Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal. Chapter 20, 27/11

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Stormweaver
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Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal. Chapter 20, 27/11

Post by Stormweaver »

I've been meaning to do one of these for a while; it looks fun, and I've always needed an incentive to build things in an aesthetically pleasing way. Making myself post screenshots in a forum where my favourite community hangs around/exists seems like it'll be incentive enough tbh, so I'll be doing this. Finally.

Inspired by The utopia project and more importantly, The skyblock challenge, this will be a narrative account of me learning how to use a couple of mods to turn a tiny floating island into a large, thriving ghost town that makes everything for me. Since 1.8 is now supported by BTW, the game I'll be playing is this:
- Minecraft version 1.8.1
- Better than wolves 2.95
- Buildcraft 2.20
- Equivalent Exchange 4.16
With somnia and the recipe book to flesh things out a little. Not that you guys'll really notice those bits. In addition, I've edited the map to include an egg and an ink sac with the other starting items; enough to get a recipe book somewhere down the line and to get alchemy going, now that passive mobs don't spawn anymore. Of course I'll be trying my hand at a narrative account to go with it...which is what this first post is for really. Even with a narrative, the game'll be played entirely 'legitimately' with no inventory editing or similar once the game begins, so it'll be a challenge too. Which is nice. So...onwards to the teaser, and...I'll probably start posting from tomorrow onwards.
A disembodied voice wrote:I don't know how long I've been here...I don't know much of anything anymore. The world's changed. We shouldn't have been using that kind of power, but it's too late now. If anyone's reading this journal, then you're probably imagining my voice reading it out loud, and are wondering who I am. I know my name is Steve, though if I had any other my memory of it has long faded. I was once in charge of a large factory, my fascination with machines had existed from childbirth. Years passed though, and over time...there just wasn't anything to process anymore. Trees stopped growing, ore deposits grew rarer and rarer. I was there that one day when that man walked from a portal that appeared in mid-air. Could have been a king by the airs around him, though he seemed to travel alone. Called himself an alchemist. Said he'd travelled through the underworld to get here in time to save us. It all sounded so innocent then.

My factory closed, and to support my family I took the only job offered then - that of an apprentice alchemist. In 6 short months since 'he' had arrived whole schools were set up, young men and women from all over coming to learn how to create all the things of life from little more than dirt. Strange to think of myself an apprentice; the 'man' I worked under was half my age. He told me things though. Of a magical stone that could change the very building blocks of the world, and create things from nothing. Of a safehold, an area where, if the worst happened, people could flee to to rebuild. I never understood what it was we would have to flee from...

It happened suddenly. I was studying; I had no talent, and was limited to taking the building blocks of the world and simply changing their shape...my skills were barely classed as alchemy. One moment everything was fine...the next everything was breaking apart. I knew something was happening; all of the 'tutors' were off somewhere, some experiment. I got up, I ran. Ghostly apparitions rained fire from the sky, screaming maimed people paving the streets but I fled. I remembered that safehold, I prayed someone else remembered it too.

I leave this in case someone else ends up in this hellish prison, perhaps your sanity will last longer than mine. This is how...I survived.
The chapters are going to be archived here, for ease of reading. Due to a lack of nested spoilers, there are no nested spoilers. Sorry.

Chapter 1
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The front page of the journal wrote:Please use the following journal to record your experiences in the safehold. It is up to you, and the two others that have been assigned to your safehold to make use of your talents to survive until whatever caused you to be here has passed, and we can send someone to collect you. Due to the increasing demand for senior alchemists to have safeholds, the amount of resources we have been able to provide you is unfortunately less than we had originally hoped.

Make good use of your alchemical talents and philosophers stone until we collect you. Please log anything you feel is out of place in this journal, so that we may address the issues in a swift manner apon your collection.
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What is wrong with this place? It feels like my mind is clouded, or that my sight...never mind. The portal worked at least, I could feel the stone give away under my feet in the last few meters of running. Think I hit my head going though. When I was told about the safeholds, I imagined lakes surrounded by mountains, or floating castles...but nothing compares to this. A small island of dirt, a tree...and a void. Can't really call it anything else, where i expect to see the horizon, the sky just keeps going. If it was the ocean, I expect I'd see some form of reflection, but....it's just a flat blue.

These so called 'resources' are a joke. A couple of mushrooms, an egg and a slice of watermelon is all I have by way of food. Two blocks of preserved ice the only water and...I can only guess that bucket of dark orange liquid that makes me think of fire is some form of lava. Must be a strong bucket. I've seen alchemists do stranger things, so this won't phase me.

Philosophers stone though? The only requirement for moving on from simply being an alchemist's apprentice to an alchemist by right was the creation of one of those things. My tutor had one...he called it a 'minor' one, whatever that means. Still, the creation of one of those things is beyond me. Apparently it requires very exotic materials...and I don't see any here. Maybe I should have waited, stayed behind...I'm going to die here if I don't find something I can use to keep myself alive.

And what's with that bone?

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At least I'm not hungry right now. That bone gives me a weird feeling....but then, so does everything else here.

I always did enjoy writing...maybe this won't be so bad. Life was never interesting enough to record what I thought, or felt as it happened. This should at least keep me occupied, for now. I've decided that I should collect some firewood for when night comes. Lighting it wouldn't be difficult with that odd bucket, but I'd need the wood first, That didn't go well. I don't know what this place is, or how it works, but as someone who spent a large part of his apprenticeship working with the smallest parts of the building blocks of the earth, I'm sure what happened to me shouldn't have happened.

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All I did was try and strip a few small branches from the trunk....but a whole cross-section of the tree just...broke. I can't understand it, that tree must be the best part of a meter across. Almost as strange, the rest of the tree is still floating. Maybe it's sharing the properties of whatever holds up this island? I saw a man fly once. I can deal with this.

I tried again, and this time the wood broke exactly the same way.a lump of wood which I would bet is the exact same size of the one before just vanished. Is this even a tree? But on the ground, I saw something that shouldn't happen. shouldn't be able to happen. A miniature of the log, looking like it had been hand carved, rested on the ground - a second one nearby must have been from the first time I broke the tree. I reach out to pick it up, and it's as light as a feather. There's something wrong with this world. The second...log is the same, and seems to...merge with the first. There are two, yet it looks like only one. I can't explain it. It seems familiar, but this clearly isn't the world I live in. I dug at the ground below my feet with bare hands - it broke like the tree. Is everything like this? am I like this?

I suddenly have the urge to eat, to drink. I can at least wet my lips for now, until I know whether or not there's going to be any more food coming my way. Taking a small block of ice from the chest, I release it's like the dirt. Would it get bigger, placed back into the world? Have they actually left me a lot of resources, it just doesn't look like much? These alchemists can do crazy things. I take the ice and...push it against the hole I dug. It seems to expand instantly, filling the hole I had dug. Curiosity killed my worries over what I had just done. Wanting to do it again, I tried picking it up, tried breaking it into that small, feather-light cube again.

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It...melted? My panic was short lived, despite the amount of water gushing off the side of my island, the torrent wasn't stopping. I drank some of it - it was as fresh as any water I'd ever tasted. Fresher. I have no way of moving it again, but It's not in a bad place. Maybe it'll freeze again by itself. Dipping my hand into the water where the ice was there was a feeling, I can only describe it as a resistance. like there was a core within that water, almost like it was alive. Best not to think about that. In this lifeless place, too many things feel alive when they shouldn't be.

It's getting dark. I haven't organised my firewood; at the very least I don't want to have a bonfire out of these...huge? logs I collected. Don't know what I'd do if that chest, or what's left of the tree caught fire. There is that bucket though.

Digging another hole, and putting these...building blocks into the storage chest, I take out the bucket. For what is supposedly molten rock, the bucket is oddly cold. Maybe it's like the water? Tipping the bucket over into the hole, I'm greeted by a bright orange blaze, and blessed light. Never thought lava would look this cheery. Lying down, I think back to my lessons....thought back to try and explain all of this. All I can think of is that, as I write, I am literally surrounded by the building blocks of the world. Yesterday, they would have been tiny, tiny particles that couldn't be seen without aid from a looking glass...but if I were to imagine that they had grown to almost a meter in length...then I guess all of this would make sense. Really, what had those alchemists been doing to screw the world up this much? And when will I be rescued?

I stay laid down for a while, but boredom takes me. I'm just not tired. Out of curiosity, I Give the lava some more room...if flows exactly like the water did. Where it was put originally never goes down, but the space next to it fills up all the same. If I make a bit more space...what would happen if the water and lava met?
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I didn't expect this. I spend a bit of time chipping away at this rock with my hands, hoping to see it happen again - and it did. I seem unable to keep the results...when the rock breaks, the pieces are just too small and melt away. If I had a tool...If I could break it into larger pieces, maybe It would act like the wood? Thoughts of a shelter on this oddly warm and bright night fill my mind, so I think I'll sleep now. Tomorrow...I will investigate this place. It turns out I'm in my element after all.
Chapter 2
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I must have been tired. I remember waking to the eerily comforting glow of the lava pool while it was daylight, but it's night again now; I must have dozed off. I think I've figured out a few things about this place though. Basically, as far as I can tell this is what the world would look like it the base elements of the world were made to be a lot larger. Everything is still in the same shape, but outside of some transmutation I can't think how I'm going to manage to change things to be more...comfortable. While I was never good at the detailed stuff, I was good at manipulating what I could see - an advantage in this world.

I took one of the logs, and spent a bit of time working at it with my pen. It's rough work, but I was able to get the details fine enough to do some basic converting from one thing to another. My first order of business was making a tool - though it took more wood than I would have thought. With this wooden pick, I spent a bit of time working the rock created where the lava and water meet, and...it worked. The block was destroyed in one piece, and quickly replaced by another. This is a strange world, I was always taught that all things were finite, and nothing could be created from nothing. Nevertheless, it seems solid enough; a bit of work and I'll be able to increase my living space.
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Ok, that was...weird. I was looking over the edge, to see how far the water was falling. I figured there had to be a bottom somewhere, but I couldn't see it. Next thing I knew, I had fallen off the edge...I was sure I was going to die. I Fell into where the water was falling, maybe the wind caught me, but...there I felt a resistance. While I was in the water stream, I was falling slower, and with a bit of effort I started swimming back up. I always was a good swimmer, but....swimming up a waterfall is impossible. Is this even real water? The strangest thing happened when I inhaled some of the water by mistake- I fell out of the column of water, and plunged to what I felt was my death. Darkness surrounded me, the air full of dark, silvery dust-like motes...and then I woke up here. The stone I was carrying was gone, but I was back on the island.

Why didn't I die?
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I appreciate the fact that I'm still alive but...the thought of that darkness scares me. As I fell, I thought I saw dark red flashes of light...what the hell is down there?

Ok, I've done a bit of work to avoid that happening again. I've somehow managed to make a stone platform under this island, although there were a couple of near misses when I almost fell when constructing the pillar. It seems solid enough...matter, it just seems to snap together. Apply just a small amount of force and these blocks appear, as if they've been there from the beginning. I'm not going to complain about this convenience, I just wish I understood why it could happen.
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It would take 10 men half a day to do what I just did, and I feel no worse for it than hungry. I really don't want to eat yet though...There doesn't seem to be any other food here, so I need to decide how I'll stretch it. Although now I can do basic transmutations...Maybe I can make some bonemeal. Applied to the soil just right, and then with those mushrooms planted on top...in a couple of days I should be able to start eating. Hopefully they're fresh enough to root properly.

They apparently were fresh enough. I didn't get the result I expected...but I should be able to eat a lot sooner than I planned at least. This world is getting crazier by the day.
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Quickly harvested, I had enough mushroom to least me for days. And still some bonemeal over....what the hell was in that bone? It looked...human. But I can't see a human bone doing that to a plant. Was something done to it with alchemy? I'm not sure I want to think about it too much. For now, I'm going to see if I can move that lava downstairs...if my theory is correct, it'll have a 'core' like I noticed in that water. If I'm wrong, I may be about to lose my bucket. Flames have been dancing around that chest though, I don't want to risk it burning everything down...it seems to be getting hotter as time goes by.

I did it! Both the water and lava cores are in a stone construct on the shelf, and making more of this stone whenever it's removed. I was having some problems with loss of material but now that problem should be gone. If alchemists did this, when why haven't I seen it sooner though? Huge shipments of stone used to be brought into the academy for transmutation, and the quarries were the only 'old' industrial business left at that point. Why did we keep tearing into the foundations of the earth when it could have all been free?

I don't think this was all the doing of the alchemists now. Maybe they were trying to stop this from happening...that man did say he was here to save us.

I've noticed something strange on the shelf. When I looked into the void from the island, it was a clear, flat blue that made me think of the ocean. From this angle it's different, it's the same black I saw when I fell. Was I supposed to stay on the island? or was the blue an illusion, to keep me from feeling insecure? I'm going to build the wall a bit higher, stop me having to see it. I'll also build a bridge outwards, see if there are any other illusions I'm not aware of yet.

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I shouldn't have left the shelf. I shouldn't have left the island. I should have just stayed up here, were it is peaceful and quiet and there are no monsters trying to kill me. All I was doing was building a bridge, and as I went back for more supplies, out of nowhere, or perhaps simply out of the darkness the old plagues of the world came. No-one my age will have gone through thier lives without having to defend their town from rouge undead minions that have lost their masters, or from a swarm of spiders or creepers....these things were part of everyday life. They always came from somewhere though. The undead needed to be summoned by someone, and never lasted long if the summoner left them. Spiders would live in nests, and only attack if you got too close or the nest was destroyed. Creepers....no-one ever understood creepers, but they understood that broad-head arrows were the fastest way to avoid finding out too much about them. How are they appearing from nowhere?

It's morning now. The undead have finished smouldering, and the creepers have all fallen off the edge - I'm glad I didn't make a handrail. Spiders tend to be peaceful creatures during the day, So I left them be to find what was left of the undead. Nothing much, some arrows, some rotted flesh and...a familiar bone. Could this have the same properties as the last? I've never noticed this before.

I just rested today...I don't want to risk sleeping at night. Perhaps I should tear down the bridge? For now, I'll just reinforce my defences, and wait for tonight. I need a plan, before things get worse.

things just got worse.
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I think I know how everything else got here now...there are endermen here. I'd never seen one before...but I heard they were causing some troubles at the academy. I heard they can teleport, something to do with their cores, 'pearls', existing in two places at once. I was terrified...I just hid behind the wall and waited for day. It was the longest night I've spent here so far...and I'm not sure how far from the truth it was. Darkness seems to surround those creatures...I need to find a way to stop them. Whenever I heard the name in the past, it was always with a hint of panic. They're big, powerful, and capable of reaching me wherever I am...what should I do? It's daylight again, so I'll sleep....but maybe I should get a real roof over my head soon.
Chapter 3
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It's been...three days? Time is strange here, but I know I've seen the sun rise 3 times since I started this latest piece of work. Since I saw that enderman...I don't want anywhere to be out of sight. It was a hard choice, but I ended up de-constructing the island I woke up on, moving everything of value down to the shelf. Strange...there was one block that wouldn't move...it didn't even show any signs of breaking, no matter how hard I struck it. I'll leave it for now...
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Maybe it's got something to do with how this place works.

I've finally got a shelter now. Making doors for it was difficult, but wood seems to be easy enough to come by - to be safe, I've also planted a few more trees. I don't know how long it will be till they grow naturally, but I'm tempted to make some more bonemeal. I wish fertiliser had worked this effectively in the past, but I guess if I ever manage to get back I could find a way to reproduce the effect. Instant food, wood...No-one would have to go without food or shelter ever again. Not an issue the alchemists ever dealt with, even though they had so much, and could make more of anything if they needed it.
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One thing I've noticed is that my shelter is too dark. attempting to make torches from bundles of sticks failed, so I'm going with a new approach...if I could cook some charcoal, I'm willing to bet that I could use that. To this end I've created a furnace....strange how simple things are to make here. While waiting for the wood to cook, A bit of fortification seemed to be in order too - northing's getting onto the shelf without me knowing about it now. I can't risk this place being overrun for my mistake.
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...I feel strangely calm today. Maybe discovering the enderman was more of a shock than I thought...by all rights I should be panicking a lot more than I am. Once, I would have destroyed the whole bridge to stop those things from being near here. Now...I kinda want to study them. How did they get here? And where did they get here from? If I can find out...maybe it'll help me get back somehow. I don't think I'm going to be rescued. I'll build a platform, and light up the path to it. That should keep those things at bay, and let me view them from a safe distance.

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That was easy enough. I'll spend the evening watching, see what they do. Maybe I can find a way to trap one...or kill one. At the very least, dawn will clear it for me, and I can get some more bones. I may as well stock up on wood while I can.

