2. On the fact that the people who fell with me don't listen to me.
2. On the fact that the people who fell with me don't listen to me.
A tiny patch of land floating alone in the sky. I swallowed hard as I looked at the man and woman staring at me without saying a word. The sun was already shining brightly. If this place truly follows the rules of Minecraft, we need to do something about the tree behind me immediately. But the problem is what these two are thinking right now.
"This is Sky Block."
"Sky Block?"
At my words, Asagi scoffed again, and Ranma furrowed his brows, muttering to himself. He wasn't muttering because he wanted an answer from me; he was just rolling the word 'Sky Block' around in his mouth. Since I'd let them know it was Sky Block, I had to explain quickly.
"Yeah. Sky Block. It's a place where we have to survive using this floating land, the tree, and the items in this chest."
"Survive? And then what?"
"..."
There is no 'then what.' You 'just' survive. How long you keep going and when you end it is up to the player. People who find it fun build all sorts of crazy things here and have a blast, but people who don't find it fun or lack the skill just quit the game without doing anything. But for us, here and now, whether we like it or not, we're in a situation where we have to survive. Because this is actually happening.
I had a hunch. It was a huge relief that I had done an Ender Dragon marathon stream just yesterday. If you defeat the Ender Dragon and enter the portal that spawns in the center, the Minecraft Ending Credits roll. After that, you return to the Overworld, but this is reality. There was a possibility that we could return to reality after that.
The problem, however, is how to activate the Ender Portal and defeat the Ender Dragon.
Because there's no way to get Obsidian here.
"We have to kill a dragon."
I told them for now. Whether my words were possible or impossible, the most important thing was to plant a goal in the people here. If we kill the dragon and enter the portal that appears, we can return to our original world. Even if I only told them that much, I could expect them to cooperate to some extent. I'm the only one here who has played the game Minecraft. It's impossible that the game Minecraft exists in their worlds, too.
"A dragon? Like this?"
Ranma asked, twisting his body in the air. It seemed like he was talking about an Eastern dragon. Come to think of it, everyone here is from Asia. Both of them are Japanese. Except for me.
"No, this dragon."
I spread my arms left and right, mimicking the flapping of wings. That alone was enough for Ranma to understand; he slapped his fist into his palm.
"Ah~ That dragon?"
"Yeah. This dragon."
"....I have no idea what you're talking about."
Asagi, who had been watching the idiotic conversation between Ranma and me, sighed. Both Ranma and I turned bright red. We realized we had been acting like idiots in front of a sexy noona in her early 30s.
"Anyway! If we just kill that dragon, we can go back!"
"Is that so? Then we should kill the dragon. Where is the dragon?"
Ranma rubbed one shoulder and rotated it. He was clearly warming up. I shook my head at Ranma's words.
"It's impossible right now."
"Huh? Why?"
"Are you an idiot? Look around."
Asagi pointed around, looking at Ranma with pitiful eyes. Only then did Ranma realize why I had shaken my head and said it was impossible.
"Ah!"
"Right now, we have to slowly expand this place and build a base where we can survive. Fortunately, I know a lot about this place."
The situation is serious, though. Normally, inside that chest, there should be a bucket containing lava, a.k.a. a Lava Bucket, along with a block of ice. But whether it's a bug or some crazy bastard who sent us here played a prank, there was no ice.
In Minecraft, when you break ice, the ice turns into water. Due to the nature of the game, if water or lava is placed, it flows endlessly from the point where it was placed. When flowing lava and flowing water meet, a Cobblestone Block is generated at that point. Using the feature of endless flow to create an infinite Cobblestone Block generator was the first task in Sky Block. But right now, there is no ice.
Therefore, there is no way to make Cobblestone Blocks.
"The situation isn't great right now, but there are a few things we need to experiment with."
I said that and put on a serious expression. When I made a serious face, Asagi and Ranma also put on serious expressions. There was so much we needed to figure out here. The biggest problem is that we don't know where the Minecraft rules apply and where they don't. Minecraft is a game with immense freedom, but on the flip side, it's also an incredibly unnatural game. Some parts are surprisingly detailed, but other parts are frustratingly rigid, making you wonder why something doesn't work.
First, it was important to figure out what applies and what doesn't.
"What kind of experiments?"
Asagi asked me with an expression that showed she didn't like it. I didn't understand why Asagi was annoyed at first, but then I suddenly realized why she was in a bad mood.
Asagi gets captured and experimented on every day, right?
I thought I should quickly clear up Asagi's misunderstanding. So, I answered Asagi's question quickly.
"First. To see how much this world resembles 'that thing' I know."
"What do you mean 'how much'?"
"For example, like this."
