7. First Battle.
7. First Battle.
"I'll break it!"
Ranma launched a brainless charge at the small Oak Tree. I was startled and quickly shouted, "Waaait!"
At my shout, Ranma stopped running and looked at me.
"Why?"
"I have something to test."
I jumped up and opened my Inventory. I need to test the performance of the Wooden Axe I made earlier. Since I made the Wooden Axe anyway, shouldn't I put it to use? Having not seen Asagi use her strength yet, I figured Ranma was likely the strongest among us. Asagi is set as the strongest Taimanin in the original game, but since she's a character who always loses and gets brainwashed, I didn't really have much faith in her. Though she'd still be much stronger than me.
When I took out the Wooden Axe I'd made earlier from my Inventory, Ranma looked intrigued.
"An axe made of wood?"
"Yeah. It's the most basic tool in Minecraft."
Minecraft tools improve in the order of Wood → Stone → Iron → Diamond → Netherite. Wood is the most basic tier, and it's the first tool you have to make when creating a world. In a normal map, it's not a tool you use for very long. It's a tool you use briefly in the beginning and then discard, or burn as fuel in a Furnace. But here, I have no idea how long I'll have to use wooden tools. In Sky Block, I think I might be able to make up to Diamond equipment, but for Netherite equipment, I'd need to go to the Nether World to get materials, and I don't know if that's possible. The term Sky Block implies that the Nether World might also be a Sky Block. If the Nether World is also a Sky Block, I'll never be able to make Netherite equipment.
For now, I had to find out how usable the tools were. I needed to judge whether I should make wooden tools or not. I took the Wooden Axe and struck the trunk of the Oak Tree that had just grown into a full tree with all my might.
Pueok!
Oh. It sticks.
"It sticks!"
"Oooooh!"
As I cheered, Ranma, who had been watching me swing the Wooden Axe from the side, let out an exclamation. With this, Ranma wouldn't have to break trees by himself anymore. I spoke to Ranma, who was looking at the Wooden Axe stuck in the tree trunk in amazement.
"Ranma, you rest. I'll break this."
"Are you sure that's okay?"
"Yeah. I need to be able to do at least this much to prepare for any contingencies."
At my words, Ranma nodded, went over to where Asagi was sitting and watching, and sat down to watch me. Somehow, Asagi's gaze seemed to have softened a bit. It seemed my image improved a little since I volunteered to do the work.
I didn't say it, but in reality, I'm doing this for myself. If, by some slim chance, Asagi and Ranma were to die, leaving only me, I would have to struggle for survival on my own from then on. This is practice for that eventuality.
Though, I'm probably the one who will die first among us.
Kwang! Kwang!
I gritted my teeth and chopped with the Wooden Axe. I don't know if the system was compensating for me, but the Wooden Axe sank in easily without much effort. Now it felt a bit like Minecraft. I should never hit it with my bare fists. I thought my hands were going to be smashed to pieces back then.
It didn't take more than 5 minutes to fell the small Oak Tree. I was panting and struggling, but I succeeded in felling a small Oak Tree with my own hands using the axe. A tremendous sense of achievement washed over my whole body. Maybe because I used my body for the first time in a while, I felt refreshed from the sweat I'd shed. I shouted "Waaaaah!" and raised both arms high. I looked back, and Asagi and Ranma were watching me.
"..."
"..."
"..."
I quickly lowered my hands.
Ahem. This is pretty embarrassing. To just stare at me without saying a word like that. Can't they at least give me a little praise? I logged a whole Oak Tree with my own strength.
As I was thinking that and feeling disappointed, the fallen Oak Tree also emitted a faint light and turned into materials, which were sucked into my body. It had been looted. I quickly opened my Inventory to check the items.
6 Oak Logs, and a whopping 5 Sticks came out. 3 Apples. 3 Saplings.
I was able to secure daily bread—well, apples—that we could eat again.