Three nights of watching, no endermen sighted since. Maybe it was just a fluke that one ended up here...but no worries. If one can appear, so can others, and I've got all the time I need. I made myself a crude stone axe, which has served well both in felling the trees the bonemeal is helping me grow and killing any spiders for their silk. I managed to collect enough of that to make myself a nice bed - though If I'd thought of it sooner, I could have used the string in the supplies for something similar. I have an idea for studying these monsters more closely, I'll get to gathering some more stone later on to facilitate that, but I don't know how well it'll go. In the meantime, having things float without support has caused somewhat of a problem in my tree farm, which I'm going to need to deal with.
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I'm going to have to build a staircase to get to what's left of that tree...maybe I used too much bonemeal on it. I wish I had a birch tree...I always liked birch trees. Had a grove of them outside my house...I wonder if it's still standing?

Ok, the modifications to the monster platform are finished. With any luck, I'll now be able to wait until they appear, then quickly run under the platform to cut at them from beneath. Not the greatest plan in the world, but it's the best I have right now. Maybe I'll get a pearl or two. My plans for the rest of the daylight is going to be studying this water a little closer...

Success? I took out the other block of ice, and broke it in a small pit. Apon inspection it was the same as the other, a core that releases a virtually infinite stream of water constantly. What I wanted to check was what would happen if I moved the other core next to it - I didn't expect they'd replicate though. It's almost like they're alive, reaching out to each other and covering the space in-between - scooping up the right bit with a bucket seems to sever part of the core, which quickly regenerates; I guess stone isn't the only thing I'll have more than I'll ever need now.

Today seems to be a good day. Two endermen have teleported onto the platform, now to see if I can immobilise one.

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I did it. The pearl wasn't what I expected; it was strangely heavy. possibly the first thing that's been heavy since I got here. When I tried placing it in the chest, I felt like I would be dragged in with it...best to just store it and keep it there, at least until I have a few more to study.

Another day, another project. As I discover things about this world I want to document them, but here doesn't seem like the right pladce. I've planted the reed that was here when I arrived; I imagine it was intended to be used as flavouring for the melon slice (which is somehow still healthy) but...If I can get it to grow, I should be able to make paper. I'll have to make a new pen for it though, this one isn't suited for paper. On that note, what is this journal made of? I don't remember drawing in these pictures.

Two more nights, two more endermen, one more pearl. Ran into a bit of trouble last night, damn thing teleported right in front of me while I was on the bridge...running was the only thing that saved me. I think that bridge needs to get a handrail soon, this is too dangerous.

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Finally got a new book together. To use it to document the changes between my world and this one, and to show how things can be made here...this is going to be a huge undertaking. If I can find patterns though...maybe I'll get a clue as to how to get home. Also found a new enderpearl this morning, though not from something I killed - it must have gotten caught by the sunlight. Good riddance really. The chest is starting to get harder to pull items from though...are those things really so dense?

I think 4 is going to be enough. I don't think I can put up with being around any more of them, these pearls just make my skin crawl. I have no clues as to what to do with them...Maybe I'll try transmutation. This place may have a lot more in it than when I first arrived, but I'm still really limited as to what resources exist here.
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Another day, no success. The monster platform is showing signs of damage already...I don't think it'll be worth rebuilding it.

How many daysa has it been? I've tried almost everything with the pearls, but nothing's happened yet. When I tried combining them with charcoal there was a small resonance but...It's missing something. I'm going to jam everything into it, see what happens...the worst case is everything is destroyed and I die again. With the best being me getting home, I'm willing to take the risk.

So much for a way home, but this...

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I guess...this makes me an alchemist now? When I first picked it up, I felt everything shake, but that's subsided now. This stone is darker than the few I've been lucky enough to see...maybe it's because of the pearls that went into it? No worries. It's still making my skin crawl but...I feel like I could do anything now. Everything now. I need rest, sleep. Tommorow...I'll see what this thing is capable of. Either all my problems have been solved, or they got a lot worse.

Time will tell.
Chapter 4
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How many days has it been?

When this stone first appeared in front of me, I thought anything is possible, but it turns out i'm scared. Terrified. Most of my time is spent just sitting here, staring at it. What time I have left I spend gathering stone...the cold, mechanical process calms me, I think. I only snapped out of it, realised how time had passed, when there was no longer any room to store the stuff.

I had hoped that the pearls would be the answer, they would give me a way to leave. Even if what I knew of the world is gone...there would have to be something there. Survivors. People. Memories. I have to get back somehow...but the thought came to me; what if there is someone else here?

It's obvious other places like this must exists...the note at the beginning all but states it. Did people flee to them too? Are they happy? Alive? Alone..?

At any rate...I need to keep myself occupied. Yesterday, I decided to cook some of the stone. It's not something I would have thought of normally, but holding this...thing, it made sense. The result was flawless, smooth...I think I could use it as a much more comfortable building material. It strikes me how ugly this box of my creation is.

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As I thought, dressed properly this stone is much nicer to look at. It reminds me of home. Perhaps I should build a small house? A garden? Maybe when I'm rescued, I'll be able to invite my saviours in for some lunch before leaving.


I've got my foundations ready now. More of this never-ending grey doesn't appeal to me, so...I'm going to make this first attempt to use the philosophers stone. Seems odd that it's first use would be so trivial as turning stone into clay - which is what I'm hoping for - but I don't want to test my limits yet. For now, this seems safe enough for me.

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It took a lot of tries...for some reason, while using the stone I was tempted to just condense things down, make things heavier. I suppose this is part of the method for making gold, and the beginning of the strange craving the alchemists seem to develop for the stuff. I was right to start small, I think.As somewhat of a by-product, I seemed to get a load of dirt too - did I make a mistake somewhere? at least that'll aid my hopes for a garden. I have plenty of clay now...Best to go back, and let it bake into bricks overnight. To think, I might have a house tomorrow. How this places twists time seems almost natural now.

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I have a house! It still doesn't feel like home though...this place is too empty. I should make a start on that garden; I have enough saplings for a few more trees, and the seeds from that chest. Havn't eaten pumpkin in a while. Might be worth making some windows too...though it'll be nice to have something to look at first.

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The sun's setting again. Maybe it's the slight change in scenery, but I feel better today than I have since I got here. Perhaps I can sleep well tonight.
Chapter 5
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I thought I would sleep well...I guess I did. Vivid dreams though...I was on an island, in the middle of a huge ocean. Everything...was grey. Not the grey of some monotone dream, but the grey of fungus infesting...everything. Where I expected grass, there was just a carpet of spores. Trees were replaced by those huge mushrooms I made what feels like a few days ago...and the cows. Cows, with red mushrooms growing on them. I must be going insane. I need some new food...I've had it with mushrooms.

Anyway, My plans for today involve farming, farming and farming. I found some seeds which look suspiciously like wheat in the tall grass that grew when it last rained, hopefully I'll be able to make something of them - at the speeds things grow here, I may be eating bread soon. I've missed bread.

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Farming is easier than I expected. I always fancied the idea of retiring into a small farm when I got too old to mange the factory...I guess there's no harm in starting a small farm now. If only my family was here with me...my wife loved plants. At any rate, I created two pools for water out the front of the house, and planted reeds there. They looks kinda nice, and don't mind being walked on a little, should I need to get inside in a hurry. Going clockwise are a small melon and pumpkin patch each, with a small irrigation channel next to each. I've been looking forward to eating pumpkin again, so I put a little bonemeal on each straight away - as expected, they grew almost instantly. I may have to confront some more skeletons soon...but I'll worry about that later. Around the back of the house is a small grove of birch trees. I was hesitant at first, but all it took was a little tweaking of the saplings I had, and the intervention of the philosophers stone, and they were ready to be planted. This thing really is too convenient, being able to manipulate living things like that. On the final side of the house is what I'm most looking forward to - a small wheat farm. Once grown, I'll be able to make bread. Not that I have the slightest clue on how to make flour without a millstone....

I also have that cactus. I'll try planting it on some sand out front...I can't think what I'd ever need cactus for though. This garden still seems too arid. It's getting dark, but I've got time to try and move some of the turf up here, hopefully it'll spread as fast as everything else.

That cactus grew quickly. I split it and replanted it. Must. think. of. uses. for. cactus.

I'm disappointed. Both the pumpkin and melon fruited fast enough, but the pumpkin is all woody...not at all how I remembered it. At the least, it feels like a waste of the wood I used to cook it. The melon was fine, but far from filling. I'm determined to avoid mushroom stew again. I don't want anymore dreams like that.

I woke up to rain today. It seems heavier than last time, but I should be fine to get outside long enough to check on things.

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The grass has spread nicely, some of the wheat is ready for harvest, and it seems some long grass has sprung up. I'll deal with that later - try and get some more wheat seeds - but for now it's surprisingly cold. I'm back inside with some sticks burning away in the furnace for warmth, and now I need to figure out how to make a millstone. Looking out the window; did I mention I made windows? The glass from simply melting sand isn't too clear, but it lets the light in and keeps the rain out at least. I was...yeah. Looking out the window, there are some small flowers...dandelions? I guess they're weeds. Nice to see signs of life in this otherwise lifeless world.

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I hate being cooped up inside, but this rain won't stop. I've even had time to fashion a crude millstone, and a crank for it. It'll be tough work - I couldn't make a small version, so it ended up being an industrial sized machine - but It'll be enough to make flour. I really hate being cooped up. Maybe I should expand on this island a little?

The rain must have stopped while I was asleep. Going outside I see another melon has grown...I guess that'll do for breakfast. Hopefully supper will be bread. Hopefully.

I've build a small bridge leading off the island to a small platform. I guess the millstone can go here, these things can be noisy if I ever work out a better way of powering it. I thought I saw something fall from above me earlier...feathers? Could it be that somewhere above me, there are birds? If I could just get some of those feathers...

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It was a bit of work, but I have flour. I've worked up a bit of an appetite too...I just hope I can cook something edible. I never was great at baking. Some more of those feathers fell while I was working...They're on the bridge leading back to the house. There was a series of caves under my village when I was a child, and near the bottom, pools and pools of green slime. Some people said it was alive, that they had seen it rise and move about as if it had a life of it's own. When I was in the academy, I had heard talk of them importing large shipments of it, using it as a form of 'life' or something, so they could make...something. I can only imagine they needed it to create something alive...if I could use something similar, with those feathers...it might be wrong, but could I create life?

The flour is in the furnace, with a soft fire under it. Bread takes a while to bake, or so I remember, so I thought I'd give this 'slime' business some thought. As living things go, on this island there's me, the plants and the grass. And perhaps that water...it does kinda feel like slime. Maybe I'll take out that stone again, see if I can do anything. Some poultry would be nice to go with this bread...

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Ah, the taste of civilisation. Maybe I'll sleep well on this full stomach tonight.


Note: In regards to those 'feathers falling from the sky' what really happened is that while I was getting my flour, a small flock of chickens spawned outside my house. In 1.8. I guess not having much space to spawn ups the odds for it happening...at any rate, it didn't feel right so I killed them. With my axe. Then I realised that random get of feathers makes more sense than steve going out of his way to transmute some, so...yeah. Ignore the chickens. Until next chapter at least. Hey, it's not like they're hard to get (5 string and a stick).
Chapter 6
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It's been...4 days since my last entry. Nothing of real note happened until now and I really haven't done much. I restocked my supplies of stone, cleared some of the long grass that was spreading to my crops, and spent a lot of time thinking about slime. While I've come up with nothing of any real note on that front, clearing the long grass did reveal something...unexpected.

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The seeds I found didn't look particularly familiar, so I cleared a bit of room in one of my wheat fields and planted them, to see what they would grow into. I had my suspicions from the start, but it turns out to be what at least looks like a strain of industrial hemp - back in the factory, there was a whole building dedicated to processing the fibres from this plant. All I can do for the moment is wait for it to keep growing till I can harvest it...there are plenty of possibilities for the stuff.

I've noticed it's gotten colder these past few days. Is winter coming? I'm glad I have a house, but perhaps I should stock up on supplies.

Ugh, this island is too small. It takes less than a minute to walk from one side to the other...and I enjoy walking. Since my garden seems to be taking up more and more room, maybe I should make a small field somewhere? It's not like one will make itself, and it would be nice to have somewhere where I can watch the sun rise on a morning. I'll put it over near the millstone for now.

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I'm almost out of bonemeal now. A shame, since those flowers sprung up almost the moment I dug it into the soil. I'm getting a lot of random seeds from clearing some of the grass...I think I might have a use for them though. Plenty of things on this island seem to be able to develop 'life' without life really being present in the first place. And isn't something coming to life from nothing part of my plan?

It's been 2 days since I stuck as many seeds, saplings, cacti, mushrooms and reeds into this bucket of water as I could. The end result is more or less what I was hoping for - a green ooze, though it's a lot murkier than I'd have hoped. It's probably the most concentrated mixture of living things I can make, so...if anything's going to come of those feathers, now is the time to do it. I'll do it quickly, I don't want to spend a moment longer with that stone in my hand than I have to.

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Eggs. They look kinda like duck eggs, or maybe chicken. It was strange...while holding the philosophers stone, I knew exactly what to do...it's like the stone knows everything, and is just using me as a pair of hands to do the work. I'd never heard of anything like this happening...did I make it wrong? On the other hand, could I have done this without it's guidance? The goo just...enveloped the feathers, and moulded into the shape of these eggs. before I knew it, they were solid and just lying there. I've never liked eggs myself but...what if they're fertile? I...I should stick them in a warm place and keep an eye on them. I'll build an enclosure as well, just in case.

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from all of 15 eggs, 4 hatched. I don't know whether I'm lucky for any of them hatching at all, or the opposite for so few of them truly living. At the very least these...I suppose they're chickens, these chickens are quite lively. They keep trying to escape the fence, but I don't want them to fall off the edge. It's been so long since I've seen something else that I could really call 'alive' like this. If they do die however, I suppose I could always transmute some more eggs. And eat poultry that day.

Transmute. It's such a cold word to describe something this amazing.

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Huh...eggs. I suppose I should raise these ones as well...at least I won't have to create any more chickens myself. Hopefully.

Have I really been here so long that I'm actually happy to see chickens?
Chapter 7
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I'm so bored.

The garden requires almost no maintenance, so long as I remember to harvest the melons and pumpkins every other day. Gathering more stone seems useless, as I already have so much of it sitting around unused. I have a large enough stockpile of flour to make bread whenever I need it, and the chickens are laying eggs regularly enough to kill and cook at least one a day. No monsters seem to be spawning anywhere nearby, and nothing else strange has happened since I found those feathers. I'm just so bored.

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The only reason I have anything to write today is because it seems enough of the hemp has matured to harvest it. It seems that unlike the rest of the plants I've seen so far, it grows slowly, and doesn't respond to bonemeal in the slightest, so I've been waiting quite a while. Grinding anything in that grindstone is hungry work, but it's not like food is exactly scarce right now...and I need to grind this hemp down if I'm going to do anything with it.

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I put some of that stone to use, to make a few more millstones and to extend that platform a bit. Not fun, not rewarding work, but it's something I guess. I kind of want to make something more impressive...I've not really focused on making anything actually look nice yet. It really is getting cold...maybe I'll have time to hand-weave a blanket before I sleep tonight? I've got nothing else to do till the hemp grows some more anyway.


Ugh, this is tiring work. Back in the days when things makes sense, there were machines that did all of this automatically, running millstones from coal powered generators. I always took for granted how much work those machines did...at least this this wind is keeping me cool. Seems to be getting stronger.


I'm going to build a windmill! I don't know if it'll work, but I think I should be able to weave some sails for it, and building hasn't been a difficult task since I got here - this might be fun. I wonder what else I could use machines to do?

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One day's work, and it's halfway done. I've built it high up to make sure it catches the wind, but it's above the platform my millstones are on - just in case I fall off. I can't help but think I'll need more sand for glass though. Should chop some more wood too, so I can make some easy stairs to the top. I'm saving grinding anymore hemp till the building is done...I don't want to lose momentum here. Time to sleep now...I can finish it tomorrow!


It's finished. Turns out I still had some sand over from all that time ago...I was glad not to have to transmute some more. I'm not even sure I remember how I did it...sure the stone would remind me though. I had to cut down some trees for the flooring...and I suppose I'll need some more wood for the mechanisms too, once I get that far. How should I go about making it? I'm used to seeing steel axles and machinery, and I don't even have any iron - not including my somewhat precious bucket. Wood should be good enough, after all it's only a windmill.

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I came back to store my excess materials to find a chicken had gotten loose. somehow. It's ruined half the melon patch...I should make a cage for them. If they can get into the garden, they can jump off the edges too...I don't want that. For now, That'll be food for today. Now just to gather enough hemp...I'll be glad when I can get this windmill to grind things itself.

