Day Eight

A new week begins.

Week two. My spirits are lifted somewhat. A whole week survived. Conversely, I have seen so much in such a short space of time, and I still have so much more to so. I am out of my cave and trekking east again as soon as the sky lightens. Not a single creeper or spider is waiting for me. A good start.

Good morning!

 The ocean is creeping in again. I chop down a tree as I go, expecting to need a boat. Instead, I have the rather odd experience of jumping onto the next continent.

One small step.

'Continent' is perhaps an exaggeration. For most of the morning, I walked across a series of forested islands. They were all close enough to swim the distance. As I traveled, more islands were visible to the south. To the north was nothing but ocean.

Looking east.

Looking south-east. More islands.

Eventually, though, the islands trickled to an end and I was greeted with ocean proper. Time for another boat ride. As I sailed, more islands passed to the south. I considered deviating from my course to check them out, but I decided against it.

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Southern islands.

What five records would you like to be stranded on this island with?

The ocean was perhaps the widest I had yet encountered. Briefly, I could not see any land at all. But then the cliffs appeared on the horizon. Unassailable without excessive digging, I sailed to the south until I found flatter land to go aground.

This is what Australia looks like from the bottom up.

This is more agreeable. (looking north)

I left my boat and walked the beach to the east. A small inlet blocked my path and I was forced inland slightly. But not before grabbing a picture of this cool little island jutting from the ocean:

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You can already see it in the above photo, but my eyes did not fully register the floating tree until I crossed the inlet.

What does it MEAN?

I had seen floating terrain before now (remember that weird canyon back on Day Four?), but never with a tree growing on it. This was something new. Fortunately, though, I had learned my lesson by now and did not make a stupid mistake for the third time.

That would have hurt.

The cavern came out of nowhere. You can't even see any trace of it in the above screenshot! (I know it is certainly between where I stood in the previous screenshot and the tree, though, as I have more screenshots of the tree taken after this screenshot). I'm not certain I would have survived the fall. Then again, I don't think I deserve to survive if I am stupid enough to fall into yet another cavern. I didn't explore this one at all. Instead, I walked beneath the floating tree and climbed up the hill on the opposite side.

I'm not sure if I can stress this point enough: the tree is floating!

Climbing the next hill.

Looking back west for one last gander.

Leaving the tree behind me, I turned back to the east, assuming the hill I had just climbed would roll back down the other side. How wrong was I!

Wait. What? Where did all this come from?

Looking east and down. No path across this way.

I was dumbfounded. Generally, I consider myself fairly decent at orientation. There was no way I had climbed enough for such a drop to make sense. This valley had to be below sea level. The ocean had sunk beyond the southern horizon, though, so there was no way to be sure. Still, the sudden drop really threw me. To the east, there was no direct way across. I had no choice but to descend to the south and head into the valley. Not that I had a problem with this. The first thing I noticed once I got off my mountain was waterfalls. Three, to be precise.

This is looking up into the overhang of the previous photo.

This one is in the archway to the south visible in the earlier photos.

I walked through the arch and checkout out the south. Walking through arches and holes seems to have become a little mini-game I play with myself on this quest. Why not, I guess. There was nothing to the south too exciting. Besides, as always happens when I find such a fascinating area, the sun was beginning to set.

Looking back west. You can see where I first looked down into the valley.

It was time to make camp. Despite the number of overhangs and waterfalls, I had found not a single cavern. North of the archway, on the rear-side of the valley's northern monument (the one on the right-hand side of the above photo), I then found yet another waterfall. As day fled, I decided to quickly check it out.

I do love waterfalls. Just saying.

By the time I reached its base, the stars were already shining. Out of options, I dug a quick hole a mere single cube wide into the cliff face north of the waterfall, placed some torches, and covered the entrance.

Cozy...

Well, I have all night, I decided, so I might as well dig this place out a bit and at least get some crafting done. A mere four cubes deeper, I ran out of dirt.

Oh. Hi there, cavern.

I could hear skeletons, so I blocked the hole back up. Instead, I dug to my right. Sure enough:

Hmmm... This could be a problem.