"3 Apples came out! And 3 Saplings too!"
"Ooh!"
Ranma jumped up in joy at the news that apples had appeared. I grinned broadly, approached Asagi and Ranma, and handed them each an apple. Asagi and Ranma, who had been swallowing their saliva while watching me eat an apple earlier but refused to eat one, finally took a bite of an apple. Since it was an apple from an Oak Tree, just like me when I first ate one, I saw Asagi and Ranma take a bite with slightly dubious expressions, then widen their eyes as they confirmed it was a real apple.
"This really is an apple, isn't it?"
"Geez... I don't know what kind of messed up world this is."
Ranma was amazed, and Asagi shook her head as if fed up. In any case, both of them had now eaten an apple each. It would be nice if this could help us survive another day, but we'll probably need a lot more apples.
How many apples are we going to have to stuff ourselves with?
To make water, we need a Cauldron, but I have no idea when we'll get enough Iron Ingots to make one. If it would at least rain, I could check if we can drink rainwater, but I suspect that even with reality correction, it won't allow us to get water easily.
While confirming that Asagi and Ranma were enjoying their apples, I replanted the Oak Saplings I had obtained at regular intervals. This is because if Oak Saplings are too close to each other, they might not grow. If I planted 4 saplings in a square shape, a giant Oak Tree would definitely grow, but making a giant Oak Tree right now isn't efficient. That's because we don't just need logs; apples are important. Apples drop from Oak leaves. Therefore, it's clear that more leaves mean more apples, and 4 small Oak Trees would definitely have more leaves than one giant Oak Tree.
I finished planting the saplings and approached the two and sat down. Now it's time to use the logs to expand the land again. The sun had already set, and the surroundings were starting to get dark.
"What should we do? Now."
"What do you mean, what should we do? Isn't there a battle with the monsters that appear from now on?"
"That's right. I heard that earlier too."
That's why we were made to study. Ranma said that and nodded. I smiled. I don't know about me, but these two need to conserve their stamina. Besides, now that it's night, there's something I need to test again.
"In Minecraft, monsters don't spawn within a 24-meter radius of the player. Since one side of a block is 1M, they don't spawn within exactly 24 blocks. Since this is reality, I need to verify if this setting works properly. Asagi-ssi and Ranma, you should sleep. I shouldn't sleep tonight."
Because I have to verify it. I said that and smiled. This is a critical issue. There are several conditions for monsters to spawn. First, the light level must be 7 or lower. Second, it must be more than 24M away from the player. Third, the Y-coordinate must be an integer. Fourth, in single-player games, more than 70 monsters won't spawn.
Since it's dark, the light level must definitely be 7 or lower. If I were on a computer, I could just press the F3 key to check, but it's frustrating that I can't check here. And the blocks we've laid down to expand the radius so far don't extend to a 24M radius. At most, the diameter isn't even 10M. If the world moves according to the settings, nothing should spawn here no matter what I do.
Furthermore, monsters only spawn where the Y-coordinate is an integer, like 1, 2, 3. If the coordinate falls as something like 0.something, they can never spawn. That's why I used Half Blocks to connect them to the bottom of the Dirt Blocks. If it's like this, my Y-coordinate on top of the Oak Slab cannot be an integer. It will end in 0.5. Naturally, if the Half Block is installed at the bottom, monsters won't spawn.
The fourth is that more than 70 won't spawn, so if, for example, there's a cave underneath the ground I'm standing on, and 70 monsters spawned in that cave, monsters will never spawn around me even if it becomes night. That's because all 70 have already spawned.
This is Sky Block, so there isn't a single monster here, but just by staying up all night here, it was possible to verify information about several settings.
When I told them this story, Asagi and Ranma made strange expressions. It was a look of not understanding. And Asagi asked me cautiously.
"Did you memorize such complex settings just to play a game?"
"...."
Fuck. That hit home.
I made a living off this, so I should at least do this much.