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Chapter 8
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Two days of working at the hand crank, three more weaving some sailcloth, and one last one braiding some rope, and I'm done with hemp. I never imagined it would take so much work to finish...but I've got enough to get the machinery made in the windmill. Since I'm lacking the precision-made axles I'm used to, I've decided that I'll transmit the mechanical power through rope, braced by wooden planks. It won't be able to transmit power too far - my guess of about 3 meters is as far as it'll get before tearing itself apart - but I have plans to make gearboxes too, which should solve that problem. The only Thing I own which needs power is that grindstone...am I putting too much work into this? I know I need a break. Sleep now, holiday tomorrow.

The odd fog which had lingered a little during these cold days seems to have burnt off this morning. Perhaps winter isn't coming after all. In the distance, I can see the tiny platform I lived on to begin with and it's floating block of mystery. Beyond that...

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Wow, the monsters must have really hated this place. It's still first thing in the morning and I can see the slowly disintegrating remains of things that had burnt apart in the sunlight. No spiders or creepers about though...stupid things must have fallen off.

Having a quick look around I got what would have once been an armful of bones and an astonishing 4 enderpearls. They don't seem quite as heavy as they once did. Strange that. Even strangers...how many endermen must have come and gone over time for this place to be damaged so much? Have I really not been down here in so long? No matter. I had originally made this place so I could 'study', before getting distracted by cursed alchemy. In truth, I could have been distracted by anything after the first few days. The monsters just don't seem as smart as I remember them being. Sure, If I got too close, I'd have everything gunning for me without fail; I lost track of the number of times I had to run for my life. When left alone however...normally they would just mill around, fall in holes or off the edge. I don't know how they get here, but...A supply of bones would be nice. Maybe there would be a way to trick them all?

I'll spend the rest of the day laid in my field. Maybe I'll come up with a good idea.

This was probably a bad idea, but I guess I got caught up in the moment. I decided to see where alchemy would lead me if I just started from base stone and threw things together. So far, it seems I can derive a fair few things just from stone, so long as I have enough of it. The most obvious result was the creation of Iron ore; very little of it, but know it can be done open up a whole load of possibilities. The other results were...curiously fascinating.

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Redstone, and glowstone. Both fairly rare minerals, both with unique qualities. Redstone I'm more familiar with; compressed into wire, it controlled most of the machinery in the factory I once owned. A very simple, but very useful discovery; moreso since I realised I may be able to use it to make the gearboxes for my windmill. They would work without it, but they would probably jam up every other hour. Glowstone I'm not quite so familiar with. It's not really a 'stone' in any sense of the word. What I learned in the academy; mainly when I was maintaining and building the aggregators there, was that glowstone is actually a concentrated form of a very rare particle in the air. Under the right conditions, it clumps together around an object, and results in this very powdery dust. Of course with a bit of pressure it can be changed into glowstone; small crystals that emit light constantly. Thoughts on aggregators aside...I heard rumour that this was a component in the philosophers stones that the tutors in the academy normally made. It may have just been bait for the apprentices then, but now...

If I could make a simpler stone, maybe one of these 'lesser' stones, would it affect me less? I feel tired today. Maybe a more normal one would be less draining to use. It still feels like the world is shaking around me whenever I even hold this one...has it always been like that? Time to sleep some more I guess.

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Ok, the gearboxes and axles are finished. They're hardly a work of art, but this should at least make breadmaking a little less tiresome. For now I'll move one of the millstones up to the windmill, and get it all hooked up. I had a thought last night, about making a new philosophers stone. Glowstone is a matirial that doesn't really exist as such, and...for some reason it reminds me of those enderpearls...in the same was white reminds me of black. If so...I figure I need a base for it to form around, and something like charcoal, which bears a resemblance to glowstone. Hmm.

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One storm and it'd probably break apart, but for now...the sails of the windmill are done, and all hooked up. It's loud; wooden axles shouldn't be as efficient as metal ones, after all - but it's powering the millstone well enough. Now I can make more flour. Grind more hemp.
...that's all I've got. Is this thing really worth all the effort I put into it? At least bread is nice.

I attempted to make a philosophers stone today. I'm getting the impression that flour, seeds, pumpkin and dirt won't work alongside the glowstone.


I attempted to make a philosophers stone today. Sand, gravel, flint, charcoal, coal, iron...nothing yet.


I attempted to make a philosophers stone today. Cactus, saplings, sticks....still nothing.

Redstone. It has to be redstone. So perhaps I threw it together by accident, but there's few ways of separating the two powders one mixed, even if done so by accident. Normally redstone will glow dimly when pressured, but this mixture burns like a pebble picked up after being in the sun in summer. It feels right somehow...but it won't form together. The first one just...merged. no real way of describing it differently, but i feel this is different. It needs to be bound somehow.

Random side effect. Took out the first stone, to compare it with the enderpearls, see if I noticed anything. Turned out they can be transmuted into diamonds. What use do I have for wealth in this place.

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I attempted to make a philosophers stone today. Glowstone, redstone and 'living' slime. I did it.
Chapter 9
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A lesser stone, huh.

I guess this is roughly the same kind of P. stone my tutor had. In my hand it feels more like a tool than a mystical implement, and that's what I was taught these stone to be. Now it's made, the original is at the back of my chest, under a pile of cobblestone and dirt, so I can avoid touching it again. I considered throwing it off the side...but it does work. And I can't risk not having a spare if something happens to this one, no matter how dark that thing is. I think I'll be a lot more comfortable experimenting with my new stone. I think I'll refer to the original as the 'Enderstone', just for clarities sake.

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I spent a load of time building today. I don't know why, but I've always liked seeing symmetry in construction, and the area next to my windmill just seemed imbalanced. Despite my long lunch, one involving mushrooms for the first time in a while, I've been able to get it done and it's still day light. I think I'll make this side a farm for now; it's near my millstone, and far away enough from the chickens, were one of them to manage to escape again.

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Turns out I didn't have enough seeds to even plant half of it, but the beginnings of my new wheat farm is done. Maybe I'd be able to transmute some more seed? It feels like a much better idea than it would have done before. Speaking of which...I really need to make a dedicated area for practising alchemy. It might just be me, but I don't think I'm fully comfortable with transmuting things right next to where I prepare my food, even if some of the transmutation involves making the food in the first place :| I know for a fact I got some redstone on the dough for my bread yesterday - that's one sour taste you don't forget in a hurry.

I think I'll build up on the roof. I can't see any reason not to, and having it semi-open to the sky will be a nice change to the claustrophobic atmosphere the workrooms had, back in the academy. Plus, Since I plan to catch up with detailing my observations as to how this world works, It'll be nice to be able to sit back and watch the world while I do so.

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My first order of business was to make a proper transmutation table. While the various circles and formula scratched onto the crafting table were sufficient for the work I'm used to, it doesn't hold any power for transmuting things in of itself - which is why I needed a philosopher's stone. Having a stone, I've been able to make the components needed for the creation of covelence dust, and now...I don't need a stone. Well, that may have been true normally, but since I never learned how to construct one of these tables properly it seems to be lacking the abilities to do some things. On top of that, since I can't seem to affix the dust properly anyway, it's going to be unsuitable for anything but transmutations. Still, it'll be a lot more convenient than having to set down the stone and arrange everything properly every time I need to get something done.

After that, I put in a couple of storage chests, a normal crafting table and a furnace; the latter simply so I can keep my food warm while I work. Odd how simple they are to make, here. I don't think I'd have even dreamed of anything like this back home.

Since I can't think of anything major to do today, I figured I'd catch-up a little and describe my observations on this world. If anything, getting them written down might help me understand something.

First of all, this world seems to have an appointed place for things to exist. In what I assume are uniform cubes, roughly one metre across, one thing and one thing only is allowed to exist within each space. attempting to place something else within that space simply causes it to move to an adjacent one, or doesn't allow it to exist at all. For the sake of continuity, I'll refer to each of these areas as 'co-ordinates', due to the way they seem to be layered.
Secondly, all things in this world seem to be made up of 3 'kinds' of matter. The most basic would be the 'Building blocks'. These blocks are more or less the content of the world, each one taking up one co-ordinate. So far, the bulk of them that I've observed are completely static, unaffected by gravity and immovable by any force I can muster. The blocks can be altered, for example I can carve into them, or apply dye to them, but in order for anything more they have to be 'broken' first.
The second form of matter I call 'Items'. These are feather-light replicas of what I expect to see in a normal world. I can interact with them, change them, and even eat them - since my food is part of this group I'm somewhat glad of that - but they don't behave..normally. Similar items seem to be able to merge together, to allow multiple versions to exist in the same space. This tends to max out at around 60 items, by which point a resistance to more items, similar to trying to move two different ones together forms, and they will no longer stack up. Some items, when applied to the edge of a block (the first kind of matter) with a small amount of force, will materialise fully, gaining mass and size to fit the area, while others either appear temporarily - a state I've forced a lot of things into in order to combine or modify them -or fail to materialise at all. I believe this shows that some things in this world are more stable than others, and as such need to be moved to a more 'stable' state to exist. A prime example of this is water - I can dip my hand into a stream to drink, but if I do not take water from where it originates, I cannot put it back, and it quickly disintegrates. I can only assume that me ingesting it allows it to continue to exist. The 'blocks' can be turned back into items, by breaking them simply using force, though the manner in which they break alters the item they transform into; it seems the more precise the tool, the more accurate the replica is, and the more likely it is to stabilise. Most of everything in this world can exist in this form to one degree or another.
The final group is somewhat strange, although I have to say that I am part of this group. Entities, such as myself and the chickens, are solid and cannot pass through each other, and are not bound to a given co-ordinate. I believe that the windmill I constructed falls under this classification as well, though until I get more of a chance to study there isn't a whole lot more I can say on the matter. At the very least, I believe that entities can be broken down into item form as well, although the only tests done in that regard - the chickens, and the monsters I studied in the beginning - seem to break apart too roughly, for the most part disintegrating while some of the more stable components coalesce into item form.

I wonder if there would be a more efficient method of breaking blocks down into items?

I finally managed to finish planting the wheat farm today. I admit I never got around to transmuting any more seeds, the seeds collected when harvesting the crop were more than enough to fill in the gaps. I'm thinking of maybe farming the other side too, moving the hemp, pumpkins and melons there. I'm not really sure why I'm still harvesting pumpkins though.

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I've given some more thought to the concept of breaking blocks, and to that end, I've come up with an idea. The main resource I seem to have trouble getting is wood; I can instantly grow a tree using bonemeal, but when it comes down to it a single tree doesn't hold much wood, and the cubic slabs of planks I can create from the logs are just too large to really make anything of. To that end I've decided to make a crude saw, a mechanical contraption similar to the millstone. As of now, all I've managed to do is transmute some leather - it took a while to figure out how, but the best results ironically came from the rotten flesh of slain zombies - and scour it so only the hide remains. It will need tanning; I'm not sure if there is a way of doing that with alchemy, but I know of a way of doing with without.

I built a large cauldron for the tanning process. I tried to make it round, but that didn't work...cleaning into the corners is going to be a nightmare in of itself. I also transmuted some flint; there are easier ways of lighting fires, but sadly none that'll be able to create open flames hot enough for heating up such a huge iron construct. Now I just need something to burn. Wood would be the choice normally, but my first attempt with that destroyed the log in around a minute of lighting it, and the flame didn't get hot enough to even warm the water. I know that stone, impregnated with redstone dust can be used as a long-lasting fuel, but I've never made any before, so I'll give that a go tomorrow. For now, I've transmuted some of my wood from birch to pine; I need something to tan the leather with, but I may as well make it as efficient as possible. Saying that, this wood used to be cactus...I'm just going to confuse myself at this rate.


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It's a slow process, but it's working. The leather should be cured by evening by the looks of things, so I'll spend today figuring out the method of building the rest of the saw; I should be able to put the belt in last anyway.

I forgot to disengage the gears in the windmill. It started to rain when I went back outside to collect the leather - oddly enough, the flames don't seem to mind it - and the wind picked up. A lot. By the time I managed to reach the top of the windmill, the gearbox had already shattered...thankfully most of it's components are still there, so I can rebuild that tomorrow. Hopefully this rain dies down soon.

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The rain's cleared up now. I still need to replace the gearbox, but for now I figure I'll test out my saw.

Bah, the saw won't work how I planned. Originally I hoped I could use the power from a crank to saw things, but it just isn't enough to keep the blade moving. I'll have to set it up in place of the millstone for a while; I have plenty of flour stockpiled at any rate. Tomorrow though...I think I deserve a break for now.

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Chapter 10
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It must have been...about a week since I split slime on this journal and managed to erase the last few entries. Now that it's finally dry, or at least less sticky, I guess I should catch up with what I've done.

The saw worked perfectly. I admit, I half expected it to just break the wood back into it's item form, but it managed to do something that I know I couldn't do with just my axe, and split the wood into 2 panels, each half the size of the original stack of planks. Taking it further, I was able to cut the wood down into 8 pieces, each exactly 1/8th that of the original plank. After that, even this saw isn't accurate enough and the wood disintegrates, But iI think I could probably use it for detail work if need-be.

These individual pieces of wood, the sidings, mouldings and corners, are a lot easier to work with. With this in mind, I decided to fix up my...home. I guess it really is my home now. At any rate, I added wooden flooring in most places, and stuck fences on the edges; with the wind getting up like it has been, I feel safer with the rails there. It also looked nice, which I wasn't really expecting in this world of cubes. To aid that, I decided to make some extra lighting, but what I had hoped would become glowstone crystals turned, unsurprisingly, into huge blocks. I didn't really like it first, but I suppose it's grown on me. I also ended up moving most of my crops up onto the other platform near the windmill, to stop errant chickens from destroying them.



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My house...if you could really call it a house, was starting to feel cramped. With the farms moved, I realised I had a lot of extra space, so I decided to expand it a little. What started out as a 'little' ended up with me tearing down the whole thing - my bed and belongings temporarily moving to the windmill - after discovering that I had more spare bricks than I remembered. I suppose I can be glad how simple this world makes some things, I never would have tried making something like this back home.

In the end, I took advantage of my newly detailed woodcutting to try and create something resembling a sloped roof. It didn't go badly, and a short burst of rain soon after finishing it proved that it was waterproof. I split the upstairs into two rooms: one for my bedroom, where a wide window and balcony (above the kitchen) can let me watch the sunrise, and my alchemical workshop which looks out onto my windmill and farms. It's Worth mentioning here, every morning after waking I made of point of checking that dark platform where the monsters would come from. While this often resulted in me merely watching them fall through the holes into that black void, the morning sunlight was kind enough to let me collect a good handful of bones, ender pearls and arrows. I thought of making a bow, but I don't really see the need as of yet. At least the ender pearls might come in useful; I think I was too quick to dismiss being able to transmute them into diamonds. I have an idea of what I could use them for, sometime later.

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The downstairs of the house is a bit empty, but there is enough space for most of my belongings, and everything I gather from the farms and monster 'trap'. It has a small kitchen, which opens out into the expanded area for my chickens. I half wish I had some other form of meat, but right now the only option there is what drops from those zombies...and I think I'd have to be desperate to eat that.

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And that's about it, for the work I've done. I've been doing a lot of thinking though, and I have a few experiments I would like to run once I'm settled in properly. First and foremost is seeing how redstone works in this world on a larger scale. I don't think It'll be able to exist in the compact circuitry I remember, but if it works even slightly how I remember it, it could come in useful. The second thing will be figuring out a way of moving blocks, without breaking them. I'm pretty sure that can be done - sand 'blocks' are able to move if unsupported...so I just need to figure out why, and how I can mimic that with other materials. Finally...I want to give building an aggregator a go. However I look at it, I'm going to run out of resources soon, and I don't think I want to stand and gather stone for a few more days - but being able to gather a fairly high quality material without effort should be able to replace that - I'm pretty sure I can use the transmutation table to get glowstone back into stone, somehow. I just need to figure out how the diamonds are supposed to focus the light...Some parts of their construction were never explained to me.

I wonder how big this world of mine will be when I'm able to leave?

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Chapter 11
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It's taken a couple of days to get used to waking up in a bedroom, overlooking the sunrise. It's a nice feeling, and almost enough to make me forget that the 'horizon' the sun rises from is little more than an illusion, a deep blue mask of smoke to hide an impenetrable darkness below. At any rate, I have no intention of studying that...or even looking, if it can be helped.

Yesterday I built a new platform. It's a trivial task, but I needed a workspace for what I'm planning today, which is the study of redstone. This is old work, and something that was much neglected in the academy, so I'll explain it a little here.

Redstone, as we know is a soft metallic dust. In nature it has two states; a stable state, where it behaves much like grains of sand, and an active state where it draws together and emits a small amount of light and heat. Compressing the stable dust, or exposing it to active dust, causes redstone to become active; this allows for a signal to be passed down a wire of it almost instantaneously, simply by exposing it to pressure or another active signal.