Again I covered the hole back up, not wanting to be hit by stray arrows. I thought about this for a bit. Pretty much, it seemed I was dangling by a mere cube-width of dirt above a rather large cavern. No matter how many times this happens to me, the seemingly sheer luck of it never ceases to amaze me. Here I am in the smallest little hole, digging out a single square of dirt, and unearthing an entire complex of caverns.

In the end I dig to my left, chipping a stairwell into the stone. Somehow, though, I missed the cavern and sent my stairs too deep... and almost tumbled head-first into an even deeper cavern! This one, though, would have been far more perilous:

OK. Too close.

I could have been dead. I blocked the hole back up, resisting the urge to explore, and chipped away to my right. Sure enough, there was the dark cavern directly beneath my camp. I found no skeletons or zombies, but I did find several large iron deposits and even larger coal deposits. I took the iron but left the coal. I was already carrying more than I needed. Loaded up, I headed back to camp, sealed off the tunnel, and got on the task of smelting and crafting.

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I was ready for the next day well before the sun rose. All in all, not a bad start to the week.

Day Seven

As the moon set and the sound of zombies burning welcomed the morning, I christened my new bow with its first kill.

I feel less bad about killing those spiders now.

I collected the feathers and the arrows from the dead zombies and skeletons, climbed up the hill, and finally walked through my hole. It was time to move on. Looking ahead, it seemed the terrain would let me pass for once.

A clear path.

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To the south, some pigs were chilling out in the shade of a tree. This isn't important, but I found observing them enjoyable for a time. I couldn't say why. They just seemed very relaxed and content under their tree.

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Leaving the pigs behind and approaching the valleyit turned out to not be the easy path I thought it would be. Just beyond the crest, it sunk sharply into a ditch. Still, it was nothing a spade could not deal with. I even found some coal.

Up the opposite side, the land opened into rolling hills with some towering monuments to the north.

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Moving along, the land opened up and flattened out. I even found a few mushrooms in the shade. The next night I could make up some stew to replace all the food I devoured after the zombie ambush.

As I walked, I could feel another ocean growing near.

Mushrooms!

Another clan of shade-pigs.

The sea!

Sure enough, there was the ocean. On the sand, though, was a small cave. I decided to have a quick look and was fortunate enough to find some iron. Along with the mushrooms, the store that the zombie had destroyed was slowly being replenished.

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I did not go any deeper. In fact, the thought of going deeper didn't even cross my mind. Perhaps I was finally learning to let go of the underground. I didn't need diamond or gold, not where I was going. Rather, I returned to the beach, took out my workbench, and crafted my boat. Time to leave this land behind. Though, it turned out to be less an ocean and more a lake. My direct path east, however, was clear, so I kept my boat for a while longer.

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I sailed between the islands and onwards until I hit land.

New lands. Again.

I did not leave the ocean behind, however. It continued to creep up from the south in small bays and inlets. I found one bay particularly scenic with its rocky outcrop. I could imagine a small harbour town being established on its beaches. Not by me, though.

You can practically see the ships sailing in.

I had made good distance today, at least double that of the previous day, surely. Yet, the sun was finally beginning to set and it was time to find shelter. But not before one last fortuitous find:

I'm eating tonight!

Mushroom in hand, I found a cavern and set up my torches. It was not a small cavern, however, and I explored the various paths quite extensively before I was convinced I was safe. I even blocked off the deeper cavern entirely.

Ain't no zombies sneaking up on me.

 I set up my furnace and began smelting the iron I found by the beach. Eating my mushroom stew, it hit me that it had been exactly a week now since I left home. This was a good day to end the week on, I decided. Not too eventful, but constructive. I had made good distance, found some iron and some mushrooms, and landed on a new continent.

I think I'm getting the hang of this.

Day Six

The loudest night of the journey thus far, the fifth night was. Skeletons, zombies, spiders, and creepers were all accounted for outside my little den. I had not considered the previous night that by camping in the western side of a cliff it would be later in the day before the sun eventually appeared to burn up the mobs. But burn they eventually did, and the spiders calmed down. But I still had one problem remaining...

Ssssssssssssss!

Through the glass, I could see at least three Creepers. I toyed with the idea of digging through to the other side of the hill but decided that would take too long. In the end, I broke the glass and let them be funneled in one-by-one. I managed to take out two, but the third one exploded. Fortunately, though, I was far enough away to avoid damage. I stepped outside only to be greeted with yet more hisses.

