma's mouth opened first.
"House..."
"Huh? House?"
Why suddenly out of the blue, a house? Can he see a house?
Thinking that, I turned my head to follow Ranma's gaze. And then, I realized why Ranma had been staring blankly in one direction, and why he had said the word "house".
Rain clouds were rolling in.
Ranma's face turned pale as he grabbed my leg and clung to me.
"House! Build a house! Hurry! We must avoid the rain!"