Redstone in the active state holds together, but can often be stabilised simply by applying the 'current' from another active source to an organic material connected to it. In machinery, this was often small needles of bone from fish, or other small animals, though splinters of wood worked just as well. This simple behaviour allowed for compact control over machinery without it needing any kind of power source, and was incredibly efficient. My hope is I can use some of these rules to recreate some forms of automation here, but I'll need to understand how this world has warped the basic nature of redstone before I do anything detailed with it.

I have prepared a number of 'redstone torches'. It's the smallest form of an inverter I could make with these materials, but I expected things to have to scale upwards in this world. A small handful of these I've set into stone slabs in pairs; a pair of inverters would be needed in order to keep the signal strength high enough for it to function properly, but that is just about all I can do with my current knowledge; everything else is up to testing. It's gotten a bit dark, but I've made sure this platform will remain well lit, and I'm not tired yet. Let the testing commence!

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It all went more or less how I hoped. There was one thing I hadn't considered happening in the beginning; it seems that the 'blocks' in this world are able to hold a redstone state. I suppose that, working backwards, this would have been a part of how things used to work, but...seeing it on this scale is almost inspiring. I wonder how much more advanced things could have been if we understood the world that we couldn't see? Sometimes I almost feel glad for the opportunities I have here. At least I know I have access to crude forms of inverters and diodes - I'll be able to do little more than basic logic, but it's a start. Tomorrow, I hope to be able to create something that will interact with redstone...I have a bad feeling about the weather though.

I knew it. I wake up to a downpour of rain - it didn't take much than moving to the lab's window to see the windmill spinning freely; the gearbox must have broken again. Now that I'm working on redstone, maybe I'll be able to rig something to disengage the gears when I'm not using it? I'll see about that when the weather clears up. For now, it looks like I'll just be doing more theory.

A hot breakfast of chicken and dumplings helped me ignore the weather outside. The chickens don't have any form of shelter...will they be alright in this? I should build a proper enclosure for them

I've got my idea. I know for a fact that, in this world, only one 'block' can exist in one 'co-ordinate'. Even if a block isn't taking up the full space, anything else that attempts to be placed there gets pushed sideways, until it either breaks itself back into an item, or finds a free co-ordinate to materialise properly. I'm pretty sure That if I could make one block change in such a way it would take up two blocks, it may well 'push' or break whatever is already in the other block while doing so. The design I have in mind would be somewhat like a piston, I guess.

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Hmm. I can't get a basic design for this to all exist within one block. As a result, even if it could work, it wouldn't do anything...though this is little more than a rock and a panel attached together with redstone. For now I'm out of ideas. I'll do some farming, take my mind of things. I need to try to remember what else can interact with redstone...

I got nothing done today, the rain didn't let up at all. Since I already got soaked harvesting and replanting wheat yesterday, I didn't fancy trying again.

The rain's let up now. First I'll see about making a new gearbox.

I made the right choice rebuilding the gearbox first, as it's given me an idea, if indirectly. normally a small redstone charge would be used to separate the input gear from the rest, so it can spin freely during storms or floods. This uses the fact that two compressed sources of redstone tend to repel each other, if they're not already linked by the current; it's not a strong force, but it's a bit like magnets repelling. I have a hunch that if I were to use something dense, like gold or iron, to amplify this force, I may be able to get the piston to work.

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The iron did it. When charged by a small redstone current, the wooden plate is almost instant propelled exactly one block forward. When the charge is taken away, since the plate isn't really a block in itself, it becomes unstable and quickly retracts into the piston before it breaks apart. It's not as mechanical as I would have liked, but I can't argue with the results.

So what Should I use this for? ideally, I need it to push a block that has very specific requirements for existence, and which will grow on it's own; which leave me with plants, and the only two plants I can think of that don't require much in the way of care are the reeds, and the cactus. Both potentially useful; I know for a fact that cactus can be transmuted into a lightweight, but durable wood for building, while the reeds - or sugarcane, I'm really not sure what it should be called - can be processed into sugar, which can be transmuted into redstone, glowstone, and other fuels. Convenient.

When fixing the gearbox, I added a lever to it; it's little more than a stick with a tiny amount of redstone on it. when it's moved, the contact forces the redstone into an active state, creating a charge. I've made two more, connected to two pistons for a small test. each piston is in a spot where it will break the top of a cactus or a reed when activated, so all I need to do is let them grow. Whichever gives me the best results, I'll use for setting up my first semi-automatic farm.

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This is interesting. It seems that one of the conditions a cactus 'block' has, is that it can't be next to anything solid. With my own eyes I saw it grow, and then the top part became unstable due to the piston - I didn't even need to activate it. The reed grew fine, and broke as expected with the piston being turned on.

Since a lot of my reason for only wanting one farm was that iron was on short supply, I see no reason now why I should not attempt to build both.

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A small thought came to me this evening. were I to make these farms, I had planned to set them up so at a button press, everything would be harvested and I could simply collect them. With my cactus discovery, it brings up one small problem - objects in 'item' form are unstable in the world. Attached to an entity, contained within a solid block, they're fine, but left alone, they dissapeer as fast as the rainwater when the sun comes out. So I built a box with a hole in it. It doesn't look all too impressive, but it should help keep the items stable until I collect them, and perhaps might be able to do more one day. At the very least, I've made a groove in the top where a filter can be placed, and a small flap and a screw that can be operated by mechanical power to let the items out. It's a hopper, I suppose. Should be useful.

Tomorrow, I farm. Tonight...it's chicken again. I miss beef.
Chapter 12
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Originally, I was going to spend today building my farms. Having given it some though, I'll begin that tomorrow, as I'm sure that this is going to be a project that will require something That I haven't actually done before, since building anything here: planning.

So what do I know? First comes the materials I'll be farming. Cactus, in a lot of ways, 'farms' itself. It grows at a steady rate, and if the top part becomes obstructed, it breaks and falls to the floor. Sugarcane grows somewhat sporadically, and requires breaking manually, though in this case, I intend to use my latest invention, the piston.

Second comes the redstone and pistons. It takes roughly one ingot of iron to make a piston which is able to extend into another block. I have a lot of iron handy, from downgrading the materials gained from enderpearls, so this shouldn't be an issue when it comes to size. Apon experimentation, I discovered that a redstone charge becomes undetectable, that is to say it ends, after approximately 15 meters. This can be extended by using either a buffer, or a pair of torches. Torches can also be used to transmit a charge upwards, which I think will be necessary.

Third comes transportation. Currently, the only times I've ever seen an item move without my interference is when it has just been broken, or it has been placed in moving water. As such, I think that setting up a water flow to transport the items is going to be the best method of gathering them all in the same place. Earlier today I set up a short, temporary channel to see how far water would be able to carry items, and got a distance of about 8 meters from one bucket's worth. This is probably going to be the limiting factor for the farms.

My plan involves having a water channel from each farm deposit the items into my hoppers. the mos reasonable method of doing this that I can see is for each farm to have a central water channel to carry the items out, and have this fed by a number of other channels into which the items will fall. with this is mind, the interior length is going to be approximately 17m - the length of 2 full channels, and the 1m space for the central channel. As for the width, I'd like the keep that at 8m or less, again due to the length water can move. off the top of my head, it should work - 1m for a water channel, 1m for the cane plant, 1m for the pistons, 1m for the wiring and then pistons, cane and water again make 7m. adding walls, the platform for the sugarcanes will be 19mx9m. I'll try and make the cactus farm the same size.

Now that I have all that written, I should sleep. This is going to be a long job. I just need to cook what stone I have left overnight...I hope I have enough to build this.

I woke up, crafted the brick I needed and grabbed enough cold chicken to last me the day. I'll need to build a platform for under the farms, and work from there upwards. First thing will be he chutes to carry the items to me; once they're made, I know where the rest of the building work needs to be done.

After building the platform, I noticed that I'd left the door open in my house. I noticed this, because I could see chickens indoors. It's taken me a long time to chase them out, but I should at least be able to finish the chutes by tonight.

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Tomorrow I'll make a start on those platforms.

The weather looks clear, the door to the yard is empty, an I'm all stocked up on bricks. I should have enough...hopefully when this is done, I can use some of the cane farm's output to make any more stone I'll need.

The making of the platforms went smoothly, despite losing my balance and almost falling off once. I stuck the first layer of a wall around each for now, so I should be safe while planning the next part up here. I'll build the cactus farm first; it's a much simpler construction, and it'll save me messing around with redstone for now; I don't want to find myself hungry while handling the stuff.

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I have plenty of wood at the moment, and since I'll be able to make more the moment this is working, I decided to continue the construction with wood. First I filled the water channel in the centre, to make sure it would link up ok. Then I placed sand in a grid pattern across the whole platform; this is where the cactus will be planted. I thought it was going well to begin with, but when I tried adding the water streams, I noticed that there were a lot of 'dead spots' where the water was more or less still. as far as I could tell, I'd be wasting about a third of my cactus if I left it like that, which didn't seem right. Since sand is one of the few materials that cannot stay suspended in mid-air, I'll need to make a platform for each sand block to sit on, and make sure there is space underneath for the water to flow freely.

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I managed that, but it took the better part of the day to sort out. at least the water is fine now, so I might have a chance at getting it planted up tonight.

Working towards a plan like this is oddly rewarding. I always used to like being spontaneous when building things; both in the old world, and in this new one, but seeing this come together is satisfying, even when I'm unsure if it will even work yet. All the sand is in place, and the water is flowing correctly; a few space items of wood tossed in at random places made it all of the way down the end of the chute without getting stuck. It's starting to get dark, but I just need to plant up the cactus, and place something to cause them the break when they grow, and this side is done.

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This morning I'll be making my start on the reed farm. I've got my wood, my food and some dirt, but I think I can see shadows on the platform.

Spiders. Thankfully not aggressive - they rarely are in sunlight - but they're crawling all over the second platform. Why here? To begin with, It looked almost like the monsters were coming out of the darkness when I first saw them, but it's true that this platform wasn't lit up. Could it really be that they only get sent to dark places? I've never been able to watch from close up, but if that's the case...I'm glad I've been careful to light everything up till now. I'll have to put lighting in these farms too.

They left eventually, via the blue void below me. Do the spiders know what is down there? I don't see why anything alive would make that leap willfully.

The groundwork is done. I raised the platform a little, in anticipation of where the wiring will have to go, added a wooden wall, and put the dirt and water in place for the reeds. I then used some of my remaining stone to make a support for the pistons; I could have used wood, but until I know more about pistons I'd rather use something stronger to support them.

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Having installed the pistons and planted the reeds, all that's left is the wiring. I'll eat first. It seems the cactus side is already working, some just made it's way down the chute.

The wiring for this, I think is pretty simple. First I ran a 'wire' from the end closest to the chutes to a block in the middle. On the chute end, I took out an extra block to lead the wire down, and placed a lever on the other side - for now, this will be the on/off switch for the pistons. On the block in the middle is a redstone torch; this will be active and cause a charge in the block above it whenever the switch is 'off'. Since it was dark in there, I put a few torches on the walls... I doubt a monetr appearing in there will be a problem, but I can't be too careful.

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Above the redstone torch at the bottom is another block with a torch on it. Since the block is receiving a charge, this one is inactive - the theory is that when the switch is on, the bottom one will stop disabling this one - but when active, it will send a change through the redstone 'wire' here. This will in turn activate this pistons, allowing me to control all 32 of them with one switch.

For now I'll take a break. This is a more tiring project than I thought it would be. Maybe I'll have an early night. I'll set some glass up in the furnaces, as if things have gone well I'll be finishing up tomorrow.

I tested the switch this morning, after seeing a neat pile of cactus sat at the end it it's chute. The pistons are all working fine - I was worried I had made a mistake somewhere.

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With that, all that's left is making sure the farms are well lit, and covered over. I had already used some glowstone for lighting - it being solid makes it more convenient than torches, when building, even if it's much harder to get the resources for it. a few pieces along the top should be enough to keep the roofs lit up, although I wish I had a bit more. While working yesterday I had been giving some thought to the glowstone aggregators, and I think I can make one. Once this is done, I'll make that my next project, even if I use it for little more than lighting.

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With the glass windows in place, the reed farm is finished. Now I just need to do the same for the cactus side, and it's over. While I'm up here, I'm going to put a bit of wood detailing on the glass, I'll see how it looks later.

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I took the wooden scaffolding down too early. I'm pleased with the result - it's easy enough on the eye, as floating greenhouses go - but the moulding looks out of place. Guess I'll remove that now.

All that's left is installing the hoppers. I figure I may as well put the chests under them; I'll set up the mechanical power to empty the hoppers at some point in the future, but right now it'd just look strange to not have them. But with this...the project is more or less done.

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A constant supply of wood, and the materials to allow me to explore alchemy further. I guess this is just one step forward among hundreds, but I think I'm proud of this one, simple as it is. Time to have a rest, spend a few more days watching to see if anyone's coming to rescue me. If they do, will I want to leave so soon?

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Chapter 13
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I don't know where to start with this aggregator. From what I know, diamonds are used as lenses to focus ambient light on a material, and the proximity of glowstone crystals acts as a catalyst for the glowstone dust to start accumulating.

But with just that...I'm going to have to give this some thought. Simply throwing it together isn't going to work, and glowstone is too valuable to risk wasting right now. Once the reed...sugarcane farm has been harvested a few more times, I'll give it a shot. In the meantime, I need something to do.

A problem I've noticed recently relates to how building things here is...somewhat difficult. I can build huge, flat platforms with relative ease - the same goes for staircases and buildings that are built upwards. I don't have a desire to build down too far, but my little world is just going to get higher and higher, or be almost flat if I can't find a way to reach the underside of blocks sometimes soon. I know I used a water current to do so once, but...I don't want to risk that again.

Hmm, rope. I was working at grinding some hemp down when I realised that I had made my axles from the stuff - it's strong enough to operate machinery, so It should be strong enough to support my weight, right? I should braid some more, and craft some form of anchor; If it's a form of block, I shouldn't have to worry about it coming loose while climbing.

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Well, it works, in a manner of speaking. The rope feels too stiff; climbing it is possible, but it doesn't move, however I put my weight on it. I suppose it's just another of this world's conveniences, but...I just don't know. I thought I was getting used to the laws here, but I'm still finding myself surprised.

For now I may as well do something with it, I'm not at a loss for hemp fibres. Maybe use it for getting to the top of my windmill faster? Twice already storms have come suddenly and I haven't been able to climb those stairs fast enough to disable the gearbox. I could do with a way of detecting rain, but as of now, I can't think of one.

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It's gotten dark, but the rope is up. I was hurrying towards the end; the platform the rope is suspended from looks a little strange, but I should be able to fix that now, since the rope is sturdy enough for me to place items while holding onto it. But that'll be a job for tomorrow, for now I'll harvest some sugar cane and call it a night. Maybe I'll get some inspiration for this aggregator tomorrow.

No inspiration yet, so I may as well get something more done. Since I can reach the windmill from the platform below it now, perhaps I should move the saw and millstone down there? Only having one set up at a time has proven inconvenient at best.

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I've broken into my lunch early - bread and sliced melon today, I'm going to have to cull some more chickens - to decide how I want to do this. the hole for the axles to run though is done, but I'm going to have to set up some scaffolding to put them in place. I stopped to write this because from here, I can see my sugar farm, and had a thought regarding water flows. The reeds I've collected so far have always been bone dry, even if taken out of the stream itself. Would the same apply to hemp fibres? flour? If so, perhaps I could set up a collection system around the millstone, to collect them for me? It's habit of ejecting the items randomly has been a minor annoyance up till now, but if I were to set up a hopper, I could simply walk away after loading up the millstone without worrying. It's worth a thought, at least.

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I finally took down the last of the scaffolding; it's gotten late already. I've engaged the gearbox to do a quick test, and it seems it's all working fine...I was worried that the windmill might not be able to power both the millstone and saw at the same time, and I'd have to disable one. It might be a different matter once they're both in use, but I haven't noticed any extra strain in the axles just from using them till now. Now to disengage it again, collect what sugarcane has grown today, and again call it a night. Time's moving so fast, yet the world isn't changing; except for what I do to it. But then, the faster time goes by...the faster I'll be rescued.

I will be rescued.

I had another strange dream last night. I stood in vast plains, broken only by tall dark towers dimly reflecting the moonlight. Just before I woke...what was that I saw cross the sky?

Taking a break from my manual 'labour' I took out my philosophers stone, and took to transmuting some glowstone. Keeping some sugar aside for seasoning my food, and redstone for whatever wiring I may do next, I think I have enough that I can afford to waste some. Perhaps if I had lit those farms with torches, I'd have been able to start this sooner?

The first attempt at making an aggregator failed. The diamonds are flawless, and focus the light perfectly, and the glowstone...it should be in crystals on size with the diamonds, but it seems to hold together enough to cause the focused light to accumulate the dust, but it isn't working. If I try and place an item in the block, it sits there, but as the glowstone dust accumulates, it grows unstable and breaks, along with some of the glowstone blocks that are part of the construction.