While capturing this screen, another creeper blew up behind me.

Two to the north and two more to the south. I freaked out to some extent and lept away from the mountain and back into the gully. One more exploded, taking out a tree, but I managed to keep the rest at bay, losing only my nerves. Seven creepers! Little wonder the night had been so noisy. 

The aftermath (You can see yet another creeper's feet in the upper-right corner).

Anyway, with that done, I could finally begin my day.

In memory of the lost tree.

The sun was already high (a recurring theme of this adventure, it seems) when I finally set forth. The cliff was sheer so I rounded the mountain from the south. On my way, I slew a couple of benign spiders wandering about. The incident with the creepers had me thinking that it was time I started carrying a bow, and I would need the spiders' webbing.

As I made my way east through a narrow valley, I could see more cliff-faces and crazy mountains ahead of me. Most significantly, I saw a hole.

I'm a sucker for holes. They always look so cool.

I'm not sure why, but I decided I had to walk through that hole. Perhaps I was getting bored or fidgety, or even going a little crazy. Regardless, that was my current mini-goal: to walk through that hole.

As I finally clearing the mountain I had slept under, I began to appreciate the next one more and more. Not part of a larger mountain range, this monument stood alone. 

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So on I trekked, my crosshair firmly placed on the blue sky in the center of that hole. Clearly, I had forgotten the last time I made this mistake.

Ow.

I began to curse myself for not watching where I was going, but then I looked to my right and saw the waterfall.

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Don't fall...

This waterfall was perfectly vertical from where it exited the rock, all the way to the bottom of the shaft. Fascinated, I decided to work my way to the bottom. I could just see the lava at its base and thought perhaps, if I was lucky, I might find some diamond. Okay, I didn't really think I would find diamond, but it was worth a try. I chipped away a stairwell that circled around the shaft. Everything was going fine until about two-thirds of the way down when I accidentally chipped out the block I was standing on and started to fall.

I think I actually closed my eyes and waited for the hissing sound of my inventory going up in flames. This was it; I was going to fall in lava and this entire adventure would be over. But it was not to be. Whether by luck or fate, I landed in the pool at the base of the waterfall and not in the lava. I didn't even take any damage.

Looking back up.

Staying away from the lava...

Save a few blocks of coal, the entire expedition had been fruitless. I dumped some dirt and built my way back to where I fell and climbed back to the surface.

It's still an awesome waterfall.

Out of the shaft, out of the cave, and out of the hole I originally fell in. I looked west and saw just how fruitless my day had been: the sun was setting behind the mountain I had slept under the previous night.

Not the most constructive day, that is for sure.

Night fell and I had not even walked through my hole. Instead, I found a cavern entrance beneath it and built up a wall to block out the night.

Should have collected more sand to make more glass.

I put down my workbench and my furnace and got to work on my bow. To wrap up a day of stupid mistakes, I made the stupidest mistake of the entire adventure thus far: I didn't check the caverns behind me before beginning to craft. I didn't even place a single torch. I could hear zombies, but presumed they were all outside. 

I was in my inventory when it attacked. Worse, I was halfway through rearranging everything and for reasons I could not explain, my sword was not equipped. I lost two hearts before i even knew what was happening, another two as I frantically scrolled for the sword that wasn't there, and yet two more before I finally took the zombie out with my pick. I was practically dead: my armour was destroyed and the little health I had left was flashing. Cursing myself for being so stupid, I equipped my sword, ate all my mushroom stew, and inspected the rest of the cavern, placing far more torches than were necessary. I couldn't exaggerate how angry I was at myself for letting one zombie almost destroy me. This had not been a good day.

I returned to camp, confident I was alone. I used all my remaining iron to replace the armour the zombie had destroyed. I was back to full health and an acceptable level of armour, but I had no more iron and no more food. I would have to rectify that the next day.

I chipped out some of my wall and checked if I could move forward yet.

Soon...

Minutes passed and the night grew louder with hisses. I was convinced I had found the native country all creepers come from, and I was eager to leave it as soon as possible. I removed another block, equipped my new bow, and got ready for the sunrise, promising myself I would not repeat the foolish mistakes I had made this day.

Bring it, creepers.