5. On the fact that the people who fell with me don't listen to me.
5. On the fact that the people who fell with me don't listen to me.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Asagi asked with a look that could tear a person to shreds. I felt wronged.
"This was force majeure... and, well, sometimes destroyed blocks can bounce off to a location far from where they can be looted... so."
Asagi's eyes narrowed. It seemed she believed I had done it on purpose. They say a person with bad luck will break their nose even when falling backward, and it felt like I was in that exact situation right now. I had dug up the dirt block to try and work hard, but it seemed like that was only going to make me look suspicious again.
I quickly changed the subject.
"But we still have a harvest! Because one dirt block disappeared, we were able to figure out how many dirt blocks this place we're standing on is made of! Look! The dirt blocks we're standing on were 24! 4 wide! 6 long!"
"And now it's become 23."
Could you please just shut up, Ranma?
I was about to glare at Ranma for chiming in from the side, but I realized Ranma was much stronger than me and immediately lowered my gaze. I'm the person with the most important ability here, but also the weakest.
"At this rate, it might be impossible to move all the dirt."
"......."
I had no excuse even if I had ten mouths. Actually, it just occurred to me, but if I had connected the area around the ground with Oak Slabs beforehand and then dug the dirt, I would have succeeded without failure.
I couldn't say that now, though, because I felt like I'd really get hit if I did.
"But you don't have to worry."
I cautiously brought it up to Asagi and Ranma, who didn't seem to like the situation. Whether 72 minutes hadn't passed yet, or they had passed but the growth attempt failed, I could see two Oak Saplings swaying in the wind on the small patch of land.
"If we can just get gravel, we can get dirt. If we can hold out until then, it's even possible to get an infinite supply of dirt."
"Where do we get gravel?"
"That's the problem."
When I answered Asagi's question, she fell into thought with an expressionless face. What I said was true. If you combine 2 gravel and 2 dirt, you get 4 Coarse Dirt. If you till the Coarse Dirt with a hoe, it becomes dirt.
It's magic where 2 dirt becomes 4 dirt.
However, in this situation, in Sky Block, there is only one way to get gravel. Trading with Piglins.
Piglins aren't here in the Overworld where I, Asagi, and Ranma are, but in the Nether world, which you can only reach by taking a portal made using Obsidian.
Obsidian is the hardest mineral excluding Bedrock, and for starters, there's nowhere to mine it, and obtaining it is impossible. It means we can't go to hell.
If the bastard who brought us here made arrangements, there might be Obsidian somewhere to build a portal, but there's no telling how long it would take to find it, and even if we somehow managed to get to the Nether, we'd need Gold Ingots to trade with Piglins.
Trading Gold Ingots for gravel.
I don't know where this miraculous calculation method came from, but you can at least get gravel with this crazy exchange rate of trading gold ingots for gravel.
Once you cross into the Nether, collecting gold ingots is a piece of cake, but it still remains a crazy difficulty level regardless.
"So you're saying we have to hold out with 23 dirt blocks until then?"
"Right?"
As I nodded, Asagi quietly raised her Wooden Sword. It seemed she judged that the words I offered to avoid getting hit weren't tempting enough information to make her want to forgive me.
As I freaked out, Ranma, who had been watching quietly, stopped Asagi.
"Ajumma! Stop! Even if you don't like the situation, we need this guy!"
"A... Ajumma...?"
Asagi, who had unintentionally taken damage from Ranma's shout, stared at Ranma with a stiff expression. Ranma realized he had made a slip of the tongue and quietly moved away from Asagi, stepping a bit further off and starting to pretend like nothing happened.
"Huu...."
After glaring at Ranma for a moment, Asagi lowered her sword, perhaps realizing that there was no solution right now if it wasn't for me.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness! Thanks to Ranma stopping her, I succeeded in preventing that Wooden Sword I made for her from dancing around.
"Then what do we do from now on?"
"Huh?"
At Asagi's question, I tilted my head. Well, what do we do? There's nothing to do.
"There's nothing to do."
"Nothing to do? Then does that mean you don't know what comes after this either?"
At my words, Asagi quickly raised her sword. Then she opened her mouth.
"I've memorized everything you've explained so far. Since I don't need any more information, I think it would be best to kill you."
"Wait! Waiiiit!"
Startled by Asagi's words, who suddenly started saying absurd things, I raised my hand to stop her from picking up the Wooden Sword. Asagi stopped trying to pick up the Wooden Sword and looked at me.
"I know much more information! If you kill me now, you won't be able to get out of here!"
"How can I trust that?"
"Please, believe me!"
I knelt in front of Asagi and begged earnestly. I could see Asagi making a bewildered expression. I, who was prepared to do anything here, pride be damned, threw away my pride for survival.