Perhaps I need to clear my head...there's something simple that I'm missing here.

Setting up a water current around the millstone should be easy enough. I'd start now, but for lack of stone for the enclosure for it. There is still some raw stone - I guess it should be cobblestone, by the way it looks in the world - in the chest, but under it...I don't want to think about that yet.

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The second attempt appears successful at first glance. All I needed was a block capable of holding an item that is capable of keeping it stable while it changes, and a furnace seemed perfect. It's slow though. The aggregators I knew, you could see the dust crystallising, but this feels like watching a puddle evaporate. In the old world, I suppose - puddles, and any liquid from rain vanishes with the rain itself in this one. At least I didn't waste much glowstone making this one - what I have spare can be transmuted through iron, back into stone with a bit of work.

The stone is in the furnaces...there isn't much daylight left though. One last look outside, to plan for tomorrow. hopefully the aggregator just needs time to warm up...i'll check on it once the millstone's collector is set up. From there, I don't know what I should do.

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Morning again. Out of curiosity, I decided to see if the aggregator had sped up; from experience, the amount of dust I put in there should be fully crystallised by now. Unfortunately, it hadn't...it's operating at barely 1/8th of the speed it should be. I guess I could make more, once it's output enough to make more diamonds, but will it be worth it?

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I've started work on the millstone. It had to be raised up a little, but there is more or less enough space for a water flow. A thin panel of wood on the wall 'occupies' the co-ordinates it sits in, so the water doesn't appear to be able to flow into it, which is roughly how I planned it. At least this seems to be going right.

I think I'll build a roof over the top of it. I can't think of any reason to do so, beyond maybe as a shelter from the rain when it comes, but with my house so close even that reason seems weak. Everything is so close here.

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It's dark, but it's finally done. I seem to be able to lose myself making these small additions...even if they're not needed, passing time is a good reason for anything. Even if I'm passing time so I have more time to do other things...my nature of efficiency and automation doesn't suit this place, where time is abundant. I need ways to make time speed up. Sleep is a good method, but I can't sleep forever.

That dream again, that same shadow crossing the sky. What is that place?

Thinking about yesterday, I realised something. sure, a year ago sleep was a good method of passing time, but it felt almost as if I had forgotten the line of work I was in. It seems odd explaining it to a book, but since my knowledge on the subject is so fragmented...I guess all I can do is write it down.

Legends of alchemists and alchemy all revolve around turning base materials and metals to gold, and creating strange potions to give eternal life. In truth, it goes far beyond that: with enough resources at a man's disposal, a man can become a god, even if it requires power equivalent to that of a star for him to use it, else becoming a mere human again till he gathers more fuel. Gold isn't the end result: it's a goal, as gold is currency, and it can be traded in any kingdom in the old world. The real world: here it would be useless for that purpose. Here, there is no reason not to go further, to diamonds, and then to the true end product of alchemy, the fabled 'dark matter'. Almost anything is possible, with enough of it. Rumours of everything from flight, immunity to fire, being able to breathe water, regeneration of wounds, even weapons capable of tearing apart armies.

The ability to manipulate time.

If I had that ability...time wouldn't be an issue. An eternity here could pass in mere moments.

It's little more than a dream, no more real than those black towers and that flying shadow. But it's hope. I have a lot of things in quantity: melon slices, eggs, hemp seeds...but hope is a resource I can do something with.

Could I build hope here?

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Chapter 14
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Hope, huh.

I spent a few idle hours yesterday, sat with my notebook. I suppose that my education at the academy wasn't half bad, for me to remember half of what I have written, but it's taken time to do the simple transmutations to confirm things. Time. Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to work out how much of...anything it would cost me to actually make dark matter right now.

From my basic calculations, it'd take me mining around 500 blocks of stone to make one diamond. It would then take me around 30 diamonds to make a simgle piece of dark matter. Even if making something of it only required one piece, there is always the chance of failure - which is 15000 broken blocks of stone wasted. I guess there are other routes to it, but put like this...hope is a goal I can't afford to reach for right now.

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My fireplace doesn't seem as warm as it was when it was first built...to begin with, it was enough to boil the water quite happily, and now there is barely any steam rising from it at all. Something else I'll have to deal with, I guess. All in good time.

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When collecting some flour for today's bread, the shape of the shelter irritated me. Why does it stick out like that? It was fine when I first built it. That will have to be changed...may as well do it today. It's not like I have anything better to do.

How about those aggregators then? about 30 glowstone comes to a diamond. So I'd need about 900 for a piece of dark matter. One aggregator seems to be able to make 10 glowstone in a day, so that'd be 90 days, right?

90 days of waiting for...what? a chance at making something to make time faster? However I look at it, it's beyond what I can do.

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I didn't realise it had gotten dark, but the millstone's shelter now doesn't feel like it's getting in the way. I guess that's good. Chicken for supper again...that is, if I can trust it to be fully cooked. Maybe I should just stick with the bread tonight.

90 days can't be that long. I've been here at least that long up till now. but if I were to make a second one...I wanted to find out if I could make one work faster anyway, I guess.

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I guess 45 days is better than 90. The second aggregator is identical, no matter how I tried putting it together...even the added light from raw glowstone crystals, blocks, doesn't seem to change things. But 45 days is better than 90. Though didn't I just use 9 days-worth of glowstone to make it? I should sleep, before I think about it too much.

I need that cauldron to be hotter, I can't trust cooking meat in it like this. Not chicken anyways...Perhaps if I had beef It would be fine. I guess for now I'll impregnate some more cobblestone with redstone dust, though if it's going to always cool down like this over time, I'll need something better.

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A larger fire seems to work. Still, if it's just going to cool down again, perhaps I should try something different. It was banned, but it's not like the tutors are here to punish me anymore...I'm alone now. Just me and...chickens. I used to have a pet dog, I suppose he's gone now. Be good if he was here though, he was always good company.

Two things were banned at the academy, two things that always stood out. The first was the transmutation of living things; too many mistakes were made too early, the monstrosities killed mercilessly. The other was any attempt to summon matirials from the underworld. Not that there was reputed to be much there...lots of lava, which I guess doesn't count. Glowstone wasn't 'technically' from there, it just happened to be there. No, what was really banned was two simple matirials: 'soul' sand, supposedly some form of living quicksand apparently was too dangerous, it corrupted the world around it. The other was netherrack, the stone responcible for the eternal fires of hell. Or so they say. The latter at least was the origional inspiration for what I'm using to cook my food right now.

Hellfire, huh? Perhaps the real deal would burn hotter. Why were we disallowed it?

I'm tiring of these torches. I've been thinking for a while now, but I need some real lighting. torches are dim, give off smoke, and easilly broken, while glowstone...it just looks strange. Not to mention, neither can be switched off...I don't think I've been able to sleep in a dark room once since I've gotton here. That said, I think I know how to go about making something more suitable, and thankfully the cauldron should be hot enough to do it.

I already have a decent number of glass panes handy, and forming them into hollow cubes is simple. What I need is a filament, a non-magical, non-alchemical, simple piece of technology. While I suppose the matirials are rough, I already know that redstone and glowstone mix well in this world, and if I could just get it to solidify around something like a string or a bundle of fibres, it'd be exactly what I need, I think.

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It worked, more or less. I hate to think what tonight's food is going to taste like - I should really set up a second cauldron for more industrial work - but I suppose I'll have to to clean it, after all I'd really like to wait till nighttime to test this anyway.

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Simple, yet effective. despite having to replace the cauldron - no amount of cleaning seems to stop the bitter taste of redstone leaking into the food - the lighting seems to work. Just a small redstone charge, and the filament bursts to life for simple lights that can be switched off. I should sleep well tonight.

I dreamt about home again last night. I suppose they were my thoughts from before, but I kept seeing my old dog. Whatever god rules this place would know the company would be worth it.

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opening the door to fetch the night's load of eggs, a chicken ran inside. If I didn't already have some cooking for the day, I suppose I'd normally-

I need to try to remember.

I know I shouldn't do this, but why not. At worst, I guess I could run, but this can't go wrong. If the journal ends here, know that I'm about to use the same laws that govern the conversion of one form of plant like to another on this chicken. Hopefully it works. It would have been better if I'd ever even been taught the basic rules of animal transmutation, but here goes.
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The first test is done. Have my thoughts really been drifting towards eating real meat so much? I had meant to just turn it into a duck, or another form of bird - just to see if it could be done. I didn't expect a cow. Do I really trust the meat coming from something I created? Then again...didn't I create those chickens from a few feathers?

I should try again. I'll try for a dog. I have some bones handy, and some chicken...it'd be nice to have a pet.

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It took a couple of tries. It's done, I suppose, even if it does look more wolf than tame.

What was my old dog's name? I can't remember...
Chapter 15
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The nether. I suppose back in the days where it was simply myth, it was known as hell - an infernal wasteland where souls were trapped for eternity. Knowing the reality of it, or at least it being revaled by that man shook a lot of people's faith: how long can superstition last when something you only half belived in turns out to be real?

I know that the place and everything in it is dangerous, but I can't help but feel it being the same danger as standing near a volcano, or overlooking a sharp precipice...dangerous, but not in a supernatural way. And I need a lasting fuel source here...

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I can't decide what to call the wolf. There's only the two of us here, so does it need a name? Even if I gave it one...it behaves oddly. If told to sit it stays where it is regardless of hunger, and if not it just follows me around constantly. So long as I stay in the house, at least; it won't go out of the front door, no matter what I do. At least I don't have any carpets in the house, though I'm starting to like the idea of having a few comforts, as this house still feels too...empty.

If I'm going to mess around with the matirials of the underworld, I figure I should probably do it in a safe place. I'm going to start building another platform today, far away enough from anyting wooden to avoid danger; let alone the possibility of it exploding. I don't know why that worries me - I've never heard of netherrack exploding, regardless of how much experimentation was done with it - but...It's a gut instinct, I suppose.

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If this does work, perhaps I should build a real furnace? So long as everything is fireproofed and I have some form of bellows, it could be useful. And it's not like I have any reason to not try...at the very least, being able to make stronger tools or weapons could be useful. Never know what might happen in a world where monsters literally appear from the shadows.

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The platform is done. I've left a large enough gap to construct a platform directly underneath it, if I do decide to make a real forge after all. For now...I know the transmutation involves redstone dust and stone, but it doesn't feel like it's enough somehow. Something is missing...

As I thought, all I ended up with is this impregnanted cobblestone. I guess I can throw a few more things into the mix; after all, this is the stone that hell itself is made from. Perhaps I should look into involving something more...fitting? Being attacked by the undead seems hellish enough, so perhaps some of the remains should work...

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In the end, by introducing some rotten flesh from the sun-blasted remains of some zombies has...improved the end result. It's almost blood red, and soft to the touch, but it burns. Even with just this, I can tell the flames will be hotter than before. If it stays like this, my cooking issues will be solved, if partially. It's gotten a bit dark though, I should sleep.

I didn't sleep well. I can't remember dreaming of anything in particular this time - dreams here are strangely vivid, at times - but as I woke up, if felt like there was someone else here, saying something. Perhaps this isolation is getting to me...I wish someone would hurry up and find me. Anyway, breakfast.

I've been wondering about these 'Glowstone aggregators' I have upstairs. I still feel they're not working right, but I can't see any reason they shouldn't be working faster. And if they're built right...did I build the wrong thing instead? Be interesting to see what they actually are. I can't seem to figure it out right now though...

That bloody dog. Wolf. Whatever - While I can't get used to this world, there are various things that are useful. Dampness from rain vanishes quickly, fallen leaves and plant stems become unstable and break apart, and I havn't once needed to clean out the chicken pen. So why is it, of the admittedly few living things I've seen here, is it that this wolf's dung happens to be able to remain stable? I can't think of much I can really do with it, excet for waving it around, flinging it...though I know some forms of dung are used in the tanning process of leather. I don't want to think about it too much, but...The belt for the saw isn't going to last forever.

I tried out tanning some leather with the dung. It worked, complete with the acrid smells that tend to keep people away from tanneries. Glad I built this platform away from the house. Now if I can use this to create a bladder, I should be able to hook up a form of bellows to stoke the fire. I've never tried my hand at metalworking myself, but I know it's iron and carbon which make steel. It'll be interesting to see how something like that will exist in this world.

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The mechanism for the bellows is ready. The bellows themselves are simple; inside, a mechanically powered crank forces the air bladder shut, and opens when the power is removed. For now I'll have to use this lever to manipulate the flames, maybe an automated setup would be possible?

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The netherrack...I was so close. Why did it go out?
Chapter 16
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I just can't understand this world. I suppose at first I thought it a construct of alchemy, an artificial world with simplilfied rules made; as I was told, to be a place to run to if things got bad. The more time I spend here....was it really made for that? Even if it was, why did it have to be so different?

And why is it starting to feel...right, that things are like this now?

I suppose it's been about a week since my failed attempt at stoking fire. This place seems to resist 'technology' as such; simple things, like making something spin around an axle is relitively difficult; the blade on the saw was a pain to get right even thought I was transmuting it into shape. Anything...magical, i suppose - on the other hand seems to happen with ease. I know the laws that govern this place are not the ones I'm used to, but I should still be able to apply them, right?

The week went by fairly quickly. Farming has left me with more food than I could ever want to eat, and yet I'm even growing sick of bread. A few days ago I transmuted a couple of cows - in hindsight, I'm surprised how little I thought about it before doing it again - but once the chickens were transformed, I suppose that I grew cold feet, and such I havn't had any of the beef I had thought of at first. The access to milk has been refreshing though, even if it tastes a little strange.

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Twice I've seen spiders on the stairs from the old shelf. While I know them to be perfectly docile during the day, I don't want to risk them getting near my house...or anything else, for that matter. If Spiders can get up here, how long till zombies and creepers too? endermen? As such, I made a crude bow yesterday. I havn't tested it on a living - or unliving - target yet, but I used to be a pretty good shot, and I should at least be prepared to use all the arrows that had been shot at me on something.

I've still be heading down there to gather the remains of whatever appears, but It's getting a lot harder to make myself take those steps in the mornings. That odd stone is still just floating there, indestructible as always. Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, I think I can see cracks in it's surface. I can't help but think if it were to actually break, that this whole place would break with it. I suppose it's time for me to go down there again now. Another day of nothing.

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It's been another two days. The aggreators, or at least that's what I'll be calling them till I know more, have left me with a small fortune in matirials. It's certainly a lot better than spending countless hours breaking stone from that lava. I can't help but think about what they're actually doing though; are they really just accumulating glowstone dust onto what I put inside, or is it just becoming glowstone dust because of how I made them?

Thinking about glowstone dust has given me an idea, if indirectly. When I wanted better lighting, I was able to cook the stuff into a fairly solid filament. In it's new form it gives out a lot more light, and the filament itself is a lot more durable. Could the same work with the netherrack? If I could concentrate it in some way, or perhaps even come up with a continous method of igniting it, I might be able to stoke it without it going out.

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It's gotten a bit late, but The sky looks clear; I can risk leaving the windmill's gears engaged for the night, I think. Since netherrack is so soft, a millstone should have a much better time of breaking it down than I could by hand. Just as well, since I spent the better part of the day preparing more of it. Anyway, I'll just get this thrown in and call it a night.

The next time I make a rock that looks almost alive, I should check to see if it actually is alive before sticking it in a millstone. I don't know when it started - I was able to get to sleep perfactly fine - but when I woke up this morning, I could hear screaming. I paniced, thought maybe someone else had arrived, and was being attacked...but only after running around with my new bow in arm did I realise those couldn't be human screams. I hurridly removed the remaining netherrack from the millstone; barely a quarter of what went in to begin with, and the screaming stopped. Can it really feel pain like that?

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These nightmares are starting to get to me. They're not the vivid, almost memroy-like ones from before....these are confusing, darker...and now they have intermittent screams in them. I'm losing my mind, I really am.

I killed one of the cows today. The leather should come in useful - save me having to use zombie flesh at least - and the beef...I've never tasted something so good. Such a small thing to cheer me up on a day like today. I'm going to continue my research on the nethherack today, I think. So long as I avoid the millstone at least. If it's alive,. it's never shown any reaction to heat or liquid, so I should be fine going straight onto just trying to get it to form together in the cauldron.

Nothing. It obvously draws together, but whenever it does, something gets in the way, and visably pushes the clumps of dust apart. Whatever it is it's invisible, but perhaps this is the 'living' part that's been haunting my nightmares? And I suppose it stands to reason that if it can stop the ground netherrack from forming together, it could have been preventing the flames too. I need to figure a way of removing them...maybe then they'll leave my dreams alone too.