I punched the tree behind me hard with my fist. Normally, it should be possible to 'mine' the tree by hitting it with my fist. Because Minecraft is that kind of game. Since I had to show them, I hit it as hard as I could in front of Asagi and Ranma, loud enough to make a Poeok! sound.
And I regretted it.
"Gyaaaaaah!"
"...."
"...What are you saying?"
My hand! My hand! I think my hand is broken! I writhed on the ground, struggling with the surging pain. It was certain that if I went off the edge, I would fall into the void and die, but I couldn't think of anything else right now; I had to focus on killing the pain. It literally hurt to the bone. When I finally stumbled to my feet after rolling around for a while, Ranma and Asagi were looking at me with pitiful expressions.
"What did you just do?"
"...."
I didn't need anyone to tell me that my face was red right now. I was extremely embarrassed. And inside, I was panicking.
This was just like reality. What do I do? If it's like this, what am I supposed to do?
Since I didn't answer Ranma's question and just kept a serious expression, Ranma seemed frustrated, so he approached me and asked again.
"Hey. When someone asks you a question, you should answer, right? What was that just now?"
"Well... I did it because we should be able to knock down the tree, but it didn't go as planned."
I explained to Ranma with a serious expression. Asagi looked thoughtful when I answered with a serious face. From Asagi's perspective, too, without a sword, breaking a large Oak Tree with bare hands was unimaginable.
But Ranma asked me calmly.
"Is it enough if I just break that tree?"
"Huh?"
"I'm asking if breaking that tree will solve things for now."
At Ranma's calm question, I nodded awkwardly. First, you have to 'mine' the tree to get Oak Log blocks. And you can 'break' the leaves to get various materials and, even though it's an Oak Tree, 'Apple' items.
...To think apples grow on an Oak Tree.
When I nodded, Ranma nodded and grinned. It seemed like Ranma was willing to cooperate with me. While even Asagi was just standing there, Ranma walked up to the Oak Tree and got into a straight punch stance. A strange glint appeared in Asagi's eyes. I was also watching Ranma with an expectant look. In Ranma's world, there aren't many people stronger than him. Basically, since Ranma was a martial artist, he could handle various weapons, but his bare hands were his primary weapon.
"Haa!"
Kwaang!
Ranma let out a shout and delivered a straight punch to the very center of the Oak Tree. It made a sound on a completely different level from when I hit it. It was a destructive force that even surprised Asagi. The part hit by Ranma's fist was completely severed. The Oak Tree, with its middle missing, made a creepy Pudeudeudeuk! sound and started to slowly tilt toward us. Asagi and I were terrified and backed away further. We almost got crushed by the falling Oak Tree.
Kuung!
The tree fell with a loud crash. I barely managed to keep my jaw from dropping. And I remembered the sight of Ranma when he first opened his eyes and tried to fight Asagi, wary of her.
I really could have been fucked.
I let out a sigh of relief inwardly, and he walked past the broken tree toward us. His triumphant expression was annoying, but in this situation, he looked incredibly reliable. If it weren't for Ranma, we would have lasted about 3 days here and then all died.
I probably would have been the first to die, right?
I should get along with these guys.
I made that vow to myself, and I could see hope behind Ranma's back as he walked toward us.
The broken tree began to turn into light, spitting out materials, and started to disappear.
"This is..."
Since it was happening behind Ranma, he couldn't see it, but Asagi, who was looking at the same place as me, saw it, narrowed her eyes, and looked suspicious. I quickly explained to Asagi.
"We have to gather materials like that and survive here."
At my explanation, Asagi finally seemed to trust me to some extent, and she nodded at me. Ranma, walking triumphantly, stood in front of me and laughed.
"How's that?"
"You're the best. So cool. I think I'm totally crushing on you."
"..."
When I said that with sparkling eyes, Ranma made a disgusted face. I quickly walked past Ranma toward where the items were dropped. As I approached, the items naturally disappeared as if they were sucked into my body.
Huh?
"What is this?"
"What the? The things that were on the ground just went into your body."
"Yeah, right?"
Just like Asagi and Ranma said, the items all went into my body. Could it be that I have an Inventory? I immediately thought strongly about opening the Inventory in my mind.
Like a lie, the Inventory opened.
"Wow... wow...."
This is a bit surprising. I've gained an Inventory. It was different from the original Minecraft. There's no quick slot, and no equipment window. It's just an Inventory with about 30 slots, and a 4-slot space where I can craft basic, simple materials. The items that were sucked into my body were displayed in the 30-slot Inventory.
"I've got another thing to experiment with."
I quickly said to the two people looking at me. The two of them looked curious. Certainly, it seemed like those two were now acknowledging that I knew the most about this place.