"I'll do everything you tell me to! I was dragged here against my will too! I'm not strong like you guys! I won't act tough! I'll even give you the apple I have!"
"...I don't need the apple."
As I suddenly started begging earnestly, Asagi shook her head with a flustered expression and said. Thank goodness. I have to hold out with one apple until the Oak Tree grows!
"Why don't you trust him since he's begging that much? We need this guy for survival too."
"That's right! Absolutely! I will serve you with all my might! Even though I look like this, I'm a Minecraft veteran!"
"Hmm...."
Asagi made a thoughtful expression as even Ranma joined in to take my side. I looked at Asagi with the most pitiful expression I could muster. Asagi, perhaps feeling burdened by my gaze, turned her eyes away from where they had met.
"...I'll spare your life for now. Cooperate with us to the best of your ability. Got it?"
"Yes! I was planning to do that anyway! Just let me live!"
I quickly nodded and shouted. Asagi sighed, perhaps feeling like it was foolish to have been wary of me until now, seeing my appearance. Then she asked again.
"So? Why did you say there was nothing to do?"
"We have to wait until the Oak Saplings grow to get materials."
I said, pointing to the two saplings planted in the ground. Asagi nodded at my words.
"So that's what you meant. You said it might or might not grow every 72 minutes, right?"
"Yes. To be precise, only while the sun is up. It never grows when the sun goes down."
...Since when did I start using polite language with Asagi? Even though she's older than me by setting, she's technically just a fictional character created by human hands!
I thought that, but I didn't say it out loud.
Fists are close, and the law is far. No, there is no law. Because this is a lawless zone! If only I had brought a stronger ability! It seems they gave abilities according to characteristics. Ranma and Asagi have their original powers, and I am....
An ability befitting a shut-in Minecraft addict.
"Then let's take a short break. By the way."
Asagi sat down while saying that. Since I was kneeling, I just had to adjust to a comfortable position at Asagi's words, but as soon as I sat down, Asagi asked.
"What do we need to do right now?"
Asagi asked that. Ranma didn't seem to have any intention of joining the conversation between Asagi and me, but he seemed equally curious about the part Asagi asked about.
"Right! I was curious about that too."
Looking at Ranma, I know how much of a blockhead he is. It was correct to judge him as a muscle-brained idiot. Therefore, Ranma's words right now sounded like nothing more than him throwing out a comment just to avoid looking stupid.
For now, there was no need to pick a fight with Ranma. Because Ranma is strong. If he gets pissed off and beats me up, my position will instantly drop to the lowest among the three of us. There is a world of difference between me bowing down without us actually fighting, like now, and me bowing down after getting beaten up by Ranma. In the former case, I might look like a mature Byeong-sun who avoids fighting because he doesn't want to fight a kid, but in the latter, I could become the neighborhood idiot brother who goes around getting beaten up by a kid.
I must never let that happen. Although it seems it might already be too late.
I vowed to myself and answered Asagi's question.
"Monsters."
"Monsters?"
"Yes. Monsters. We need to catch a whole lot of monsters."
I said that, looking at Asagi with eyes filled with conviction. It was something I could never imagine doing on my own, but since Asagi and Ranma are people who can fight a bit, it'll probably be fine, right?
Or not?
"So we have to build a small Artificial Dungeon by tomorrow."
I pointed to the planks I had laid out. We need to continue connecting that area to build a dungeon where monsters can't pass through, but only we can move around freely.
If you don't lie in a bed for 3 days, a monster called a Phantom appears from the sky. These bastards are flying types, so they are really tough to deal with. The things they drop are useless in our current situation, and fighting a monster that flies in the sky in a narrow place like Sky Block is definitely a crazy thing to do, even to someone like me who is a layman at combat.
To prevent Phantoms from appearing, we have to make a bed and lie in it within 3 days. We just have to lie down.
A bed requires 3 pieces of wool, and there is no wool here. Since there are no sheep, it's hard to get wool.
However, in dark situations, Spider monsters spawn. If you kill these guys, they drop spider webs, and you can make one piece of wool with 4 spider webs. 12 spider webs make 3 pieces of wool. Since we can get planks by growing Oak Trees, it means we can supply the materials to make one bed.
If we even just lie in the bed, the 3-day timer resets. Therefore, if we're in a rush, it's fine for the three of us to take turns lying in one bed. For comfortable survival later, we'll need to get beds for the number of people, and for future preparations, the more beds the better, but we don't have the capacity to worry about that right now.
"We have to chop down Oak Trees to make supplies and kill a hell of a lot of spiders."
Otherwise, we might all die after 3 days. Because I don't even know how scary a reality-adjusted Phantom will be.
Skeletons and Zombies and such will probably come out too, so I hope they're at least a little bit weak. Skeletons will shoot bows, right. What should I do?