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My thoughts on this were simple, if a little unfounded. Netherrack and soulsand were what that man called the two matirials that were forbidden to us. Now if this place was hell....could it have been that those things were...souls? At least if they're not, they're likely to be whatever 'soul sand' was named in reference to. Since they repel each other so much, I figure that there needs to be something that naturally occurs in the nether that absorbs them, ends them, or the whole place would break as time goes on, and soul sand...it's worth a try? It was simple enough to make. Taking the clue from the name, a bit of work with various matirials; in the end sand, rotten flesh and some glowstone, I've managed to systhesise a small pile of it, here on the platform furthest from my house. It's strange...but the way it drags at the things around it, even myself - I think I'm on the right track.

Next would be to filter out the 'souls'. It could be interesting if I could contain a few, seperated from thier netherrack, so I've prepared a hopper for this purpose.

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The result; 'pure' netherrack I guess, thought it could use a better name. The...souls seem to protest a fair bit when they're filtered out, but just looking inside the box doesn't seem to show anything. I guess they really are just immatirial. Now I have some of this filtered netherrack, I'm going to go have lunch, and give some thought to how I can use it.

I suppose the best way to be certain that this will work will be to cover all the bases. I'm pretty sure that I can boil this dust down into something much like the filament, and the heat from an actual filament should be enough to light it. with that, I'd have a flame I can control at the flip of a switch, instead of having to waste good iron with a flint.

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I'm glad I took my bow but...I had hoped not to see one of those things again. I don't know what they're called, but I saw enough of them covering the town with fire when I fled, back when this all began. Thankfully it seemed about as intellegent as anything else here - I was able to hide behind rubble and loose shots at it till it fell - but if I'd been somewhere else here, those fireballs could have done some serious damage. It appeared while I was filtering some more ground netherrack; the hopper simply destabalised and broke, and the next thing I heard was that...thing, and the gound, or perhaps this whole world was shaking around me. I don't know if you'd call it crying or screaming, but it clearly wasn't happy with me...could it have come from those...souls? At least I can understand why they'd be angry. The ground stopped moving when the last arrow found it's mark, but what was that?

I can still see the cracks in that rock out of the corner of my eye. What's going on?

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I split the rest of the netherrack between a couple of hoppers; I managed to get a fair bit of the pure stuff, but it took longer that way. At least there were no more tenticle monsters. Cooking it slowly in the cauldron seems like the best bet. I know there shouldn't be anything left in it to make noise, but I'm going to leave for now, have an early night. And a late morning. If I knew how to transmute alcohol, it would be great to forget what happened today.

At least I'd woken up late. Half in fear of what I'll find I've put of going up to that platform till later, but I've got most of the work done; a stone slab with a filament embedded in it, with some of that concentrated netherrack applied to the top, it should work. Meanwhile, the hemp field seems to be fully grown again...

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It was evening before I came up here, but in truth I'm not sure what I was worried about. The netherrack had clumped together in the cauldron as expected, and there were no random monsters around trying to kill me. Applying the new substance to the stone slabs was simple and lighting it was even easier. I tried extiguishing the flames to etst it, and it relit almost immediately; I think this is a success. With this, I should be able to make a furnace as hot as the fires of hell themselves, no matter how literal that sounds.

Fires of hell. Hellfire...it seems like a good name for this stuff.
Chapter 17
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My nightmares didn't seem to be getting worse, but I'm not entirely sure what I just woke up from was a nightmare. It's been a little less than a week since I successfully created what I'm calling 'concentrated hellfire' for the first time, and in truth, I haven't gotten a whole lot done.

I suppose the main achievement was finishing off the stone platform which holds my soon-to-be forge. The bellows now pump at the press of a button, and the roof should keep any weather from interfering with whatever I make there. I can't think of many things I could do with it currently; rendering down organic matirials into glue, or tallow are the only things that come to mind right now. And what use would I have for them?

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More or less on a whim, I finally moved the lava up here as well, via bucket. At least if my glowstone aggregators stop working for whatever reason I have another option for the creation of cobblestone.

Once I had finished filtering the...souls out of the netherrack, I dismantled the platform I had been working on. It was a shame to see it go; it represented the curiosity that helped me see this place as anything more than a prison, but it started feeling strange after a while. Like the souls I had freed where...sticking around. At any rate, I broke it down and threw the remains off the edge into the void, just in case.

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I think I need a more specialised area for investigating the supposed intelligence of these monsters, and If I build it right, maybe I can work it into a profit as well. I don't have much else to do right now, so I may as well plan.

I also spent a bit of time studying the aggregators. I'm not an expert on them, and I suppose explaining my conclusions in too much detail would be pointless - moreso if this is ever read by someone *from* the academy, but I suppose I should write a few of the briefer details.

Aggregators are generally split into two categories. The first would be the 'collectors', which capture ambient energy or matter and turn it into something solid; this is the category the glowstone aggregators fit into. Only it seems that instead of building a perfect glowstone aggregators, I may have made something more generic, which is taking the energy and simply transmuting the contents into glowstone. In an effort to study this further I turned the bulk of all the resources I gathered so far into another 6, to see if I could get a different effect; so far I've failed.

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My second option would be trying to make something from the second 'type' of aggregator, which takes some form of energy and directly put it into a material, changing it. This is normally called a 'condenser', but since the behaviour is so similar to what I already have it might be worth looking into.

Unfortunately I only know of the most simple of those machines, the obsidian aggregator. It simple in the form that it takes the energy from the very material it is supposed to be transmuting, simply using water as a medium. I don't know what use obsidian will be, but once I have the materials required to build it (if I remember correctly, obsidian is required in it's construction itself) I can't see a reason not to.


Beyond being bored, that is the entirety of my achievements for this week. I don't think I'd have even written it down if not for that nightmare...that said, something about dreaming about the very things you'd just been doing is just too...I don't know. In my dream, I was finishing the roof over the cobblestone generator, and then...I woke up. Strange.

Now, onto today's work. After burning myself when stoking the fire up in the forge yesterday, I've decided I need a reliable method of doing it automatically. I suppose with some trial and error I could make it work with pure redstone wiring - an inverter with a feedback loop could simulate me pressing a button every few moments - but I have a better idea. Or at least, one that might be more useful in the long run.

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It was a simple enough thing to make; it's basically the same as the saw, without needing a belt or blade. In theory it should rotate whatever is put on top of it, thought I'm not sure if rotation is really the right word. Can something rotate in a world made of squares?

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The plan is simple. This turntable rotates a block. On the side of a block is a redstone torch. whenever the torch ends up on one specific side, it powers the gearbox, allowing the bellows to inflate. then it just keeps on turning.


That was a lot of work for little gain. The moment I managed to set up all the axles, it began to rain; I suppose I won't be able to test this just yet. I need a source of mechanical power that isn't affected by the weather here.

This house is still too empty. I had an idea a few days back, and while it's raining I'm going to make the preparations for it. My wife used to paint sometimes; she'd set up an easel on an evening and try to capture the sunset.

With the flowers previously collected from the garden, and some cactus that was boiled down in my cookpot, I have three, slightly lumpy pastes of red, green and yellow. I don't have a brush, and my fingers sure aren't nimble enough to make one quickly, so I suppose my fingers will do. I just need this rain to let up before sunset, or else I'll need to find something blue as well.

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Not a masterpiece but...my wife would have liked it. I'd hope.

No bad dreams last night...no dreams at all. Time for another day.

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The turntable is strange. It...doesn't rotate things. It...moved them. If something is facing north, it will suddenly be facing west, then south, then east; there doesn't seem to be any kind of transition. Even the pistons seemingly pushed blocks from one co-ordinate to another, this is just...

at any rate, it still works.

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Complete with a small enclosure, my work up here is more or less done, until I can figure out what I can do next. In the beginning, I had hoped to make new tools, steel, but right now I can't see how. I can't use the cauldron for that; it would melt (and from what I've seen of liquids in this world, that could be disastrous) before the flames were even hot enough.

I need something to do while I think; I need to figure out what materials I can manipulate that can resist high temperatures, and how I can make a form of volcanic glass. I suppose I can start work on the new project while I think...

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Chapter 18:
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Since I've taken down that old platform...it might just be me, but monsters are spawning too close now. I was unable to sleep, so I went to have a think about this forge...and there was a zombie. Just one mind; but it was on my platform. I didn't think this place was badly lit, so if monsters are able to spawn in lighter areas...is it because I took down that old platform, and they're looking for the next most suitable place? No worries, That should be fixed by tommorow evening.

Today's work was simply collecting more stone, and that stone is slowly cooking in my furnaces as I write. I don't know why sleep is harder to come by than it was not just a few days ago...was it that dream? Was it even a dream? I felt like I had been falling...but never mind that.

My cactus farm was a good investment. Don't know how else I could have gotten enough wood for the charcoal I need, but still, I'm almost out of cactus again, and It'll be a while befiore I stockpile more. I'll need a way of cooking it over that stoked fire if I want to keep my construction going at a faster rate. But now time to sleep, and hopefully tommorow that platform will be done.

It's noon already; I must have slept in. I don't know why I feel that to be important enough to write down, but at least I didn't have any nightmares. I think.

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The platform is finished, just in time. Now I just have to block it off, and untill I have time to improve it, it should at least keep the monsters away from my main buildings. Don't want to be superised by zombies again...not that they're too much of an issue when you have an axe handy. I have to admit, there is something refreshing about killing the undead with a lump of rock tied to a stick.

It's given me enough time to think though. I think I know how I'm going to go about this forge. The only heat resistant material I've really encountered so far; or at least one that I would trust, is the clay bricks I made my house out of. Normal stone could be fine, but I don't want to risk it; it had a nasty habit of fracturing and sometimes exploding in the old world, where imperfections and air pockets expanded faster than the rest. If I rebuild the structure; maybe widen the area with hibachis and maybe add another bellows, then seal it with bricks, I should be able to get high enough temperatures to make something more...useful. More useful than rendered animal fat, at least.

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Before I go to sleep, I thought I'd check back to see how the platform was doing; it seems to be attracting a lot more attention than the old one did. Is it just because it's bigger?

Ugh...I slept till noon again. I had hoped to see The sun burn away the undead as it rose, but no luck. Maybe tomorrow morning then.

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I've prepared the area for the new forge. I have enough spare concentrated hellfire (I love that name) to make six more hibachis, so I suppose it'll be widened by about two blocks. which means the turntable will have to move a bit further as well. Wish I'd thought of all this in the beginning, to save myself the work now.

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That's the technical work done. My plan is to have a brick oven and a small open fire area within this forge, which should be enough room to achieve anything that needs doing. I'm also going to need a melting pot - a crucible, as it's properly called - for trying to melt down the 'metals' in this world. I have no idea if that will work, but then again, I have no idea how to go about making one. I'll save that for later.

The other challenge I'm facing is this condenser; the obsidian aggregator. A few days back, I made some obsidian; it was just a case of rapidly cooling some lava from it's source. Normally it's a fragile, almost opaque glass; made with this...place's lava (it's source, specifically) It's almost as tough as I'd expect a solid block of diamond to be. That said it's still fragile, my pickaxe shattering it right when I though It had finally been broken into an item. I'll need another method of making it, but...I just done know. There's too much I don't know, and too many things that are needed for even the simplest goals.

Not that making a technical alchemical device is simple, mind you.

I've finally finished by stockpile of cactus. It'll keep harvesting itself, but it'll be a while before I can make any more charcoal with it. This last batch of stone will be my last...and there's precious little of it. It's gotten too late to finish the forge, So I'll call it a night. an early night.

Nope, noon again. Looking across to my new monster platform, there are still one or two spiders, but nothing else. Seems like the endermen have been kind enough not to rearrange my construction though, so at least I don't have to go over there.

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Well, that took the better part of my diminished daylight. Hopefully it'll work smoothly, but I'm not going to risk engaging the gearbox to test it now, as it feels like rain.

If obsidian is just a form of glass, then...couldn't I transmute it from glass? It sounds like it would make sense, but being out of charcoal...I suppose it's a worthless thought. I feel like I'm forgetting something important though...

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The forge appears to be perfect. It'll take a while for it to warm up, but that's fine; I'm still not 100% sure how I'm going to make use of it yet. First I'm going to need a crucible, which involves shaping clay. Maybe I could...no. I can't see this world's version take on a turntable; this world's take on rotation full stop, being able to spin pottery. I can't think of another way of doing it though. So many things I don't know. I need an early start soon, all this waking up at noon feels like it's clouding my mind.

For now, all that there is to do is install a cauldron in the forge, and at least that will be on hand for rendering things. If I ever think of a good reason for rendering anything.

Not much else to do. I've no more building work to do, and have no inspiration to try painting again; the first 'work of art' is now hanging in my alchemist's lab, instead of brightening up the downstairs of my house, so I may as well just sleep. Really, really sleep, and wake up.

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What a beautiful morning.

Chapter 19
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It turns out my hands by themselves are just not good enough.

Despite my efforts, I'm unable to actually change a block of clay - courtesy of my philosopher's stone - into anything but small items of clay. Thankfully I can put them together again without any waste, or else this morning would have been an even larger waste.

Much like with the saw and the wood, I guess there are limits to what I can do with hand tools. If so...I need to work out how to make a similar precision tool for hollowing out a block of clay so I can get this forge fully functional. I suppose my happiness at finally having an early start doesn't mean that the whole day will go well. At any rate, that was just supposed to waste time till the sun got the last of the monsters off that platform. I can still see a couple of spiders, but they shouldn't be an issue - I've got some modifications planned.

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Judging by how items and...myself get pushed around by one of the streams from this water, It would be safe to assume the same will go for the monsters. My hope is that anything that appears will get caught up and channelled to the middle; and judging by the 'intelligence' these things have, I'd be more than willing to be they won't be able to escape once they're there. Not a bad days work at any rate; I suppose I should call it, and see how things go overnight.

Well...it seems that monsters don't like to appear/teleport/spawn in water. Spending half the night watching from my balcony resulted in me seeing a few zombies spawn on the outer wall, and less than half actually going into the water. The two that did though, they did seem trapped. Now, I need a way of getting more there.

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Since the Issue with the water caught me off guard, I think I should check one other thing; since the monsters only spawn when it's dark...does it have to actually be night-time? I've built walls up around the platform - or the trap, as I'm starting to think of it - and am just waiting on a few last pieces of stone from the furnace to do a quick ceiling.

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Ok, it's definitely dark in here. I'll move back, wait five minutes, and return; see if there's anything in there. I should go get my axe, just in case.

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Damned thing shot me in the shoulder. I had to drop my sword, but I did manage to get a few torches down on my way out - it seems darkness is all they need.

My shoulder is..healing quickly. I suppose this was to be expected; after all, the arrow destabilised and vanished from my wound shortly after (Mustn't this have happened before?). I don't know if any injuries will affect me in the long term given everything else, but It's better to be safe; I'll leave building the trap up for a few days.

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I finally got Wolf out of the house. He's been cooped up inside so long...I don't have a clue what had him change his mind. I just gave him his morning chicken and left as normal, and the next thing I know he's walking behind me. So long as he doesn't get himself killed jumping off the edge, I don't mind - some company will be good today.

Today's project is going to be...turning clay. Now, while I cannot understand how this would work, or even expect it to, I suppose in any sane world a turntable (though perhaps a smaller one) would be one of the first options for this job. And since I have a day free, I may as well waste some of it.

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Hooking it up was simple enough - a handily placed gearbox on the underside of the platform was in just the right place. I'm going to have to get some more hemp ground down soon though, as I'm almost out of rope.

Well, I have a turntable, clay, and too much free time. What could go wrong?

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Everything and nothing, apparently. Staying somewhat sane in this isolated hell...hole...sky thing, is hard enough without trying to figure out how this even worked. Or why the end result is still a cube, more or less. Sometimes, the theory that this place was created by the alchemists sounds almost plausible - how many of the laws here only seem to fir because it's how things worked back in the real world?

Well, Time to stick my pottery into the oven. I suppose it's called a kiln when used for pottery...I just hope I'm able to get it out again once it's done.

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Cool to the touch, item form...That could have ended worse. Today seems oddly productive, gotta hope this keeps up. For now, All I have to do is install it and stick something in, see what happens. Maybe I should throw stone in? If it can melt metals it should be able to manage what a crude stone furnace fuelled by charcoal can.

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Well, two bits of good news. First of all, it can melt down stone. It was a little disconcerting to see the small, weightless items forms of solid rock seems to fall apart and flow together before coming together again into a perfectly block of stone. Thoguh if it can manage that, I suppose It can definitely melt metals. The second bit of good news was that, when I installed the cauldron up here, I threw in a couple of spare scraps of leather, to see if they'd render down. They did, and now I have glue!

...And I still have no uses for glue. I suppose it's something to sleep on tonight. For now I'll just throw whatever stone I have left into this crucible, and call it a night. Might be a good time to start letting my charcoal stock build up again. Time to take wolf home...all he's done is sit there blankly all day.

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I figure if my shoulder was going to play up, I would be able to feel it by now, so I took the time this morning to let some sunlight into the monster trap. Since there didn't seem to be anything in there to burn though, I'll be moving onto the next step, and the real reason for this skylight.

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Took a good amount of water (and a lot of awkward wading) but the water is back in place. With luck, monsters should spawn up on the top, fall down a hole, and get stuck in the middle, where I can observe them at my leisure. At the very least it should keep them out of the way; since the platform was made, not a single living, or unliving thing has appeared where it shouldn't.

I suppose now I just sit back and watch; it's due to get dark again soon, So I'll just grab myself a snack. I wonder if I could do a beef and mushroom stew with dumplings? That'd be nice.

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...This suddenly doesn't seem like such a good idea.
Chapter 20
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Two more arrow wounds - one in the same shoulder, one in my chest. That's what I get for being a complete idiot...It's almost as if I expected violent undead monsters to just let me stand and watch them through that hole. I decided to take a few more days off, this being the last of them. The wounds, including one that I swear would be fatal were I anywhere else, both healed quickly, but it's taken a while to get myself motivated to go back. I want this damned thing finished, and the better it's done the less likely I'll be shot again.

I've cleared up some of the water, and lit up the top so there won't be anything spawning here in the evening. After spending a bit of time thinking about it, the safest way to observe or contain these things will be to build them a tank they can't escape from. Which means going...down.
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This almost reminds me of how things were back when everything began. I feel better having solid rope to work with than a viscous stream of water but looking down and seeing nothing but that fake blue...it just doesn't seem so dangerous anymore. Hell, if I let go...I'd probably find myself in bed, just a little confused. And lacking in stone.
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Ugh, this isn't deep enough. The measurements didn't seem too bad from up top, but stood in the tank, I can't help but think that even I could climb out of here without a rope.

I'm going to have to take it down further. If anything, I'm going to need a platform under the tank anyway so I'd have to extend it further anyway I suppose.
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Well it's not like I thought I'd get it done in one day. I have a small, if nostalgic platform, and a comfortably large drop for anything undead to fall. I can't remember if I have any sand left or not...If I'm going to do this properly, I'll need some glass for the walls of this thing. And then it'll be...finished, I suppose.

On the other hand, once I take those torches and rope down, I'd have no way of getting down here. It's getting late, but I should get a staircase up as soon as possible.
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And now to get some sleep, hopefully before it's light again. Why are nights so short here?

You know you're not going to have a good night's sleep when your first dream involves being shot in the eye. Then just as you're falling asleep, you realise you've completely forgotten to put charcoal in the furnaces. And then find yourself too tired to do anything about it. As such, I find myself cold, and with barely enough glass to do this, let alone have some left over for trying to make some obsidian this evening...ugh.

Let's get this over with.
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I'm still debating with myself if this water should go in the tank. It feels right that it have some water, as it should keep any undead alive under the sunlight for a bit longer, but I can already see some dripping through in places; obviously the glass isn't perfect, despite it completely ignoring gravity. heh. But at least it's done. For some reason Wolf wanted to join me for my work today; I can't say I'm upset that it's starting to develop a personality. But I should take him back and get him fed; the torches are already gone, and it'll be dark very, very soon. I wouldn't want him taking a stray arrow if something goes wrong.
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And that's them trapped. I should go have a closer look in the morning, I'm just too tired for it now. Not enough time in a day to do anything, yet I'm always so tired...
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Oh...for the...

Endermen. I finally finish something, and they manage to take a lump out of it. It's not that I'm worried that it would stop it from working - a small hole like that would change nothing - but if I leave it, it's only a matter of time until this becomes a mess like the old platform. I'm going to have to do something about that...though to be honest, I was kinda hoping they'd just be unable to pick up the bricks. On a more interesting note, I've got squids. They don't look particularly dangerous, but for some reason...oh, I don't know why they'd be sent here. Maybe they'd look more dangerous from the other side of the glass.

But that's that done with. Now to take wolf back home, and get on with some chores. Nothing better to do, I guess. I'm getting low on flour, so I guess I should get the windmill going first.

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I suppose the flour situation can wait. I...don't actually know what to think. Wolf was just starting to act...well, normal, and then all of a sudden, he was running headlong into the saw. Now I know I should have made that more safe, but...I know I wouldn't run into a saw, so It didn't seem like a big deal.

Should I feel sad? Wolf was only a beast I transformed from a chicken. He spent most of his time sat perfectly still, making the occasional noise...he was completely useless...why do I feel so broken up about this?




It's been a few days since Wolf died. Nothings really changed, I get up, eat, watch the monster trap for a while, think about why squids are here and if they're actually dangerous, look for signs of someone coming...but nothing's changed. Wolf was only acting alive for a few days before he...His remains, for the moment are being stored in a chest; I've got nothing better for them. I should bury him I suppose, but how do you bury something on a floating island? it'd just be another box.

I hate to say it, but the saw has given me an idea though. I've prepared three more, and now...I suppose Wolf's death should mean something, even if it just means more death.

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I've learned nothing from the tank I didn't already know about these things, other than endermen having a somewhat bad reaction to water - not just once have enderpearls been found in the tank on a morning. My plan is to use the saws to...dispose of anything that falls in here, and perhaps give me something to work with; more bonemeal is always useful. Or it would be, if I ever needed something to grow faster.

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Now for powering this, There's no way I think I could get axles running from the windmill all the way over here, so I've come up with another plan; I'm going to make a waterwheel. Water is free, infinite, and should be constant, which will be good for the gearboxes. I've already made the blades for it using the glue from what seems like all that time ago, just got to put it together.

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This is the moment of truth, I suppose. I really hope this works, using another windmill would be a nightmare for switching on and off every time it rained.

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We have power! I've got a few more small changes to make - move the side of the tank outwards to give more access to the saw, add in a water stream to collect any remains...Perhaps even get a hopper and chest in there to collect the items. It's a lot of work to get done in one day, but there's no use putting it off.

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Those saws come courtesy of Wolf, you undead bastards.

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I suppose it's just been tiding up since. I raised the walls a bit further, added a roof...it looks almost like a factory now. Which I suppose it is, if there's ever been one that manufactured bones, arrows, gunpowder, string and, unsurprisingly, squid ink.

...so...now what?
Last edited by Stormweaver on Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:34 pm, edited 31 times in total.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by walker_boh_65 »

I dont want to clutter the tread by posting in it, but really nice writing. I will be reading this avidly.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

I don't mind if it gets a little cluttered, I guess if it gets popular at all I can put all the updates in the OP. Anyways, the...start of it is done. I apologise if It comes across as ramblings, but...in all fairness, it is.

Part 1: Acceptance
The front page of the journal wrote:Please use the following journal to record your experiences in the safehold. It is up to you, and the two others that have been assigned to your safehold to make use of your talents to survive until whatever caused you to be here has passed, and we can send someone to collect you. Due to the increasing demand for senior alchemists to have safeholds, the amount of resources we have been able to provide you is unfortunately less than we had originally hoped.

Make good use of your alchemical talents and philosophers stone until we collect you. Please log anything you feel is out of place in this journal, so that we may address the issues in a swift manner apon your collection.
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What is wrong with this place? It feels like my mind is clouded, or that my sight...never mind. The portal worked at least, I could feel the stone give away under my feet in the last few meters of running. Think I hit my head going though. When I was told about the safeholds, I imagined lakes surrounded by mountains, or floating castles...but nothing compares to this. A small island of dirt, a tree...and a void. Can't really call it anything else, where i expect to see the horizon, the sky just keeps going. If it was the ocean, I expect I'd see some form of reflection, but....it's just a flat blue.

These so called 'resources' are a joke. A couple of mushrooms, an egg and a slice of watermelon is all I have by way of food. Two blocks of preserved ice the only water and...I can only guess that bucket of dark orange liquid that makes me think of fire is some form of lava. Must be a strong bucket. I've seen alchemists do stranger things, so this won't phase me.

Philosophers stone though? The only requirement for moving on from simply being an alchemist's apprentice to an alchemist by right was the creation of one of those things. My tutor had one...he called it a 'minor' one, whatever that means. Still, the creation of one of those things is beyond me. Apparently it requires very exotic materials...and I don't see any here. Maybe I should have waited, stayed behind...I'm going to die here if I don't find something I can use to keep myself alive.

And what's with that bone?
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At least I'm not hungry right now. That bone gives me a weird feeling....but then, so does everything else here.

I always did enjoy writing...maybe this won't be so bad. Life was never interesting enough to record what I thought, or felt as it happened. This should at least keep me occupied, for now. I've decided that I should collect some firewood for when night comes. Lighting it wouldn't be difficult with that odd bucket, but I'd need the wood first, That didn't go well. I don't know what this place is, or how it works, but as someone who spent a large part of his apprenticeship working with the smallest parts of the building blocks of the earth, I'm sure what happened to me shouldn't have happened.
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All I did was try and strip a few small branches from the trunk....but a whole cross-section of the tree just...broke. I can't understand it, that tree must be the best part of a meter across. Almost as strange, the rest of the tree is still floating. Maybe it's sharing the properties of whatever holds up this island? I saw a man fly once. I can deal with this.

I tried again, and this time the wood broke exactly the same way.a lump of wood which I would bet is the exact same size of the one before just vanished. Is this even a tree? But on the ground, I saw something that shouldn't happen. shouldn't be able to happen. A miniature of the log, looking like it had been hand carved, rested on the ground - a second one nearby must have been from the first time I broke the tree. I reach out to pick it up, and it's as light as a feather. There's something wrong with this world. The second...log is the same, and seems to...merge with the first. There are two, yet it looks like only one. I can't explain it. It seems familiar, but this clearly isn't the world I live in. I dug at the ground below my feet with bare hands - it broke like the tree. Is everything like this? am I like this?

I suddenly have the urge to eat, to drink. I can at least wet my lips for now, until I know whether or not there's going to be any more food coming my way. Taking a small block of ice from the chest, I release it's like the dirt. Would it get bigger, placed back into the world? Have they actually left me a lot of resources, it just doesn't look like much? These alchemists can do crazy things. I take the ice and...push it against the hole I dug. It seems to expand instantly, filling the hole I had dug. Curiosity killed my worries over what I had just done. Wanting to do it again, I tried picking it up, tried breaking it into that small, feather-light cube again.
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It...melted? My panic was short lived, despite the amount of water gushing off the side of my island, the torrent wasn't stopping. I drank some of it - it was as fresh as any water I'd ever tasted. Fresher. I have no way of moving it again, but It's not in a bad place. Maybe it'll freeze again by itself. Dipping my hand into the water where the ice was there was a feeling, I can only describe it as a resistance. like there was a core within that water, almost like it was alive. Best not to think about that. In this lifeless place, too many things feel alive when they shouldn't be.

It's getting dark. I haven't organised my firewood; at the very least I don't want to have a bonfire out of these...huge? logs I collected. Don't know what I'd do if that chest, or what's left of the tree caught fire. There is that bucket though.

Digging another hole, and putting these...building blocks into the storage chest, I take out the bucket. For what is supposedly molten rock, the bucket is oddly cold. Maybe it's like the water? Tipping the bucket over into the hole, I'm greeted by a bright orange blaze, and blessed light. Never thought lava would look this cheery. Lying down, I think back to my lessons....thought back to try and explain all of this. All I can think of is that, as I write, I am literally surrounded by the building blocks of the world. Yesterday, they would have been tiny, tiny particles that couldn't be seen without aid from a looking glass...but if I were to imagine that they had grown to almost a meter in length...then I guess all of this would make sense. Really, what had those alchemists been doing to screw the world up this much? And when will I be rescued?

I stay laid down for a while, but boredom takes me. I'm just not tired. Out of curiosity, I Give the lava some more room...if flows exactly like the water did. Where it was put originally never goes down, but the space next to it fills up all the same. If I make a bit more space...what would happen if the water and lava met?
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I didn't expect this. I spend a bit of time chipping away at this rock with my hands, hoping to see it happen again - and it did. I seem unable to keep the results...when the rock breaks, the pieces are just too small and melt away. If I had a tool...If I could break it into larger pieces, maybe It would act like the wood? Thoughts of a shelter on this oddly warm and bright night fill my mind, so I think I'll sleep now. Tomorrow...I will investigate this place. It turns out I'm in my element after all.
Last edited by Stormweaver on Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Battlecat
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Battlecat »

Very cool, I approve! A skyblock challenge was an inspired choice, I look forward to seeing what's next!
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M!C
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by M!C »

Very nice!

Just one thing: Could you put your images in spoilers? I'm on a very slow internet connection (as might be others) which makes it kind of difficult to go on reading if you expand.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

Well...While I was silly enough to accidentally delete the rough draft of the 'script' (read: entertaining gameplay progession) I had written, tbh I don't think I really need one. This is a refreshing way doing things tbh. What's really nice is since there's only about 50 blocks in existance (in total) and no entities other than myself, I'm getting a really nice framerate while playing :p

Should have part 2 up tonight (around the same time to OP was posted) Oh, and I'll spoil things now.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

Here we go. I may have forgotten to remove the HUD on one screenshot...I'll fix that later.

Part 2: Realisation

I must have been tired. I remember waking to the eerily comforting glow of the lava pool while it was daylight, but it's night again now; I must have dozed off. I think I've figured out a few things about this place though. Basically, as far as I can tell this is what the world would look like it the base elements of the world were made to be a lot larger. Everything is still in the same shape, but outside of some transmutation I can't think how I'm going to manage to change things to be more...comfortable. While I was never good at the detailed stuff, I was good at manipulating what I could see - an advantage in this world.

I took one of the logs, and spent a bit of time working at it with my pen. It's rough work, but I was able to get the details fine enough to do some basic converting from one thing to another. My first order of business was making a tool - though it took more wood than I would have thought. With this wooden pick, I spent a bit of time working the rock created where the lava and water meet, and...it worked. The block was destroyed in one piece, and quickly replaced by another. This is a strange world, I was always taught that all things were finite, and nothing could be created from nothing. Nevertheless, it seems solid enough; a bit of work and I'll be able to increase my living space.
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Ok, that was...weird. I was looking over the edge, to see how far the water was falling. I figured there had to be a bottom somewhere, but I couldn't see it. Next thing I knew, I had fallen off the edge...I was sure I was going to die. I Fell into where the water was falling, maybe the wind caught me, but...there I felt a resistance. While I was in the water stream, I was falling slower, and with a bit of effort I started swimming back up. I always was a good swimmer, but....swimming up a waterfall is impossible. Is this even real water? The strangest thing happened when I inhaled some of the water by mistake- I fell out of the column of water, and plunged to what I felt was my death. Darkness surrounded me, the air full of dark, silvery dust-like motes...and then I woke up here. The stone I was carrying was gone, but I was back on the island.

Why didn't I die?
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I appreciate the fact that I'm still alive but...the thought of that darkness scares me. As I fell, I thought I saw dark red flashes of light...what the hell is down there?

Ok, I've done a bit of work to avoid that happening again. I've somehow managed to make a stone platform under this island, although there were a couple of near misses when I almost fell when constructing the pillar. It seems solid enough...matter, it just seems to snap together. Apply just a small amount of force and these blocks appear, as if they've been there from the beginning. I'm not going to complain about this convenience, I just wish I understood why it could happen.
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It would take 10 men half a day to do what I just did, and I feel no worse for it than hungry. I really don't want to eat yet though...There doesn't seem to be any other food here, so I need to decide how I'll stretch it. Although now I can do basic transmutations...Maybe I can make some bonemeal. Applied to the soil just right, and then with those mushrooms planted on top...in a couple of days I should be able to start eating. Hopefully they're fresh enough to root properly.

They apparently were fresh enough. I didn't get the result I expected...but I should be able to eat a lot sooner than I planned at least. This world is getting crazier by the day.
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Quickly harvested, I had enough mushroom to least me for days. And still some bonemeal over....what the hell was in that bone? It looked...human. But I can't see a human bone doing that to a plant. Was something done to it with alchemy? I'm not sure I want to think about it too much. For now, I'm going to see if I can move that lava downstairs...if my theory is correct, it'll have a 'core' like I noticed in that water. If I'm wrong, I may be about to lose my bucket. Flames have been dancing around that chest though, I don't want to risk it burning everything down...it seems to be getting hotter as time goes by.

I did it! Both the water and lava cores are in a stone construct on the shelf, and making more of this stone whenever it's removed. I was having some problems with loss of material but now that problem should be gone. If alchemists did this, when why haven't I seen it sooner though? Huge shipments of stone used to be brought into the academy for transmutation, and the quarries were the only 'old' industrial business left at that point. Why did we keep tearing into the foundations of the earth when it could have all been free?

I don't think this was all the doing of the alchemists now. Maybe they were trying to stop this from happening...that man did say he was here to save us.

I've noticed something strange on the shelf. When I looked into the void from the island, it was a clear, flat blue that made me think of the ocean. From this angle it's different, it's the same black I saw when I fell. Was I supposed to stay on the island? or was the blue an illusion, to keep me from feeling insecure? I'm going to build the wall a bit higher, stop me having to see it. I'll also build a bridge outwards, see if there are any other illusions I'm not aware of yet.

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I shouldn't have left the shelf. I shouldn't have left the island. I should have just stayed up here, were it is peaceful and quiet and there are no monsters trying to kill me. All I was doing was building a bridge, and as I went back for more supplies, out of nowhere, or perhaps simply out of the darkness the old plagues of the world came. No-one my age will have gone through thier lives without having to defend their town from rouge undead minions that have lost their masters, or from a swarm of spiders or creepers....these things were part of everyday life. They always came from somewhere though. The undead needed to be summoned by someone, and never lasted long if the summoner left them. Spiders would live in nests, and only attack if you got too close or the nest was destroyed. Creepers....no-one ever understood creepers, but they understood that broad-head arrows were the fastest way to avoid finding out too much about them. How are they appearing from nowhere?

It's morning now. The undead have finished smouldering, and the creepers have all fallen off the edge - I'm glad I didn't make a handrail. Spiders tend to be peaceful creatures during the day, So I left them be to find what was left of the undead. Nothing much, some arrows, some rotted flesh and...a familiar bone. Could this have the same properties as the last? I've never noticed this before.

I just rested today...I don't want to risk sleeping at night. Perhaps I should tear down the bridge? For now, I'll just reinforce my defences, and wait for tonight. I need a plan, before things get worse.

things just got worse.
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I think I know how everything else got here now...there are endermen here. I'd never seen one before...but I heard they were causing some troubles at the academy. I heard they can teleport, something to do with their cores, 'pearls', existing in two places at once. I was terrified...I just hid behind the wall and waited for day. It was the longest night I've spent here so far...and I'm not sure how far from the truth it was. Darkness seems to surround those creatures...I need to find a way to stop them. Whenever I heard the name in the past, it was always with a hint of panic. They're big, powerful, and capable of reaching me wherever I am...what should I do? It's daylight again, so I'll sleep....but maybe I should get a real roof over my head soon.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by gftweek »

I'm loving these creative journals, they are much better than most video Let's Plays, because you can fudge things to fit the story and focus on the interesting visual aspects with the screenshots and let the story and readers imagination fill in the rest.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Organum »

This is really good so far. :|
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

Organum wrote:This is really good so far. :|
Thanks :|

I already have the next screenshots all done, just gotta convince myself to get out of bed without falling asleep again, and I'll get the next bit all typed up.

I don't mean to be powering through it atm, but the early game really doesn't involve much gameplay :| That should change after part 3 thougth, which herald the end of the mostly-vannilla arc.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

300 views on my ramblings ^.^ felt kinda proud till I saw the average number of views on the other topics. Anyways.

Part 3: Progress

It's been...three days? Time is strange here, but I know I've seen the sun rise 3 times since I started this latest piece of work. Since I saw that enderman...I don't want anywhere to be out of sight. It was a hard choice, but I ended up de-constructing the island I woke up on, moving everything of value down to the shelf. Strange...there was one block that wouldn't move...it didn't even show any signs of breaking, no matter how hard I struck it. I'll leave it for now...
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Maybe it's got something to do with how this place works.

I've finally got a shelter now. Making doors for it was difficult, but wood seems to be easy enough to come by - to be safe, I've also planted a few more trees. I don't know how long it will be till they grow naturally, but I'm tempted to make some more bonemeal. I wish fertiliser had worked this effectively in the past, but I guess if I ever manage to get back I could find a way to reproduce the effect. Instant food, wood...No-one would have to go without food or shelter ever again. Not an issue the alchemists ever dealt with, even though they had so much, and could make more of anything if they needed it.
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One thing I've noticed is that my shelter is too dark. attempting to make torches from bundles of sticks failed, so I'm going with a new approach...if I could cook some charcoal, I'm willing to bet that I could use that. To this end I've created a furnace....strange how simple things are to make here. While waiting for the wood to cook, A bit of fortification seemed to be in order too - northing's getting onto the shelf without me knowing about it now. I can't risk this place being overrun for my mistake.
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...I feel strangely calm today. Maybe discovering the enderman was more of a shock than I thought...by all rights I should be panicking a lot more than I am. Once, I would have destroyed the whole bridge to stop those things from being near here. Now...I kinda want to study them. How did they get here? And where did they get here from? If I can find out...maybe it'll help me get back somehow. I don't think I'm going to be rescued. I'll build a platform, and light up the path to it. That should keep those things at bay, and let me view them from a safe distance.

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That was easy enough. I'll spend the evening watching, see what they do. Maybe I can find a way to trap one...or kill one. At the very least, dawn will clear it for me, and I can get some more bones. I may as well stock up on wood while I can.

Three nights of watching, no endermen sighted since. Maybe it was just a fluke that one ended up here...but no worries. If one can appear, so can others, and I've got all the time I need. I made myself a crude stone axe, which has served well both in felling the trees the bonemeal is helping me grow and killing any spiders for their silk. I managed to collect enough of that to make myself a nice bed - though If I'd thought of it sooner, I could have used the string in the supplies for something similar. I have an idea for studying these monsters more closely, I'll get to gathering some more stone later on to facilitate that, but I don't know how well it'll go. In the meantime, having things float without support has caused somewhat of a problem in my tree farm, which I'm going to need to deal with.
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I'm going to have to build a staircase to get to what's left of that tree...maybe I used too much bonemeal on it. I wish I had a birch tree...I always liked birch trees. Had a grove of them outside my house...I wonder if it's still standing?

Ok, the modifications to the monster platform are finished. With any luck, I'll now be able to wait until they appear, then quickly run under the platform to cut at them from beneath. Not the greatest plan in the world, but it's the best I have right now. Maybe I'll get a pearl or two. My plans for the rest of the daylight is going to be studying this water a little closer...

Success? I took out the other block of ice, and broke it in a small pit. Apon inspection it was the same as the other, a core that releases a virtually infinite stream of water constantly. What I wanted to check was what would happen if I moved the other core next to it - I didn't expect they'd replicate though. It's almost like they're alive, reaching out to each other and covering the space in-between - scooping up the right bit with a bucket seems to sever part of the core, which quickly regenerates; I guess stone isn't the only thing I'll have more than I'll ever need now.

Today seems to be a good day. Two endermen have teleported onto the platform, now to see if I can immobilise one.

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I did it. The pearl wasn't what I expected; it was strangely heavy. possibly the first thing that's been heavy since I got here. When I tried placing it in the chest, I felt like I would be dragged in with it...best to just store it and keep it there, at least until I have a few more to study.

Another day, another project. As I discover things about this world I want to document them, but here doesn't seem like the right pladce. I've planted the reed that was here when I arrived; I imagine it was intended to be used as flavouring for the melon slice (which is somehow still healthy) but...If I can get it to grow, I should be able to make paper. I'll have to make a new pen for it though, this one isn't suited for paper. On that note, what is this journal made of? I don't remember drawing in these pictures.

Two more nights, two more endermen, one more pearl. Ran into a bit of trouble last night, damn thing teleported right in front of me while I was on the bridge...running was the only thing that saved me. I think that bridge needs to get a handrail soon, this is too dangerous.

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Finally got a new book together. To use it to document the changes between my world and this one, and to show how things can be made here...this is going to be a huge undertaking. If I can find patterns though...maybe I'll get a clue as to how to get home. Also found a new enderpearl this morning, though not from something I killed - it must have gotten caught by the sunlight. Good riddance really. The chest is starting to get harder to pull items from though...are those things really so dense?

I think 4 is going to be enough. I don't think I can put up with being around any more of them, these pearls just make my skin crawl. I have no clues as to what to do with them...Maybe I'll try transmutation. This place may have a lot more in it than when I first arrived, but I'm still really limited as to what resources exist here.
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Another day, no success. The monster platform is showing signs of damage already...I don't think it'll be worth rebuilding it.

How many daysa has it been? I've tried almost everything with the pearls, but nothing's happened yet. When I tried combining them with charcoal there was a small resonance but...It's missing something. I'm going to jam everything into it, see what happens...the worst case is everything is destroyed and I die again. With the best being me getting home, I'm willing to take the risk.

So much for a way home, but this...

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I guess...this makes me an alchemist now? When I first picked it up, I felt everything shake, but that's subsided now. This stone is darker than the few I've been lucky enough to see...maybe it's because of the pearls that went into it? No worries. It's still making my skin crawl but...I feel like I could do anything now. Everything now. I need rest, sleep. Tommorow...I'll see what this thing is capable of. Either all my problems have been solved, or they got a lot worse.

Time will tell.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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walker_boh_65
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by walker_boh_65 »

I am really liking this:) I enjoy your writing quite a bit.
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Stormweaver
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

hehe, thanks :)

Took a short break to familiarise myself with EE, it's a bloody huge mod. I needed to play around enough so that I didn't end up going for stupidly high-tier stuff relitively near the beginning of the journal ^.^ I'll probably start the alchemy chapter sometime tommorowish now.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Kwilt
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Kwilt »

I noticed there were more than a couple of random errors peppered into the third part. Intentional or not, I liked that. Kinda gave that sense that Steve was slowly degrading mentally. Hope he gets better.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

Nothing to see here folks, this chapter literally contains nothing. Kinda. Instead of spending ages to type and about five mins getting the screenshots, it took...a long time to build, and I rushed the writings to get it done and done with. Thankfully steve didn't notice how big the thing he built was. Need to keep him sane a while longer imo.

Part 4: Small change

How many days has it been?

When this stone first appeared in front of me, I thought anything is possible, but it turns out i'm scared. Terrified. Most of my time is spent just sitting here, staring at it. What time I have left I spend gathering stone...the cold, mechanical process calms me, I think. I only snapped out of it, realised how time had passed, when there was no longer any room to store the stuff.

I had hoped that the pearls would be the answer, they would give me a way to leave. Even if what I knew of the world is gone...there would have to be something there. Survivors. People. Memories. I have to get back somehow...but the thought came to me; what if there is someone else here?

It's obvious other places like this must exists...the note at the beginning all but states it. Did people flee to them too? Are they happy? Alive? Alone..?

At any rate...I need to keep myself occupied. Yesterday, I decided to cook some of the stone. It's not something I would have thought of normally, but holding this...thing, it made sense. The result was flawless, smooth...I think I could use it as a much more comfortable building material. It strikes me how ugly this box of my creation is.

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As I thought, dressed properly this stone is much nicer to look at. It reminds me of home. Perhaps I should build a small house? A garden? Maybe when I'm rescued, I'll be able to invite my saviours in for some lunch before leaving.


I've got my foundations ready now. More of this never-ending grey doesn't appeal to me, so...I'm going to make this first attempt to use the philosophers stone. Seems odd that it's first use would be so trivial as turning stone into clay - which is what I'm hoping for - but I don't want to test my limits yet. For now, this seems safe enough for me.

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It took a lot of tries...for some reason, while using the stone I was tempted to just condense things down, make things heavier. I suppose this is part of the method for making gold, and the beginning of the strange craving the alchemists seem to develop for the stuff. I was right to start small, I think.As somewhat of a by-product, I seemed to get a load of dirt too - did I make a mistake somewhere? at least that'll aid my hopes for a garden. I have plenty of clay now...Best to go back, and let it bake into bricks overnight. To think, I might have a house tomorrow. How this places twists time seems almost natural now.

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I have a house! It still doesn't feel like home though...this place is too empty. I should make a start on that garden; I have enough saplings for a few more trees, and the seeds from that chest. Havn't eaten pumpkin in a while. Might be worth making some windows too...though it'll be nice to have something to look at first.

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The sun's setting again. Maybe it's the slight change in scenery, but I feel better today than I have since I got here. Perhaps I can sleep well tonight.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by KriiEiter »

Love this, I had never heard of the Equivalent Exchange mod before now, but I can see it becoming a staple mod along with BTW for me now. I wanted a way to extend the Skyblock challenge and this is the perfect way to do so. Add the fact that I can now use BTW and Skyblock together and it makes it a no-brainer.

Keep up the good work, watching this story progress is great fun!
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

KriiEiter wrote:Love this, I had never heard of the Equivalent Exchange mod before now, but I can see it becoming a staple mod along with BTW for me now. I wanted a way to extend the Skyblock challenge and this is the perfect way to do so. Add the fact that I can now use BTW and Skyblock together and it makes it a no-brainer.

Keep up the good work, watching this story progress is great fun!
Thanks :)

The great thing about the skyblock challenge for this, is that tech progression between BTW and EE really goes hand in hand - you have no easy way gathering insane resources in the beginning (unless you like to stick a coffee mug on your mouse button and go afk overnight), and yet you need the alchemy for...well, important parts of the tech tree.

Oddly enough, starting the BTW tech next chapter. I think. Still playing it by ear for the most part >.<
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Rugaard »

great story, made me want to try out the skyblock with EE, BTW and BC. cant believe how often ive fallen off
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

Rugaard wrote:great story, made me want to try out the skyblock with EE, BTW and BC. cant believe how often ive fallen off
I jumped off on purpose to save food at the beginning >.<
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
KriiEiter
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by KriiEiter »

Stormweaver wrote:
Rugaard wrote:great story, made me want to try out the skyblock with EE, BTW and BC. cant believe how often ive fallen off
I jumped off on purpose to save food at the beginning >.<
I always get a melon farm going within 2-3 days of starting to get rid of hunger. I use 2 bonemeal on trees and the last one on my melon stalk.

Once you have melons, you never have to worry about food.

And I just started with my BTW stuff finally. Getting hemp seeds was the hardest part of this challenge. I finally have 2 full grown hemp plants, and now I'm starting to flesh out my farm.

This is my progress after about 2 days (real time):
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I've got a pumpkin/melon farm, reed farm (for redstone/glowstone with philosopher's stone), I've got a nice tree stead going off behind my hemp farm, and a good mob sky-fall trap for bones and gunpowder galore. I built obsidian and cobble generators which I plan to automate later, and I have 3 obby aggragators and 1 glowstone agg. I think it's coming along nicely as a whole.
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I'm super glad that we'll be able to tan leather with wood since getting a wolf on the island is impossible. =D
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

KriiEiter wrote:I'm super glad that we'll be able to tan leather with wood since getting a wolf on the island is impossible. =D
I can think of a couple of ways to get wolves. Infact, I'll be using one of them in a couple of chapters.

I won't spoil how ^.^
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Kwilt »

Stormweaver wrote:
KriiEiter wrote:I'm super glad that we'll be able to tan leather with wood since getting a wolf on the island is impossible. =D
I can think of a couple of ways to get wolves. Infact, I'll be using one of them in a couple of chapters.

I won't spoil how ^.^
Most definitely not how you've done it, but a thought:

Since we have the entrapment of souls in tiny boxes urns, couldn't we feasibly transmute these souls into husks and, dare I say it, create beings now?

It's so evilishly delicious.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

KWilt wrote:
Stormweaver wrote:
KriiEiter wrote:I'm super glad that we'll be able to tan leather with wood since getting a wolf on the island is impossible. =D
I can think of a couple of ways to get wolves. Infact, I'll be using one of them in a couple of chapters.

I won't spoil how ^.^
Most definitely not how you've done it, but a thought:

Since we have the entrapment of souls in tiny boxes urns, couldn't we feasibly transmute these souls into husks and, dare I say it, create beings now?

It's so evilishly delicious.
I was thinking of doing something like that as a kinda plot device; though making pottery before dung sounds difficult ^.^


Don't worry, some of the more immoral parts of BTW will be showing up.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Rugaard »

i spent the first few days sitting infront of my cobble generator grinding away so i can make a quarry

getting the piston to automatically push the cobble towards me before i got the quarry helped save a lot of time
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Edit: sorry usually don't forget to add spoilers for images, around midnight when i posted
Last edited by Rugaard on Sun Oct 09, 2011 4:37 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Stormweaver
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Re: Witnessing the end - a minecraft Journal

Post by Stormweaver »

Rugaard wrote:i spent the first few days sitting infront of my cobble generator grinding away so i can make a quarry

getting the piston to automatically push the cobble towards me before i got the quarry helped save a lot of time
Could you put spoiler tags around that? Saves people's bandwidth ^.^

Personally I just afk with a mug balenced on my mouse whenever I'm away from the PC for short periods. Diamods...kinda outside the journal's current tech really, though I was testing pre-soul urns, so just had 8 BD's surrounding a lava source. ~10 cobble a sec was nice. bit OP though.
PatriotBob wrote:Damn it, I'm going to go eat pumpkin pie while I still think that it tastes good.
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